Cooking on the Front Burner: August 2011

How to Make Roasted Veggies with Orzo

You know this dish had to be pretty special if John gave it 4.5 stars! He has been stingy with the ratings lately so I'm glad he enjoyed this dish. On Wednesdays in our newspaper is a publication called American Profile and this is where this recipe came from (retyped here).

Started with these fresh ingredients (and we actually found a zucchini in our garden that wasn't the size of a baseball bat!)

The veggies are chopped, tossed with olive oil and Italian seasonings and then roasted

Meanwhile prepare the orzo pasta by first sauteing it in olive oil (the flavor from doing this is amazing) and then simmer with chicken broth until liquid is absorbed.

Raw

Sauteed

Finished product

Toast pine nuts (this is done in a dry pan over medium heat)

Once veggies are roasted, mix in orzo and top with feta and pine nuts - cover and bake for about 25 minutes

This was really good! I'm calling the leftovers!

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Roasted Veggies with Orzo

John gave this meal 4.5 stars! Come back tomorrow to see how it was made and get the recipe... there are things I must tend to tonight!!

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Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

Tonight's dinner was found in the new Kraft Food and Family magazine. It caught my eye as a comfort type food dish and since the nights are starting to get a little cooler, I felt this dish would hit the spot. I followed the recipe as is - no tweaking - and I don't think I would change a thing. (Recipe can be found here)

The ingredients

Chop chicken, ham and broccoli and add to the soup/mustard mixture

Layer with swiss cheese then prepared stuffing mix

About 40 minutes later - dinner is done! Mr. John gave it 3.5 stars!

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C is for Cookie

School's just around the corner and back in the day when the girls were in school I made a special treat for the first and last days. Big chocolate chip cookies... the girls loved this tradition and I carried it through until Danielle graduated in 2006. Today I'm heading to see Danielle and her new apartment and thought I'd surprise her a treat. Here's a look from years past of some of the ones I made

This is the year we had an exchange student, Delphine, from France

What traditions do you have or want to start??

To make a big cookie follow these instructions - start with a regular recipe of toll house cookie dough, a 12" Wilton cake pan that is greased very well, put the dough in (about 3/4 of the recipe) and leave about 1" around the edges... the cookie will bake out to the edge but the crust edge won't be too hard or dark.. Bake at 350 for about 20-22 minutes - keep checking and it is OK for the dough to still be soft - it will harden when it cools and again you will have a nice texture. Cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, run a knife around the edges and invert onto plate and flip again. When cool decorate with store-made frosting... really easy and very delicious too!

ooops!

Leftover dough...

Danielle was very surprised and loved it!

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Thursdays on First

Tonight we ate at downtown Rochester at the Thursdays at First event. Next Thursday is the last one for 2011 and we wanted to get our fix in before the food vendors were gone! I work right by where it is held so I get to go more often but it was Mr. John's first time this summer. We have some favorite vendors we visit. First up John decided to go for a burger (and of course a tasty beverage)

I enjoyed my beverage while he ate then we wandered over to the Pescara Restaurant stand that serves Shrimp Tacos! I covet these...Mr. John ate one too so I said try to remember what is in and the flavors you taste... oh my - don't these look awesome! (and they were!)

We walked around some more and then we decided WHY NOT have dessert! I chose a cupcake and Mr. John a homemade ice cream sandwich - both were delicious!