Garlic Artichoke Pasta

I <heart> artichokes.  They're supposedly cancer-fighting and they're exotic and they're amazing with butter.  That's the first thing that made me want to try this recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens Better Than Mom's Slow Cooker Recipes book.  The second thing was that this is a recipe that is made practically entirely from pantry goods without being one of those can-of-cream-of-death-soup type of recipes.  You can buy all the ingredients you need for this ahead and keep them on-hand as a pantry meal kit.  You can also prep the crockpot mixture ahead to fridge or freeze.

Until I had a toddler, we never had dairy beverages in the fridge routinely.  I had to buy milk or cream or half-and-half specifically for a recipe that called for it.  These days, I use whole milk for all recipes calling for cream or half-and-half because it is what we have in the fridge.  So use whatever you happen to  have here (or use canned evaporated milk, if you are like pre-toddler, dairy-drink-less me) if you throw this recipe together out of "ingredients on hand".  If you're planning to make a meal kit for this recipe, you can freeze an appropriate amount of milk or cream, rely on having some in the fridge on Dinner Day or buy canned evap milk for the "pantry kit". 

Comparatively, cream and half and half will be the highest in calories and fat, then evaporated milk and regular milk.  If you get non-fat evap milk, you'll get the best of both worlds...the lighter caloric/fat profile of milk with the rich mouthfeel of cream.

So a meal kit for this recipe will look like this: canned tomatoes, canned artichokes, box of pasta and can of evap milk (if using) labelled and stored in the pantry with garlic+dry herbs and milk/cream (if using) on hand or frozen in ziptop bags.  OR everything except milk mixed together and frozen with pasta/evap milk in the pantry.

The one gripe I have about this recipe is that it's a crockpot recipe that still requires significant cooking right before dinner.  The joy of the crockpot is that you don't have to cook at dinnertime, right?  Boiling pasta isn't hard, but getting the water up to a boil takes time...more time than I'm willing to spend to "finish" a crockpot meal. 

The solution is to cook the pasta almost fully in advance, toss it with a bit of oil or butter to keep it from sticking, fridge it and stir it into the crockpot at the end to warm up and finish cooking through.  Or you can boil the pasta at the last minute, whatever works with your schedule.  Just please don't rinse the pasta...rinsing washes away starch which will prevent the pasta from sticking to itself but then it also won't stick to the sauce.  Besides, the starch is where the flavor lives (yes, pasta does have a flavor of its own) so rinsing washes away flavor, too.

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Easy-Easier-Easiest: Brussel Sprouts

I know brussel sprouts are not everyone's favorite vegetable.  But they do come into season in the fall, and I've got three recipes that will make you see these mini-cabbages in a new light.

Roasting, as always, is one of my favorite prep techniques.  Put these in the oven while roasting a chicken or thick-cut pork chops for a super-easy, attention-free side dish.  Roasting radically changes vegetables, so if you think you don't like brussel sprouts, do try these.  The mustard-parm sprouts are conventional-but-stepped-up and work well with stove-top main dishes.  And I promise that you've never brussel sprouts like you'll have if you make slaw.  If you want, you can let the dressingn cool a bit before adding it to the veggies for a crispier slaw.

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Pumpkin Soup and Pumpkin Muffins

Oh look!  There I am, reflected upside down, in the spoon!

I was reading a newspaper article recently that claimed Halloween was the only "major" American holiday that didn't have a signature food or meal associated with it...Thanksgiving has turkey, Mother's Day has brunch, St. Patrick's Day has green beer, the list just goes on LOL

That statement rang true at first, but as I thought more about it, I realized Halloween does have a signature food...the pumpkin!  I think most of us tend to think of pumpkins as edible only in pie form, but they're part of the winter squash family and as such, are versatile menu players. 

Peeling a fresh whole pumpkin for a recipe is an undertaking, and I prefer when possible to use canned puree (not pumpkin pie filling which is actual pumpkin plus a bunch of other stuff).  The following recipe for soup (which I made for our pre-trick-or-treating repast) only calls for 1/2 a can, so I made muffins with the remaining puree...less waste = less cost = less aggravation.  I am brilliant ;)

The soup recipe is from the Frugal Gourmet Cooks American.  You can make this soup up to the point of adding the scallops and milk and fridge or freeze it (be sure to include scallops and milk as part of the freezer kit to finish the soup).  Just reheat the soup base to a simmer, add the milk and scallops and simmer 5 minutes to finish.  Or if you don't have front-end time to make the soup in its entirety, prep and group the ingredients for next-day or same-day cooking: onion/celery/garlic/ginger in one bowl, flour/spices in another, stock/Worcestershire/Tabasco in a bowl, pumpkin/squash cubes in yet another and scallops/milk saved for last. 

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Sneaky Apple Muffins

You don't *have* to be sneaky about these muffins, if you don't want.  You *could* just tell everyone that they're whole wheat and that there's zucchini in them...or just keep that tidbit to yourself.  If you use green apples, the visible zucchini peel will totally pass for apple.  You *could* even flat-out lie and make this with all zucchini and still tell 'em it's apple ::shhh::

I used thawed frozen shredded zucchini from my garden bonanza.  If you grate up a fresh zucch for this, be sure to press as much moisture out as you can.  The zucchini will be a little "toothier" in the muffins if it's fresh, too.  You'll need a small apple and half a small zucchini for the amounts called for.

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Pepper Pot Stew

The authentic and original version of this recipe comes from the Frugal Gourmet Cooks American and dates from the 18th century.  It may have been one of George Washington's favorites, and if it's good enough for a founding father, by golly, it's good enough for me.

Except...the protein in the original (and authentic) recipe is tripe.  Cow stomach.  I'm going to let you, dear reader, digest (haha!) that thought for a moment.

I am profoundly respectful of families and cultures that use "everything but the oink" (or moo) including organ meats (side note: how awful is it that the general term for organ meats, "offal", is a homophone of "awful"?).  I wish I could count my family among their rank.  But I've tried, and tripe is unfortunately never again going to grace our dinner table.  It's one of the very, very few foods about which I say this.

I want to make it clear that the issue may have been that of inexperienced and inexpert cooking techniques (as it was the one and only time I've tried making tripe) rather than the meat itself, but until I meet a variety meat cookery expert who shows me both a delicious finished dish including tripe and also how to prepare it, it ain't happening.  But if you know what you're doing with tripe, 1) please do use it and 2) call me.

Back to the stew recipe...the combination of aromatics for this stew is mouth-watering, tantalizing as it wafts from the stew pot.  When you make this, be sure to open your windows and make your neighbors jealous.  It's a fabulous base for a stew using any protein you want.  Up until the addition of the (possibly improperly prepared) tripe, this was by far the best stew I've ever made.  Now that I make it with stew beef, stew lamb, veal shoulder, beans, or cooked poultry, it IS the best stew I make.  You could even make this is a wholly vegetarian stew by using oil in place of the bacon fat and rounding out the stew content with lots of hearty fall veggies like butternut squash and cabbage.

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Potato Chip Frittata

Fast.  Uses the crumbly bits left at the bottom of the potato chip bag.  No prep required.  REALLY fast.  Apparently quite close to an authentic Spanish potato frittata (according to the Food and Wine recipe from which this is adapted).  Really, really, really fast.

We walked in the door tonight at quarter of six and I had dinner on the table at 6:05.  No prep-ahead, unless you count having already eaten 12 oz. of a 14 oz. bag of sour cream and onion chips.  I had ham leftover from breakfast that needed chopped, and I used jarred diced pimiento...if you use home-roasted peppers, that part will take you a bit longer.  I served this frittata with bagged salad greens and sliced fruit.

Measure your potato chip bits by weight rather than volume (I screw up so you don't have to).  Two single-serving bags work, or about 2 oz. of leftover potato chip bits.  It's about 2 cups of crushed chips, but it's easy to over-crush wind up with WAY too much potato.

Marjoram is my favorite herb with eggs, but you can leave it out or substitute something else if you want.

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Grilled Spice-Rubbed Bologna

How retro grill-chic, right?  This is like fried bologna, but classy LOL 

When you go to the deli counter to get a slab o' bologna, ask them to cut you a chunk about 3" or 4" thick.  Adapted from a cookbook I found at our beach rental this summer.  Be sure to build a nice hot, smoky fire in your grill...more smoky flavor is better here.

The spice rub will keep for some time in your spice cabinet.  You could apply the rub to the bologna and wrap it in plastic wrap a couple of days in advance of cooking, or freeze the whole slab.  Leftovers of this recipe make OUTSTANDING lunchbox sandwiches.

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