For the chili mac I add fresh shredded cheddar, a little tomato paste to punch up the tomato flavor, some no-salt-added canned tomatoes and lots of my own chili powder to Chili Cheese Hamburger Helper. I also sautéed some bell peppers and onions, tossing them into the mix when everything was cooked through.

I also love fancying up Jiffy Cornbread, which you can usually get for under 50¢ a package at the grocery store. I follow the instructions on the box, but add a few tablespoons of honey (you can eyeball it), frozen corn and some Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic.

Again, it’s nothing special, but who says every meal has to be special? Sometimes simple really hits the spot.

That’s why I took a chance when grilling the steak for this meal, and it made a really big difference! I just grilled it on my Mario Batalli grill pan, since I don’t have the luxury of a nice outdoor barbecue.

This was also my first time trying Archer Farms’ Basil Pesto Cream Sauce, Target’s new house brand of “gourmet” sauces and food products. And the verdict is… meh? This has sadly been the case for every Archer Farms product I’ve tried, and that makes me incredibly sad. They look so promising, with their pretty packaging and exotic flavors, but so far everything I’ve had has been bland as hell until I doctored it up. This sauce was still just cream sauce — barely any basil flavor — even after I added garlic, a few cubes of Dorot Frozen Basil, fresh tomatoes and peppers and shredded parmesan. The steak was well-seasoned, which balanced it out, and it was a yummy dish overall, but I like my basil cream sauce to be overpowering with the flavors of basil and garlic.

In fact, the inspiration for this dish, Bertolli’s Steak Rigatoni & Portobello Mushrooms frozen prepared meal (picked up for a couple dollars on super-sale + coupon), had far more flavor than Target’s jarred sauce. I think I’ve officially sworn off Archer Farms’ sauces, which is just too bad. There’s too much good stuff out there to keep wasting my time with something that doesn’t work.

]]> http://www.shortcutchef.com/archives/451/feed 0 http://www.shortcutchef.com/archives/442 http://www.shortcutchef.com/archives/442#comments Fri, 14 May 2010 19:43:50 +0000 Tiara Lynn http://www.shortcutchef.com/?p=442 Tastefully Simple makes some really great sauces. When my friend Angela hosted a Tastefully Simple party a few months back, I picked up a number of things. Their Garlic Garlic has become a new staple in my house, and the beer bread has been a longtime favorite.

The Bayou Bourbon Glaze was appealing immediately, even though I didn’t have a plan for using it. This recipe came together because of a handful of ingredients that needed to get used. A bunch of carrots and half a green pepper needed some love, so I peered into my pantry to look for some options.

This recipe came out sweet, delicious, and really unique! I know it’s not what the sauce was intended for, but that’s what makes it fun! Here’s what I did…

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 Bottle of Tastefully Simple Bayou Bourbon Glaze (you’ll use about half)
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 1/2 green pepper
• 1 small onion, sliced
• 1/2 can of pineapple chunks
• 1/2 lb of gemelli or other pasta, cooked

Sauté the chicken and onion with a little bit of olive oil until browned. Add the green pepper, the carrots and the bourbon glaze. Cook on medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until the chicken is cooked through and the ca. If the sauce seems very thick, add a bit of pineapple juice. When everything’s cooked through, add the pineapple and heat it through.

Toss the chicken, vegetables and sauce with pasta!

Yes, my dearhearts, this grown-up grilled cheese is exactly as good as it sounds. This recipe was born from the bargain bin. Two packages of brie, nearing their “sell-by” date, less than half price. Sign me up, right?

It was also born from a really bad day, and what better comfort food than macaroni and cheese? The end result was absolutely amazing. The saltiness of the bacon, the richness of the brie, the sweetness of gloriously caramelized onions… it all came together beautifully. Here’s how I made it:

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 lb of pasta, cooked (I used a small bag of shells)
• 7oz of brie (remove the rind)
• 1/2 package of bacon, cut into bits
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1/2 stick of butter, split in half
• 1/2 large sweet onion, sliced into strips or rings
• 1/2  tsp brown sugar (optional)
• 1 tbsp flour
• 1 cup half & half
• 1/2 cup milk

Cook the bacon until crispy and set aside for later.

In a small sauce pan, add half butter and sauté the onion with the brown sugar until caramelized. Remove onions but don’t clean the pan. Set aside.

Preheat your broiler. If you don’t have a broiler, preheat oven to 400º.

In the same pan, heat the rest of the butter and the garlic, and add the flour until combined. Add the milk and half & half, stirring continuously as you bring it to a boil. Lower the heat and add the brie little by little until everything is melty and combined.

Toss the pasta in a casserole dish with the sauce, the caramelized onions and half the bacon. Stir it all up and toss under the broiler for 15 minutes, or bake in the oven for 30 minutes.

When done, stir again. Serve with fresh bacon bits.

CONFESSION: I buy too many vegetables. Like way too many. Way more than we can eat, and we eat a lot of produce. Oh, I have good intentions, and yet it’s embarrassing how much veg we throw away. This is an especially bad problem when I’m cooking for the week and I know all the remaining veggies are likely just going to end up in the trash.

Also, when I cook for the week I occasionally get tired of the same ingredients. This particular week I had eggplant leftover from my stir-fry, and carrots, spinach and peppers left in the fridge, and I simply wasn’t in the mood for a chunky pasta sauce. But then I had a stroke of genius. (Okay, it wasn’t that great, but still…)

I puréed all of them. I sautéed all of the veggies I had leftover from the week with olive oil, two cubes of Dorot Frozen Basil from Trader Joe’s (oh, how I love the stuff). I then took my beautiful Kitchen Aid Immersion Blender and puréed it all right in the pot. I added the jarred spaghetti sauce and voilá!! The flavor was unbelievable.

I ended up with half a bag of mostaccioli and half a bag of bowties, so I made that and served it up with some Veal Parmigiana (have a looksee for my easy recipe). Absolutely dynamite, and a great new way to both add extra veggies to my menu and to use up leftovers. Brilliant!!

Italian restaurants and I have a tricky relationship. It’s because I make REALLY good Italian food. I’m better at some cuisines than others, but Italian is easily the one I understand the most completely. Because of this I find a lot of Americanized Italian food bland, often salty, and usually end up saying “My lasagna/ravioli/pesto is better.”

However, there’s one dish that they make at Basilico in Norridge, Illinois, that I crave regularly called “Pollo Bella Vista.” It’s “Breast of chicken topped with prosciutto, eggplant, mozzarella, tomato, and artichoke hearts; baked in a light marinara and wine sauce” and it is absolutely divine. I decided to try to create the flavor at home and while I didn’t get it exact (lacking the eggplant and didn’t use wine), what I created is definitely going to be a new favorite in this house. So, in honor of Basilico’s delicious recipe, I call this one “Baked Pasta Bella Vista.”

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 chicken breasts, diced or sliced
• 4 slices prosciutto, chopped
• 2 large cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 4-6 sundried tomatoes, softened and chopped
• 1 can artichoke hearts, drained but left in can; set aside
• 1 jar good spaghetti sauce (Classico Spinach Florentine is my absolute favorite)
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella
• 1/2 lb penne pasta, cooked al-dente and rinsed

Preheat your broiler to HIGH. In a large sauté pan or flat-bottomed wok, sauté chicken, prosciutto, onion and garlic in a little olive oil until cooked through. While this is going, take each artichoke heart and squeeze the juice into the pan. It’s a little labor-intensive but it’s worth it for the flavor. Then, chop all the artichoke hearts. By now your chicken should be cooked through, so you can add the artichokes.

Cook down until the sauce this creates reduces a bit. Now add your jar of sauce and toss it all until combined.

Put the cooked pasta into a casserole dish and cover with 1/2 of the cheese. Spoon the sauce over this and stir it all until combined. Top with the remaining mozzarella. On a shelf in the middle of the oven, broil uncovered until cheese is browned and bubbly (about 10-15 minutes). You can skip the broiling step if you don’t have a broiler, but the burnt cheese on the top just adds to the flavor.

Admittedly I was skeptical about trying this recipe, but it sounded so, so good. We picked up some smoked salmon for a steal from the discount meat bin at Woodman’s and I found the recipe when I was searching for ways to work smoked salmon in with pasta.

My shortcut? Vodka sauce from a little fresh Italian place nearby that sells fresh homemade sauces. I simply crumbled up the smoked salmon and sautéed it with olive oil and garlic before mixing it in with the vodka sauce. I served it over bucatini (thick, hollow spaghetti)  and the flavor was shocking.

I’d never have imagined the smoked salmon and vodka sauce could possibly complement each other so well. The sweetness and saltiness played off each other to create such a complex, evolving flavor. It was absolutely sensational. I might try it with a jarred vodka sauce next time.

When I discovered Trader Joe’s had langostino tails (little, sweet lobsters) for only $9 a bag I about lost my mind. There’s little I love more than seafood alfredo, and now I would be able to make my own!!

It was really quite simple to do. I thawed and rinsed the langostinos before sautéeing them in olive oil with a generous amount of finely chopped garlic until they were cooked through. To the olive oil, garlic and langostinos I added a jar of Five Brothers Garlic Alfredo Sauce, a bottle of which is always, always in my pantry. I let this simmer just long enough to combine the flavors. This time I added some Trader Joe’s Roasted Corn for some sweetness.

It’s easily one of my favorite meals and tastes like $20-a-plate pasta. Absolutely sensational. I’ll be looking for more exciting ways to cook langostinos in the future. YUMMMMM.

This meal had a couple different inspirations. A few years ago my husband and I went to Cleveland for a long weekend and ate at a wonderful little restaurant whose name I can no longer recall. I’ll never forget my lunch, though; they served a macaroni and cheese with pulled BBQ pork that was just out of this world. They were flavors I’d never considered mingling before, but I’m telling you it’s like magic.

The second inspiration was the now-dead Nola’s Cup in Oak Park, IL. I’m sad to say I wasn’t a fan at all of the food at Nola’s. I like my cajun super spicy and flavorful and this just seemed bland. Their BBQ pork ravioli appetizer, served with a gouda cream sauce, however, was delicious.

I used a basic cream sauce recipe for this… a pint of chicken broth, a pint of whipping cream, garlic, butter and shredded gouda cheese in the place where you usually find parmesan, thickened up with a bit of  cornstarch. I then tossed it in a baking dish with some garlic herb breadcrumbs and tossed it under the broiler to help sop up some of the liquid.

On the top of each plate I served a dollop of Trader Joe’s Pulled Pork. Not bad, but I strongly prefer Lloyd’s Pulled Pork (in a tub). I had to add a ton of Sweet Baby Ray’s to get this barbecuey enough for my taste.

Mix it all up and what I thought would be plenty with leftovers was devoured entirely by us and our guests. A fantastic success, I think!

Chicken piccata is something I’ve never tried to make before. I used to love Lean Cuisine’s Chicken Piccata back when they had it (I think it might be spookily similar to the Lemon Chicken now)  so when I saw that Trader Joes carried a jarred chicken piccata sauce, I was ecstatic to try it. The results…

Meh?

It’s not BAD, and part of it was my fault for pairing it with the absolute WRONG vegetables; I should have waited until I had some root veggies for roasting with this. But the sauce, unlike all the other Trader Joes pepared sauces i’ve tried, tastes like it comes from a jar. I even sauteed my own onions to give it some more body, but it just kind of fell flat. Again, it was yummy and all, but meh?

Can’t win ‘em all, I guess.