Author: kerrycoughlin

Egg-Free Irish Soda Bread

St. Patrick’s Day is quickly approaching, and there’s a little leprechaun that’s allergic to eggs. So I set out to make our traditional Irish Soda Bread egg-free. There are so many egg replacements, but we chose yogurt for this recipe, and I think that was the right call.

Because we used a commercially prepared buttermilk which was low-fat, I used nonfat yogurt. If you’re going to make the buttermilk yourself with skim milk, I would suggest low-fat yogurt. We used the buttermilk again to replace the traditional egg wash on top.

The egg-free version tastes exactly the same, but the texture is a little different. The bread is a bit softer, with a finer crumb. It was still delicious, and now I need to bake another loaf for the big day!

Egg-Free Irish Soda Bread

4 c. flour
3 T sugar
1 T baking powder
1/2 t salt
3/4 t baking soda
6 T butter
1 1/2 c. raisins
1/2 c. nonfat plain yogurt
1 1/2 c. + 1T buttermilk, divided

Preheat oven to 350F. Coat a 2 quart round casserole dish with cooking spray. In a large bowl, mix the first 5 ingredients (flour through baking soda). With a pastry blender or two knives, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in raisins.

Stir yogurt and buttermilk in a small bowl. Stir into flour mixture just until flour is moistened. The dough will be sticky.

Turn dough onto a floured surface, and with floured hands, knead about 10 strokes to mix thoroughly. Shape into a ball, and place in casserole dish. With a sharp knife, cut a cross in the top and brush dough with 1 T of buttermilk.

Bake about 60-100 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Slow Cooker Jerk Chicken

I saw this recipe for Slow Cooker Jerk Chicken from Budget Bytes and was drooling. The original recipe calls for using bone-in chicken and broiling it at the end, but I took the easy way out with boneless, skinless chicken thighs that were on sale. At the end, I just shredded the chicken right in the pot.

This crockpot meal took less than 5 minutes to throw together, and made a great dinner served with a big salad and a dinner roll. It also made a couple of lunches, served over steamed sugar snap peas. There is a fairly spicy aftertaste from the serrano pepper; if you want a completely mild dish, leave the pepper out entirely. If you want even more heat, chop it up and keep it in the crockpot when you shred the chicken at the end! I liked this version, and am already anxious to make it again soon.

Slow Cooker Jerk Chicken

2 T brown sugar
1/4 c. soy sauce
1 T minced garlic
1 t ground ginger
1 t thyme
1 t allspice
1 T cinnamon
2 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 large onion, peeled and sliced
1 orange, sliced
1 serrano pepper, sliced

Mix sugar, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, thyme, allspice, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Place chicken in the bottom of the crockpot. Pour spice mixture over chicken, and rub it in with your hands. Place onion, orange, and pepper slices in crockpot, nestled between the chicken pieces. Cook on High for 4 hours.

Remove orange and pepper slices. Shred chicken with 2 forks.

-Lightly adapted from Budget Bytes

Scallops with Zucchini and Red Onion

I am just getting started with cooking apps on my Iphone. (It’s about time, right?) I pretty much only use free apps, and iCookbook Diabetic was highly rated in a magazine and free right now, so I decided to try it for fun.

I found a recipe for Rosemary-Garlic Scallops with Polenta, and adapted it just a bit. The scallops were great, and made for a quick but ‘fancier-than-usual’ meal. I would like to eat seafood more often, and this was a simple, healthy recipe.

However, the polenta was far too thick. If you want to serve the scallops over polenta, just use a standard 4:1 ratio of liquid (such as vegetable broth) to cornmeal. Or if you have more time, you could make these cute Polenta Triangles.

Scallops with Zucchini and Red Onion

1 T olive oil
1 t minced garlic
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1 medium zucchini, cut into 1″ pieces
8 oz. bay scallops
2 t Penzey’s Mural of Flavor
1/4 t black pepper

Heat oil in a medium frying pan. Add garlic, and stir for 1 minute. Add onion and zucchini, and saute for 10-15 minutes, until vegetables are tender. Add scallops and seasoning, and cook for 3-5 minutes, until scallops are done.

Sausage and Mushroom Lasagna Soup

Third weekend in a row of snow (not nearly as much, but still annoying) and yet another pot of soup. This time, I tried Bobby Deen’s Lighter ‘Tastes like Lasagna’ Soup. I am happy to report it really lived up to the name!

I made this soup even lighter by reducing the amount of sausage and adding mushrooms for more bulk. You still get all the flavor from the sausage, I promise. And I mixed in both mozzarella and Parmesan cheese, just like lasagna.

Thanks to Tuttorosso for the tomato sauce which they generously provided to me. You can’t have lasagna without tomato sauce, and it was great to have this can in my pantry. It gives this soup a rich red color and fresh tomato taste.

Sausage and Mushroom Lasagna Soup

3 links mild Italian turkey sausage, removed from casing
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 t minced garlic
1 (16 oz.) package mushrooms, sliced
4 c. vegetable broth
1 (28 oz.) can tomato sauce
1 t Italian seasoning
4 whole grain lasagna noodles (such as Ronzoni’s Healthy Harvest), broken into bite sized pieces
1/2 c. reduced fat shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 c. shredded Parmesan cheese

In a large pot on medium heat, begin to brown sausage meat. As it cooks, add onion and garlic. When meat is almost browned, add mushrooms and saute until tender.

Add broth and tomato sauce, and bring to a boil. Add Italian seasoning. Add noodle pieces, and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cheeses.

-Lightly adapted from Bobby Deen

Chicken Salad

I went back to the basics this week and made a fairly standard chicken salad. I wasn’t going to blog about it, but it actually came out really good. Sometimes it’s nice to appreciate the simple recipes!

I had some boneless, skinless, chicken on hand, which I simmered on the stove until done. Then I let the chicken cool slightly, and shredded it with two forks. I stored it in the refrigerator, and used it for a few purposes. My favorite was this chicken salad, which I enjoyed on pita bread.

I liked the combination of flavors and textures with the chicken, celery and raisins. There wasn’t a lot of mayonnaise, but just enough to hold it all together. If you’re going to take this as a packed lunch, I recommend you bring the chicken salad in a container, and stuff the pita right before serving. This keeps the pita nice and soft and makes a great sandwich!

Chicken Salad

3/4 c. shredded poached chicken
1 celery stalk, diced
2 T raisins
1 T light mayonnaise

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper.

Kale, White Bean, and Sweet Potato Soup

It snowed (again!) and I made a big pot of soup (again!) I found the original recipe through Pinterest, but changed quite a few things. First, I haven’t had sweet potatoes in a while and missed them. I cut the potatoes into 1″ chunks to make this recipe go faster. The recipe also called for some fantastic fresh herbs, but those were nowhere to be found around here. You can use either fresh or dried rosemary, sage, and/or thyme, but I decided to use my Penzey’s Mural of Flavor spice.

The lighting is not great in this picture, but it was so nice to see the bright orange sweet potatoes and green kale. This soup has a simple flavor that I really enjoyed. It kept me warm during the weekend and made lunches for the week.

Kale, White Bean, and Sweet Potato Soup

1 T olive oil
1 T minced garlic
1/2 c. chopped onion, fresh or frozen
10 baby carrots, diced
6 celery stalks, diced
4 c. vegetable broth
2 t Mural of Flavor
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1″ chunks
1 (15 oz.) can white beans, rinsed and drained
1 (8 oz.) package frozen kale (or 1/2 of a 16 oz. bag)

Heat oil in a large pot. Add garlic, onion, carrots, and celery. Saute for 10-15 minutes, until lightly brown. Add broth, seasoning, sweet potatoes, beans, and kale. Cover, and simmer for 30 minutes.

Broccoli Slaw

Oops, sorry that I left you hanging on the slaw that I ate with the BBQ Chicken Mini Meatloaves! Things got busy, but I can assure you that I ate the whole bowl over the course of a few days.

It’s not really “slaw season” but this was a good change of pace, and a reminder that spring is just around the corner. Some people like their slaw sweet and might want to add a little sugar, but the raisins added just enough sweet taste for me. This is the super simple pantry slaw – if you’re looking for something a bit fancier, I recommend Smitten Kitchen’s Broccoli Slaw.

Broccoli Slaw

1 (12 oz.) package shredded broccoli and carrots
1/4 c. raisins
1/4 c. buttermilk
1/4 c. light mayonnaise
1 T cider vinegar

Mix vegetables and raisins in a bowl. In a small bowl, whisk buttermilk, mayonnaise, and cider vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. Add just enough dressing to lightly coat vegetables. Stir, and allow to sit in the refrigerator for at least 4-5 hours before serving.

BBQ Chicken Mini-Meatloaves

My cooking club theme this month was “Things you Cook in a Muffin Tin”. I was really bummed that I had to cancel because of the storm. But since I was already in the muffin tin mindset, I went ahead and made these BBQ Chicken Meatloaves.

I was inspired by this recipe from Rachel Ray, and my BBQ 3000 spice from Penzey’s. The spice contains salt, paprika, black pepper, nutmeg, mustard, allspice, garlic powder, ginger, sage, thyme, white pepper, cinnamon, and natural smoke flavor. I thought I was going to have to wait until summer grill season to try the BBQ 3000, but it worked perfectly here.

The mini meatloaves came out great! They’re perfect to take for lunch, or heat up for a quick dinner. If you have little hands in your household, they would probably love to pick these up.

The mini-meatloaves really do have a nice BBQ flavor. You could serve them as-is, or topped with spicy BBQ sauce for even more kick. I enjoyed mine with some homemade slaw – details tomorrow!

BBQ Chicken Mini-Meatloaves

1 lb. ground chicken
1 onion, finely chopped
3 celery stalks, finely chopped
1 egg
3/4 c. seasoned breadcrumbs
1 T BBQ 3000
8 oz. tomato sauce
1 T Worcestershire sauce

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Shape into 12 balls, and place them into a muffin tin coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375F for 25-30 minutes, or until done.

Pepperoni Minestrone

Big snowstorm = Big pot of soup.

This week, I decided to try Pepperoni Minestrone, loosely based on this recipe from Eating Well. I normally make vegetarian soups, so this was a nice change of pace. The (turkey) pepperoni is really just an accent, but it does add flavor.

I thought I didn’t have any pasta left in the house after my Tuna Noodle Casserole, but I had some leftover lasagna noodles from the Crockpot Vegetarian Lasagna project. I broke them up, and while they weren’t as pretty as elbow pasta, they worked.

Even using low sodium broth, this soup was just a bit salty for my taste. Of course, I could also blame that on the pepperoni! But it was still a good bowl of warm soup, and will make lunches for the week.

Pepperoni Minestrone

1 T olive oil
1 c. chopped onion (fresh or frozen)
4 c. low sodium fat free beef broth
1 t thyme
3 whole wheat lasagna noodles, broken into small pieces
1 (16 oz.) package frozen zucchini
1 (12 oz.) package frozen peas, carrots, and green beans
1 (28 oz.) can plum tomatoes in juice, tomatoes coarsely chopped
2 oz. diced turkey pepperoni
1 (15 oz.) can white beans, rinsed and drained

Heat olive oil in a large pot. Add onion, and saute until tender and lightly brown. Add broth and thyme and heat until boiling. Add pasta pieces, and simmer for 5 minutes.

Add vegetables, tomatoes with juice, pepperoni, and beans and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until vegetables are tender. Serve garnished with freshly grated Parmesan.

Snowstorm Tuna Noodle Casserole

I did get to the grocery store before the Blizzard of 2013, but 1) I didn’t have time to make a list beforehand, and 2) I was pretty overwhelmed by the crowds. I picked up a few pieces of fruit, a box of cereal, and a quart of milk. I have so much food in my freezer and pantry that I wasn’t too worried.

As the flakes started to fly on Friday night, I decided to try my hand at a homemade tuna noodle casserole. I used this recipe as a loose guide, and bulked up the dish with extra vegetables. Except for the milk, all of the ingredients were things I had on hand.

This recipe certainly isn’t gourmet, but it turned out to be a fine pantry meal. I liked the creamy sauce, and the seasoned breadcrumbs added in just a bit of flavor and crunch. With just a little bit of creativity, it’s possible to make a balanced meal even during one of the biggest snowstorms ever!

Snowstorm Tuna Noodle Casserole

1 c. dry whole wheat rotini
2 c. frozen mixed vegetables
1 T Smart Balance spread
1 T flour
1 c. skim milk
1 (5 oz.) can tuna, drained
2 T seasoned breadcrumbs
2 T Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta and vegetables in boiling water until tender. Drain, and set aside.

Place Smart Balance in a sauce pan over low heat, and melt. Add flour and stir. Keep stirring as the mixture browns slightly. Add in 1/2 c. milk, and whisk until blended. Add in remaining milk. Cook on low heat for 15-20 minutes, stirring frequently, until thickened. Add tuna and cook for a few more minutes until heated through. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Mix pasta, vegetables, and sauce in a large bowl. Add breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese.