LFDs : Tomato Soup Mac and Cheesey Quinoa

So here is the last of my Lent Friendly features since Lent is coming to a close this week.  We've got Tomato Soup Mac and Cheese and Cheesey Quinoa and Asparagus Bake!  Both of these can be served as sides or main entrees but given their richness I would suggest them as a side.

Tomato Soup Mac and Cheese
(This makes 3 to 4 large side servings)

 Ingredients:
- 1/2 lb. pasta (I used penne)
- 2/3 c. ricotta cheese
- 2/3 c. aged cheddar, shredded
- 1 (10 oz.) can condensed tomato soup
- 10 oz. (about one soup can) skim milk

Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350.  Divide aged cheddar so you have a couple tablespoons left to sprinkle on top.
- Cook pasta until just barely al dente (1/2 the cooking time listed on the box), drain pasta, do not rinse, you want the noodles still hot.
- In a large mixing bowl mix pasta and ricotta.  Stir in the shredded cheddar then the tomato soup and milk until well combined.
- Pour into a greased baking dish (preferably 8x8 or individual ramekins) and bake for 25 minutes.
- Sprinkle reserved cheddar on top, place under the broiler for 2-3 minutes until cheese starts browning and bubbling.

- Remove from oven, let cool a couple minutes and serve.

This was very tasty!  Chris and I had some raised eyebrows at the name but were very pleased with the end result.  The original recipe I found uses harder to find dairy ingredients like Ludlow and Quark so I did my best to simplify.  Again, this is rather rich with the cheese so it's probably best as a side.

Cheesey Quinoa and Asparagus Bake
(This makes 5 to 6 side servings)

Ingredients:
- 4 Tbsp. light butter
- 6 Tbsp. all purpose flour
- 2 c. skim milk
- 2 c. low fat cheese, shredded, I used a blend of what I had in the house, I would recommend a more flavorful cheese in the future such as Asiago or Aged Cheddar
- 1 c. quinoa
- 1 1/2 c. water
- 8 spears asparagus, washed and thinly sliced


- 4 Tbsp. seasoned panko breadcrumbs
- 1 tsp. olive oil
- Salt & pepper to taste

Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Rinse quinoa in a fine strainer until water runs clear.  Add to a pot with the water and bring to a boil.  Cover and reduce the heat to medium low.  Cook quinoa for 12 minutes, turn off heat and set aside covered for 5 more minutes.
- Melt butter in a large skillet then whisk in the flour.  Turn heat to medium low.

- Slowly whisk in milk until there are no lumps.
- Stir in cheese then add asparagus then quinoa.  Add s&p to taste.

- Pour mixture into a large (lightly greased) baking dish or into individual ramekins.
- In a small bowl combine Panko (add seasoning if you don't have seasoned ones, pepper, oregano and basil should suffice, I had to do that because I buy my Panko plain) and olive oil, stir to combine.
- Top quinoa mixture with Panko.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until breadcrumbs are golden brown.  If the breadcrumbs aren't browning up stick it under the broiler for a few minutes.

I suppose this recipe proves Paula Deen's old philosophy correct "you can make anything taste good with butter and cheese".  Although I retrieved this from a "healthy blog" I'm not sure the use of quinoa and asparagus cancels out the butter, cheese and milk.  I made this when my dad and brother were over for dinner (hence the larger recipe, you can easily halve this to make for two).  Chris and my brother weren't quite sold, Daddy on the other hand really liked it.  But he and my mom have been eating quinoa for awhile so he's a little more used to it than the other critics.

Have a wonderful Easter weekend!  See you in April!

Cheers!
Steph

Lent Friendly Dishes : Veggie Quinoa Skillet

Here is another meatless meal for the Lent observers out there.  It is a Veggie Quinoa skillet that could serve as a meal or a side.  It was rather filling with the cheese, quinoa and veggies and had good flavor but next time I'll probably leave out some of the lemon honey vinaigrette because it was a tad overpowering.

Veggie Quinoa Skillet
(This makes 2 to 3 dinner servings)

 Ingredients:
- 1 3/4 c. chicken broth
- 1 c. quinoa, rinsed and drained
- 1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 small zucchini, quartered and sliced
- 1 small yellow squash, quartered and sliced
- 1 can corn
- 2 green onions
- salt and pepper to taste
- handful cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced in half
- 1/2 c. feta cheese
- 2 Tbsp. chopped basil

For vinaigrette:
- 1 Tbsp. lemon zest
- 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
- 1 1/2 Tbsp. honey
- 1 garlic clove finely minced
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. pepper

Instructions:
- Rinse quinoa in a fine strainer until water runs clear.
- Bring chicken broth to a boil, add quinoa, turn down heat to medium low, cover and cook until broth is absorbed and quinoa is tender.  When quinoa is cooked, fluff with a fork and set aside to cool.

- Whisk lemon zest and juice, honey, garlic, salt and pepper together, set aside.
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium high heat.  Saute garlic until it starts to turn brown around the edges, add zucchini, corn and onions, season with s&p and saute about 4 minutes until just tender.

- Add quinoa and half of the vinaigrette, stir and cook for about a minute.
- Add tomatoes, feta, basil and rest of vinaigrette.  Stir and add s&p to taste.  (you can leave out the rest of the vinaigrette for a less powerful taste)

- Let cool a few minutes and serve.

Chris wasn't a huge fan because of the overpowering lemon flavor.  To be honest, I wasn't the biggest fan either, (for the first time ever I will say this) too much lemon!   I'd like to see what it was like sans vinaigrette.  But it was definitely good with the feta and for having quinoa for the first time it wasn't bad!  Chris wasn't totally sold on the quinoa part but maybe it just takes some getting used to.  Quinoa is a great replacement for starches like rice or pasta in our diet so we'll have to see if we can find some other dishes to try!

Next up I've got a couple more LFDs (Lent Friendly Dishes) to share before Lent is over!

Cheers!
Steph

Local Foodie (OMG) Moment - Cooper's Hawk Winery

I am BACK friends!  After an unexpected blogging hiatus I am stocked up on all kinds of recipes and news to share!  This foodie moment actually happened over my birthday weekend which was three weekends ago but given my unexpected account disabling situation and having to switch it over I got a little behind.

Over my birthday weekend my wonderful fiance spoiled me to the Nth degree!  How I ever became so deserving of a guy like him is still beyond my comprehension.  He is very aware that my parents enabled this spoiling many years ago and he intends to keep up with it!  So in the weeks leading up to my birthday Chris offered to plan my day for me since it was a Saturday so I wouldn't have to work.  I think he did it because he knows I'm such a planner/control freak he took particular joy in not telling me where we were going and what we were doing.  In the morning we went to a delicious brunch at Cap City Diner with great friends Rob and Emily.  Then he had scheduled a mani pedi for me in the afternoon along with ample napping (I'm a nap enthusiast) and getting ready time.  We went to Cooper's Hawk Winery for dinner which had been on my list to try!  I was so excited I could hardly contain myself!

Cooper Hawk Winery

Cooper's Hawk is actually a winery based outside of Chicago and they have multiple restaurants throughout the country, the only ones in Ohio are Columbus (which opened this past fall) and Cincinnati.  Our table was in the upstairs of the restaurant right above the kitchen so we got to see all the expediters and servers in action, as a self proclaimed food geek this was so cool to see!  Our server was fantastic, incredibly helpful with picking wines and offered us as many tastings as we wanted until we landed on the right glass with our meal.  The wine was good, nothing to really write home about but the food....OH THE FOOD!  It was just delicious!  I had the short rib risotto that was just amazing.  Perfectly cooked risotto, the short rib was incredibly tender and not over cooked.  It had a hint of truffle oil which made it pretty out of this world.  My mouth is watering for it now!  They bring out warm pretzel bread before your meal which Chris' and I both agreed would make a great sandwich bun.  It was super fluffy and delicious.  The atmosphere was very nice, even though it was busy we didn't feel rushed or crammed in like sardines.

After dinner we tried Gigi's Cupcakes which just opened by us a few months ago.  I got a Birthday Surprise Cupcake with pink frosting and sprinkles, it was very festive!  For those that don't know, I really love cake.  So this trip to Gigi's was the perfect way to top off my birthday!  After that we met up with wonderful friends at one of my favorite martini bars in the area.

So that was my birthday festivities in a nutshell(ish).  Up next I've got some Lent Friendly dinners to share!  I realize Lent is almost over but cut a blogger some slack, these recipes built up over my untimely account deactivation.

Cheers!
Steph

Broccoli & Cheese Stuffed Shells

So, as promised, I wanted to share a Lent friendly dinner this week!  I made this last week and it was pretty simple and it didn't need a ton of ingredients.  Fridays during Lent can be tricky and I've really been trying to make new meatless recipes rather than the old standbys.  This was just enough of a twist on an old favorite that I figured Chris and I would both like it.

Broccoli and Cheese Stuffed Shells
(This makes about three servings, about 4 or 5 shells each)

 Ingredients:
- 14 jumbo pasta shells (I don't think mine are jumbo I think they are smaller than that hence my using so many)
- a little more than half a container (15 oz) of ricotta cheese (I reserved about 5 oz for another recipe I was making)
- 1/3 c. Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 c. Mozzarella cheese (divided in half)
- 1 crown of broccoli, cut into bite size pieces and steamed (you can use frozen and thaw it but I rather use fresh)
- 1/2 jar of marinara that you prefer
- salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- In a large pot, boil water, add salt then add shells, cook until al dente.  Strain and rinse to cool.
- Steam broccoli, rinse in cold water to cool.
- In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta, Parmesan, 1/4 c. Mozzarella, broccoli and salt and pepper.

- Stuff each shell with about 2 tablespoons of cheese/broccoli mixture.

- Spread half the amount of marinara you have in the bottom of a 13 x 9 baking dish (I used a smaller one and the shells ended up a little squished).
- Lay stuffed shells seam side down in the sauce.
- Cover shells with remaining sauce and sprinkle remaining mozzarella on top.

- Bake in the oven for 20 − 25 minutes until bubbling and cheese is completely melted.

- Serve and enjoy!

These were pretty easy, just a little time consuming is all since it had to bake for at least 20 minutes.  But I took the time to get the messy dishes done so I had less work after dinner!  The broccoli helps make it a little more substantial than just cheese stuffed shells.  Chris gave it a make again but not all the time rating, he wasn't a big fan of the broccoli but thought it was still good.  You could easily make these ahead of time and have them stored in the refrigerator.  Or you could bake them up, let them cool and freeze them for an easy weeknight meal down the road, all you'd have to do is defrost them and microwave them till warmed through.

Up next I've got another meatless meal to share!  This weekend I'll be celebrating my birthday so I think I might take some time off for R&R and then get back with all of you next week!

Cheers!
Steph

Local Foodie Moment - 101 Beer Kitchen!

Even though we have been trying to shape up our eating habits we like taking a break for a night out every once in awhile with friends.  This weekend we tried a new place called 101 Beer Kitchen in Dublin with our friends Lee and Christina.  What a surprising treat!  We really wanted to try a new restaurant in the Short North but reservations were hard to come by with only a few days notice.  Plus the Arnold Sports Festival was in town so we decided let's avoid any downtown chaos and try a place in the suburbs.  Off to Urbanspoon I went and found 101 and am I glad I did!  Christina's co-workers had been there the week before and offered glowing reviews so we were pretty confident in our choice.

101's concept is craft beers and rustic, made from scratch food.  We split their loaded tater tots (topped with cheese and Sriracha cream...cue mouth watering) for appetizer.  Since I'm not the biggest beer drinker nor am I a beer savant by any stretch of the imagination I was a little hesitant on ordering.  Our server very easily helped me navigate through the beer list and we landed on a yummy wheat beer similar to Blue Moon.  He also gave Christina and I a tasting of a beer that is made with wine grapes so it tasted like fizzy wine, YUM!  Everyone at the table was pleased with their beer selections and their dinner choices.  I had a winter vegetable salad and a side of their mac and cheese that was just delicious.  Their menu doesn't seem expansive at first glance but for a place serving seasonal, delicious food it really doesn't feel like there is a shortage of options.  They do what they're good at and leave you more than satisfied with that.

101 Beer Kitchen

The place is hopping on a Friday night but with an easy call ahead system where they text and call you when your table is ready it streamlines your wait time.  The prices are not bad in comparison to similar restaurants.  We definitely plan on going back and hope they find continued success in their first year of business!

Over the course of trying to revamp our eating habits when we eat out we've become a little more discriminating (not to sound like food snobs because we certainly aren't classy enough to be called those hah!).  We've gravitated more towards the locally owned farm to table type places that put immense pride and effort into not only their food but their atmosphere.  Dining out should be an experience!  101 definitely provides that with the convenience of being in the suburbs as well as going easy on the pursestrings.

Next up, a Lent friendly recipe!

Cheers!
Steph

Sunday Soup (part 3) - Buffalo Chicken Chili

Last week I didn't make a soup because we seemed to have enough lunch foods around and a plethora of dinner options.  This week we were starting to run low so I decided I needed a new soup to try, I ended up with Buffalo Chicken Chili.  This could not have been more EASY!  You literally dump all the ingredients in the crockpot, let cook for 8 − 10 hours and you're done!

Buffalo Chicken Chili
(This made three lunch portions and one dinner for two portion)

 Ingredients:
- 2 frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 2 cans tomato sauce
- 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 can corn, creamed style (sounds and looks kind of gross but adds good texture and a sweet flavor)
- 1/4 to 1/2 bottle of Frank's Red Hot Sauce or Frank's Wing Sauce, I used wing sauce (the amount you use depends on how spicy you want it)
- 2 jalepenos, chopped (I used canned instead because I had some leftover in the fridge)
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 1 c. salsa

Instructions:
- Put all ingredients into the crockpot, stir and set on high for 8 to 10 hours until chicken is all the way done.
- Shred chicken either with your stirring spoon or you can remove it from the crockpot and shred it then return it to the chili, it should shred pretty easily.
- Serve with Ritz crackers, shredded cheddar cheese and sour cream if you'd like.  We both ate it without and it was still good.
- Enjoy!

This was pretty delicious, Chris gave it a good, make again rating.  The best part is you could throw it in the crock in the morning and ta da! all done when you return!  It has a good kick with the Frank's and jalepenos so adjust accordingly if you're not much of a fan of the spicy.  You could also sub out the beans for a kidney bean if you prefer, Chris doesn't care for black beans so I may change those out next time.

This week I'll have a local foodie post for you about a restaurant we tried over the weekend and a Lent friendly meal to share!  Happy Sunday!

Cheers!
Steph