Creamy Lemon Spaghetti

Everyone is busy, and we all know what it's like to get to Wednesday around dinner time and be like, "Oh God, I have ingredients but no plan," or, "I have no plan and hardly any ingredients...great."  I fell into the second category this evening.  Peter had a long day of clinic and TA-ing some second year labs, and I have been catapulted head first into OB day shift...aka 6am-5pm, get home at 530 and try to throw something together to eat.  I am a huge advocate of meal planning a week in advance, so when I grocery shop, I shop with a purpose and don't end up with too many (or too little) ingredients.  I follow this rule about 64% of the time.  Not this week...oh no, not this week.

So I got home and what do I have....an onion, lemon, some sour cream that is really just about done being useful, and 2 sad left over chicken sausages...and some spaghetti.  Well, alright, we can work with that.  It turned out pretty good, and it's even one I'd do over again.  I threw in some frozen peas for color and veggie factor.  Really, use whatever you have.  It is Wednesday, after all, and we have no plan.

Forgive the picture quality...poor lighting + rushing=mediocre photos

This weekend we are going home, and I'm sure there will be many great recipes to share (like Spiced Cake Pops).  Stay tuned!!

We made it through Wednesday!

Amy 


Creamy Lemon Spaghetti
4 oz (quarter of a box) spaghetti or any noodle you like
Olive Oil
1/2 onion, sliced thin
2 servings protein (leftover chicken, sausage, beef....etc)
2 lemons, zested and juiced
1/2 cup sour cream
Pasta water, to thin out sauce
1/2 tsp italian seasoning
Salt and Pepper, to taste
1/2 cup frozen peas

Prepare noodles according to package directions.  While they cook, saute onion in olive oil until soft.  Add meat, and warm through/cook if raw.  To the onion mixture, add lemon juice and zest and sour cream.  Turn the heat to low, and stir the sauce until it comes together.  Add the pasta directly to the pan, and add pasta water if needed.  Throw in frozen peas and simmer together until peas are warmed through.  Add seasonings, stir, and serve!

My Mom's Sugar Cookies

Every family has an iconic recipe that is just instant comfort food.  For my family, that's sugar cookies.  Originally, the recipe came from a woman my mom worked with (Audrey, I believe), but if we begin citing everyone who has used this recipe, we'd be here all day.  So, we'll call them Rox's Sugar Cookies, because that's what they are to me.  I know what you're thinking, "I have like 60 recipes for sugar cookies, what's the big deal?"  Like any heirloom, it's really most special for those who grew up with the recipe, but I think it's worth a try for you as well.  Seriously, these are amazing.

Action shot: cream butter and sugar together super well
You can't overmix at this stage.

The secret?  Like a ton of almond extract, especially in the simple frosting.  My brother goes nuts for this stuff, and during the holiday season, I usually reserve a small bowl for him to eat with a spoon.  I do the same thing...embarrasing.  The cookie dough itself is pretty basic, but yields a tender, flaky cookie that is a great palate for such a zinger of a frosting recipe.  I did make a change that I'm not sure has been tried in my family before:  I folded in tiny dot sprinkles into the cookie dough before rolling and baking.  They don't melt when they bake, and they give a fun texture and color, kinda like funfetti.  It makes the recipe a bit more "summer-ish," I think.

For the frosting, it's just butter, powdered sugar, a little milk and almond extract.  I added just a few scrapings of lemon zest, which really cuts through the sweetness.  Take it or leave it, up to you, but I think it's a nice addition.

I'm making these today for the OB night shift people, as my last night shift is tomorrow night (thank God). I'm just deliriously tired from last night's shift, but my brain apparently can bake on autopilot.  Good to know.

Rox's Sugar Cookie Recipe
1 cup butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond extract
1/4 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 cups flour

In a mixer, cream butter and sugars well.  Beat in egg, vanilla, and almond extracts and lemon juice.  Being careful not to overmix, mix in dry ingredients.  Chill and roll out, cut with cookie cutters or a round glass.  Bake at 350 for 6 minutes until just done and only slightly brown.  Cool and frost!

Almond Frosting
1/2 stick butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
2-3 Tbsp milk (as needed to find right consistency)
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
1/8 tsp lemon zest (just a few microplane swipes)

Combine ingredients until desired consistency (could be runnier to drizzle, or thicker to spread).  Color, if desired.  Spread on cookies (or eat straight out of the bowl, whatever).

Get a good night's sleep,
Amy

PS:  Just a pic of Lady being cute.  I just love her underbite :)

Sweet Potato Fries

Do you ever have days when the dinner combination is just...awkward?  Like cereal with a side of broccoli or spaghetti with a side of baked beans?  Well tonight, our odd combo was fajitas and sweet potato fries.  I don't know how this happened!  I am usually very organized in the dinner department, but fajitas were scheduled for tonight, and I also had a huge sweet potato that seemed like a great idea in the grocery store last Thursday, but we are running out of opportunities to use it (#OBnightshift-any twitter people out there?  No one? oh well).  So whatever, fajitas and sweet potato fries.  Could be worse.

It's super easy to make your own "fries"at home, in the oven, which is clearly more healthful than frying them in a gallon of oil, or buying them in the frozen section (those have been pre-fried a lot of times).  It works great with either regular potatoes or sweet potatoes.  It just requires some knife skills, a hot oven, and any number of seasoning combinations.

You could use a mandolin or just a sharp knife to cut the potato into rounds (if using a mandolin, USE THE GUARD and throw away the end that gets too short to use...from personal experience, it gets bloody if you don't, and blood is not a fry topper option, sorry).  Or, you could cut the potato into "fry-shaped" planks.  Cut the potato along the equator, then stand it up.  Cutting longitudinally, make sections that are around 1/2" thick.  Lay those pieces down, and cut longitudinally again for strips.  Here, I'll show you.

I like them with ketchup, but you could make up a creamy dip (my mom likes to combine light mayo or sour cream, lemon zest, and garlic...yum!  you could substitute fat free plain yogurt here as well).  As another idea, you could make sweet ones, by tossing them with olive oil, salt, sugar, and cinnamon.  That's a nice fall side dish idea!

Sweet Potato Fries
-serves 2

1 large sweet potato
Salt, Pepper, olive oil, and any other seasonings (see below for combinations)

Preheat oven to 425, and line a baking sheet with foil.  Spray with cooking spray.  Cut a washed potato into thin rounds, or thin planks.  Dump on baking sheet, and drizzle with olive oil and generous amounts of seasoning.  Bake for 30 minutes, turning a few times, until golden brown and delicious.  Let cool (will crisp up a bit), and serve!

Flavor possibilities
-seasoned pepper, garlic salt, and chili powder (what I did tonight)
-Italian seasoning (tossing with parmesan cheese in the last few minutes of cooking)
-cinnamon sugar (don't serve these with ketchup....)
-Grill seasoning and crushed red pepper flakes

Brownie Muffins

Today was a completely "OB-free" day for me, which of course means frazzled household chores, catching up on reading for my clerkship, grocery shopping, working out, walking Lady, making dinner...you know how it goes.  Baking had to be on my list, because really, why not?  :)

Don't get the big jar of pumpkin...get the smaller one (14.5 oz).
This was all Peter could find :)

I'm a big fan of sneaking in hidden vegetables in unnoticeable places, and making sinful treats healthier.  Double score with this recipe.  This is a recipe from Hungry Girl, and like many of her treats, they are yummy and magically lighter than regular cupcakes!  You need literally 2 ingredients:  chocolate box cake mix, and a 14.5 oz can of pumpkin puree (DO NOT use pumpkin pie filling...make sure you check the label at the store!).  I can just see your nose turning up right now but give them a chance!  (as a matter of fact, select members of my family have been served this recipe in cake form by my mother...sneaky!!)

Literally pour out the powdered cake mix and dump in a can of pumpkin, and mix well.  Don't add anything else, like eggs, oil or water.  Just trust me!  The batter will be very very very thick.  This is good.

Then scoop into a muffin pan with greased liners.  Bake at 425 about 16-18 minutes or until not gooey inside.

They will puff up slightly.  You could do this recipe in a 9x13 pan and frost with some light Cool Whip. After I took the above picture, I sprinkled some untoasted coconut on top of a few of them.  While baking, the coconut got all golden.  I'd imagine other sprinkled items would be great as well.

Brownie Muffins
Recipe from Hungry Girl

1 box chocolate cake mix
1 14.5 oz can pumpkin

Preheat oven to 425, and line a muffin tin with liners and grease.   Mix two ingredients together, and using an ice cream scoop, fill muffin tin.  Bake 16 minutes or until cake is done but not overbaked!  Enjoy warm, cold, with ice cream, with cool whip, the possibilities are endless,

Easy Chicken Enchiladas

So before I tell you about a super easy and wonderful enchilada recipe, would anyone like to hear about placentas?  (In my world, most people would answer with an enthusiastic "YES!", but you may not be so excited...that's ok, I'll make it medicine-G-rated).

I had my first 16 hour OB call last night, and it went much, much better than expected.  Once my med school partner Nina and I figured out what we needed to be doing, where we could find precious lab information, and how exactly to put on those weird sterile gowns, we were off.  I saw 3 1/2 deliveries (the "1/2" was because I was called to the OB triage unit right before the lady I had been following for several hours delivered...bummer), and I even delivered a placenta!  That may seem just strange to you, but truly, I'll remember that moment for the rest of my life.  It was my first real "medical intervention" experience, besides just asking people about pain, listening to hearts, or, well, doing psychiatry things.  Everyone made it safely through the experience, and although the chief resident pretty much had her hands on mine the whole time, I'm going to go ahead and say I did it "myself."  Success!

Enough OB stories?  As my mom likes to say, "sandwich in one hand, something bodily-gross in the other."  Enchiladas!

This is a rather healthy dish that's easy to make ahead, freezes well, and bakes pretty quickly.  That's a winner in my book.

I believe the original recipe is from Campbell's Soup's Website, but the recipe below contains a few modifications from my kitchen.  I meant to take some instructional pictures on how to best fold the tortillas to make the enchilada, but I sort of went on autopilot and before I knew it, all the enchiladas were in the pans.  Epic fail.  But really, all you need to do is evenly divide the filling between 5-6 whole wheat tortillas, placing the filling centrally and near the bottom (so, while leaving a border, putting the filling at like 5, 6, and 7 o'clock).  Then fold in the right and left sides of the tortilla, and roll the whole thing away from you a few times.  Place seam-side down in a baking dish, and top with reserved soup mixture.  Bake!

Wishing you a great weekend!

Amy

Easy Chicken and Cheese Enchiladas
1 can light Cream of Chicken Soup
1/2 cup fat free sour cream
1 cup salsa, any kind
2 tsp chili powder
3 cups cooked chopped chicken
1/2 cup shredded cheese (I like to use cheddar)
6 whole wheat tortillas

Heat oven to 350F.  Stir the soup, sour cream, salsa, and chili powder in a medium bowl.

Stir 1 cup of soup mixture, chicken, and cheese in a large bowl.  Divide the chicken mixture among the tortillas.  Roll up the tortillas and place seam-side down in a shallow baking dish.  Pour remaining soup mixture over filled tortillas.  (You can freeze at this point).

Bake for 40 minutes or until enchiladas are hot and bubbling.  Serve!

On a walk with Lady

Instead of posting a recipe today, I thought I'd take you on a walk with Lady!  We have such a pretty neighborhood, and it's good extra exercise for everyone.  Here we go!

This is literally right outside our lobby door.  

 We live in a neighbhorhood called the Fulton River District.  It is right on the Chicago River where it splits to go north and south.  We are like 100 feet from the Loop (downtown area) and the same distance from River North, a trendy, yuppy-type area.

I took this as Lady and I were crossing the Kinzie Street Bridge, about a block north of our apartment.  The really tall building in the far back center is the Sears Tower (or Willis, or whatever they call it now).

River North is a really cool neighborhood with TONS of restaurants, cafes, etc.  This one is called Scoozi, an Italian restaurant that Peter and I have reservations to on Saturday night.  I'll be both post-call and pre-call, so I informed him that our home kitchen will be closed that night.  I hate it when that happens :)

This is one of two parks that we frequent:  the Erie Street Park.  Lady loves to sniff around in the grass and meet up with some of her canine friends.

Walking nicely without her Gentle Leader!  Score

This statue-flower bed thing is in the Erie Park.  I just think it's neat.

This is the River Walk, which is sandwiched between the East Bank Club (spendy gym near our apartment where Obama and Oprah frequent supposedly...I've never seen any secret service) and the Chicago River.  The Kinze Street bridge (where we started our picture tour) is in the background.

We are on our way to park number 2, but I had to show you the Blommer Chocolate Company.  They have been open for like 65 years, and make chocolate 24/7.  It's notable because it makes the ENTIRE neighborhood smell like a melted chocolate bar...I'll take it.

This is the Desplaines Street Park, about 3 blocks from our apartment.  It's a great park to get a quick walk/potty time in, and she usually sees a lot of friends in here.  In the background is the grocery store we frequent, Jewel-Osco.  It's obviously walking distance, but they have ample free parking for larger trips (that's a MAJOR commodity in the city...it's hard to drive anywhere unless you're willing to pay $15 to park for 20 min :)

Almost home, but this is Peter's El (train) stop to get to school.  Only like 1 1/2 blocks...not bad!

I hope you enjoyed your walk!  Lady sure did, and she's napping now.  Success.   Tomorrow is my first night reporting for OB duty...yikes!  I'm bringing snacks and iced coffee...and an "act like you've been there" attitude.  I'll report back on whether I help bring anyone new into the world.  Double yikes.

Homemade Mexican Chocolate Pudding

This week is a bit odd in that both Peter and I are starting new terms/rotations, which means new schedules, and he also is headed home for a quick 24 hours to attend his grandfather's funeral.  I'm super bummed I can't go with, but hospital obligations will keep me in Chicago, carless!  Thankfully, my friend Brie came to the rescue and is transporting me to and from the hospital tomorrow.

As a thank-you, I offered to make her dinner during our downtime.  I'm making Easy Chicken Enchiladas (recipe to come!) and needed a quick make-ahead dessert, without going back to the grocery store.  I remembered my mom making homemade puddings on random weekdays when I was little, and it felt special while being easy.  Perfect!  The skeleton of the recipe below is from Taste of Home, but I added several touches, namely increasing the cocoa (why not?), and adding coffee and cinnamon to make it "Mexican", to go with the enchilada theme.

If you add coffee grounds, you'll see and "feel" them, but really, I find nothing wrong with that.  I don't know a single med student who would be like, "coffee?  no thanks..."  And the cinnamon....well it's just lovely with chocolate.  Trust me, you'll like this combo!  You could also put your own chef-y touches on chocolate pudding:  try leaving out the cinnamon/coffee and adding some orange liquor, peppermint extract, Disaronno liquor, etc (not all at once, of course).

Homemade Mexican Chocolate Pudding

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
Sprinkle of ground coffee or 1 tsp brewed coffee
2 cups milk
Dash of cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp butter

In a small saucepan, combine cocoa, sugar, cornstarch, salt, cinnamon, and coffee.  Whisk in milk slowly, and heat until boiling.  Stirring constantly, boil 2 minutes.  It will thicken pretty quickly, so keep stirring!  When it's thickened and coats the back of a spoon, turn off heat and stir in vanilla and butter.  Pour into ramekin dishes (or pie shell!) and quickly cover with plastic wrap so that it's touching the surface to prevent skin formation.  Chill and enjoy every last spoonful!

Tomato Basil Tartlets

How is it Sunday already?  This has been a relaxing weekend, but OB/GYN is calling...I have 3 days of "orientation", then the first two weeks of mine will be spent "on-call"...this means I'm in-house overnight...for like 16 hours, on labor and delivery.  I'm sure I'll have stories to tell.  I'm willing to bet that crazy things and great learning happen at 2 am...I'll just have to bring coffee, LOTS of coffee.

Side note: see the end of this post for evidence of a large victory in our dog ownership...we have a good leash walker (finally!).

As promised, here is the recipe for these super cute little appetizers I made last night:  Tomato Basil Tartlets.  I went to a farmers market on Friday, and got really excited about the beautiful tomatoes and basil.  

The recipe is a variation of a dish that we had at my Aunt Denna and Uncle Rod's house last summer.  It was delicious then in a full-pie form, and making them in muffin tins turns them into convenient portable appetizers.  Yum!

I used a store-bought pie crust and used a coffee cup to cut out small circles.  If you want to make your own crust, Godspeed but I think they turned out nice and flaky with minimal effort on my part :)

Pre-bake the crusts before adding the filling, then it's just a matter of adding cheese-basil-tomatoes (in that order), and baking again.  Easy!

Tomato Basil Tartlets
1 store bought pie crust
1 cup chopped basil
2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
1 pint cherry tomatoes, sliced
1 cup mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup mayonnaise or sour cream
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 425.  Unroll pie crust onto floured surface.  Cut into circles that are slightly larger than your muffin tin diameter.  Gently place rounds into greased muffin tin, being careful not to stretch the dough too much.  Bake until the crusts are slightly golden, about 10 minutes.

Combine garlic, mozzarella, mayonnaise and parmesan cheese in a small bowl.  When the crusts are cooled, dollop a small spoonful of filling into each tart.  Top with a sprinkle of fresh chopped basil and arrange tomato slices on top.  Bake for another 10 minutes or until tomatoes are tender and cheese is melted and bubbly.  Great served warm or at room temperature, perfect for a party!

Success!!

Lady has had a great weekend watching the PGA Championship golf tournament with dad.  She also accomplished walking nice on a leash (without her Gentle Leader, a head harness thing used for dogs that pull) for our ENTIRE walk.  Let me explain how great of an accomplishment this is:  she had no clue how to walk on a leash when we adopted her...she pulled sooo badly that her neck would turn red!  We used the Gentle Leader head collar for like 2 months, and under advisement of our trainer, we have been slowly trying to wean her off.  Well this morning, Peter was feeling adventurous and wanted to try the entire walk without it.  She stayed right by our side!!  Here's some proof:

Pavlovas: a feathery-light dessert

This weekend is turning out to be a great, relaxing one.  My first rotation ended yesterday, and I really have nothing to do this weekend except gear up for OB/GYN, which is next.  I'm not going to lie to you, I'm terrified, but I love that every 6 weeks, I'm doing something completely new!  (a person can do anything for 6 weeks...right??)  In true weekend-ing fashion, I'm enjoying long workouts and walks with Miss Lady, coffee with a friend, and dinner at our place with more friends!  So of course, there are recipes to be shared.

I'll post about the amazing appetizer I'm making later this week, but dessert always takes precedence, so enter the Pavlova: a dessert named after a Russian Ballerina.  It's a crispy-chewy meringue base, fluffy whipped cream, and topped with summer-fresh berries.  How bad can that be?

The beautiful berry sauce, also great on ice cream,
waffles, whatever you like.

Firstly a word about whipping up a meringe vs. whipping cream.  Egg whites whip better when they are at room temperature.  Of course, NO yolk can be in there (it's a fat thing, I think.  The fat in the yolk makes them fall).  However, heavy cream whips up better if everything (cream, bowl and beater) is COLD.  So egg whites=room temp, cream=cold.

I like to do these as individual shells.  You just pipe the egg whites (meringue) into small circles, adding a few extra outside circles to create a "wall."  If you'd like, you can make one big Pavlova and slice it like a pie (it will be crumbly but that's ok).  If you need yet another option, you can turn these meringues into "Eton Mess", which is an English dessert where you crumble meringues and layer them in a tall glass with berry syrup (like the one in my recipe) with whipped cream.  So, meringue, cream, berries, meringue, cream berries, etc.  You get the picture.

Pipe the meringue into a spiral pattern for the base, then
make a "wall" with another outer circle or two.  If you
make a mistake, just scoop the meringue back into the bag. 

How gorgeous is that?

Pavlovas
Adapted from Kraftfoods.com and Ina Garten
Meringue:
4 egg whites
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Whipped cream
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Berry sauce:
2 half pint containers raspberries
1 container blueberries
1/4 cup water
2 Tbsp powdered sugar

To make berry sauce:  Combine half of the berries, water and sugar in a small saucepan.  Bring to a boil and then simmer until the berries break down and pop, and it's thick and syrup-like, about 20 minutes.  Place in a glass container, allow to come to room temp, and refrigerate until ready to serve.  (right before serving, stir in some fresh berries or serve on top).

To make meringue: Preheat oven to 225 degrees, and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper (do not grease!!)  Place egg whites into a mixer bowl, fitted with a whisk attachment.  Beat on high speed until they start to get foamy and white.  Slowly add in sugar and cream of tartar.  Continue to beat on high until stiff peaks form (Careful not to over-beat or they will become dry).  Put meringue into a gallon-sized zip-top bag and snip a whole in the bottom.  Pipe shell shapes onto parchment-lined baking sheets.  Bake for 45 minutes or until shells are getting dry to the touch.  Turn off the oven and leave them in there for another 20 minutes.

To make whipped cream:  Place cold cream into a chilled bowl, with mixer fitted with whipping attachment.  Starting on low speed (so the cream doesn't end up everywhere except in the bowl), begin whipping until it starts to thicken.  Slowly add in sugar and vanilla, then continue beating until it's somewhere between soft and stiff peaks.

Assemble:  Place meringue on plate, dollop on some whipped cream.  Spoon on berry sauce, and top with reserved fresh berries.  Enjoy!!

Spaghetti Squash...You know you want to try it

Sooo, I have my first Shelf exam in the morning (standardized test after each rotation ends...psychiatry tomorrow), but I felt the compelling need to share with you how to make spaghetti squash.  Procrastination at it's finest.  We had it last night, and of course, I snapped a few pictures to show you how we make it!

First off: what is it?  Spaghetti squash is a squash (wow...that was descriptive), but when it's cooked, the flesh inside becomes "noodle-like."  Yes, it's in strands, and sort of has the texture of al dente pasta.  Also like pasta, it is quite tasteless, so it lends well to being topped with marinara sauce and chicken sausage (like we had last night) or butter and garlic salt, or whatever you'd like!  Full disclosure:  don't make this and expect to magically have a large bowl of pasta...it is after all still a vegetable, but it tries really, really hard to be likable.  Plus, it's really low calorie (according to my calorie calculator thing on my phone, one cup of cooked spaghetti squash has a measley 42 calories).  Guilt free!

To prepare, stab a bunch of holes in the sqaush to help it vent while cooking (or it might blow up...).  Then place on a plate and pop into the microwave.  I microwave for about 7 minutes, to soften it up.  After that time, carefully remove and using a hot pad and a large, sharp knife, cut the squash in half (sagittal plane=top to bottom).  Using a spoon, scrape out the seeds and discard.

Flip over each squash half on plate and microwave for another 5 minutes or so, depending on how thick the flesh is.  You can just leave it in the microwave for a while after it's done cooking to steam.  This will help the strands come apart better.  Be careful not to overcook the squash though, as this will cause a mushy texture and not nice spaghetti-like strands.  When you're ready to do this, carefully flip the sqaush halves over again, and using a fork, make your strands!  Put into a large bowl and mix in some garlic salt, pepper, butter, whatever you'd like to flavor it.

We topped our spaghetti squash with marinara sauce and chicken sausage.  Yum!

One caution:  The squash gets really, really hot and burns will happen if you don't use hot pads to hold it while removing the seeds or making the strands.  It's not difficult, just be careful!!

Here's to trying new things!

Amy

PS:  Lady got a haircut!  Check out the "Before and After" photos (and yes, these are the best shots I could get...she wasn't feeling photogenic that day).

Before...

After!