Crabbie Patties sans Crab

I’m stupid.  I really am.  It’s almost Christmas and I’ve decided to go on a diet.  I understand the silliness of this.  Dieting this time of year means twice the amount of temptation, as well as not being able to enjoy all of the delicious seasonal treats.  Most people don’t start the dieting until January 2nd, and I’m usually counted in among that group.  My problem with that is I procrastinate and end up never dieting, so I’m starting now.  No excuses!  Total annihilation!  I will be thin once more!

So, in that spirit, I’ve been experimenting with new recipes for diet food and thus the Crabbie Pattie sans Crab was born.

Ingrediants:

• 3/4 C chopped onion or scallion
• 1 green pepper, minced
• 1/2 C minced carrot
• 1/4 C chopped parsley
• 3/4 C minced celery
• 2 packages firm tofu, cubed and pressed
• 2 tbs Old Bay seasoning
• 1 1/2 C bread crumbs
• 3/4 C mayo
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbs extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.  Get all those veggies minced and chopped.  Heat up the oil in a saute pan over medium heat and add all your veggies.  Saute until they are nice and soft and then set aside. 

Preparing the tofu can be kinda tricky.  There are probably better methods then the one I used, but it seemed to work out for me.  Drain the tofu then cube it if you didn’t buy the already cubed kind.  Place the tofu cubes onto a plate, then take a paper towel and press down on the tofu with it.  There will be water on the bottom of the plate so drain it off.  Continue doing this until you get as much water as you possibly can out of the tofu.  If you don’t press the tofu then your crabbie patties will fall apart. 

Put the tofu in a food processor until it looks like cottage cheese or you can use a fork to chop it up.  In a large mixing bowl, mix the veggies, the tofu, 1 cup of bread crumbs, salt, Old Bay and mayo.  I used a 1/3 cup to portion out my patties, but I suppose you can make them whatever size you want.  With the other 1/2 cup of bread crumbs coat each pattie. 

Place the patties on a nonstick baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray and bake for 15 minutes, then turn the patties over and bake for 10 minutes.  Enjoy!

Michelle’s Thoughts:

This is a great way to prepare tofu if you are unsure about tofu or if you’ve never tried it before.  Seriously, they taste just like a real crab cake.  I tricked my brother and gave him one without telling him tofu was involved in any way, and he couldn’t guess they weren’t made from crab, so there you go.  Mikey couldn’t tell either.

Tomato Pesto Pizza

I wish I had a picture of this tomato-ey masterpiece to post up here, but unfortunately I misplaced my camera.  We’re definitely making this dish again so when we do I’ll update the post with a picture.

The idea for this pizza started out when Mikey and I bought a 7-cup Cuisinart food processor on Black Friday.  It was a great deal we couldn’t pass up and I am happy to report is the most amazing kitchen gadget we own to date.  Not to sound like a commercial but it cuts my prep time in half.  I made everything for the pizza in the Cuisinart including the pesto, dough, shredded cheese and sliced tomato.

All of the directions to make this pizza will include how to do it in the food processor.  If you don’t own a food processor and want to make this dish just email me and I’ll adapt the directions for you.

Pesto

Ingredients:

• 1 chunk of Parmesan cut into a 1/2 inch chunk
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 cups fresh basil
• olive oil to taste
• 2 tbs pistachios
• 1/4 tsp salt

Directions: Drop the parm into the processor with it running.  Let it go for about 15 seconds and then set cheese aside.  Drop the garlic into the processor with the blade running and chop for about 5 seconds.  Scrape the bowl down.  Add in the basil leaves and pulse until it is finely chopped.  Scrape down again.  Now with the blade running slowly drizzle in your olive oil until it is at a consistency you like.  This should be around 2 to 4 tbs.  Scrape down once more.  Now you can add in the cheese, the salt and the pistachios.  Chop this up until everything is incorporated. If you don’t like pistachios you can use walnuts or pinenuts.  Put this in the refrigerator for at least a half hour so the flavors can blend together.  I recommend covering the pesto with olive oil so it retains its color.

Dough

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 tsps dry active yeast
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• 2/3 cup warm water
• 2 C flour
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 2 tsps Italian seasoning

Directions: Dissolve the yeast and sugar in warm water and let it stand until it’s foamy.  This should take around 3-5 minutes.  Then add the olive oil to the yeast.  In the food processor combine the flour, Italian seasoning and the salt and pulse it to mix everything up real good.  With the processor running slowly pour in the yeast mixture.  Let the processor run until the dough forms into a ball and then let it run for 30 more seconds.  This kneads the dough.  When it is through processing coat the dough with some more olive oil then place in a plastic bag.  Seal the top and let it rise for about 45 minutes.  When the dough has risen put it onto a floured surface and roll it out.

Tomato Pesto Pizza

Ingredients:

• Pizza dough
• 2 Roma tomatoes
• 2 1/2-inch chunks of Parmesan
• 1/4 lb fresh mozzarella
• 1/4 lb fontina cheese
• Pesto

Directions:  Preheat oven to 475.  Bring a pot of water to a boil.  Score a shallow X on the bottom of each tomato.  Once the water is boiling drop the tomatoes in for 30 seconds and then immediately blanch in a bowl of ice water.  When the tomatoes are cool to the touch peel the skins off.  They should come off quite easily.  Cut the stem end off and set aside.

With the processor running drop the Parmesan in and process for about 15 seconds.  Now if your processor comes with a shredding blade attach it.  Shred the fontina and the mozz with your processor.  Now insert the slicing disk and slice up the tomatoes.

By now you should have rolled out your dough and made the pesto.  Take you rolled out pizza dough and put it on a pizza pan or a pizza stone.  Spread the pesto out and then brush any un-pestoed crust with olive oil.  Sprinkle on your cheese and then place the tomatoes on top.  Put it in the oven for about 10 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is melted.

Michelle’s Thoughts:  This was a really delicious pizza.  It was very easy to make and definitely was a crowd pleaser.  If I had to change anything next time I make it, I would do away with the fontina cheese and use a mixture of regular mozzarella, fresh mozzarella and Parmesan.  Let me know if you have any more suggestions for this.

Mikey’s Thoughts: Well I wasn’t really around during the creation of this dish.  I was over my neighbor’s house trying to diagnose a complicated computer hardware failure issue that ended up being 4 hours long.  I lost all my data by the way. . . everything.  Either way when I returned to the kitchen the pizza was all assembled and ready for the oven.  The cook time was only a few minutes and then it was ready.  At first bite I melted into the seat savoring every tiny drop of pesto I could.  I am a HUGE fan of pesto and to have a pizza that was this pesto intensive was truly pestoriffic.  My only complaint was that eating half of the pizza wasnt enough.  Not that I am a pizza eating machine or anything, but this pizza was so good that I wanted another one.  Even if I had to magically grow a second stomach, or force my current stomach to explode to make room for more pizza i would have done that just to savor the amazing taste.  I was also really happy we used pistachio nuts instead of . . . whatever nuts are supposed to go in pesto.  Either way, forget everything you know about pesto nuts and use pistachios.

Tri-Color Macaroni with a White Cheddar Sauce

Last week we had a lazy day and we were watching the Food Network all day.  We caught an episode of the Barefoot Contessa and she made a grown up macaroni and cheese.  Mikey was enthralled with this so we decided to try our hand at it.  Sure, we could have looked up her recipe and replicated it but that would be too easy, so we just borrowed a couple of her ideas and turned the recipe into our own.  Mikey cooked most of the dish, but I swooped in at the end and put the finishing touches on.  If you’d like to see the Barefoot Contessa recipe click here.  As to the cost of this dish it was $0.  We had all of the ingredients lying around the house so we didn’t spend a penny making this.  We thought about it and decided it would be under $20 if you went to the store and bought everything.

Ingredients:

• 3 strips of bacon
• 1 cup of sharp white cheddar grated
• 2 cups milk
• 2 tbs butter
• 2 tbs flour
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 2 tps dried or fresh basil
• tri-colored rotini

Directions: Either fry the bacon on the stovetop or throw it in the oven and get it nice and crispy.  Place on paper towels to drain the fat.  Start boiling your pasta water with some salt in it and once that is boiling add the pasta.  We chose the tri-colored pasta because it is pretty as well as tasty.  While you are waiting for your water to boil heat up the milk in a saucepan but do not let it come to a boil.  Make a roux out of your butter and flour.  Basically, a roux is a thickener for sauces.  You melt the butter then stir in the flour until it gets brown.  Add the cheese to the milk and stir til melted and then add the roux stirring all the time.  You should taste your sauce at this point and if it is not cheesy enough for you add more cheese to it. Once your pasta is done drain it and put it into a casserole dish.  Crumble the bacon and mix that into the pasta.  Pour your cheese sauce over top and stir until everything is covered in delicious cheesy goodness.  Take a couple slices of sandwich bread and put them in a food processor until they turn into coarse breadcrumbs then mix in the basil.  Put this on top of the pasta and pop the whole thing into a 400 degree oven for about a half hour or until the mac and cheese is golden brown and bubbly.  Enjoy!

As an after thought while eating this we decided that this dish would be excellent with some artichokes added in.  So, if you have any around the house add this in when you put the sauce on the pasta.

Michelle’s Thoughts: While I’m not really big into macaroni and cheese I thought it was pretty good.  Definitely way better than Kraft Dinner.

Mikey’s Thoughts:  BACON! and  CHEDDAR!  Two words that are usually used when describing the best cheeseburger, so why not put it in a pasta form?  I thought this dish couldnt have been better.  The cheese sauce was awesome and the bacon added a crunch that was fantastic.  Next time I make this I am definitely going to throw in some artichoke hearts.

Easy Mikey’s Chili by Mikey

Total cost = $11.52

What you need: (the essentials)

1. 1.3 lbs of ground beef
2. 8oz can of tomato sauce
3. 1 can of dark red kidney beans
4. 1 can of black beans
5. 1 can of whole kernel corn
6. 1 box of chili seasoning mix

Optional ingredients

• Cheddar cheese (grated)
• sour cream

How to cook:

• Place ground beef into a medium sauce pan with a metric handful of water. (scientific measurement)
• Place on stove on high heat stirring occasionally untill beef is brown.  It helps to put the lid on the sauce pan to allow the water to create steam and help cook the ground beef.  When the beef is nice and browned, drain the watery greasy garbage out into an empty can and dispose of properly.  (I usually freeze this gross mixture of greasy goodness to throw away later)  Someone told me that grease is bad to poor down the drain.  I am not too sure what it will do but I’ll take their advice.
• Add contents of chili spice mix, dump in the can of tomato sauce as well as two cans of water (use the same tomato sauce can to measure) and stir.
• Thoroughly rinse the canned beans and corn then stir into the meat mixture
• Turn stove to high heat untill chili begins to bubble
• Reduce heat to a simmer and cover.
• Cook for 20 minutes
• Serve with grated cheddar cheese and a dollop of sour cream

For an optional garlic bread side click here to see our recipe.

My thoughts:  This chili comes off the stove HOTT! and I dont mean spicy hot, I mean temperature hot so get that grated cheddar cheese on it soon for optimal meltage.  As for spiciness, the chili is not really spicy hot so if you like your chili extra spicy add red pepper.  I choose not to do this cause Michelle is a wuss when it comes to spicy foods.  Now the awesome thing about this chili is that if left over night in the fridge, it will get thicker and makes for a really good tortilla chip dip the next day.  Most chilis I have had have a mushy texture so when concocting this recipe I decided to add whole kernel corn for a little sweet crunch.  If you end up cooking this chili for your friends or family, you will be surely complemented on the corn factor.

I really like the price factor of this dish because for $11.52 you can easily make 4 hungry people warm and happy. 

Michelle’s thoughts:  I grew up eating my Dad’s chili and I never thought that any other chili would stack up.  Actually, I still like my Dad’s better but for a meal that took maybe a half hour to make it is really delicious and quite filling.  Plus, who couldn’t love a meal that leaves you completely full and with leftovers for that price.  I told Mikey he can make this for me any time.  And for the record, I am not a wuss when it comes to spiciness I just don’t like being in pain while I’m trying to eat.  I did add some Habanero Tabasco sauce to it.

 

Herbed Chicken with Basil Pasta and Bacon Brussels Sprouts

Yesterday, when I got to Mikey’s house after class we didn’t have much to do so we decided to get off our lazy butts and actually start the blog we’ve been talking about for a few weeks now.  It was a rainy Wednesday afternoon in Cleveland and it was actually snowing out in Kent where I go to school.  Perfect day for staying in and cooking.  We headed to the West Side Market without a recipe in mind.  We decided to peruse the stands and let all the amazing food selections at the market peak our inspiration. 

After looking at everything and saying hi to the people who work at our favorite stands we finally decided to make a pasta dish.  The other night Mikey had eaten some sort of green ravioli stuffed with artichokes and cheese at the Winking Lizard so he was in the mood for more green pasta.  The best stand at the market for pasta is Ohio City Pasta.  The pasta is fresh, homemade and relatively inexpensive.  It costs just as much as the dried stuff you can buy at the grocery store only it is twice as good.  We grabbed a couple bundles of basil pasta and some red wine and shalot butter Ohio City Pasta was selling.  Mikey decided we should use chicken as our protein so we purchased a couple of boneless skinless chicken breasts.  To go along with the pasta we grabbed a homemade, organic French baguette, a small chunk of fresh parmesan, some brussels sprouts, and we had a little change leftover so we replenished our garlic supply.

The Recipe:

Ingredients for the chicken:

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• fresh ground black pepper to taste
• 2 tsps Jamaican Jerk seasoning (You can use whatever seasoning you like.  I used Jamaican Jerk because that was the only jar of seasoning Mikey had in the cupboard.  Personally, I was hoping for some rosemary and thyme.)
• 2 tsps garlic salt
• 1 tbsp butter

Directions: Set the oven to 350.  Clean your chicken making sure to trim off fat and anything else you wouldn’t want to eat.  Season the chicken with the pepper, Jamaican Jerk (or whatever herbs you choose), and garlic salt.  Grease a casserole dish with some nonstick cooking spray and place the chicken breasts therein.  Then divide the butter and top each chicken breast with a dollop.  While cooking the butter melts over the chicken and makes it really moist and delicious.  Pop the chicken in the oven for about 20 minutes.  Check on it every so often with a meat thermometer until it comes up to temperature. 

While the chicken was cooking I started the brussels sprouts and the baguette.

Ingredients for the brussels sprouts:

• 1 lb brussels sprouts
• 3 strips of bacon cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 leek sliced (We these lying around the house so we decided to use them before they went bad.)
• 3 cloves of garlic
• salt and pepper taste

Directions:  First you have to prepare the brussels sprouts for cooking.  To get your sprouts evenly cooked you have to score the bottom.  Just take a sharp knife and make a little X on the bottom of each sprout.  Mikey and I used a rice cooker to steam our sprouts but you can do it over the stove with a steamer basket in a saucepan of water.  Make sure to cover it.  It takes about 10-15 minutes for sprouts to steam up so they are soft enough to eat.  You can poke at them every so often with a fork to make sure they don’t get overdone. While the sprouts are steaming get to cooking your bacon. 

Now, a lot of people don’t like brussels sprouts or at least they don’t think they do, but I guarantee you if you cook sprouts with bacon you could get anyone to eat them.  Like Ghandi used to say, “Everything is better with bacon”. (Bad joke.  I don’t think he actually ever said that.)  Anyways, start sizzling some bacon in a saute pan until it is nice and crisp.  Do not and I repeat, do not drain the fat.  Once the bacon is crisp add your garlic and leeks then add the sprouts.  The sprouts are already cooked so you’re really just looking to coat them with the bacony goodness.

While I was cooking the bacon I did some multi-tasking and whipped up a homemade garlic butter to put on the baguette to make our own garlic bread.  The recipe for this is as follows:

Ingredients:

• half a cup of butter at room temperature
• 2 tbsp garlic paste
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• grated parmesan
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:  This is really simple and really really delicious.  All you have to do is mix together the butter, garlic cloves and garlic paste until everything is well incorporated.  Liberally spread the mixture onto slices of French baguette and top with salt, pepper, and grated parmesan.  You can stick these in the oven once the chicken is done and while you’re waiting for the pasta to cook.

By this time the chicken should be done, the sprouts are done, you’re well on your way to making some delicious homemade garlic bread.  The only thing that is left is the pasta.  I did this last because Ohio City Pasta only takes a couple of minutes to cook because it is so fresh.  At the stand, they usually include cooking directions for the pasta so just follow those.  Once the pasta was nice and al dente I returned it to the pan and melted the red wine and roasted shallot butter over it.

To plate this meal, get a nice nest of pasta on the plate, slice your chicken and place on top of the pasta and then grate some more parmesan on top.  Serve with the sprouts and bread on the side.

 

My thoughts: For our first Cooking with Jackson recipe this was a really good one.  It was filling and delicious with just the right amount of garlic and all the layers of flavor complimented each other, even the Jamaican Jerk seasoning which I was skeptical about.  The whole meal sounds really complicated but it really only took me about 45 minutes to whip this up.  Seriously, try it.  You’ll thank me later.

Mikey’s thoughts:  Alright so I was totally wanting some green pasta like anyone else who appreciates good green pasta. Let me tell you that the basil pasta from Ohio City Pasta was amazing.  For all you Greater Clevelanders out there that love good pasta, go to Ohio City Pasta at the Westside Market.  Believe me it is the very best when it comes to flavored pasta that only takes a minute or two to cook.  The pasta with the buttery sauce was the perfect match and the chicken on top was also equally amazing.  The sides are what I had the biggest time generating a taste for.  Michelle suggested that we have brussels sprouts that had been cooked in bacon grease.  I originally didn’t know what to think of this new way of eating brussels sprouts but let me tell you that it was awesome.  The bacon really helped the boring taste of the sprout to become something meaty and awesome.  From this day forth brussels sprouts shall be cooked in bacon fat.  No joke… it was that awesome.  The garlic bread however I do have some comments on.  I feel there was a little too much salt involved.  Perhaps for future cooking the salt shall be added to the butter beforehand or sprinkled in slightly lesser amounts than what we put on.  Not that I dont like salt or anything, cause I love it, but the salty-ness was a little overpowering.  All in all I would have to say that this is definitely a meal that I would cook for my mother.  She would love it.  Mom, if you are reading this… you have some good cooking coming your way.

In complete retrospect, for $20 bucks, the dinner we created was totally worth the very minimal effort that was putforth to create it.  A little baking, boiling, chopping and seasoning and it was a smash hit.