Who says you have to eat like a Hobo?

What is better in the summer then cooking a hobo dinner? (I believe the politically correct title is "Tin Foil Dinner") Its easy, no clean up and fun! When we would co camping as youngsters we used to put carrots, ground beef, potatoes and some salt and pepper and throw it on the fire. It was always a bit bland for my refined palate :) Just because you are roughing it, doesn't mean you can't glam it up a bit! I got this recipe from my favorite celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver! Every recipe of his I have made had been a hit! He gives a few variety of tin foil dinners to try, check them out!

Roast Chicken with Cherry Tomatoes and Asparagus
Roast Chicken with Butternut Squash & chilies
Roast Chicken with Lemony Bombay Potatoes
Roast Chicken with Pancetta, Leeks and Thyme

I modified the recipe for Roast Chicken with Cherry Tomatoes & Asparagus. I added red potatoes and replaced the asparagus for artichoke hearts. It was yum! Don't be a baby, use the white wine, it gives it a nice flavor. Your bishop won't get mad. :) Also, I cooked mine in the oven, but you could easily throw the foil pouch on the grill or in the camp fire.

10/12/10 Modification:

Here's the text version for all four recipe links given above:

Roasted Chicken Breast with Cherry Tomatoes and Asparagus

main courses | serves 1

Make this recipe for one in a snug-fitting baking dish or to save on washing-up, a little tinfoil tray.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6. Put 1 chicken breast, with its skin left on, in a bowl. Add 8 trimmed sticks of asparagus, 6 halved cherry tomatoes and the leaves from 1 sprig of fresh rosemary plus a whole sprig of rosemary as well. Toss everything together with a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. Put the veg into a tinfoil tray and place the chicken and rosemary sprig on top. Season well. Add some white wine and cook in the middle of the oven for 25 to 35 minutes. Serve drizzled with balsamic vinegar.

Roasted Chicken Breast with Creamy Butternut Squash and Chilli

main courses | serves 1

Make this recipe for one in a snug-fitting baking dish or to save on washing-up, a little tinfoil tray.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6. Put 1 chicken breast, with its skin left on, in a bowl. Deseed and slice up half a fresh red chilli and add to the bowl with the leaves from a couple of sprigs of fresh marjoram or oregano and a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Toss together. Very carefully cut a medium butternut squash into quarters. Remove the seeds and slice one quarter of the squash as finely as you can. Place the chicken breast and flavourings from the bowl into the tray and snugly fit your squash slices around the chicken. Carefully pour a little double cream around the squash (not on the chicken). Season with grated nutmeg and salt and pepper then drizzle with some olive oil and cook in the middle of the oven for 25 to 35 minutes.

Roasted Chicken Breast with Lemony Bombay Potatoes

main courses | serves 1

Make this recipe for one in a snug-fitting baking dish or to save on washing-up, a little tinfoil tray.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6. Peel a large handful of potatoes, cut them into 2.5cm/1 inch cubes and put them into a pan of cold, salted water. Bring to the boil, simmer for a few minutes, drain and allow to steam in a colander. Put a heaped teaspoon of turmeric into a bowl and add the zest of 1 lemon, half a teaspoon of ground cumin, 5 sprigs of chopped fresh coriander, a quarter of a red pepper, roughly chopped, and a 2.5cm/1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely sliced into matchsticks. Cut 3 slices off the lemon and set aside. Squeeze the juice from the remainder of the lemon into the bowl. Shake the potatoes up in the colander and add them to the bowl with 1 chicken breast, skin left on. Toss everything around with a splash of olive oil and season well with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Remove the chicken, put the potatoes into the tray in one layer, and top with the lemon slices and the chicken. Drizzle with olive oil and cook in the middle of the oven for 25 to 35 minutes.

Roasted Chicken Breast with Pancetta, Leeks and Thyme

main courses | serves 1

Make this recipe for one in a snug-fitting baking dish or to save on washing-up, a little tinfoil tray.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6. Put 1 chicken breast, skin removed, in a bowl. Trim and wash a large leek, remove the outer leaves, then slice it into 0.5cm/¼ inch pieces. Add these to the bowl with the leaves of a few sprigs of fresh thyme, a good glug of olive oil, small knob of butter, a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and a small swig of white wine and toss together. Place your leek and flavourings from the bowl into the tray, then wrap the chicken breast in 6 or 7 slices of pancetta. This will not only flavour the chicken but also protect it while it cooks. Try and bend the sides of the tray in towards the chicken so the leeks don't burn during cooking. Drizzle with olive oil, place a couple of whole thyme sprigs on top and cook in the middle of the oven for 25 to 35 minutes.

Sweets For the Sweet!

Doesn't everyone just love the sweet stuff? Of course, sweet comes in many different forms. There are dessert-worthy sweets, sweet drinks, sweet snacks, candy, breakfast-type sweets, cold sweets, warm sweets, warm and cold sweets (such as warm brownies topped with ice cream), sweet-and-sour, the sweet-and-salty combination, etc. So many wonderful possibilities!

The first recipe is a beautiful and delicious icebox cheesecake topped with berries. The second recipe is a banana bread recipe that is super quick and easy due to the fact that you make it with a yellow cake mix. The final recipe is a savory watermelon recipe. I'm not going to lie, the watermelon recipe might not be everyone's cup of tea. Some people don't like to have their watermelon messed with. But I thought it was fantastic!

I hope you like them as much as we did!


Icebox Cheesecake

Makes 8 servings

Ingredients:

1 (8-oz.) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 (8-oz.) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 baked Butter Cookie Crust or baked Pretzel Crust (recipes below)
4 cups assorted fresh berries, pitted cherries, or sliced fruit
1/2 cup seedless blackberry jam
1/4 cup orange liqueur or orange juice

Directions:

Beat cream cheese and powdered sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until blended. Fold in whipped topping and vanilla; spoon into prepared crust. Cover and chill 8 hours.
Arrange fruit over cream cheese filling. Stir together jam and liqueur; drizzle over fruit.
Variation: Mascarpone Pie: Substitute 1 (8-oz.) container mascarpone cheese for cream cheese, 1/4 cup granulated sugar for powdered sugar, 2 cups whipped cream for whipped topping, and 1 baked Chocolate Butter Cookie Crust for Butter Cookie Crust. Prepare recipe as directed.

Butter Cookie Crust

Makes one 9-inch pie crust
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups butter cookie crumbs (about 1 1/2 [7.25-oz.] packages)
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup melted butter
Directions:

Stir together all ingredients; firmly press crumb mixture on bottom, up sides, and onto lip of a lightly greased 9-inch pieplate. Bake at 350° for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to a wire rack, and cool crust 1 hour or until completely cool before filling.
Note: For testing purposes, we used Pepperidge Farm Chessmen Cookies for butter cookies.

Pretzel Crust

Makes one 9-inch pie crust
Ingredients:
2 cups finely crushed pretzel sticks
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup melted butter
Directions:
Stir together all ingredients; firmly press crumb mixture on bottom, up sides, and onto lip of a lightly greased 9-inch pieplate. Bake at 350° for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to a wire rack, and cool crust 1 hour or until completely cool before filling.

Source: Southern Living, JUNE 2008
Notes: I made a butter cookie crust (because I had a tin of butter cookies left over from Christmas that I wanted to use up). It was a rich and delicious pie crust. This dessert was fantastic. Oh, and I used orange juice instead of orange liqueur. However, I would change two things next time. First, I forgot to grease my pie plate before putting the crumb mixture in to form the crust. The result? It was soooo hard to get out of the pie plate. That meant that my beautiful cheesecake didn't look too pretty once it actually got served up because I had a dickens of a time getting it out in one piece (sadly only one serving actually came out in one pretty piece). Second, I put the berries on top of the cheesecake about an hour before we served it. The result? The berries got juicy and the juice ran and bled into the pretty white of the cheesecake. Instead, I would either put the berries on top right before cutting the pie, or (preferably) I would cut the cheesecake, and spoon a desired amount of berries right on top of each serving. So, at least the pie was gorgeous to begin with and it was scrumptious when we ate it (even though it could have been prettier at that point in time!). Oh, and I got a little crazy because I wanted to get rid of my cookies and I made way too many crumbs and I had enough for an extra pie crust. I also had extra whipped topping. Soooo...I made a packaged mix of banana cream pie pudding and put it in the extra crust and topped it with the extra whipped topping. It too was super yummy.


Banana Nut Bread using Yellow Cake Mix

Ingredients:

1 (18.5 oz) box yellow cake mix
3 eggs
1/3 cup oil or applesauce (your choice--it tastes great both ways)3-5 ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix mashed bananas with eggs, oil or applesauce, cake mix, and nuts. Pour into 2 greased and floured loaf pans or a bundt pan* and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes, then move to a wire rack and cool completely.

You can creat a glaze with water or milk and powdered sugar which can be poured over the cake/bread when it has cooled completely. Do not pour the glaze over a warm cake or it will soak in.

Note: Bundt pan, bake for approzimately 45 minutes.

Source: I had a roommate about 4 years ago who made this all the time. I asked her for the recipe and she simply told me that she found it online. I did a Google search and found a number of recipes. This one was the simplest and most straight forward. It is awesome. I usually make it in a bundt pan because it looks so nice with the glaze on it. I also like to get creative with the nuts. Don't feel like you can only use pecans or walnuts. This bread is awesome with sliced almonds and chopped macadamia nuts as well.

 

Above: 3/22/14 Update: This one is still a favorite!

Watermelon, Mâche, and Pecan Salad

Prep: 20 min., Bake: 7 min., Cool: 15 min. Mâche, a tender heirloom variety of lamb's lettuce, has a slightly sweet, nutty flavor, but the salad is equally good prepared with baby lettuces.

Makes 6-8 servings

Ingredients:

3/4 cup chopped pecans
5 cups seeded and cubed watermelon
1 (6 oz) package mâche, thoroughly washed
Pepper Jelly Vinaigrette (recipe below)
1 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Arrange pecans in a single layer on a baking sheet, and bake at 350 degrees for 5-7 minutes or until lightly toasted and fragrant. Cool on a wire rack 15 minutes or until completely cool.

Combine watermelon and mâche in a large bowl; add vinaigrette, tossing gently to coat. Transfer watermelon mixture to a serving platter, and sprinkle evenly with pecans and cheese.

Pepper Jelly Vinaigrette

Prep: 10 min. This is also terrific drizzled over a summery trio of sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, and onion.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup pepper jelly
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon grated onion
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Directions:

Whisk together first 6 ingredients. Gradually add oil in a slow, steady stream, whisking until blended.

Source: Southern Living, July 2008

Notes: We couldn't find any mâche, so we decided to completely skip this ingredient. As stated in the recipe, if you can't find this ingredient, baby lettuce works. I would also say that baby spinach would work as well. But this salad was lovely and satisfying even without the lettuce. The flavors are very complex. The combination of sweet and salty is wonderfully unique. The people who tried this recipe at our barbecue were split. They either loved it or hated it. I loved it...so it's on my blog!

Amo il cibo Italiano molto!

I took Italian waaaaay back when I was in college for one semester and I don't remember very much. Anyway, if the Italian online translator I found was correct, my title says "I like to eat Italian food very much!" And I do! (And if the translator was incorrect, a thousand apologies!)

My in-laws aren't super keen on eating pasta too often (they are kind of anti-carbs). However, they were out of town for the past three weeks and I went crazy making pasta this and pasta that. Some of the recipes I tried turned out to be a little disappointing (to my surprise). But I did make some fantastic pasta discoveries along the way.

The first is a Cooking Light recipe that is very simple. It uses roasted cherry tomatoes and it is easy, light, and summery. The second is an Everyday Food baked ravioli recipe that is fantastic comfort food. The final recipe is an Everyday Food lasagna recipe that is to die for.

I hope you like them too!

Quick-Roasted Cherry Tomato Sauce with Spaghetti

Makes 6 servings (serving size: about 1 1/3 cups)

Ingredients:

4 quarts water
1 tablespoon kosher salt
12 ounces uncooked spaghetti
2 pints cherry tomatoes
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 cup chopped or torn fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
3/4 cup (3 ounces) crumbled semisoft goat cheese or crumbled feta cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450°.

Bring 4 quarts water to a boil in a large Dutch oven. Add 1 tablespoon salt and spaghetti to boiling water; cook 10 minutes or until spaghetti is al dente. Drain spaghetti in a colander over a bowl, reserving 1/2 cup cooking water. Return spaghetti to pan; set aside, and keep warm.

While spaghetti cooks, combine tomatoes, 1 tablespoon olive oil, vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper on a jelly-roll pan, tossing well to coat. Bake tomato mixture at 450° for 10 minutes or until tomatoes are soft and lightly charred in places.

Add tomatoes and any tomato juice to spaghetti in Dutch oven. Add 1/4 cup reserved cooking water to jelly-roll pan, scraping pan to loosen browned bits; carefully pour water mixture and remaining 2 tablespoons oil into spaghetti mixture. Place Dutch oven over medium heat. Add remaining reserved cooking water, 2 tablespoons at a time, until spaghetti mixture is moist, tossing frequently. Stir in basil and parsley. Sprinkle with cheese. Serve immediately.

Nutrition Information: 328 calories, 10.8 g fat, 11 g protein, 46.6 g carbohydrate, 3.2 g fiber, 7 mg cholesterol, 2.7 mg iron, 376 mg sodium, 48 mg calcium.

Source: Cooking Light June 2010 issue

Notes: I used feta to cut down on expense. I also used grape tomatoes since my store didn't have cherry tomatoes. Even with these changes, it was fantastic. 

Baked Ravioli

Prep: 25 minutes
Bake: 50 minutes
Serves 4-6

Baking pasta with cheese on top creates a chewy and crispy topping kids will love. You can assemble the dish ahead and refrigerate it, then bake it right before dinner. Try this recipe with 1 pound of spaghetti (cook a few minutes less than the package instructions direct). Don't worry if it seems like there's too much sauce; it will be absorbed as the pasta bakes.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme, or oregano
1 can (28 ounces) whole tomatoes
1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes
2 pounds store-bought ravioli
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, and season with salt and pepper; cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add thyme and tomatoes. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, breaking up tomatoes with spoon, until sauce is thickened and reduced to about 5 1/2 cups, 20 to 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook ravioli in a large pot of boiling salted water just until they float to the top (pasta will continue to cook in oven). Drain pasta; return to pot.

Toss sauce with pasta. Pour pasta into a large gratin dish or 9-by-13-inch baking dish, and sprinkle with cheeses. Bake until golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool slightly before serving.

 

Source: Martha Stewart website and Everyday Food: Great Food Fast cookbook


Notes: This is a very freezer friendly dish. Prior to cooking, simply freeze entire casserole in an aluminum or freezer friendly casserole dish and cover with foil. Label and date. When you are ready to eat, defrost casserole in the fridge overnight or put frozen casserole in pre-heated oven and bake covered for 25 minutes, if defrosted (1 hour, if frozen). Remove foil and bake for an additional 20-25 minutes or until the casserole is hot and bubbly and the cheese is nicely browned. Adjust the cooking times accordingly depending on whether you cook it from frozen or defrosted.

Tomato-Sausage Lasagna

Serves 8

Soaking the noodles in hot tap water (while making the sauce) eliminates the need to boil them.

Ingredients:

12 dried lasagna noodles (about 10 ounces), uncooked
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
1 pound sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
2 cans (28 ounces each) whole peeled tomatoes in puree
Coarse salt and ground pepper
6 cups shredded shredded mozzarella cheese (about 1 1/2 pounds)
3/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese (about 3 ounces)

Directions:

Fill a 9-by-13-inch baking dish two-thirds of the way with hot tap water. Add noodles, and arrange them in alternating directions to prevent sticking. Let soak while preparing sauce.

Make sauce: Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium. Add onion, garlic, Italian seasoning, and red-pepper flakes; cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add sausage, and cook, stirring and breaking it up, until just cooked through, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and their puree, breaking up tomatoes with a spoon; bring to a boil. Reduce to a rapid simmer, and cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 20 minutes. (You should have about 8 cups of sauce.) Season with salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drain noodles, transfer to a baking sheet; dry dish with paper towels. Spoon 1 cup sauce in bottom of dish. Fit 4 noodles in dish (crosswise if using short noodles, lengthwise if using long), overlapping slightly. Cover with 2 cups sauce, 2 cups mozzarella, and 1/4 cup Parmesan. Repeat with another layer, then top with remaining noodles, 3 cups sauce, and the rest of mozzarella and Parmesan. Cover dish tightly with aluminum foil, and bake 1 hour.

Remove foil, and continue baking until bubbly and browned, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven; let cool 20 minutes. Cut and serve.

Note: The lasagna can be assembled up to one day in advance. Cover with foil, and refrigerate. You may have to increase initial baking time by 5 to 10 minutes.
Source: Martha Stewart website. I first saw this recipe on the Everyday Food PBS show that airs every Saturday.

Notes: I made this during the day while my son was napping and popped it in the oven about an hour and a half before dinner time. It was the first time I ever made lasagna and it was fantastic. Simple and delicious! Also, I made this before I started taking pictures of the finished products, so I'll have to make this again and take a picture next time!

Also, this is a very freezer friendly dish. Prior to cooking, simply freeze entire lasagna in an aluminum or freezer friendly casserole dish and cover with foil. Label and date. When you are ready to eat, defrost in fridge overnight or put frozen lasagna in pre-heated oven and bake covered for 1 hour, if defrosted (2 hours, covered, if still frozen). Remove foil and bake for an additional 30-60 minutes or until the lasagna is hot and bubbly and the cheese is nicely browned. Adjust the cooking times accordingly depending on whether you cook it from frozen or defrosted.

Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho!

I won't be givin' ya any recipes fer pirate drinks 'cause this here be a family blog, arrrrr! If ye be in the mood fer bootleg rum, ya better be goin' after another treasure map to be findin' yer booty! But come now matey, is there a better time to enjoy a nice cool drink to wet yer whistle than the summer time?

So, quit swabbin' the decks fer a minute and take a swig!

Herbal Sodas

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar
3/4 ounce fresh herbs, such as basil, lemon verbena, mint, tarragon, or thyme.
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Ice, for serving
Sparkling water or club soda, for serving

Directions:

Put sugar and 1 cup water into a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat; add herbs. Cover; let cool completely.

Pour syrup through a fine sieve into a small bowl; discard herbs. Stir in lemon juice. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

Fill glasses with ice. Add 2-4 tablespoons syrup; top with sparkling water or club soda, and stir.

Source: Martha Stewart Living, 2010.



Coconut Horchata

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked white rice
1 cup almonds
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
3 cups boiling water
1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
5 cups cold water, or more as needed
5 cups ice

Directions:

Place rice, almonds, and coconut flakes into a food processor. process until ground to the consistency of sand. Pour rice mixture into a bowl and stir in the boiling water. Cover and rest for 6 hours or overnight.

Strain rice mixture through a sieve twice, discarding the ground rice, almonds, and coconut. Stir in the coconut milk and sweetened condensed milk. Stir in the cold water and serve over ice.

Source: Allrecipes.com, submitted by Suzie.

I like Big Mussels

I decided to be adventurous this weekend. I decided to cook something I have never made, or really even ever eaten. In keeping with our weekly seafood goal, I decided to try mussels. And they were pretty good, and super easy. They probably wont become part of our regular repertoire, but they were definitely a nice switch up, and for sure worth trying. One of the main selling points: I got about a pound of mussels, enough for me and hubby and hubby's seconds for under two dollars. So go ahead! Be adventurous!

Curried Mussel Pan Roast
1 pound yukon gold potatoes, cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes
2 T olive oil
1/2 t salt
1/2 t fresh ground pepper
3 cups cherry tomatoes
1/2 c light coconut milk
1 t curry powder
4 medium ears corn ( I only used 2)
1 pound mussels, scrubbed
1 cup chopped green onion
3 T chopped mint
lime wedges

1. Preheat oven to 400
2. Combine potatoes, salt, pepper and oil in roasting pan. Toss to coat. Cook 20 minutes, stirring after ten minutes.
3. Stir in tomatoes, corn, coconut milk and curry. Nestle Mussels into veggie mixture. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes, or until potatoes are tender and mussels open.
4. Stir in green onion and mint, spoon into bowls, serve with lime wedges.

This recipe is from June 2010 Cooking Light