Chicken Parmesan

The Recipe: From Cook This; Not That cookbook.

The Food: Husband prefers chicken parm made on frozen chicken patties. While this would be easier, I love this homemade version. And it's really not that hard. It's totally, totally worth it.

What You Need:
1 lb package of chicken breasts (3 breasts)
salt and pepper
1 egg, beaten
1 C bread crumbs
2 T grated parmesan cheese (the kind in the shakey bottle)
1/2 T Italian seasoning
olive oil
1 jar tomato sauce
1/2 C shredded mozzarella cheese
1 lb pasta (linguine, spaghetti, or fettuccine are good choices) 

Your Turn:
Crack the egg into a bowl and beat it a bit.

In another bowl, mix 1 C bread crumbs, 2 T parmesan cheese, and 1/2 T Italian seasoning. 

Slice each chicken breast like it's an uncut hamburger bun, making two thinner pieces of meat out of it. Alternately, you can use a meat mallet to pound the breasts thinner, but I think slicing it is better.

Sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of each slice of meat.

Cover the bottom of a large skillet with a thin layer of olive oil. Turn on the heat to medium. 

Start a pot of water boiling for your pasta.

Dip each piece of chicken in the egg, then in the bread crumb mixture. Place the breaded chicken pieces on a plate.

Place the chicken pieces in the hot oil for several minutes, until the side in the oil is browned and crispy. Flip when you feel it's right. Let them cook several more minutes on the other side. When you think they're done, take out the thickest one, and slice it in the middle. If it's still pink, give them more time on either side or both sides, depending which side is darker. You need to make sure they're cooked all the way through.

Your pasta water may be boiling by now. Add the pasta and cook to al dente.

When you're sure the chicken pieces are done, transfer them to a baking sheet. Spoon some pasta sauce on each one, and then sprinkle a generous amount of mozzarella cheese on top. Place the sheet in the oven under the broiler for about 4 minutes, until cheese is bubbly and browning.

Heat up some additional sauce to serve with the pasta and the chicken parm.

Taco Salad

The Occasion: I had salsa and sour cream leftover from something else. Taco Salad was a perfect use for these things.

The Recipe: Improvised.

How it Went: This is always a smash hit. We love it.

What You Need:
ground turkey (1 lb)
1 packet taco seasoning
lettuce
tortilla chips
1 bell pepper (any color)
1 yellow onion
1 can black olives
shredded cheddar cheese
salsa
sour cream

Your Turn:
Cook ground turkey. Add taco seasoning as directed on packet.

In the meantime, shred up lettuce and prepare a bowl of tortilla chips.

Prepare a plate of chopped peppers, onion, and olives along with cheese, sour cream, and salsa.

Serve meat hot over a bed of lettuce with desired toppings.

Enjoy!

Chicken Fried Rice

The Occasion: Nothing special, but we love Chinese take-out and this looked like a fun alternative to try.

The Recipe: From Cook This; Not That cookbook

How it Went: We both thought this was great. It felt like a much more wholesome version of Chinese take out. And it felt safer, somehow, than the stuff from the white origami box. 

What You Need:

1 T vegetable oil

4 scallions

Dash grated ginger

1 garlic clove, minced

1 zucchini

1 C baby carrots

1 crown broccoli

1 & 1/2 breasts chicken, cooked

4 C cooked rice (brown or white)

2 T soy sauce

2 eggs

Your Turn:
[Cook the rice and chicken ahead of time.]

Chop the 4 scallions and separate the greens from the whites.

Chop

· 1 zucchini (into disks, then quartered)

· About 1 C baby carrots (quartered lengthwise)

· 1 crown broccoli (into small florets)

In a large skillet, heat 1 T vegetable (or peanut or olive) oil over medium-high heat.

Once it’s hot, add the scallion whites, dash ginger and minced garlic clove.

Cook 30 seconds or so. Then add the zucchini, carrots, and broccoli. Cook 4-5 minutes, stirring. Add chicken and stir to blend evenly and warm.

Stir in 4 C rice and 2 T soy sauce. Cook about 5 minutes. Allow the rice to become crispy on the bottom.

Create an empty space in the middle of the pan.

Gently beat 2 eggs, then pour into the space in the skillet. Use a spatula or wooden spoon to scramble the eggs in the middle of the pan. Once they’re cooked, stir them together with the rest of the ingredients.

 

Serve, garnished with scallion greens.

Honey Mustard Salmon

The Occasion: My first daring attempt at cooking fish. Ever.

The Recipe: From Cook This, Not That cookbook.

How it went: Well, we liked it! It was easy: only took about 15 minutes total. It was a little tough, I think because I left it in the oven while the risotto was cooking. (Boxed risotto; no recipe for that.) I also added some extra honey to mine.

What You Need:

Salmon

Butter

Brown sugar

Dijon mustard

Honey

Soy sauce

Olive oil, salt, and pepper

Your Turn:
Heat oven to 400.

Melt

· 1 T butter

· 1 T brown sugar

in the microwave for about 30 seconds.

Stir in

· 2 T Dijon mustard

· 1 T honey

· 1 T soy sauce

Heat about 1/2 T olive oil in a skillet over high heat.

Season salmon fillets (I used two, but the sauce will be enough for four) with salt and pepper. Place flesh-side down in the skillet. Cook 3-4 minute, until fully browned, then flip.

Brush with glaze and put in an oven-safe dish in the oven at 400. (If you’re lucky enough to have an oven-proof skillet, cook the salmon in that, then transfer it to the oven.) Cook about 5 minutes. Remove from oven and brush with additional glaze.

Serve with steamed veggies and rice.

Lemon and Thyme Chicken Stir Fry

The Date: 1 March 2012

The Occasion: I love stir fry, especially with chicken and veggies, and I hadn’t made one in a while. This was a recipe I tried first about a year ago and I wanted to make it again.

The Recipe: From Betty Crocker’s 2010 Annual Recipes Cookbook

How it went: A few things about cooking tonight were not ideal. My lemon pepper had gotten moist or something. The texture was all wrong. But I used it anyway and it tasted fine. I also forgot to get crunchy noodles as topping for the stir fry but I used sunflower seeds instead which added the texture I was looking for. 

The recipe calls for angel hair pasta, which I’ve used before, but tonight I did it with white rice. Either one is good. I omit the cherry tomatoes but add water chestnuts. You can add snap peas, zucchini, cauliflower, or any other veggies you’d like.

What You Need:

2-3 chicken breasts

1 onion

1 medium crown broccoli

1 green bell pepper

1/2 red bell pepper

1 C baby carrots, quartered

1 can water chestnuts

1 C chicken broth

1 tsp dried thyme leaves

1 tsp grated lemon peel or lemon juice

4 tsp corn starch

1 & 1/2 tsp lemon pepper

3-4 C cooked angel hair pasta or rice

Your turn:
Cook rice or pasta as directed.

Cut broccoli, peppers, and carrots. Set aside in large bowl. Add water chestnuts.

Cut chicken into 1-inch cubes. Slice onion into wedges. Cook together in olive or vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until chicken is cooked through. Sprinkle with some salt.

Add vegetables and cover. Cook about 10 minutes over low-medium heat until vegetables are crisp-tender.

Whisk together

· 1 C chicken broth

· 1 tsp dried thyme leaves

· 1 tsp grated lemon peel or lemon juice

· 4 tsp corn starch

· 1 & 1/2 tsp lemon pepper

Add to chicken mixture, when the vegetables are cooked, and stir. Let simmer, covered, several more minutes, until sauce thickens and everything is coated.

Serve over rice or pasta with crunchy noodles, peanuts, or sunflower seeds on top.

Hawaiin Stir Fry

The Date: 6 February 2012

The Occasion: Weeknight dinner

The Recipe: From Taste of Home’s 2011 Annual Recipes Cookbook. It was in the “Cooking for One or Two” section. Perfect of us, you would think. But I doubled it, and therefore defeated the whole purpose of the recipe. But it lasts longer this way.

How it went: This is a pretty good meal. A little strange, maybe, but it’s tastier than you might think. 

I added some Orange Ginger Sugar
from this set of gourmet sugars
Mom got me for Christmas.
Quite yummy!!

What You Need:
1 lb ground beef or turkey

1 onion

2 or 3 stalks celery

1/2 green pepper

Garlic

Butter or oil

1 can (12 oz) pineapple chunks

1/2 C brown sugar

2 T flour

2 T vinegar

1/2 tsp salt

Cooked white rice

Your turn:
In a skillet, cook the ground meat until no longer pink.

Drain grease and set aside.

In the same skillet, sauté

· 1 onion, diced

· 2-3 stalks of celery, chopped

· 1/2 of a green pepper, chopped

· The pineapple from a 12 oz can (save the juice—you’ll need it later!)

· Some fresh minced or dried minced garlic, to your liking

in butter or oil until veggies are crisp-tender, about 5 minutes.

To the pineapple juice you’ve saved, add

· Enough water to measure 1 C

· 1/2 C brown sugar

· 2 T white flour

· 2 T white wine or rice vinegar (I tried it with apple cider vinegar, but it made the whole thing too cidery)

· 1/2 tsp salt

Whisk until smooth. 

Add to veggies in skillet and bring to a boil. Cook and stir over medium heat about 2 minutes. Add meat back to the skillet and stir to heat everything through.

Serve with white rice, and (optional) cilantro! 

Peppered Pork Sandwiches

The Date: 11 January 2012

The Occasion: Nothing special, just an easy dinner for a Wednesday night.

The Recipe: From this Betty Crocker book. The recipe calls this Peppered Pork Pitas, but I use sandwich rolls instead of pitas.

How it Went: I mentioned this recipe briefly several months ago on my other blog, and I've made it a couple times since then. It's very easy, and the only successful way I've found to make pork. It would be great with sliced cucumbers, but tonight we just had it with a little salad. There's an optional dressing (described below) that you can make, or it would be good with sour cream.

What You Need:
pork chops
olive oil
red bell pepper
rolls
for dressing
mayonnaise
milk
garlic

Your Turn:
Chop 1/2 of a red bell pepper into strips.

Trim the fat from 1 lb boneless pork loin chops, then cut them into narrow strips.

In a bowl, toss the pork and the peppers with 2 T olive oil and 1/2 tsp black pepper. In the meantime, warm up a medium-sized skillet on the stove.

Dump the pork and peppers into the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until pork is cooked through, about 10 minutes.

In the meantime, mix up your dressing.

• about 1/3 C mayonnaise
• about 2 T milk
• 1 fresh garlic clove, minced

Also, take a minute to toast your rolls just slightly. Since you'll be topping them with hot pork, they will be apt to turn mushy if you haven't firmed them up a bit.

When the pork is ready, spread one side of the roll with dressing (or sour cream, if you don't feel like making the dressing) then top that with the pork and peppers, and serve! Cucumbers, carrot sticks, or grapes would be a fitting side with this. Or a fresh green salad. 

Enjoy!

A few recipes that aren't mine

I've made a few things recently that turned out excellent, but are so insanely easy, it's not worth a play-by-play of how to make it. I'll just give you the links and let you give it a whirl on your own.

A Whole Chicken in the Crock Pot
I made this today (recipe here) and it was seriously excellent. The blog I found it on says it's "fall-off-the-bone delicious," and I tell you... it absolutely was. I got this chicken from my employer at work for Christmas, so it was free, but I also read that buying a whole chicken is really cheap per pound, and you can make broth (which makes for divine soup) with the juices and bones! I also saved 4 cups of chicken, aside from what we ate for dinner, which I'll put in soup or casserole. It seems like a win-win-win situation. The broth is currently in my crock pot, where it will cook all night. I'll skim out all the bones and stuff in the morning, and save the excellent broth for an upcoming soup. Mmmm. I was a bit scared to attempt this whole-chicken-bones-and-all thing, but I'm impressed with myself and thrilled with the result. Please: Try this.

Nantucket Cranberry Pie
I took this recipe from Pioneer Woman to bake for Christmas Eve at my in-laws. Everyone loved it (I liked it more than the Cranberry Chess Pie, myself) and I'll definitely keep it in my favorite pies list. I might do a post on this, since it was so good and I love blogging pies, but Pioneer Woman's post (and photos, of course) are far superior to mine. So just check her recipe out.

Taco Soup
I made this a couple months ago for a friend who had a baby and needed meals delivered. It was a crock pot soup and embarrassingly easy, but she and her husband loved it. For an easy crock pot dinner, this is an excellent choice. It's also flexible. Leave out a certain kind of beans or the green chiles, or add more of anything you like. It's really great with shredded cheese and sour cream on top and a sprinkling of tortilla chips.

Skillet Chili
I've always made chili in a big skillet on the stove, but I've always used ground meat, a packet of McCormick chili seasoning, and whatever ingredients it suggests on the back of the packet. When I came across this recipe for chili, it sounded really similar but with a homemade flair. We loved it, and Husband even said it was better than my normal chili (which is funny because he normally likes packaged things more than the homemade versions). It was extremely good. I served it with rice, which I don't think she suggests. Also, I didn't use the whole jar of tomato sauce. I used tomato paste and some water instead, because I didn't have tomato sauce on hand. I also didn't have celery salt, so I used a bit of regular salt instead. It was really, really good.

Thanks to other cooks and food bloggers of the world for making such excellent recipes available!

Stove Top Lasagna

The Date: 14 November 2011

The Occasion: Quick Monday night meal. Love this go-to favorite!

The Recipe: A Betty Crocker recipe I've adapted from this book.

How it Went:
This is pretty much a no-fail meal. I had only a little Italian dressing in the fridge (who knew you could run out of that stuff!?) so it lacked the full flavor it usually has. But you really can't do this meal wrong. Yum!

What You Need:
ground beef or turkey
onion
green bell pepper
tomato sauce
Italian dressing
malfada pasta

Your Turn:
Chop one smallish onion and one green bell pepper.

Brown 1 lb of ground meat in a large skillet. Add onions and peppers to cook with the meat.

Drain grease from meat when cooked.

Add to skillet

• 1 and 2/3 cups water
• 1 jar tomato sauce (I use Francesco Rinaldi, Three Cheese)
• 3 cups malfada noodles
• 1/4 cup Italian dressing

Bring to a boil. Then turn to medium-low and let simmer about 15 minutes, stirring every so often until noodles are tender.

I failed to take a picture of this meal myself. This pic is from bettycrocker.com

Pasta Primavera

The Recipe: An original, inspired by similar recipes.

Tips: This is great with cooked chicken but equally good meatless. Don't overcook the veggies, especially the zucchini. This dish is peppery, filling, and despite the butter and pasta, it still manages to be healthy, chock-full of colorful vegetables.

What You Need:
1 crown broccoli
1-2 small zucchini
2 red and/or yellow bell pepper
1/2 C snow peas
1/4 C butter
1 1/2 C half & half (or whole milk)
3 T flour
black pepper
salt
cooked angel hair or linguine 
optional: cooked chicken

Your Turn:
Chop up:
- 1 crown broccoli (about 1 cup chopped florets)
- half each of a yellow and a red pepper into fork-sized pieces (about 1/2 inch wide, 1 inch long)
- 1 - 2 small zucchini.

Melt 1/4 C butter in a large skillet. Add the chopped veggies along with 1/2 cup of snow peas. Sprinkle with a generous dash of black pepper and a pinch or two of salt.

This would be a good time to start your pasta cooking. 

Pour 1 1/2 cup of half & half (or whole milk) into a bowl or glass measuring cup. Add 3 tablespoons of flour. Microwave about 35 seconds, until warm. Whisk with a fork.

When the vegetables are crisp-tender, (add the cooked chicken to the skillet, if you've opted to add that, then) pour milk mixture over them and cook briefly until slightly reduced.

Serve over pasta with garlic bread.

Stroganoff

The Date: 27 October 2011

The Occasion: I finally felt well enough to cook a meal after being sick all week and mostly eating broth.

The Recipe: From this cookbook, with the cream of mushroom soup from the recipe substituted for this homemade version. 

How it Went:
Great, as usual. This is a favorite meal in our house and tonight did not disappoint. I loved not using a canned cream soup this time. The meal felt more wholesome without adding a gloppy cylinder of beige mush. Don't forget to cook a green vegetable with this. I made zucchini because I forgot to cook a veggie until the whole thing was done and sauteing some zucch's was the easiest option. Normally, though, it's great with steamed broccoli on the side.

What You Need:
ground turkey or beef
cooked bacon or real bacon bits
mushrooms (optional)
onion
garlic, fresh or dried and minced
flour
beef broth
milk
butter
Worcestershire sauce
pepper
salt
paprika
egg noodles
sour cream
shredded sharp white cheddar cheese

Your Turn:
Cook 1 lb ground beef or turkey in a large skillet. While it's cooking, add 5 slices of cooked bacon, crumbled (or a few tablespoons of REAL bacon bits). Add 1 cup mushrooms, if you're into eating fungus, 1 medium onion, chopped, and either a minced fresh garlic clove or a few dashes of dried minced garlic. Cook until meat is done.

In the meantime, melt 1 T butter in a small saucepan over medium low heat. Add 3 T flour, slowly, until smooth. Remove from heat. Add 1/2 C of beef broth and 1/2 C of milk, slowly, while stirring. Return to medium low heat and stir while bringing it to a gentle boil. Continue to stir until mixture thickens. Stir in a few dashes of black pepper.

When meat mixture is done, drain grease. Stir in 2 T flour until blended. Add the flour/broth mixture you made and stir. Also add

• 1 can (14.5 oz) beef broth
• 2 T Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp paprika

Bring to a boil, the reduce heat and simmer 15-20 minutes.

In the meantime, cook 6 cups of egg noodles and drain when done.

Just before serving, stir 1 cup of sour cream into the Stroganoff. Don't let it come to a boil again, just make sure it's still hot through after adding the cream.

Serve over egg noodles and sprinkle each serving with shredded cheddar cheese.

Sweet and Spicy Stir Fry

The Date: 19 October 2011

The Occasion: I saw a friend eating some mini Asian taco things at lunch a few weeks ago, and I decided I would try an Asian dinner of my own in the near future. I even wrote in my planner "look up Asian food." Now, I guess this meal is stretching it as far as authentic Asian goes, but it fit my flavor category for "Asian," and that was enough for a Wednesday night.

The Recipe: I looked at a lot of stir fry recipes, and settled on this one. It was great as-is; I've only made a few changes in my version, below.

How it Went:
I swapped a few ingredients for similar things that I had on hand. I pretty much stuck to the recipe, though, and was pleased with the result!

Your Turn:
In a large wok or skillet, heat 1 T olive oil. Add

• 2 chopped chicken breasts
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 garlic clove, finely minced 
• a dash of ground ginger

Stir fry until chicken is no longer pink.

Transfer chicken mixture to a bowl.

Add another splash of olive oil to the wok, then add

instagr.am veggies

• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 and 1/2 fresh petite green beans (I substituted a few chopped stalks of celery, some chopped scallions, and some thinly sliced carrots)

Stir fry about 3 minutes. Then add 2 T water, cover, and cook another 2 minutes.

Now we'll mix up the sauce. Mix

• 1/2 C chicken broth
• 1 T cornstarch
• 1 T sugar
• 2 T soy sauce
• 1 T white vinegar or rice vinegar
• 1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper

Whisk well. Add sauce and chicken mixture, stir and let cook a few more minutes while you set the table.

Stir in

• 1 C canned or fresh chopped pineapple
• 1/3 C dry roasted peanuts

Serve with white rice or noodles.

You'll taste that quarter-teaspoon of Cayenne!

Greek Pasta with Pork

The Date: 11 October 2011

The Occasion: Wanted to try this dish again. I made it once, but I had some ideas I wanted to try on my second attempt.

The Recipe: From this book, but with modifications

How it Went:
I'm still not thrilled with this dish. I know that's not the best way to entice you to try it out, but I've gotta be honest about that. It's good, but certainly not a favorite.

The first change I made from the recipe was swapping pork for the chicken. I did a little bit of reading about Greek cooking, and they use mostly pork and lamb. So I thought I'd be authentic about that. Using the rotisserie chicken, as the recipe suggests, is great, though, because it's already cooked. Which I love. You just pull the meat off, shred it up, and toss it in. I had to cook the pork first, but that's a pretty quick process, so it wasn't a difficult adaptation.

The first time I made this, I left out the artichokes, but kept the sun-dried tomatoes. Neither Peter nor I liked the taste of the tomatoes and ended up picking around them, so this time I left those out and included the artichokes instead. It was definitely an improvement, but the artichokes seemed to lend an almost vinegary flavor that was a bit strong. Maybe next time I'd rinse them or something. I'd also chop them smaller. They come quartered, and I chopped the quarters up. But I'd even like them more fine. (Can you food-process artichokes?) Also, I didn't buy Greek olives, so I used regular black olives, but I think the Greek ones might be worth it. Regular black olives don't have that Mediterranean zing that everything else had.

In my browsing around online today, I found a recipe for Greek seasoning. I didn't take the time to make this mix, but I did use the flavor ideas and added a lot more spices than the recipe called for. It called for just some fresh minced parsley for garnish. I added parsley, garlic powder, onion powder, thyme, pepper, and just a dash of nutmeg to my dish. I was a little nervous, though, so I don't think I really added enough spices to make much difference. I think it would be worth making a batch of the Greek seasoning mix. It sounds like a good combination of flavors anyway.

The next time I try this, I will be more bold with my seasonings and possibly try the Greek olives instead of standard black. I served this tonight with fresh steamed green beans on the side, but I think it would be good with a vegetable in the dish itself. Potatoes? Zucchini? I don't think broccoli is really a Greek veggie, but it would probably be good in this. Another vegetable would also help cut the sour taste of the artichokes.

Your Turn:
To prepare, chop up

• 1 large onion 
• about a 1/2 cup of Greek (or regular black) olives 
• 1 jar of quartered artichoke hearts

and set aside.

Cook 2 cups of dry penne in boiling water.

While this is cooking, chop up about 1 pound of thinly sliced pork chops into cubes. In a large skillet, cook the pork in olive oil with pepper and any seasonings you like (parsley, oregano, garlic powder, thyme, nutmeg, paprika...) or the Greek seasoning mix mentioned above. If you'd prefer chicken, prepare about 3 cups of cubed or shredded rotisserie chicken.

When the pork is cooked through (and it shouldn't take too long), take it out and set aside. Leave the oil in the skillet. Add a bit more oil (or some butter) and the chopped onion. Season this a little bit as well.

When onions are tender, add 1/4 cup of flour and stir. Then pour in 1 can of chicken broth. Bring to a boil, then let simmer about 2 minutes until thickened. Stir in the pork, artichoke hearts, olives, and 2-4 oz of feta cheese. (The recipe calls for 4 oz, but I used what I had which was about 2. That works too.) (Optional: Add 1/2 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes.)

Drain your pasta (I hope you haven't forgotten about the pasta!) and add it to the skillet too. If your skillet is ovenproof, you're luckier than most. For the rest of us, transfer the whole thing to a medium sized casserole dish. Broil in the oven for 6-7 minutes, until the top is bubbling and golden brown.

Serve with a salad or steamed green beans or asparagus.

Caesar Chicken with Orzo

The Date: 22 September 2011

The Occasion: Just a Thursday night dinner.

The Recipe: From this book, which I got at Ollie's years ago and have loved ever since. It's full of wonderful and very easy recipes that are easily fancied up and tailored to the ingredients you have and the flavors you like. I'd made this one before and knew I liked it.

How it Went:
This recipe is extremely straightforward. The only thing I really modified was the vegetables. Instead of a bag of frozen veggies, I used some freshly chopped onions, broccoli, and carrots. I also added the Caesar dressing much earlier in the recipe than it suggests. I find the flavors blend better that way. My version, below, is a yummy stir-fry type dish.

Your Turn:
Heat a little olive oil in a skillet, then cook chicken (2-4 breasts, depending on how many you're feeding) in cubes with a bit of chicken seasoning or Perfect Pinch. Add about three tablespoons of Caesar dressing (NOT the creamy kind) and some diced onions (half an onion).
Remove the chicken from the skillet when it's cooked, but leave the juices and dressing in the pan.
Add to the skillet

• one can (about 15 oz) of chicken broth
• 1 C of water

heat to boiling, then add

• 1 C of orzo pasta 

and boil until pasta is tender, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Now, stir in your vegetables. About 2-5 cups of veggies, depending on how many you're planning to feed. Chopped fresh vegetables are best; a combination of carrots, broccoli, green beans, and onions is good. Shake some black pepper and a few more tablespoons of Caesar dressing in too.
Now let it simmer on medium heat for about 5-10 minutes until the veggies are crisp-tender. Add the chicken back in and let the whole thing simmer together for a few minutes while you set the table.
Serve with garlic bread or hot rolls, or with some fruit.