Yesterday wasn't much of a fun food day. We had leftover grilled veggies/salad for lunch. We went to visit our friends before dinner and ended up staying and chatting until 8 p.m. Oops! We got home and my son had a sandwich and fruit. My daughter had cereal, an egg, and fruit. My hubby and I had a dip night. He put cream cheese, vegetarian chili, garlic and wine seasoning, diced onion, and cheddar/muenster/chipotle cheeses on top. Yum!
Today we had another day of leftover veggies and salad for lunch. It is so quick, easy, and delicious to have a summery salad for lunch. I can't say that I am getting tired of them. Yet. Ha.
My hubby headed into work and I got to work in the kitchen. I made a batch of homemade jalapeno poppers. I used to not even like jalapeno poppers. That is, until we found this recipe in a "top secret restaurant clone" cookbook. The recipe is for Red Robin No-Fire Peppers. Over the years, we made some changes to it. Here is how we make them. Slice peppers in half lengthwise and scoop out seeds/membrane. Poach them. They only need to be boiled for 8-10 minutes (not 10-15 per the recipe). Dry the peppers. We added the step of dipping them in flour first prior to filling them; it helps it to stick better. The recipe calls for cream cheese as the only filler. BORING. We season it with our favorite (garlic and wine seasoning) and also stir in a handful of shredded cheddar cheese. There is no need to add salt or oil to the eggs as per the recipe. We simply beat them with a mixer. We do not measure the flour or seasonings. Just eyeball how you would normally season flour to bread something. Season with garlic powder, paprika, and onion powder. We also started adding the garlic and wine seasoning that we get from The Melting Pot (can you tell we love garlic). So you dip the poached peppers into the seasoned flour and then fill it with the cream cheese mixture. Next, they go back into the flour. Then into the egg. Back into the flour. Back into the egg. And its final resting spot is in crushed corn flakes. Freeze the poppers for a few hours before you try to throw them in a freezer bag. When it is time to cook, just heat up oil in a pan and cook them until golden brown. Sprinkle with salt and fill your face!
This afternoon I picked up my order from a friend's Pampered Chef party. I ordered a set of six mini pie pans. They were too cute to not use for dinner tonight. Hmmmm. I didn't have any pie crust though. I figured that I could make some type of a shepard's pie. I didn't want to put gravy in it because the bottom of the pie pan is removable and I was worried the gravy would drip out.
I sauteed red onion, celery, carrots, cauliflower,and turnips. This was the first time that I have cooked turnips. Our friends gave us some out of their garden and I was pretty excited to try them. I added chopped garlic, garlic and wine seasoning, and just a little bit of vegetable broth. I made some mashed potatoes. I normally add milk, butter, and sour cream to the potatoes. I was out of cow's milk and only had almond milk. I didn't want the potatoes to take on a weird flavor so I skipped the milk and just kept a tiny bit of the water that they were cooked in. I added about a cup of small white beans to the veggies and then let the broth cook out. I put a few scoops of veggies into the pan, topped it with mashed potatoes, then topped the pies with cheese. Two pies got cheddar cheese. Two pies got taco cheese. Two pies got mexican cheese. I put them in the oven at 400 just long enough to melt the cheese. I made a gravy out of the rest of the can of broth. I just added a little thyme, salt, and pepper to season it a bit and then served it on top.
My daughter said dinner was amazing and that she loved it. She had two helpings. She said that next time we should add corn. Agreed! My son said it was really good. I thought it was really good. I was surprised that the three of us all liked the turnips so much. I can't wait to try them out in another recipe!
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