Broccoli Cheese Casserole

It seems I've been on something of a casserole kick lately.  I find it strangely relaxing to expend effort preparing a recipe on the front-end, and then reclining for 45 minutes to an hour sipping a dry martini waiting for the final verdict to come out of the oven.  It's also a great way to revitalize leftovers, in this case, as an accompaniment to my Meatloaf in a Minute recipe, which I had additionally enrobed in thin slices of pancetta.  This simple casserole made the leftover meatloaf seem like a different meal.

Summer Squash Casserole

The true origination of this recipe cannot be known.  The summer squash as it is sometimes called, although available now almost all year long, or yellow squash, or as I call them, crook-neck squash, is indigenous to the North American continent and the earliest archeological record of their cultivation and consumption by neolithic humans is around 8,000 years ago.  It's a safe bet that as the New World dairy production developed onward from the seventeenth century that someone somewhere got the idea of adding butter, cream and cheese to boiled yellow squash with onions and then baking it as a casserole over an open hearth fire.

Chicken Pot Pie

As I stated in my blog posting of June 2020, Weekday Chicken in the Oven Recipes:

"I normally avoid posting dishes that are what I call "can-o-dis" recipes.  You know the type;  pour a "can-o-dis" kind of soup over something and then call that culinary art.  But I'm making an exception in this case because we all need convenience in our lives and sometimes, brevity and simplicity doesn't mean something can't taste damn good.  And that's been a prime directive for this blog since I started it over a decade ago - never post any recipe that I haven't personally tried and that either myself or my Number One Fan hasn't made and perfected.....and liked."

Low Carb Chicken Fried Steak with Cream Gravy

There are dozens of low carb or Keto versions of the classic chicken fried steak recipe on the Internet and it seems as though a lot of them feel like they need to explain that chicken fried steak doesn't have any chicken in it.  That may be beneficial information for a bunch of Yankees who still live in the rust belt, but pretty much everyone else in the country knows that chicken fried steak is beef.  Specifically, it is made with sliced top round or top sirloin of beef that has been run through a butcher's tenderizer, packaged and sold generally as "cubed steak" or "minute steak."

Hasselback Baked Chicken Breasts

My Number One Fan ran across this interesting recipe on the Pillsbury website, which is even more interesting because it contains no Pillsbury products in the ingredients whatsoever, just a strong suggestion that you serve it along side Pillsbury Crescent Rolls.  The term "Hasselback" is generally used in tandem with potatoes, a dish that was created in Stockholm, Sweden in the 1940s at the Hasselbacken Restaurant.  They are relatively easy to make, requiring a bit of fancy blade work. Hasselback Potatoes are essentially peeled, roasted potatoes that have been cut into very thin slices, without completing the cuts that would separate the potato into individual slices. All the slices stay connected along the bottom of the potato. Melted butter is drizzled into the potato; it's then coated with bread crumbs and roasted so that the exterior is crispy but the center is soft and creamy. 

My Number One Fan's Chopped Salad

This is a salad that My Number One Fan created as part of a menu at our house that is meant to accompany Tomato Basil Soup for a complete meal.  The recipe for our Tomato Basil Soup can be found here. The original salad was called Nancy's Chopped Salad from a 2014 post in the smittenkitchen website.  The author gave credit for adapting her recipe from The Mozza Cookbook.  The truth is, there are many, many variations on this theme, which is generally classified as an Italian Antipasto Salad.  The name is derived from the ingredients that are largely standard fare in most antipasto courses served in classic American Italian restaurants.  This gives you a lot of latitude to incorporate a whole host of items that may or may not be mentioned here.  But this is the way My Number One Fan makes it, and it's a great light dinner when paired with her delicious Tomato Basil Soup.

No Honey "Honey" Mustard Dressing

I was a food and beverage director in the early 1980s for a swank hotel in Atlanta that had five restaurants, three bars and 60,000 square feet of banquet space.  We had eight kitchens including our own butcher shop and pastry shop.  I learned a great deal about the art of creative cooking in those years.

One of our restaurants was quite popular; a white table cloth, fine-dining concept with a Continental-French theme.  We had hired an up-and-coming culinarian as Chef d'Cuisine, who invented an appetizer one night as an off-menu special that actually went on to define the restaurant, and took the city's upscale dining community by storm.  Soon, it was appearing on the menus of all our competition.  Today, it sounds almost mundane.  But in 1984, this was culinary cutting edge: Panko Crusted Deep Fried Fresh Maine Lobster Tails with a Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce.

Green Pea Salad with Bacon Vinaigrette

I've been posting a number of authentic Sunday picnic salad recipes lately, including Southern Style Potato Salad and Waldorf Salad.  I took care to post recipes that I had thoroughly researched to provide historical context and an authentic version of both recipes.  These are the kind of salads one sees at a potluck supper or on a typical salad bar, particularly down in the South.

However, in this version of an old standby, I decided I did not want yet another mayonnaise-based salad and so, created this version instead.  It still contains the most fundamental ingredients of this age-old classic, namely cheddar cheese, bacon and red onion; and of course, green peas.

Mediterranean Pork Chops

I was looking for something other than a baked or oven-fried pork chop last night, and this is what I created on the spur of the moment.  You will need a cast iron skillet for this dish, or some other vessel that can go from stove top to a four-hundred degree oven.  This recipe also calls for thick-cut pork loin chops, but you could use the more frequently found thin-cut chop by reducing the stove top cooking time to one minute per side, and reducing the oven cooking time to roundly 10 minutes.

Country Style Pork Ribs on a Gas Grill

Some time ago, I posted a crock pot recipe for a cut of pork generally called Country Style Ribs, or sometimes referred to as Picnic Ribs.  They are not real ribs, as I explained in that post found here: Crock Pot Asian Style Country Ribs.

On this occasion, I wanted something more akin to a barbecued version but didn't want to be tending to a grill for several hours.  So, after some internet research, I decided to go with an oven/grilling method and this was the end result.  They were very good although I have amended the recipe to include a modification I will make next time, which is to roast the ribs in the oven covered and at a slightly lower temperature.

Egg Muffins

I really believe that in the culinary world, there isn't much that is genuinely, truly new.  Things generally seem to be a reconfiguration or new methodology of an older iteration of the same basic concept.  In my day, it was the Atkins Diet that eliminated sugar and lowered carb counts.  But that was just a later version of what was called the Sugar Busters Diet.  Then, it became the South Beach Diet.  Today, it's known as the Keto Diet or the Paleo Diet.  They're all pretty much the same thing, with very subtle differences.  The cornerstone of these diets is the elimination of all forms of sugar and all starchy carbohydrates.  But in the end, low-carb is low-carb.

Low Carb Airfryer Fried Okra

Okra is decidedly a very weird vegetable.  It is actually an edible seed pod that has mucilaginous qualities, which is why some people dislike it.  However, it is that slimy substance and viscous quality that gives Cajun Gumbo it's texture and flavor.  In fact, in various sub-Saharan African languages, the vegetable is called gombo and is thought to be the origin of the name of that national dish of the South.

Basil Vinaigrette

I'm not sure this is a true vinaigrette in the classical sense.  Vinaigrettes are vinegar, oil and seasonings, like herbs, spices and lemon juice.  The star of this recipe is the herb itself.  The oil and vinegar are almost incidental.  And neither is this just a salad dressing.  It is delicious on simply sliced tomatoes, but would go well with pasta, pizza, grilled chicken or fish and other vegetables.

Shirred Curried Eggs

This is something I created a very long time ago and routinely make to this day. I've been making it for so long I don't remember the first time I made it or from where the inspiration came.  It's so unique that I couldn't find anything similar on the Internet, so I'm taking full credit for a new recipe, never before duplicated.  Prove me wrong.

It's devilishly simple but requires a skillet with a tight-fitting, see-through lid.  Timing is everything.

Oven Chicken Cordon Bleu

My Number One Fan never ceases to amaze me, for many reasons, but noteworthy here for her ability to find great recipes on the Internet, adapt them to make them her own, and create something really outstanding.  It will invariably be selected for its ease in preparation and her ability to use a minimum of pots and pans.  Case in point was this recipe originally called "Easy Baked Ham and Cheese Stuffed Chicken," from the real house-moms' website.

Candied Pecans

One of my early recipes in 2009 was for a savory snack that I made as holiday gifts that I called Barbecued Pecans.  It was a very involved, albeit delicious recipe that required preparing both a wet and dry spice application, and the pecans were roasted in the oven.  It's a great recipe, but almost put me off toward finding a simpler way to produce candied pecans as a salad ingredient for a recent meal.  I simply didn't have the energy or the time for a protracted cooking event for a single ingredient.  I was about ready to give up on the idea after looking at various recipes on the Internet, as they all were fairly involved and required roasting the pecans in the oven.  Luckily, I found this version from the food.com website, and it took all of about 15 minutes to make.

Panko Crusted Oven Fried Chicken

Five years ago, I posted a recipe,  Low Carb Oven Pan Fried Chicken and have made it a couple of times.  It's a good recipe, but it is labor intensive with the use and clean-up of a cast iron skillet.  I stand by the recipe, but on this occasion, I was less concerned about my carb intake and wanted something fairly easy to make, while rendering chicken with a crispy exterior and a moist, juicy interior.  After rooting around on the Internet, I settled on a variation of a recipe from the Food Network called "Deviled Chicken Thighs."

Sausage & Pepperoni Pizza Soup

My Number One Fan found this from a website called afarmgirldabbles.com, which sounds like a Pioneer Woman knockoff.  I admit, I never considered taking the ingredients from a pizza and configuring a soup out of them, but this is pretty much what a sausage pepperoni pizza tastes like without the crust.  It's very rich and filling.  If you feel compelled to eat toasted garlic bread with this dish, I suggest you simply make a pizza.  But if you're sticking to a low carb approach, however, this is a great way to go when the urge for a pizza seems irresistible.  My Number One Fan modified the recipe on several counts, but most notably, using turkey pepperoni rather than traditional.  This made for considerably less fat in the dish.

Italian Sausage Stuffed Eggplant

This is another recipe modified from a cooking site called ClosetCooking.  The guy apparently has a micro-home and closet-sized kitchen with some significant culinary talent.  I felt he over-complicated some things and tweaked the recipe somewhat.  You will need your own Italian tomato sauce for this recipe, or a jarred variety.  Our go-to Italian sauce is generally Classico Tomato Basil, which I still think is very good.  However, we're being mindful of our sugar intake lately, and finding products on the shelves these days without added sugar is proving to be a challenge.

Low Carb Beef Stir Fry

You can easily carb this up by serving it over rice, but on its own, this is a pretty delicious and healthful dish.  Truth be told, my Number One Fan had several "Reduced For Quick Sale" cuts of beef in the freezer, which was very frugal of her, but she had no plan to prepare them.  Enter The Kitchen Tapestry Chef with just throwing some stuff together in a wok on a weeknight.  This is not a hard and fast recipe.  You can do any number of things to change the texture and flavor of the dish.  Add some Sriracha Sauce for an added zing.  Add mushrooms, bean sprouts, broccoli or asparagus.  You can add more or less soy sauce, or substitute teriyaki sauce.  Play around with it, have fun and eat well!