Favorite Food Friday: Unstuffed Cabbage

I really like stuffed cabbage, but I don't like all the prep work. Having to make meatballs, precook cabbage, wrap the meatballs with the precooked cabbage... I like easy. These meatballs remind me of the flavor of stuffed cabbage and are delish. To me they were begging to have cabbage wrapped around them. So, to satisfy my yearning for stuffed cabbage I always serve these meatballs with sauteed cabbage. It's just like having stuffed cabbage - just unstuffed!



what you put in it:

1 lb. ground beef

2 cups cooked long grain rice (I use Jasmine)

1 medium onion, chopped

1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper, divided

1/2 teaspoon kosher or sea salt, divided

1 - 28oz. can crushed tomatoes

1 bay leaf

1 head of cabbage, shredded

how you make it:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine ground beef, cooked rice, onion, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Shape mixture into eight meatballs and place into a 7 x 11 inch baking pan.

Pour crushed tomatoes over the meatballs, sprinkle with the remaining salt and pepper, and add the bay leaf.

Bake at 350 degrees for one hour.

While the meatballs are baking, shred the cabbage and saute in a large skillet until soft, about twenty minutes.

Enjoy!

(To play along with Favorite Food Friday click here!)

Walkin' In The Rain

Poor Dillon has been sick with croup this week and has been cooped up in the house. It has also been raining for a few days and we were both going stir-crazy with cabin fever, so I bundled him up and put on our rain gear and we went for a walk in the neighborhood. Thankfully, it wasn't raining. Dillon had so much fun looking at (and stomping on) snails and worms. The poor snails didn't know what hit them. He loved walking on the curbs, running in the grass, collecting leafs and I loved watching him. He is so full of awe for the things God has created. I absoultly love that about his little heart.

our rain shoes

Favorite Food Friday: Chicken Chilaquiles with Broccoli Slaw

We love Mexican food in our house, so when I stumbled upon this on the pages of Cooking Light magazine, I knew I would have to make it. We really liked it and I have made it several times. It's not spicy at all and we like spice, so I always serve it with a side of Salsa Verde.

The picture in the magazine showed it being served with coleslaw and watermelon. I also like broccoli slaw (and my store doesn't carry coleslaw, but they do carry broccoli slaw) so I whipped some up to serve along with it.

Both recipes are easy, although the Chilaquiles does take some time to prepare.

Chicken Chilaquiles

(adapted from Cooking Light)

what you put in it:
2 cups cooked, shredded chicken breast
3 green onions, chopped
1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 - 12-ounce can tomatillos, drained
12 6-inch corn tortillas



how you make it:
Preheat oven to 375°.

Combine chicken, green onions, 1/4 cup Monterey Jack cheese, Parmesan, chili powder, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl. Place milk, cilantro and tomatillos blender; process until smooth.

Wrap tortillas in a damp paper towel and heat in the microwave for forty-five seconds.

Pour 1/3 cup tomatillo mixture into bottom of an 11 x 7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange 4 corn tortillas in dish, and top with half of chicken mixture, top with 1/3 cup of tomatillo mixture. Repeat layers with remaining tortillas, chicken mixture, tomatillo mixture, ending with tortillas.

Pour the remaining tomatillo mixture over tortillas; sprinkle with 1/4 cup Monterey Jack cheese. Bake at 375° for 25 minutes or until bubbly.

Broccoli Slaw

(my own recipe)


what you put in it:
12oz. bag broccoli slaw
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 green onions, chopped
1/2 cup dry-roasted, salted peanuts
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt




how you make it:
Place broccoli slaw, cilantro, green onions and peanuts in a medium bowl. Set aside.


In a small bowl combine lime juice, olive oil, sugar and salt, stirring well with a whisk.


Drizzle over broccoli mixture and toss to coat.






Enjoy!

(To play along with Favorite Food Friday click here!)

Twenty-Five Random Things About Me (That You May Or May Not Know...)

My friend Hilda tagged me for this. I tried to come up with twenty-five new things.

1. My favorite flowers are tulips. Coming in at a close second are gerbera daisies.
2. I wish I was a better cook.
3. I took roughly one thousand pictures between mid-November and early January.
4. Penguins are my favorite animals.
5. When my mom first moved to Bishop almost ten years ago, I thought I could never live there... now, I'm not so sure. I find myself enjoying the small town life. (if only there was a Target)
6. I have never gone on a vacation somewhere and not wanted to go back.
7. I've done just about everything that I said I wouldn't do when I was a mom.
8. I have never been pulled over while driving.
9. In high school I never once got detention.
10. Jason once made me camp at the river over Forth of July weekend in one-hundred and twenty degree heat. I hated it and told him that I would never go camping again... and we haven't. (I don't consider this a vacation because we spent many weekends out at the river)
11. I used to take rice to school for lunch in elementary school. I would use food coloring to dye it various colors like green and purple.
12. I have seen Wicked twice and would love to see it ten more times.
13. I spent my fifth birthday in the hospital.
14. I broke my clavicle when I was in third grade.
15. When I was in high school I went with a friend to an amusement park and we talked with English accents all day. So, so dorky, I know.
16. I knew I would marry Jason before we even had our first date.
17. I like Top Ramen
18. I had way too many Cabbage Patch Kids when I was little (I think I had like thirteen). One of my favorites was a "world traveler" from Holland - it came with cute little plastic wooden shoes.
19. I once peeked at my birthday presents when I was little and knew every single present that I was getting. Worst. Birthday. Ever. (yes, even worse than my fifth)
20. My brother and I never got along when we were younger, but now we hang out all the time.
21. I am hooked on The Bachelor - a show I swore up and down I would never watch.
22. I love TiVo... but I often forget to fast forward through the commercials.
23. I always wished that I had a twin... hmmm... maybe that is why I would love to have twins?
24. I often have dreams about being back in high school and in them I never know where my classes are.
25. I love peanut butter frozen yogurt with peanut butter cups from Golden Spoon.

Tag! You're it!

Favorite Food Friday: Split Pea Soup

We love soup in our house and one of our favorites is Split Pea. I have tried many different recipes from crock pot ones to stove top ones. And while they are all very similar, I could never find "the one." So I took a good look at different recipes and put this one together. One recipe I tried had like a teaspoon of salt and then combined with my ham hock, it tasted like salt-rock soup. Due to the varying salt levels in ham, I only add a tiny bit of salt to the recipe, but you can always add more or use less when you make it.

what you put in it:

2 cups dried split peas
2 quarts water
1-2 pounds ham hock
1 medium onion, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 small handful parsley, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 fresh bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 medium carrots, thinly sliced



how you make it:
Bring the peas and water to a boil in a large dutch oven. Boil for two minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for at least one hour.
Add ham hock, onion, celery, parsley, garlic, bay, pepper and salt. Bring back to a boil, reduce heat and simmer covered for an hour and a half.

Add carrots, cover and simmer for thirty minutes.

Remove ham hock and bay leaf from soup. Take the meat off of the bone and return meat to the soup. Discard bay leaf. Simmer for five minutes.

Serve with warm crusty bread. Enjoy!

(To play along with Favorite Food Friday click here!)

Favorite Food Friday

I love cooking and trying new recipes. But I also LOVE tried and true recipes. So I came up with and starting today will be having Favorite Food Fridays. Each Friday I will be posting a recipe that I make again and again. Some will be my own recipes, some will be ones that I have adapted to my liking and others will be recipes from other sources. If it is a recipe from another person, I will let you know where the recipe came from.

Feel free to grab the Favorite Food Friday banner and play along. If you play along and post a recipe on your blog I ask that 1. you link back to my blog and 2. that you leave a comment on my blog letting me know that you are playing along and provide a direct link to the recipe. This way, I (and my readers) can check out your yummiest recipes.

Enjoy!

What Kind Of Soup Are You?

I saw this on Cheri's blog and thought that since soup is one of my most favorite foods, I would take the quiz, too. The description pretty much fits me - but I so dislike tomato soup.

You Are Tomato Soup

You are open minded and curious about the world. You can help but learn as much as you can about things. You are introverted, intellectual, and introspective. In other words, you have a big brain... and you use it. You are a bit of a culinary expert, and you are an excellent cook. You know how to balance delicate flavors well and can whip up a mean bowl of soup.

What Kind of Soup Are You?