Becky: ICBC Spinach

Spinach-Stuffed Pork Roast

Ingredients:
-1 (2-2 1/2 pound) pork tenderloin
-1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
-1/3 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
-1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
-2 tablespoons canola oil
-1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt

-Cut tenderloin horizontally lengthwise about 1/2-inch (1.2 cm) from top to within 3/4-inch (1.8 cm) of opposite end and open flat.
-Turn pork to cut other side, from inside edge to outer edge, and open flat. If one side is thicker that the other side, cover with plastic wrap and pound until both sides are 3/4-inch (1.8 cm) thick.
-Squeeze spinach between paper towels to completely remove excess moisture.
-Combine spinach, breadcrumbs and cheese in bowl and mix well.
-Spread mixture on inside surfaces of pork and press down. Roll pork and tie with kitchen twine.
-Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat and brown pork on all sides.
-Place in oval slow cooker and sprinkle with salt. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours. Serves 4 to 6.

I picked this recipe out from this little book that I got from Borders called 365 Easy Slow Cooker Recipes. This was a new experience for me because I had never cooked pork tenderloin before. Usually I only stick to pork chops when it comes to pork, with the exception of cooking a pot roast one day. I had heard though that pork tenderloin is very healthy and delicious, so I decided to give it a try.
My only complaint with this recipe was that even with the kitchen twine, it was still difficult to keep the spinach stuffing in the tenderloin. Also, I replaced the canola oil with coconut oil instead. I had heard that canola oil is pretty much a marketing scam, so now I usually stick to olive oil and coconut oil. All in all, I'd have to say that the recipe was pretty good! As usual, my crockpot cooked the meat so that it was perfectly tender. The stuffing was pretty tasty too. It did have a very strong, robust flavor to it. I do think though that I'll only cook pork tenderloins on occasion though since it was rather expensive. I think it was worth it though! And it did last awhile too...I had leftovers for the next couple of days.

Becky: ICBC Black Beans

Swanson Turkey, Black Bean and Corn Chili

Ingredients
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 pound ground turkey
1 large onion, chopped
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves, crushed
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 3/4 cups Swanson® Chicken Broth (Regular, Natural Goodness™ or Certified Organic)
1 cup Pace® Thick & Chunky Salsa
1 tablespoon sugar
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (16 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained

Directions
Heat the oil in a 4-quart saucepot over medium-high heat. Add the turkey, onion, chili powder, cumin, oregano, black pepper and garlic powder. Cook until the turkey is well browned, stirring often.
Stir the broth, salsa, sugar, beans and corn in the saucepot and heat to a boil. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 30 minutes or until the mixture is hot and bubbling.

This was a recipe that I came across online on allrecipes.com. Ironically though, even though this was a Swanson chicken broth recipe, I did not use Swanson chicken broth. Instead, I used some chicken bouillon granules that I had on hand and dissolved them in water to make my own broth, since I'm cheap and didn't want to spend extra money lol. I also used this hot habanero salsa I had in my fridge instead of the Pace kind. Also, since I've been trying to lose some excess weight, I used Stevia instead of the sugar, which is an artificial sweetener that is supposed to actually be good for you, unlike aspartame or any of the other unhealthy artificial sweeteners found in diet sodas.

This recipe turned out to be really good! Even my husband liked it, which really surprised me since he typically doesn't like turkey. The only thing was that I could tell that it had artificial sugar in it. Stevia is really sweet, and I could definitely taste the sweetness in the chili. Regular sugar you probably wouldn't notice as much, so unless you're watching your diet, I say use regular sugar instead. I also liked the hot habanero salsa because it gave the chili a nice kick :) Plus, this was really easy to make, and quick too!

Becky: ICBC Eggplant

Sicilian Grilled Eggplant
This recipe was taken from the George Foreman the Next Grilleration Great Grilling Recipes

1 medium-sized eggplant
1 t. black pepper
1/2 t. salt
8 oz. can tomato sauce
1/2 c. fresh ripe tomato, diced
1 T. fresh garlic, minced
1 T. fresh parsley, minced
1/2 t. salt
1 t. black pepper
2 T. Asiago cheese, shredded

Clean, peel and cut the eggplant into 1/2-inch thick slices. Arrange the eggplant slices on a double-thickness of paper towels and sprinkle with salt. Let stand 10 minutes. Rinse the salt away and pat dry. Sprinkle each slice with pepper.
In a small saucepan, combine the tomato sauce, tomato, garlic, parsley, pepper and salt. Heat through and simmer for 10 minutes. Keep warm.
Set the Temperature to 350F to allow the grill to preheat. Place the eggplant slices in the grill in a single layer and set the Timer to 8 minutes. When the Timer beeps, check the eggplant with the tip of a knife. It should be tender when done.
Place on a large serving platter and grill any remaining slices as directed above. When all the eggplant slices are grilled, gently pour the tomato sauce over the slices and top with the shredded cheese. Serves 4.


First of all, my computer is not letting me attach my pic to this message. Boo! I have been having problems with my computer lately because of a virus, so I'll try again whenever I can get a chance to use another computer.
To be totally honest, I was not a fan of this recipe for one reason: way too much pepper! When making the sauce, I used the whole teaspoon of pepper that the recipe called for, but when I was sprinkling the extra pepper on the eggplant slices, even just 1/2 of a teaspoon seemed like too much to me, so I only used the half. All that pepper made the slices pretty difficult to eat, to be honest. I was done after about 2, and they left me craving something sweet. I was also planning on giving some of this to my daughter for lunch, but it would've been too spicy for her. I thought that it was a little odd that the recipe called for so much pepper. It's probably all in preference though. I'm sure some people like a lot of pepper in their food, but not me. If I ever make this again I'll probably just use 1/4 to 1/2 of a teaspoon in the sauce while just sprinkling 1/4 of a teaspoon on the slices. Another possibility as to why I didn't much care for this recipe could've been because of the whole tablespoon of garlic. Although I love garlic, a whole tablespoon just seems like a lot for just 4 servings worth of sauce. Usually I measure 1/8 of a teaspoon per clove, so that's 24 cloves of garlic! At least I don't have to worry about any vampires in my kitchen lol. I still think it was the pepper that was the main problem here.
I did a couple other things differently as well. For one thing, I used a teaspoon of dried parsley instead of the tablespoon of fresh because I had forgotten that I had no freeze-dried parsley left, which I always use for fresh. I really don't think it made that much of a difference. I also bought a wedge of asiago cheese since you can't buy it shredded, and I cut little pieces to put on each slice instead, and that worked fine as well. As I said before though, I was a little disappointed in this recipe. I have a bunch of slices left over but I probably won't eat all of them. Hope everyone else enjoyed their recipes a little more than I did this week!

Correction: I just read on my jar of minced garlic that 1 clove equals 1/2 a teaspoon, so I was a little off. Someone once told me that 1 clove equals about an 1/8 of a teaspoon and I never thought to double-check until now. Good to know! However, 6 cloves of garlic for 4 servings still seems like an awful lot to me.

Becky: ICBC Ugli Fruit

This is not my main recipe of the week, but this is just a little concoction that I made which I think is worth sharing. I've recently been on this new diet because I'm sick and tired of the extra weight I've gained around my tummy since I had my daughter. One of the requirements of this diet is to make a protein shake for breakfast every morning with the following ingredients:

Protein powder (I got the uflavored kind, which was not a smart move. It tastes really bad unless I add some vanilla extract or cocoa powder to my smoothie to sweeten it up.)
Liquid (either water, unsweetened almond milk or unsweetened soy milk. I use the soy milk.)
1 handful of fruit of your choice (I obviously used Ugli fruit)
1 Tbsp. or tsp. of ground flax seeds or whole chia seeds (I use the chia)
Veggies of your choice, as much as you want (I always use spinach leaves because you can't even taste them at all when they're all blended up)

Additions:
A sprinkle of kelp powder, which is recommended but not mandatory. It smells awful but you can't taste it when it's blended up, and it's really good for you too.
1 tsp. of cocoa powder. Ugli fruit taste a lot like an orange, and I love the combination of chocolate and oranges.

Blend it all up! This Ugli smoothie I made was actually pretty good. It did sorta taste like a chocolate orange candy, only less sweet. One thing that I would change though: I dug out sections of the Ugli fruit and tossed them into my blender, but as a result I got pieces of the "skin" around the sections floating around in my smoothie, which was kind of annoying. Next time I think I'll just squeeze out some juice instead, which should be easy because Ugli fruit is really juicy. Other than that, it was good.
I actually add the chia seeds after I blend everything else and pour it into a glass. Otherwise they stick to the sides of the blender and more of them end up getting washed down the drain than in my body. I know the color of the smoothie is pretty un-appealing, and obviously it's not as sweet and sugary as the smoothies you would find at, say Jamba Juice, but I've actually grown to really love these smoothies. They're filling, too! I wouldn't think that just a smoothie for breakfast would fill me up, but they do, and I also feel as though I have more energy in the mornings as well. I still have my sugar-free lattes in the morning too though, can't give those up lol. Anyways, some of these ingredients are pretty pricey, but I definitely recommend these smoothies to anyone who either wants to lose weight, feel healthier or gain some more energy. Actually, I recommend my whole diet that I'm on right now. Feel free to email me if you want to learn more about it! :)

Becky: ICBC Shallots

For the shallot recipe, I made a french dip sandwich.

Servings: 4

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 shallot, chopped
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp dry sherry (optional)
2 10 1/2 cans beef consomme
1 10 oz. bag romaine lettuce blend
1/3 cup balsamic vinaigrette
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
4 whole-grain rolls, split
4 portions lean roast beef, thinly sliced (about 1 lb.)
1 tsp. Montreal Steak Seasoning
8 cherry peppers

Directions:
Place a large skillet over medium-heat, add olive oil and heat for one minute. Add shallots and saute 2 minutes. Add flour and saute 2 more minutes. Whisk in sherry and cook for 3 minutes.
While whisking, slowly pour in beef consomme. Bring to a boil over high heat. Then reduce heat to low and simmer.
Place salad greens in a large mixing bowl. Drizzle with vinaigrette, toss to coat and season with black pepper. Divide into 4 salad bowls.
Set out 4 dinner plates. Place a roll and a ramekin (or small cup) on each plate.
Divide roast beef into 4 portions. Use tongs to dip a portion of roast beef into warm au jus sauce, place inside roll and sprinkle with steak seasoning.
Fill ramekins with extra au jus sauce for dipping. Place 2 cherry peppers on each place. Serve and enjoy!

This recipe came from my Eating For Life cookbook, by Bill Phillips. Inside this cookbook is lots of healthy meal options for breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks, shakes and desserts. This recipe was in the Dinners chapter, although I made this for lunch instead. I also cut this recipe in half because it was only me and my daughter eating while my husband was at work.
I did make some changes to this recipe. For instance, I used beef broth instead of consomme, because it was all they had at Super Walmart and from what I understand, I really didn't think that beef broth was really that much different. I also bought a red bell pepper because I didn't see any cherry peppers there either.
Looking at this recipe, I thought it seemed rather plain, but it actually ended up being pretty delicious! The au Jus sauce made my kitchen smell yummy while it was simmering on my stove-top. I also really liked the extra flavor that the steak seasoning gave the roast beef. The salad was a little bland though, but that's only because I prefer heartier salads with lots of stuff in it. I'm not a huge fan of just lettuce and dressing. Also, I'm not a huge fan of plain red peppers, but I still ate about half of mine just because lately I've been trying to eat healthier. I would definitely make the sandwich again though!

Becky: ICBC Brie

For this week's challenge, I actually prepared 2 recipes. The first recipe, which is listed below, was taken from http://www.hub-uk.com/foodpages04/recip0158.htm.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped fine
1 Granny Smith apple, cored and medium chopped
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
3/4 cup apple cider
4 ounces Brie cheese, rind removed and cut into chunks
4 medium chicken breast halves, on the bone with skin (2 lbs.)

In Heat oil in medium size nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion; cook until very tender, about 8 minutes. Add apple, 1/2 teaspoon thyme, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and 1/4 cup cider; cook until apples are tender, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Let cool slightly. Stir in Brie. Divide stuffing into 4 equal portions.

Heat oven to 400ºF.

Run fingers under breast skin to separate from flesh. Put 1/4 of the stuffing under the skin of each breast; press gently to distribute filling evenly. Season chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Place in 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking dish.

Bake in 400ºF oven until no longer pink, 35 minutes. (180ºF on instant - read meat thermometer). Remove chicken to platter; keep warm.

Prepare sauce:
Skim fat from baking dish. Scrape drippings into small saucepan. Heat over medium heat. Add remaining 1/2 cup apple cider; cook to reduce by half. Stir in remaining 1/2 teaspoon thyme and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Spoon over chicken.

Although the chicken turned out to be good, I was a little disappointed as well. For one thing, I think it would've been better if I had gotten boneless, skinless chicken breasts instead of the ones that were on the bone. Cutting a slit in each breast and filling the slits with stuffing would've been better in my opinion. The reason why is because I found that when the brie cheese melted in the oven it actually stuck to the skin. I never eat the skin when I eat chicken breasts so I feel as though I missed out on the yummy flavor of the brie cheese. In fact, I wouldn't even know that this recipe even had brie cheese in it if I hadn't made it myself. Instead the chicken tasted predominantly of the onions and the thyme. So although this chicken was good, it still didn't reach my high expectations. I also think that this recipe called for too much onion.

Unfortunately I had forgotten to take a photo of this recipe and I couldn't find one on the internet. But trust me, I did cook it! :)



This was the second recipe I prepared:



1 small wheel Brie cheese
2 tablespoons butter
1 package slivered almonds

Microwave the Brie for 30 seconds, just until warmed through. Saute almonds in butter until slightly browned.

Pour almonds over warmed Brie on a pretty plate and serve with warm chunks of French bread.

I got this recipe from http://www.recipegoldmine.com/appbrie/brie-almond-appetizer.html. As stated above, I was a little disappointed in my previous recipe so I decided to try again with this simple appetizer recipe. It was delicious with the french bread! One thing that I think would've tried though is to add a little bit of almond extract to the brie. I think it would've given it more of a sweet, nutty flavor, but unfortunately I didn't have any almond extract on hand. Other than that this recipe was very tasty!

Becky: Iron Chef Blogger Challenge Coconut Milk

Note: Becky is one of our Iron Chef Bloggers who will be guest blogging on Two Friends Cook.

Indonesian Coconut Chicken

Ingredients:
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. ground coriander
1/2 tsp. ground fennel
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 lbs. chicken drumsticks
2 medium onions, finely sliced
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup water
1 Tbs. lemon juice
1/4 cup scallions, sliced, for garnish

In a small bowl, combine the garlic, salt, pepper, cumin, coriander, fennel, and cinnamon. Rub the mixture all over the chicken drumsticks. Place the chicken, any leftover seasoning mixture, onions, coconut milk, water and lemon juice in the Crock-Pot slow cooker. Cover; cook on Low 6 to 8 hours (or on High for 3 to 4 hours). Garnish with scallions.

I got this recipe from The New Creative Crock-Pot Cookbook, by Robin Taylor Swatt. Part of the reason why I chose this recipe was because it sounded easy to make, plus most of the ingredients I already had on hand. The only things I needed to buy were the onions, the chicken, the coconut milk and the scallions. Another reason why I chose this recipe is because I thought not only would I like it, but my husband would like it as well. He's a pretty picky eater, but he does like Asian cuisine. The fact that this recipe was Indonesian also sparked my interest seeing as though me and my family may be moving there for a couple of years sometime in the future because of my husband's job. I thought it would be fun to taste one of the recipes that Indonesia has to offer.
I ran into a couple problems shopping for the ingredients. For one thing, I could not find a 2 lb. package of chicken drumsticks. The closest I could find was only 1.75 lbs. I didn't think it would make that much of a difference, but in the end it became a small problem because we were still hungry after dinner! I also could not find scallions. Neither the produce section nor the Asian food aisle had them, so I ended up doing without. Also, when I got home I realized that the coriander and fennel I had were not ground. I mixed them up anyways and them tried to grind the spice mixture in the blender, but it didn't make much difference. Also, there wasn't nearly enough of the spice mixture to evenly coat all of the drumsticks.
I prepared this dish early in the morning, so I chose to cook the chicken on Low instead of High. In my experience with crockpot cooking, I've found that the food typically tastes better if it's cooked on the Low setting anyways. All in all, I was satisfied with this recipe. The chicken was both spicy and sweet at the same time, if that makes sense. The cumin and coriander made it spicy, but the coconut milk and the cinnamon balanced it out. One thing that I like about crockpot cooking is that the meat always seems to just fall off the bone, and this was no exception. I gave a little piece to my daughter, and after that first bite she seemed a little skeptical. I thought maybe it was too spicy for her, but the next thing I knew she was chowing down faster than I could get the pieces of chicken on her high chair tray, so I think it's pretty safe to say that she was a fan. My husband also said it was delicious, but thought that there was too much onion.
If I ever make this dish again, I think I will take the time to buy ground fennel and coriander, because every once in awhile I would bite on a coriander seed and it was just too much spicyness. Also, I don't think the recipe needed quite as much onions. I think just one sliced onion would've been fine. But all in all, I give it a thumbs up. I just wished that there was more. Usually I'm often left with leftovers when I cook but that was not the case this time.