Homemade Boursin Cheese

Until about a month ago, I had never tasted Boursin cheese. I'd heard about it plenty of times, but I had never tasted it. And then, all of a sudden, Boursin cheese was everywhere! Earl and Shirley had some at their house one evening when David and I stopped by, so I tried it. Delicious! Of course, I've never met a cheese that I didn't like, so it was no surprise that I enjoyed it. Then, a week or so after my first taste of Boursin, Devona brought some to a ladies' group meeting. After experiencing the delightfulness that is Boursin, I decided to check it out at the grocery store. I had never seen it, but then again, I hadn't been looking for it. Well, I found it at Kroger, in the "fancy cheese" case. That's not the case where you find the Kraft cheese slices or the Velveeta. It's where you find the brie, the smoked mozzarella, etc. Anyway, a little container (maybe 6 ounces or so) cost almost $6.00! I looked at the ingredients, and it didn't look like rocket science, so I started looking for a copycat.
The recipe I found came very close to the original. Close enough for me to warrant not ever buying the real deal Boursin cheese again, as a matter of fact! Especially since it took about 5 minutes to make. The recipe I found came from Recipezaar. After checking out the official Boursin website, I learned that there are a number of flavors, and I think they'd probably be easy enough to replicate by tweaking this recipe just a tad.

We enjoyed our copycat Boursin cheese on a variety of crackers, but I've seen numerous recipes that include Boursin cheese as an ingredient. I be it would be out of this world on a bagel. Or a nice thick smear of this homemade Boursin would be delicious as a dip for veggies (celery, carrots, etc.). Take your pick! Just make sure you make it as soon as possible, because you definitely won't be disappointed! I'll post the full recipe, but I just made half tonight for us, and we had plenty left over. I haven't tried freezing it, but the Recipezaar site says that it freezes well. If you try that and have good luck, please let me know. I don't think I'll have many leftovers to worry about!

Copycat Boursin Cheese Spread

Bonnie Young, by way of Recipezaar

2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed

16 oz. (2 bricks) cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature

1 tsp. dried oregano

1/4 tsp. dried dill week

1/4 tsp. dried marjoram

1/4 tsp. dried basil

1/4 tsp. dried thyme

1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Blend cream cheese and butter together until well combined (I was able to do this with a spatula with no problem). Add pressed garlic and herbs. Mix until well combined. The cheese can be refrigerated for up to 1 week or frozen for up to three months.

* I used two cloves of garlic, 1/2 tsp. of oregano, and 1/4 tsp. of the other herbs in the half batch and thought it tasted pretty darn good. If you're making the full batch, you might want to start wtih the above amounts, taste it, and then adjust the seasonings to your taste.

Italian Tilapia

The other night, I remembered that I have a ton of tilapia fillets in the freezer and that we hadn't had any in a long time. This is a super-simple, light, and tasty meal. You can probably make it with ingredients you have on hand.
I started out with about 5 tilapia fillets. The "stuff" I put on top is usually enough for 5-6 fillets, just depending on their size and how much you like to have on top of your fish. First, grease a cookie sheet (one with sides), and put your tilapia fillets on it. Salt and pepper them to your liking.
Then, I mix a can of (drained) diced tomatoes, some sliced black olives, a couple of cloves of garlic, some lemon juice, fresh parsley, and fresh basil. Then I layer the mixture over the tilapia, like this...Then, you bake the fillets in a 350-degree oven for about 12-15 minutes, or until your fish flakes easily. We had a starch-filled dinner this time...peas and corn. It was delicious!

Italian Tilapia

4-5 tilapia fillets

1 can diced tomatoes, drained

4 oz. sliced black olives, drained

3 cloves garlic, minced

juice from 1/2 of a lemon (or more if you'd like)

chopped fresh parsley (or you can use dried)

chopped fresh basil (or you can use dried)

feta cheese, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet and place tilapia fillets on sheet. Salt and pepper to taste. In a mixing bowl, mix tomatoes, olives, garlic, lemon, parsley, and basil. Spread tomato mixture evenly over each tilapia fillets. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until fish flakes easily with a fork. If you'd like to use the feta, put it on when there's about 5-7 minutes left of baking time.

Asian Pasta Salad

So you've seen the dismal cupcake failure on Father's Day. You know what makes it even worse? THERE WAS NO DESSERT AT THE FATHER'S DAY PARTY. Nothing. Until David's cousin Connie went home and made cookies! God bless Connie. She's a woman after my own heart. She also made some of that yummy cracker-sugar-chocolate brittle stuff. She saved the day, for sure. You can't have a potluck without dessert!
Anyway, I thought I'd give you a glimpse of the pasta salad I took to the party. I wanted something I could pretty much throw together in about 15 seconds between getting home from church and running to Earl & Shirley's house, and something that didn't have mayo or cheese in it, since I knew it would be sitting out for a lot of the hot and humid Kentucky summer weather. I got out my trusty Taste of Home magazine collection and found this delightful recipe for Asian Chicken Sesame Salad (except I kind of adapted it, as you'll see...namely, there is no chicken involved). It's very simple to put together. There's a simple dressing made from...

canola oil, sugar, pepper, teriyaki sauce, and white wine vinegar. I had also planned to put in some toasted sesame oil, but got addled and forgot it. I really missed it. Then you have the salad ingredients...

bowtie (farfalle) pasta, mandarin oranges, dried cranberries, honey roasted peanuts (super-yum), water chestnuts, spinach, green onions, and parsley. All of the ingredients are combined, and you get this:

It was pretty good, but darn it, I wish I had remembered the sesame oil! Here's the recipe...I didn't add the chicken (I didn't figure we'd need it with the rest of the spread at the party), or the sesame seeds (I couldn't bring myself to pay $4.28 for them).

Sesame Chicken Salad

Carolee Ewell, Taste of Home Magazine

16 oz. bowtie pasta

1 cup vegetable/canola oil

2/3 cup white wine vinegar

2/3 cup teriyaki sauce

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon pepper

3 cans (11 oz. each) mandarin oranges, drained

2 cans (8 oz. each) sliced water chestnuts, drained

2 cups cooked cubed chicken

1 1/3 cups honey roasted peanuts

9 oz. fresh spinach, torn

6 oz. dried cranberries

6 green onions, chopped

1/2 cup fresh minced parsley

1/4 cup sesame seeds, toasted

Cook pasta according to package directions; drain and place in a very large bowl. In a small bowl, combine the oil, vinegar, teriyaki sauce, sugar, and pepper. Pour over the pasta and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Just before serving, add the remaining ingredients; gently toss to coat.

Yield: 22 servings (1 cup each)

Thrifty Thursday: Spice Mixes

One night last week, I decided that David and I would have tacos for supper. Tacos are pretty regular in our dinner rotation, because they're quick and easy. They're a filling, no-frills dinner for those nights when you've worked until 7 and you're hungry. I always have a couple of packages of McCormick's taco seasoning mix on hand. I opened the cabinet last week to get out the seasoning mix and...it wasn't there! I was out! I had already browned the ground beef, chopped the onion, fixed up the olives, chopped the lettuce...I was committed to tacos. So what to do?! I made my own taco seasoning! I logged onto Recipezaar, because I knew I could find something there. There were tons of taco seasoning blend recipes there, so I just picked one that had a high rating. In a matter of a minute or two, I had mixed up enough homemade taco seasoning for three or four taco dinners! I must admit, I didn't like it as much as McCormick's, but it was good. I've got it stashed in the cabinet for future emergencies! I've also made my own Greek seasoning blend (it's on the left; the taco seasoning is on the right). Again, it's not as good as the Cavender's blend that I buy (the homemade version is a little heavy on the cinnamon), but it's still good. And I'm always amazed at the quantity of these mixes that I can make with what I have on hand in my spice cabinet. If there's a spice blend that you're tired of paying for, check out Recipezaar, because they've got tons of recipes for any spice blend you can think of!

Pesto Pasta with Grilled Chicken and Veggies

I've been reading food blogs for some time now, and I've been so impressed and inspired by what I see on them. There are tons of super-talented people out there doing awesome things with food. I see all these fabulous dishes and desserts that people just put together with what they have on hand, and I wonder, "Could I do that? I'm not sure I can." For most things I make, I sort of follow a recipe. I usually don't pay a lot of attention to quantities of ingredients, but I'm pretty reliant on recipes to help me put something together. This weekend, I decided that I was going to go out on a limb and create my very own dish from my own imagination! NO RECIPES ALLOWED! I've got to admit, it took me all weekend to mull it over in my head to decide exactly how I would approach it. I found that it came to me in little pieces at a time. First, I decided that I wanted some pasta, mostly because it seems like I haven't had pasta in awhile. Of course, I knew grilled chicken would be involved, because I always have chicken. I also realized that I still had a package of Chet's homemade pesto in my freezer, so I started craving that. But what could I do to make it special? Well...we've still got asparagus from Mama's garden, so I thought I should include it. From there, I just started thinking about things that might taste good together. Here's what I came up with:

we've got the whole-wheat pasta, the super-yummy pesto, a jar of roasted red peppers, Paula Deen's house seasoning, some sliced baby portobello mushrooms, some freshly cut asparagus, and garlic. I also added some chopped red onion, but I forgot to get it in the picture. Sorry!
I also apologize that there are no process pictures, because I can't get any decent light in my kitchen. I don't even try to get pictures in the kitchen anymore. It's useless. They turn out all yellow and muddy-looking. But here are some pictures of the finished product:
I warned David before we sat down to eat. He was fully aware that this was created from my imagination and no recipe was followed, so I couldn't make any guarantees that it would be edible! I was very pleasantly surprised! I thought it tasted great! It was just very fresh and spring-like. I think pesto smells like spring, anyway. I think David liked it, but I'm not sure. He ate several bites before he said anything. He's kind of hard to read. He said he liked it, so I'll have to trust him on it. I really enjoyed it, and will definitely make it again. I'm so proud of myself!

Pesto Pasta with Grilled Chicken and Veggies

Erin Orr's first original recipe!

9 oz. whole wheat penne pasta

20 oz. chicken breasts

Paula Deen's House Seasoning

8 oz. baby portobello mushrooms, sliced

fresh asparagus, cut into 2" pieces

1 jar roasted red peppers in olive oil

red onion, chopped

fresh garlic, minced

8 0z (or more) pesto

Cook whole wheat pasta to al dente. Keep warm.

Season the chicken breasts with Paula Deen's House Seasoning. Grill and keep warm.

Heat a tablespoon or so of the olive oil (from the red peppers) in a non-stick skillet. Add onions, garlic, and mushrooms. Saute until mushrooms begin to brown. You may need to add some more olive oil. Add the asparagus and continue to saute. Once they are crisp-tender, add the roasted red peppers and heat through. Once everything is warm, drain any accumulated liquids.

In a large bowl, combine the warm pasta and grilled chicken. Add the sauteed vegetables. Pour the pest over the pasta, chicken and veggies. You don't need to warm the pesto, because the heat from your other ingredients will take care of it. Toss to combine and coat all the ingredients with the pesto.

Serve topped with freshly grated parmesan cheese. Enjoy!

Thrifty Thursday!

Grow your own herbs! This is my third year for having my own little herb garden, and it's gotten better every year. The first year, I was really ambitious and thought I'd start my herb garden from seeds. Forget it. I had ZERO luck with that. Last year, I went to Thieneman's Herbs and Perennials in Louisville and had much better luck. They had pretty much any herb that you could think of (and several that you would never think of!). Last year was also my first year for my multi-tiered self-watering pot that I got from my in-laws (it came from The Red Barn in Bradenton, Florida, which is a super-cool place in its own right...they have an amazing farmer's market!). The combination worked great! I loved having fresh herbs all summer long. It was so nice to just walk out my back door and snip off some basil or rosemary! This year, I couldn't wait to get my herb garden out. I didn't know when I'd get to Thieneman's again, so I had to settle for Lowe's and Wal-Mart. This year, I bought three basil plants, because I use it the most. I'm hoping to have big, hardy basil plants this year, because Chet and I have big plans to make lots of pesto! YUM! I got two rosemary plants and two flat-leaf parsley plants (correction...I bought one rosemary plant...my in-laws bought me a rosemary plant for my birthday, as well). I love rosemary with chicken, and of course, parsley's good in anything! To round out my herb garden, I chose a sage and oregano (because that's really all they had at Lowe's and Wal-Mart). I wish I had a thyme plant, and I've got to rustle up some chives somewhere. I love chives. I tried to grow cilantro last year...no luck. I gave up on it this year.

So why is this thrifty? My local grocery stores (Wal-Mart and Kroger) don't really carry a wide variety of herbs. I can buy big bunches of cilantro for 98 cents, but stuff like basil and rosemary? A tiny little package costs about $2.00. I have about $20 in herbs in the pot you see above. I figure I'll get my money's worth out of it! If I just use them 10 times (oh, but I'll use them much, much more!), I'll have broken even. Very thrifty, indeed!