Foodmomiac

Foodmomiac's Macaroni Salad

I have never been a huge fan of macaroni salad. It's usually gloppy and overly sweet, and just... blah. But, there's something really appealing about a macaroni salad. I love elbow macaroni, and I love mayo-based salads, so I always knew that I could probably rescue this dish.

After doing some online research and some in-kitchen tinkering, I think we have a winner. This is based off of a recipe I found on All Recipes, but the additions and changes make it my own. Enjoy! (Note: this makes 10 VERY generous servings, so make sure you have plenty of guests, or are ready to eat macaroni salad every day for a week.)

Foodmomiac's Macaroni Salad

1 box elbow macaroni
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup turbinado sugar
2-1/2 tablespoons yellow mustard
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 sweet white onion, cut into 3-4 big chunks
2 stalks celery, cut into 3-4 big chunks
2 carrots, cut into 3-4 big chunks (you can use a handful of baby carrots if that's all you have on hand)
3 hard boiled eggs, diced
2 dill pickles, diced

Cook macaroni for eight minutes. Drain, rinse in cold water and set aside.

Mix together the mayo, vinegar, sugar, mustard, salt and pepper in a large bowl.

In a food processor, mince the onion, celery and carrots. (You can also just dice these finely on your own, but the food processor does a great job and is super fast.)

Add the veggies to the sauce in the bowl, along with the macaroni, eggs and pickles. Mix to combine, cover, and refrigerate for at least two hours (overnight is fine, and probably preferable!)

Hangin' Around (with some Sweet and Sour Cabbage)

It's Sunday evening, and we are still at our cottage. The plan was to leave after dinner, but we just couldn't do it. We had to prolong the fantasy of a stress-free life just a TEENY bit longer.

It was a great weekend at the cottage. Michael's dad, sister and her boyfriend came up, and we loved showing them around. We did the Holland Farmers' Market (where we scored country pork ribs, rhubarb, radishes and a giant jug of Michigan maple syrup), Chicken Scratch Farm, Saugatuck downtown and the beach. The weather wasn't warm enough for any sunbathing, but we skipped rocks and explored a bit.

Megen and Nick left in the early afternoon, but, as I said, we just couldn't do it. Michael's dad is still off work from his car accident, so he was able to stick around as well. The kids are in bed, and we're just sitting around and watching TV.

Dinner was terrific. I bought some Korean meat rub at the Saugatuck Spice Merchant, and we rubbed it on the pork ribs from the market. We are very much asparagus'd out, so we grabbed a head of red cabbage at the little farm market down the road, and I made some old fashioned sweet and sour cabbage. The recipe is from the Betty Crocker cookbook, which came with the cottage. It's not the type of cookbook I'd normally buy, but I'm loving the recipes. They are simple and comforting - just perfect for a weekend hangin' around in the country.

Sweet and Sour Cabbage

1 head red cabbage, cored and thinly sliced
4 strips bacon, diced
1 red onion, sliced
1/4 cup brown or Turbinado sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons white vinegar
freshly ground black pepper

Boil one inch of water in a 10-inch skillet. Add the cabbage, and cook, uncovered for an additional 15 minutes. Drain, and set aside. Place the bacon in the skillet and cook it on medium for about 3-4 minutes. Add the onion and cook an additional 4 minutes, until the onion is soft and the bacon is crisp. Remove from the grease with a slotted spoon, and place it on a paper towel or brown paper bag covered plate to drain. If your bacon is super greasy, remove some of the grease (you want to leave about 1 tablespoon). Add the sugar and the flour, and stir to combine. Add the water and vinegar, stirring well to scrape up all of the bits from the bottom of the skillet. Add the cabbage back into the skillet, stir well to combine and season with some freshly ground pepper. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Easiest Grill Dish Ever - Potato Packets

Potato packets
Originally uploaded by Foodmomiac

We make this dish all the time, and it is so easy. If you don't do it already, you must try it.

Slice a bunch of potatoes very thinly. Slice an onion thinly as well. Take a big sheet of foil and spray it with olive oil (or brush some on if you don't have an olive oil sprayer). On ONE HALF of the foil, layer on potatoes, onions, salt, pepper and more olive oil. You can get crazy here with variations. The potatoes pictured above are made with white truffle salt and a red onion. I've added green and red peppers, and also garlic on occasion. Whatever you want goes. As you create the packet, it will look like this:

When you are done layering, fold the foil in half and pinch it closed so that no air can get in. It should look like this:

Cook over indirect heat on the grill for up to an hour.

When you unwrap the packet, be VERY careful. The steam inside gets crazy hot, and I've burnt myself a few times. You might want to even poke a few holes in the packet before unwrapping to prevent this.

Summer Favorite: Ranch Dressing

I am not a huge fan of commercial Ranch Dressing (except on pasta salad, for some reason). However, homemade Ranch Dressing is a different story entirely, and my kids agree. They never eat the bottled stuff, but the homemade version is a favorite, especially as a dipping sauce.

I only find myself making this recipe in the summer, probably for a number of reasons. I love using fresh dill, but the dressing doesn't call for enough of it to warrant a purchase, so I just pinch some off from my garden. It also has a very light, summer-y flavor. In the winter time, my salads are heavier. I might try making this year-round, though.

The recipe is not an original to me. I use this one with some modifications. Instead of onion powder, I substitute garlic powder, and instead of dried dill, I use fresh. I used the celery leaves only once, and didn't notice any difference in flavor. Feel free to substitute a sprinkle of celery seed or omit altogether. You can also substitute fresh parsley, which is my preference. The most important ingredient on the list is the powdered buttermilk. This stuff kicks butt. You can find it in the baking aisle of your supermarket, or you can order it online (in bulk).

Roasted Vegetable Risotto (with a story)

  Roasted Vegetable Risotto 
  Originally uploaded by Foodmomiac

Jen was my roommate in college for both our sophomore and our senior years. Actually, (and this is probably one of the reasons we still keep in touch), we never had to share a room. Our sophomore year, we had the very best dorm room at Vassar. It was called the Rockefeller suite, and legend had it that it was built for the Rockefeller girls. I'm not sure if that's true, but the room ROCKED. There were two bedrooms, a full bath (seriously!) and built-in bookcases. We were living the life.

Senior year, we shared a townhouse with three other roommates, and did a ton of cooking. Towards the end of the year, we decided to invite one of our professors over for dinner with his wife. I can no longer recall what inspired us to do this, but I remember working so hard on a risotto dish. I'll need to pull out that recipe sometime, but it wasn't a true risotto (I'll explain what that is in a minute). It was basically rice, veggies and LOTS of cheese. It was really good, though. So good, in fact, that a couple of months ago, Jen emailed me asking for the recipe and for tips on how to make risotto!

As is often the case with me, I don't use a recipe. But, trust me, this is easy. I made this last night with Max literally hanging from my back pocket. (I don't recommend that, by the way. TOTALLY annoying.)

Risotto alla Danielle

Stock
Onion, chopped finely
Arborio Rice
White wine or dry vermouth
Stuff (roasted vegetables, cooked chicken, sauteed mushrooms, whatever you want)
Parmigiano Reggiano

Pull out two pots (one bigger one, one smaller one). In the small one, heat up some stock (chicken or vegetable), and keep at a low simmer (I used almost an entire 32 oz. box). Heat the large one over medium heat, and add some olive oil. Add the onion and saute until translucent. Put in the rice. For a family of four, a cup of raw rice is sufficient. Saute the rice for a minute or two. Add a splash or two of the wine (I used dry vermouth since I didn't have a bottle of white open), and cook until it evaporates. Then, using a ladle, add a 1/2 cup or so of stock and stir it into the rice. Continue stirring until the rice absorbs the liquid. Once it's absorbed, add some more. You want to continue doing this until the rice is cooked. Arborio rice will still be kind of al dente when it's done. It will have a nice chew to it. When the rice is NEARLY done, you can add your "stuff." I added some roasted cauliflower and asparagus (roasted with olive oil at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes). You can add sauteed mushrooms, or cooked chicken, or whatever, really. A good idea is to Google "risotto" and find some ideas. The above formula will work for whatever risotto you make.

When the risotto is done, top with grated Parm and serve!

The World's Most Expensive Chicken (with a recipe for Hungarian Dumplings)

  Homemade Chicken Soup - Max's Bowl 
  Originally uploaded by Foodmomiac

I think I mentioned that after I finished Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, I did my food shopping online. I got my staples from Peapod, and then ordered my meat and produce from Fresh Picks, a local service that gets food from (mostly) local farmers, and delivers it once a week. One of the items I ordered was a whole chicken, cut up. It was about 5 pounds, and the total cost was $20.

For those accustomed to buying their chickens at Costco or the supermarket, this price is outrageous. But, when you consider that this chicken was organic, and was raised at a family farm, allowed to roam free all day, it becomes worth it. Also, if you compare it to eating out, it's way cheaper. This $20 chicken fed three adults and two children on Wednesday (we made a version of Chris' recipe). And then it make a delicious soup for two adults and two children last night. AND, I have a really big container of the soup left over. See?? A bargain.

For the soup, I was craving Hungarian dumplings (virtually the same thing as German Spaetzle), which are really easy to make, especially if you have a Spaetzle Maker. I put the leftover chicken in a big pot with carrots, celery and onion. Then, I covered everything with fresh water and let it cook for a few hours. I removed and discarded the onion. I pulled the chicken off the bone and chopped it up, adding it back into the stock. I also chopped up the carrots and celery and added those back as well. This soup went into the fridge to hang out until we were ready to eat.

About 45 minutes before dinner time, I put the soup pot back on the stove. In the meantime, I prepared the dumpling batter. The recipe came from The Frugal Gourmet on our Immigrant Ancestors. It's super easy. Combine 2-1/2 cups flour, 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. baking powder. In another container, combine 2 eggs beaten, 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup water and 2 Tb. oil (you can also use lard for a more authentic Hungarian flavor). Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix well. This will produce a very sticky batter. Let it hang out on the counter while you wait for your soup to get nice and hot. When the soup is ready to be dumpling'd, put the batter into your spaetzle maker, and let the dumplings fall in. They will quickly rise to the surface, at which point your soup is ready to eat. If you don't have a spaetzle maker, you can put the batter in a large ziploc bag and cut a 1/4 inch size hole in one corner. Then, squeeze out small pieces into your soup.

You can also cook spaetzle in salted, boiling water. Once done, transfer them to a colander. If you cook them this way, you also have the option to follow the boiling with some pan frying in butter. Yum.

Easy Pasta Salad

  Trashy Pasta Salad 
  Originally uploaded by Foodmomiac.

I never order Ranch dressing at a restaurant. I get Bleu Cheese, or Vinaigrette, or if I'm feeling wild, Thousand Island. At home, I make my own dressing. We never buy the stuff.

Ranch dressing, though, seems to be the most popular dressing in the US. Whenever I'm out to dinner, I hear people ordering it left and right. Most of my friends at work get Ranch on their salads. But I never do. And, were it not for this pasta salad, I'd even venture to say that I hate the stuff. I certainly would never eat it on a typical lettuce salad.

But, for some reason, this pasta salad is different. It makes Ranch taste great. I have no idea why. And, were it not for Jessica Alexander, back in 8th grade, I'd never know how good it was. She brought it in one day for some sort of class party, and went on and on about how fabulous it was. And, she was right. It was damn good. Stupid easy, but good. I used to use Hidden Valley for the salad, but tried Marzetti's tonight. It was an excellent substitute, and the ingredient list was blessedly short and simple.

Pasta Salad
Cooked and cooled pasta (I love using tri-color rotini)
Bell peppers, multi-colored, cut into small dice
Gherkins or small dill pickles, cut into small dice
Small can of diced ripe olives
Ranch dressing

Add veggies and dressing to pasta, toss and serve. I don't have any measurements here - make as much or as little as you like. If you use Hidden Valley, one bottle is enough for a pound of pasta.

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