midwest neurotica

Cheese ravioli with zucchini and mushrooms in a pesto sauce
Heat water to boiling and add frozen ravioli. Cooking according to package directions. Chop 1/2 small onion very fine. Dice 1 zucchini and 1 portabello mushroom. Heat 2 T olive oil in skillet. Add onion, then zucchini, then mushroom, then 2 T minced garlic, cooking each a minute or two before adding the next. Drain ravioli. Toss with vegetables and 1/4 cup pesto. Serve with garlic cheese bread, green salad and white wine. Serves 2-3.

The recipe was inspired by a chowder in the recent issue of Rachel Ray’s magazine, mostly in terms of it including corn, potatoes and a certain amount of liquid. The rest is quite different! The recipe makes approximately 8 bowls of chowder. The heat in this is quite mild. Unfortunately, we gobbled this up too quickly to remember the camera.

Ingredients
2 T olive oil or 1 T olive + 1 T butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 small red pepper, finely chopped
1 small Anaheim pepper, finely chopped
1 large russet potato, small dice
1 T garlic
Adobo seasoning and pepper to taste
3 cups + 1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
1 cup milk
2 cups + 1 cup frozen corn
1 cup heavy cream

Instructions
Heat oil or oil + butter over medium heat in a large soup pot. Add in onion through garlic. Cover and cook for 5 minutes until vegetables are softened. Add Adobo seasoning and pepper to taste. Reserve approximately 1 cup of vegetables. Add 3 cups stock and 2 cups frozen corn to remaining vegetables. Bring to a boil. Meanwhile, use a blender to puree 1 cup stock, 1 cup milk, 1 cup corn and 1 cup of reserved vegetables. Return puree to soup pot. Simmer until potatoes are tender. Stir in 1 cup heavy cream. Serve with chopped cilantro, mexican shredded cheese and taco chips.

When my husband goes out of town, my culinary creativity seems to soar. I think I prefer to perfect a recipe before trying it out on a picky eater that I really want to please. Tonight, I found a meal that made both me and the kids happy. That means my better half is sure to love it too! Success!

I popped parmesan-crusted tilapia from Sam’s in the oven and got yellow rice going on the stove. In the meantime, I prepared the banana salsa. Inspired by this recipe, I tweaked it some to our tastes. Serve rice and fish with the salsa and a green salad or veggie.

Banana Salsa

2 firm bananas, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, minced
1/4 Anaheim pepper, minced
3 T cilantro, chopped
2 T lime juice
1 T brown sugar
1 t maple syrup
1 t grated ginger
salt

More than 8 months after moving here, I finally found one of my true food loves again. As it turns out, it was right under my nose (thanks @brechin). Patak’s Hot Mango Relish is a truly delightful, truly blistering hot condiment/snack. It is excellent on pita chips.

With this re-discovery, I learned that my tolerance of heat has been tempered by a midwesternized diet. So here’s a serving suggestion for those that love the flavor, but need it tempered. Cream cheese!

Remember that shrimp dip where you layer cream cheese, cocktail sauce and baby shrimp? Try that with this relish. Spread cream cheese in the bottom of a pyrex, a good thick layer. Cover with a thin layer of the Hot Mango Relish.Try not to eat it all in one sitting.

When I participate in Sweet Shoppe Design’s FOBTY, I normally post my results to Facebook. This time, I just HAD to post here at Midwest Neurotica. For once, a little web quiz was spot on!

You Are Baseball Games

You like old fashioned things. You’re one of those people who values tradition. You enjoy a slow pace of life. You believe that life is all about enjoying every moment. You love the changing of the seasons, and you look forward to what each season brings. You are smart and a bit obsessive. You become very immersed in your interests.

What Part of Spring Are You?

Yes, I am still cooking and snapping photos of it all. I’m hopeful this summer will bring even more foodie goodness for you! Here’s what’s been on our table recently:

Tater Tot Casserole
Ground beef and sausage, frozen mixed veggies, cream of chicken soup, tater tots, american cheese

Chili Cheeseburgers
Burgers topped with Texas Pete’s chili, cheese, fritos and fries

Ma Po Tofu

Couscous Salad
Plain couscous tossed with diced heirloom tomatoes, feta cheese and a lemon vinaigrette

Homemade Cupcakes

What’s in your kitchen these days?

I randomly came across a tweet by @DineandDish discussing an Adopt a Blogger program for food bloggers. I sent off an email to the host, Kristen, about whether my used-to-be-a-food-blog-until-I-started-eating-meat-and-potatoes-exclusively would count, especially since I’ve used a lot of my bloggy wisdom to launch Simple Scrapper. She said sure and I felt pretty spiff being considered an experienced blogger! And I didn’t even have to tell her about my late ’90s webzine!

A wee bit of time passes and I am assigned Cre8tive Kitchen as a partner. At first, I wonder how Brenda, my mentee could be a newbie blogger as 1.) she came up with a totally awesome blog name and b.) she’s got a lot of content under her belt. Brenda is a woman after my own comfort foodie heart, posting just yesterday on my beloved garlic fries from Safeco Field in Seattle.

To officially launch our three month partnership, I guided Brenda through some decluttering of her site. You know me and simplicity… or some would call it OCD. (By the way, we had a leak in the ceiling last night directly above the bed. For safety’s sake, we had to put the bed on the diagonal and I had the worst night’s sleep ever. So stop questioning why everything has to be at right angles – it just does!)

Back to Cre8tive Kitchen… I’m so proud of Brenda for being such a receptive partner and I see she’s already picked up a few new subscribers. Her recipes look totally delicious (and super easy); I can’t wait to try them out on my family! Stop by and leave Brenda some love for me, eh?

Dear Banquet Chicken Fingers Meal,

You suck. No where on your package do you indicate that it contains brownie batter and not, in fact, a real brownie. While your package does recommend to keep frozen, it fails to mention a critical point. In future packaging designs, please warn consumers that allowing the meal to thaw will result in chocolate-covered chicken fingers.

While I only paid $1 for you, I would like to reiterate. You suck. However, chocolate-covered chicken fingers are not as bad as they sound.

Thank you,

A Hungry Consumer

I totally know that guy from Twilight everyone is obsessing over. Ok, maybe not – but close. Here’s a side-by-side of a friend of mine (taken in 1999) and Robert Pattinson.