Mom's Traditional Simple Sage Dressing

This is the sage/celery/onion dressing my mom made when I was a kid and to me, it screams Thanksgiving. It's easy to make and oh-so delicious. I use homegrown sage from my garden which is always a nice touch in a recipe.

1 loaf sliced white bread
3/4 cup butter 
1 medium onion, chopped 

4 stalks celery, chopped 
3 tablespoons fresh sage, dried & minced
Salt & pepper to taste
1 cup chicken broth

Let bread slices air dry for 1-2 hours on the counter, then cut into cubes. 

In a Dutch oven or large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add and cook the onion and celery until soft. Add sage, salt, and pepper.  

Stir in the bread cubes until evenly coated. Add the cubes slowly to make sure the liquid gets absorbed. Add chicken broth; mix well. 

Chill for a couple of hours and then bake in a buttered casserole dish at 350 for 40-45 minutes.

Classic Meatloaf

I've had this classic, basic, meatloaf recipe in my file for years. I can't remember where I got it or if I made it up myself. Either way, it's delicious comfort food and it makes your house smell wonderful when it's cooking. It makes two 9x5" loaves that are topped with ketchup during the last 30 minutes of cooking time. I freeze meatloaf in pieces wrapped in foil so it's easy to grab a day before and have it thawed by the next. Let it cool before you freeze it. 

2 1/2 lbs ground beef (85/15)

2 cups bread crumbs

2 eggs

2 tablespoons worchestershire

2 1/2 cups fat-free milk

1 cup onion, chopped fine

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon dried sage

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

Ketchup 

Mix all ingredients thoroughly and divide mixture between 2 ungreased 9x5 loaf pans. Bake at 350 for an hour and 15 minutes. After 45 minutes of cooking, add a layer of ketchup to the top of each meatloaf. Bake 30 more minutes. 

For a real comfort food fix, serve with homemade garlic mashed potatoes.  

Frank Lloyd Wright Quote

I found this great quote about dining in my favorite quotes file: 

Dining is and always was a great artistic opportunity. 

-Frank Lloyd Wright

I feel this way about dining.  I feel this way about food and cooking.  

Enjoy your food!

Lower-Fat Lemon Blueberry Muffins

These blueberry muffins have a luscious taste, are moist & dense, and the buttermilk does wonders for the flavor. The blueberries just pop in your mouth. Got milk?!

3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
4 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon Kosher salt 

2 cups fat-free buttermilk, shaken
¼ lb. margarine or butter substitute
1 ½ teaspoons ground lemon peel
3 large eggs

2 cups fresh blueberries, washed

In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the buttermilk, margarine, lemon peel, and eggs, one at a time, sitrring after each addition. Fold in the blueberries using care not to smash them. 

Pour the batter into a lined muffin pan. Bake at 350 for about 35 minutes. Put muffin pan on a wire rack to cool. 

Easy Buttermilk Substitute

If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, you can make your own by mixing 1/3 cup of milk and 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar. Mix well, and let the milk stand at room temperature for 15-20 minutes until the buttermilk flavor develops. Who knew?!

Fresh Blueberry-Almond Smoothie

I picked ten pounds of these blueberries yesterday and now have big bags of them in my freezer. 

This is an easy to make and healthy blueberry smoothie, and a great start to your day. You could use other berries too. The blueberries are frozen when added to the blender so they double as ice cubes. The almond extract adds a nice undercurrent. 

Blend these ingredients in your favorite blender until smooth:

2/3 cup fresh frozen blueberries
1 cup vanilla non-fat yogurt
2 tablespoons fat-free milk
2-4 drops almond extract

Spanikopita: Spinach Pie

I absolutely love Greek food and was influenced early on by working for a Greek restaurant in Chicagoland when I was a teenager. Also during this time, my girlfriends and I drove downtown on special occasions and had dinner at Diana's and other Greek restaurants. We danced in Greektown and tasted flaming cheese and ouzo! Opa!

Side note--following one of these great Greek dinners we decided to make saganaki (flaming cheese), but later realized we were not old enough to buy the liquor to flame this delicious appetizer. 

Spanikopita = soft little spinach & cheese pies.

Ingredients:

18 oz. box frozen chopped spinach, thawed
16 oz. feta cheese
16 oz. fat-free cottage cheese
8 oz. low-fat cream cheese
10 green onions, chopped
4 eggs
1 tbsp dried dill weed
1 tbsp dried parsley
1 1/2 tsps Kosher salt
1/2 tsp pepper
4 oz. butter, melted
Phyllo dough

Squeeze all of the liquid out of the spinach, then combine all ingredients, except the phyllo and butter, in a large bowl and mix well. Grease two 12" x 17" cookie sheets with melted butter. Preheat oven to 350. Lay a sheet of phyllo down on a flat surface and brush it lightly with the melted butter. Place two tablespoons of the spinach mixture in the center of the filo sheet near the bottom.

Fold the two sides inward over the mound and brush the seam with butter. Roll forward to form a rectangle, roughly 2”x5” in size. Butter the bottom where the seam is and place it on the baking sheet, seam side down, then lightly butter the top. The cookie sheets should hold about 10 spanikopita at one time. Once the sheets are full, place them in the oven and bake for 35-45 minutes, or until the top of the phyllo dough is golden brown.  

Serve these warm, but they fabulous cold, too. I plan to serve these with tzatziki (see recipe on my blog) next time. Spanikopita freezes well. 

Four Common Ingredient Substitutes

It's happened to all of us. We get home from the grocery store and realize a couple of key ingredients for our fabulous dinner party were forgotten at the store. I'm here to help. I sometimes use these easy breezy ingredient substitutes instead of going back to the store, and they work great!

1. For 1 tsp lemon juice:  use 1 tsp lime juice or 1/2 tsp vinegar or 1 tsp white wine
2. For 1/3 cup soy sauce:  use 4 tbsp Worcestershire sauce mixed with 1 tbsp water
3. For 1 tsp vinegar:  use 1 tsp lemon or lime juice or 2 tsp white wine
4. For 1 cup of wine:  use 1 cup water or 1 cup chicken broth or 1 cup fruit juice mixed with 2 tsp vinegar 

• tsp=teaspoon
• tbsp=tablespoon

Lower Fat Dairy

I think these are great tips and easy to implement into your daily cooking and baking routine.  Both fat free and low fat sour cream, yogurt, and milk are used on a regular basis in the lizzycooks kitchen.

In baking, use plain fat-free or low-fat yogurt or fat-free or low-fat sour cream.  Another way to decrease the amount of fat and calories in your recipes is to use fat-free milk or 1% milk instead of whole or reduced-fat (2%) milk. For extra richness, try fat-free half-and-half or evaporated skim milk.
-American Heart Association

Paella with Shrimp & Scallops

Pi-A-Yuh. Main course rice dish. Spanish in origin. Never had it? Then go get your paella on; you'll wonder how you've made it this far without it.  While you're at it, pop open a bottle of white wine and pour.

1 lb medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 lb sea scallops (the big ones)

6 cups chicken broth

¼ teaspoon saffron

½ teaspoon sweet paprika

½ cup dry white wine (from the bottle you opened--only cook with what you'd drink)

2 tablespoons lemon juice

6 tablespoons olive oil

2 red peppers, chopped

2 shallots, diced

1 cup leeks, chopped

3 cups arborio rice
salt

Salt the shrimp and scallops and set aside.

In a sauce pan, heat to a simmer the broth, saffron, paprika, wine, and lemon juice.

In a paella pan (or large pot or Dutch oven), heat the oil and sauté the red pepper until softened, about 5 minutes.  Add the shallots and leeks and sauté for 3-4 minutes.  Add the rice to the vegetables and stir to coat.

Add the heated broth mixture to the pot and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the mixture begins to thicken, about 12-15 minutes.

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Add the shrimp and scallops to the pot.  Pour the mixture into a paella pan that has been sprayed with cooking oil.  Place the pan in the oven for 15-20 minutes, uncovered.

Remove the pan and cover with foil for 5-10 minutes.  Makes about 6 servings.

Stuffed Pepper Soup

What's even better than baked stuffed green peppers? This soup! Perfect for those of you who like a thick, hearty, soup involving no onions or garlic--like my friend Mike who generously shared this recipe and photo. I'll be shaking a lot of Tabasco over my bowl.

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef
4 cups water
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
1 1/2-2 cups cooked long grain rice
1 cup chopped green pepper
1/8 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon beef bouillon granules

In a Dutch oven, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Stir in the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 30-40 minutes or until peppers are tender. 

Margaritas!

This is my GO TO margarita recipe--cheers!  

In blender, put 4 shots tequila and 1 shot triple sec. Add one can of frozen limeade and then fill the empty can with water and add the water to the blender, too. Fill the blender with ice and go to town until you get to your desired consistency. Pour into your favorite glasses--some people like salted glass rims and some don't. And some people like their margaritas on the rocks, so you can shake these up if you don't have a blender.

PS You simply must be listening to Jimmy Buffett while drinking these!

Mom's Chicken Soup

After a brief hiatus due to being crazy busy at work, lizzycooks is back. And, I'm happy to open 2013 by showcasing my Mom's chicken soup recipe!  There's not much better than Mom's chicken soup, am I right?

I prefer to use chicken breasts as opposed to a whole chicken, and prefer the crock pot for this easy recipe.  When the soup cools a bit, you can pour it into smaller lunch-size containers and freeze them individually.  Grab one out of the freezer on the way to work in the morning and you've got a quick, warm, and nourishing lunch.

1 whole chicken or 2 chicken breasts, raw
1 container of chicken broth
1 or 2 bay leaves
1 medium onion, chopped
2 raw potatoes, cubed
1 cup raw carrots or any other veggies such as cabbage, mushrooms, etc.
1 cup celery including leaf tips, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped or more according to your taste
1 teaspoon salt and some pepper. Add about 5 peppercorns, if desired.

Put all ingredients into a crock pot or pot on stove, adding meat first. Let come to boil and then simmer for about two hours if on stove. If in crock pot, cook on high for about 3 hours. Add parsley, thyme, and marjoram about 15 minutes before soup is done. Use fresh parsley if you have it. You can add cooked leftover rice, spaghetti, couscous, barley, etc. at the end too. Season to your taste, and throw a sprig of fresh rosemary on the bowl to be cool.