Waffles...

When I do waffles, I want quick and easy.  None of that business of separating the egg yolks from the whites for me.  And beating the whites to fold into the batter?  No.  Just no.

I'm not sure where I found this recipe.  When I googled the name, there was a ton of sites that came up, all with similar (if not identical) recipes.

Oh Boy!  Waffles

2 1/4 c. sifted all-purpose flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 Tablespoons sugar

3/4 teaspoons salt

2 beaten eggs

2 1/4 cup milk

3/4 cup vegetable oil

Preheat waffle iron.  Stir together dry ingredients. Combine eggs, milk, and oil, and add to dry ingredients just before baking, stirring only until moistened and fully incorporated.  Batter will be thin. (Lumps are okay).  Spray waffle iron with cooking spray.  Bake in preheated waffle iron.

Makes 8 to10 waffles (or six on my iron)

Let me emphasize: SPRAY WAFFLE IRON WITH COOKING SPRAY.  I was out of spray once, and tried brushing vegetable oil on the waffle iron instead.  There was a huge mess, followed by massive and frustrating clean up.  There were tears involved.  Oi!

Broccoli, Grape, and Pasta Salad...

Pasta salad is a favorite of my son's.  I was excited when I came across this recipe from Cooking Classy on Pinterest.  It just looked like a great combination to me.  And when I made it, it received three thumbs up.  Son even went back for seconds...almost unheard of.

I'll definitely be making it again.  I made slight changes from the original recipe...like leaving the grapes whole instead of halving them (which I did so the leftovers wouldn't get soggy) and adding cooked chicken breast to make it a meal in itself.  I also made the dressing with what I had on hand, rather than the original recipe's lower-fat version.  And I never measure anything...I always just put things in till the bowl is full, so the measurements I have below are approximate.

Broccoli, Grape, and Pasta Salad

In a large salad bowl, place:
8 oz bowtie pasta, cooked al dente
brocolli florets, raw (2 heads of broccoli)
red seedless grapes, about two cups
1/4 to 1/2 purple onion, thinly sliced
bacon, crisply cooked and crumbled, about 8 slices
3 cooked chicken breast, thinly sliced

Dressing:
1 c mayonnaise
2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon sugar

Whisk together the dressing ingredients.  Pour them over the salad ingredients and toss well.

Add pecans to individual servings if desired.  We love pecans, but I didn't want to put them in the salad itself, because I didn't want them to soak up dressing and make for soggy leftovers.

Greek Tortellini Salad...

GREEK TORTELLINI SALAD from Two Peas and Their Pod

Ingredients for Salad:

1 (20 ounce) package refrigerated cheese tortellini
1 1/2 cups grape tomatoes, cut in half
1 large cucumber, chopped
1 cup kalamata olives, pit removed and chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

Ingredients for the Dressing:
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon Cavender's All-Purpose Greek Seasoning
Salt and pepper, to taste

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the tortellini according to the package directions. Drain the tortellini and rinse with cold water.

2. Place the tortellini in a large bowl. Add the tomatoes, cucumber, olives, red onion, and feta cheese.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, garlic, Greek seasoning, salt, and pepper. Pour the dressing over the salad and stir until salad is well coated. Serve immediately or place in the refrigerator.

Note-this salad will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days.

This recipe is directly from Two Peas and Their Pod.  I deviated from the original recipe just a tiny bit.  I doubled the recipe, because I wanted leftovers for home and for Carey to take to work.  I added cooked chicken breast, because I had some ready in the fridge and because the guys like some meat in their pasta salads.  I also increased the minced garlic in the dressing...I was out of extra virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar, so I had to use light olive oil and apple cider vinegar, so I thought the extra garlic might up the flavor a little.

Chicken and Dumplings

This is my favorite recipe for Chicken and Dumplings from my

Betty Crocker cookbook (red and white gingham cover)

STEWING THE CHICKEN

In a large pot, stew either one whole chicken or separate pieces of chicken with one onion, several carrots, several ribs of celery, a bay leaf or two, salt, pepper, and enough water to cover all.  Cook until done.

After stewing the chicken, remove it from the bone.  Strain and save broth.  Discard the vegetables, and return broth to the pot.  Add meat back to broth, and bring back to a low boil.

FOR DUMPLINGS:

2 c all-purpose flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

4 Tablespoons snipped parsley (opt)

2 beaten egg

½  cup milk

4 Tablespoons cooking oil

Combine flour, baking  powder, and salt; stir in parsley.  Combine egg, milk, and oil.  Add to flour mixture, stirring with a fork only till combined.  Drop dough by the tablespoon directly onto chicken in bubbly broth.  Return to boiling.  Cover tightly.  Reduce heat, do not lift cover.  Simmer 12 to 15 minutes.   If  broth needs thickening, mix 2 heaping Tablespoons of flour into 1 cup of milk; stir carefully into pot so as not to break dumplings, and simmer for a few minutes with lid off.  Serve.

My notes: This can easily be doubled or tripled if you have a big enough pot!

These are 'drop' dumplings, not the rolled variety.  I'm not a fan of the rolled variety, too heavy for my liking.  I took the photo below of a dumpling I cut in half to show you how it is cooked and fluffy all the way through.

I have never had this dumpling recipe fail...dumplings turn out light and fluffy every time.

Shrimp Gumbo...

I'm really, really trying to cook things on the weekend that can either make two meals, freezing one for another meal later, or at least that will make a couple of lunches to take to work.

Tonight I made Shrimp Gumbo.  It's not a traditional gumbo made from roux, but it is really fabulous.  It even gets compliments from lovers of authentic Cajun gumbo.  It's become our Christmas Eve dinner tradition, but we didn't have it this year, and I've been craving it.

Ingredients:

4 slices bacon, cut into about 1 inch lengths

1/2 cup ham, diced (optional)

1 cup diced onion

1 cup diced celery

1/2 cup diced green pepper

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon pepper

3 cups hot water

2 15oz cans of diced tomatoes

6 to 8 drops hot sauce

2 cups sliced fresh okra

2 pounds shrimp, shelled and deveined

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup corn meal

salt and pepper

In a large pot, fry the bacon (and ham if using).  Before bacon gets crispy, add onions, celery, and green peppers.  Stir.  Saute till vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally.  

Add water, tomatoes, seasonings, hot sauce and a dash of Lea & Perrin's Worcestershire.  Stir.  Cover and cook for 15 to 20 minutes.

Mix cornmeal with a little salt and pepper, and dredge the okra.  (OR just buy a bag of breaded okra ready to fry like I do.)  Heat oil in a frying pan, and fry the breaded okra until brown.  Set aside on a plate lined with paper towels.

Now, ideally I would use fresh shrimp, but tonight I was trying to use up what I had on hand, and I had frozen cooked salad shrimp.  Pour the flour over shrimp, and stir to coat.  

After the vegetables have been cooking for their 15 to 20 minutes, add the fried okra to the pot.  And by hand, add the shrimp, leaving any extra flour (not sticking to the shrimp) in the bowl.

Cook for an additional 15 minutes.  (During which time you can cook some rice.)  At the end of the cooking time, the gumbo should be adequately thickened from the cornmeal and flour (from the okra and shrimp), but if it needs further thickening, use a little more flour.

Serve over rice.

YUM!

Niki's Easy Barbecue Ribs

This recipe is from Niki at Rural Writings.

Ingredients:
2 lbs. Pork Ribs, well trimmed of fat, and cut into 3-4 rib sections
2 Tbsp. Butter or oil
1 medium Onion chopped
3/4 cup Ketchup
1/4 cup Vinegar
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
2/3 cup water
Franks Red Hot Sauce to taste
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Parboil the ribs by placing them in a roasting pan and add enough water to mostly cover the ribs. Cover the roasting pan and cook for two hours. This is the most important step in assuring great ribs, makes them tender and juicy. At the end of the 2 hours drain off the liquid and fat.

Now, melt the butter in a frying pan and saute onions until tender. Add remaining ingredients, season to taste and simmer for 15 minutes. Add to the ribs and bake one more hour, uncovered.

If BBQing instead of finishing in oven, after parboiling and draining the ribs put ribs on a medium-low grill, brushing the bbq sauce on and cooking for a further 1/2 hour or so, turning and brushing often.

And I usually at least double this recipe!

My notes:  I did all the cooking of the ribs outside on the grill.  I placed ribs in a foil-lined roasting pan, added water, and covered tightly with foil.  I placed the roasting pan on the grill at a low heat.  After about 2 hours, I removed the pan from grill.  When I took off the foil, the liquid had cooked away, but if there had been any left, I would have discarded it.  I decided that I didn't want to finish the ribs directly on the grill, since the sauce would necessitate extra grill cleaning, so I kept the ribs in the roasting pan, and poured the sauce over.  I covered tightly with foil again, and then put the pan back on the grill.  I used metal tongs to prop open the grill lid a little to try to keep the temp low so the sugar in the sauce wouldn't burn.

While the ribs with sauce were back on the grill, I put some ears of corn on there too.  I left the ears in the husks, and put them straight on the grill rack.  After about 15 minutes, I turned the ears and cooked for another 15 minutes or so.

Sushi Salad

Original recipe is from Two Peas And Their Pod.  My altered recipe follows.

Ingredients:
1 cup short grain brown rice, cooked according to package directions
1/4 cup, plus 3 Tablespoons rice vinegar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 Tablespoon sesame seeds
2 1/2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil
3 green onions, chopped
1 cup grated carrot
1 large seedless cucumber, peeled and chopped
1 cup shelled edamame
2 sheets nori--sheets of dried seaweed--cut into strips 
1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and sliced

Dressing Ingredients
2 teaspoons wasabi powder
1 Tablespoon hot water
2 Tablespoons cold water
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Directions:
In a small saucepan bring 1/4 cup vinegar to a boil with sugar and salt, stirring until sugar is dissoved and remove from heat.  Let cool and pour over cooked rice in a large bowl.  Stir in sesame seeds, remaining 3 Tablespoons vinegar, oils, green onions, carrot, cucumber, edamame, and nori strips.  Top salad with avocado slices.

In a small bowl, stir wasabi powder into hot water and stir in cold water, soy sauce, and ginger.  Drizzle dressing over salad and serve.



My notes: I didn't put in the nori, but I might next time.  And I don't like pickled ginger and didn't want to buy a ginger root, so I didn't put in the pickled ginger or the fresh ginger root juice that the original recipe called for, but I did put in a little powdered ginger in the dressing.

I love sushi.  This is an economical substitute, and the leftovers will travel well for lunch the next day.  I definitely need to add some protein to this so that it's more filling.