Lipton Noodle Soup

I've been sick all week, and just like when I was a girl, I love the little pouches of Lipton's noodle soup. It's always been my favorite instant soup, the comfort food of comfort foods. And I always eat it the same way. Drink all the broth first, then slowly savor spoonful after delicious spoonful of noodles. And it just tastes better if eaten out of a gigantic mug.

This right here, is all the cold medicine I need.

Bread Pudding

I've been making tons of this stuff lately.  5 or 6 pieces of thick Texas toast, 3 eggs, cup of skim milk, cup of fat free half and half,  tbs or 2 of cinnamon,  tsp vanilla, 1/3-1/2 cup powdered sugar, some mixed fancy raisins, a spoonful of butter, a spoonful of raw honey, and a pinch of nutmeg.

Preheat oven to 350.  Tear the bread into smaller pieces, or cut, arrange in a glass square baking pan sprayed with pam.  Melt butter and honey together in the microwave, pour evenly over bread.  Sprinkle a good sized handful of raisins evenly in the pan.  Beat eggs, mix together milk, half and half, vanilla, cinnamon, and sugar.  Pour over bread and let absorb for 10-15 minutes.  Sprinkle a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg over the top.  Put in oven and bake for 40-45 minutes, until it springs back when touched. 

Really fast and delicious.  I love having a little in the morning with a cup of tea and a few strawberries. 

Quiche with Filo Dough Crust

I've never made quiche before, but my friend Marci explained how to do it, so I gave it a try.  Wow...it was delicious!  I chopped 2 cloves of garlic, 1 large shallot, and about 5 or 6 slices of deli ham.  I took about half of an 8 ounce roll of filo dough and placed three sheets at a time, at different angles, into a pie pan sprayed with pam.  Then I sprayed each layer, and brushed a little melted margarine on them, folding the ends under to make a pretty crust.  Baked it about 15-20 minutes at 275 until it was looking crunchier, but not browned.  Once it was out I put the oven to 350.  I sauteed the shallots and garlic in some of the leftover margarine, then added the ham and a bunch of frozen spinach (the kind from a bag that's already little pieces).  While those were hanging out in the pan I beat four eggs and about a cup of milk in a bowl.  Put the filling in the pie shell, then the egg mixture and grated about 1/2 cup of sharp cheddar and mixed it all together in the pie shell.  Baked for about 40-45 minutes and serve! 

I also served some honey glazed carrots with this.  I cut the carrots into round slices and boiled them for about 5 minutes.  Mixed a couple tbps of margarine in a small skillet, added a BIG spoonful of raw honey, a little splash of lemon juice, and a pinch of ginger.  Once it was boiling I added the carrot slices and sauteed until the juices were all absorbed.  WOW were those carrots good!  A nice sweet compliment to the savory quiche.  :)

Moroccan Salmon Cakes

Tonight we had something that I made a few years ago, and had a hankering to make again.  It uses canned salmon, couscous cooked in orange juice, frozen spinach (thawed and squeezed dry), egg yolks, garlic, cumin, salt and pepper.  Mix them all together, make them into patties and saute in a little bit of olive oil.  That made 13 good sized cakes.

Serve them with nonfat Greek yogurt that you make into a dip by adding some paprika and cayenne pepper.  I also made some broccoli and roasted sweet potatoes.  I cut the potatoes into cubes, brushed with olive oil, sprinkled with salt and pepper, and baked at 425 for about 40 minutes.  This was really healthy, and REALLY delicious.  Totally satisfying, and full of flavor.  I need to make this more often!

Chicken Spinach Gnocchi

I had all these ingredients I wanted to use up tonight, and no recipe.  So I searched the interwebs and couldn't find exactly what I wanted.  So I just made one myself!  Basically here's what I did:

1 Chicken Breast
2-3 shallots
2 cloves garlic
1-2 tbs olive oil
1/2-3/4 cup frozen chopped spinach (from a bag)
1/2 a 25 oz (1lb 9 oz) bag of frozen gnocchi
7 strips of turkey bacon
3 tbsp cream cheese
1/3 cup fat free greek yogurt
splash of milk...maybe....1/8 cup?
1/4 cup shredded parm cheese

boil water for gnocchi and preheat oven to 350
microwave turkey bacon until crispy, about 5 minutes
sautee shallot in pan with olive oil
slice chicken breast in half lenghtwise, then slice each side into thin strips
once shallots start to soften, add chicken and garlic
put gnocchi in to boil once water is up, cook until they all float to the top, then drain and set aside
sprinkle frozen chopped spinach into pan.  Crumble bacon.
once spinach is thawed and incorporated, add bacon.  add cream cheese and yogurt
add splash of milk and stir until everything is creamy and incorporated
add gnocchi and stir until well combined.  add to square baking dish (glass), sprinkle with parm cheese and bake for 10-15 minutes

I didn't add any salt of pepper (the bacon is salty all on its own), and I think next time I'll make the sauce a little thinner by adding some more milk, because the gnocchi sucks it all up pretty fast!  I might even add some chicken stock.  Ooh!  Yeah I like that idea.  Oh, and maybe some sundried tomatoes, or diced grape tomatoes....mmm possibilities of deliciousness.....mmmmm..... :)

Lemon Chicken with Rice

This was our dinner tonight, and it was really good!  Started by putting rice in the rice cooker and getting that going.  Cut two chicken breasts into smaller pieces, coated in a bit of flour, salt, pepper, and paprika.  Sauteed in a nonstick pan with a pad of margarine until brown on both sides.  Put about a cup of chicken stock in the pan (or enough to cover chicken) with the juice of one lemon and half a tsp-1tsp minced garlic and a tbsp or 2 of parsley flakes.  Simmered for about 10 minutes.  To thicken the sauce up a bit I took about a tsp of corn starch and a couple little spoonfuls of the sauce in the pan and mixed them together until smooth.  stir it in the bubbling sauce in the pan until it thickens.  Return the chicken to the pan and heat through.  In the meantime I microwaved some corn and plated the rice.  Put everything else on the plates and mmmm...dinner!

Pulla Bread

Pronounced "boo-la", this is a Finnish bread that my mother's friend makes every year around the holidays.  It's SO amazing.  Braided, with cinnamon, cherries, and big granules of sugar on the top.  Slice a piece, pop it in the toaster and butter it....wow.  It goes without saying, I look forward to this EVERY year. Yum!