Spice Up Your Life

Save lots of time this week with some phony pierogi

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date February 24, 2022

Pierogi casserole takes the flavors of the traditional dish, kicks them up a notch with some added flavor, and creates the perfect weeknight meal.

Awhile back, I stumbled on a Facebook group called “Good Ol’ Mennonite Recipes,” and of course, I had to join to see what kinds of great food people were sharing on there.

I have jealously looked at delicious loaves of bread and mounds of verenike under ham gravy, but I recently stumbled on a post that I absolutely had to try for myself: a pierogi casserole.

I have only made pierogi once. I had to look back at my column archive to see how long it had been, and it was clear back in 2015. I loved them, but they were also lots of work.

If you’re not familiar, pierogi are dumplings that are generally filled with mashed potatoes and cheddar cheese. They’re boiled and then fried in butter and onions to finish them off, and a lot of people love eating them with a side of sausage.

The casserole mimics the dumplings by using lasagna noodles, cheese, potatoes and plenty of onions, but as I started putting it together, I felt like it was missing something. That “something” turned into lots of garlic and some sausage, too, and this ended up being perfect.

The original recipe comes from the “Good Ol’ Mennonite Recipes” Facebook group. It was posted by Marie Leigh. I added garlic, sausage and more seasoning to my version.

Pierogi Casserole

Pierogi casserole takes the flavors of the traditional dish, kicks them up a notch with some added flavor, and creates the perfect weeknight meal.

Course Main Course

Keyword casserole, cottage cheese, garlic, ground sausage, mashed potatoes, noodles, onion powder, pierogi, sharp cheddar cheese, yellow onion

Ingredients

9 to 15 lasagna noodles
1 small onion diced (I used yellow)
1 pound ground sausage
2 cups regular cottage cheese
1 egg
1 teaspoon onion powder divided
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese divided
2 cups mashed potatoes
8 cloves garlic minced
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare a deep 9-by-13-inch baking pan by spraying it with cooking spray. Set it aside.
Boil enough lasagna noodles to be able to cover three layers in your pan. (My local store had long, thin lasagna noodles, so I only needed about nine of them to do the trick.)
Heat a skillet over medium heat and saute the sausage and onions, breaking apart the sausage as it cooks. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
While the sausage cooks, add your cottage cheese, egg and 1/2 teaspoon onion powder to a bowl and mix thoroughly.
In another bowl, add the mashed potatoes, garlic, 1/2 teaspoon onion powder, garlic, salt and pepper, along with 1 cup shredded cheese and mix well to combine.
Once your sausage is cooked through, drain off any excess fat.
To assemble the casserole, start by spooning just a little (maybe a scant 1/4 cup) of your sausage/onion mixture into the bottom of your dish. Place a single layer of noodles on top. Spread about half of your cottage cheese mixture over the noodles, about half of the sausage, and then top with about one third of your mashed potatoes.
Add another layer of noodles, spread out the rest of the cottage cheese, the rest of sausage, and another third of mashed potatoes.
Finish with a final layer of noodles and the rest of the mashed potatoes on top.
Sprinkle the rest of the shredded cheddar on the top, cover the dish with foil, and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another five minutes or until the cheese is melty and slightly browned.
Let the casserole cool for about 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

This was a great, filling dinner, and the leftovers were a breeze to reheat, too. I’m sure the original recipe would have been great, but adding the sausage and lots of garlic made it feel like more of a meal with a bit more complexity to the flavor profile.

Plus, it was so, so much easier than making pierogi, which while worth the effort, is definitely difficult to find time to do.

And now I have a new “good ol’” recipe to add to my repertoire, thanks to some neat folks on Facebook. Social media can be a horrible place, but when you’re talking food, sometimes it can be just the opposite.

This piece first appeared in print on Feb. 24, 2022.

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.

Tags casserole, cottage cheese, garlic, ground sausage, lasagna noodles, mashed potatoes, onion powder, pierogi, shredded cheddar cheese, yellow onion

Soup

Cannellini beans and garlic make a soup that’s just ‘white’

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date February 17, 2022

Rosemary garlic white bean soup is made with cannellini beans and herbs to create a vegetarian, flavorful dish that is best served with some crusty bread.

Last week, I knew I was going to be doing dinner on my own one evening, because Joey was going to be gone for a bowling tournament.

I immediately combed through my saved recipes on Pinterest, trying to decide what new recipe I’d try while he was away. I originally chose something I knew he wouldn’t like, but when I found myself finishing up at the office after 6 p.m., I decided I better switch gears if I wanted to eat before 8 p.m.

On a second glance of my “recipes to try” list, I found a quick and easy vegetarian soup that I knew would come together quickly and easily, and it did not disappoint.

This recipe comes from the blog “Budget Bytes.” You can find the original post at https://www.budgetbytes.com/easy-rosemary-garlic-white-bean-soup/. I added extra garlic and thyme in my version.

Rosemary Garlic White Bean Soup

Rosemary garlic white bean soup is made with cannellini beans and herbs to create a vegetarian, flavorful dish that is best served with some crusty bread.

Course Soup

Keyword cannellini beans, garlic, red pepper flakes, rosemary, thyme, vegetable broth, vegetarian

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
6 to 8 cloves garlic minced
3 15- ounce cans cannellini beans
2 cups vegetable broth
1/2 teaspoon rosemary
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Pour one can of undrained beans into a blender or food processor and blend until they are smooth.
In a large pot or Dutch oven with a lid, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute for about two minutes or until the garlic just starts to get some color.
Drain the other two cans of beans, and add them along with the bean puree, broth, rosemary, thyme red pepper flakes and pepper to the pot.
Stir well, and place the lid on the pot. Turn the heat to medium-high heat to bring the soup to a low boil.
After the soup starts boiling, turn the heat to medium-low and let it simmer for about 15 minutes, uncovered, and stirring occasionally.
Add more pepper and some salt, if desired, and serve with a thick slice of bread.

If your local grocery store doesn’t have cannellini beans on the shelf, you can easily substitute great northern beans instead.

The herbs in this recipe were a great combination with the beans and garlic. My only complaint about it was that it’s probably best as more of a side dish to a sandwich or as an appetizer than as a main dish on its own. It just wasn’t as filling as I hoped it would be. But it did reheat really well and was nice to eat along with a grilled cheese later on.

For once, Joey actually got to enjoy one of the recipes I tried while he was away, and he was happy that he came home to the lingering smell of garlic instead of broccoli, which is normally the case.

Next time he’s out for the evening, I’ll have to make sure to get my work done earlier so I can try something a little more interesting—and something that will ensure I get all the leftovers to myself.

This piece first appeared in print on Feb. 17, 2022.

Tags cannellini beans, garlic, red pepper flakes, rosemary, thyme, vegetable broth, vegetarian, white beans

Breakfast

You don’t have to work hard for ‘egg’cellent pizza

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date February 10, 2022

Breakfast pizza is easy to make and gives you all the flavors of sausage gravy, eggs and fried potatoes in one, handheld meal.

In January, Joey happened upon a post for a local restaurant that was going to serve breakfast pizzas for their New Year’s Day brunch.

We weren’t able to make it, but he kept mentioning it over the next few weeks—noting that we could surely figure out how to make a fantastic breakfast pizza ourselves.

After all, we are pretty good at breakfast at our house. Of course, we mostly just eat it for dinner, opting for boring items like granola bars and cereal in the morning, but I think it still counts.

One of our favorites is making biscuits with sausage gravy, and that became the base for our breakfast pizza idea. After some brainstorming, we came to a consensus and created this week’s recipe.

As you will see, it’s simple to customize. You can easily make it spicy or substitute some frozen hashbrown potatoes in place of a fresh spud. You can even use a gravy mix, if you like. I won’t tell anyone.

Breakfast Pizza

Breakfast pizza is easy to make and gives you all the flavors of sausage gravy, eggs and fried potatoes in one, handheld meal.

Course Breakfast

Keyword cheese, eggs, pizza, potatoes, premade crust, sausage gravy

Ingredients

2 packages pre-made pizza dough I used 7.8-ounce crusts
1 pound sausage I used sage
flour amount will vary, see directions
milk I used skim (amount will vary, see directions)
1 medium potato thinly sliced
an egg for each person
salt and pepper to taste
about 2 cups shredded cheese

Instructions

Preheat the oven to whatever temperature is listed on your pre-made crusts. Roll them out onto pizza or sheet pans (place them on parchment paper for easier cleanup).
Heat a large skillet over medium heat, saute the sausage, crumbling it as it browns.
Once the sausage is cooked through, do not drain the fat from the pan. Sprinkle flour into the pan, a little at a time, while stirring. Add just enough flour to soak up all of the fat in the pan. You’ll know you have enough when the sausage is no longer shiny.
Cook for a couple minutes, and then add about one cup of milk. Stir, scraping the bottom of the skillet as you do to get any cooked on bits.
Add more milk, a little at a time, stirring constantly, until you reach your desired gravy consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste. (I also normally add some more sage and some cayenne pepper to mine.) Remove it from heat.
Spread the gravy out on the crusts to within about an inch of the edge. Sprinkle cheese evenly over the gravy, and then top with potato slices.
Carefully crack one egg for each person you’re feeding toward the center of the pizzas and sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Bake the pizzas for the amount of time on the crust packaging.
Cut into slices and serve.

We really enjoyed this for supper. It kind of combines all the great flavors of breakfast into one easy-to-eat meal. Plus, it reheated really well, too.

Variations we thought about were you could wait until halfway through the pizzas baking to crack the eggs on top to get a runny yolk, and we’re going to go out of our way to use spicy sausage next time, too.

It’s always nicer when somebody else cooks for you, and if we get a chance at some restaurant-made breakfast pizza sometime, I’m sure we’ll take it. But now that we know how to make this ourselves, staying home for dinner is pretty great option, too.

This piece first appeared in print on Feb. 10, 2022.

Tags easy breakfast, eggs, pizza, potatoes, sausage gravy, shredded cheese

Dessert

Pre’pear’ something different for dessert this week

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date February 3, 2022

A pear walnut cake with honey and cinnamon buttercream frosting is a tasty dessert that looks beautiful on any table.

The problem with writing this column every week is that sometimes I get a little too overzealous.

I assume I can conquer any recipe the first time, and there are definitely moments where I crash and burn.

That was the case recently when I tried to make poached pears to go along with the cake I’m sharing with you this week. The original recipe called for poaching fresh pears and using them to decorate the top of the cake. Although I gave it the ol’ college try, that step didn’t make it into my final recipe. I just couldn’t get my poaching liquid to behave the way it was supposed to.

The good news is that the cake I made still ended up being delicious, and there was never a need for poached pears in addition to the honey cinnamon buttercream I slathered on it. I’ll have to save pear poaching for another day, I guess.

This cake recipe came from the blog “Liv for Cake.” You can find the original at https://livforcake.com/pear-walnut-cake-honey-buttercream/. I added extra cinnamon and vanilla in my version. And then I opted to use Amy Johnson’s honey buttercream recipe from her site, “She Wears Many Hats.” You can find her post at https://shewearsmanyhats.com/cinnamon-honey-buttercream-frosting-recipe/. I added extra cinnamon in mine.

Pear Walnut Honey Cake

A pear walnut cake with honey and cinnamon buttercream frosting is a tasty dessert that looks beautiful on any table.

Course Dessert

Keyword buttercream, cake, cinnamon, honey, layered cake, pears, vanilla, walnuts

Ingredients

Cake Ingredients

3/4 cup butter softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
3 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup buttermilk or milk with a touch of vinegar
1 cup walnuts chopped
2 cups fresh pears cored and shredded

Frosting Ingredients

1 1/2 cups butter softened
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup honey

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and prepare two eight-inch round cake pans by greasing and flouring them and lining the bottoms with parchment paper.
In a stand mixer or mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar for several minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.
Add in the flour, baking powder, salt cinnamon and buttermilk, beating until the mixture is well combined.
Fold in the walnuts and pears and distribute the batter evenly between your prepared pans.
Bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of your cakes comes out clean.
Let the cakes cool until you can handle the pans, and then turn them out onto a cooling rack and let them cool completely before frosting them.
For the frosting, beat the butter in a stand mixer or mixing bowl until it is light and fluffy. Beat in the salt and cinnamon.
Beat in the powdered sugar a bit at a time, until the mixture is smooth. Finish out by beating in the honey, and then beat on high for another couple of minutes until the mixture is fluffy.
To assemble the cake, spread a healthy amount of frosting on the top of one of the cooled cakes, and stack the next one on top. Use the rest of the frosting to coat the entire outside. Decorate with more walnuts, if desired.

This cake was really tasty, with all the flavors melding nicely. I especially liked the honey addition.

The buttercream was also delicious, and if you’re looking for a good substitute for the cinnamon butter a lot of steakhouses serve, this actually reminded me of that quite a bit.

And no one even questioned whether my cake needed more decorations—especially after we quickly demolished every last slice. After all, the best compliment a baker can get isn’t oohs and ahs at the presentation—it’s the empty plates afterwards.

This piece first appeared in print on Feb. 3, 2022.

Tags buttercream, cake, cinnamon, honey, layered cake, pears, vanilla, walnuts

Dessert

Whip up a fluffy cheesecake from Japan this week

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date January 27, 2022

Japanese cheesecake has a completely different texture than traditional cheesecakes. It's a lighter, fluffier cake, best served with fruit or chocolate.

I spend a bit of time each week scrolling through my Pinterest feed, hunting down new recipes I might want to try.

It’s funny how certain recipes start trending suddenly. I’ve seen people get super excited about hot cocoa bombs, charcuterie boards and overnight oats. It starts as a trickle of posts, and pretty soon, there’s every variation of whatever hot, new idea is out there.

It was several years ago that a trend came and went for Japanese cheesecake. A 2016 article in “Delish” notes that these cheesecakes “[…] have a more fluffy, sponge-like texture than classic cheesecake […]” because the recipe calls for separating the eggs and whipping the egg whites before incorporating them into the batter.

When Japanese cheesecake was trending, I placed a few recipes for it on my Pinterest board, and then I never actually tried making one. But, in direct conflict with my grade school D.A.R.E. classes, I finally gave in to the peer pressure this week and gave it a try.

The recipe I tried came from the blog “Foxy Folksy.” You can find the original post at https://www.foxyfolksy.com/japanese-cheesecake/. I didn’t mess with the ingredients, but I did refine the directions below.

Japanese Cheesecake

Japanese cheesecake has a completely different texture than traditional cheesecakes. It's a lighter, fluffier cake, best served with fruit or chocolate.

Course Dessert

Cuisine Japanese

Keyword cheesecake, cream cheese, Japanese

Ingredients

10 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar divided
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
5 eggs separated
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
powdered sugar for sprinkling
fruit or chocolate sauce for topping

Instructions

Line the bottom of an eight-inch springform pan with parchment paper.
Wrap the outside with two layers of aluminum foil, making sure the pan is as water tight as possible.
In an oven-proof pan or pot large enough to fit your springform pan in, fill it halfway (or enough that it won’t splash over the top of your springform) with water and place it in the oven. Preheat to 390 degrees.
In a large, microwave-safe bowl, microwave the cream cheese, stirring every 30 seconds, until it’s melted and smooth. Stir in 1/4 cup of sugar. Whisk in the milk and lemon juice and then whisk in the egg yolks.
Sift the flour and cornstarch into the cream cheese mixture, continuing to stir until the batter is smooth.
In another mixing bowl or in a stand mixer, beat the egg whites on low for about two minutes. Add in the cream of tartar and beat on medium speed until the mixture starts to get foamy. Then add 1/4 cup sugar, while continuing to beat the mixture over medium or medium-high speed. Continue to beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Gently fold the beaten egg whites until everything is well-combined.
Pour the batter into the prepared springform pan and tap it on the counter to get any air bubbles out of the mixture.
Place the springform into the preheated water bath in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Lower the temperature to 300 degrees and bake for another 15 minutes.
Do not open the oven door, but just turn the heat off and let the cheesecake sit in the oven for another 30 minutes.
Finally, open the oven door a bit and let the cheesecake sit in the oven for another 10 minutes.
Serve immediately while warm or refrigerate the cheesecake before slicing and serving.
Sprinkle the top with powdered sugar and then top the slices with your favorite fruit or with chocolate sauce.

I chose to serve my cheesecake cold with some strawberries, and it turned out really well. It was a lightly sweet dessert with a very different texture than I’ve ever tried.

And now I understand why Japanese cheesecake became such a trend online. I might have to give a few other popular dishes a try. I still don’t understand the draw to kombucha or sushi burritos, but maybe you’ll see me experiment with those in a few years, too.

This recipe first appeared in print on Jan. 27.

Tags cheesecake, chocolate sauce, cream cheese, fresh fruit, Japanese, powdered sugar

Main Dish

Sprinkle in something new with peppered beef

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date January 20, 2022

Peppered beef is lightly spiced with black pepper and complemented with Asian seasonings and fresh vegetables.

When my sister and I were growing up, my mom always joked she was going to open a restaurant called “I don’t care,” thanks to the number of times we uttered the phrase when the family was choosing where to eat.

On the occasions when we did care, there were certain places that turned into a bit of a debate for us in the back seat.

I, for one, loved going to a good Chinese buffet. My sister, not so much.

On the rare occasions I would convince her that, yes, she would find plenty to eat that suited her tastes, one of my favorite food items to grab was some peppered beef. The combination of steak with sauteed peppers and onions was (and still is) one of my favorites.

I was reminded of those trips this week when I decided to try making some peppered beef in my own kitchen, and I have to say that it turned out great.

This comes from the blog “Kitchen Sanctuary” by Nicky Corbishley. You can find the original post at https://www.kitchensanctuary.com/black-pepper-beef/. I added extra garlic to my version.

Peppered Beef

Peppered beef is lightly spiced with black pepper and complemented with Asian seasonings and fresh vegetables.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Chinese

Keyword bell pepper, black pepper, fish sauce, garlic, ginger, oyster sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, soy sauce, steak, yellow onion

Ingredients

1 pound steak sliced thinly (I used charcoal steak)
2 teaspoons black pepper or more, to taste
salt to taste
4 tablespoons oil I used canola
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 large onion cut into quarter-inch strips
2 large bell peppers cut into quarter-inch strips (any color)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons fish sauce or oyster sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup beef stock or broth
4 to 6 cloves garlic minced
1 teaspoon fresh ginger minced
rice for serving

Instructions

Season the sliced steak with the black pepper and salt.
In a wok or deep frying pan, heat the canola and sesame oils over high heat. Once the pan is hot, add the steak and fry for a couple minutes, until it is browned, stirring constantly.
Remove the steak from the pan and turn the heat to medium. If there isn’t much oil left in the pan, add another tablespoon of canola oil and toss in the onions and peppers.
Saute for several minutes until they reach your desired level of tenderness.
While the vegetables cook, combine the cornstarch, soy sauce, fish/oyster sauce, rice wine vinegar, beef stock and more black pepper (to taste) in a small bowl. Stir to combine.
Once your vegetables are cooked through, add the garlic and ginger to the pan and saute for about two minutes.
Add the sauce from the bowl, along with the steak (and any accumulated juices) to the pan, and stir to coat the vegetables and meat with the sauce. Turn the heat to medium-low and cook for another couple of minutes until the sauce thickens and everything is heated through.
Serve over rice.

Joey raved about how good this meal was all during dinner. It was peppery without being overly spicy, and the sauce was fantastic. I ended up doubling the recipe for plenty of leftovers later in the week, which was a great move. Who doesn’t like leftover Chinese food?

Actually, I can tell you one person who isn’t a fan of Chinese food—fresh or left over. Or at least that was true. After we were both adults, my sister and I were spending an afternoon together, and when it came time for us to decide what to grab for lunch, she suggested a nearby Chinese restaurant.

“I thought you hated Chinese food?!” I told her, remembering all of our backseat battles.

She just shrugged.

“I guess I got over it,” she said.

Sisters…am I right?

This piece first appeared in print on Jan. 20, 2022.

Tags bell peppers, black pepper, Chinese, fish sauce, garlic, ginger, oyster sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, soy sauce, steak, yellow onion

Crockpot Main Dish Soup

‘Peas’ your tastebuds with a spicy crockpot soup

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date January 13, 2022

Spicy black-eyed peas are a great way to warm up on a cold day and are even better with some fresh cornbread on the side.

There is enough debate about black-eyed peas that there’s actually an article about them on the Library of Congress website.

It starts out very simply, asking, “Are black-eyed peas really peas?”

The answer is simple: “No.”

The article then goes into a very technical, scientific explanation of how peas, beans and legumes are classified and named. It’s great reading if you want to take a nap.

But I suppose no matter what their official classification, their presence in our house every New Year’s Day is a constant, as they are supposed to create good luck in the coming year.

Obviously, with all the craziness over the past year, I must have not cooked them quite right in 2021, so I’m hoping this year’s recipe was a better one.

I decided to go with a spicy version of black-eyed peas this year, mostly because I had some jalapeno peppers languishing in my crisper drawer already. You can leave those out and just add another bell pepper and cut out the cayenne if you want to try this recipe and you’re not much of a spice person, but if you like a little heat, you’re really going to like this one.

This recipe from Trisha Haas comes from the blog “Salty Side Dish.” You can find the original post at https://www.saltysidedish.com/slow-cooker-black-eyed-peas/. I added extra spices in my version.

Crockpot Spicy Black-Eyed Peas

Spicy black-eyed peas are a great way to warm up on a cold day and are even better with some fresh cornbread on the side.

Course Main Course

Keyword bacon, bell pepper, black-eyed peas, cayenne, crockpot, cumin, garlic, ham, jalapeno, oregano, slow cooker, soup, spicy, yellow onion

Ingredients

16 ounces dry black-eyed peas
3 beef bouillon cubes
1 small yellow onion diced
4 to 6 cloves garlic minced
1 bell pepper diced (any color)
1-2 jalapeno peppers diced (remove the seeds for less kick)
1 cup ham chopped
6 slices bacon chopped
3 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons oregano
1/2 to 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Add the beef bouillon cubes to about 1 cup of hot water. Smash the cubes before adding them to a large crockpot along with five more cups of water, and then add all of the rest of the ingredients, as well. You do not have to do anything to prep the peas. Just dump them in.
Give the mixture a good stir and then cook on high for six hours or until the peas are cooked through.
This is fantastic served with fresh cornbread.

The photos on the recipe’s website show a mushier-looking soup without a lot of broth. I had a decent amount of broth with mine, so it’s really more about what you prefer with yours if you let it cook down even longer to really get the liquid thinned out. Personally, I love having broth with soups like this so I have something to soak up with my cornbread.

This was so, so easy, since it was as simple as just dumping everything in the crockpot. It literally took no cooking skills whatsoever, which I appreciate sometimes.

Now, with our bellies warmed, supposedly Joey and I are covered for 2022 and all the luck life can bring us. I’m not sure if it worked, but I have some leftovers in my freezer just in case we need a boost in the coming weeks.

This piece first appeared in print on Jan. 13, 2022.

Tags bacon, bell pepper, black-eyed peas, cayenne, cumin, easy, garlic, ham, jalapeno peppers, oregano, slow cooker, yellow onion

Appetizer Main Dish Snack

Don’t let delicious sandwiches slide by you

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date January 6, 2022

Turkey cheese sliders are easy and cheap to make with a package of Hawaiian rolls.

Being the good aunt that I am, when my niece came to spend the night with us this past week, I made sure to have a bag of chocolate mini donuts ready for breakfast.

When my sister and brother-in-law came to pick her up, I asked her if she wanted me to send the leftovers with her, and of course, she happily took them home.

Joey just shook his head.

“You’re such a pusher,” he said.

That’s when I held up the package of Hawaiian dinner rolls my mother had somehow weaseled us into taking back to our house on a recent visit.

“I learned from the best.”

So, what’s there to do with leftover Hawaiian rolls? Well, you could work yourself into a carb-induced food coma, or you can do what we did and make some delicious turkey and cheese sliders.

The recipe I used came from the blog “The Novice Chef.” You can find the original post at https://thenovicechefblog.com/cheesy-turkey-sliders/. I changed the ingredients and removed the sugar, figuring I’ve had enough sweets over the past couple months.

Turkey Cheese Sliders

Turkey cheese sliders are easy and cheap to make with a package of Hawaiian rolls.

Course Appetizer, Main Course

Keyword baked, butter, cheese, deli turkey, dijon mustard, garlic, Hawaiian rolls, onion powder, sandwich, sliders, spinach, Worcestershire

Ingredients

1/2 pound deli turkey
12 Hawaiian rolls
6 to 8 slices cheese I used pepperjack
about 1/2 cup fresh spinach
4 tablespoons butter melted
6 cloves garlic minced
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
garlic salt and pepper to taste
sesame seeds to taste

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a nine-by-nine-inch pan (or whatever size you have that can fit the entire package of Hawaiian rolls in it) by spraying it with cooking spray.
Leave the rolls all connected, and using bread knife, cut the Hawaiian rolls in half to create a top and bottom.
Place the bottom part into the prepared pan. Place the turkey evenly over the rolls, add the cheese, and then finish off with a layer of spinach leaves. Place the top layer of buns on top, and poke just a few holes in the buns with a sharp knife.
In a small bowl, combine the butter, garlic, dijon, onion powder, Worcestershire, garlic salt and pepper, and pour it evenly over top of the rolls, spreading it out with a spoon, if necessary to evenly coat the rolls.
Sprinkle the sesame seeds on top. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake for 14 minutes.
Remove the foil and bake for another two minutes or until the tops brown.
Cut the sliders apart and serve immediately.

These were excellent. Joey and I ate them on New Year’s Eve while we played a board game, and it was the perfect, low-key night.

We recreated the recipe a couple days later (my mom actually gave us two packages of rolls) with deli-sliced pastrami, and it was excellent that way, too. I’m going to keep track of this one for when we’ll inevitably have folks over for the NFL playoffs and the Super Bowl. It would be great for the snack table.

And now we know what to do with leftover Hawaiian rolls. As far as mini donuts, find yourself a willing 4-year-old.

This piece first appeared in print on Jan. 6, 2022.

Tags baked sandwich, butter, cheese, deli turkey, dijon mustard, garlic, Hawaiian rolls, onion powder, sliders, spinach, Worcestershire

Dessert

New recipe experiment keeps Georgia on my mind

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date December 30, 2021

Gozinaki is a traditional Christmas and New Year's treat from the country of Georgia. It is made with only walnuts, honey and sugar, resulting in a unique, nutty flavor.

During its 2020 election coverage, ABC News accidentally used images of voters from the country of Georgia, misidentifying them as people from Atlanta.

This caused a lot of posts online, with some people mocking the news outlet and a few posting that they didn’t even know there was a Georgia outside of the U.S.

In our family, we actually discuss Georgia the country way more often than the state, mostly because my sister-in-law’s husband is a Georgian—as in the eastern European kind.

My brother-in-law is really just a full Texan with a bit of a different accent now, but he does like to wax poetic about the food and culture of his home country.

So, as I was preparing to make treats for our family Christmas this year, it occurred to me that Georgia must have some special Christmas treats. As I researched, I discovered quite a few traditional dishes that looked way too difficult for me to accomplish, but then I stumbled on something that looked do-able: a walnut candy called gozinaki (pronounced go-zin-AH-key).

The recipe is deceptively simple with just three ingredients. The process of actually making it turned out to be pretty difficult, but the end result was a salty, only slightly sweet goodie for our Christmas table.

I tried the a recipe from the website “Georgian Recipes.” You can find the original post at https://georgianrecipes.net/2014/01/04/gozinaki-with-walnuts/. I didn’t change the ingredients, but I did convert items to U.S. Standard measurements and added a bit to the instructions to try to help you avoid some of the problems I had.

Gozinaki

Gozinaki is a traditional Christmas and New Year's treat from the country of Georgia. It is made with only walnuts, honey and sugar, resulting in a unique, nutty flavor.

Course Dessert

Cuisine Georgian

Keyword brown sugar, Christmas, honey, New Year’s, walnuts

Ingredients

2 pounds shelled walnuts
12 heaping tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons sugar

Instructions

In a large, dry skillet, roast the walnuts over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until they’re warm and fragrant.
Remove the walnuts from the pan and chop them roughly.
Add the honey to your skillet and heat over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, for about 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and add the sugar and keep stirring until the mixture thickens (this took quite awhile for me—maybe 15 more minutes).
Pour in the walnuts, and stir until they are coated evenly.
Set up an area of your counter with a large piece of waxed paper.
Wet a wooden cutting board with water (wipe off any excess), and transfer about one cup of the walnut mixture to the board. With your hands (wet them first) or a metal spoon, press the mixture together firmly while shaping it into a rectangle shape.
Once the mixture is well compacted and shaped, take a sharp knife and cut the mixture into pieces (I did mine about two-inches long). Traditionally, it’s cut into diamond shapes, but cut it however you want for serving. (It will very likely fall apart a bit. Don’t let it frustrate you.)
Carefully transfer the cut pieces with a spatula to your waxed paper so they can set up.
Toss any pieces that came apart back into the pan and repeat until you have all of the gozinaki formed and cut.
Leave the gozinaki on your countertop until it’s fully set, and you can pick it up without it falling apart. (I left mine over night.) Store in an airtight container.

At our Christmas get-together, I put my plate of gozinaki on the treat table in the basement. I was upstairs when my sister- and brother-in-law arrived and went down to put presents under the tree. Not two minutes later, my brother-in-law bounded up the stairs, mouth full, and gave me a huge hug.

So if you’re wondering, this is a pretty good recipe, and I did manage to nail the flavor of traditional gozinaki.

Roasting the walnuts releases some of their oils and makes them have a deep, nutty flavor, and the use of honey and only a little sugar means that this is not overly sweet. The texture remains chewy, too. It was unlike any kind of Christmas treat I’ve ever had, but it is definitely worth trying.

Georgians also eat gozinaki around New Year’s, too, so you might want to mix up a batch as 2022 comes around the corner. It’ll be a treat and a geography lesson, all in one.

This piece first appeared in print on Dec. 30, 2021.

Tags candy, Christmas, Georgia, honey, sugar, walnuts

Main Dish Soup

Soup recipe lets me tell counter leftovers ‘see you tater’

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date December 23, 2021

Potato poblano corn chowder is creamy and filling, especially with the addition of shredded chicken and extra potatoes.

They’ve just been staring at me.

Four potatoes have been sitting on my kitchen counter since Thanksgiving, and as the days passed, they literally were growing some eyes to look at me with.

So I knew I needed to make something to use them up, and with the weather finally hitting a dreaded cold snap, I decided to pull out a chowder recipe I’ve been meaning to try.

Of course, I had to do some tweaking, including making it a bit heartier by adding chicken and increasing the spices and vegetables, too.

If you’re looking for a vegetarian recipe, just leave out the chicken, use some vegetable broth and throw in even more potatoes. It’ll still be delicious.

The recipe I tried, by Ivy Manning, appeared in “Fine Cooking” magazine in 2018. You can find it on their website at https://www.finecooking.com/recipe/potato-poblano-corn-chowder.

Potato Poblano Corn Chowder

Potato poblano corn chowder is creamy and filling, especially with the addition of shredded chicken and extra potatoes.

Course Main Course

Keyword baked potatoes, broth, carrots, celery, chicken, chowder, coriander, corn, cumin, mashed potatoes, poblano peppers, soup, yellow onion

Ingredients

3 tablespoons butter
1 medium yellow onion diced
2 poblano peppers diced
2 carrots peeled and diced
2 ribs celery diced
1 teaspoon coriander
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon thyme
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1 1/2 cups milk I used skim
2 medium-sized potatoes diced
2 cups cooked shredded chicken
2 cups corn kernels I used frozen
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Cayenne pepper to taste

Instructions

Melt the butter in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion, peppers, carrots and celery and saute until the vegetables are soft.
Add the coriander, cumin, thyme, salt and pepper and flour, and stir to combine. Saute for a couple minutes to cook out the flour taste. Stir in the tomato paste, and then add the broth, milk, potatoes, chicken and corn to the pot.
Bring the mixture to a low boil, and then turn the heat down to low and simmer, with a lid on the pot, for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are fork tender.
Stir in the lemon juice and cayenne pepper and then serve immediately.

Add as much or as little cayenne as you want to this to control the spice level. Poblano peppers tend to be on the milder side, but if you’re nervous, make sure you remove the ribs and seeds when you dice them up, too.

This had a creamy taste and was a good belly warmer. I actually ended up doubling the recipe so I could store the leftovers as quick weeknight dinners in our freezer.

I was glad to finally get some of my counter space back just in time for all my holiday baking. But I have a feeling that when I’m staring down a mountain of treat containers over the next few weeks, I’ll really miss those potatoes.

This piece first appeared in print on Dec. 23, 2021.

Tags broth, carrots, celery, chicken, chowder, coriander, corn, cumin, milk, poblano peppers, potatoes, thyme, tomato paste, yellow onion