Gourmet Meals For Less

Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

 

 

When I saw these cookies in this month's Southern Living Magazine, I knew I had to make them.  I do not have a family member with a gluten allergy, but I know many do.

Therefore, I felt it was my obligation to test these cookies out and make sure they were worthy of all of my flourless friends...they are!  These turned out so good.  Flour...schmour...who needs flour when you can make these delicious little morsels. 

Now these are cookies, mind you, so they of course still contain sugar, chocolate...you know the good stuff.  They also most definitely contain peanut butter so alas these are not a good cookie for my nut allergy friends.  But if gluten is your nemese, than these are the cookies for you!

 

Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies-Dec. 2010 Southern Living
Makes approximately 2 dozen

Ingredients:

1  cup  creamy peanut butter
3/4  cup  sugar
1  large egg
1/2  teaspoon  baking soda
1/4  teaspoon  salt
1  cup  semisweet chocolate morsels
Parchment paper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°. Stir together peanut butter and next 4 ingredients in a medium bowl until well blended. Stir in chocolate morsels. Little hint:When portioning dough for Flourless Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Cookies, spray your tablespoon measure with cooking spray for easy release onto baking sheets. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets.

Bake at 350° for 12 to 14 minutes or until puffed and lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets on a wire rack 5 minutes. Transfer to wire rack, and let cool 15 minutes.  (I found that the cookies don't change their shape much from when first put them on the cookie sheet, so immediately after I pulled them out of the oven I flattened them slightly with the back of a spatula to make them a little thinner.  I am guessing the lack of flour might cause this.)

Enjoy with a cup of hot chocolate or a nice tall glass of milk!

 

 

Just a reminder, we will be leaving our

Sister Saturday Cookie Exchange

link up all week!  There is still plenty of time to link up your cookie/holiday treat recipes.  Please feel free to link up to both sites so that all of our readers can see your great cookie recipes!

 

 

 

We knocked off the PB now we're knockin' off the OG...Olive Garden that is!

And don't forget about our Souper Sister Saturday

 

coming up on October 30th, sponsored by
Gourmet Meals for Less and Southern In My Heart!  Prepare your favorite soup, blog about it and link up with us for a virtual Soup Exchange.  Hope you'll join us!

This recipe is linked up to:

Simple Plate's What A Crock Party! Head on over and check out the great crock pot recipes!

Another great use for okra....Okra Griddle Cake Sandwiches

 

 

If you've been following my blog at all lately, you know we've been blessed with an abundant garden this year.  I've been scrambling trying to find ways to use all of the produce we've grown.  There's always the usual of course...freeze it, can it, dry it...but sometimes you just want it fresh, right then.  When hubby brought me up a big bucket of okra the other day, I decided it was time to break out a new okra recipe. 

 

  
There had been a great section in the July 2010 Southern Living edition on uses for okra, and I had remembered these great okra griddle cakes they had featured.  Of course, they were cute and petite in the magazine spread.  Ours, on the other hand, ended up ginormous; which given my hubby made them I should not have been surprised.   By the way, he's king daddy pancake maker in our family, so he got the honor of actually cooking them.  I decided, since they were so large, to use them in the place of buns with my pulled bbq chicken and topped them with a delicious cherry tomato salsa, another by product of my bountiful garden.

These sandwiches gave us a last lingering taste of summer, and they were so good! I will definitely make them again, but next time maybe keep them cute and petite and use them as an appetizer.

{print recipe}

Okra Griddle Cake Sandwiches-adapted from Southern Living
makes 17 3 1/2" cakes or 8 sandwich size cakes if your husband makes them

Griddle Cakes:

Ingredients:

4  bacon slices
1  cup  finely chopped okra
1 1/2  cups  self-rising white cornmeal mix
1/2  cup  all-purpose flour
1  tablespoon  sugar
1 2/3  cups  buttermilk
3  tablespoons  butter, melted
2  large eggs, lightly beaten

Directions:

Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat 8 to 10 minutes or until crisp; remove bacon, and drain on paper towels, reserving drippings in skillet. Finely chop bacon. Sauté okra in hot drippings 3 minutes or until crisp-tender. 
Whisk together cornmeal mix and next 5 ingredients just until moistened; stir in okra and bacon.  Pour about 1/4 cup batter for each griddle cake onto a hot, lightly greased griddle or large nonstick skillet.
Cook cakes 2 to 3 minutes or until tops are covered with bubbles and edges look dry and cooked; turn and cook other side 1 to 2 minutes or until done.

 

BBQ Chicken:

Ingredients:

4-5 chicken breasts
Honey BBQ sauce of choice

Directions:

Bring large saucepan of water to a simmer, salt.  Add chicken breasts to water and cover with lid, slightly venting. Reduce heat to medium low and allow chicken to poach for approximately 20 minutes or until cooked through but still tender.  Remove and allow to cool.  Shred chicken with fingers and place in bowl.  Toss with favorite honey bbq sauce.

 

Cherry Tomato Salsa

 

Ingredients:

 

cherry tomatoes, sliced in half (3-4 cups)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 Tbs. white wine vinegar
2 tsp. lime juice

1/2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. cumin
salt and pepper to taste

 

Combine all of the above ingredients.  Allow salsa to sit for several minutes so that flavors can incorporate.

 

Serve griddle cakes topped with bbq chicken and cherry tomato salsa.

Enjoy!

 

Sister Saturday...Labor Day Gone South Party

 Labor Day! 

The last great hurrah of the summer.  One of those days where you plan a cook-out or picnic with friends and family, enjoying the last carefree days of the season before the onslaught of school, football, Thanksgiving, Christmas...all fun but hectic!

These types of holidays are always bittersweet for me because while we always try to make them fun, inviting friends and my in-laws to celebrate with us, it is a reminder that I don't have my own family close...especially my sister.

See my sister, Vanessa, and I LOVE each other very much.  We actually enjoy each others company.  I think it's because we are so much alike.  We can cook together, decorate together, talk politics and religion without fighting and of course share all of the same memories of growing up...like me sitting on her and holding her down to torture her because she wouldn't clean the bathroom up after the little girl she was babysitting pooped all over it and I had to do it...but we'll save that story for another day. Ahem..back to Labor Day. 

So, anyway, my sister and I love each other very much, and anyone who knows us at all, knows this to be true.  Thus, Sister Saturday was born!  An opportunity for my sis and I to share virtual holidays, family gatherings and the occasional shot of hard liquor glass of wine after a stressful day being Mommy.  And, the coolest thing about these virtual get togethers is you can join us!

A  Labor Day Gone South Party
seemed like the perfect way to kick off Sister Saturday. 

We will be featuring recipes inspired by our love for all things Southern!

So head on over to my sister's blog

Southern In My Heart

where we will be having cocktails and an appetizer, and then don't y'all forget to head on back over here to enjoy a scrumptious Labor Day picnic and a mouthwatering dessert

*****************

....I sure hope you enjoyed the wonderful cocktail and appetizer my sister prepared, I know we did!  Isn't her home and backyard beautiful??   My sis and family just pulled up in the drive..

 

so follow my niece and nephew to the backyard...I've got my extra drink with me, hope you've got yours...cause we're gonna have a picnic!

 

 

 

I've prepared Grilled Flank Steak and Brie Sandwiches and Rutabaga Fries! 

 

 

Did I lose you at rutabaga?!  I hope not because you're in for a treat.  Please don't fill up too much cause I need you to save room for dessert, which we will enjoy on the front porch..just like a good Southerner.  And, what could be more southern then Grilled Mint Julep Peaches with Bourbon Sauce?! 

 

 

Cause, it's not a party in Kentucky if you don't have a little bourbon hanging around.  Just in case you need a closer peek at that dessert...

 

 

and no that spoon is NOT in there because I was sneaking a taste before dinner...in fact I think Vanessa was the one taking a bite...yep it was her...and I'm sticking to that. 

 

I hope you enjoyed joining us for our Labor Day Gone South Party!  Now is where I start hinting that it's time to wrap the evening up..that is so you all will leave and Vanessa and I can have one last glass of wine together, just the two of us, sitting on my front porch

 

enjoying each other's company....love you my sister. 

 

Recipes

Grilled Flank Steak and Brie Sandwiches-Southern Living Magazine
Serves 8

Ingredients:

2 large sweet onions
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
3 red bell peppers
6 (2- to 3-oz.) ciabatta, french hamburger buns or deli rolls, split
5 ounces Brie, rind removed
1 1/2 cups loosely packed arugula
6 tablespoons mayonnaise
Herb Marinated Flank Steak*-see below

Directions:

1. Preheat grill to 400° to 450° (high) heat. Cut onion into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Brush with 1 Tbsp. olive oil, and sprinkle with 1/4 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper. Cut bell peppers into 1-inch-wide strips. Place pepper strips in a large bowl, and drizzle with 1 Tbsp. olive oil. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper; toss to coat.

2. Grill onion and bell pepper strips, covered with grill lid, over 400° to 450° (high) heat 7 to 10 minutes on each side or until lightly charred and tender.

3. Brush cut sides of rolls with remaining 2 Tbsp. olive oil, and grill, cut sides down, without grill lid, over 400° to 450° (high) heat 1 to 2 minutes or until lightly browned and toasted.

4. Spread Brie on cut sides of roll bottoms; top with arugula, bell pepper strips, steak, and onion. Spread mayonnaise on cut sides of roll tops. Place roll tops, mayonnaise sides down, on top of onion, pressing lightly.

*Herb Marinated Flank Steak

Ingredients:

1/2 small sweet onion, minced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
1 3/4 pounds flank steak
1 lemon, halved


Directions:

1. Place first 8 ingredients in a 2-gal. zip-top plastic bag, and squeeze bag to combine. Add steak; seal bag, and chill 30 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes. Remove steak from marinade, discarding marinade.
2. Preheat grill to 400° to 450° (high) heat. Grill steak, covered with grill lid, 9 minutes on each side or to desired degree of doneness. Remove from grill; squeeze juice from lemon over steak. Let stand 10 minutes.

Cut across the grain into thin slices.

Rutabaga Fries-Gourmet Meals for Less
Serves 4 (can be easily doubled)

Ingredients:

1 large rutabaga
2 Tbs. olive oil
2 tsp. chili pepper
1 1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 Tbs. brown sugar
a few grinds of fresh black pepper

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Slice rutabaga in half.  You will need a large, sharp knife.  Cut each half into 1 inch thick slices.  Cut each slice into strips.  Remove waxy outer layer off ends of each strip and off the bottom of the end slices.

 

Place strips in a large bowl and toss well with olive oil and next 5 ingredients.  Spread fries on a non stick cookie sheet.  Place on top rack of oven and bake for approximately 12-15 minutes, turning at least twice.  Fries should be golden and crisp.  When using brown sugar watch for over browning.  If fries start to "burn" turn heat down to 35o and cook a little longer.

Grilled Mint Julep Peaches with Bourbon Sauce-food 52
Serves 8

Ingredients: 

4 ripe peaches, preferably loose stone
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup Kentucky Bourbon
2 cups dark brown sugar
4 sprigs mint
2 cups premium vanilla bean ice cream

 

Directions:

 

Preheat grill to high. Pick leaves off mint sprigs.

Make the glaze- combine bourbon, brown sugar, & mint stems in a small saucepot over medium heat.

 

Allow sauce to reduce 5 min, remove stems.

 

Half peaches & remove stone, brush with canola oil.

Grill peaches, flesh side down and covered, for 2 minutes. Rotate 180 degrees and grill, covered, about 2 more minutes- depending on how ripe the peaches are.

 


Plate peaches, flesh side up, and drizzle with glaze. Top with ice cream and garnish with mint leaves.

 

We want to invite you to join us for our next Sister Saturday in October where we will be hosting a Soup Exchange.  So get out your favorite fall soup recipes, start cooking and get ready to link up to our Fall Sister Saturday.   And whether you are with family, friends, neighbors or enjoying a relaxing day to yourself we hope you have a great Labor Day!

 

Enjoy!

A favorite summer meal...Rosemary chicken over two cheese grits

 

Rosemary is a funny herb.  I've notice people either LOVE it or HATE it.  It's hard to be wishy-washy about rosemary.  I fall into the LOVE category...Hubby...well let's just say he might not actually hate it but he STRONG dislikes it.  But since I love it and also grow it, I strive to find ways to incorporate it subtly into recipes that he will enjoy.  Rosemary Grilled Chicken Thighs over Sauteed Garlic Spinach and Two Cheese Grits.  This recipe just screams southern to me...which should be no surprise since I found it in my favorite magazine on earth...Southern Living.  If you've read my blog for any length of time you know I LOVE me some Southern Living magazine.  I read, reread, devour, and consume each issue. 

What I loved about this dish was the mildness of the rosemary.  Because it is used in the marinade it is not overwhelming, so if you have an "anti-rosemary" person in your household try this recipe.  My husband loves it...which makes this rosemary lover very happy!

And so it begins...Salmon Croquettes

I LOVE Southern Living Magazine....I devour it when it arrives!

(Doesn't this cover make you ready for spring?) 

Those who know me well can recognize my favorite copies. They are tattered, torn and stained from sitting by my stove.  My family loves it when the latest edition shows up because they know they're going to get some great new meals prepared for them.  One of their favorite recipes is: Salmon Croquettes (that's a fancy name for salmon patties in case you were wondering) with Buttered Rice and Homemade Coleslaw.  Now you may be thinking I know I can find gourmet meals in a magazine like Southern Living but there's no way they are under $10.  Well you would be wrong, and I will prove it to you!

Salmon Croquettes with White Rice and Hot Sauce
(you're not a true southerner if you don't put hot sauce on it) 
and Homemade Buttermilk Coleslaw

Buttermilk Coleslaw
(prepare this before you start on salmon patties and refrigerate)

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup mayonnaise (PI) (because of large amount used I estimated .30)
• 1/3 cup buttermilk   approx .30
• 1 tablespoon white sugar (PI) 
• 1/4 teaspoon celery seed (PI)
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper (PI)
• 1 head of cabbage  .42

1. In a large bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, buttermilk, sugar, celery seed and black pepper. Cut cabbage head in half, remove chore, quarter and chop into thin slices.  Fold in the cabbage, and refrigerate until serving. This tastes best if it is refrigerated for a few hours before serving.

Salmon Croquettes (Southern Living March 2008)

Ingredients

• 1 (14 oz. can pink salmon $2.84
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten .08
• 1/3 cup cornmeal mix (PI)
• 1/2 cup buttermilk approx .40
• 2 tablespoons self-rising flour (PI)
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic salt (PI)
• 2 cups vegetable oil (PI) (because of large amount I estimated .58)
• 1 cup white rice (serves 4) .75

1.  Drain salmon; remove skin and bones (I like to do this in a colander as it gets a little messy you will find lots of little round bones these will not hurt if accidentally eaten but try and remove them all) and flake.  Place salmon in a medium bowl.  Stir in egg and next 4 ingredients until blended. (Batter will be wet.)

2.  Drop salmon mixture by tablespoonfuls into hot oil in large skillet over medium-high heat, and slightly flatten with a fork.  Fry, in batches, 2-3 minutes on each side until browned. Watch your heat and adjust if croquettes start browning too quickly.  Drain on paper towels.  Keep warm on a wire rack (if you don't have one just place directly on pan on a paper towel) in a jelly-roll pan in a 200º oven.

I serve this with warm buttered rice (cook your favorite as directed) and hot sauce to taste.

*PI (Pantry Item)

Total Cost: $5.79

Here's the lesson we can learn from this.  Even if you have to buy some of the pantry items I've listed above because you don't have them on hand.  You could still come in at $10 for this meal.  Plus then you would have the items for other recipes...hands down, home cooking is ALWAYS cheaper, and better for you.

Hope you enjoy this meal, or at the very least the pictures made you a little hungry...let me know if you try it!  Tomorrow....Smothered Beef Burritos with Mexican Rice and Salad.

Enjoy!