"No, you know what's sexy? Turkey chili," - Leslie Knope [parks and recreation]

nothing drives a woman to get creative with food like sub-zero temperatures and a hungry fiance.  having perfected a pretty effortless homemade chili recipe for nights i can't be bother to do more than brown meat and open cans, i figured it was time to mix things up in an equally unchallenging way.

result:  some very tasty, very easy turkey chili-mac

according to steve, both times he heated this up for leftovers at work he was complimented for making the lunch room smell fantastic.  i promise it's tasty.  lets forge ahead, shall we?

you will need:

~1 lb ground turkey

1/2 cup sour cream

1 tbsp minced garlic (about 3 cloves)

3 tbsp cumin (or more to taste)

1 tbsp chili powder (or more to taste)

1 tsp cayanne powder (more or less to taste)

1 bay leaf

1 can great northern white beans (drained)

2 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes with onions

1 8 oz can tomato sauce

1 6 oz can tomato paste

1/3 lb uncooked farfalle (or similar small pasta)

mexican blend shredded cheese

boil water and cook the pasta, drain and set aside.

brown the turkey and drain the fat then add everything except shredded cheese and cooked pasta.  allow mixture to simmer on medium low for approximately 20 minutes give or take.  

finally:  add pasta before serving and smother with shredded cheese on top.

it may not look pretty, but it tastes pretty.

chicken lo mein recipe

confession:  i'm obsessed with chinese food.

obstacle:  ann arbor has ROUGH chinese delivery selection.

solution:  this recipe.

steve and i are in money-retention mode (omg greece yay).  this means we've been doing a lot of home cooking lately, and i'd hate for any of you to miss out on the latest and greatest dinnertime deliciousness.  i'd long been intimidated by attempts to cook lo mein, but devil may care we went for it and my oh my was it good (and far easier than expected).  note: quantities are approximations as i was mostly just throwing things into a skillet.  try playing around with  the ingredients to taste.

you will need:

1-2 chicken breasts (sliced into strips)

1 lb spaghetti

3/4 cup matchstick sliced carrots

1/4 cup chopped scallions

1/4 cup diced onion

1 cup diced baby bella mushrooms

1 tsp pre-minced garlic (about 3 cloves)

olive oil

sesame oil

1 tbsp rice vinegar

1/2 cup teriyaki sauce

2/3 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup honey

2 tsp ground ginger

2 tbsp brown sugar

cook the spaghetti al dente, drain and set aside.  do not rinse.  while noodles are cooking, dice up the necessary vegetables.

saute the chicken with the garlic and diced onion (not the scallions) in sesame oil.  when chicken is nearly cooked, add the carrots and mushrooms.

once the chicken is cooked and the mushrooms have started to brown (but before they are fully reduced) add the cooked noodles and scallions and reduce heat to medium-low.  pour the soy sauce over the noodles, and if they are stuck together, add a little olive oil to loosen them up from their sticky pasta mass.  add the teriyaki sauce, honey, rice vinegar, ginger, and brown sugar and toss the noodles with the vegetables and chicken until the sauce is mixed.

that's it!  all that's left is stuffing your belly!

crockpot chicken tortilla soup

i partially credit my chicken tortilla soup recipe with the longevity of steve and i's relationship.  ok, not really, but i've been making this recipe for years and every time i do, someone falls in love with it.  the best part?  it's insanely easy.  with this winter cold there's nothing better than a hot pot of soup.  it's spicy and warms you from within and it freezes perfectly for leftovers anytime you want them.

you will need:

3 tbsp butter

4 cups pre-cooked chicken, shredded

3/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

1 can stewed tomatoes

1 can cilantro lime rotel

3 cups medium salsa

3 cups chicken broth

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 tbsp cumin

1 tsp pre-minced garlic (or ~ 3-4 cloves)

dump it all in a slow cooker and set it on high for about 3-4 hours, or on low for 5-6 hours.  garnish with sour cream and shredded mexican blend cheese.

enjoy!

recipe: insanely easy, over the top incredible, ultra- creamy crockpot cheese fondue

i am a woman who is passionate about dip.

call me crazy, but sometimes life just tastes a little better when you're dunking food into other food.  when i was growing up my family always held a fondue night on new years eve, which was essentially an excuse to feast excessively for many hours on end.  every year someone attempts to whip up the tres gourmet cheese fondue recipe that is full of expensive cheese without letting it burn or curdle.  while i can honestly say it's always phenomenal-tasting, i wondered if i could invent a yummy, easier-to-make, budget friendly version for steve and i to stuff into our bellies.

not trying to brag or nuthin' but the results were pretty darn amazing tasting!!  it is sharp, it is creamy, and it is guaranteed to be a whole lot easier than constantly stirring a double boiler.  it's definitely going to be a go-to party dish of mine, and i can promise, despite the excess of velveeta, you won't be able to stop eating it until you're out of dipping supplies.

note: the following recipe yields a very large quantity of delicious fondue, some measurements are approximations

you will need:

crusty bread for dipping (or crackers, salami, veggies, whatever)

1 (32 oz) brick of velveeta

1 (8 oz) brick of cream cheese

3 slices kraft swiss singles

1 1/2 cups semi-dry white wine (riesling is your best bet)

2 tbsp cumin

2 tbsp onion powder

2 tbsp garlic powder

salt and pepper

optional: water, beef broth, or chicken broth

 cut up the bread, velveeta, and cream cheese into cubes.  resist temptation to carbo-load on bread whilst making fondue.

put cubed velveeta and cream cheese into the crockpot with 3 slices of kraft swiss singles.  set crockpot on high for 1-2 hours to melt the processed cheese products.  once the cheese has melted enough, stir the combination into a blended consistency (a few remaining unmelted lumps are fine).

when cheese is blended add the white wine and stir into a smooth consistency.  stir in cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste.  switch crockpot to low and let it sit for about another hour.  if the fondue is too thick once ingredients are all blended and melted add broth (i used beef broth, but i imagine chicken works fine as well) or water to thin.

dip your bread (or whatever form of cheese to mouth transportation you've selected) and enjoy!

good morning blogland!  i'm hoping this week i'll get us back on track here at loosefromthezoo.  last week was a bit of a panic-stricken one trying to get everything done in preparation to replace steve's car slash try and make a dent in our mess slash work on wedding details slash feel like i'm making any progress at work.  but the past weekend was one big pleasant surprise!

we accomplished some of our to-do list, but not all.  our living room is still a mess, but sans financial hardship, steve has upgraded from herman (chevy monte carlo) to hank (mazda tribute).  another extra big thank you to my mom and dad for saving hank for us, instead of trading him in.  even after driving the new car from kzoo back to ann arbor, steve couldn't get enough of his favorite new toy, so we had to take an extra little joy ride around town.  since i lazily took next to no pictures this weekend, here's a great shot steve's mom got of him and his new ride.

we're still plugging away at the wedding plans, but one of the exciting parts we got settled this weekend was "finding" our wedding officiant.  we met up with steve's roommate from his freshman year in the dorms, alex, along with his lovely girlfriend erin, last night.  alex has been there pretty much since the inception of steve & becky (steve's five AM profession of love, the dorm fort, wizard people: dear reader, etc.).  we all treated ourselves to some serious face-stuffing last night, and plenty of wine, fish tacos, mushroom risotto, chocolate pumpkin cheesecake, and brandy alexanders later, one of our best friends was signed up to officiate our wedding!  oh and the four of us are having a combination j.crew outlet shopping, hockey game watching, cat and kitten introducing slumber party next weekend.

a sunday feast of epic proportions with wonderful friends sure is the best medicine to get your week started right.  now it's time to get on with the cleaning house so we'll be ready to host my sister when she comes for a visit the weekend after halloween!  busy?  yup that we still are, but we're filling life up with happy times, so i'm ready to stop complaining!

hope everyone's week is starting out on as good a note as ours! we are feeling like lucky ducks these days!

word count:  33,365

game-day ribs recipe

toasting the day we got engaged... go blue!

whew!  hi again!  just now coming back to life after labor day!  hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend; we definitely did!  (dude check the success of that semi-colon there... writerly nerd here).

in ann arbor the seasons change a bit more dramatically than other places of the world.  besides the fact that we get all four seasons weatherwise (and to a pretty hardcore extent might i add), we have the influx and exodus of tens of thousands of students as well as the college sports calendar ushering in spring, summer, fall, and winter.  add to that all the special events (restaurant week, the film festival, top of the park) and you pretty much could live in this town without ever once looking at a calendar (in fact i did just that throughout most of college).

now that the students are back, there is more to look forward to than just frat boys in the semi-nude throwing keystone light cans off rooftops.  it is start of college football season!!

now don't for a minute think that I am sporty spice or anything (high school theater geek here... hand eye coordination... what's that?) but when you are born and bred U of M fan / alumna... well, let's just say if you aren't into college football yourself, you're just not gonna understand.

in honor of the first game of the season i did two things:

i wrote this other blog post that got a little bit of internet cred

(do not consider this an endorsement for brobible.com, they simply asked if they could republish content from my other blog)

and i whipped up some homemade spinach dip and barbeque ribs for a bunch of our friends who came over to watch the game!

now i don't like to brag or nothin' but these ribs are just plain delish.  personally, i can't understand why anyone would make ribs without a crockpot.  they are so easy, so tasty, and so tender (literally falling off the bone with greasy goodness).  this is without question one of my top recipes to make when we are having company because it feeds so many people so simply.  you'll notice i doubled the recipe, since we inexplicably own two crockpots, and nobody's going to be stingy with their portions when tailgating.  here's how it's done:

you will need:

a crockpot (the bigger the better)

a rack of pork spare ribs

onion powder

garlic powder

chili powder

salt & pepper

a bottle of your favorite barbeque sauce (thicker is better)

optional:

a whole onion (sliced)

one-two peaches (sliced) or other fruit

you will notice that a rack of ribs does not fit super successfully into a four quart crockpot.  the most difficult step, step one, is to defy science and mash that baby in there.  i usually find cutting them down the middle and kinda sushi rolling them is decently successful.  it doesn't really matter how they fit, they'll cook down after a while.

once you've fit those suckers into the crockpot the hardest part is over.  generously season the meat with garlic powder, onion powder, a couple dashes of chili powder, and the salt and pepper.  don't worry too much about coating everything, the flavors will blend together while they cook.

once they are seasoned, smother them with the entire bottle of barbeque sauce.  again, no need to worry about coating them, they'll get saucy as they cook.

if you are so inclined, you can toss in a sliced onion or sliced peach for extra savory flavor or sweetness.  i didn't bother this time, but if you want to go all out, who am i to stop you?  stick the crockpot on low and cook for at least 6 hours.

that's it!  once they're cooked, grab a pair of tongs and serve yourself.  you won't even need to worry about cutting up portions.  they will fall apart, they are so tender.

when it comes to cooking i'm heavy on the enthusiasm and light on the finesse/paying attention/timing so recipes like this are pretty much how i roll.  hopefully i'll be able to share my spinach dip recipe soon (also one of the easiest things you'll ever imagine).

we definitely kicked off labor day weekend on a tasty note!  after dinner we played monopoly and ordered a dozen really expensive cupcakes for delivery (fat kids r us).  michigan beat CMU (duh) and we all spent the rest of the weekend playing in the river and going to the beach (i'll post pictures from our day in saugatuck soon).

hope everyone had a scrumptious and fun weekend!  happy hump day!

word count: 23,281

birthday / easter weekend recap

there is no better way to get through Monday than bouncing back after a weekend as good as this last one!  we had so much fun!  the night of my birthday steve took me out for tapas at one of my favorite restaurants in town and we stuffed our bellies so full of beef tournedos, risotto balls, smoked gouda mac and cheese, and sweet potato fries, we barely had room for the free chocolate mousse they gave me!  (yeah elliptical machine every day this week, obviously).  

we got a bird's eye view at dinner!

mmmmmmmmmmmm

 after dinner we watched michigan make a pretty ridiculous come back against kansas securing their place in the elite eight (and now the final four woohoo)!  with everybody's high spirits and festive generosity things got pretty outrageous in the joint birthday / afterparty bash... so let's skip to saturday...

fortunately we avoided photo evidence of friday night...
except this smashing image of me and tim.

after a hangover related debacle with our dinner reservation we finally made it out on saturday to enjoy some very tasty german food with my parents and grandmother, who all spoiled me rotten with too many birthday presents, easter candy, and carrot cake.  i'm pretty darn lucky to have such an awesome (and flexibly understanding / forgiving) family.  

speaking of awesome families, remember that gorgeous arrow bangle bracelet i posted last week from stella and dot?  well imagine my surprise when it showed up on my doorstep, with a very sweet birthday card, all compliments of steve's lovely parents!  i sure was feeling pretty darn doted upon this weekend!

thanks karpinski's!

steve and i spent easter sunday enjoying the start of some real spring weather here, and we took an easter walk through the arboretum, where we found some ducks, a plastic egg, and a real life easter bunny.

quack

hope everybody had as lovely a weekend as we did, and here's wishing everyone a belated happy easter!  best wishes on this april fool's day... and an extra happy birthday shout out to my dear friend sari, who is not only cool enough to be born on april fool's day, but is also the baddest biotch in NYC.  believe me, lady, 23 isn't too shabby.

cheers!

easy cheesy taco casserole

apparently i am on a role lately inventing myself easy recipes.  sometimes when i attempt new mixtures i am frustrated by an enormous waste of time, money, and ingredients, but tonight was awesome.  a few weeks ago i tried this taco bake recipe from pinterest, which was good, but i couldn't help feeling it was lacking something.  today, on a whim, i decided to try my hand at a different taco bake recipe and as far as i'm concerned it's good enough for my recipe arsenal for LIFE.

you will need:

12-16 flat tostada shells

16 oz canned refried beans

about 1 lb ground beef

15 oz jar cheez whiz dip

1 1/2 cups shredded mexican blend shredded cheese

1 cup medium salsa

1 packet taco seasoning

2/3 cup water

sour cream for topping

preheat oven to 350 degrees.  line a casserole dish with 6-8 flat tostada shells.  brown ground beef and drain grease.  add 2/3 cup water and packet of taco seasoning and bring to a boil.  switch to low heat and simmer for about 3 minutes until you have a frying pan full of taco meat.  layer ground beef over tostada shells.

bust out the cheez whiz.  attempt to hide your shame.

distribute spoonfuls of cheez whiz evenly on top of ground beef.

layer 6-8 more tostada shells on top of meat / cheez whiz mixture.  spoon refried beans on top of tostadas and spread.

spread salsa over refried beans and smother with shredded mexican blend cheese.  bake at 350 degrees for about a half hour.

slice casserole and top with sour cream.

nom.

mac n' cheesy chicken stuffed shells

today i'm sharing a self taught recipe that i've been debating blogging about for a while.  why?  because it's absolutely totally awsesomely incredible tasting comfort food, but frankly it's kinda nasty looking.  this is not a photogenic recipe, but after one heck of a miserable day yesterday (my car may or may not need a new alternator or battery mere weeks before i'm due to replace the car itself) all i wanted was some mac n' cheese with a dead bird inside.  don't judge.

if you have little ones to feed, i imagine this is a super kid friendly recipe.  last night I just wanted to throw my toys on the floor and have a childish tantrum, and it sure made me feel better.  my measurements are rather approximate, as i'm less a "measure and blend" kind of chef, and more of a"toss it in and see what happens" kind of cook.

you will need:

3-4 tbsp butter

12 oz evaporated milk

10.5 oz condensed cheddar cheese soup

8 oz brick cream cheese

2 cups shredded precooked chicken (i used a rotisserie chicken)

1 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese divided (i used mild, but whatever strikes your fancy)

12 cooked jumbo pasta shells

melt the butter on medium heat over the stove and add cheese soup.  wisk until soup is less lumpy.  add evaporated milk gradually while wisking until smooth.  add 1/2 cup to 1 cup cheddar cheese gradually and continue to wisk as cheese melts.  allow cheese to melt thoroughly before adding too much.  you should have a thick velveeta-like cheese sauce that is a thick, yet pourable consistency with no lumps or stringiness.

soften cream cheese and combine with the chicken and remaining cheddar.  you could probably mash them together with a utensil, but i went straight for it with my hands.

stuff the shells with your cream cheese chicken cheddar cheese mixture.

arrange stuffed shells in a greased pan and smother them in the cheese sauce.  bake at 350 degrees for about a half hour.

pigfood

so last night i invented a recipe, which realistically probably already exists.  it's too easy and delicious for nobody to have ever thought of it before, but i promise it just sort of came to me.  i snapped a picture of my plate last night, but it doesn't look too pretty because i was already going for seconds at that point.  this dinner was just too tasty not to share!  The portions are somewhat approximate, as i was mostly eyeballing what i was adding.

balsamic maple pork tenderloin
2 lb pork tenderloin
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
garlic powder
salt
pepper
crushed red chili pepper

place pork in a cast iron dutch oven (or covered metal pot). combine maple syrup, balsamic vinegar, and red wine vinegar and sprinkle in a bit of garlic powder.  sprinkle salt, pepper, garlic powder, and crushed chillies on top of the pork.  pour syrup and vinegar mixture on top of pork loin.  cover and cook at 375 degrees for about 50 minutes or until pork is fully cooked (time may vary especially if cooking in a metal pot vs cast iron cookware).  i imagine this recipe would work just fine in a slow cooker as well.

oh and if you'd like to make the yummy cheesy potatoes i served with the pork loin, you can find the recipe here.

super yum!  give this a try and let me know how you like it!