Cook Club Rules

My friend Jayne and I decided one day last winter that we should start a cooking club. I had been in a book club with some women and didn’t always like the books. Then we’d meet somewhere at a restaurant I didn’t always like for dinner and end up not talking about it at all! Well, if I was going to eat food and NOT talk about a book I was going to do it with my FRIENDS! And so the No-Name Cooking Club was born. A group consisting of me and 8 girlfriends meet at each other’s house once a month. The hostess makes the main course and the rest of us bring everything else from the beverage to dessert. This month our hostess made grilled flank steak with a mint chimichurri sauce. I was on appetizer duty so I brought my all-time favorite: guacamole! There was also a spinach salad, dirty rice, DELICIOUS broccoli, jell-o cake, moscato & red wine and ready-to-drink margaritas! We always have a good time catching up on everything that’s happened since the last meeting while enjoying everyone’s delicious food and sometimes too-delicious beverages! Thanks for another great evening, girls!

Chicken & Spiced Apples

I had help in the kitchen tonight. Probably because I was cooking apples in cinnamon and butter – one of Audrey’s favorite things. We made this recipe from Eating Well: Healthy in a Hurry. Audrey also helped by taking the picture which is why it’s a little blurry. It tasted really good though. Especially with the side of garden-fresh green beans!

Szechuan Green Beans with Ground Pork

My mom arrived in Hong Kong today. The 2nd picture my cousin posted on Facebook of her visit was of the family sitting around a table full of delicious looking food. This is one of my favorite dishes (another from Cooking Light magazine) but I’m sure it in no way compares to the good food at that table. To make it even better I served it with a side of steamed Chinese broccoli. I just couldn’t stop eating!

1/2 pound lean ground pork
1 t. cornstarch
1/8 t. salt
1/8 t. ground white pepper
1 t. peanut oil
2 1/2 c. cut green beans
1 t. minced fresh garlic
2 T. hoisin sauce
1 t. sugar
1 t. crushed red pepper
2 t. soy sauce
2 c. hot cooked white rice

Combine the first 4 ingredients in a medium bowl. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork mixture, beans, and garlic; cook 3 minutes or until pork loses its pink color, stirring to crumble.

Combine hoisin and next 3 ingredients (through soy sauce) in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add hoisin mixture to pan. cook 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated, stirring frequently. Serve over rice.

Steak Baguettes with Pesto Mayo

Cooking Light photo

To quote Mike after taking a bite of this sandwich, “Mmm. This is good” Really good!” It was. I used fresh instead of store-bought pesto made with basil from my garden and even used a yellow tomato that I had managed to grow, too! We also used romaine lettuce instead of arugula and kaiser rolls instead of a baguette. Once it’s not 100-degrees outside anymore, you should definitely try this one. Another favorite from Cooking Light which reminds me: I really need to send in my subscription renewal card.

Chinese Food Feast

Last weekend my mom, sister and niece came to visit. At first the plan was just to cook egg rolls with my mom. That plan quickly turned into preparing beef & broccoli, green beans with black bean & garlic sauce, and Singapore rice noodles for a Chinese food feast! Buying the ingredients for all the dishes was easily done at the local grocery store…except for when it came for the noodles. The rice noodles I had were, apparently, not the right kind of rice noodles even though the ingredients were “rice flour, water.” A trip to the Chinese grocery store resulted in about 50 different kinds of rice noodles to choose from. Luckily I passed the test and came home with the right kind. We invited some of Mike’s family and a couple friends over to share in our feast. I’ve been eating leftovers all week and they’re finally gone! Well, except for the 16 egg rolls now in my freezer. Anybody want some?

The ever-growing pile of deep fried, golden egg rolls!

My mom getting down to business and cooking up a storm!

Mei-Mei…being her usual excellent kitchen assistant.

Beef & broccoli

Green beans with black bean & garlic sauce

Singapore rice noodles

Concert Substitution

In lieu of going to the Keith Urban concert in Moline tonight, I packed up some pie crust that I had made along with the filling for a strawberry-rhubarb pie and headed to a friend’s house for some girl talk and margaritas. Oh yeah…we listened to a little bit of Keith Urban, too! The pie turned out pretty good. I should have waited until it had cooled a little longer but when it comes to food my patience is not very easily found.

Grilled Bacon & Tomato Sandwich

I pulled out my trustee Cuisine Tonight: Weeknight Menus book for this recipe. I knew it had to be good because before I sat down Mike took a bite and said, “Did you take a picture yet?” How can you go wrong, though, with pepperjack cheese, bacon and avocado?

Creamy Linguine with Shrimp and Veggies

Please excuse my infrequent recipe posting. Don’t know how I manage to get nothing done lately! I AM still cooking dinner at least 5 out of 7 nights of the week but just haven’t been posting. Tonight’s recipe came from Cooking Light magazine. Seems I’m on a kick with their recipes again. Maybe I’ve been watching too many episode of BIGGEST LOSER. Who knows.

photo from Cooking Light magazine

Anyway, this recipe was really good (maybe because I bought full-fat cream cheese instead of 1/3 less fat) or maybe it was because of all the shrimp & broccoli in it. In either case, you should try it!

Cheesy Meat Loaf Minis

Photo from Cooking Light magazine

We’re big meat loaf lovers in our house. I usually make my old stand-by recipe from a free Wyler’s cook booklet I got about 13 years ago. I’ve even made Sam’s Mexican Meatloaf from Sam the Cooking Guy. Tonight it was Cheesy Meat Loaf Minis from Cooking Light. Not a meat loaf person? I know some people who aren’t (YOU know who you are) and still liked this recipe!

The recipe calls for 1 1/2 pounds of ground beef and makes 4 mini meatloaves. I really don’t know what’s “Cooking Light” about it but after receiving the pictures today that we took for the church directory a few weeks ago and seeing my bulging food-baby belly I restricted myself to half of a mini loaf. I’ll eat the other half for leftovers at work tomorrow and make the boys jealous…again!

Got Smoothie?

I whipped out my Ninja blender the other morning for a smoothie treat! My favorite recipe is the “Banana Latte” smoothie from this book. It’s one of Audrey’s favorites too. If only it would help straighten her teeth!

The recipe:
1 c. milk
3/4 c. brewed coffee, chilled
2 fresh bananas, frozen & sliced
6 to 8 ice cubes
1 t. unsweetened cocoa powder for garnish
1/4 t. ground cinnamon for garnish

Combine the milk and coffee in a blender. Add the banans. Blend until smooth. With the blender running, add ice cubes until they are incorporated and the desired consistency is reached. Pour into tall glasses and sprinkle with cocoa powder and cinnamon.