Food – Page 49 – Simply Norma

Quaker Oats Oatmeal Cookies

I’ve heard it said that oatmeal is good for the heart so to see The American Heart Association label on the top of the Quaker Oats box wasn’t surprising.

When I’m home, I try to have oatmeal in the morning. A tiny bit of salt, a dab of sugar and lots of cinnamon.

Now, I wonder if eating oatmeal cookies is as healthy as having oatmeal in the morning. I guess it would depend on how many cookies I eat.

Being curious, I decided to try the cookie recipe on the Quaker Oats box to see if it stood the test of my palate (which I’ve been told is not very discriminating).

Ingredients:
1 stick of butter, softened
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups Quaker Oats

I left out the raisins in my ingredients, used butter instead of margarine and added a wee bit more cinnamon because I’m a big fan of cinnamon. I also cut the recipe in half so the ingredients above are halved already.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.
Beat butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until creamy.
Add the egg and vanilla. Beat well again.
Your batter should look like the one below.

Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well.

Combine both mixtures together; mix well.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Not too bad. They weren’t as moist as I would have liked but they did get eaten.

Corn Meal Cakes

Okay, so I had a craving for cornmeal.

I called my sister up and asked her for her recipe for something we called “rocks” when we were growing up. It was a simple recipe that mainly used cornmeal. The answer came back “I don’t remember.” Eeekkk! That just made me want the cornmeal more.

So — since my cookbooks are still in storage in Seattle, I did the next best thing and did a search on the internet for anything cornmeal-ish.

I came across this recipe that I found at cooks.com. I have to warn you though, it’s not a perfect recipe and although it satisfied my craving for cornmeal, I still felt like I was shortchanged.

Part of the problem I think is that the recipe is not clear enough in one area — whether to oil the griddle or not. I am a basic cook. I always tell people “don’t assume I know anything.” I wish recipes would do the same unless they say “for the professional cook only.”

Anyway, here’s my experiment. It wasn’t too bad but I know there’s a better recipe out there.

Here are the ingredients:

3/4 cup cornmeal
6 tblspns flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sugar
1 cup milk
1 egg, well beaten
1 tblspn oil

Put all dry ingredients in a bowl.

Sift the dry ingredients together. I use a whisk since my sifter is still in storage.

Beat the egg well.

Combine the egg, milk and oil, then stir.

The consistency will be a little liquidy.

Drop 1/4 cup full of the mixture onto a griddle. I put a little bit of oil on the bottom because I was afraid it would burn.

When the cakes have bubbled on top, turn them and cook them on the other side.

The cornmeal cakes should look like this.

Cornmeal Cakes

I served the cornmeal cakes with vegetarian links and maple syrup.

Denny’s Classic Diner

While driving through Hudson, Wisconsin I came across this old Denny’s Classic Diner. The outside looks as if it hasn’t changed since the 50’s. I didn’t have an opportunity to go inside.

Denny’s Classic Diner, Hudson, Wisconsin

It reminded me of the old television sitcom called Happy Days.

Where’s Fonzi I wonder?

Green Mill Restaurant and Bar

We had dinner at the Green Mill Restaurant and Bar which is located in Woodbury, Minnesota.

Green Mill Restaurant and Bar

The restaurant is right next to a hotel so I was not expecting the food to be very good. We had received a $10 coupon in the mail — spend $30 and get $10 off.

Our meal started with some fresh bread and garlic butter. The bread was nice and soft. We couldn’t taste much garlic in the butter though but the bread compensated for that.

Shortly after we received the bread, the soup was served. Both of them were nice and hot.

I had the tortilla soup which was very salty so I was not able to finish it. My husband had the chicken and wild rice soup which he said was very good.

Tortilla Soup

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

For the entree, I had the Butternut Squash Ravioli with asparagus. I had expected the asparagus on the side but it was tossed in with the ravioli. The ravioli didn’t have much flavor and was cooked too long as it tasted a little soggy. This was served in a garlic cream sauce with sun-dried tomatoes, basil leaves and asiago and parmesan cheese.

Butternut Squash Ravioli

My husband had the Bourbon Flat Iron Steak. The steak was topped with a bleu cheese crust and served with asiago mashed potatoes and broccoli. He said it tasted good.

Bourbon Flat Iron Steak

The service here was great. The food was good overall.

Green Mile is located at 6025 Hudson Road in Woodbury, Minnesota.

Champps Restaurant in Woodbury, Minnesota

A group of us went to Champps Restaurant in Woodbury, Minnesota.

Champps Restaurant in Woodbury, Minnesota

Inside of Champps Restaurant, Woodbury, Minnesota

This is definitely a sports bar. There were over 20 televisions overhead with their channels on sports stations and the atmosphere was a little noisy. When we entered, we were seated immediately. There are booths, tables and sports bar-like stools.

Our group had a variety of food.

The Chicken Noodle soup was very good with large chunks of chicken, celery and carrots.

Chicken Noodle Soup

One of the entrees was the smothered chicken that was sauteed with mushrooms, garlic, butter Marsala wine and spinach. The dish was served with green beans and yellow carrots. This was a good entree.

Smothered Chicken

The Greek Salad was delicious and the portion served was enough so I could take half of it home. Served with feta cheese, kalamata olives, eggs, and pepperonicini tossed with lettuce and seasoned chicken.

Greek Chicken Salad

The house salad was fresh and again, a large portion was served.

House Salad

The last entree we had was the Mediterranean Pasta. This entree was good also and approximately half of it was taken home as the portion served was large. The entree includes fettuccine noodles tossed in a cream sauce with fresh kalamata olives, artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes and chicken breast that was grilled. This also included garlic toast.

Both the food and service were good.

Chammps is located at 8418 Tamarack Village, Woodbury, Minnesota.

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Searching for good recipes on the internet sometimes nets me a really really good one.

I had gone to the website cooks.com to find a recipe for Chicken and Wild Rice Soup. I had my doubts as to whether the recipe would be as good as I wanted it to be.

Being a basic cook, i.e. following every single step one by one, I found that the recipe lacked a step and I had to improvise. So, here is the improvisation of the recipe – I omitted the onions.

The ingredients are as follows:

2 quarts chicken broth

1 box of Uncle Ben’s Wild Rice original recipe (seasoning packet will not be used)

1/2 cup celery, chopped

1/2 cup carrot, chopped

1/4 cup bell pepper, chopped

1 qt whole milk

Salt (to taste)

Pepper (to taste)

8 ounces fresh mushrooms (sauteed in butter)

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup butter

4 cups cooked chicken (I used skinless chicken thighs)

Organic Imagine Chicken Broth

Uncle Ben’s Long Grain & Wild Rice

Ingredients for Chicken & Wild Rice Soup (add butter)

– In a large pot, add the chopped vegetables and the wild rice to the 2 quarts of chicken (or vegetable) broth.

– After it starts to boil, simmer approximately 40 minutes

– While the ingredients in the pot are cooking, melt the butter in a large skillet

– Once melted, add the chopped mushrooms and saute until the mushrooms are soft

– Add the flour to the mushroom mixture and whisk

– Slowly add the milk and continue whisking the mixture

– Stir until thick (about 7 to 10 minutes)

– Cut the chicken in medium sized pieces and add those pieces to a small pot of water

– Boil the chicken until it’s cooked (about 15 – 20 minutes)

– Remove the boiled chicken pieces from the pot and cut them into smaller pieces

– Add the mushroom sauce mixture and the cooked chicken to the vegetable/rice mixture

– Add salt and pepper to taste.

Heat through for about 30 minutes.

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

The original recipe assumes that one knows what it means when it says “4 cups cooked chicken.” I did not. I am a very basic cook and follow the directions as stated. Since I didn’t know what it meant, I boiled the chicken to cook it. I’ve been told that it can also be baked.

This recipe makes about 10 bowls of soup and tastes great the next day also. I served it with English muffins with the Wild Blueberry Jam from the Sherburne Farm in Vermont.

Dorothy Ann Bakery & Cafe, Woodbury, Minnesota

For a quick hot chocolate and pastry, I went into the Dorothy Ann Bakery & Cafe in Woodbury, Minnesota.

Dorothy Ann Bakery & Cafe, Woodbury, Minnesota

The bakery has a few tables for sitting and it also has a small conference-like room that can be reserved for larger groups.

Dorothy Ann Bakery & Cafe, Woodbury, Minnesota

My hot chocolate wasn’t the best, however, it wasn’t the worse I’ve had. They do not use the powdered chocolate like I might expect in a small establishment. Instead, they use hershey syrup with milk.

The pastry I had was a blueberry turnover. It was very flaky but good and moist.

Blueberry turnover, Dorothy Ann Bakery & Cafe

In addition, this bakery also boasts a lot of sweet pastries, cookies, cakes, etc. Although I didn’t sample them, they looked very good.

Pastries at Dorothy Ann Bakery & Cafe, Woodbury, Minnesota

Dorothy Ann’s Bakery & Cafe is located at 710 Commerce Drive in Woodbury, Minnesota.

India Palace Restaurant

I went to the India Palace Restaurant in Woodbury, Minnesota for their buffet lunch.

India Palace Restaurant, Woodbury, Minnesota

The restaurant looks small on the outside but has quite a bit of seating on the inside. They serve a buffet during the lunch hour which makes it worth going to — well, on the pocketbook, not on the waistline.

I started with a mango lassi which is a mixture of mango puree and yogurt. I was not disappointed. It was a good drink.

The buffet line has quite a few entrees along with rice and desserts. Since I like naan bread, that’s where I headed first. It was okay — I wish it had tasted a little fresher though. The bread was semi-burnt on the bottom and tasted a little soggy.

I sampled the tandoori chicken tikka which has chunks of boneless chicken breast marinated in ground spices with saffron. It was very good along with the white rice.

India Palace, Woodbury, Minnesota

From the desserts, I sampled the Kheer, a creamy rice pudding that has pistachios in it. This was really good although I didn’t taste as much pistachio as I had imagined it would have. Still — I went back for seconds.

Kheer, India Palace, Woodbury, Minnesota

The service was good although during the lunch hour people were standing near the front counter waiting to pay and it’s right next to the front door where people are coming in so it was a little hectic getting out.

I would definitely go back for their lunch buffet.

Vegetarian Curry

I made a very simple dinner last night.

Chopping vegetables is really the only time it takes.

Vegetables for Vegetarian Curry

I used the following vegetables in mine, but you can use whatever pleases your palate.

Broccoli, onion, mushrooms, scallops, 2 carrots, 1 large onion, green pepper, sweet potato, cabbage and green beans.

The amount you use will depend on how many people you are feeding.

Chop all ingredients into bite size pieces.
Add about 2 tablespoons olive oil to the bottom of a pan/pot and heat.
When hot, add the harder vegetables in and stir. (The ones that will take longer to cook like sweet potato, carrots, green beans)
Add 1/4 cup water so the vegetables don’t stick and stir again.
Heat the first batch of vegetables until they are halfway cooked.
Add the remaining vegetables (green onions, cabbage, onion, green pepper, mushrooms)
Add the curry sauce and 1 cup of water.
Stir all and heat through until the vegetables are cooked.

Vegetarian Curry with Thai Red Curry Sauce

Trader Joe’s Thai Red Curry Sauce

I served this with white rice and bread.

Sunsets Restaurant in Woodbury, Minnesota

The Sunsets Restaurant was recommended to us by our Realtor, Bridget Crepeau.

Sunsets Restaurant, Woodbury, Minnesota

We were seated immediately when we entered and the waitress was very efficient throughout our visit.

Our entrees included salad and/or soup and bread. The Cream of Chicken Rice soup was said to be okay. The salad was good. I liked that they added sunflower seeds. The bread was also good.

Cream of Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

House Salad with sunflower seeds at the Sunsets Restaurant

Bread served with the entree at the Sunsets Restaurant

Originally, I had wanted to order the Kung Pao Beef. Although this wasn’t an Asian restaurant, it sounded good. When asked, the waitress told me that the sauce is spicy so I opted out and had the

Chicken Stir Fry instead.

Chicken Stir Fry

Meatloaf ala Marsala

Broiled Walleye

The Chicken Stir Fry was really good. They didn’t have very many pieces of chicken but it wasn’t missed as the vegetables were really good.

The presentation of the Walleye was not very good. They served the garlic mashed potatoes on a separate little plate which left the the main dish looking like it was lacking in food. But the Walleye was good.

And the Meatloaf ala Marsala was also good.

There are many large screen TV’s in this restaurant so it’s not very cozy.

Overall our experience was good. Especially since we had a really nice waitress who kept checking in on us.