Leading up to what would become known as Winter Storm Fern, I made my pilgrimage to HEB along with the masses on Wednesday, Jan. 21 to stock up on essentials and hearty warm things to cook for the duration of said storm.
I went on Facebook and asked what everyone was planning on cooking and shared a few possibilities of my own for our household. I’m happy to say that I was inundated with ideas, so today’s Bite by Bite is going to be a two-parter. In this first part, I’ll share what we cooked and ate, along with the respective recipes and notes, and then next week I’ll follow up with everyone else’s responses. You and I both know that we’ll have another cold snap or two before winter actually departs, so we can file these away for future reference. And thank you to all who responded.
Concerned about our carriers being able to deliver newspapers on frozen icy roads, we went to press early with our Jan. 25 issue, thus unexpectedly freeing up that Friday a bit. I’d planned on putting on a pot of Mexican chicken soup later that day, but as we both found ourselves with an unexpected day off and Hubby already hungry, I quickly whipped up a skillet of migas (a favorite of ours), allowing us to also finish up some rice and beans left over from a previous meal. I even added some pickled onions to mine. I did end up putting on a pot of Mexican chicken soup later that day. It’s an Ina Garten recipe that I’ve been making for close to 20 years and we absolutely love it.
The next day I made a pot of short rib onion soup that I’d first made several years ago. As this was only the second time I’d made it, I’d forgotten that it’s a bit of an all-day affair. It’s very rich, tastes delicious and sure makes the house smell good. However, if you’re looking for something quick, then I don’t recommend this. It’s from one of my favorite recipe sites smittenkitchen.com.
Worship services and all other events at our church were cancelled that Sunday, so we ended up with another cold, lazy day. I decided that Boursin cheese pasta would be just the ticket. I’d seen the recipe on Facebook, in addition to southernliving.com. I don’t know if you remember the baked feta pasta that went viral on TikTok in 2019, but it’s almost identical to that except you use Boursin cheese instead of feta. I served it with some garlic bread I pulled out of the freezer.
We don’t typically eat a lot of sweets, leaning more toward salty, crunchy, savory snacks. However, by Sunday afternoon, I had reached the point where I wanted something sweet to eat. I knew neither of us were going to the store, so I’d have to make do with whatever ingredients we had on hand. I went to supercook.com. It’s one of those recipe generator sites where you put in the ingredients you have on hand and it produces numerous recipes that may be made from them. That’s how I came to find a delicious sour cream coffee cake at kirbiecravings.com. It was easy to make and absolutely delightful. Although it would have been good with a cup of coffee or a cold glass of milk, I’m not ashamed to admit that I had mine with a glass of Pinot Noir. And it paired perfectly.
File these recipes away for later and be sure and come back next week when I share lots more suggestions and ideas for winter meals from my Facebook friends. Stay warm and happy cooking and eating!
From homesicktexan.com
In a bowl, whisk eggs together with milk. Stir in the salt and pepper.
In a large skillet, heat up peanut oil on medium-high, and place corn tortilla strips into skillet, cooking for about 3 minutes, turning once. Remove the tortilla strips with a slotted spoon to a paper towel-lined plate. Drain the oil from the skillet leaving 2 tablespoons in the skillet.
Add the onions and jalapenos to the pan, and cook for a couple of minutes.
Add the egg mixture and tortilla strips to the skillet and let eggs sit for about one minute or until set on the bottom and then gently stir. Sprinkle cheese on top of eggs and continue to cook until melted.
Top eggs with salsa and cilantro. Serve hot with tortillas and refried beans.
By Ina Garten
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the chicken breasts skin side up on a sheet pan. Rub with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast for approximately 50 minutes, until done. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, discard the skin and bones and shred the meat. Cover and set aside.
Meanwhile, heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven. Add the onions, celery and carrots and cook over medium low heat for 10 minutes, or until the onions start to brown. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the chicken stock, tomatoes with their puree, jalapenos, cumin, coriander, 1 tablespoon kosher salt (depending on the saltiness of the chicken stock), 1 teaspoon pepper and the cilantro, if using.
Cut the tortillas in half, then cut them crosswise into ½ -inch strips and add to the soup. Bring the soup to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 25 minutes. Add the shredded chicken and season to taste.
Serve the soup hot topped with sliced avocado, a dollop of sour cream, grated cheddar cheese and broken tortilla chips.
My Notes:
From smittenkitchen.com
Braise:
Soup:
Braise the short ribs: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Generously season the ribs on all sides with salt and pepper. In a large (5 to 6-quart) Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Brown half of short ribs on all sides; don’t skimp on the color. Set aside and repeat with the second half of ribs, then set them aside too.
If there’s a lot of fat in the pot, pour it off until you have 2 tablespoons left. Add carrot, onion, leek (if using) and cook on medium-high heat until lightly browned at edges, about 5 to 6 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes; it will get a little darker. Add the red wine and cook until it has reduced to just a puddle, about 3 minutes. Return the short ribs and any juices that have collected to the pot. Add garlic, thyme sprigs and bay leaf, then pour broth over ribs and vegetables. Cover with lid, transfer to the oven and braise until the short ribs are falling off the bone and everyone in your home is falling over from how good it smells, about 2 ½ to 3 hours.
Meanwhile, prepare the onions: [If you have another large Dutch oven you can use it here. A large soup or stock pot will do, too. Or, you can use a large, deep frying pan for just the onions and finish the soup in the short rib’s pot later.]
Melt butter over medium heat. Add the onions, toss to coat them in butter and cover the pot. Reduce the heat to medium-low and let them slowly steep for 15 minutes. They don’t need your attention.
Uncover the pot, raise the heat slightly and stir in salt — start with 2 to 3 teaspoons of kosher salt. Cook onions, stirring every 5 minutes (you might be fine checking in less often in the beginning, until the point when the water in the onions has cooked off) for about 40 to 90 minutes longer. Onions are caramelized when they’re an even, deep golden brown, sweet and tender. Add sherry and scrape up any onions stuck to the pan, then simmer it until it disappears and you’re swatting strangers who crept in, enticed by the aroma, out of your kitchen.
Finish the short ribs: When the short ribs are cooked, use a slotted spoon to remove them from the broth and transfer to a plate to cool slightly. Strain the broth, discarding the vegetables. If the broth looks fattier than you prefer, you can use a fat separator to remove it, or carefully spoon it off the surface. Discard the short rib bones and pull the meat into large bite-sized chunks. You can de-fat the ribs a bit here, too, if there are easily-removed pieces.
Place the caramelized onions in the final soup pot, if they’re not already there, and rewarm over medium-high. Add broth and bring it to a simmer and season to taste with more salt and pepper. Add short ribs to broth and gently simmer everything together for 10 to 15 minutes.
From southernliving.com
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high.
Place cherry tomatoes in a 9 x 13 baking dish; drizzle with 3 tablespoons of the olive oil and sprinkle with pepper and 1 teaspoon of the salt. Toss to coat. Push tomatoes to the outer edges of the dish and place garlic and herb cheese in the center of the dish. Drizzle cheese with remaining 1 tablespoon oil.
Bake in a preheated oven until tomatoes have blistered and cheese has softened, 25 to 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, add pasta to boiling water and cook until al dente, about 12 minutes. Drain, reserving ¾ cup of the pasta cooking water.
Remove the baking dish from the oven and add ¼ cup of the pasta water; stir until creamy. Add pasta and stir until well coated. Stir in Parmesan, remaining ½ teaspoon salt, and up to ½ cup more pasta water, 2 tablespoons at a time, to reach desired consistency. Garnish with basil and black pepper and serve immediately.
From kirbiecravings.com
For the topping:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a mixer, cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs to the mixture, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Then add the sour cream and vanilla. Mix until combined.
Pour half of the batter into a greased 8 x 8 inch pan, and sprinkle with half of the topping, distributing evenly around the surface. Add the remainder of the batter on top, and sprinkle with the remaining topping. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
