Recipe recs: allrecipes.com edition
I always take recipes from allrecipes.com with a grain of salt, because I often run into recipes here that suffer from "Flavor your dish with a jar of processed X and a packet of pre-made Y" syndrome, which, as I've already complained about, is not what I'm looking for when I attempt to make healthy(ish) homemade food. But it's not impossible to dig around and find some good recipes, and I've been making some successful dishes from the site lately. (Plus I haven't been as successful with the recipes I've been trying from my food blogs lately, so.)
Shepherd's Pie
Shepherd's pie is pretty standard hearty fare, and pretty hard to mess up. I followed the recipe as written, though instead of mashing my carrots I just diced them and boiled until slightly soft, since I don't like my vegetables too squishy. I also added a dash of worcestershire sauce to the beef to give it some flavor - though the reviews suggested everything from several tablespoons of worcestershire to extra ketchup to packaged gravy mix. Since that runs too closely to my "jar of X and packet of Y" pet peeve, I decided to keep it simple and let it be pretty much a plain meat and potatoes dish. I think you can do pretty much whatever you want to this recipe, though; it works fine as a starting template.
Spaghetti Sauce with Meatballs
I've always made spaghetti and "meatballs" by browning ground beef or turkey and adding a jar of pre-made sauce, so I decided to hunt down a good from-scratch recipe. This works pretty well, even when I subbed ground turkey for beef in the meatballs. It wasn't out-of-this-world - but that was probably my fault for saying, "oh, I'll just dice up the rest of this onion that's been sitting in the fridge," which ended up doubling the amount of onion called for ... I salvaged it by adding extra tomatoes and sugar, but I'm sure it didn't come out as intended.
Spaghetti Carbonara
I've never had pasta carbonara, and it probably would've been better for my arteries had I been content to leave it that way. But I was drawn in by the combination of bacon and egg and parmesan ... At least this version doesn't use butter and cream, like other ones do? /blatant attempt at justification
Anyway, this is a good, simple version, and you really don't need the butter and cream for it to be rich and tasty. As a tip - the just-barely-cooked egg and parmesan mixture doesn't reheat well, so I cooked everything until that step, and then when I wanted the leftovers I took out a serving, reheated it, and then mixed the egg and parmesan in. It doesn't really match the creaminess you get from the heat and steam of freshly boiled pasta, but it keeps the dish from turning into a frittata.
I also cooked my bacon in the oven, rather than on the stove, which was way easier and turns out just as good as (better than?) skillet bacon.
Salisbury Steak in Mushroom Gravy
If it looks like I've hit a theme of "hearty American (or not "ethnic" enough to be too exotic) fare," it's because I did - I needed a brief break from my string of Chinese food. I was still making Chinese recipes, but, as I mentioned, they didn't turn out super great; and I need to try them again before I can confirm what the necessary tweaks are.
Anyway. Salisbury steak is definitely in that "hearty fare" category, and you're not going to get too healthy with it. That being said, you can have a not-that-bad-for-you meal with a couple of tweaks: First, don't use canned mushrooms as the recipe calls for. Fresh are tastier and way less salty. Also, get the leanest ground beef you can. Fry the patties in just as much oil as necessary - not only does that mean less oil in your food, you also end up with tasty brown bits in the pan for making the gravy. Finally, the gravy could be made with less better and beef bouillon - I'm considering using 1/2 or 2/3 what's called for next time I make this. (As is, it was just this side of too salty and rich for me.) Ignore the reviewers' suggestions of adding a packet of brown gravy mix or whatever - the gravy will be plenty tasty, and thick, if you let it simmer uncovered for a few minutes while stirring.
Chicken Tikka Masala
I'm usually leery of any non-standard-"American"-fare recipes on allrecipes.com, because the process of making "ethnic" recipes palatable to a general recipe website usually skews them beyond recognition; but I found this recipe while looking for a way to use up my yogurt and half and half, and decided to try it. For one thing, my taste buds are not sensitive to Americanized Indian the way they are to Americanized East Asian food; for another, I did some poking around online and there seemed to be a wide variation of possible recipes for the dish, and the allrecipes version didn't seem particularly anomalous. (Since then, I've found that it's a Britishized dish anyway, so there's no non-Western-influenced version to be had.)
Incidentally, the recipe on that link is pretty similar to the allrecipes version - except it doesn't call for hideously obscene amounts of salt. The one thing that stood out to me in the reviews for the allrecipes version was that it's great as long as you leave out the seven teaspoons of salt it calls for. *shudder* And they're right; it is great. The only other change I made was replacing the butter with olive oil - I probably lost something in the flavor with that alteration, but since I just made the butter-tastic Salisbury steak, which is more butter than I usually eat ... ever ... I decided that further butter risked grossing myself out.
Also note that it's definitely a hot dish, but not unbearably so - I've got moderate spice tolerance, and this dish pushed it without overwhelming it. You can always cut down on the cayenne or use part of a jalapeno instead of a whole one.
Finally, I made a cauliflower side dish using this recipe, which is delicious and as salt-free as you want it to be (I added a pinch, but may even omit that next time).
Roasted Pears with Caramel Sauce
This is a super easy, tasty dessert. The reviews suggest using less butter and sugar - you could probably halve both, though with the full amount you get leftover butter-sugar sauce for drizzling over the pears. They also suggest reducing the baking time if your pears are falling apart; since I used very firm red pears, this was not an issue for me.
I made some tweaks based on my personal tastes: added a bit of cinnamon (1 teaspoon, maybe?) and nutmeg (1/4 or 1/2 teaspoon?), and toasted walnuts instead of pistachios. Toasting the walnuts fresh was a really tasty addition, I think (toast them in a single layer on a baking sheet in the oven at 350 degrees for 5-10 minutes, shaking the pan once in the middle of the cooking time to prevent burning). I skipped the sour cream, because I'm not a big fan, but it would probably be good with sour cream, or whipped cream, or ice cream.
Popovers
This one isn't from allrecipes.com. It's sort of not even from the site I linked (the kitchn), either, because I put a bunch of extra stuff in it. But this was my base recipe.
To make a sweet version, I added 1 tablespoon of sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. The flavor was a bit weak, so I would add more if you make them - or, like we did, drizzle the popovers with caramel sauce, toasted walnuts from the roasted pears recipe, and a dab of Cool Whip. (They're great that way with coffee.)
In the savory version, I added: 1 teaspoon of thyme, 1 teaspoon of rosemary, 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper, and about a quarter cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese. Just mix all that with the rest of the batter, so the parmesan permeates the whole thing. Do note that your popovers won't rise as much because the cheese weighs them down.
Both times I made them, the popovers tended to sink to one side rather than stay poofy and upright - but that was probably because I used a muffin pan instead of a popover pan, which has deeper wells. But they were tasty, so if you don't care too much about presentation there's no need to go out and buy a special popover pan.
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Shepherd's Pie
Shepherd's pie is pretty standard hearty fare, and pretty hard to mess up. I followed the recipe as written, though instead of mashing my carrots I just diced them and boiled until slightly soft, since I don't like my vegetables too squishy. I also added a dash of worcestershire sauce to the beef to give it some flavor - though the reviews suggested everything from several tablespoons of worcestershire to extra ketchup to packaged gravy mix. Since that runs too closely to my "jar of X and packet of Y" pet peeve, I decided to keep it simple and let it be pretty much a plain meat and potatoes dish. I think you can do pretty much whatever you want to this recipe, though; it works fine as a starting template.
Spaghetti Sauce with Meatballs
I've always made spaghetti and "meatballs" by browning ground beef or turkey and adding a jar of pre-made sauce, so I decided to hunt down a good from-scratch recipe. This works pretty well, even when I subbed ground turkey for beef in the meatballs. It wasn't out-of-this-world - but that was probably my fault for saying, "oh, I'll just dice up the rest of this onion that's been sitting in the fridge," which ended up doubling the amount of onion called for ... I salvaged it by adding extra tomatoes and sugar, but I'm sure it didn't come out as intended.
Spaghetti Carbonara
I've never had pasta carbonara, and it probably would've been better for my arteries had I been content to leave it that way. But I was drawn in by the combination of bacon and egg and parmesan ... At least this version doesn't use butter and cream, like other ones do? /blatant attempt at justification
Anyway, this is a good, simple version, and you really don't need the butter and cream for it to be rich and tasty. As a tip - the just-barely-cooked egg and parmesan mixture doesn't reheat well, so I cooked everything until that step, and then when I wanted the leftovers I took out a serving, reheated it, and then mixed the egg and parmesan in. It doesn't really match the creaminess you get from the heat and steam of freshly boiled pasta, but it keeps the dish from turning into a frittata.
I also cooked my bacon in the oven, rather than on the stove, which was way easier and turns out just as good as (better than?) skillet bacon.
Salisbury Steak in Mushroom Gravy
If it looks like I've hit a theme of "hearty American (or not "ethnic" enough to be too exotic) fare," it's because I did - I needed a brief break from my string of Chinese food. I was still making Chinese recipes, but, as I mentioned, they didn't turn out super great; and I need to try them again before I can confirm what the necessary tweaks are.
Anyway. Salisbury steak is definitely in that "hearty fare" category, and you're not going to get too healthy with it. That being said, you can have a not-that-bad-for-you meal with a couple of tweaks: First, don't use canned mushrooms as the recipe calls for. Fresh are tastier and way less salty. Also, get the leanest ground beef you can. Fry the patties in just as much oil as necessary - not only does that mean less oil in your food, you also end up with tasty brown bits in the pan for making the gravy. Finally, the gravy could be made with less better and beef bouillon - I'm considering using 1/2 or 2/3 what's called for next time I make this. (As is, it was just this side of too salty and rich for me.) Ignore the reviewers' suggestions of adding a packet of brown gravy mix or whatever - the gravy will be plenty tasty, and thick, if you let it simmer uncovered for a few minutes while stirring.
Chicken Tikka Masala
I'm usually leery of any non-standard-"American"-fare recipes on allrecipes.com, because the process of making "ethnic" recipes palatable to a general recipe website usually skews them beyond recognition; but I found this recipe while looking for a way to use up my yogurt and half and half, and decided to try it. For one thing, my taste buds are not sensitive to Americanized Indian the way they are to Americanized East Asian food; for another, I did some poking around online and there seemed to be a wide variation of possible recipes for the dish, and the allrecipes version didn't seem particularly anomalous. (Since then, I've found that it's a Britishized dish anyway, so there's no non-Western-influenced version to be had.)
Incidentally, the recipe on that link is pretty similar to the allrecipes version - except it doesn't call for hideously obscene amounts of salt. The one thing that stood out to me in the reviews for the allrecipes version was that it's great as long as you leave out the seven teaspoons of salt it calls for. *shudder* And they're right; it is great. The only other change I made was replacing the butter with olive oil - I probably lost something in the flavor with that alteration, but since I just made the butter-tastic Salisbury steak, which is more butter than I usually eat ... ever ... I decided that further butter risked grossing myself out.
Also note that it's definitely a hot dish, but not unbearably so - I've got moderate spice tolerance, and this dish pushed it without overwhelming it. You can always cut down on the cayenne or use part of a jalapeno instead of a whole one.
Finally, I made a cauliflower side dish using this recipe, which is delicious and as salt-free as you want it to be (I added a pinch, but may even omit that next time).
Roasted Pears with Caramel Sauce
This is a super easy, tasty dessert. The reviews suggest using less butter and sugar - you could probably halve both, though with the full amount you get leftover butter-sugar sauce for drizzling over the pears. They also suggest reducing the baking time if your pears are falling apart; since I used very firm red pears, this was not an issue for me.
I made some tweaks based on my personal tastes: added a bit of cinnamon (1 teaspoon, maybe?) and nutmeg (1/4 or 1/2 teaspoon?), and toasted walnuts instead of pistachios. Toasting the walnuts fresh was a really tasty addition, I think (toast them in a single layer on a baking sheet in the oven at 350 degrees for 5-10 minutes, shaking the pan once in the middle of the cooking time to prevent burning). I skipped the sour cream, because I'm not a big fan, but it would probably be good with sour cream, or whipped cream, or ice cream.
Popovers
This one isn't from allrecipes.com. It's sort of not even from the site I linked (the kitchn), either, because I put a bunch of extra stuff in it. But this was my base recipe.
To make a sweet version, I added 1 tablespoon of sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. The flavor was a bit weak, so I would add more if you make them - or, like we did, drizzle the popovers with caramel sauce, toasted walnuts from the roasted pears recipe, and a dab of Cool Whip. (They're great that way with coffee.)
In the savory version, I added: 1 teaspoon of thyme, 1 teaspoon of rosemary, 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper, and about a quarter cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese. Just mix all that with the rest of the batter, so the parmesan permeates the whole thing. Do note that your popovers won't rise as much because the cheese weighs them down.
Both times I made them, the popovers tended to sink to one side rather than stay poofy and upright - but that was probably because I used a muffin pan instead of a popover pan, which has deeper wells. But they were tasty, so if you don't care too much about presentation there's no need to go out and buy a special popover pan.
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