Cooking with Rachael Ray

Cooking with Rachael Ray

Tonight I made Recipe #31 Papa al Pomodoro. It made a delicious thick tomato soup. I didn't add the stale bread and cut the amount of beans called for in half. I wanted it to be more soupy and less thick. We also had RRays Double-Decker Baked Quesadillas from Recipe #24 - the first item I've made a second time. I served the quesadillas with sour cream and salsa and ended up putting a dollup of sour cream in my soup, which made it even better.

Now that all the excitement over the funeral is over, I'm starting to get really sad about my Mom. The cooking is helping, it's an activity I really enjoy these days. I'm also starting to freak out about being Great Grandma Mosure. I'm not a great grandma (yet) but I am the oldest member of our family now and it's really freaky! My Mom was an only child and my Dad's family is back in Michigan. It might help if we had elderly aunts and uncles toddling around, but we don't.

Paula Deen's Old South Jelly Roll Cake

A few weeks ago, one of the grocery stores had Blue Bell ice cream on sale, 3 for $9.99. It was one of those rare times when hubby was with me at the store, and he wanted to take advantage of this bargain. So, he picked out 3 half gallons of ice cream…for the two of us. The first one we tried was some fudge brownie flavor that is over-the-top chocolate. I love chocolate but for whatever reason I don’t like chocolate ice cream. Don thought it was too much chocolate too. What to do with it all.

I had thought about making a pound cake and putting the ice cream on top, or making an ice cream pie and mixing in Cool Whip, but finally saw a recipe for a jelly roll cake. Instead of jelly as the filling, I softened the rest of the ice cream and made an ice cream roll.

I kind of made a big mess because I let it soften too much and as I was rolling it up, the filling piled up and oozed down the other end. (Thank goodness for Oxyclean! It got the chocolate ice cream out of the towel I used to roll everything up. )

The cake did the trick, though, and "diluted" some of the chocolate so the ice cream wasn’t as rich. YUM.

Recipe #30 - Paella Burgers and Spanish Fries with Pimiento Mayonnaise

This recipe sounded intriguing with all the flavors going on. I skipped the chorizo because after reading the label, well, sorry, I refuse to eat it (salivary glands, lymph nodes and cheeks), and I’d looked for "soyrizo" (veggie substitute that I’d seen awhile ago) as an alternative but couldn’t find it today at the store.

I put together the patties and made the mayo in the afternoon, that took about half an hour. It took another 20 minutes to cook everything. I love fries but don’t like store bought fries so I found some potato wedges instead. I also put some tomatoes on the burgers to increase our veggie intake a little more.

Everything smelled really good while it was cooking. I liked the taste of these burgers better than the smoked chicken patties. (This recipe had chopped onions instead of grated.) But overall, I was really disappointed. I had a spicy chicken sandwich from McDonald’s earlier in the week, and at least I would say that this recipe was better than that, but it’s not saying much.

Don’s comment was something along the lines of maybe I should throw the cookbook away.

I feel like I’ve got a dilemma going now. Do I plod through the other recipes in hopes of finding a few gems, or should I pick & choose the ones that sound like something we would like.

The dogs loved the burger. It was so huge I only ate half of mine. Tigger eats everything and wolfed his bite. Girl-dog is a picky eater and if she doesn’t like something, she will take it from me reluctantly and nibble at it. She snatched the burger and gulped it down, she liked it so much.

Onward and Upwards

Cooking with Rachael Ray

I was off program for a few days, being out of town for my Mom's passing. But we have lots of family staying with us this week, so I have been cranking out the Rachael Ray! I made the Florentine Meatballs one night, my daughters really liked it and I even ate the leftovers the next day! Last night I made the fajita burgers, although I just served them as fajitas with tortillas, completely eliminated the burger part. My daughter Mindy was stirring the meat mixtures and kept asking me what spices I was throwing in there. They were really tasty! I intend to try the Beef Wellington Di made and then go to recipe number 30. I made Paula Deen's Ooey Gooey Cake last night, the peanut butter version. Mmmmmm.

Mom's

Debbie gave me the sad news that her mother passed away. It's hard to find the right words to say, my sympathies go to her and her family.

The first time I met Debbie, she was with her Mom, they were at the airport headed to the FGBMIFCC (First Great Barry Manilow International Fan Club Convention) in Chicago. I remember thinking how cool it was that she was going with her Mom.

I thought about Rachael's recipes for Boo, and other loved ones, where food brings back memories. My own mother passed away this time last year. Sometimes I will think of her when I am eating something that was her favorite, like right now, oranges are in season. When she was pregnant with us kids, she craved oranges and Casper's hotdogs. Both my parents enjoyed eating out, and there is no doubt I got my obsession with food from them.

Is it really better than...?

Going back to Paula Deen’s cookbook again, I made the "Is it really better than sex" cake for my birthday. My favorite cake is yellow cake with chocolate frosting. This recipe sounded good since it has yellow cake, with the coconut and pudding and pineapple. All the toppings made it really moist. I think the whipped cream kind of pushed it over the edge, but it was good. I liked one of the comments on Foodnetwork.com, that said the cake is NOT better than sex because there is no chocolate :-)

I know I haven’t been cooking as much from Rachael’s cookbook as when we first started. I haven’t abandoned it though. Last night I made homemade bagel dogs (I have a sourdough starter I use to make bagels with). I Rachaelized it by making a potato salad to go along with it. I liked the one that went with #13 BBQ chicken sammies, that had peppers and onions in it, and I hadn’t tried the one from #15 (with capers and celery), so I combined the recipes and put peppers, capers, and onions in it, plus some cajun seasoning. I like these potato salads with EVOO as side dishes better than potato salads with mayo. I feel less "guilty" eating them.

We brought some cake to my sister-in-law’s house, and she was in the middle of cooking a combination of Recipes #192 (Ricotta Pasta with Grape Tomatoes, Peas, and Basil), 193, and 194. She was just taking all of her favorite things from the different variations, and putting them into her own variation. It smelled good!

Later this week I’m going to make #30 (Paella Burgers and Spanish Fries). I may put off making #31 and #32, or make those some other time for myself, for lunch, since Don is not a soup person. They’d probably be good tummy-warming chow if this cold weather keeps up. Earlier in the week it was 82 and now it is 30 outside!

Detour - Individual Beef Wellingtons

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Tonight I made the individual beef wellingtons from the recipe in the November/December 2005 issue of Every Day with Rachael Ray. My husband had been given some Omaha Steaks for his birthday. Usually we grill them but I thought this would be more appropriate for Valentine’s Day.

The puff pastry I bought (Pepperidge Farm) seemed a little small. I ended up rolling it out a little to fit the meat. I’m also not fond of mousse pate, and used bleu cheese instead. It got all melty and sort of made its own sauce - mmmmm.

It sure looked pretty, and wasn’t too much work (I think it took about an hour - I wasn’t in a hurry, the meat has to cool, and it takes 12-15 minutes to bake in the oven with 5 minutes to settle), not too many dishes. Perfect for a fancy dinner without the fuss.

Recipe #28 - Pasta with Spinach, Mushrooms, Pumpkin and Hazelnuts

I took a lot of liberty with this one…basically took the leftover from last night and added the other ingredients to make the variation. I also didn’t have hazelnuts so I substituted toasted walnuts.

Since the recipe has the sausage omitted, the part I reheated didn’t have sausage..

I finally put my finger on what this reminded me of…Indian food. Not really curry but it has that sort of taste. And the spinach really went along well with it. The nuts gave it a nice texture, especially since it didn’t have meat.

If (when) I make this again, I’m going to make it with everything, the sausage, spinach, and nuts.

To be honest, I’m not too excited about the next few recipes. What I think I’ll do is make them for lunch. However they all turn out, they have to be better (and better for you) than bologna sandwiches!

Taking Stock

I was looking through the cookbook and see that we have cooked our way through the first 29 recipes! We did skip 3 (#16, 22, and 25), but if we make it through the rest of the book I plan to go back and try them.

I need to clear out some of the things in my refrigerator and freezer. Tomorrow I’m making King’s Ranch Casserole with some turkey I’d frozen. I have a half a box of pierogis, hot dogs, bread, half a can of sweetened condensed milk, ice cream, and cheeses that I should finish up. I’m not sure how much of all that I can incorporate into Rachael’s recipes but I’ll see what I can come up with.

I also have a half a can of pumpkin leftover from tonight. I got a belgian waffle maker for Christmas, and the booklet that comes with it has a recipe for pumpkin nut waffles, so that’s what we’re having for breakfast.

I am so notorious for getting a craving for something, buying the ingredients, and then not ever making the recipe. That’s part of the reason I have these odds and ends to clear out.

Recipe #27 - Pumpkin Pasta with Sausage and Wild Mushrooms

I’ve been dying to try this one because it sounds so weird. And then I read such glowing reviews on Foodnetwork.com. A few people there mentioned that the recipe has too much pasta for the amount of sauce. I think it just depends on how saucy you want your pasta.

I made half the recipe and it still made a ton. I’m going to add spinach to the leftovers for an adaptation of Recipe #28.

I’m one of those people that could never go on a low carb diet, I’d be all-carb. I’ve been craving pasta. I really miss Pasta Primavera in Walnut Creek, it is one of my favorite restaurants. It’s not all that fancy either, just has a variety of pasta on their menu that isn’t all tomato-based sauces.

The Italian sausage really made this dish, I don’t think it would be as good if you substituted like, hamburger instead. The sauce tastes really earthy and is perfect with the penne. I’d bet if you served it at a potluck, people would eat it up and not even know there is pumpkin in it. Don kept saying "This is strange." He liked it but just knowing about the pumpkin changed his attitude toward (really against) the recipe.

So far this is one of my favorites out of the cookbook.

Chicken Pot Pie

Cooking with Rachael Ray

Hi everyone, Debbie here. I have been taking a break, as Di predicted. Lots of stuff coming down at home and at work and I've been grabbing comfort food. I had a request for my chicken pot pie, so wanted to share the recipe. I buy premade pie crusts in the metal pans in the freezer section and rolled pie dough in the deli refrigerated section. I bought a store-cooked rotisserie chicken - one that was garlic & pepper flavored. I cut off all the breast meat and removed the skin. I added a large jar of chicken gravy and a can of chicken and mushroom soup. I also added a drained small can or mixed vegetables. I poured the mixture into the premade crust in the metal pan, ground black pepper over the top and set one of the rolled pie crusts on top. I cut slits in the top. With the other pie crust and pan, I made a cherry pie for dessert. Baked them both for about 45 minutes at 350% and everyone was happy! It comes along pretty quick and everyone is always impressed.

Paula Night - Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding

I had a surplus of bananas so I made Paula Deen’s banana pudding. Talk about ooey gooey…mmm. The filling itself would make a good pie. This is almost "too" rich, it makes me want "regular" banana pudding (Joy of Cooking recipe). I let the pudding set overnight to blend the flavors, which helped, but the cookies got soggy. I wonder if it would be better to hold off on putting the top cookies on until later.

Didn’t make anything Rachael tonight because I had jury duty today and didn’t want to plan anything in case I was late. Fortunately I served my day and now I’m done!

Recipe #29 - Beef and Chicken Fajita Burgers with Seared Peppers and Onions (jumping ahead a little)

I had a craving for a veggie burger. When I was working full-time I used to eat them nearly everyday. Yesterday while at the grocery store, I saw a Texan with Boca Burgers, EVOO and tortillas in his cart. He looked so cowboy-ish it looked incongruous.

I’m kind of meated out from last week plus yesterday with all the junk food we snacked on during the Super Bowl.

Anyway, instead of using ground beef or chicken, I took a Morningstar Farms Philly Cheesesteak burger (they have cheese, onions and peppers already in them! Yum) and put some of the seasonings on the patty before I cooked it. I used chili powder (added a nice zing), cumin (not really noticeable but it was the something that makes you go hmmm…), and some grill seasoning.

I cooked the peppers and onions like the recipe called for. And I toasted my bun, put a little mayo on it.

It was really good! So much better than just the plain burger. And if anyone is squeamish about a veggie burger, I think this would be a good one to try because there is so much other stuff on top of it that you might not guess you’re eating veggie.

Recipe #26 - Florentine Meatballs

I had planned to make the sequel to Salsa Stoup, but when I went to get ground beef, the dates were bad (that day) plus the meat just didn’t look right. So that’s on the backburner for now.

The Florentine Meatballs were very ordinary...but that’s what made them so good, in the way that meatloaf is scrumptious. They tasted very simple, without some of the over-the-top seasonings that some of these recipes have.

I put together the meatballs earlier in the afternoon, it took about 20 minutes. I made them smaller because we don’t like gargantuan meatballs, and also I wanted to make sure they were cooked all the way through. I used a package of ground turkey, which is just over a pound. That’s half the recipe. And I ended up with 28 slightly-smaller-than-golfball sized meatballs. I think that would be enough to feed 4 people.

When I got around to baking them, the rest of the meal took about half an hour (time to preheat the oven, plus 20 minutes to bake). Even though the meatballs were smaller I cooked them just as long, that’s how long it took to get a little brown anyway. I put them on non-stick foil for easy cleanup. That helped because some of the cheese oozed out of them while they were cooking.

The recipe in the cookbook doesn’t call for noodles but in Rachael’s "Every Day" magazine, it does.
I really liked this dinner. Don thought the sauce was just OK. I read on Foodnetwork.com that some people used marinara instead. I think that would be good but it might overpower the flavor of the meatballs. The spinach made them very moist. I think if I make meatballs of any kind again, I’ll put some spinach in them. You don’t really taste it but it gives them a nice texture and color.

Someone was kind enough to comment on this blog, the suggestion of going out of sequence to use up ingredients. For example, if one recipe uses gouda cheese, find another one that also uses it. I’ll probably do that for the Taco-Chili-Mac, cook that one and use the other half pound of ground beef to make burgers.

My one gripe about how the cookbook is organized is that there is no "Main Index" of recipes. There is the grouping by category (Perfect Pasta, Burger, Bonanza, etc.) but no list of just plain 1 through 366.

Anyway, here’s my "shameless plug of the week" - most of you know that I know Debbie because of Barry Manilow. His new album, "Greatest Songs of the Fifties," was released this week. The fan club is trying to get it to go to #1 by asking his fans to buy multiple copies. We are already buying multiple copies because it comes in multiple formats (regular and Dual Disc). So, my idea is to get multiple people to buy just one copy…what a novel concept, eh? I’ve been listening to it all week. I’m not all that familiar with the songs of the fifties so some of them are "new" to me. Just the perfect kind of music to cook to!!!!!

Checking in

Just checking in. I think both Debbie and I will be taking a break from Rachael Ray recipes for a few days. I made a chuck roast over the weekend and we are dealing with leftovers this week. Tonight I'm going to make quesadillas (double-decker a la Rachael) with some of the meat. When the leftovers are more under control then I will tackle Recipe #25 (Taco Chili Mac), the sequel to the Salsa Stoup. I'm going to see what would be a good crowd-pleaser for Super Bowl Sunday. I was thinking the Fajita Burgers (#29) or go back and try the honey nut chicken sticks. And sometime this week I'm going to make Paula Deen's Not Yo Mama's Banana Pudding. It got rave reviews on the Food Network website.