Category: Main Dish

Recipes for main dishes.

Categories
Main Dish Side Dish

Don’t leave dinner ‘scalloped’ to chance

Scalloped potatoes are relatively easy to put together and customize, depending on your mood and crowd.
Scalloped potatoes are relatively easy to put together and customize, depending on your mood and crowd.

I have apparently been misinformed about the difference between scalloped potatoes and potatoes au gratin for my entire life.

I always thought they both had cheese involved. But after I decided recently to make scalloped potatoes, I discovered that the dish has no cheese at all, and it led me down a rabbit hole of food research.

I discovered that although I’ve always thought “au gratin” just meant “with cheese,” it actually just refers to “the verb ‘to gratinée,’ [which] as used today, means simply to give a dish a golden brown top,” as I read in an article on the site “Culinary Lore.”

The article also argues that an “au gratin” dish may really just refer to the type of vessel you cook it in and nothing to do with the ingredients at all.

So then I wondered what made something “scalloped,” and I found an article from “Cook’s Info” that has a couple possible explanations, from taking the word from a French cooking technique where oysters were cooked in scallop shells to an English dish referred to as “collops,” which “meant, among other things, slices of meat.”

So I went from thinking they were both cheesy dishes to finding out that cheese isn’t a requirement for either one. Nonetheless, I did find a recipe on the blog “Spend with Pennies” that I decided I wanted to try—despite its lack of cheese. You can find it at https://www.spendwithpennies.com/scalloped-potatoes-recipe/. I added extra garlic in my version.

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Scalloped Potatoes

Scalloped potatoes are relatively easy to put together and customize, depending on your mood and crowd.
Course Main Course, Side Dish
Keyword garlic, scalloped potatoes

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1 onion diced
  • 6 cloves garlic minced
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 2 cups milk I used skim
  • 1 cup chicken broth
  • 3 pounds potatoes sliced thinly
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • In a large sauce pan, melt the butter over medium heat and add the onions. Saute until the onions are soft and then add the garlic. Once the garlic starts to brown slightly, add the flour and stir it around for about one minute.
  • Turn the heat to low and whisk in the milk and broth. Turn the heat to medium high heat and continue whisking until the sauce thickens. Add in the salt and pepper to taste.
  • While the sauce cooks, spray a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with cooking spray and layer in about one-third of the sliced potatoes into the bottom of the dish.
  • Season them with salt and pepper (I also added some red pepper flakes for mine.)
  • Pour one-third of the sauce over the top and then repeat the layers, ending with the rest of the sauce and some more salt and pepper.
  • Cover the pan with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 40 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the potatoes are done through.
  • Turn the broiler on high to get a little color on the top of the potatoes. Leave them under the broiler for about three minutes.
  • Let the potatoes cool for about 10 minutes before serving.

If you are in a mood for cheese, you could easily sprinkle some between the layers on this dish. I think a grated parmesan would be especially nice.

And after all of my research, I’m now aware that almost no one knows what the true difference between scalloped potatoes and potatoes au gratin is, since almost every region where those dishes exist has a different recipe for each.

I’d like to set the blame on the shoulders of the French and their cooking techniques, but I suspect that it probably goes back to the English speakers in our past who just wanted to sound fancy. In reality, there’s not much fancy about scalloped potatoes, but boy, do they still taste good.

This piece first appeared in print on Aug. 1, 2019.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Main Dish Microwave Side Dish

It’s tough to see one more empty seat at the table

Scalloped broccoli won't heat up your kitchen with the oven and makes for a good side dish for a big family meal.
Scalloped broccoli won’t heat up your kitchen with the oven and makes for a good side dish for a big family meal.

A couple weeks ago, our family gathered around my maternal grandmother’s table, enjoying a meal with her along with all of the cousins and their children and spouses present.

It was sometimes a bit loud and boisterous, and there was plenty of laughter as we all ate way too much while telling stories and catching up. It was a rare moment when everyone was able to come.

This past weekend, we were all there again, minus one very noticeable presence: Grandma.

After losing my grandpa in March, she went to join him last week. She was ready; we were not.

Grandma’s table expanded several times over the years as grandchildren, significant others and great grandchildren continued to join our family, and although it seemed like there were always more places set every time we gathered, the amount of leftovers seemed to stay constant. She taught us all to cook for an army, and as she often said, if you left hungry, that was your own fault.

When we were younger, Grandma made us all elaborately decorated birthday cakes every year. I almost always requested a spice cake, and when she asked what dishes we’d like to see for our family dinner together to celebrate, I requested her scalloped broccoli.

The broccoli casserole was a favorite amongst all the grandkids, which I suspect had less to do with the broccoli and more to do with the fact that it had plenty of cheese in it.

I decided that making that dish was the perfect way for me to honor her memory and all of those elaborate meals over the years, so I opened the handwritten cookbook she gave me for my 16th birthday, following the directions written in her beautiful cursive.

I’m not sure if anyone has ever shed nostalgic tears over broccoli before, but I definitely did.

So this week, my recipe comes from the kitchen of Lola Franklin—one of the best cooks I’ve ever known.

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Scalloped Broccoli

Scalloped broccoli won't heat up your kitchen with the oven and makes for a good side dish for a big family meal.
Course Main Course, Side Dish
Keyword broccoli, casserole, cheese, cream of mushroom, rice

Ingredients

  • 32 ounces frozen broccoli
  • 1 pound American cheese cut into chunks
  • 2 cups minute rice
  • 1 cup milk
  • 2, 10.5- ounce cans cream of mushroom soup
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  • In a large pot, add the frozen broccoli along with three cups of water. Put it over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the broccoli is cooked through.
  • While the broccoli is cooking, add the cheese (Grandma used to either get the loaves of sliced American cheese to use or would request it from the deli counter), rice, milk and soup to a large, microwave-safe casserole dish with a lid.
  • Drain the broccoli and stir it into the other ingredients.
  • Microwave on high, with the lid on, until the cheese is melted and the rice is cooked through (somewhere between five and 10 minutes, depending on the strength of your microwave).
  • Add salt and pepper to taste and serve.

This is a great dish for leftovers, which I can attest to after being sent home with many Tupperware containers of it over the years.

After mixing up my batch of broccoli, I have to admit it didn’t taste as great at Grandma’s. I doubt I’ll ever be fully satisfied with my version of it, though, since I won’t be enjoying it with one of the most influential women in my life.

Over the years, she taught me much more than just cooking skills around her dinner table. As she loaded up our plates, she also demonstrated how to be resilient, to be caring, to love unconditionally, and to always put others first.

As we spent our last family meal together, Grandma watched my mom, her daughter, bustling around the table, her own plate still empty as she made sure that everyone else was getting their fill and each dish was making its way around.

She looked across at me and said, “I’d be shocked if she ever actually sat down and ate.”

“I wonder where she got that from,” I responded.

“Hey, now,” she said, a gleam in her eye and a wry smile on her face.

I’ll miss sharing those meals with her as we all try to move forward, but she’ll most certainly always be with us at our family dinner tables and other gatherings we host with friends through the years.

If nothing else, Grandma taught me that life can always use an extra large scoop—of love and, of course, of ice cream.

This piece first appeared in print on July 18, 2019.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Main Dish

‘Curry’ up and eat your veggies this summer

Eggplant sweet potato curry is a gorgeous dish and a flavorful way to enjoy your veggies.
Eggplant sweet potato curry is a gorgeous dish and a flavorful way to enjoy your veggies.

Most of the time, I pick out a recipe based on what I already have in my fridge or pantry, but every once in awhile, I see something that looks so good that I end up going on a scavenger hunt in my local grocery store, seeking out some new ingredients to add to my arsenal.

This week, I was looking for something vegetarian and landed on this gorgeous curry recipe I found online.

The only ingredient that stumped me a bit was Harissa sauce, but after a bit of investigating, I found a simmering sauce that was a Harissa-based sauce, so I decided to grab it for my recipe. If you’re like me and have never heard of Harissa sauce before, it’s a pepper-based sauce that is generally spicy, although the one I found was decently mild. If you can’t find it in your local store, you could replace it with another pepper-based sauce like sriracha or tabasco.

I used a recipe from the blog “Vibrant Plate.” You can find the original post at https://www.vibrantplate.com/eggplant-sweet-potato-curry-vegan-gluten-free/. I increased the garlic and switched the directions a bit based on what was easiest for me.

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Eggplant Sweet Potato Curry

Eggplant sweet potato curry is a gorgeous dish and a flavorful way to enjoy your veggies.
Course Main Course
Keyword curry, eggplant, rice, sweet potato

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil
  • 1 medium-sized yellow onion minced
  • 4-6 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 teaspoon curry powder
  • 1 rounded teaspoon cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 eggplant
  • 2 medium-sized sweet potatoes
  • 13.5 ounces unsweetened coconut milk I used the light kind
  • 3 teaspoons Harissa sauce
  • salt to taste
  • 1 cup uncooked long-grain rice

Instructions

  • Prepare the eggplant and sweet potatoes by cubing each into about 1/2-inch cubes. There’s no need to peel the eggplant, but do peel the sweet potatoes.
  • Heat the oil over medium heat in a deep pan with a lid or Dutch oven and add the onion. Saute until the onions are soft and add the garlic and saute for a couple minutes until it just starts to smell really good.
  • Add the cumin, turmeric, and cayenne pepper and stir. Let it cook in the pan for about two minutes to roast the spices a bit.
  • Add in the eggplant, sweet potatoes, coconut milk and Harissa sauce and stir well.
  • Put the lid onto the pan and let the mixture simmer for about 10 minutes. Stir again and test the doneness of the sweet potatoes. Keep simmering with the lid on, checking periodically, until the sweet potatoes are fork tender.
  • While the curry is simmering, cook the rice according to package instructions.
  • Once the sweet potatoes are done, add salt to taste and serve the curry over top of the rice.

This makes for fantastic leftovers, and the recipe author noted in the post that it freezes well, although our batch didn’t last long enough to find out.

It also didn’t end up being overly spicy. I think I might add a bit more Harissa next time I make it to hopefully increase the spice level a bit, and for those who are looking to incorporate more vegetables without sacrificing flavor, I highly recommend giving this a try.

Plus, it could give you a tour of some new shelves at the grocery store. Who knows what else you might find?

This piece first appeared in print on June 6, 2019.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Main Dish Pressure Cooker

Even ‘piggy’ eaters will love some pulled pork

Pulled pork is actually an easy recipe to accomplish with a pressure cooker.
Pulled pork is actually an easy recipe to accomplish with a pressure cooker.

Several years ago, we had a planned trip to Kansas City, and Joey announced that he really wanted to do his own “Kansas City barbecue tour.” I was game for an adventure, so I agreed.

Little did I know just how much Joey loves barbecue. He managed to find a barbecue joint for every lunch and dinner we had during our time in Kansas City. I’m still convinced that if he could have figured out how to include a barbecue breakfast, that would’ve happened, too.

While I do love some good, slow-cooked barbecue, I didn’t make it as long as Joey did during the excursion. For our last meal, I ended up eating a salad—with barbecued meat on top, of course—because I just couldn’t do another big plate of meat and beans.

We haven’t tried for another barbecue tour since then, although Joey can normally twist my arm into eating it at least once when we’re up in K.C. I’m also always game to try whatever barbecue experiments he tries on his smoker if he has the time to play with it.

This past weekend, we had no time to get the smoker set up. There was just way too much to do, but I did find some great pork roasts on sale at my local grocery store, so I decided to try the next best thing to real barbecue and break out my pressure cooker for some pulled pork.

I found this recipe on the website “Recipe Teacher.” You can find it at https://recipeteacher.com/best-damn-instant-pot-pulled-pork/. I didn’t change a lot, but I did double the garlic powder and the Worcestershire, eliminated liquid smoke and changed the cooking time.

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Pressure Cooker Pulled Pork

Pulled pork is actually an easy recipe to accomplish with a pressure cooker.
Course Main Course
Keyword pork roast, pressure cooker, pulled pork

Ingredients

  • 4 pounds pork roast
  • 3 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground mustard
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
  • 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • serve with barbecue sauce

Instructions

  • Trim any excess fat from the pork and cut it into four pieces of roughly equal size.
  • Add the olive oil to the pressure cooker and turn to saute.
  • While the pot is coming up to temperature, combine all of the dry spices into a large bowl and roll each piece of roast in the spice rub to coat them.
  • Once the pot is hot, add two pieces of roast and saute for about two minutes on each side to get a good sear on the meat.
  • Remove the roast from the pot and repeat with the other two pieces. Remove the last two pieces and set aside.
  • Add the chicken broth to the pot and scrape the bottom to get any cooked-on bits off the pot.
  • Add the Worcestershire. Give the mixture a little stir and then place all four pieces of pork into the pot, spacing them evenly.
  • Seal the pressure cooker and cook at high pressure for 50 minutes. Let the pressure cooker release naturally for 10 minutes and then manually release the rest.
  • Remove the pork from the pot and shred it using two forks.
  • Serve with barbecue sauce and/or the liquid from the pot as an au jus.
  • To keep the pork moist when reheating, dump some of the liquid from the pan into any leftovers before refrigerating.

Clearly my pressure cooked pulled pork was nowhere near as delicious as the stuff you get off the smoker, but it was tender and had great flavor and was done quickly, which was also a bonus.

Plus, it reheats well out of the fridge, so we have plenty of great leftovers for our lunches this week.

Someday I may be willing to go on Joey’s barbecue tour again, but I honestly think I’m still recovering, even though it was years ago. An old episode of “Friends” references a character getting the “meat sweats” from too much consumption, and while I’m not 100-percent sure that’s a medically recognized condition, I do believe it’s real.

This piece first appeared in print on May 16, 2019.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Main Dish

Here’s the ‘ravi-only’ quick dinner recipe you need

An easy ravioli bake is a quick crowd pleaser for nights when you need to get dinner on the table without a lot of time.
An easy ravioli bake is a quick crowd pleaser for nights when you need to get dinner on the table without a lot of time.

There’s something about May that makes Joey and I busier than normal, it seems. I think it’s just the rushing around of all the end-of-school items that need to get into the newspaper, along with all the excitement of events coming up in the summer that keep us on our toes.

That, unfortunately, means May includes a lot more trips to eat out for dinner, as it’s normally not easy to cook a meal when you and your spouse are both getting home from work at almost 8 p.m.

But the other night ,I actually arrived home at a fairly decent hour, and I excitedly preheated my oven, knowing I had the perfect recipe to make on the fly that could be ready before Joey walked in the door.

The recipe I used is labeled as a “lazy lasagna” by the author, but I will say it’s more like a pasta bake than a lasagna, since it doesn’t really hold together like a lasagna does.

That’s not to say it isn’t awesome, though.

The recipe I got was from the website “InstruPix.” You can find it at https://www.instrupix.com/3-ingredient-ravioli-bake-lazy-lasagna/. The original recipe just calls for the ravioli, sauce and cheese. I added some spices to it, because I tend to think jarred sauce lacks some pizazz, but if you have a favorite one that is spiced the way you like it, skip my additions and just toss those three ingredients together.

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Easy Ravioli Bake

An easy ravioli bake is a quick crowd pleaser for nights when you need to get dinner on the table without a lot of time.
Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Keyword casserole, cheese, ravioli

Ingredients

  • 25 ounce bag frozen ravioli any variety
  • 24 ounces marinara or alfredo sauce
  • 2 teaspoons garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon oregano
  • 1 teaspoon basil
  • ground pepper to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 2-3 cups shredded mozzarella

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prepare a 9-by-13-inch baking dish by spraying it with cooking spray and set it aside.
  • Spread about a quarter of the jar of sauce onto the bottom of the dish.
  • Arrange ravioli in a single layer on top of the sauce.
  • Spread half of the remaining sauce over top of the ravioli and sprinkle the listed spices evenly over the sauce (I didn’t really measure. I just eyeballed it.) Sprinkle on half of the mozzarella.
  • Layer on the rest of the ravioli (I didn’t have quite enough to make a full second layer, so I just spaced them out a bit more than I did on the bottom), spread the rest of the sauce on top, and sprinkle on the rest of the cheese.
  • Cover the dish in aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 15 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
  • Let the dish cool for about 10 minutes and serve.

Joey was pleasantly surprised to come home to a meal that didn’t come in a styrofoam box, and I was super happy to actually use my kitchen for the first time in about a week.

This also reheated really well as leftovers for lunches later on in the week, which was a nice bonus that we appreciated.

For a family meal, pairing this with some garlic bread and big salad or some veggies would be perfect.

I’m sure Joey and I have several more restaurant meals in our future over the next couple of weeks, but I’m glad I have a quick recipe to use if I have a spare 45 minutes to spend in the kitchen.

And with being able to choose from a wide variety of ravioli fillings and sauces at my local grocery store, I don’t think we’ll get tired of this one any time soon.

This piece first appeared in print on May 9, 2019.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Main Dish Side Dish

Egg rolls in a bowl will get you ‘egg-cited’

To cut out the fried aspect of traditional egg rolls, try egg rolls in a bowl instead.
To cut out the fried aspect of traditional egg rolls, try egg rolls in a bowl instead.

When we were kids, my sister and I often had conflicts over our favorite places to eat. Any time I was in the mood to visit the Chinese buffet, she balked, claiming she hated Chinese food.

If my parents were kind enough to push the issue and decide to go anyway, she always seemed to find plenty to eat, but it was still a struggle to convince her every time.

It was a few years ago that she mentioned going to eat Chinese food with her husband, and I was shocked to learn that she now has a taste for it.

I tried to convince her she owes me compensation, but she seems to think that her acts of denying me Chinese food all those years isn’t that big of a deal. I guess some childhood feuds never end.

Now that I can get Chinese food whenever the mood strikes, I’m a huge fan of egg rolls. There’s something about the seasoned meat combined with some slightly crunchy cabbage that always seems perfect.

Of course, the fried outer shell is less than perfect as far as calorie consumption is concerned, which is why I was very interested in trying a recipe that keeps all the goodies from the inside but gets rid of the egg roll wrapper completely.

The recipe I tried is from the blog “Mostly Homemade Mom.” You can find her post at https://www.mostlyhomemademom.com/eggroll-in-bowl/. I increased the amount of garlic and ginger and added pepper.

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Egg Roll in a Bowl

To cut out the fried aspect of traditional egg rolls, try egg rolls in a bowl instead.
Course Main Course, Side Dish
Cuisine Chinese
Keyword cabbage, egg roll, sausage

Ingredients

  • 1 pound ground sausage
  • 8 to 10 cloves minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
  • ground pepper to taste
  • 1 bag dry coleslaw mix
  • one bunch green onion sliced

Instructions

  • In a large skillet, brown and drain the sausage over medium heat, crumbling it as it cooks.
  • While the sausage cooks, combine the garlic, ginger, soy sauce and pepper in a small bowl and set aside.
  • Add the cabbage/carrot mix and stir it to combine it with the sausage.
  • Dump the sauce mixture over the top of the sausage and cabbage and stir. Let the mixture heat through for about five minutes. The cabbage will still be pretty crunchy. If you’d rather have it softer, place a lid on the pan and check it every five minutes until it reaches the level of wilted you’d like.
  • Top with the sliced green onions and serve.

I really liked this recipe. The increase in ginger and the addition of pepper did kick up the spice level just a tiny bit, so if that’s not your cup of tea, you might back those off.

Also, while this did reheat fairly well as leftovers, it left quite a bit of juice in the bottom of the storage container, which let the cabbage get soggy quickly, so I wouldn’t leave it in the refrigerator for too many days before finishing it off.

Eating an egg roll in a bowl wasn’t as good as the real thing (I mean, when you take away the fried dough part, how could it be?), but it satisfied a craving, and it was easy to make, which I appreciated.

My younger self would have been glad to see that I was getting to enjoy one of my favorite things. I think I’ll take this dish to a family potluck, just to see if my sister enjoys it, too. I’ll try not to take it personally if she doesn’t like it—and especially if she does.

This piece first appeared in print on May 2, 2019.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Appetizer Main Dish Snack

Pizza sticks will make you say, ‘Yes, cheese!’

Cheesy pizza sticks are great for a quick snack an especially good recipe for beginning cooks to try their hand in the kitchen.
Cheesy pizza sticks are great for a quick snack an especially good recipe for beginning cooks to try their hand in the kitchen.

While my sister was still pregnant with my now almost 1-1/2-year-old niece, I noticed my shopping habits change.

I was constantly picking up this cute outfit or that cool toy even before our beautiful Emi graced us with her presence.

My only problem has been patience, as I always seem to find toys or outfits that she’s not quite ready for yet.

The other day, it was a child’s apron and baker’s hat. It was adorable, and I nearly shoved it into my cart before I thought through the fact that (1) this outfit was clearly made for someone more the size of a five-year-old and (2) my niece, while smart and sassy, is just now completely conquering solid foods and probably isn’t quite ready to help prepare them with me yet.

That being said, I have, on occasion, gotten to cook with kids over the years, and it’s always fun to watch them learn a life skill and enjoy their creations afterwards.

The recipe I found this week on the blog “I Wash, You Dry” is one I’ll be setting aside for Emi and I to try out when she’s a little older. It’s so simple there isn’t much to adjust, but I decided to change up the spices a bit. You can find the original post at https://iwashyoudry.com/cheesy-pepperoni-pizza-sticks/.

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Cheesy Pizza Sticks

Cheesy pizza sticks are great for a quick snack an especially good recipe for beginning cooks to try their hand in the kitchen.
Course Appetizer, Main Course, Snack
Keyword cheese, kid-friendly, pepperoni, pizza

Ingredients

  • 1 tube refrigerated pizza dough
  • 40 slices pepperoni I used turkey pepperoni
  • 10 mozzarella cheese sticks
  • 2 tablespoons butter or margarine melted
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried parsley
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
  • Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with tinfoil and spraying it with cooking spray.
  • Unroll the pizza dough onto the baking sheet (don’t worry about trying to roll it out thinner at this point, just get it flat).
  • Cut the dough into 10 equal rectangles.
  • Place four pepperoni slices and one cheese stick on each rectangle, and then pinch the dough to seal it around the cheese and meat.
  • Lay the pizza sticks, seam side down, about an inch apart on the baking sheet.
  • In a small bowl, combine the melted butter and the oregano, basil, parsley and garlic powder.
  • Brush it onto each pizza stick. (I used a spoon to get the remaining goodies out of the bottom of the bowl and spread them out, too.)
  • Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the dough is golden brown on top.
  • Let the pizza sticks rest for at least 10 minutes before digging in.

I didn’t have a kiddo to share these with, but the adults who sampled them deemed them a success. They’d be great with some marinara dipping sauce, too.

They did have quite a bit of cheese spill out of them, which was OK in my book, since I love some slightly browned, melted cheese, but that also made me very glad I used aluminum foil to make clean up a breeze.

As summer is approaching and some of you are looking for good recipes to try out with the kids in your lives, I’d recommend this one.

And if you need a good lead on a kid-sized apron, let me know. I’ve got you covered.

This piece first appeared in print on April 11, 2019.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Main Dish

Shredded cheese, potatoes make ‘grater’ casserole

If you need an easy, crowd-pleasing dinner, keep this recipe handy.
If you need an easy, crowd-pleasing dinner, keep this recipe handy.

Glancing at my pantry this past week, I noticed a forgotten bag of Yukon gold potatoes nestled on the shelf.

I pulled it out, nervous for what I’d find, and discovered they were still mostly good but weren’t long for this world, so it was at that moment that I decided potatoes were on that evening’s menu.

Looking through my list of recipes to try, I remembered a simple one that was really just three awesome main ingredients: potatoes, hamburger and cheese.

You can’t go wrong with that combo, in my humble opinion.

The recipe calls for Russet potatoes, but my Yukons worked well, too. I probably used 10 to 12 of them, since they’re smaller, and it decreased my bake time by around 20 minutes, since they cook faster. I also used ground turkey instead of hamburger to make it a bit lighter.

This comes from the website “Genius Kitchen.” You can find it at https://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/hamburger-potato-cheese-casserole-187672. I changed up the seasonings just a bit in my version.

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Cheesy Hamburger Potato Casserole

If you need an easy, crowd-pleasing dinner, keep this recipe handy.
Course Main Course
Keyword casserole, ground beef, hamburger, potatoes

Ingredients

  • 5 large Russet potatoes sliced about 1/4-inch thick
  • 2 tablespoons onion powder
  • 4 tablespoons garlic powder
  • 1 pound ground beef or turkey
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 cups milk skim is fine
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 3 tablespoons flour
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 8 ounces sharp cheddar shredded (or cheese of your choice)

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • In a large skillet, brown the hamburger/turkey. Drain off any excess fat, and mix in the onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
  • In the meantime, place a layer of potato slices in the bottom of a 2- to 3-quart casserole dish with a lid (it’s fine if the potatoes overlap a bit if you have lots).
  • Dump half the meat mixture on top of the potatoes and spread it evenly.
  • Place another layer of potatoes in the dish and cover with the remaining meat mixture.
  • Finish out with a final layer of potatoes.
  • Set the dish aside and make your cheese sauce (you can use the same skillet).
  • Melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the flour to make a roux and stir for about a minute to cook the flour taste out.
  • Add the milk and salt and pepper and whisk to break up any clumps.
  • Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to stir regularly to keep the milk from scalding. Once the mixture is thick and bubbling, remove it from heat (mine would not thicken to save my life, so I ended up adding quite a bit more flour, a little at a time, until I got a “sauce” consistency).
  • Add the cheese and stir until it is melted. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  • Pour the cheese sauce over top of the potatoes and meat. Shake the dish a bit to help work the sauce down into the entire dish.
  • Place the covered dish in the oven for about 1-1/2 hours, taking the lid off for the last 20 minutes, until the potatoes are fork tender and the top is browned.

This was a very simple recipe and reheated wonderfully as leftovers. If you’re cooking for picky eaters or kiddos, this is a great one to try. 

If you’re cooking for a more sophisticated adult palate, you might try adding some more spices to it. Crushed red pepper flakes, minced garlic and a real onion in place of powder, and even some basil or paprika could have taken this to a new level. It’s a pretty blank canvas.

I was just happy to not let a bag of potatoes go to waste, and it was a good reminder that I should peer into the back of my pantry more often. Who knows what other treasures lie within?

This piece first appeared in print on March 21, 2019.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Main Dish Soup

Warm soup goes beyond the ‘kale’ of duty

Autumn rice soup is a nice meal for a cold day.
Autumn rice soup is a nice meal for a cold day.

I started following a few folks on Instagram who post beautiful food pictures regularly.

One is Karin Pfeiff Boschek, who does some of the most spectacular pie crusts I have ever seen. Another is food stylist Judy Kim, who not only posts many of her gorgeous food photos but often chronicles the behind-the-scenes set up for her photography sessions.

I continue to try to improve my food photography, despite terrible lighting in my kitchen and my propensity to bake late into the evening, but sometimes, even though the photo of the recipe I try looks extremely appetizing online, mine just doesn’t turn out the same.

This week’s recipe was one of those. Truth be told, it was definitely my fault. The recipe calls for wild rice rather than the normal, long-grain variety, but as we all know, sometimes the local grocery store just doesn’t carry whatever specialized ingredient you’re looking for, so you have to improvise.

What I did not consider was that my cooking time would need to be adjusted and that the colorful soup photo I saw online would not be quite as pretty with only white rice.

With that in mind, I still really liked my end result—even if it wasn’t a picture-perfect soup—and I adjusted the cooking time below to reflect what I wish I would have done.

This recipe comes from the blog “Gimme Some Oven.” You can find it at https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/cozy-autumn-wild-rice-soup/, where the recipe author also posted instructions to make this soup in a pressure cooker. I added extra seasoning and garlic to my version. I also opted for using regular rice instead of wild rice.

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Autumn Rice Soup

Autumn rice soup is a nice meal for a cold day.
Course Main Course, Soup
Keyword kale, rice

Ingredients

  • 4 tablespoons butter divided
  • 1 small white onion diced
  • 2 medium-sized carrots diced
  • 2 ribs celery diced
  • 1 pound sweet potato peeled and diced
  • 8 ounces sliced baby bella mushrooms
  • 8 cloves garlic minced
  • 6 cups vegetable stock
  • 1 cup uncooked rice
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 heaping tablespoons Old Bay seasoning
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 1 1/2 cups milk I used skim
  • about 3 cups loosely packed kale chopped into bite-sized pieces and the stems removed
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  • In a large Dutch oven with a lid, heat one tablespoon of butter over medium-high heat.
  • Saute the onion until it is translucent. Add in the carrots, celery, sweet potato, mushrooms and garlic, and stir regularly, letting them cook for about 5 minutes.
  • Add the stock, rice, bay leaf and Old Bay and stir to combine, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pot a bit to loosen any stuck-on bits.
  • Keep the pot on medium-high heat until it just starts to slowly bubble. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cover. Let it simmer for about 15 minutes and give it a good stir and check the rice’s doneness. If it’s not quite how you want it, continue to let the pot simmer, covered, checking on it every five minutes or so until the rice is where you want it.
  • While the rice is cooking, melt the remaining three tablespoons of butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Whisk in the flour and let it cook for about one minute. Whisk in the milk and stir frequently, making sure to break up any clumps and letting the mixture thicken significantly.
  • When the rice is done and the cream sauce is thickened, add the sauce and kale to the Dutch oven and stir to combine.
  • Add salt and pepper to taste and serve when it is heated through.

If you decide to use wild rice for your version, the original recipe calls for a 45-minute simmer time. I tried that with my long-grain rice, and while the flavors were still nice, the rice was pretty mushy, and I didn’t end up with the amount of liquid in my soup that I should have had at the end.

This wasn’t one of Joey’s favorites. The kale stays quite crisp, despite being added to the hot soup, and he was not a big fan of the texture. If you’re not a kale enthusiast, you could easily add fresh spinach instead.

And be prepared that your soup might not photograph as nicely as you want. I don’t think my concoction would have a chance of appearing on Karin or Judy’s Instagram feeds, but it was nice to have a warm bowl of soup on a cold day—pretty or not.

This piece first appeared in print on Feb. 28, 2019.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Main Dish Pressure Cooker Soup

Get a ‘lentil’ bit adventurous in the kitchen

Lentil soup is a meatless meal that doesn't skimp on flavor or protein.
Lentil soup is a meatless meal that doesn’t skimp on flavor or protein.

With less than a month to go before Lent starts for some and the push to continue to eat healthier in the new year for others, it’s the time of year to look for meatless recipes.

Unfortunately, sometimes it feels like those meatless meals are less satisfying than heartier meals, so I often find myself hunting for vegetarian recipes that are high in protein. The last thing I want is for a healthy dinner to drive me into the kitchen for a snack later because it just doesn’t stick with me.

When I stumbled on a recipe for some lentil soup I could make in my pressure cooker, I decided to do some research on lentils, not being particularly familiar with the ingredient, but I was pleasantly surprised at how healthy lentils really are.

Registered Dietician Katherine Zeratsky with the Mayo Clinic explains that “Lentils are high in protein and fiber and low in fat, which makes them a healthy substitute for meat. They’re also packed with folate, iron, phosphorus, potassium and fiber.”

And I thought they were pretty tasty, too, after we gave this soup recipe a try. The recipe I used is from the website “Delish” and was posted by Makinze Gore. You can find it at https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/a25240121/instant-pot-lentil-soup/. I increased the amounts on several ingredients.

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Pressure Cooker Lentil Soup

Lentil soup is a meatless meal that doesn't skimp on flavor or protein.
Course Main Course
Keyword lentil, pressure cooker, soup

Ingredients

  • 1 medium yellow onion diced
  • 2 medium carrots peeled and diced
  • 3 stalks celery diced
  • 6 to 8 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 1/2 cups dried green lentils
  • 14.5 ounces diced tomatoes
  • 3 teaspoons thyme
  • 2 teaspoons basil
  • 2 teaspoons oregano
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
  • 4 cups fresh spinach
  • shredded or grated parmesan for serving

Instructions

  • Add all the ingredients, except the spinach and parmesan, to the crock of a pressure cooker and stir.
  • Set the pressure cooker to high pressure for 18 minutes and then quick release the pressure when it’s done cooking.
  • Stir in the spinach, and once it’s wilted, serve the soup garnished with parmesan.

There was enough leftover soup for us to put some in the freezer, and it was great later on, too.

I also opted for the vegetable broth to make this truly vegetarian, and I didn’t even notice there wasn’t any meat in the soup. It was hearty and filling and packed a lot of flavor. 

If you really can’t bring yourself do meatless, I’d suggest tossing some cooked ham or bacon into the mix, but honestly, you won’t need it.

If you’ve never cooked with lentils before, don’t let them intimidate you. They look a little different, but they’re really just beans, but they have a bit of a nutty flavor, too.

I’m looking forward to seeing how else I can use them in my kitchen and glad I have a new vegetarian recipe to add to our dinner rotation.

This piece first appeared in print on Feb. 21, 2019.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

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