Tasty Trifecta

"I hope you have a child who acts just like you!"

I'm fairly certain we've all heard that at some point in our lives. Unless you're a perfect angel. While my mom never came right out and said those words, I have a feeling she thought them quite often. Like when she opened my bedroom door to carefully place my laundry on my crumpled bed, never fully entering the room for fear of getting lost in the sea of clutter. Or when she would carefully tailor her menu to suit my absolutely insane pickiness. My brother was the "good" kid who ate everything. Even the weird stuff. He even ate broccoli. Without cheese!

Well, it happened. As Richard and I struggle to keep clutter at a minimum (not good for 2 clutter-nuts to marry - oops), we now have two children who help add to it all. My precious little princess is just as picky as I used to be. We're lucky in that she loves fruit, yogurt, and even non-fried fish. But she's just as much into texture as I am. No mushy anything. If it's crunchy or spicy, she'll dive right in. 

This blog is serving as my diary of exploration into the world of new. Mostly new recipes. I get bored and frustrated cooking the same things over and over. The picky eater in me is slowly disappearing. While there are still quite a few foods I won't touch, I'll at least give most of them a try. Two items from last two days' menus, especially yesterday's, pushed my boundaries. The third served as a little reward.

First, I give you Tortellini-Chicken Soup! 

Look at all those healthy ingredients!

See that green stuff and the pinkish stumps in there? That's Swiss chard! Do you see the carrots?!? There's also onion and garlic, as well as the obvious chicken & tortellini. I have never ever had Swiss chard. And carrots, for me, need to be almost mushy. I even ate the leaves! Give me a minute while I come down from my self-congratulatory high. This was a hit, and heated well as leftovers for lunch today. For the kids, I just gave them the chicken, carrots & pasta. Giving a two-year-old broth...not a good idea. 

This recipe was adapted from Cuisine at Home magazine. They're pretty stingy with their recipes. If you don't get the magazine, you basically don't get the recipes. The original called for turkey. Well, I wasn't about to cook an entire turkey to make soup, and they don't exactly sell rotisserie turkeys at Ingles or Walmart. So, chicken it was. I also didn't put in any fennel, as I already have tried that & don't like the bitterness of it. Oh, and I actually forgot to buy kidney beans, but will surely add them next time. I was so proud of myself for getting the chard that I forgot the beans! Anyway...here's the recipe:

2 c each: sliced carrot, diced onion, diced fennel bulb, diced Swiss chard stems (don't throw out the leaves, but DO wash them, for sure)

2 Tbsp minced garlic

4 tsp dried Italian seasoning

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1/4 tsp nutmeg

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 c dry Marsala

1-2 Tbsp chicken base (like Better than Bouillon)

12 c low sodium chicken broth

4 c roasted turkey (or chicken)

3 c (9 oz) refrigerated cheese tortellini (dried works)

8 c chopped Swiss charred leaves, rinsed (1 bunch)

1 can red kidney beans, drained & rinsed

1 Tbsp lemon juice

Salt & pepper to taste

Grated Parmesan (I happened to have a fresh block - YUM)

Sweat carrot, onion, fennel, chard stems, garlic, Italian seasoning, pepper flakes, and nutmeg in oil in a large pot over  medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Deglaze pot with wine and simmer until nearly evaporated; stir in chicken base. Add broth and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.

Add turkey/chicken, tortellini, chard leaves, and beans; simmer, partially covered, until tortellini are cooked through, 8-10 minutes. 

Stir in lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Serve with grated Parmesan.

For dessert, I had an assistant. Kiersten got all dolled up in her apron and chef's hat and helped make the brownie base. She even used her mini spatula to stir the dry ingredients as I mixed up the wet ingredients. This recipe is from Cooking Light magazine, and they are much more generous with their recipes, thank goodness. The whole looking down & up of writing out a recipe can be dizzying, especially after midnight. Even for a night owl/insomniac like myself.

This recipe calls for 2 Tbsp of evaporated milk to be added to chopped chocolate. It came out WAY thin. I tried again this afternoon with just 1 Tbsp, and it was too thick. Goldilocks found that maybe 1 1/2 Tbsp will make it just right.

The aroma's from tonight's main course are still lingering. While the side dishes of rice & black beans were pretty mundane, the feature, Coffee-Rubbed Flank Steak (from Food Network Magazine), made us feel like we were living above our means. The original recipe called for skirt steak, but I had flank steak, so that's what I used. We were not disappointed. It wasn't until after she had eaten all her meat that we told Little Miss Picky what went on it. Her reaction, "And I ate it!" Insert proud parent moment here. Oh, and the pic of the steak, too...

I didn't add a pic of the onions, but boy did they add a layer of depth to the flavor.
I skipped out on the peppers out of sheer laziness.

And with this entry done, I'm off to La-La land for a little while, till I'm dragged out of bed to make my kindergartener's hair presentable for school, with the promise of a fresh pot of coffee made by my husband. Seriously...he makes my own pot, since he gets up WAY early and knows I'm a snob and don't like coffee if it's been in the pot for over half an hour. I really do have an awesome husband.