Cooking as a gift

One of my clients (and one of my good friends, too!) just had a baby recently. I asked if there was anything I could do for them (secretly hoping they'd ask me to cook them a meal!) and guess what?? I got to cook a meal and deliver it to the new family and meet their little peanut!

I don't have a name for this meal. I make it different each time. It's kind of a grown up's baked mac-n-cheese. It's kind of a casserole. It's kind of um... delicious!! And guess what? It's also low fat! And once again- something you make different each time!
It's basically sauteed vegetables and garlic, smokey chicken sausage, pasta and a low fat cheese sauce all mixed together and baked.

What I used:
1/2 a box of small pasta
1 sweet onion
1/2 a large green pepper
2 small zucchinis
1 small head of broccoli
3 cloves of garlic (Have I mentioned yet how much I love garlic??)
1 package of smoked chicken sausage
BBQ sauce, hot sauce and liquid smoke for flavor
1/2 C. of fat free cheddar cheese
1/2 C. of low fat cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cans of either fat free or 2% canned milk
1 TBS of butter
1 TBS of flour

Ok so here is goes... Chop of the veggies and saute... (and add the broccoli last because you don't want it to get too mushy!)
Take them out of the pan and throw them in a large bowl and set aside. In the same pan cook up the chicken sausage. Towards the end throw in about 2TBS of BBQ sauce to add a little flavor. Plus the sauce almost caramelizes the meat and makes it super tasty!
Then add the meat to the veggies and set aside.



While boiling the pasta (if you don't know how to boil pasta then perhaps you shouldn't be reading a cooking blog... no offense) it's time to make magic! Sauce time!!
First start with a roux... but with a twist. Melt the butter and add the flour and whisk. Then add about 2TBS of BBQ sauce and 1/2 a cap full of liquid smoke (no more than that as a little goes a very long way!!) and a few dashes of a smokey hot sauce. Then gradually add the milk. It will start to get thicker and form a paste. Continue to whisk while adding the milk. When it's all smooth and warm- that's when you add the cheese. Oh yes. The magical ingredient.

At this point you should taste it and see where the flavor is. I like the undertone flavor the BBQ sauce adds. Add more flavors if you think it needs it.
When your sauce is all delish and tasty, pour it over the veggies, meat and (drained) pasta. Give it a toss and gently mix it all up. You can serve it just as is... bake it with some cracker crumbs on top... or just eat it out of the pot if you must!

Want a cookie? It's Weight Watchers! For real!! 1 Point!

We had dinner at my parent's house the other night and I was asked to bring a dessert. So I browsed my weight watchers recipes and found a recipe for mini chocolate chip cookies. I of course made some small changes... don't mistake what I am saying- I give weight watchers full credit for this one but I'm still sharing the recipe!
After I baked them I took this picture of me holding out the cookie and sent it to Ron with a caption saying "hurry home so you can taste my cookies!".. or something of that sort. :0)
For these teeny little delicious cookies you will need:

2 TBS of butter
2 tsp of oil
1/2 C. of packed brown sugar
1 tsp of vanilla (again- at the risk of sounding like the Barefoot Contessa- use a high quality vanilla if you can!)
1/8 tsp of salt
1 egg white
1/2 C. of flour (I usually use equal parts whole wheat and white but use what you have/like)
1/4 C. of oatmeal
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 C. dark chocolate chips
1/4 C. white chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375
Sift dry ingredients and add the remainder. I could do step by step instructions but isn't that kind of boring? Let's talk about the fun stuff instead.
Because my version includes oatmeal in place of part of the flour- these cookies get all thin and crispy and sort of delicate like lace when they bake! Also by adding two different kinds of chip flavors/colors they are more visually dynamic!
Here's the catch! Because it's a weight watchers food... they're TEENY!! (but they get bigger when you bake!) Usually a recipes says to drop "rounded teaspoon fulls" but these you drop only a half a teaspoon.
Bake them for about 5-8 mins or until they get all golden and crispy.
Here's the best part! TWO cookies = ONE point!!

Who has a silpat? Oh my goodness are they wonderful!! Our very good friends the Cakebread's or "The CB's" as Ron and I often call them- gifted us two of these babies for Christmas. What is a silpat you ask? It's this dreamy sheet of silicone that creates a non-stick cooking surface for anything you're baking!! CHeck it out! Get one (or 3 or 5...!!) http://silpat.com/

Vegetarian Mexican Soup

First of all- check out this beautiful piece of kitchenware! My dear friend Kirsten gifted this to Ron and I when we had our house warming party. You may have seen a picture of it cameo in one of my Facebook profile pictures. The picture with Jasmine (one of our cats) IN it and me with giant green chopsticks and a green hat. Don't worry- it's been washed since then!! lol

So tonight I had to plan a meal that I could make in advance and have ready when we came home from our apts (me: acupuncture, Ron: piano lessons). After starting the blog this morning I decided to go through my cookbook for recipes to write about.
Several years back I started writing a cookbook! It's funny because there's recipes I used to cook often and I haven't even looked at them now for a long time! It made me nostalgic looking back at my old recipes!
Even though it is MY recipe- I still couldn't bring myself to follow the recipe totally!!
But check it out: this recipe may not be anything to look at (I mean come on, it's a soup that wants to be chili...) but it is SO easy to make, it's quick, it cane be made in the crokpot if you want, it's cheap to make and it's practically fat free and even though I said vegetarian I think it's actually not technically as it has chicken broth but you could use vegetable broth if you like.

This is what you will need (and again- make adjustments to your own taste and be creative!!)
1 bell pepper, chopped (I chose green for this recipe to add some color contrast)
1 sweet onion, chopped
2+ cloves of garlic minced
1 can of fire roasted tomatoes
1 can of black beans
1 can of fat free spicy refried beans
1 can of corn (drained)
1 can of creamed corn (tonight was the 1st time I tried that addition)
8-12 oz of chicken stock or broth (add it gradually and stop when you like the consistency)
Several dashes of your favorite hot sauce(s) (we like a chipolte and garlic sauce)
salt to taste
Saute the onions and peppers and then transfer to crockpot if that's how you are cooking it. Then gradually add the other ingredients. Mash the refried beans up to thicken the broth!
When it's hot- it's done! So easy!!
And for toppings- I use a sprinkle of fat free cheddar cheese and low fat sour cream (just a dollop) and another splash of hot sauce

Oh yeah! Almost forgot! I serve this soup on top of a small scoop of cooked barley! You could also use rice or nothing if that's what you wish!
** I used to add a jalapeno with the onions and pepper but today I opted for just the spicy beans and hot sauce since I was short on time... and my past few jalapeno experiences have had unpleasant side effects (think pepper oil soaked into your skin when you say...oh I don't know... take your contacts out later...yeah. No good.)
Usually I wear gloves (like the ones I use at work when I apply color) to avoid such catastrophes but that just takes extra time and when you're rushing- thats' just too much sometimes!
So moral of the story- invest in some gloves (but please don't steal from The Color Studio) and save jalapeno shopping for a leisurely sunday!

Saucy!! Spinach and garlic alfredo sauce for those yummy noodles!

Ok. Not to sound like Ina Garden (because I feel like it's condescending to ASSUME everyone is  the same) but "who doesn't love fettucini alfredo??" The truth is- I rarely eat it because I know what's in it! Cream, butter and cheese. Um, no offense but that's really, really, really bad for you! "yeah- I'll take a plate of carbs and could you please drown it in pure fat with a side of fat please?" Unless you're my friend Kate (Hi Kate!!!) and you are going to 2 exercise classes a day... you probably shouldn't be eating this stuff (not often anyways). However, who says once in a while a trimmed down version is bad? I'm still scared to check the WW points value on t his one because I know it will be a scary number. But I also know that it's so rare that I make  this and it's soooo much better for you and wicked yummy, too!
Here it is:
In a skillet heat 2 tsp of EVOO (I know Rachel Ray has overused this term but to be honest "extra virgin olive oil" is a lot to type every few lines. So I'm sticking with Rach on  this one!) and toss in a couple cloves of garlic thinly sliced. Cook for about 1 min and then add a bag of fresh baby spinach and toss with tongs to coat the greens with the hot garlic oil. Cover and cook about 5 mins until spinach is wilted. Sprinkle with a little salt and fresh grated nutmeg (if you have it) , toss it and take of heat and let it sit.
Next pot. (Oh I hope you have help cleaning after this meal! Lots of dishes!)
Melt 1 TBS of butter and then add 1 TBS of four and cook for a min or so. You are making a roux to help thicken the sauce. Next you are going to whisk in one can of evaporated milk (NOT the sweet kind!! There's a huge difference!). The kind of milk (there's fat free which is what I usually use, 2% and whole) you use is your prerogative. The reason I used canned milk is because it's condensed and much creamier than regular milk so it has more of a "cream" like texture with out all the fat in cream! Ok so whisk the milk in. Keep an eye on your heat. It shouldn't be over medium at this point. If my husband reads this he will likely be laughing at this part because almost daily he comes in the kitchen and questions my temperature because I apparently use a higher temp than I should! Ha! Anyways, bottom line is  that you don't want burnt sauce! Gross!
Time to spice things up a bit! I season my sauce with sea salt (start with a small amount! You can always add more! It's like I say when I cut people's hair "I can take more but I can't put it back!" Same rule), fresh grated nutmeg (The bottled stuff is fine I'm sure but I just like to use my microplane zester!!), black pepper and sometimes garlic powder, too. Taste your sauce (but don't double dip your spoon unless it's just you and your significant other). Now the yummy part! Parmesan! I use parmesan reggiano which is the best you can get. It's usually by the deli in the cheese part of the store. I buy a hunk of it and grate it up as I go (it will last a long time and a little goes a long way!). You could also just buy shredded parm in the processed cheese isle if that's easier for you. Either way, you need aprox (again, eyeball and taste!) 1/2 cup of shredded/grated cheese. Whisk it in and taste it again. It should thicken the sauce right up. If not, add a little more. When it's the right consistency, add the tasty garlic infused wilted spinach!
Toss with your favorite pasta and serve with some pepper or more grated cheese on top if you wish.

Noodles Noodles Noodles...Ow! My hands hurt!!

Ok, let me 1st start by saying that I don't love pasta. I say "love" because there's a few ways that I'll eat it and like it. But as a rule- I'm a weirdo and pasta is on the bottom of my totem pole of meals I like to cook. Ron however (like most people) DOES like pasta. Especially with my homemade sauces! The other day I was dreaming about my trip to Italy and remembering that for the very 1st time in my life I ate pasta that was SO GOOD!! Then I thought that maybe it was because it was fresh and had that delicate bite because it was REAL! It hadn't been sitting in a box in a supermarket for years! So thats' when I decided that I'd make Ron some fresh Fettucini Alfredo!
Obviously since I'm not a huge pasta fan I don't own any pasta making gadgets! In the past I've made raviolis and such from scratch and I started it by mixing the dough on the counter with a hole in the flour for the egg etc... but I was gifted a wonderful Cuisinart food processor fro Christmas from my amazing parents! So I did use that to start the dough. Making pasta isn't difficult. But rolling it out without a machine is a challenge! So here's the *easy* recipe!

In food processor put 1 cup of semolina flour and a dash of salt (around 1/2 a tsp)
Give it a "whirl" to break up any flour lumps and to mix salt etc
Next add 1 beaten egg (normally I use egg beaters however I don't like to change new recipes too much from the start)
Pulse the egg in for a min or so. It's going to look almost like cous cous at this point. But if you were to pinch it together it would stick and make a dough. The idea is to get a ball of dough that sticks together but isn't too dry. Most likely you will have a to add a TBS or 2 (or 3??) of water. At this point I dumped the "cous cous" onto the counter and hand kneaded from here. Make sure you have clean hands and take off your bling if you wish! I added the water as I was kneading since it's easier to feel the texture change than to see it change in the food processor. Once it's a good texture and stays together without crumbling- knead the hell out of it! (for aprox 5-10 mins)
Then the fun part! (NOT!) Get out that rolling pin! Throw a sprinkle of flour onto your (clean!) countertop....Time to roll! And roll...and roll some more. It will feel very tough and almost impossible to roll thing but keep going!! You can do it!! You want it about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. When you (finally!!!!) get there... the worst is over!! Dust a little flour on your dough and roll it up into a tube (not tight- this is only to help cutting the dough easier). Move your dough to a cutting board and grab a sharp knife! Make EVEN sized cuts- the size is your choice! You can't go wrong as long as they are all the same size for cooking purposes! After you make a cut- unravel the noodle and view your work! It should unfold like a piece of confetti! After they're all cut- toss a little flour on top to keep them from sticking to each other ad throw them all on a plate or in a bowl. Let them dry an hour or so while you prep the rest of your meal until you're ready to cook them!
When everything else is ready (I'm talking table set and everything...) Boil some water and add a generous amount of sea salt to flavor the water. When it comes to a boil throw your beautiful pasta in (DON'T cover!) and cook for 4-7 mins. Taste after a few mins and pull them out when they reach the texture you are looking for. Quickly drain water...DO NOT RINSE... and plate, sauce and serve!
This should make 3 large servings or 4 small servings.

I will write up the sauce recipe next but 1st I need to catch up on house chores! :0)

Hello...My name is Darcie and I like to cook.

Hello! Not sure if anyone will be reading this... but I'm giving it a go! A few friends suggested I start a blog. So this being my very 1st entry (is that proper blogging-terminology? Not sure...) I suppose I should explain what kind of blog this is... or will be I hope! 

Ok. So about me and this blog... My name is Darcie (obviously if you're reading this now it's because I sent you here and you clearly know this but I figure I should formally introduce myself or something??). I live on Cape Cod with the love of my life in a cozy little town house with 4 kitties! Yup. FOUR! I'm a hairdresser and an artist at heart. I love crafting and creating. My favorite way to express my creativity is in the kitchen. I like to write recipes and make a meal out of whatever I have on hand. I've made up some pretty funky dishes in my day!! But almost always it's a success! I'm told by my father that I have inherited this gift from my paternal grandmother "Hibdee" as she was called. I rarely follow recipes. Usually I will research an idea like the other day for instance when I made home made pasta (getting to that recipe soon!) I googled "how to make homemade pasta by hand". I read a handful of recipes. I extracted important information I knew I'd need to know like it's generally 1 egg  to 1 cup of flour.. etc. Then I gently followed that rule and made my own version. 

It's wonderful to be able to cook with out recipes most days. There's nothing like seeing my husband thoroughly enjoy a meal I just whipped up! It's the best gift when people enjoy what you worked so hard to make for them! The downside...(oh yes. Always a downside!) is that 4 1/2 weeks later when Ron (that's my love-of-my-life-husband mentioned before) suggests that I make the spinach and barley stuffed red peppers that we loved so much I silently curse in my head. Shit. How the heck did I make that batch???? Alas... that's when I new recipe is created I guess!!

Some days Ron will clear the table and start dishes (yes he does dishes almost every night!!!! He's so dreamy.... oh yeah....back to the blog...) and make me sit down with a pad of paper and a pen and write down the recipe. Our cookbook shelf (I like to read cookbooks for fun. I pull ideas from them and store them in a little corner of my brain and then pull them out on a snowy January sunday morning) has lots of random folded up pieces of paper in it from all those nights. The problem with that (Yes. Another downside) is that I rarely measure ingredients. Usually I just "eyeball" it. I pinch here. A splash there. I'm only telling you this in case anyone tries any of my recipes. Mostly what I write are estimates. But here's a secret! Unless you're baking and measuring things like baking soda... exact measurements DON'T MATTER!! Example: when making a sauce- if I say to use 1 TBS of each crushed garlic and hot sauce... you can do a TEASPOON of hot sauce and 2 TBS of garlic if that's what you wish! Accommodating recipes to suite your taste is in my opinion one of the best parts of cooking!! 

Anyways (Stay on track Dee!!) I posted a picture of a meal I made on Facebook the other night. Really I was just enjoying the HD picture quality of my iPhone 4! Food photographs very well on my phone! After a few friends commented on it- I had a thought! What if I started taking photos of things I make in the kitchen, post them on Facebook and attach the recipe! That way I can keep track of them AND share at the same  time. And that is when the blog idea was born! A few friends suggested I give this a try! So here I am! I'm going to start after this entry with a few recipes. Some are older and I have no pictures. But I promise from here on out there will be pictures with all recipes! Also- if I have the time I will give a weight watchers point value also for anyone who is on WW! 

Happy cooking!!