Tomato Salad with Crushed Croutons

Hi, friends. It’s been awhile since we’ve talked.  I’ve missed you.  I don’t like to go so long between posts, but I’ve been off having adventures.  Ok, not really… I’ve been dealing with some medical junk and recovery has left me a bit lacking in motivation to write – or do just about anything else.  At least I left you with a nice recipe to look at for the last couple of weeks though, right?  I mean those French Dip Sandwiches rocked.  In fact, I kind of wish I had one right now, and it’s only 10:30 in the morning.

And I’m on the mend, which means good things are coming your way.  I haven’t been cooking much lately, but I’ve got a ridiculous backlog of recipes waiting to be shared.  I’d hoped to post today’s recipe while it was still warm outside, but life happens.  I know you get that.  And maybe it’s still warm where you live.  We’ve got that fantastic warm during the day and cold at night thing going on right now.  It’s my favorite weather of the year – the kind where you can wear short sleeves during the day and burrow under blankets and sleep with the windows open at night.

Since fall is clearly cruising into town, today’s recipe is likely going to be my final ode to summer.  I think it’s an appropriate choice, too, since nothing says summer as much as tomatoes, and in this recipe, tomatoes are the star.  Ripe, juicy, sweet, and tangy tomatoes.  Lightly dressed with a simple red wine vinaigrette.  Topped with crunchy, cheesy, garlicky, salty, homemade croutons.  This recipe is brilliant.  And I am certain I will be thinking about it until tomato season rolls around next year.  If you are lucky enough to live somewhere where tomatoes are still in season, get them while you can, and try them topped with some crunchy, crushed crouton goodness.

French Dip Sandwiches au Jus

Like many couples, Stan and I have different ideas about what makes a good meal.  I take more of the foodie approach.  I like variety; I want different flavors and colors and textures.  I like to try new things – even when they take a long time to make and turn our kitchen into a disaster.  I like the process almost as much as the eating.  I also think vegetables are a necessary component of every (non-breakfast) meal. 

Stan, on the other hand, is more of a stereotypical man.  He sees food as fuel.  To him, trying new recipes and experimenting in the kitchen merely delays getting food on the table – and leaves more dishes to wash.  He most certainly does not consider vegetables a necessary part of any meal.  Stan likes meat.  With a side of meat.  And some potatoes.  And ideally, some bread for dipping. 

Considering our different approaches to eating, I feel pretty lucky that Stan will eat pretty much anything I put in front of him, including vegetables.  Since he eats kale, broccoli, asparagus, zucchini, and other assorted green food on a regular basis, I like to “reward” him from time to time with a “man meal”.  Like French Dip Sandwiches au Jus. 

When I told Stan I was going to be making French Dip Sandwiches for dinner, he actually got excited about food.  (This is rare unless we’re talking about Doritos.)  When he came home the next night and I was shredding the beef, I actually had to kick him out of the kitchen so he wouldn’t eat all of it before I had a chance to turn it into sandwiches.  (I felt a little guilty about that since I couldn’t stop snacking on the meat myself.)  And then the sandwiches were ready - crusty bread filled with tender, salty, savory beef and sliced provolone cheese with a cup of jus (the beef’s cooking liquid) for dipping.  I even made roasted potatoes to go with the sandwiches. Stan was a happy man.  So happy he didn’t even mind the kale salad.

Chocolate Pudding

Chocolate pudding is one of those foods I associate with childhood.  Growing up, my mom would make pudding for us using the box mix.  Sometimes she made instant pudding.  That was fun because it required putting the pudding mixture in a sealed container and shaking the daylights out of it to mix it up.  (At least that’s how we did it when I was helping.)  More often, Mom made the kind you had to cook and then let chill. That was also fun because we never put plastic wrap on the top of the pudding cups so they got a nice thick film.  (Am I the only one who thinks it’s fun to eat pudding skin?)

I never was into the pudding cups you could buy at the store.  My mom’s “homemade” pudding seemed far superior in taste.  Plus I was weirded out by the idea of pudding that didn’t need to be refrigerated.  That went against everything I knew about dairy products at that point in my life.  (Shelf-stable boxed milk would have probably blown my mind.) Homemade pudding from scratch was not something I knew anything about as a kid.  As an adult, I knew you could make pudding yourself, but I’d never tried it.  Over the past couple of years, I’ve saved several pudding recipes to try.  For whatever reason, I’ve never gotten around to making any of them.  The other night however, I was having a serious sweets craving.  Stan was at the store getting groceries, and while I’d texted him a request for ice cream, I had my suspicions he wouldn’t remember to bring any home.  (I was right.)  I didn’t want to take any chances, so I went looking for the chocolate pudding recipe I knew I had stored away.

And I gotta say… I’m glad Stan forgot the ice cream because homemade chocolate pudding rocks.  It is richer and more chocolaty and more decadent than anything you can made from a box mix.  And much to my very happy surprise, homemade chocolate pudding is just about as easy to make as the pudding you cook from a box.  All you have to do is whisk a few things together, heat everything up, and whisk a little more.  See?  Easy.  Perhaps the very best part about scratch-made pudding is that you probably already have all of the ingredients in your fridge and pantry so you can make it anytime you have a craving.  And I suspect you’ll be having lots of cravings once you have a taste of this homemade pudding.

Spicy Honey Chicken

For most people, summer is the perfect time for grilling.  Not so much for us.  At least not this summer.  Stan does our grilling, and this summer he avoided our grill like the plague.  Not because he has developed an aversion to one of his favorite toys, but rather because it was approximately 150 degrees all summer long.  (That may be a slight exaggeration, but you get where I’m coming from.)  We have a charcoal grill and convincing Stan to stand outside for extended periods of time in the sweltering heat was just not going to happen.

And I was okay with our lack of grilling… mostly.  What I missed though, was the opportunity to try the many recipes I had lined up for summer grilling.  Fortunately, Stan decided to brave the heat a couple of weeks ago and let me pick out the recipes.  Enter today’s recipe for Spicy Honey Chicken – otherwise known as possibly the best chicken we ate all summer.

This chicken recipe is fabulous for many reasons.  First, it is easy.  Ridiculously easy.  Rub on a spice mixture, grill, and brush with honey-easy.  It is also insanely delicious.  The chicken is spicy, but not too hot.  It is smoky from the grill.  It is sweet (but not too sweet) and caramelized from the honey glaze.  It is economical.  And in addition to all of those reasons, this chicken recipe is great because it works just as well in a grill pan as on a real grill, making it perfect for year-round cooking. 

Tex-Mex Chicken and Rice Casserole

I don’t know about you, but after a rough day, I crave comfort food. And when it comes to comfort food, I like it as carb-y and cheesy as possible. Not exactly healthy, I know. But that’s why it’s comfort food, right? I mean come on, who ever wanted carrot sticks and bean sprouts after a hard day? Unless maybe they were tossed in an Asian-inspired dish and smothered in peanut sauce. In which case, sign me up.

But what if comfort food could be healthy(ish) and comforting at the same time? What if you could still satisfy the craving for carbs and cheese and stick-to-your-ribs casseroles without completely destroying your waistline? That would be a good thing right?

I thought so. And so I tried today’s recipe. One, because it looked ridiculously good. And two, because it wasn’t nearly as unhealthy as it would appear at first glance. This casserole is full of good things. Chicken and brown rice and chiles and black beans and corn and salsa. All healthy. Sour cream (I used reduced-fat) makes it a little creamy, and just a little cheese makes it gooey. All you have to do is stir everything together and bake until bubbly.

One bite and I was in love. This Tex-Mex Chicken and Rice Casserole is complete comfort food, but it doesn’t have to be a guilty pleasure. Serve it up with a salad on the side and you’ve got a meal that will comfort your belly… and your conscience.

Scalloped Tomatoes with Croutons

In Dayton, Ohio, where I grew up, there’s a well-known steakhouse.  I’ve never actually had a steak from there, but every once in awhile, when we got really lucky, my dad would pick up their burgers on the way home from work.  As I’m sure you can imagine, burgers from a steakhouse are pretty darn good.  However, the burgers weren’t my favorite part of the takeout order. 

What I looked forward to (and often ordered double servings of) were the stewed tomatoes.  They were warm, a little sweet, and a little tangy.  They were also topped with cubes of toasted bread that were crunchy on top and a little soggy where they touched the tomatoes.  Those stewed tomatoes rocked my world.

Unfortunately, I haven’t found anything similar since I moved away.  Surprisingly, it never occurred to me to try to make stewed tomatoes myself.  It wasn’t until I came across today’s recipe for Scalloped Tomatoes with Croutons that my cooking wheels started turning.  And then my friend and I made the recipe for lunch one day.  And I nearly fainted – in a good way.

These Scalloped Tomatoes with Croutons are warm and bubbly.  The tomatoes are sweet and savory and a little tangy.  The homemade croutons add fantastic texture and crunch.  The Parmesan cheese, while not a part of the tomatoes of my youth, adds a lovely (and I think, optional) richness.  All in all, I’m in love with this recipe.  It reminds me of childhood and takeout burger nights with my family.  It’s a good thing.

Five-Spice Chicken with Fresh Plum Sauce

Until last year, it never occurred to me to bake with plums.  And then I discovered the magic of the Dimply Plum Cake.  Also until last year, I never thought about using sweet plums in savory dishes.  And then I made the Spinach and Black Plum Salad.  Both of those recipes changed how I look at plums – and made frequent repeat appearances in our kitchen.

Last night I expanded my plum repertoire a little further with a fantastic recipe for Five-Spice Chicken with Fresh Plum Sauce.  This recipe has a lot going on in the flavor department, and it is all delicious.  Let’s start with the chicken – it’s coated in ground almonds and five-spice powder and then cooked until crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside.  (Five-spice powder, in case you aren’t familiar, is a Chinese spice blend typically containing star anise, cinnamon, cloves, peppercorns, and fennel seeds.  You can usually find it in the regular spice aisle of your supermarket.)

The chicken alone is so delicious I had to restrain myself from going back for second piece.  Together with the sauce, however, this relatively simple chicken dish becomes something special.  As the name of the recipe implies, the sauce contains fresh plums, which are cooked down until they become soft and saucy. The addition of fresh garlic and ginger and a little more of that five-spice powder keeps the sauce from being too sweet – which I appreciate because I don’t typically like my meat to be sweet.  You get the plum taste, but it’s savory.

Another great thing about this recipe is that it could be adapted in a variety of ways.  I can image the almond/five-spice coating on fish or tofu.  The plum sauce would be delicious with pork.  Or of course you can just make the recipe as is – which is what I’m planning to do again very soon.