15 Minute Bay Scallop Alfredo

Cooking during the summer in this house can be a chore.  It's a darling house that I love dearly, but having been built in the 1800's and gone through several owners, the quality of the various upgrades/changes varies.  The kitchen, for example, was a later addition done on the cheap--they literally plugged an 11'x10' box onto the back of the second story with no insulation and minimal underside supports.  Therefore, besides having to shore up the room before I moved in (nothing like having to ask the question "well, is it going to fall off?") my kitchen, being the outside wall on four of six sides, is pretty much the same temperature as outside.  During the winter I just make a lot of breads, stews, and other long-cooking items to keep the room toasty, but in the summer anything which adds heat to the room makes the entire floor unbearable.

Not being a takeout kind of girl (it's fine once in awhile, but all summer? Expensive and unhealthy!) instead I've made it my mission this summer to come up with recipes that minimize my time in the kitchen and don't use the oven.  Yeah, I know, there are millions of 30-minute cookbooks out there but really--isn't that aiming too low?  Dinner is totally possible in 15 minutes which I proved last night with my 15 Minute Bay Scallop Alfredo. (recipe after the break)

Shortcut Japanese: Miso and Rolls

Disclaimer: What I'm about to do is probably ten kinds of incorrect.  There are correct ways of making sushi rolls but I don't know them.  Yet it works and if you're fiending for a bit of yummy goodness without a trip to a restaurant then read on....

Sweet & Spicy Marinade

This one of my go to marinades for chicken and pork. In fact it's absolutely wonderful used on the grilled items. I've adjusted the spice factor several times for the tastes of guests. It requires a specific ingredient which you should be able to find in the ethnic foods section of your grocery store.



I always buy this brand and no, I haven't a clue how to pronounce the name of the company, I just call it Rooster brand. This is not the same thing as the Chili sauce with the dispensing spout. This sauce has actual red chili seeds in it. It's thicker, more like a paste. Now on with the recipe....


1c brown sugar
1/4c ketchup
1/4c soy sauce
1/4c rum
1/2c chili sauce (I've used as little as 2 Tbs)
2 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
1 tsp dry mustard
dash of black pepper

I use a 2c pyrex measuring cup for all the liquid ingredients first then dump them into a bowl and then add the remaining ingredients. Once this is mixed well, place 3lbs mixed bone in chicken parts in a ziptop bag, pour half of the marinade into bag, close bag and massage to cover each piece of chicken in marinade. Place in refrigerator for 1 hour. Simmer remaining marinade in a small pot on low heat until thickened to preferred consistency, and let cool off heat.

Preheat oven to 425*
Empty bag of chicken and marinade into a 9 x 11 baking pan, arrange chicken in one layer skin side up. Bake for 25 min. Remove from oven and baste chicken with marinade in pan, return to oven for another 20-25 min. Remove from oven and let rest 5-10 min. Serve chicken with cooked marinade alongside.

Yes you have to cook the marinade down as it's really not a good dipping sauce otherwise. You can also cook the sauce down and use it as a wing sauce too.

Five Minute Chocolate Ricotta Pears

Thankfully Jo has been a busy tasty bee and has kept you entertained because I haven't cooked worth mentioning in over a week.  I swear I have a good reason!  Really!  OK, maybe I don't and it's kind of embarrassing, but I'll tell you about it anyway.  Here we were last week, BabyBella and I, playing around, she's in my arms being carried and I'm leaning in one direction, when suddenly she flings herself in the other direction then starts slipping out of my arms (she's a big girl!), so I quickly swing back around toward her and RRRRIIIIIIIIIIIPPPPPPPPP! something gives out in my back.  Holy moly, Jiminey Crickets, wowza and crikey, that hurt.  Whatever it was I did, the pain radiated from my knees to my shoulders and literally made my vision swim for hours. Thankfully, Jo gave me some excellent advice what to do to help manage it so I was able to grit my teeth and kept going.  Since I still had to work and take care of kiddo, I cut myself a break by keeping dinners easy this week.  We even *gasp* ordered pizza one night.

In other words, it was the perfect week to make a homemade dessert that barely takes longer than scooping out some icecream--chocolate ricotta pears.

(Recipe after the break)

Macaroni and Cheese

No photos, but a bit of a rant. We went to the store today, as I had no clue what to make for dinner. As the three of us walked through the store, we scratched our heads and Stinky saw something. He wanted Kraft macaroni and cheese. Excuse me? You want noodles with orange food coloring? Not happening. Now I don't make mac n cheese very often. Usually when I make it, it's the baked kind with the four to six different cheeses, milk and eggs, and baked. But since he was craving it, we headed over to the cheeses and grabbed a chunk of mild cheddar and monterey jack.

Macaroni and cheese is a really simple dish, why do people buy Kraft? I don't understand it. From start to finish it takes about 20 min to make it from scratch and it's comparable timing to the boxed fake stuff. Boil macaroni, while the noodles are cooking grab another small pan and heat 1/2 to 3/4 cup of milk with 8 oz of shredded cheese of your choice over medium low heat. When the cheese is melted, the noodles should be ready, drain then put the noodles back in the pot and pour the melted cheese over the noodles and stir to mix. Gee how hard can that be? Yea there are two pots to wash instead of one, but it's so much better this way.

Stinky was happy. Oh what did we have for dinner? Fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, and green beans. It was easy and didn't take a lot of thought.

Chicken Casserole

For the last week we've been getting totally pounded by snowstorms.  Two blizzards!  Growing up in upstate NY we were much more prepared for getting buried.  We had snowsuits and thermal underwear (not exactly fashionable, but when it's -20 degrees F, you need it), firewood stocked, snowblowers and BIG plows.  Here in the mid-Atlantic, they close schools for an inch of white stuff and since I've lived here, usually they see about 4 inches of snow in total over the course of the entire winter.  This is what my town looks like today:

So, to say the least, getting over three feet of snow in the last few days has completely shut down the area.  BabyBella hasn't been to school since last week and a State of Emergency has been declared twice.  Thankfully, we still have power and the kitchen is well-stocked.  Yet, after a week of this we're both getting a little stir crazy and had to get out to stretch our legs during a lull in the storms.

Since its ridiculously cold outside, to help keep the house warm (have I mentioned that my house is over 100 years old and doesn't have insulation?) I've been doing a lot of comfort-food cooking that involves either long simmer times or baking.  One of my favorite comfort foods is an adaptation of a chicken casserole recipe that a friend brought me as a welcome home gift after having BabyBella. Recipe after the break...

Three Ingredient Tomato Sauce

I'm so over Winter. I want days in the mid 60's, with warm breezes, not blustery cold winds that cut through clothing and freezes your toes even with 2 pairs of socks and Uggs on. I am craving spring and summer veggies, more variety than what is available now.

Running across two different recipes for a basic tomato sauce, made me happy. I found the Scarpetta recipe at Steamy Kitchen, but that was a bit more than I wanted, not that a garlic basil oil isn't tasty, I just wanted a simple recipe I could throw together while cleaning house. A few weeks later I run across Smitten Kitchen and her quick tomato sauce recipe. Now I'm more in tune with her recipe since she's got her hands full with a really cute little baby.


This was my lunch for two days, and it was totally yummy. When one thinks about it, what does a basic sauce need? Tomatoes, onions, and butter. Life can be fantastic with just those three?


One can of tomatoes, I have used San Marzano style, regular whole peeled, diced, and no salt kinds. They all work. Since it's a side dish, I use only 14oz cans of tomatoes, not the 28oz. It requires half a onion and 3 tablespoons of butter. Just put it all in a sturdy pot and put it on low heat to simmer for 40 min to 1 hour. Stir occasionally.

This is what it looks like when it's been simmering for a while. I like to puree the sauce when I'm done, so I used my hand immersion blender. I do admit I enjoy basil so I chiffonade a few leaves and toss them in after the immersion blender, then salt if needed. So if you need something warm and sunny give this a try. Right now I'm trying to keep a basil plant alive in this cold. Hopefully it will make it to Spring and I'll be able to plant it.

BBQ beef sandwiches

I was trying to find something that was simple and filling and ran across this recipe on Simply Recipes. This looked good, something different and tasty, and a bit of a warm weather reminder in the freezing cold. The ingredients were fairly inexpensive and made enough to serve 12. That's two meals in this house.

(more after the break)

Kiddie Food--Corndogs and Mac and Cheese

As previously mentioned, BabyBella hates eating vegetables.  This is not at all unusual in children her age.  I've read countless articles and books on how to deal with this from the "try one bite" to "hiding the veggies."  My problem with these two approaches is the first won't get enough vegetables into my kid and the second is, quite frankly, lying to her.  Thus, I have gone with a blended approach.  I often serve vegetables as a side dish, have her try at least one bite (she inevitably says she hates it) and fortify the meal with vegetables I've blended into other foods.  As BabyBella is my #1 kitchen helper (menu planner and sous chef) she's fully aware of what I'm doing.

Today BabyBella chose for dinner a school cafeteria favorite--corn dogs with macaroni and cheese.  Now, before you get all "that's not a healthy meal!" on me, know that it is not the traditional carnival treats.

Recipe and more after the break...

Hiding the Veggies in Pasta e Fagioli

My six year-old daughter, henceforth referred to as BabyBella, is a horribly picky eater.  We've been through all the phases--only eating particular colors, insisting on only eating one kind of food for days on end then refusing to eat it at all the next week, refusing to eat food that touched another food--name it, we've been there.   These days, BabyBella's picky phase is refusing to eat any fruits or vegetables.  For obvious health and nutritional reasons, I can't accommodate this phase and have her not eat any fruits or vegetables. 

Luckily, although BabyBella won't eat vegetables, she and I have a deal--if she can't tell its a vegetable, she'll eat it.  That means things like tomato sauce, cornbread, spinach pasta, etc. are all totally OK with her. Thus, I've become talented at hiding fruits and vegetables in everything BabyBella eats.

I wasn't feeling particularly creative tonight but it is extremely chilly out and wanted comfort food, so I went with an old standby--Pasta e Fagioli.  Of course, I use the title loosely as it's not exactly the classic Italian soup recipe, but I've kept the general idea with a few modifications to accommodate my picky eater and make it a little bit more of a complete meal.

Recipe after the break...