I made some macaroni and cheese tonight for dinner but felt like we needed a bit more as well, plus I was bringing dinner over to my broken-leg neighbor. I decided on a small panini and brought him some vegetable soup from last night as well.  I had some ham and cheddar cheese as the base for the Panini and added some apple slices, arugula and a dab of maple syrup as well. I made them on English muffins as I just wanted something small.

Each sandwich consisted of:

• one English muffin
• 1 slice of ham, folded over
• a few very thin slices of apple
• thin slices of Cheddar cheese
• a small puddle of maple syrup
• a few leaves of arugula

Layer all this in the English muffin while you’re preheating the grill. Butter the outsides of the English muffin and cook in the Panini grill until warmed through and the cheese is melted.

It came out quite nice! I really liked the crunch of the apple and the arugula kept it from being overly sweet somehow.

I really made too many chicken cutlets the other night. However, they are good simply reheated.  Last night I used some up in a Chicken Divan casserole.  For lunch today, my daughter took a simple salad with some chopped romaine lettuce mixed with Ranch dressing and a chopped chicken cutlet. She loved it.

Today for dinner, I felt like experimenting with a Panini sandwich of some kind using one of the last cutlets, with a simple salad on the side.  This came out really good!  I had a small jar of roasted red peppers in the pantry and used a few of those. I also used up the last of a small jar of mango chutney.  (The raisins are the dark spots you see in the picture.)   I also added a slice of provolone cheese.  The bread wasn’t even very good, a bit stale, but somehow using it for a panini I didn’t even notice!  So for one sandwich:

• 1 French roll or two slices of ciabatta or other hearty bread
• 1 slice of provolone cheese
• 1 leftover  chicken cutlet
• a spread of mayonnaise and mustard
• a spoonful of mango chutney
• a few roasted red pepper slices

Spread the mayonnaise and mustard and chutney on the bread. Lay the chicken cutlet down, then top with the red pepper slices and then the cheese. Spread a bit of butter on the outside of the sandwich and grill until heated through and the cheese is melted.

This came out great! I think the key to good Panini is a) the bread and b) having some little treat tucked into your pantry or frig, like the roasted red peppers and chutney.  I think this would pack up well in a lunchbox and be good at room temperature.

Lots of stories about where this comes from but let me say it is a delicious casserole!  I even make it when I don’t have leftover chicken to use up. In fact, tonight I bought a whole chicken, on sale and with a 30% off coupon so about $4 for a 4 pound chicken.  I poached the chicken in water with  a carrot, some celery, thyme, an onion, peppercorns and salt for an hour. Once the chicken was done, I pulled it out and let it cool a bit, so I could pull the meat off. When I did, I put all the bones back into the pot with the veggies and cooked it another couple of hours, then let it cool, strained it, and now have about 2.5 quarts of lovely chicken broth.

This casserole doesn’t look pretty. Does any casserole look pretty?  But it is delicious!  I usually halve this for us, but since my youngest is packing lunches these days and LOVES this, I made a full recipe, figuring it would feed us both a few lunches.

• 1 tsp oil
• 1/2 an onion, diced
• 1/2 cup diced peppers (all green or a mix, like I did tonight)
• 2 15-oz cans cream of whatever soup, a combo of mushroom and chicken is quite nice. You can also make your own creamed soups (aka white sauce)
• 1 15-oz can Rotel tomatoes or your store brand of tomatoes with green chilies or a can of diced tomatoes and a small can of diced green chilies
• 2 cups or so cooked diced chicken
• 12 corn tortillas, cut or torn into pieces
• 2 cups grated Cheddar cheese or a Mexican blend

Heat the oil and cook the onion and peppers until softened. Stir in the soups, tomatoes and chicken and stir until blended.

Grease a 9×13″ pan, then layer 1/3 of the tortillas, 1/3 of the chicken mix and 1/3 of the cheese. Repeat, ending with cheese on top.

Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

NOTE: I usually either halve the recipe or make it in two 9×9 pans and freeze half. If you want to do that, line one of the pans with foil, then do the layers, then freeze. When it’s solid, lift out the foil layer and freeze it in a freezer bag. When you’re ready to cook, just pop it into your 9×9 pan and it will fit perfectly!  Defrost and then bake, or bake from frozen but allow more time.

French Dip Sandwiches

Here’s my normal French Dip Sandwich recipe, but it requires hours of time, a crock pot and perhaps more beef than you might like (although it does freeze well, especially if you freeze it in the jus/juice).   Driving home from school today, youngest and I talked about dinner and settled on French dip sandwiches.  We swung by the grocery store and picked up some sliced roast beef from the deli and I made a good dipping sauce using some Minors Beef Base, which I buy at Costco. Much cheaper than those little packets of  Au Jus sauce that sell for at least $1 each.  And tastier if I remember correctly.  You could of course just use some warm beef broth to dip the sandwiches in if you’d like, but I think this tastes better.

• 2 Tbs butter
• 1 Tbs flour
• 1 splash of dry sherry (optional, but good!)
• 2 cups beef broth (yours, or Minors or canned)
• 1 French roll per person, split and buttered
• about 2 ounces of sliced roast beef per serving

Melt the butter in a saucepan, then stir in the flour and cook a minute or two.  Add the sherry and cook another minute, then stir in the beef broth. Simmer at least a few minutes , then turn to low while you prepare everything else. At some point, add the slices of roast beef to warm.

Spread the rolls with some butter, then broil a few minutes until lightly toasted.

Lay the slices of roast beef on them and slice each roll in half.  Pour the beef broth mixture into small bowls or ramekins so you can dip your sandwich in them.

I served these with a simple green salad.  It was an easy and delicious meal.

I’ve seen recipes on line that call for cheese and/or grilled onions, but to me a French Dip is nothing but bread and beef and broth. Very simple. The other stuff sounds good but it’s not what I think of when I hear French Dip!

NOTE: For packed lunches, pack the juice and the slices of beef in a thermos. Pack a bun separately.  Lay the slices of roast beef on the bread, then pour the juices into the cup of the thermos and dip!

If  you end up with lots of broth leftover, freeze it to use in soups or for making gravy or pot pies or hash.

I cooked up a couple of boneless skinless chicken breasts to make chicken tacos tonight. I started with the recipe here despite the mix of reviews. I was intrigued by the idea of lemonade somehow…but I would definitely classify the chicken as bland.  When I tasted some partway through the simmering to reduce the sauce I knew I had to do something. I added a splash of tequila, some ground cumin, and a good dose of taco seasoning.  Then suddenly they were great!  So next time I do this, I think I’ll just marinade some chicken in a bit of lemon and or lime juice and tequila and cumin, then cook with some taco seasoning and water, letting most of the liquid evaporate.

I served this with grated cheese,chopped lettuce, chopped tomatoes,  sour cream, chopped avocados, and salsa plus refried beans and corn tortillas.

For lunch tomorrow, my youngest has a salad packed up with some of this on top. A handful of tortilla chips will round out a great lunch I think!  This is one of those Fit and Fresh containers that includes an ice pack. Very cool.

I bought two different Fit & Fresh containers the other day and am quite impressed so far. If you’re trying to pack some healthy lunches and minimize landfill waste, they are affordable and well made. Note: clicking the picture below takes you to Cooking.com’s store and I make a small commission if you buy it.

laying out the wrap

My eldest packed this for lunch for her first day of school. We bought some wraps and spread flavored cream cheese (chive and onion in this case but we often just use the “veggie” one), baby spinach leaves, grated carrots, chopped olives and turkey.

Spread the cream cheese on the wrap first, then lay out the ingredients you like. For mine, I added some Major Grey’s chutney.

Roll it up tightly starting at one the narrow end. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate if you’re going to slice it up.

It’s somehow more appetizing when cut into smaller pieces but that’ s strictly optional.

We serve these as appetizers at large holiday dinners to tide folks over until the big meal. We like to add some spicy stuff to some and keep a few vegetarian. Add sliced red peppers if you like ‘em and any thing else that sounds good!

We packed these for lunch today and my eldest thought they were good. I found them a bit bland but I think it’s because of the wrap we used rather than the ingredients. I like things with a bit more kick to them that she does though so for kids who like things plainer, these are great.

I had a kielbasa sausage that need using up the other night and was also in the mood for beans and rice.  This was a pre-cooked kielbasa sausage, just fyi.  First I started the rice in my rice cooker, then I went on to the rest.

I would have used a green pepper if I’d had it but all I had was a red one. It would also be more Cajun if you used some Cajun seasoning but I didn’ t have anything prepackaged and didn’t feel like exploring much so just used some Montreal Steak Seasoning.  It came out quite good!

• 1 Tbs oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 a red pepper, chopped
• 8 ounces cooked kielbasa sausage
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• seasoning to taste (Cajun or steak or whatever, just include some pepper!)
• 1 15-oz can diced tomatoes with juice (do not drain them!)
• 1 15-oz can kidney beans, rinsed and drained or 1 cup homemade

Start your rice. I used about 3 rice cooker cups (smaller than our regular US “cups” so beware). If I were cooking on the stove I’d probably do 1.5 cups and 3 cups water.

Heat the oil in a skillet and add the onion, cooking while you chop the pepper. Add the pepper and cook a few minutes, stirring, while you…

Cut the sausage into half lengthwise, then cut into 1/4″ slices (so you end up with small half circles). Add to the skillet. Add the garlic and seasonings. Cook 5 minutes or so, stirring.

Stir in the tomatoes and their juice plus the drained beans. Mix well and simmer until heated through. If you’re rice isn’t done yet, just turn the heat to low, cover, and wait.

Thanks to Cheap. Fast. Good! for the inspiration. I think we have had about 4 servings so far (1 hungry guy and 3 smaller ones) and I still have enough leftover for a lunch portion. I’ve had it for lunch once already and the leftovers were fantastic.

Lunch Box Idea

I think it would pack up quite well for a lunch if you followed the Bento box method of putting the hot food in the bottom of the container and then making a rice “top” to seal in the heat and keep the rice from getting too soggy. I wish I’d heard of that before when my kids were so willing to pack leftovers in a Thermos.

I’ve written a new article over on CheapCooking, offering up some lunch box ideas for packing creative school lunches.

I’m fascinated by the bento box blogs and have several favorites I’ve been following including:

• Just Bento
• Adventures in Bento Making
• All My Bento are Belong to Me
• Lunch in a Box

If you’re looking for fun lunchbox items, go check out these Amazon lunchbox containers.

Halloween has progressed far beyond what it was when I was a kid. Back then, the costumes were mostly homemade. The pumpkins were mostly homegrown. And the carvings were definitely homegrown. No fancy templates. No fancy tools. We got a kitchen knife and scraped out the insides with a big kitchen spoon. Now, you seem to find most kids dressed in plastic store-bought action “figures” and “characters,” pumpkins are bought at the grocery store, and the jack-o-lanterns are likely to be more elaborate than a project I would have done for school!

But pumpkin seeds. Whether you buy or grow your pumpkins, carve a simple scary face or a haunted house complete with a witch out front, dress up as a ghost or a character from Desperate Housewives, pumpkin seeds are still the king! After all that sweet candy, some salty pumpkin seeds taste just right. It’s too late for this year, but if I remember to write this up now, you’re likely to find it next year when you’re looking online with that bowl of gooey pumpkin seeds sitting on your counter.

2 cups, roughly, of pumpkin seeds, picked clean of large bits of flesh
2 Tbs butter, melted
1/2 tsp garlic salt
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Stir this all together then spread out on a shallow baking sheet. Bake at 275 for an hour or so, stirring occasionally until the reach the desired crispness.

I don’t claim to be an expert on pasties or anything else. In our house we call these Meat Pies. In the British cookbook I got the basic recipe from they’re called Cornish Pasties. It’s a great way to stretch a piece of beef.

You can make these using regular pie crust dough or the more traditional pastry, which has half lard and half butter, a bit of sugar, and an egg yolk added. That’s more similar to what I do for a quiche. I’ve done both, just depending on what I have on hand.

I almost always end up with leftover meat and potatoes and vegetables if I follow my recipe exactly. I cannot figure out how they squeeze all that filling into that little bit of pie crust! Tonight, I made one a half times the pie crust called for (basically the same as 3 pie crusts) and it worked out well. Other times, if I don’t feel like rolling out all the dough, I just bake the extra filling in a small dish along with the meat pies.

I don’t measure much with this recipe, except when making the pie dough. I use “about one steak”, whatever I have around to use up. It’s probably about 3/4 of a pound typically but a little less or more won’t matter much. And obviously you could fill these with quite a variety of stuff. I just tend to make them when I have a lone piece of beef sitting around.

3/4 pound of beef (I’ve used a variety: top round, bottom round, tri tip)
1 onion, diced
2 carrots diced
1 potato or turnip, peeled and diced
salt and pepper to taste

1 egg and 1 Tbs of water, mixed together

Make your pastry dough or pie crust and chill it.

Chop the meat, onion, carrot, and potato or turnip. Toss together in a bowl and season with the salt and pepper.

Roll out the dough until it’s about 1/4″ or less thick. I tend to like them thinner, but if you’re not good at rolling out the dough don’t worry about it. It will taste great no matter what!

Use a bowl or plate to cut circles out of the dough, depending on how many pies you want. For me, this turns out 8 medium pies. The original recipe called this out as 4 larger pies.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Put a portion of the meat mixture into the middle of a circle of dough. Brush the edges with the beaten egg then bring together at the top of the pie and pinch the edges together to form an oval shaped pie with the seam across the top. Cut a couple of slits in each to let the steam escape. Place the pies on a cookie sheet. When you’re all done rolling, filling, and sealing the pies up, use the rest of the egg ix to brush across the top.

Bake at 400 for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350 and bake another 45 minutes.

These make a great dinner and can easily be packed for lunches. I freeze the leftovers so we can just pull one out for a lunch.