Fix-It and Forget-It

Some of us are born dunkers.

Give us a bowl of soup, and we’ll dunk our crackers. Hand us a mug of milk, and we’ll dunk the nearest cookie. Place a crock of Cheese and Broccoli Dip within arm’s reach, and we’ll dunk whatever’s handy—tortilla chips, pita wedges, raw veggies, our fingers… Continue Reading...

Here’s another one for the “Help! What do I make for dinner?!” file. If a recipe involves ladling anything over chips and topping with cheese, it’s sure to be a hit with the family. Continue Reading...

You can go nuts fast worrying about what dish to take to your next holiday or football play-off get-together. I mean to be sympathetic and sensitive to all the concerns, but sometimes when I agonize, I can get a little cynical. That’s a confession and a warning. Continue Reading...

Here is a hearty, homey soup to serve a cold, hungry crowd. Continue Reading...

As the name suggests, this hearty soup is quick, easy, and very, very good. Our recipe tester’s comment: “I’m definitely making this at home.” Now that’s a compliment worth having, because she’s prepared a lot of recipes in her time.

The recipe also makes plenty. Plan to serve this to a crowd of hungry leaf-rakers, if you’re lucky enough to be hosting such a crowd in your back yard. Or lure a bunch of energetic friends with an offer of dinner, and pass out the rakes when they arrive. Just be sure to have steaming bowls of soup and mugs of cider on hand when the work is done.

With any luck, this may become an annual tradition!

Quick and Easy Italian Vegetable Beef Soup
Fix-It and Forget-It, Revised & Updated, page 36
Makes 8-10 servings
Prep. Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 6-8 hours
Ideal slow-cooker size: 6-qt.

1 lb. ground beef, or turkey, browned and drained
3 carrots, sliced
4 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 small onion, diced
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
¾ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
15-oz. can diced Italian tomatoes, or 2 fresh tomatoes, chopped
6-oz. can Italian-flavored tomato paste
4 ½ cups water
1 quart beef broth

1. Combine all ingredients in slow cooker.
2. Cover. Cook on High 6-8 hours, or until potatoes and carrots are tender.

When we consider all the reasons we love slow-cooker recipes, two things always come to the top: they’re easy, and they allow us to have a nutritious meal ready when we want it. Continue Reading...

Here’s some comfort if you’re out of cooking ideas:

Sweet Potato Chili

Looks like you can have a blog named “My Kitchen Addiction” and still get tired of making food.

What Jen doesn’t say is that all those bright orange sweet potatoes and pumpkins means you’re getting lots of good nutrition when you eat this “addictively” good chili.

Here’s another chili with similar ingredients, this one to make in your slow cooker. (This recipe will also warm the heart and innards of any vegetarian.)
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We had 15 people coming for lunch on Saturday. They’re a great group of friends—and we get together twice a year to talk about two books that we’ve all read.

They’re a really varied bunch—teachers, a geologist, a couple of psychologists, some administrators, a librarian, a few lawyers. We all have our reading preferences. And because of our different “specialties,” I read books I wouldn’t know about otherwise. A great gift.

Each time we meet we do four things:
1. Talk about the one book we’ve read during the first hour plus.

2. Eat and catch up with each other about everything else.

3. Talk about the second book during the last hour plus.

4. Make a passionate case for a book we’d like the group to
read and discuss the next time.

Merle and I volunteered to host on Saturday—we pass this around among the group—and I decided to make two soups. That’s the other thing we’ve established—the hosts make a fairly simple main dish. Everyone else is asked to bring either a salad or a dessert.

I hate to miss any of the conversation, so I made the soups on Friday. All I needed to do, then, on the Reading Group Day was flip on the burners and stir. And pretty much stay in the conversation.

That all worked, although I did forget to add the fresh spinach to the one soup just before serving it. Grrrr. . .

Turned out to be a wild-weather day. Drills of rain and unmannerly winds, so the Lasagna Soup was perfect.

This Soup is sturdy enough to be a main dish. And it delights kids and adults alike. Plus you can up the ratio of vegetables if you want. Or switch in another kind of meat—in whatever amount you wish. This is one flexible recipe:
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So I called my daughter late the other evening to check on something. This was Sunday night—when I’m always caught between hanging on to the weekend as long as I can, while also trying to get myself ready for the rush of Monday. And she said, “I’m cooking.” And I said, “What?” And she said, “Italian Chicken Chili and Pumpkin Black Bean Turkey Chili. It seemed efficient to make these two recipes together.”

But she wasn’t finished with her cooking rundown. “And I was thinking about how good some spicy muffins would be with these chilies, so I’m baking Jalapena Corn Muffins, too.”

I sat down. I was not in a revving-up mood. I must have sounded that way because she said, “Don’t you want to go into the week with at least four meals already made? Two each from each.”

Yeah, but not starting at 9:00 Sunday night.

Funny how you can hardly change a body clock. This young woman and her dad start projects as night-time comes.

Not me. Last week while we were on vacation in a hotel room overlooking the ocean, I got up early each morning while it was still dark. My feast was to see the sun rise over the waves. It was unspeakably beautiful. It’s true, I didn’t see anyone else, but I gotta admit, that was part of the treat.
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When I first began making cookbooks, I was a purist. No canned cream-of-xxx soups for me, whether I was working on cookbooks or making dinner. I resolutely turned any reference to canned creamed soups into a multi-step process, which wasn’t too bad if I took a magazine along to the stove or the microwave. I would do Steps 1-4 (below); then I’d whip out the magazine while I stirred. It made the time fly.

But when I became a mom, I began to compromise on a few things. It was a little harder to hold a wiggly child than it was to read a magazine while I stirred up a creamy soup.

Then I heard from other people who were juggling things that didn’t always allow them to stand and read while stirring. So I switched and began to permit canned soups in recipes.
If you like to know exactly what you are eating, and if you have the time, I applaud your making cream soups and bases from scratch. The recipe for doing this on the stove-top or in the microwave is below. Continue Reading...