I used to make the BEST dirty rice.  When mrChaos and I were just a couple of kids (are we not still?) I used to make a big batch of dirty rice to last us a couple of days and it was wonderful!  So what if it came out of the box with the trumpet player on it.  Well, it has been a long time since we’ve had the boxed dirty rice-I have a hard time paying for things I can make myself- and I have never actually attempted dirty rice from scratch, although I’ve long been curious about whether it would be as wonderful.  So I can’t say I am the best judge as to whether or not this risotto tastes like dirty rice.  To me, it kind of tastes like Supreme Pizza Risotto.  And I’ll tell you: there is nothing wrong with that at all.

This risotto is hearty and full of sausage and peppers and mushrooms, pair it with a salad and some garlic bread and you have a wonderful, filling meal.  The recipe has been popular.  I first saw it when Passion Foodie posted about it, and she saw it on Brown Eyed Baker, but I changed a few things to try to make it a bit “dirtier.”

Dirty Risotto

• 5-6 cups chicken stock
• 2 tbsp butter
• 6 oz. hot Italian sausage, removed from casing (about 3 small links)
• 4 oz. pancetta or bacon, roughly chopped
• 1 small onion, minced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 2 jalapenos, de-seeded, minced
• 6 oz. mushrooms, roughly chopped
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 1/2 cups rice, Arborio or Long-grain
• 3/4 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• 2 tbsp minced fresh parsley

1. In a small pot, heat chicken stock to a simmer and turn down to keep warm.
2. Melt butter in a large, deep skillet or stock pot.
3. Brown sausage and pancetta in butter over medium-high heat, breaking sausage up into chunks.
4. Add vegetables, onion through mushrooms, to browned meat and cook until softened.
5. Taste vegetables and season with salt and pepper.
6. Stir in rice and allow to brown lightly.
7. Pour in wine and stir until almost absorbed.  Turn heat down to medium.
8. Using a measuring cup add hot chicken stock to rice mixture a little at a time, stirring, until almost absorbed.
9. Once rice is tender, turn off heat and stir in cheese and parsley.
10. Taste again and season with salt as needed.  Serve.

This one was a real knock-out.  I will definitely be making it again and I hope you give it a try!  If you are intimidated by risotto, don’t be.  It is much more forgiving than you think.  You really don’t have to stir forever and you can even use your usual long-grain rice if you can’t find the Arborio rice.

I used to subscribe to the “eat lots of small meals” way of healthy eating.  What I found was that I was always eating and always hungry.  I never had that full-and-satisfied feeling which only made me want to eat more.  My new strategy is to eat a nice, substantial meal three times a day and one light snack as needed to get from one meal to the next.  I am glad to report that, for me, it is working much better.  I get to sit down to a nice hearty meal which then holds me over until my next meal.  This is one of my favorite breakfasts, a warm, gooey ham and Swiss on one side and a toasty egg and cheese sandwich on the other side.

So a Moons over my Hammy sandwich is basically a grilled cheese stuffed with scrambled eggs and ham.  It is generally made with sourdough toast but I substituted a sourdough English muffin because it is half the calories and just as hearty.  If you do make it with toast, proceed as you would a regular grilled cheese or even grill under a panini press.  Also you can make this with one or two eggs or one egg and one egg white like I did, or Egg Beaters too if that’s your thing.

Lighter Moons over my Hammy

• 1 sourdough English muffin, split and toasted
• 1-2 eggs, scrambled
• 1 tsp mayo
• 1 tsp mustard
• 2 oz. thinly sliced deli ham
• 1 slice American cheese (about 1/2 oz.)
• 1 slice Swiss cheese (about 1/2 oz.)

1. Scramble your eggs.  Once they reach the just set, soft scrambled stage stop breaking them apart with your spatula so they will be easier to keep together on your sandwich.
2. Spread mayo and mustard lightly on opposite halves of your English muffin.
3. Starting with the mayo side, layer American cheese, then scrambled eggs, then ham, and top with the Swiss cheese.  Cover with the mustard spread English muffin half.
4. Place sandwich carefully in a warm pan (I used the same one I scrambled my eggs in). Cover with a pot lid of plate until cheese is melty.
5. Flip sandwich and warm other side under pot lid until sandwich is warm all the way through.

I don’t have a toaster oven because I haven’t found one that works and isn’t prohibitively expensive or heats to 500°F on the outside, but if you have a toaster oven this sandwich would also work very well under the broiler instead of pan-warming.

Every now and then Foodbuzz send me coupons from their sponsors.  While I am under no obligation to endorse their sponsors (very important-that) I had been making myself this lovely sandwich for breakfast and considering a post on it for a week or two before they surprised me with a coupon for Eggland’s Best Eggs.  I buy our grocers generic cage-free eggs for baking but for fried and scrambled eggs, I think the Eggland’s Best Eggs do have superior flavor and nice big, deep yellow yolks.  So there you go.

I am so excited to be off of work for Super Bowl weekend!  I don’t claim to know anything about football, when I hear Super Bowl I think snacks.  Seriously, snacks!  Don’t you just love appetizers and finger foods and food in miniature?  Since I don’t get many opportunities to make and eat and revel in snacks, the Super Bowl is one holiday I am always disappointed to miss.  Here are some of my favorite snacks and finger foods for the big game.

1. Pizza Bites

2. Wings

3. Kettle Corn

4. Spinach and Artichoke Dip

5. Salsa Baked Goat Cheese

And since I have hundreds of recipes tagged under “Appetizer” that I haven’t had the chance to make I offer you a few of my snack picks from around the web:

• Tex-Mex Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Nuggets submitted to the kitchn by S.T.
• Lisa’s Antipasto Squares at The Cutting Edge of Ordinary
• Jalapeno Popper Dip at Buns In My Oven
• White Bean Spread with Roasted Garlic at She wears many hats
• Toasted Ravioli at Coconut and Lime
• Sugar Spice Craisin Nuts at One Particular Kitchen
• White Castle Sliders at Big Red Kitchen

Leave links to your favorite super bowl food (or recipes that you’re inspired to try this year!) in the comments so we can all get excited!

Surprisingly when I asked mrChaos if he wanted Chicken and Dumplings for dinner he thought I meant these dumplings, not the dumplings you see above.  What I actually meant was southern-style Chick’n Dumplins, but I asked and mrChaos voted for puffy dumplings over flat.  Both dishes, although very different, are delicious and comforting.  If you like big, fluffy dumplings swimming in your chicken soup this is the chicken and dumplings for you!

This dish can be made with a rotisserie chicken’s worth of meat and store bought chicken stock.  For the very best flavor, though, cook a chicken covered in water in the crockpot the day before or the morning of.

Chicken and Dumplings

• 6 tbsp butter or chicken fat
• 6 tbsp flour
• 5 cups chicken stock
• 2 tbsp heavy cream
• 4 cups cooked chicken meat
• 4 carrots, diced
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 4 celery stalks, diced
• 1 tsp chicken base
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, minced
• 1 cup buttermilk or milk
• 4 tbsp butter, melted

1. Melt fat in a deep, wide pot (with a lid) over medium heat.
2. Sprinkle with flour and cook, stirring for several minutes, until golden brown.
3. Add chicken stock and cream, stirring until mixture comes up to a simmer.
4. Add chicken and vegetables.  Add chicken base and taste broth.  Season with salt and pepper to your liking.
5. In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and parsley.
6. Add milk and melted butter to the flour mixture and stir just until combined.
7. Keep chicken mixture at a simmer and use two spoons to drop portions of dough into the pot until surface of chicken mixture is covered.
8. Cover pot and cook without disturbing for 15 minutes.
9. Check dumplings with a toothpick for done-ness and serve.

Thank you to everyone for taking the time to help me out with my Nutrition Facts issue!  It appears to be a resolution problem, not a browser problem.  Luckily 84% of you have screen resolutions high enough to see the labels clearly.  Thanks again for your comments, it is my great pleasure to bring you these recipes!