Tastes, Tales and Tours

Easy Peasy Mac & Cheesy

2012-01-29T17:35:00.000-08:00

I have finally found a stove top Macaroni & Cheese recipe that measures up to the "Blue Box." I'm so thankful to "Confections of a Foodie Bride" for the most important tip: American cheese. I know most of us bloggers like to think of ourselves as a step beyond the processed cheese food product, but lets face it, I can't exactly pretend I'm so food-snobbish when I'm looking for a replacement recipe for Kraft Mac & Cheese, right? While I used the American cheese tip, I kind of combined the recipe with my standard white sauce technique instead of using the Greek yogurt, mostly because I completely forgot to get any at the store before making this recipe. I really liked how this came out with my non-fat white sauce mixed with American cheese, lots of peas and some cubed ham. A very easy, but filling recipe, especially when using whole wheat pasta as I did here. I made this on a night that the husband wasn't around, but I was really surprised to find that he enjoyed the leftovers as much as I did. I guess some flavors from our childhoods have universal life-long appeal, and American cheese is one of those flavors. I couldn't stop eating my little slices of American cheese (I bought thick slices in the deli section and thinly sliced those slices instead of shredding, since we have no blocks of American cheese for sale)!

Stovetop Macaroni & Cheese with Ham & Peas (Inspired by Confections of a Foodie Bride)
8 oz macaroni or short pasta of your choice (I used whole wheat rotini)
8 oz American cheese, grated (or sliced as described above)
1 Tbs Unsalted Butter
1 Tbs All Purpose Flour
1 Cup fat free milk
1-1 1/2 cups frozen peas, thawed (I threw mine in with the pasta for the last couple minutes)
1/2 cup diced ham
Cook pasta according to package directions until al dente (throwing in peas to thaw for last 2-3 minutes of cooking time). Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, melt butter and add flour, making a roux. Cook for about 1 minute. Add milk and stir continuously and vigorously to ensure no lumps. When sauce just comes to a boil, it will be thickened. Add cheese gradually, stirring well until melted before adding next handful. Pour over drained pasta/peas, add ham, and mix well. Season with salt and pepper and serve warm. Makes about 4 servings.

Black Bean Corn Quesadillas

2012-01-19T19:58:00.000-08:00

When I was younger, my favorite after school snack was a flour tortilla and juice (my, I loved my carbs back then, too!). At some point, I realized that there was a concoction called a "quesadilla" which involved yummy melted cheese folded in between said tortilla, and I was set. In my opinion, cheese tastes so much better when melted, and added to the yummy that is a warm tortilla, I had my perfect snack. Now of course, I try to avoid such heavy things as snacks (seriously, where was the fresh fruit in my youth?). But lately I've been loving the black bean, corn and bell pepper combination and I thought that putting that all together in quesadilla form wouldn't be a bad idea. I searched the internet for some ideas and found this recipe from allrecipes that I used as a base for proportions, but changed it quite a bit using my own ideas and one of the comments regarding oven baking and still getting crispy/gooey results. I originally intended to add chicken, but honestly, just ran out of room on the tortilla and found I didn't miss it at all. This is a great way to enjoy quesadillas as a main meal. The beans are so creamy that you don't need to add nearly as much cheese, and the spices, plus the crunchy sweetness of the bell pepper and corn add up to a perfect combination of flavors and textures. This is actually going on the meal plan again in the next week!

Black Bean and Corn Quesadillas (inspired by allrecipes)
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/4 of small onion, finely chopped
1/2 of 1 (15.5 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup frozen corn kernels
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground oregano
4 soft taco size (8 inch) flour tortillas
2/3 cups shredded cheddar or Mexican cheese blend
Cooking Spray

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a skillet or saute pan, heat oil over medium high heat. Add onion and cook until soft. Add peppers and cook until onions start to carmelize. Add beans, corn and spices and heat until warmed through, about 3 minutes. On a pizza stone or cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray, lay out two tortillas. Top with warm veggie mixture and 1/3 cup cheese each, then top with the remaining tortillas. Spray tops of tortillas with cooking spray. Bake in oven for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and tops reach desired golden brown color. Enjoy with sour cream, salsa and/or guacamole. Makes 2 quesadillas.

Lets Hear it for the Lemons!

2012-01-13T18:34:00.000-08:00

This blog periodically hints at the fact that I'm from Santa Barbara. I'm really lucky to live here and I definitely try and live it up by enjoying the lifestyle as much as I can. What most readers don't realize is that while I was raised in Santa Barbara proper, I've lived in the neighboring city, Goleta, for the last 15 years (wow, I had to calculate that a few times to realize how long it has been!). Goleta hosts the California Lemon Festival every year in October, and the park in which it is held is quite close to where we live. It is really a great little festival and includes a really cool classic car show on Saturday. 2011 was the first year in a long time that the husband and I were able to go to the Lemon Festival together, and the first year ever for him to actually see the classic cars. We really made quite a day out of it, strolling through the cars, eating some yummy treats and waiting in a really long line for the above treat, only to be told they were out of whole pies, so we had to come back and wait in the really long line AGAIN! It was definitely worth it. I highly recommend other Californians to visit Santa Barbara's lesser known sibling, Goleta, for the Lemon Festival and to get at least a slice of pie. You won't regret it!

Full disclaimer: Usually I wouldn't post something about a pie I didn't bake, but my husband really wanted this up on the blog, he was so excited about this pie. Now back to your regular (or not so regular) posts!

Eggplant Parmesan Stacks

2012-01-12T18:23:00.000-08:00

There is no doubt that the picky eating that I stuck with in my youth wasinherited from my daddy. My brother, sister and I learned "eeewww"from the best, and we're all slowly recovering from that in our adulthood. Iwas recently talking to my dad about my vegetable delivery service and how itmade me realize how much I really love eggplant. I got a classic crinkly nosefrom my daddy, and even as I tried to explain that if it is cooked properly,eggplant is delicious, he kept arguing that he just KNOWS he doesn't like it,no matter how it is cooked (along with all squash, all of which, he says, istoo squishy). Really, I'm happy with more eggplant for me! I've learned sometricks, including buying eggplant on the smaller side andslicing/salting/sitting for a little bit (and rinsing) before using in arecipe. All of this keeps the texture just firm enough and the flavor slightlysweet. I found this recipe on Cooking This and That and thought it would be theperfect way to use the small eggplants I received in my vegetable deliverybasket (one of my last ones before I chose to cancel for the winter). As I'mreading the recipe to see what I changed, I realize that I changed quite a lot!I made these into stacks, but didn't create a lasagna style filling the way theoriginal recipe called for. This is baked, not fried, but still had lots offlavor. After baking, I just stacked up the eggplant disks with a spoonful of(heated) pasta sauce and one leaf of fresh basil. The top slice received agenerous amount of mozzarella before I covered the pan to simmer and melteverything together. My husband, who likes eggplant okay, but isn't a huge fan,thought this was a great Eggplant Parmesan. I will definitely make this againnext summer when eggplant is in season again.

Eggplant Parmesan Stacks (adapted from Bite This via Cooking This and That )
2 lbs of eggplant (two small) sliced into 1/2 inch disks
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup bread crumbs (I used standard Italian Seasoned)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Cooking Spray
1 24 oz jar pasta sauce
1 cup mozzarella cheese

Place slices of eggplant into a colander. Sprinkle salt on both sides andallow to sit about 15 minutes. Rinse to remove salt and any "goop"that develops, then dry each slice well. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Set updipping trays: one tray with the lightly beaten egg, one with the bread crumbsand parmesan cheese mixed together. Dip each eggplant slice in egg and thenbread crumbs, flipping to cover both sides. Place each slice on a cookiecooling rack on top of a foil lined cookie sheet (this set up allows for reallycrispy oven fried goodness, I highly recommend it!). Bake for 20-30 minutesuntil golden and crispy, rotating once. Meanwhile, gently heat pasta sauce in alarge skillet. Dip both sides of eggplant in the sauce, then top with a basilleaf before stacking with the next sauce dipped eggplant slice. Continue until3-4 slices high, then top with about a 1/4 cup of mozzarella. Repeat with othereggplant slices until you have 4 stacks. Cover and simmer until mozzarella isjust melted. Serve with pasta and remaining sauce.

Spicy French Dip Sandwiches

2012-01-09T19:56:00.000-08:00

I hear it all the time in the blog world: "I wish I could use my slow cooker more often, it is so convenient!" But often, bloggers don't like the "cream of..." soups that go with a lot of slow cooker meals. When I saw this recipe on Cooking With Christen, I knew it had potential. I stuck with the original recipe from A Year of Slow Cooking because I loved how simple it was - Beef, Peperoncinis... that's it! After the recipe finished up and I gave it a quick taste test, I also added about a teaspoon of Tabasco sauce to spice it up to our tastes. This was a good recipe, but if I make it again, it will be for a crowd, as it was way too much food for just the two of us, and I can't eat that much beef anyway because I get a "stomach full of anger" (thank you Tour de France racer Andy Schleck for that awesome and totally unrelated to digestion quote!).

Peperoncini Beef Sandwiches (from A Year of Slow Cooking via Cooking with Christen)
2 lbs Beef Chuck Roast
1 16 oz jar whole peperoncini peppers
1 tsp Tabasco Sauce
6 Slices cheese (mozzarella, swiss, or provolone as shown here)
12 slices toasted bread or 6 toasted sandwich rolls

Place beef and entire contents of pepper jar into 4-6 quart slow cooker. Cook all day (8+ hours) on low setting. Add Tabasco if needed. Shred meat with 2 forks. Dish onto bread and top with cheese. If cheese needs help melting, place open sandwich in toaster oven on broil for about 30 seconds.

Caramelized Scallops

2012-01-08T19:32:00.000-08:00

I thought about not blogging this particular recipe. It was probably my least successful scallop recipe I've ever cooked. However, I think my problems were entirely due to my ridiculous stovetop and not the recipe, so I'm going to go ahead and blog about it in the hopes that some of my readers actually have stoves that have gradiation (you know, like turn dials) instead of the ever-so-ancient electric push button style I've got. My stove just doesn't get hot enough, even when I've got my "number 3" hottest setting, to caramelize the scallops nor cook down the sauce fast enough. The scallops pictured here were not the rich golden color I prefer, the sauce was a little runny, and the absolute worst was the fact that the scallops got a little rubbery while I waited for the sauce to thicken up. Bummer, since the most important tip to delicious scallops is to err on the side of undercooking. Scallops are expensive, too, so I would have loved for this recipe to have turned out. But, again, I do believe all my issues had to do with my poor stovetop, which really suffers from lack of subtlety in temperature. Hopefully, someday soon, I will finally be able to leave my (adult) lifetime of apartment living behind and will move into a condo with a better stove (fingers crossed for 2012!), but until then, I probably can't afford scallops anyway!

Caramelized Scallops (from Annie's Eats)

12 large sea scallops
Pinch of kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons butter
½ cup white sugar, spread on a flat plate
½ cup dry white wine
Juice of one lemon, freshly squeezed
1 tbsp. finely chopped flat parsley
8 chives
1 tbsp. lemon zest

Rinse and dry the scallops well. Season both sides of the scallops with salt and pepper. Heat a skillet on medium-high for 2 minutes. Add the butter and swirl to coat the pan. When the butter begins to foam, prepare the scallops quickly. Working efficiently, coat one side of each scallop in sugar, grasping the sides and using a gentle twisting motion to help the sugar adhere. Place the scallops sugar side down in the skillet and sauté for 2½ minutes. If the sugar starts to brown too quickly, reduce the heat. Flip the scallops over and cook for 1 minute more. Add the white wine and lemon juice to the pan and reduce by half, about 1½ minutes. Transfer the scallops to a platter or serving dishes. Pour the pan juices over the top and garnish with chopped parsley, chives and lemon zest. Serve immediately.

Breakfast Cupcakes!

2012-01-03T20:00:00.000-08:00

This recipe was starred in my Google Reader for a few months. It really seemed like an easy "real" breakfast that I could adapt to my own tastes. I don't know why I waited so long to try it, but lately, I've been trying to eat real food for breakfast instead of my usual Slim Fast shake (it is so easy, it is hard to resist at work!). After I made these the first time, I was shocked to discover that the Weight Watchers points on these are only 2 each! So I could have two of these and still have a breakfast that is fewer points than that much less filling shake. Sign me up!

Breakfast Cupcakes (from The Rookie Chef)

1/2 cup Eggbeaters (or other egg substitute)

1/2 cup shredded cheese (low fat is okay here and what I used)

Chopped Vegetables such as bell peppers/onions (I used about a half cup chopped peppers & onions from a frozen bag! So easy)

3 turkey sausage links, cooked and chopped

Spray muffin pan with cooking spray. Combine all ingredients into a bowl (I just used the 2 cup measuring cup that I used to measure the egg!). Divide among the muffin cups (the number of muffins will vary by the amount of veggies you use, I got 5 out of my first try, 4 out of the second). Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until the tops are set and just golden brown. Serve with ketchup or Tabasco or eat plain.

Southwestern Turkey Meatball Skillet

2012-01-03T19:43:00.000-08:00

This recipe was on the cover of my October 2011 Clean Eating Magazine and I knew right away that I wanted to make it. It made it onto the menu within a couple weeks of receiving it (yes, I'm THAT behind on blogging). I subscribe to a few magazines, but rarely actually make recipes directly from the publications, chosing instead to just draw inspiration from my reading. So making an actual magazine recipe is a big deal. I decided to half the recipe, knowing that a pound of ground turkey would be way too much. As I went along, following the recipe but halving each item, I started adding extra spices to the mix, because the straight up turkey meatballs seemed a little plain. The only trouble I ran into was in my "winging it" mode, I accidentally went a little gung ho with the egg whites and added both for my half recipe! I tried scooping out some of the excess and then added more bread crumbs - it seemed to work pretty well. We enjoyed the flavors of this and both agreed the extra spices were quite needed. The only complaint that the husband had was that he thought it needed a "cream sauce." Since there is no way that he would actually ask for a cream sauce usually, I think he was really asking for more fat in these very lean meatballs. This is a recipe I will try again with a little tweaking.

Southwest Meatballs with Warm Corn-Black Bean Salsa (from Clean Eating Magazine October 2011)
1 lb ground turkey breast
2 large egg whites
1/4 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (I added)
1/2 tsp ground oregano (I added)
1 tsp cumin (I added)
2 tsp olive oil
1 cup frozen yellow or white corn
1 15oz can low sodium black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups diced vine ripened tomatoes
1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
1 Tbs fresh lime juice
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 cup chopped cilantro (I omitted)

In large bowl, combine turkey, egg whites, bread crumbs, salt and pepper and mix well. Shape into 16 meatballs, each about the size of a golf ball

In a large skillet, heat oil on medium high. Add meatballs and cook for 3-5 minutes, turning frequently until browned on all sides. Add corn, beans, tomatoes, broth, lime juice and cumin and mix well. Reduce heat to medium, partially cover and cook an additional 3-5 minutes, until meatballs are cooked through. Stir in cilantro and serve.

Chicken with Tomato Herb Pan Sauce

2011-11-15T17:41:00.001-08:00

Wow, it has been so long since I've posted anything that I can't even remember how to write. And honestly, I almost didn't blog this recipe because so many other bloggers have posted about it and did a far better job than I did with it. Since I really didn't have any of the fresh herbs this recipe called for, I should probably have called this "Chicken & Cooked Tomatoes" but I was in need of a quick weeknight recipe and had chicken and tomatoes, so I went with it. I really enjoyed this, but my husband found it a little bland. I probably liked it because I added a drizzle of delicious balsamic vinegar to mine, and my husband seems to think he doesn't like balsamic (silly boy). I would definitely say to go the distance and add the fresh herbs the recipe calls for to keep the flavor going!

Chicken with Tomato Herb Pan Sauce (from Annie's Eats, originally from Bon Appetit)

Ingredients:
For the chicken:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, butterflied and halved (4 halves total)
Salt and pepper
¾ cup flour

For the sauce:
2 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
1 clove garlic, minced
1½ tsp. fresh oregano, minced
½ tsp. sweet paprika
Salt and pepper
2 tsp. olive oil
2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes (about 12 oz.)
1/3 cup dry white wine or chicken broth
1 tbsp. minced fresh parsley

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

Directions:
Season both sides of the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Lightly dredge both sides of the chicken in the flour, shaking off the excess. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the butter, garlic, oregano, and paprika. Season with salt and pepper to taste. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt 1 tablespoon of the oregano butter with the olive oil. Place the chicken breast halves in the skillet and cook until golden brown on each side and cooked through, about 3-4 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate, cover loosely with foil, and set aside.

Increase the heat to high and add the tomatoes to the skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes begin to char and burst, about 5 minutes. Add the remaining butter mixture to the pan. Crush the tomatoes slightly to release their juices and continue stirring until the butter is melted. Add the wine or broth to the pan, scraping the bottom to loosen the browned bits. Cook for a minute more until well blended.

Transfer chicken to serving plates, and top with the pan sauce. Sprinkle with parsley, drizzle with balsamic vinegar (if desired) and serve

Mole Pork Chops

2011-10-07T18:53:00.000-07:00

I've posted more pork chop recipes in the last 10 posts or so than I probably have the entire blog history! I have a couple reasons for that. One is that pork is just so frequently on sale, and I'm really trying to knock down our food budget, which gets out of control when food is a hobby (shared by both me and the husband). The other is that I have actually recently had luck with finding some recipes that I know the husband will like, even though they are pork (which he still sometimes thinks he doesn't like, even though he does). This is one of those recipes. I think he even said that we could make this a regular recipe. I made it pretty spicy, but you can always adjust the seasonings to come up with a blend that works for you. Look at the grill marks this gets! That's from a stovetop grill on a very old coil style electric stove, so I'm pretty proud! I served these with mashed potatoes made with sour cream, and roasted cauliflower with a light sprinkle of cayenne pepper. Great spicy meal!

Mole Style Pork Chops (from My Recipes via Cooking with LT)
*1 tablespoon brown sugar
*1 teaspoon smoked paprika
*1 teaspoon ground cumin
*1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
*1 teaspoon chipotle chile powder
*4 pork chops, 1/2 inch thick (I used boneless)
*Cooking spray

1. Heat a grill pan or skillet over medium heat.

2. Combine first 6 ingredients and rub evenly over both sides of pork. Lightly coat pork with cooking spray.

3. Place pork on the heated pan. Cover and grill 3 minutes on each side or until done. Let stand 3 minutes before serving.

Oreo Birthday Cake for August Birthdays

2011-09-24T20:04:00.000-07:00

I don't always make the hour and a half drive from Santa Barbara to San Luis Obispo to see my family as often as I should. Our busy racing schedule and my mentoring work with Hospice keep me booked up on most weekends (not to mention the busy schedules of my family up there, too!). There are always at least two guaranteed visits per year on Thanksgiving and my dad and stepsister's birthday. Something about their shared August birthday (as well as a generally convenient break in the racing season) means that this birthday celebration must be in person each year. This year's visit was particularly lovely, with perfect weather, lots of delicious food, and of course, a delicious cake! I found this recipe on Annie's Eats, and since it was one of her earlier cake concoctions, it seemed easy enough for me to try out for my first big cake (most of Annie's more recent cakes are to die for and look like they belong in a gourmet restaurant, but are a little too advanced for me!). Instead of using the Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake that she recommends, I used the same recipe that we used for my mother-in-law's chocolate cake when we went to Michigan in July this year (that was a whole other adventure, baking with my very particular 5 year old niece and my very worried father-in-law). The caked baked up beautifully, but I probably should have flattened it out a bit before stacking the cakes together. I figured I would hide the gaps with the filling and frosting, but to my disappointment, it was way too warm in my apartment for the butter cream frosting to serve as a proper "shellac." I jokingly refer to my "meltdown over the meltdown" now, but I was really freaking out at the time. I didn't want my family to bring up a certain infamous disaster cake that a babysitter once helped me make (known as the "sandy earthquake cake" because we used granulated sugar in the frosting and the entire thing had split in baking). Thankfully, I simply threw the entire cake and the bowl of frosting into the fridge for an hour before I even wanted to look at it again. When I took it out, the frosting was much easier to work with and I was able to salvage a very pretty cake. I think the guests of honor enjoyed it! My niece was disappointed with my dad's calm demeanor and decided to show him how to properly pose with a cake.

Cookies & Cream Chocolate Cake
For "Feathery Fudge Cake" (from Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook, circa 1963 or so):
2/3 Cup softened butter
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted & cooled
2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups ice water
Cream together butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Blend in chocolate. Sift flour, soda and salt together. Add to creamed mixture alternately with water, beating after each addition. Bake in two parchment lined 9" cake pans in preheated 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes until done.

For Perfectly Chocolate Frosting (from Hershey's):
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add more milk if needed. Stir in vanilla. Chill if needed

For Oreo filling (from Annie's Eats):
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1/8 cup confectioners sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla
10 sandwich cookies, chopped
In bowl of electric mixer with whisk attachment, combine heavy cream, sugar and vanilla. Beat on low until sugar is incorporated. Increase to high and whisk until stiff peaks form. Fold in chopped cookies.

To assemble:
Place one cake layer on a cardboard cake circle. Pipe a ring of chocolate frosting around the top outside of the layer, creating an edge. Fill the area inside the ring of frosting with about half the whipped Oreo topping. Place the second layer on top. Frost the sides of the cake with chocolate frosting. Pipe a decorative border around the top layer with the remaining chocolate frosting. Fill the area inside this boarder with the remaining whipped Oreo topping. Garnish with additional Oreos or Oreo crumbs, if desired.

Maturing a Childhood Favorite: Fishsticks

2011-09-20T18:45:00.000-07:00

Like many of my fellow Americans, I grew up with my Macaroni and Cheese coming out of a blue box with flourescent orange cheese product that I could count on. Macaroni and cheese went together with fish sticks in my family about nine times out of ten, and to this day, I get nostalgic for the combination. Of course, my palate has matured a bit and I no longer feel all that great after preparing a meal of all that processed "wholesome goodness" that is advertised. I had heard good things about Alton Brown's stovetop macaroni and cheese, and knew I needed to try that, but it was really when I saw Elly make these Panko Crusted Fishsticks that I knew it was time to recreate the childhood meal. The macaroni and cheese was a bit of a bust, but I think I know what I did wrong, so I'll make it again and blog it when it is worthy. The fish sticks were fantastic. This is the first new recipe I've made in a while that we both knew, while eating, that it would become a part of our meal rotation for sure. They came together relatively quickly, were crunchy, yet still tasted very much like real fish. I loved the addition of the spices to the panko for added flavor. Kudos to Elly for coming up with such a great idea!

Panko Crusted Fish Sticks (from Elly Says Opa)

2 tilapia, cod, or other white fish fillets (about 3/4 lb.)

1 egg, beaten

1.25 cups panko

heaping 1/4 tsp. onion powder

heaping 1/4 tsp. garlic powder

heaping 1/4 tsp. paprika

salt and freshly ground pepper

1 Tbsp. canola oil

Preheat the oven to 450. Place a cooling rack on top of a baking sheet and spray lightly with cooking oil/spray. Cut the fish into strips. Beat the egg in one shallow bowl and use another shallow bowl or plate to mix together the panko, garlic powder, paprika, salt and pepper, and canola oil. Dip the fish strips into the egg and the into the panko mixture, coating on all sides. Place each strip on the prepared baking rack and bake for about 10 minutes, rotating the pan once halfway through, or until fish is flaky.

Pork Chops with Cherry Port Wine Sauce

2011-09-20T18:28:00.000-07:00

I seem to be kicking the food rut I've been in the last few months, and have been making more new recipes lately, so here I am, back in the food blog world! This recipe was one that I've been eyeing for a while in my Cooking Light cookbook. I knew that I wanted to use pork chops instead of the pork medallions because my husband doesn't particularly care for the texture of pork tenderloin medallions (although he likes pork tenderloin when he can cut it up himself after it is cooked, go figure!). We usually have at least one small bottle of port wine hanging around because of our wine club membership (Kalyra has a membership where you get one white, one red and one dessert wine with each shipment), so I knew this would be a great option for us. I served this over mashed potatoes with a green salad. We were both fans, but I have an even better pork recipe in my archives just waiting to be posted, so stay tuned!

Pork "Medallions" with Port Wine Cherry Pan Sauce (from Cooking Light)

Please follow the link to the recipe. I followed the recipe exactly other than using pork chops instead of medallions and therefore cooking just a little longer to ensure doneness.

Restaurant Review: Bouchon

2011-07-17T13:14:00.000-07:00

I really ate well for my birthday this year. It has been really amazing, since food has become our hobby, how much my tastes in birthday restaurants have changed. The first time I took the husband out to dinner for his birthday, we went to the Outback (that was his 30th birthday, so while we were at the restaurant, our roommate was getting the house ready for his surprise party, since I was too young to buy the beer!). I recently went through all our gift cards and found that we have 3 different Outback gift cards that we haven't used because we just aren't interested in that kind of food anymore. So this year, for my birthday, I enjoyed a small birthday lunch (stupid sales conference means that 2/3 of my office is always out on my birthday) at Olio Pizzeria, a fairly new and very authentic Italian pizzeria. All 4 girls at our table finished our entire meals, which is very unusual for our group, it was just so tasty! But the highlight of the day was definitely Bouchon. After much deliberation, I chose Bouchon for my dinner date with my husband the night of my birthday. We were pleased to find out that Bouchon was owned by the same team that runs Wine Cask, another of our favorite uber-fancy restaurants. Bouchon has many of the same aspects that we love about Wine Cask - fantastic wine list, unique menu items, knowledgable servers, and especially, their locally sourced ingredients. We started with the local crab cakes (no picture, but the menu describes them as being served with: "charred corn and microgreens salad, red bell pepper coulis, basil aioli and local avocado." These were delicious and fresh, with lovely completary tastes with the fresh items on the plate.

Now to the fun stuff with pictures:

My husband enjoyed a sea bass with carrot risotto and a fresh pea sauce. This dish was so intriguing. If you were to take a bite of the fish by itself, it would have been too salty to enjoy. But enjoying a bite with the risotto or the pea sauce, it was perfectly balanced. The texture of the fish was great, too - nice and crispy crust, but a soft velvety texture inside.

I had the grilled rack of lamb, which is lately all I have eyes for when I'm out at a nice restaurant. I believe that this was served over braised kale and a lentil pilaf with house made bacon, but the menu has changed, so I'm not sure of the exact details. This was just delicious. I love the rich earthy flavor of lamb - it is like beef has been kicked up with twice as much flavor. The only trouble with ordering lamb at fancy restaurants is that I have to avoid picking up the bones and picking every last little bit of meat off them like I do ribs at a barbeque - finger foods tend to be frowned upon a bit at these sorts of restaurants. Thankfully, I'm pretty skilled at using a knife & fork to get every last scrap! I also enjoyed the lentil pilaf and I'm going to start using lentils at home a bit.

Since we had cupcakes waiting for us at home, we didn't order dessert here. The restaurant instead comped both of my glasses of wine in honor of my birthday. We were really impressed with the service here and both of us agree that we like the ambiance even better than Wine Cask. We will be back for more special occassions, I'm sure!

Broiled Barbeque Tofu

2011-07-15T14:21:00.000-07:00

This was definitely the winner of my vegetarian week (although the sushi takeout was pretty yummy, too!). I'm always amazed when I enjoy tofu dishes, because it is definitely one of those things that this picky eater would have sworn was gross before I became more daring with food. Honestly, tofu is nothing to be afraid of, since it has no real flavor of its own. It is more a texture thing, and this dish did a great job at adding delicious flavor and crispy texture all at once. I picked up a chipotle barbeque sauce because I knew I wanted more spicy flavor than sweet for this. I then checked out a couple recipes/techniques and found this one on allrecipes. I liked the idea of crisping the tofu in a pan first before coating in barbeque sauce and carmelizing in the broiler. I decided to coat in panko bread crumbs that had been run through the food processor briefly because I love the crispiness that panko gives. And instead of frying the tofu, I just crisped it up in a pan lightly coated with cooking spray. I also used a whole egg instead of egg whites because I just didn't want to deal with the egg whites. These changes resulted in a deliciously crispy and carmelized product. I absolutely could have eaten the entire block of tofu by myself, but I held off (and the leftovers, while not as crispy, were still pretty tasty). I will definitely make this one again for the husband to enjoy with me.

Broiled Barbeque Tofu

1 block extra firm tofu, drained

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs, run through the food processor

1 egg

1 cup barbeque sauce

cooking spray

Slice tofu into 8 slices. Press between two cutting boards lined with paper towels, weighing down the top board with a couple canned items or other heavy things. Preheat oven to 375. Place tofu slices into a pan and cook, unseasoned for 10-15 minutes to dry further. Allow to cool while you get the egg and bread crumbs into shallow dishes for coating. Turn broiler on to preheat. When tofu is cool enough to handle, dip into egg and then bread crumbs, shaking to remove excess. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add coated tofu pieces and cook, stirring once, until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Dip each tofu piece into barbeque sauce and place on a broiler pan. Broil until sauce starts to carmelize - this will depend on your barbeque sauce, it took mine about 4 minutes. Keep an eye on this, don't let it burn! Remove and enjoy. Makes 2 servings of 4 slices each.

Black Bean Burrito Bowls

2011-07-15T14:05:00.000-07:00

I have just finished a week of vegetarian eating. This week, my husband was away at Specialized bike camp (a week long dealer event where Specialized Bicycles debuts new products, fun times for my husband). While he was away, I decided that this was going to be the week to try out new vegetarian entrees. I have wanted to do a week of vegetarian for a while now, and since I'm going to the midwest for vacation next week, I thought the detox before I left for what is sure to be some unhealthier eating would be in order. I also thought this would be a good way to stay motivated to cook at home without eating anything too unhealthy (I've been known to indulge in rib-eye steaks and hamburger helper while the husband is away, and that just isn't good for my tummy!). This meal was actually one of the ones I cooked while the husband was still in town, so I knew it would have to be substantial and over the top good for him to be satisfied. This was really yummy, we both enjoyed the peppery flavor, but both agreed it needed a little more spice. Next time, I'll probably add some spices to the rice as it cooks as well as switching out some of the milder peppers for jalapenos. This makes a LOT of pepper mix, so you can probably double the rice and make 8 entrees with the same number of peppers.

Black Bean Burrito Bowls (my own recipe)

1 Cup brown rice

2.5 cups vegetable broth

2 Fresno chiles

2 Anaheim chiles

1 Poblano pepper

1 Red bell pepper

1 small onion

1 Tbs olive oil

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 can black beans - drained and rinsed

Cook brown rice in rice cooker with broth (Or cook on the stovetop, but I'm awful at cooking brown rice on the stovetop!). Meanwhile, chop anaheims, poblano, bell pepper and onion into 1/4 to 1/2 inch pieces. Dice fresno chiles finely. Heat oil in large skillet over medium high heat. Saute onion and peppers until very soft and starting to char - about 10 minutes. Heat black beans in a small saucepan until heated through. To prepare bowls, serve about a 1/2 cup cooked rice, top with a large spoonful of pepper mixture, top with black beans, then top with cheese. Serve with tortillas or chips. Makes about 4 servings with leftover chiles, or double rice & cheese for 8 servings.

Carmelized Chipotle Pork Chops

2011-06-24T18:51:00.000-07:00

Chipotles are so delicious, and easy to cook with because they come in easy small cans. Unfortunately, they are also fairly high on the heat scale and most recipes only require about one chipotle and a little of the Adobo sauce that they are canned in. I had used one chipotle a couple months back and promptly put the rest in a small Tupperware to use later. I recently was cleaning out the fridge and noticed a sweet/smokey/spicy scent before realizing that the
Tupperware container was leaking all over the shelves of my fridge! Aside from being a mess, it also made me realize I was craving chipotle flavor! Very soon after that, some of the women on my cooking board were talking about good recipes for bone-in chicken thighs. I took a peek at the post because I love chicken thighs even though the husband does not (nothing with bones for him!). Elly posted this lovely recipe for Carmelized Chipotle Chicken Thighs and I almost rushed out and bought the bone in thighs anyway because they looked too darn good, but one of her reader comments stated that the same process works great on pork chops, which were on sale this week. Even though this recipe only used 2 chipotles, I also threw one more into the mashed potatoes (along with some cream cheese and some of the adobo sauce, yum!), and then I froze the rest. This was such a great dish, and might be my new favorite pork chop recipe. A great combination of sweet, spicy and smokey, and the flavors develop perfectly with this cooking method.

Carmelized Chipotle Pork Chops (Inspired by Elly Says Opa)

1.5 Tbsp. olive oil

4 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1 onion, chopped

1/2 cup ketchup

1 tbsp. Dijon mustard

1 Tbsp. packed brown sugar

2 Tbsp. chopped chipotles in adobo

1/2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 Tbsp. cider vinegar

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

4 boneless pork chops (medium thickness)

Heat oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat, until shimmery (I used my french oven). Add the onions to the oil, and cook, stirring occasionally until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Add garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add remaining ingredients, except pork, to skillet and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 25 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 and place a rack in the center. Add pork to skillet, flipping to coat in sauce. Roast in heated oven for 20 minutes, covered. Remove from oven, turn up heat to 450, flip chops and baste in remaining sauce in pan. Roast in oven at 450 until chops begin to brown, about 15 more minutes. Makes 4 servings (but we each ate 2 servings, it was so good!).

Cookie Dough Truffles - Best treat ever!

2011-06-20T17:18:00.000-07:00

I have always loved truffles. Ever since I learned there was a chocolate kind of truffle instead of a mushroom dug up by pigs/dogs, I have been hooked. I have also always been a fan of cookie dough, and this runs in my family (my dad used to eat about as much dough as was baked for his famous chocolate chip cookies). When I saw a recipe for eggless cookie dough truffles on Annie's Eats, I knew that I was going to have to make them. I have actually made these twice in the last month. Once was for the co-workers at my office and the bike shops, and the second time was for my dad & my grad (nephew - high school). This was the first time ever that my office ate the same amount of treats as the bike shop. Granted we have three times as many employees working, but we are a little more health conscious and a lot more sedentary than those guys. One of the guys at the shop told the husband "Your wife made heaven!" after trying these, and my nephew declared these "The very best thing (I've) ever made, ever." So I would recommend these to just about anyone. I highly recommend a double boiler set up for dipping the balls, as it melts the chocolate so much smoother than microwaving, without any guesswork. They taste best when just out of the fridge, even though they are counter safe if you need to have them out at a party for a while. These will probably become a staple treat that I will bring to potlucks, etc.

Cookie Dough Truffles (from Annie's Eats)
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
2¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
I added 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
1½ lb. semisweet (or bittersweet) chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used Almond Bark)
Combine the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the flour, salt, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla until incorporated and smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the mixture has firmed up enough to form balls (about an hour or so, overnight is too long!).

Shape the chilled cookie dough mixture into 1-1½ inch balls. Place on a baking sheet lined with wax paper. Cover loosely, transfer the pan to the freezer and chill for 1-2 hours. (this step might not be 100% necessary if you are time or freezer space crunched)

When ready to dip the truffles, melt the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Dip each chilled truffle, one at a time, coating in chocolate and shaking gently to remove the excess. I found that shaking the candy gently off the fork rather than rolling helped to avoid the tell tale fork marks. Once all the truffles have been dipped, store them in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Makes 40-60 truffles depending on the size of the balls.

Fava Bean Risotto

2011-06-16T17:21:00.000-07:00

I received Fava Beans in my Plow to Porch box and thought that it might be nice to try and incorporate them into a risotto of some sort. I have never eaten fava beans before, so I thought combining them with a starch like risotto would be a good way to ease in. I wish that I had just tried them on their own, or had tried them in a different recipe. They were so much fun to cook, but this recipe that I found on allrecipes just didn't bring enough fava bean color or flavor to the party. I think the author might have errored when they called for 1/2 lb of unshelled favas and maybe meant 1/2 lb of favas removed from the first shell, but not the second skin? Either way, this was my first time making risotto, and I think I have the technique down. It is a ridiculously starchy dish, so I need to perhaps make it next time when we have company instead of just the two of us. It is easy to overload on risotto, even when you aren't very fond of the recipe as was the case here (look at the portion size I served up, sheesh!). I have to say, I really loved the process of the double shelling of the favas, and they are so beautiful after they have been shelled the second time! I look forward to cooking them as a standard side dish next spring, since they have such a short season that they are available.

Green Risotto with Fava Beans (from Allrecipes)
1/2 pound fresh, unshelled fava beans (probably means shelled but not "second skinned")
4 cups chicken broth
3 tablespoons butter, divided
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 cup Arborio rice
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup grated Reggiano Parmesan cheese
salt to taste
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, shell the favas and discard the pods. Boil the favas for 4 minutes, strain and then immediately plunge into ice water. Let cool for 2 minutes then pierce the favas and squeeze them out of their skins. Separate 3/4 of the favas and puree in a food processor.
In a separate large saucepan bring the broth to a simmer, and keep it hot. Meanwhile, in another large saucepan over medium heat, melt 1.5 tablespoons of the butter and add the onions. Reduce the heat to low and cook for about 5 minutes; do not brown the onions. Add the rice and cook, while stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the wine, increase the heat to medium, and stir constantly. When the wine has been absorbed, add a little of the hot stock. Once the stock is absorbed, add a little more; repeat this process, stirring constantly, until the rice is cooked through.
To the cooked rice add the pureed favas, the remaining 1.5 tablespoons of butter, the rest of the favas and the cheese. Cook over medium heat, stirring, until the butter and cheese melt and the puree is incorporated evenly. Season with salt.

Lemon Bars/Cookies

2011-06-12T18:05:00.000-07:00

I had two rather large lemons in my Plow to Porch box and had no idea what to do with them. Thankfully, lots of the blogs that I follow posted lemon bar recipes right around that time, and I found an easy recipe in my trusty checkerboard cookbook (Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook). While I loved how easy these were to whip up, and the flavor was pretty good, I wasn't very pleased with the texture of this bar. The shortbread crust had a nice flakey & crumbley texture, but the lemony filling baked up much quicker than the original recipe stated and I was left with almost a hard candy topping instead of the sweet soft curd like texture that I was expecting. The lemon bar tasted like a lemon flavored shortbread cookie. This is almost certainly not the recipe's fault, but my ridiculously tempermental oven's fault. I'm pretty sure the oven runs at least 25 degrees too hot, but if I try and lower the heat to compensate, that doesn't help much either. I've mentioned it to the owner of the apartment building in the hopes that she will replace the entire oven/stove unit (like she did with our awesome kitchen faucet!), but she's stated that the oven is a compact size that she can't find anywhere, and barring a complete kitchen remodel, we are out of luck until we move out of this joint. So, next time I get lemons, maybe I'll just make lemonade!

Lemon Bars (from Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook)
For Shortbread crust:
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup All Purpose Flour

For Lemon topping
2 eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbs All Purpose Flour
2 tsp finely shredded lemon peel
3 Tbs lemon juice
1/4 tsp baking powder

In Medium mixing bowl, beat butter with electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add the 1/4 cup granulated sugar and beat until combined. Beat in the flour until crumbly. Press mixture into the bottom of an ungreased 8x8x2" baking pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15-18 minutes until just golden. Meanwhile, for filling, in small mixing bowl, combine eggs, 3/4 cup sugar, 2 Tbs flour, lemon peel, lemon juice and baking powder. Beat 2 minutes or until combined. Pour filling over baked crust. Bake 20 minutes or till lightly browned around edges and center is set (this took about 10 minutes for me, stupid oven). Cool on wire rack. If desired, sift powdered sugar over the top before cutting into squares. Makes about 20 bars

Roasted Beet & Tomato Salad

2011-06-04T10:31:00.000-07:00

Although I love, love, love my weekly fruit & vegetable deliveries from Plow to Porch, I have to admit, sometimes I am frightened. The husband and I grew up in pretty traditional households where vegetables were usually corn, green beans, peas and maybe an iceberg lettuce "salad." I was lucky enough to live in central California, so I also got some yummy asparagus and artichokes from time to time. Not very adventurous. So when I first saw beets on the delivery list, I was scared. The first appearance of beets happened to coincide with a visit to my dad & stepmom up in SLO. They hadn't seen me in a while and I had lost a ton of weight in that time, so they were curious to hear about this fruit & vegetable delivery service that was encouraging me to try new things and focus more on fruits & veggies (since that was pretty much how I lost all the weight!). As I was telling them all about it, I mentioned that I was really nervous about the beets in the next week. I kid you not, both dad and stepmom, like 6 year olds, preceded to "eeewww" and "you are kidding, throw them out" in ridiculous ways. No freakin' wonder I have fears of certain vegetables! I'm pretty sure I ended up throwing away that first batch of beets out of not having a clue what to do with them, but soon enough, I was roasting them up in foil packets with a little bit of olive oil, adding them to salads. I actually really like them, and after the first time I made them, the husband admitted that they had them all the time when he was growing up (so weird to me, he is such a traditional midwesterner, I had no idea they ate beets!). Eventually, my husband admitted that he wouldn't mind having a salad that was entirely beet focused. I researched on the internet and found that the most common ingredient in a beet salad is (well, other than beets) goat cheese. Well... we're not fans (I know, take away my foodie license or whatever). I also saw that many like the flavor of balsamic vinegar and beets. That gave me the idea for this salad. Very simple roasted beets, chilled, with chopped ripe heirloom tomatoes and a light dressing of balsamic vinegar and olive oil. This was so delicious, and it might sound strange, but we get soooo many tomatoes with Plow to Porch in the summer that I'm really excited for another way to use them up. The husband doesn't love balsamic vinegar like I do (what, doesn't everyone want to drink it?), but he really liked this as well, even though I "poured a bunch of that weird brown stuff on there." By all means, go ahead and add goat cheese if you want. I might add some feta next time for some creamy texture. But don't fear the beets!

Balsamic Roasted Beets and Tomato Salad (my own creation)

4-5 small beets, tops and bottoms trimmed off (I used golden here, but all sorts of beets would work, I think)

1 large heirloom tomato

olive oil (about 3 Tbs)

Balsamic Vinegar (about 1-2 Tbs)

Salt & Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place trimmed, unskinned beets in foil packet. Drizzle with olive oil before folding the packet closed (I leave a little bit of air inside the packet to circulate). Place in heated oven for about 45 minutes or until beets are soft and skins come off easily. Allow to cool completely before removing skins. Chop into wedges or bitesize pieces. Refridgerate about 1 hour until chilled. Chop tomato into bitesize pieces. Mix tomato & beets in small bowl. Toss with approx even amounts of olive oil and balsamic vinegar or to your own tastes. Tomatoes and beets should absorb most of the dressing and there shouldn't be much pooling inside the bowl. Top with salt & pepper to taste and serve. Makes two servings.

Fiesta Brown Rice Chicken Bake

2011-05-27T17:28:00.000-07:00

I'm a big fan of casseroles, as I'm sure I've said before. I'm an even bigger fan of one dish casseroles like this one. I saw this dish on The Mess Pot right around Cinco de Mayo and thought I'd give it a shot. I'm so happy I did, these flavors are right up our alley and the process was relatively simple. It reminded me a little of a jambalaya or paella. I even got to use yummy boneless chicken thighs without my dark meat fearing husband even knowing! I did cut back slightly on the garlic, and I probably used a little more chili powder than the recipe called for. I have to say, that spritz of fresh lime juice at the end really makes a huge difference here. I sometimes leave stuff like that out, but the dish wouldn't be the same without it. We will definitely be having this again!

Tex-Mex Chicken & Brown Rice (from The Mess Pot)
8 Garlic Cloves (I used about 6)
2 tsp chili powder (I used about 2.5 tsp)
1/2 tsp hot sauce (I used Tabasco)
Salt & Pepper
1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs, trimmed
1 tsp canola oil
1 onion, minced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 jalapenos, stemmed, seeded and minced
2 ears corn (I used 1 cup frozen, since I have an endless supply right now!)
1 cup long grain brown rice, rinsed
1 1/4 cups low sodium chicken broth (I always use stock)
4 scallions, sliced diagonally
1 Tbs fresh lime juice

Adjust oven rack to lower position and heat oven to 300 degrees. Combine half the garlic, 1 tsp chili powder, hot sauce and salt & pepper in a large bowl. Stir in the chicken and rub until covered. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a large dutch oven over medium high heat until simmering. Add the onion, bell pepper, jalapenos and corn. Cook until soft and light brown, 8-10 minutes. Stir in rice, remaining garlic, and remaining chili powder and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the broth, scraping up brown bits at bottom of the pan.

Lay the chicken on top of the rice mixture. Bring to a simmer, cover, and transfer to oven. Cook until rice is tender and liquid is almost absorbed, 50-65 minutes. Transfer chicken to plate. Cover the pot and allow rice to steam up the rest of the liquid for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, chop/shred the chicken into small pieces.

Stir the shredded chicken into the rice. Top with scallions and lime juice. Season with salt & pepper to taste before serving.

Soft Garlic Knots

2011-05-14T15:31:00.000-07:00

My successful return to baking with yeast commenced with these delicious soft garlic knots. After my initial success with pizza dough, I thought yeast was a piece of cake. Unfortunately, my pita disaster then frightened me off for about a year. I saw this recipe on Annie's Eats (love her), and thought that if Annie thought this was a good yeast dough for beginners, that maybe I could give yeast dough a shot again. Plus, I'm a sucker for soft garlicky bread! I really felt like not only was this a delicious final product, but the dough itself was very forgiving, allowing me to really experiment with it to figure out what worked for me when shaping. When I tried to roll the dough like play-dough, the dough deflated a little too much and those rolls didn't puff as much in the second rise as the others. What worked was stretching and kind of tossing the dough a little, like pizza dough, until it strung out to the length I needed and then I could shape it easily. Such a fun project because it really is a lot like playing with Play-dough and it makes the house smell like beer and then like fresh bread! These are also reheating from the freezer quite nicely. I just pop them in the toaster oven on 350 for about 10 minutes and then toast them on level 2 to give them a little toasty edge. I'm glad they refreeze nicely because I ate 3 immediately out of the oven, so it's probably best if I hide them in the freezer in 2 packs for future use so that I'm not tempted to eat the whole batch!

Soft Garlic Knots (As seen on Annie's Eats & Amber's Delectable Delights, from King Arthur's Flour)
For the dough:
3 cups bread flour
1 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. instant yeast
1¼ tsp. salt
2 tbsp. olive oil
¼ cup milk
1 cup plus 2 tbsp. lukewarm water
For the glaze:
2 cloves garlic
3 tbsp. melted butter
½ tsp. Italian seasoning (I used oregano)
To make the dough, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment combine the dry ingredients. Add the olive oil, milk and water. Mix until ingredients have formed a dough. Switch to the dough hook and knead on low speed until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, turn once to coat, and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise for about 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk. Divide the dough into 10 even pieces (I think I got 11). Roll (or stretch) each piece until about 10 inches long, then tie into a knot. Tuck the ends around so that one goes into the middle of the knot and the other is tucked underneath (Annie has a great pictorial of how this works!). Transfer rolls onto a baking stone or baking sheet lined with silicone sheet. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and allow to rise for another 45-60 minutes. To make the glaze, mince the garlic into a small bowl with the melted butter. Add the Italian seasoning/oregano and mix well to combine. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Very gently brush the glaze onto the shaped, risen rolls. Bake until just golden, about 15-18 minutes.

Raising French Babies and Grating Soft Cheeses

2011-05-11T18:35:00.000-07:00

I have wanted to make a white lasagna for a while now, but needed both inspiration and a break from the cycling season to make such a fattening dish. Inspiration arrived in the way of a Plow to Porch basket that included both early season zucchini and spring spinach. Both sounded like delicious additions to a white chicken lasagna. I was excited to use my new food processor to grate the mozzarella cheese, but forgot the helpful hint of freezing this cheese before grating. It is a little too soft to grate straight out of the fridge and when I turned on the processor, it managed to get sucked through the shute as though it was a science fiction "blob" character. Of course, the sound that this made alerted the husband. When he asked "what the heck was that?" I was able to respond with a quote from one of my favorite cycling season Radioshack commercials: "I'm raising French babies and grating soft cheeses, as is the custom here!"

**This commercial is based on Lance Armstrong's fictional assistant Alphonse, who sneaks onto Lance's bike while he is out of town and pretends he is an overweight Lance, riding to victory. My favorite Radioshack commercial. The actual line from the commercial is: "They're raising French babies and throwing soft cheeses as is the custom here" in a faked British accent.

This ended up being a tasty meal and a good chance to experience the new Philadelphia Cooking Creme product. I used their Italian Herb flavor as an addition to the bechamel sauce to add a little thickness and flavor, and I appreciated the more complex flavor it added. I think I will be using this product again, since we like cream cheese, but not too much, and this cuts some of the cream cheese heaviness for us (I am not affiliated with this product in any way, by the way).

White Chicken Lasagna (my own creation)
7 No Boil Lasagna sheets
2 cooked skinless chicken breasts, diced (I used rotisserie chicken)
1 Tbs butter
1 Tbs flour
1 cup milk
1/2 cup Philadelphia Cooking Creme
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup diced onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 oz spinach, roughly chopped
1/2 pound zucchini, shredded (about 3 small or 2 medium)
8 oz low fat ricotta cheese
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 egg
1 Tbs fresh or 1 tsp dried basil
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 350. Heat a large saute pan over medium high heat. Add onion & garlic and cook until golden. Add spinach and zucchini and cook until spinach is wilted. Mix in cooked chicken and remove from heat. Meanwhile, cook the bechamel sauce by melting the butter in a small saucepan. Add flour and cook about 1 minute. Add milk and stir constantly until no lumps are noticeable and sauce begins to bubble & thicken. Add cooking creme and stir to combine. Sauce will be thick.

In a medium bowl, mix ricotta, egg, parmesan, basil & pepper. In a 13" x 9" baking pan sprayed with cooking spray, add about a 1/2 cup of bechamel sauce. Layer about half of the lasagna noodles (I did 3 facing vertically), then spread with about half of the ricotta mixture. Add a layer of about half of the chicken/veggie mixture, then top with about half the remaining bechamel. Repeat these layers, then top the entire dish with an even layer of mozzarella cheese. Cover with foil and bake about 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 5-10 minutes more until cheese starts to turn golden.

Asparagus Season

2011-05-11T18:27:00.000-07:00

My Plow to Porch life is complete. I was excited about the artichokes we got this Spring, but I knew I wouldn't be satisfied until I got locally grown asparagus delivered to my door. Look at these beauties! The husband said this meal was restaurant quality (flat iron steaks, "baked" potatoes in the microwave, and asian grilled asparagus). The only problem was that they consider one bunch to be a 1/2 pound of asparagus. I'm quite certain I could have (and would have, had the husband not stopped me) eaten the entire bunch! I supplemented with some sliced grilled zucchini with the same sauce/marinade. This is not a new recipe, but it is pretty high on my list of vegetable dishes, and it looked so pretty I had to share!

Kale, Sausage & Beans Pasta

2011-05-04T18:23:00.001-07:00

I commented last night to my husband that I sometimes feel like the vegetable delivery basket I get every week leaves me as a "Chopped" contestant. For those that don't watch Food Network, we love this show, which asks chefs to use a very strange ingredient combination to create a full meal (appetizer, main, dessert). After each round, one contestant is "chopped" for their poor performance and another weird list of ingredients is chosen for the next course. Sometimes the ingredients I get in our "Plow to Porch" delivery are really weird to me. I definitely never even tried kale prior to our subscription, and now it is one of the leafy greens we enjoy often. I had heard that kale & sausage goes well together, and I know that greens and white beans are a great combination. This was a dish that I came up with using the "secret ingredients" of kale, white beans, turkey sausage and green garlic. I really enjoyed this dish and the leftovers have been a really great lunch dish.

Kale, Sausage & White Beans (my own creation)
1 green garlic (it's kinda like a big green onion), white & light green only, diced
1 small red bell pepper, diced
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 lb Turkey Sausage, removed from casings
1/2 lb kale (mine was purple), chopped
1/2 cup chicken stock
8 oz small pasta (I used whole wheat medium shells)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup + 3 tsp milk
1 tsp cornstarch
1 can white (canelloni) beans, rinsed & drained
salt & pepper to taste
Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, heat oil in large saute pan over med-med high heat. Add diced garlic & pepper. Cook until garlic starts to carmelize, about 5 minutes. Remove veggies to a bowl, leaving as much of the oil behind as possible. Add turkey sausage, mashing into small pieces, and cook until no longer pink. Remove turkey to vegetable bowl. Add chopped kale and stir until coated with the sausage/veggie oil, then add chicken stock and cover. Cook for 5-7 minutes until kale is soft but still keeps some of its bite. Add all contents in the veggie/sausage bowl and drained beans and heat through. Create a well in the middle of the saute pan and add heavy cream. In a separate bowl, mix cornstarch with 3 tsp of milk. Stir to disolve, then add this mixture along with the rest of the milk to the saute pan. Stir very well until bubbly and thickened. Mix in with all the veggies and cook for 3-5 minutes more until desired consistency is reached. Add salt & pepper to taste, then add pasta and toss to combine. Makes 4 very filling servings.

Cajun Chicken Pasta

2011-05-03T18:20:00.000-07:00

I have a coworker who is also into cooking and always comes to me for ideas when she's cooking dinner for friends. If I can't come up with something on my own blog, I almost always head over to Annie's Eats. Annie is an amazing blogger and just a fantastic all around inspiration. When my co-worker tried Annie's Cajun Chicken Pasta, she raved about it and brought in some leftovers for me to taste. Nothing but yum! This is a recipe that I wouldn't make on a regular basis, and not in the midst of a heavy race week due to the heavy fat content, but this made a really great special occasion dinner (celebrating the first part of the season being done, yay!). This is a restaurant quality meal. I made mine a little too spicy, so I will cut back on the Cajun /Creole Seasoning next time, and the Tony's Creole Seasoning that I used was really salty, so I cut way back on the salt called for in the recipe. I also had some Spinach that I was looking to use up from my Plow to Porch delivery, so I tossed that in and I don't think I would have liked this as much without it. This is probably going to be my favorite new recipe of the year!

Cajun Chicken Pasta (from Annie's Eats)
Ingredients:

For the chicken:
1 large boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
Salt and pepper
Cajun seasoning

For the pasta:
8 oz. bowtie pasta (I used whole wheat corkscrews)
Kosher salt

For the sauce:
1 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 red bell pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped
1/4 cup yellow onion, chopped
3/4 tsp. kosher salt (I used 1/4 tsp)
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. Cajun seasoning
1/4 tsp. ground cayenne pepper
1 bag baby spinach, roughly chopped
1 cup half-and-half
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1 tbsp. water
3 scallions, chopped
To cook the chicken, heat a small amount of butter or olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper, and a generous sprinkle of Cajun seasoning. Add to the skillet and cook until lightly browned and cooked through. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
Bring a pot of salted water to boil. Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain the cooked pasta and set aside.
Meanwhile, return the skillet to medium heat and heat the butter and olive oil until the butter has melted. Add the bell peppers and onion to the pan. Mix in the salt, pepper, Cajun seasoning and cayenne pepper. Cook until the vegetables are tender, about 6-8 minutes. Add the half-and-half and heavy cream to the pan and bring to a simmer. In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and water, and add to the skillet once the cream mixture has started to bubble. Allow to cook until thickened, about 5 minutes. Add spinach and stir into sauce until wilted.
Add the cooked pasta and chicken pieces to the pan. Stir well to combine and cook at medium-low heat just until the chicken is warmed through. Adjust the amount of Cajun seasoning if necessary to suit your tastes. Stir in the scallions. Serve immediately and top with additional Cajun seasoning, if desired. Makes 4 servings

Steak Taco Salad

2011-05-03T18:10:00.000-07:00

I have never been the sort to order "just a salad" at a restaurant. A salad has to be pretty darn special (and let's face it, deep fried!) in order to grab my attention enough to be eaten as a meal. On the day I made this meal, I was planning on making a turkey cutlet dinner with mashed potatoes and braised swiss chard. It was also in the 80s, and so as the day went on, I was less and less motivated to cook the hearty dinner I had planned. I stopped at the store for something I could throw on the grill and eat with a salad, saw a fantastic flank steak, and the idea for this Steak Taco Salad was born! I picked up some mixed Mexican vegetables in the freezer section (black beans, bell pepper, corn, onion and poblano). I rubbed the steak with the equivilant of one packet of taco seasoning (I used my homemade stuff) and grilled it to medium rare along with a sliced bell pepper. I served a large amount of mixed greens topped with the cooked frozen veggies, cheese and slices of steak. I topped this with a dressing made of about a 1/4 cup of ranch dressing to 1/4 tsp of chipotle chili powder. The dressing really made the salad. We enjoyed this with chips & salsa on the side (and I crumbled mine up into the salad, too).

Guinness Beef Stew

2011-05-01T21:39:00.000-07:00

Growing up, my memories of beef stew are pretty much - Stew Meat + Golden Mushroom Soup + Dry Onion Soup Mix + Carrots + Potatoes. Not very exciting, and I really disliked Golden Mushroom Soup back then. I think the beginnings of my dislike of mushrooms came from that dish - the mushrooms didn't taste like anything, but had a nasty texture! Thankfully, I still held out hope for beef stew and have tried making it at home a couple times as an adult. Unfortunately, my husband is very particular about how he expects beef stew to taste because he had a mom who made it from scratch with no soup mixes (and I didn't know this was why he was so particular until just recently. I really need his mom's recipe!). Thankfully, the food blogging world loves to make Irish inspired meals for St. Patrick's Day, so I was able to find this recipe for Guinness Beef Stew on Mary Ellen's blog (originally from RazzleDazzleRecipes). Mary Ellen is great with comfort foods and all the stews I've seen on her site look fantastic, so I knew this recipe had great potential. I used a combination of Mary Ellen's version and the RazzleDazzleVersion (plus a couple of tasty mistakes of my own, haha) and I was floored by how good this was. So rich and velvety - and I don't even like beer! I will definitely be making this stew again!

Guinness Beef Stew
2 lbs stewing beef (I used one pound, intending to half the recipe, but messed that up a bit)
1 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
2 tablespoons flour
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Pinch of cayenne (I probably used a 1/4 tsp to my 1 Tbs flour)
2 large onions, coarsely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons tomato paste dissolved in 4 tablespoons water (I used this entire amount for my half recipe, so the result was a more tomatoey flavor and a thicker consistency)
1 ¼ cups Guinness Stout (I used about 3/4 cup for my "half recipe" because it was pretty thick from the overage of the tomato paste!)
1 teaspoon sugar
2 cups carrots, cut into 2 inch pieces
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
Sprig of fresh thyme or ½ teaspoon dried thyme (I used about a 1/2 tsp of fresh rosemary)
1 ½ cups beef broth, canned or homemade (I used this full amount)
Chopped parsley for garnish (I omitted)

Toss beef with salt, pepper, flour, and cayenne. Heat the olive oil in a large dutch oven. Add beef and brown on all sides, about 6-7 minutes. Add garlic and onions, saute 2 minutes. Add tomato paste mixture, cover and let simmer 5 minutes. Remove beef to a resting bowl. Pour half of the Guinness into the saute pan where the beef cooked. Scrape up any brown bits and bring to a steady simmer for 5 minutes. Return beef to the pan and add remainder of the Guinness. Add carrots, celery, potatoes, thyme or rosemary, sugar, and broth. Stir and adjust seasonings. Cover and cook over medium-low heat (just at a nice simmer) for 1 hour 15 minutes, stirring every 20 minutes or so. Adjust salt and pepper, and simmer partly uncovered for another hour (hmm, just now realized that I never did this! Oh well, always next time!). Adjust salt and pepper and serve.

Linguine with Vegetable Sauce

2011-05-01T21:23:00.000-07:00

I made this dish shortly after having oral surgery. I won't go into details since this is a food blog, but I was not eating up to my normal standards during my recovery. However, at this same time, I happened to notice a Macy's ad for a ridiculously low priced food processor. This is the one kitchen tool I had always done without, because while I think it is super cool, I can't justify the cost, since I can technically do all the things it can do (it just takes forever by hand!). At the sale price from Macy's, plus a gift card, plus my Macy's card discount, I really couldn't pass this deal up! The day I purchased it, I was watching the Cooking Channel and Mark Bittman happened to be using a food processor to cook this Lavender Pasta. Well, I didn't have any lavender leaves lying around, but I loved the idea of bulking up the pasta with a sauce made from veggies - all of which I could prep using my new toy! I definitely altered this a bunch, but I really loved this pasta. So much flavor and super easy, and that was just what this "Mac & Cheese and Mashed Potatoes" surgery recovering girl needed!

Linguine with Vegetable Sauce (my own creation, inspired by Mark Bittman)
8 oz linguine pasta
2 tsp olive oil
1 medium onion
2 shallots
1 clove garlic, minced
2 medium carrots
1 medium zucchini
1 medium red bell pepper, core & seeds removed
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup heavy cream

Cook pasta according to directions. Heat oil in large saute pan over medium heat. Chop onion, shallots and garlic in food processor. Add to oil and cook until lightly golden. Meanwhile, shred zucchini, carrots and bell pepper in food processor. Add to pan with onion mixture and cook until soft, about 5-7 minutes. Deglaze with white wine. Allow wine to cook off, about 1 minute. Add cream and stir until smooth. Toss sauce with pasta. Serve with freshly grated parmesan cheese. Makes about 4 servings.

Berry Crumb Bars

2011-05-01T20:56:00.000-07:00

Ever since we started getting our weekly local fruit & vegetable delivery from Plow to Porch, I have become a huge fruit lover. The first thing I eat every day is fruit of some sort. When we first started getting the deliveries, I was a little bit daunted at how much fruit we got and what to do with it. I had never even eaten a blackberry the first time I got them in the delivery box, and while I liked them, I thought it might be easier to bake these into a treat for the bike shop instead of just snacking on fruit. I probably won't have this problem again in Summer of 2011, since lately I've had to supplement the fruit in the delivery by purchasing even more fruit (and even then, my husband still complains that I eat all the strawberries before he even knows we have them!). I look forward to baking more of these yummy bars this Spring and Summer, but I know it won't be because I'm trying to use up excess fruit!

Berry Crumb Bars (from Martha Stewart)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter melted, and 1/2 cup (1 stick), room temperature, plus more for pan
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pan
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 containers (5 ounces each) blackberries (I used a mix of Blackberries and Raspberries)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan. Line bottom with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on two sides; butter and flour paper, tapping out excess.
Make topping: In a medium bowl, whisk together melted butter, brown sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt; add 1 cup flour, and mix with a fork until large moist crumbs form. Refrigerate topping until ready to use.
In a medium bowl, whisk together remaining 3/4 cup flour, baking powder, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt; set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat room-temperature butter, confectioners' sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy; add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Reduce speed to low; mix in flour mixture. Spread batter evenly in pan; sprinkle with blackberries, then chilled topping.
Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in center comes out with moist crumbs attached, 40 to 45 minutes. Cool completely in pan. Using paper overhang, lift cake onto a work surface; cut into 16 squares.

Chicken Lo Mein

2011-05-01T20:21:00.000-07:00

Let's see if I can become a food blogger again! I have admittedly not been blogging for a very long time, but I do miss it! I really give a lot of credit to the blogging world for my love of food, and that love of food and experimentation has led to my loss of 20 pounds in the last year, even if I haven't been blogging about any of the fantastic food that I've been eating. This recipe for Chicken Lo Mein comes from Elly Says Opa by way of Annie's Eats and I've been using the sauce (with some adaptation) as my standard homemade stir fry sauce. I never used Oyster Sauce before, but now it is a staple in my pantry. It really brings the Asian flavor to stir fries and does not add any fishy flavor. The picture below is shown with whole wheat spaghetti noodles, which I do not recommend. The sauce doesn't get absorbed well enough over Italian noodles, so you either need Asian noodles or rice. I have substituted in all sorts of veggies with this recipe, it really goes great with everything.

Chicken Lo Mein
6 oz. lo mein noodles
1 tbsp. oyster sauce
2 tbsp. low-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup chicken broth (I sometimes omit and use 2 Tbs Oyster Sauce and 2 Tbs Soy)
I add 1 Tbs Brown Sugar
Pinch red pepper flakes (I sometimes omit and add 1-2 tsp chili garlic paste)
1/2 tbsp. canola oil
1 medium chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, seeded and sliced thin
1 cup snow peas
4 oz. sliced mushrooms (I used 2 julienned carrots instead)
3 cloves garlic, minced (I use less if I'm using chili garlic paste)
1 tsp. sesame oil (I usually only use if I'm serving with the noodles, not with rice)

Bring a pot of water to boil. Cook the lo mein noodles according to the package directions. Drain and set aside. In the meantime, make the sauce by combining the oyster sauce, soy sauce, chicken broth, brown sugar and red pepper flakes in a small bowl. Whisk well and set aside.
Heat the canola oil in a large nonstick skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add the chicken to the pan and cook until browned and cooked through. Add in the vegetables, each a few minutes apart, starting with the onion and ending with the bell pepper (or whatever veggie takes the least amount of time to cook). Cook just until tender-crisp. Add in the garlic and saute just until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the sauce to the pan, and then the cooked lo mein noodles. Toss the mixture well to coat everything. Drizzle with the sesame oil and toss once more. Serve immediately.

Three Chile Turkey Burgers

2010-09-25T16:39:00.000-07:00

Turkey burgers are a staple in our house for their ease and health-value. Unfortunately, they can be a little bland. I usually add a little spice to the turkey burger patties I buy (yes, I buy them preformed because they are just so easy that way!). I got a little inspiration when we tried these taco burgers and thought that the idea would translate well to turkey burgers as well. But I'm not a huge fan of taco seasoning packets, so I decided to use the basic flavor ingredients from taco seasoning and just apply directly to the burgers. Since I like the way different chile flavors play off each other, I decided to add a very lightly grilled (canned) anaheim chile to each burger before topping with pepperjack cheese and guacamole. Oh my, these burgers were so good. I don't think my husband could believe he was eating such a good burger at home. We've had them twice and both times he was speechless. I swear the turkey burgers taste meatier with all those other flavors going on. These are spicy, but I find them to be a complex spicy, not a hot spicy. The anaheim chiles are quite mild, and you can control the heat of the burger by adding more or less chili powder, or by varying what kind of chili powder you use. Remember to toast the burger buns a little extra so that they hold up to this burger. With the guac and the pepper, this one can get a little sloppy.

Triple Chile Turkey Burgers
2 preformed turkey burgers (or 1/2 lb of ground turkey, shaped into patties)
1/2-1 tsp onion powder
1/2-1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp Chili powder (I used regular, but will try ancho and chipotle soon!)
1 small (4 oz) can whole mild chiles (anaheims)
1 small batch (1 avocado worth) guacamole (homemade is best, even if you are just mixing a little salsa into a chopped avocado!)
2 slices pepperjack cheese
2 toasted hamburger buns
Prepare and heat grill pan. Season turkey burgers with onion, garlic & chili powder. Set aside. Drain can of chiles. Remove two (save remaining for another use or discard). Carefully slice open one side to create one large single layer pepper out of each whole pepper. Using your knife, scrape out as many seeds as possible. Lightly grill peppers until they start to appear dry and just start to show char marks. Remove and set aside. Grill burgers, turning, until no longer pink inside. Top each burger with one grilled chile, then one slice of pepperjack cheese. Slide each burger onto a bun and top with guacamole before adding bun top.

Lemon Thyme Chicken

2010-09-03T17:06:00.001-07:00

One of the only problems I have been having with my Plow to Porch CSA Delivery is that they almost always include a large bunch of fresh herbs that I'm not really sure how I'm supposed to use up! Basil is easy for me, as is cilantro (which I just give away to my co-workers, hee, hee!), but when I got a huge bunch of thyme, I was pretty stumped. I knew that lemon goes well with thyme and searched my usual recipe sites first: allrecipes and epicurious didn't have anything that appealed to me. I finally just did a Yahoo search, and low and behold, one of my favorite blogs was one of the first to pull up! I should have just searched my Google Reader to begin with! So this great recipe comes from Annie's Eats. I followed it pretty close to the letter and it came out great! I'm looking forward to making this again, perhaps with some different herb combinations (I've currently got parsley & chives waiting to be used up). The recipe had the perfect lemon to wine ratio and although I did cut back a little on the butter, I'm sure it would be even better with all the butter added in for richness. I'm not going to list out the ingredients for this, since I did follow Annie's instructions pretty closely, and honestly, I think anyone reading this should go look at her blog anyway. She is pretty amazing and her blog is awesome! By the way, I still had a ton of thyme leftover after making this! How am I supposed to use it all?!!

Southwestern Quinoa

2010-09-03T16:37:00.000-07:00

I definitely grew up in a household where dinner consisted of protein, starch & veggie most nights. As I'm doing my meal planning, my mind often goes back to this concept even when I'm trying to use up all our veggies from Plow to Porch. A big problem with this style of meal planning is that I have a tendency to inhale the starch part, whether it be a pasta, rice, potato or couscous side dish. To combat this problem, I have started experimenting a little bit with quinoa, which is similar in texture to couscous, but much more filling, has more protein and fiber, and is slightly less inhalable while still being quite tasty. I got much inspiration for this recipe from Mary Ellen's Chili Cumin Seasoned Quinoa with Jalapenos, Corn & Red Pepper. Mary Ellen recently had one of her other quinoa recipes featured in Cooking Light Magazine, so I knew she knows her way around a quinoa recipe! This was so fantastic and the fish I served with it worked with the quinoa very nicely (I had picked up a tilapia in lemon sauce at Whole Foods). I ended up making the same dish about a week later since my husband wasn't here to enjoy it the first time around and I of course ate all the leftovers! This recipe also has the honors of being the first time I cooked with a self grown jalapeno. That sucker was extra hot, of course, so this dish was particularly spicy, but I didn't mind! For you cilantro lovers, this recipe begs for some chopped cilantro to be added just after plating. Even this non-cilantro girl almost wouldn't have minded some, it would just have gone really well with these flavors!

Southwestern Quinoa (adapted from Mary Ellen)

1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained
1 cup chicken broth

1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1 jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped
1/2 red pepper, finely chopped
1/2 of a small onion, finely chopped
1/2 can of black beans, rinsed & drained

3/4 cup frozen corn, thawed (I just rinse in cool water for a few minutes)

Optional: 1 Tbsp lime juice, 1 Tbs fresh chopped cilantro (I didn't use the lime because the fish was seasoned with citrus, but highly recommend some sort of citrus juice flavor with this dish)
Heat about half the oil in a small saucepan. Add the quinoa and toast for about 1-2 minutes. Add the chicken broth, chili powder, cumin and cayenne, mix well to combine; allow to come to a boil. Turn heat to low, cover and cook until liquid is mostly gone, about 12-15 minutes. Meanwhile, heat remaining oil in a medium saute pan. Add onion & peppers. Saute until just starting to carmelize. Add corn and cook until heated through. Add beans, stirring gently until heated through. When quinoa is done, pour on top of the mixture in the saute pan and gently fold vegetables into the quinoa until universally combined. Serve warm and top with lime juice and chopped cilantro, if desired.

Honey Mustard Chicken with Rice Pilaf

2010-08-14T15:11:00.000-07:00

I don't think I would be able to pull off my Plow to Porch subscription if I wasn't a part of the blog world. Thankfully, many of the blogs I subscribe to are also members of CSAs, so when I am stumped how to use something, I can search for that ingredient in my Google Reader and check out how my fellow bloggers have used it. That was definitely the case with this recipe and kale. Most of the recipes I had seen for kale were more fall or winter style recipes - pasta with sausage and soups. But I found this recipe for honey mustard chicken with rice pilaf that used a big bunch of kale, and I decided to use a leek instead of the onion because I wasn't sure how to use my leek, either. This was quite good. I think next time, I might use a little less kale, or at least chop it a little more so that it cooked down a little more (I didn't have the kale chopped by the time the pan was ready for it, so I chopped a little hastily!), but the flavor combination was great. Maybe I'll just use more rice. Since this was my husband's first kale experience, and he said he really liked it, I consider it a success story!

Honey Mustard Chicken and Rice Pilaf (from Clean Eating Magazine via Pink Parsley & The Mess Pot)

1 1/2 cups brown rice

cooking spray

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips

1/2 cup white onion, diced (I used one leek, thinly sliced)

1 large bunch kale (at least 8 oz), stems removed and finely chopped

1 red bell pepper, diced

2 Tablespoons honey

1/4 cup Dijon mustard

1/8 cup apple cider vinegar

2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

kosher salt and black pepper, to taste

fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely minced

Cook rice according to package directions. Heat a large nonstick skillet over high heat for 1 minute. Reduce heat to medium-high, and mist with cooking spray. Saute chicken for about 5 minutes, or until cooked through. Remove from pan and set aside.Mist the same pan again with cooking spray, and add the onion (leek), kale, and red bell pepper. Saute until just cooked through, about 3-5 minutes. Add rice to the vegetables and saute until warmed, about another 2 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.Meanwhile, whisk together the honey, mustard, vinegar, oil, garlic, and 2 Tablespoons of water. Season with salt and pepper.Add the chicken and honey mustard and saute for about 3 minutes, turning chicken often to coat with sauce.To serve, divide rice pilaf among 4 plates, then top with chicken. Drizzle with remaining honey mustard, and sprinkle with parsley before serving

Baked Zucchini "Fries"

2010-07-23T20:05:00.000-07:00

From what I understand, a common problem with CSA subscriptions and/or growing a home garden is that zucchini comes in quicker than you can eat it. Sure enough, we got a batch of golden zucchini in our second week of Plow to Porch, but since so many of the blogs I follow are also CSA subscribers, I had already starred a few zucchini recipes. I knew I would make zucchini fries the first time we had a delivery. I love bread crumbs in all varieties, but I think panko is the way to go with this recipe, as it gives the zucchini that extra crunch that makes this dish reminiscent of french fries (they definitely don't taste like fries, though!). This did take a while to make, and since my usual veggie side dishes don't involve much prep work, that was the only negative. But this was a fun, tasty recipe and I know I will make these again (and I already have, actually!).

Baked Zucchini Fries (from Le Petit Pierogi)
1 zucchini, cut into sticks
2 eggs
splash of milk (about 2 tbsp)
1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup seasoned panko breadcrumbs (I'm going to grind mine in the Magic Bullet next time for a finer consistency)
2 tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
salt
pepper (I added some cayenne as well)
Preheat oven to 425 degrees, and line a large baking dish with foil and spray with non stick spray.Set up a breading station. On one plate, add flour. In a small bowl, whisk eggs and milk together with a fork. On another plate add panko and cheese and mix together. Season zucchini sticks with salt, pepper and cayenne.One by one, dredge zucchini sticks in flour, then dip in egg mixture, then press into panko until completely coated. Place on baking sheet side by side, until all zucchini sticks are breaded.Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown - flip after 10 minutes and serve hot.

Ribs that my Husband Will Eat

2010-07-20T21:39:00.000-07:00

My husband used to make fun of me all the time for my picky eating habits. I admit, when he first met me 13 years ago, I was pretty funny about food. I would rule out entire huge cuisine groups as foods I didn't like ("I don't like Mexican food" & "I don't like Chinese food" were a couple of his favorites, especially when he found out I hadn't had any Chinese food before). Obviously, that isn't a problem anymore. I daresay I am MUCH more adventurous that my husband when it comes to food. One of his quirks is that he doesn't much enjoy eating anything that involves bones. Chicken must be boneless. Pork Chops - boneless. And much to my chagrin (yay, Twilight readers!), he does not like ribs at all. Not only do the bones bother him, he is also not a fan of traditional barbeque sauce. But hooray! I finally found boneless country style ribs at the store right around the 4th of July and knew I was all set to research a sauce recipe that would not be sickeningly sweet so that my husband and I could enjoy ribs over the 4th weekend. I decided to go with Scott's Savory Barbeque Sauce on Allrecipes because I pretty much had all the ingredients and it also looked like the sauce was not too sugary and so would work pretty well with my planned slow cooker method of cooking. These turned out really good, and while they weren't true ribs in the traditional sense, I was happy to satisfy a bit of my rib cravings with a recipe I could cook at home and my husband could eat. These were definitely healthier than what I would have gotten at the local barbeque place, so that's a definite added bonus!

Scott's Savory Barbeque Sauce (from Allrecipes, but scaled WAY down!)

1 cup apple cider vinegar

5 oz ketchup

1 Tbs Paprika

1/4 pound dark brown sugar

1 Tbs Salt

3/4 tsp ground black pepper

1 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

3/4 tsp garlic powder

1 Tbs Worchestershire Sauce

2 Tbs lemon juice

Mix all well, store up to one month in fridge, or pour over 1.5 lbs boneless country style rib meat in slow cooker. Cook on low 8-9 hours.

Homemade Pesto with Roasted Tomatoes

2010-07-20T21:16:00.000-07:00

I have mentioned in a past post that I have been trying to plan meals that involve "cleaner" eating. A major part of that has been signing up for Plow to Porch, a fantastic local organic fruit & vegetable delivery service here in Santa Barbara. I have a very good friend that taught me that eating locally is actually, in general, better/more helpful for the environment than eating organic. I live in Santa Barbara. It doesn't get much easier to eat locally than here. We have a ton of Farmer's Markets (including one that is about a block and a half from home, twice a week), and there are a lot of local farmers growing great things. I even went to high school with twins who were growing up on one of the bigger local farms. So why do I need a special service to eat locally? I hate making decisions! I needed someone else to tell me what looks good week to week and then I could plan my meals from there. I have been so happy with the service so far. It is similar to a CSA (community supported agriculture), but without the season long commitment, and with delivery to boot!

My first box arrived a few weeks ago, and I decided to immediately cook up this homemade pesto with Roasted Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes and Green Garlic. I roasted the tomatoes & garlic in a 400 degree oven until they were just starting to get color. Meanwhile, I placed a large bunch of basil, a 1/4 cup olive oil and 1/4 cup of chopped walnuts into my Magic Bullet and blended the heck out of it all. When the garlic and tomatoes were done, I added the whole head of green garlic cloves into the pesto as well (green garlic is much more mellow than regular, especially roasted) and blended that up. There was not very much pesto sauce, maybe a couple Tablespoons, and I was worried there wouldn't be enough when I added it to my pasta & chicken. That problem was solved when I poured the tomatoes and their sweet juices into the mix. The juices thinned out the sauce a little (and added so much sweetness!). This was a delicious meal, although the husband thought I used too many tomatoes. Funny, because I could have doubled them and still wouldn't have had enough for me, they were so delicious and sweet! I'm so excited for the fruits & vegetables we get to enjoy with Plow to Porch!

Pesto with Roasted Tomatoes & Green Garlic (my recipe)
1 large bunch basil
1/4 cup + 2 tsp olive oil
1/4 cup walnuts
1/4 cup parmigiano reggiano cheese
1 pint cherry tomatoes (mine were rainbow heirloom)
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 head green garlic
12 oz boneless chicken breast, cubed
1/2 lb short cut whole wheat pasta (like bowties or rotini)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook pasta according to directions. In 9" x 13" roasting pan, mix tomatoes, salt & pepper and 2 tsp olive oil. Cut the top off green garlic head and toss into roasting pan. Roast until juices are flowing and tomatoes and garlic are just starting to carmelize, about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, blend basil, walnuts, parmigiano cheese & olive oil in food processor, blender or Magic Bullet until very smooth. Add cooled garlic, separated into cloves and blend well. Cook cubed chicken breast in nonstick skillet until cooked through. Add chicken, pesto, tomatoes and tomato juices into drained pasta and combine well. Serve immediately or allow to cool and serve as a cold pasta salad.

Scallops and Asparagus with Sake

2010-07-10T11:53:00.000-07:00

Yay, another scallops dish! I had a pretty crummy day on the day I made this (I bruised my knee so bad I could barely walk, simply because I'm a clutz!), and scallops make everything better! I found this recipe in one of my weight watchers recipe books that I hadn't even really looked at since buying it (bad me). This came out so well, it really surprised me. Lots of crisp veggies, the scallops kept their color nicely, and the sauce complemented it all very nicely without overpowering the dish or making it too sweet, like some Asian sauces can. I've also been trying lately to cook more clean (ie: cutting out processed foods, keeping the ingredients simple) and this recipe fit into that plan quite well. I will definitely make this one again, and might try it with chicken next time.

Scallops and Asparagus with Sake (from Weight Watchers "Take Out Tonight" cookbook)

2 tsp canola oil

1 lb sea scallops, muscle removed

2 tsp minced peeled fresh ginger

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 pound asparagus, cut diagonally into 1 1/2 inch pieces

1 red bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced

1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced

1 carrot, cut into matchsticks

2 Tbs sake

1 Tbs reduced sodium soy sauce (I used Tamari)

1 tsp seasoned rice vinegar

4 scallions, thinly sliced diagonally (I omitted)

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Swirl in 1 tsp oil. Add scallops. Cook, turning, until golden brown and just opaque in the center, about 1 minute per side. Transfer to a plate and keep warm. Return the pan to the heat. Swirl in remaining oil, then add ginger & garlic. Cook, stirring until fragrant, about a minute. Add asparagus, peppers and carrot. Cook, stirring until veggies are crisp tender, about 3-4 minutes. Stir in the sake, soy and vinegar. Bring to a boil. Cook over high heat, stirring, until flavors are blended. Return scallops to pan, stir in scallions. Cook until just heated through. Serve immediately with rice.

Birthday Dinner at Opal

2010-07-10T11:21:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things about birthdays is that we always go out to a really nice dinner to celebrate. We never go out for Valentine's Day anymore, and we rarely go out at all now that I've been cooking so much at home, so it is a great treat to go out to a nice dinner. Dinner for my birthday this year was at Opal, a restaurant that I can't believe we hadn't been to before. Opal classifies themselves as California Cuisine, but maybe I'm just too much of a California girl, because I would just classify it as simply good food. I think of Californian Cuisine as usually foo-foo fancy dishes with far too little food on a plate. Opal has some really inventive dishes, but without too many unique ingredients, so you aren't confused about what you are ordering, and the portions are normal sized. They also have lots of fun cocktails. My husband got his usual martini, but I got a blood orange margarita (ironically, the same cocktail I got at my last birthday dinner!):

You might be able to see just past my husband that we were sitting at a table right next to the window, which allowed both of us to people watch on busy State Street during our meal. It was really interesting to see so many walkers, bikers, etc. in the early evening of a beautiful summer day. On to our entrees. I got the halibut special, as I pretty much knew I would, if halibut was available. This one had an Asian crust (sesame and furikake, I think) Mango Salsa, and mango sauce over jasmine rice (which soaked up the sauce quite nicely):

The husband debated among several dishes before deciding on the Chile Rubbed Filet Mignon. I pushed him towards this one because even though a was having halibut, which I love, I was hoping for a few bites of steak, too! His filet was perfectly cooked (we asked for it between medium and medium well, which is perfect for him, I should remind him to do that more often) and the rich flavor of the chile rub was great. I also really liked the relleno that came alongside, but that was no surprise, since I love all things relleno!

When we finished up, we knew we were going to need to get dessert, since it was a birthday celebration after all, and most of the desserts on the menu looked right up our alley. I was worried about which option my husband was going to try to steer me towards, since he has the stronger sweet tooth, but was pleasantly surprised when we both picked the same thing: A chocolate mousse cake special, for two!

This was very good, and very rich, of course. We probably only got through about half of this! The service throughout was very good. In addition to really working with us to get our steak prepared properly, they also reserved us a great table and then, for the most part, left us alone and didn't bother us, just kept our water glasses full and made themselves available if we needed them. I liked my birthday meal so much that I chose Opal for my team's reward lunch for work the next week with our office director. I got a bay scallop salad at that meal that was also fantastic. I think Opal will definitely be a recurring attraction for R&R in the future (watch out, J+K, we're going to have to take you here!).

Chicken Gyros

2010-07-10T11:03:00.001-07:00

This recipe is another one that is very popular in the blogging world. I had hesitated because we don't have much experience with Greek food, but the homemade Tzatziki Sauce really intrigued me, so I had to try it. I also tried making homemade pita, but that kinda failed miserably:

Looks appetizing, doesn't it? I don't think I adjusted the dough enough for our very foggy, wet weather that we have in Santa Barbara at this time of year. It definitely didn't puff up the way it should, and it was really sticky, so I'm going to have to give it another go some other time. I just ran to the store and picked up some store bought pitas. The rest of this recipe was good. The tzatziki sauce was very tasty and fresh, and I could see why a lot of Greek cuisine revolves around this tasty concoction. The final pita product was good, too, but it didn't quite live up to the big hype it has been getting in my blog world. Perhaps I was just jaded by my pita baking failure. I will probably try this again and hopefully it will wow me more next time.

Chicken Gyros with Tzatziki (from Elly Says Opa)

1.25 lbs. chicken pieces

4 cloves garlic, smashed

Juice of 1 lemon

2 tsp. red wine vinegar

2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

2 heaping Tbsp. plain yogurt

1 Tbsp. dried oregano

salt and pepper

1/2 batch of tzatziki

sliced tomatoes

sliced onions (I omitted)

4 (pocketless) pitas (I used pockets, because I was desperate and couldn't find anything else!)

Whisk together the garlic, lemon juice, vinegar, oil, yogurt, and oregano in a bowl. Add the chicken and rub the marinade in. Cover and refrigerate for about an hour.
Heat a grill pan. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper on both sides, and then broil until cooked through, about 5 minutes per side. Allow the chicken to rest for a few minutes before slicing into strips. Meanwhile, heat your pitas. Top the pita with the chicken, tzatziki, tomatoes, onions.

Chicken Fajitas

2010-07-10T10:36:00.000-07:00

It always really surprises me when I hear people refer to restaurant fajitas as a good diet food. Sure, when you are at Chili's, there is often not many other choices, so getting fajitas and just eating the chicken & veggies is probably a better option than the boneless buffalo wings or the ribs. I just usually find that restaurant fajitas (I'm talking chain restaurants, here) are dripping in oil, and they usually use such poor quality meat that you HAVE to glob on the guacamole & sour cream in order to get some flavor. I have wanted to make fajitas at home for a while now, but our home grill options have been limited in the past (no outdoor area for grilling at this apartment, and most grill pans kinda suck). Ever since we got our new cast iron grill pan for Christmas, I knew I could finally make fajitas at home. Cast Iron is the only way a home grill pan will get hot enough to really work for fajitas. Now that I had the good pan, I tried to decide on a good flavoring. The packets at the regular grocery store all sounded pretty gross to me (so much salt and artificial flavoring!), but someone on the nest cooking board mentioned that Whole Foods carries a delicious, salt-free blend from The Spice Hunter for Fajita Seasoning. I picked up the bottle and - HOW REFRESHING! - I recognized every ingredient! I trust The Spice Hunter because I already use their Seafood Blend for most of our homecooked fish. They are also practically local, based in San Luis Obispo, which is nice. I liberally coated this on the chicken, grilled it up, then grilled the peppers and onion until they were nicely charred. I served this with homemade guacamole and just a little bit of sour cream. Even my husband liked these, and he is not a restaurant fajita fan at all (for the reasons above, plus his hatred of onions). It was a great, natural tasting meal.

Chicken Fajitas (my own recipe, but it isn't much of a recipe!)

3/4 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into strips

The Spice Hunter Fajita Seasoning

2 bell peppers, cut into strips

1 small onion, cut into strips

Guacamole

Sour Cream

6 flour tortillas

Heat grill pan over medium high heat. Season chicken strips liberally with fajita seasoning. Grill until cooked through, about 2 -3 minutes per side. Remove to serving bowl. Add pepper & onion strips to grill. Grill, turning frequently, until just soft and starting to show some grill marks/color (do this in batches if needed). Add to serving bowl. Toss all ingredients well, then scoop into tortillas and serve with guacamole and sour cream, if desired.

Balsamic-Garlic Flank Steak

2010-07-10T10:10:00.000-07:00

Balsamic vinegar. Yum. I've been kind of obsessed with recipes that use it ever since our trip to Hawaii where my fish at Cuatro was served with a swirl of reduced balsamic and a swirl of cream sauce. It is just such a great combination of sweet, savory and sour. I've also been keeping an eye out for good flank steak recipes, since grilled sliced flank steak is such a great protein with a light summer meal. So this recipe from Mary Ellen's blog was perfect for me. It imparted just enough balsamic flavor to have an impact on the steak without overpowering the steak itself. I grilled this on our indoor cast iron grill pan and I have to say, I grilled it to perfection. Perfect done-ness for both of us and great grill marks! Unfortunately, my husband is not so much of a balsamic fan, so I will have to make this for myself on nights he isn't eating with me. He liked it okay, didn't love it like I did. Oh well!

Balsamic-Garlic Grilled Flank Steak
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 large garlic cloves
1/2 tsp thyme leaves (I used parsley, which I have a ton of, from my planter)
One 2 1/2 lb flank steak (Mine was a little less than a pound)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
In a blender/food processor (or Magic Bullet!), blend the vinegar, oil, garlic, and thyme until smooth. Place the steak in a large glass or ceramic dish; pour the marinade over the steak and let it stand for 5 minutes (mine stood for about 10-15 minutes). Season the steak with salt and pepper and grill over moderately high heat, turning once, until medium, about 8 minutes per side. Transfer the steak to a cutting board and let it rest for 10 minutes. Slice it across the grain to serve.

Margarita Cupcakes!

2010-07-10T09:48:00.000-07:00

I have wanted to make these cupcakes from the moment I saw them. They were really popular in the blogging world about a year ago, but I think the moment I saw them on Annie's Eats (seriously one of the best blogs ever), I knew I was destined to make them someday. I decided to go with the easier cake mix version on Confections of a Foodie Bride since I'm pretty new to baking and I knew the audience I was baking for wouldn't really mind. I made these for my office summer barbeque, which took place at my boss' house on a gorgeous day. Of course, my office is so darn health conscious that for my party of 13 people, we went through exactly 13 cupcakes. So the leftovers went to the bike shop, where 4 guys took care of the remaining 11 cupcakes. I made the frosting on these very limey, and that was what everyone kept talking about. Even with following Annie's advice and basting each cupcake with a little extra tequila (and I was using Patron Silver, nothing but the best for my people!), there still wasn't much alcohol flavor, but with the extra lime frosting, there was still a great punch to the cupcakes. This is a great treat for any backyard barbeque, just make sure its a grown up party if you are painting the tops with the tequila. Even though you can't really taste the liquor, I'd say there is enough uncooked tequila in them to be un-kosher for the little ones!

Margarita Cupcakes

9 oz Margarita mix

3 oz tequila

3/4 oz Grand Marnier (or other orange liqueur)

White cake mix (No-pudding mix works best)

3 egg whites

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

1 Tbsp lime zest (I omitted, oops!)

1 recipe Lime Buttercream Frosting (recipe follows)
Mix together the margarita mix, tequila, and Grand Marnier in a large glass or spouted bowl. You will use 1 1/4 cup of this in the cupcake mix. Put the remainder in the fridge to chill and then consume how you see fit (there won't be much left!). In a stand mixer, add the cake mix, egg whites, vegetable oil, lime zest, and 1 1/4 cup of the margarita mixture. Mix on low for about 30 seconds and then increase to medium speed for two minutes (the batter will still be a bit lumpy).Spoon the batter into a prepared muffin pan (fill the cups somewhere between 2/3 and 3/4 full) and bake at 350 for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick registers “done” in the center cupcake. Remove the pan from the oven and cool 5 minutes. Remove the cupcakes and cool completely on a baking rack. When cooled, brush each cupcake with a little more tequila.
Lime Buttercream Frosting

4 cups confectioners sugar

1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature

1/8 tsp salt

3 Tbsp lime juice

green food color (optional)
Add the butter, confectioner’s sugar, salt, food coloring, and lime juice to the stand mixer and mix on low using the paddle attachment until combined. Turn the speed to med-high until the icing is fluffy. Add the icing to a pastry bag or use a spatula/knife to frost the cupcakes.
Note: Use additional lime juice or water to thin the frosting, if necessary.

Chicken Riggies

2010-07-10T09:23:00.000-07:00

This is a dish I had never heard of until I had entered the food blogging world. Apparently, Chicken Riggies is a pasta/chicken/peppers dish that originated in upstate New York, which is pretty much as far away from Santa Barbara as you can get in this country, so no wonder I haven't heard of it! After learning of its existence from Elizabeth's Cooking Experiments, I search around on Allrecipes a bit to see some of the other variations that exist. Apparently, it is a very personalized dish, and many households have their own take on the specifics. I decided I would stick pretty closely to the version on Elizabeth's blog, but that I would roast the peppers first to mellow out some of the heat (I'm afraid of raw peppers sometimes) and to deepen the flavor. Of course, because of the roasting, the flavors were a little too mild for my liking, so next time I make this, I will probably double the peppers and I probably won't roast the red pepper for a little texture contrast. I will probably also remove the heavy cream, because although it was delicious as always, I don't think it added enough to the picture to really make up for the calorie bomb that heavy cream always is.

Chicken Riggies

1 lb rigatoni (I used whole wheat penne)

1 TBSP olive oil

1 TBSP butter

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 shallots, diced

2 chicken breast halves, cubed

salt and pepper to taste

1 red bell pepper, roasted & chopped

1 jalapeno pepper, roasted & diced

1 Poblano pepper, roasted & chopped

1 (28 oz) can tomato sauce

1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes, drained slightly

3 TBSP dry sherry

3/4 - 1 cup heavy cream

Cook pasta to al dente. Drain & set aside.Melt butter & heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and shallots and saute until almost soft, then add peppers and chicken, season with salt and pepper. Saute for 8-10 minutes, or until chicken is almost cooked through.Reduce heat to low and add tomato sauce and sherry and simmer about 10 minutes. Stir in cream and simmer for 10 minutes more. Toss all with hot, cooked pasta and serve.

Veggie and Sausage Stuffed Shells

2010-07-10T08:55:00.000-07:00

I love stuffed shells. They are a little bit labor intensive, but they are one of my favorite "American-Italian" meals. My problem is that my husband does not like traditional stuffed shells (although Mexican Stuffed Shells are among his favorite meals). He has found them too heavy and doesn't like the thick ricotta taste. While reading my "Cook Yourself Thin" cookbook, I saw a recipe for stuffed shells that bulked up the flavor by using zucchini. By the time I had decided to finally make stuffed shells with this technique, I had lost this cookbook, so I just decided to wing it by adding an appropriate amount of shredded zucchini and spinach to the usual ricotta mixture. I used about half of the normal ricotta with these adjustments, but I also added some crumbled cooked turkey sausage to the mix to add another boost of flavor. These were really good, and definitely kept that creamy taste and texture that I love, while remaining light and not as cheesy for my husband. I would probably even be okay with making them without the sausage for a vegetarian meal, but I'm not sure if my husband would agree. I'm planning on using zucchini a lot more this summer, since it is so good when it is in season, and it is easy to add to pastas for a little healthy vegetable kick! The funny thing is that when I finally found my cookbook, I had actually stuck to the recipe pretty closely, even though it had been months since I had looked at it. Good photographic recipe memory, I guess!

Stuffed Shells with Veggies and Sausage (inspired by Cook Yourself Thin)

1 box jumbo shells

1/2 lb turkey sausage, casings removed

1 tsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 zucchini, shredded

1 bag baby spinach, roughly chopped

1 egg

1 cup skim ricotta cheese

1/2 cup grated parmigiano reggiano cheese

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1 jar pasta sauce

1 cup mozzarella cheese

Cook pasta to package directions, drain. Heat oil in large saute pan. Cook sausage & garlic over medium high until no longer pink. Remove to large bowl with slotted spoon to cool, leaving juices in pan. Add zucchini and spinach. Cook until spinach is wilted, about 2 minutes. Drain very well, pressing out as much water as possible. Add to sausage in bowl and let cool. Add ricotta, egg, parmesan and nutmeg and stir well to combine. Pour about 1/2 cup of sauce into 13" x 9" pan. Stuff cooked shells with 2 Tbs filling and place in pan. Top with remaining sauce. Cover and bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil and top with mozzarella. Bake for 5 minutes more or until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes

2010-07-04T13:47:00.000-07:00

I came to the realization that I haven't done nearly enough baking to justify the purchase of my new Kitchenaid mixer. I wanted to make pretty cupcakes. Not just yummy cake with some frosting slathered on, but some that looked beautiful, too. After researching a bit online, I realized that pretty cupcakes come from frosting with a pastry bag and a large tip, usually a star tip. I knew that my first pretty cupcake attempt would have to be double chocolate cupcakes, because I knew even if they came out awful, the husband would still eat them because he loves chocolate cake so much. I found both the cake recipe and the frosting recipe on the Hershey's website. I had heard really good things about the perfectly chocolate cake recipe, and it didn't disappoint. The only change I made was to use about half of dutch process style cocoa and half regular Hershey's cocoa in each recipe. This made the cake really rich and chocolatey, but didn't use up ALL my hard to find dutch process cocoa. I will say though, dutch process cocoa is totally worth it. Just looking at the two versions, you can definitely tell which is which! These turned out so good! The cake batter is way runnier than I would have thought, but it still turned out great. I think my decorating skills were pretty good, too, although I think I will need to make just a little extra frosting next time, since you tend to run out faster when piping instead of traditional frosting. The best part about the frosting is that, while it still isn't exactly good for you, I felt so much better knowing exactly what was going into it. No trans fats when you use straight up butter! I brought most of these to the bike shop and they were devoured in 24 hours, but my favorite was bringing one to the little guy I mentor. His response when I asked him how he liked his cupcake was simply: "I love you!" I've already made him another batch for his birthday!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting (From Hershey's)

2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
"PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING(recipe follows)
Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

3. CUPCAKES: Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Heat oven to 350°F. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely. Frost. About 24 cupcakes.

"PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa

3 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

Chicken Kabobs

2010-07-04T13:36:00.000-07:00

We live really close to our area's biggest shopping center, and there is a great Hawaiian/surfer themed restaurant there (Kahuna Grill) that serves Kabobs with teriyaki marinade. The beef kabobs are very yummy, but they are pretty expensive. I decided that this summer, I would try making kabobs at home, and this is the result. I have heard lots of places that although kabobs served at restaurants have a plethora of veggies and protein all together on one stick, home chefs are better served by splitting up the bounty into segregated skewers. This ensures that the items that need to cook longer (chicken especially) are able to get all the heat attention they deserve without burning the more delicate ingredients (tomatoes and, if I had used them, mushrooms). I used about a 1/2 bottle of italian dressing mixed with two extra cloves of garlic and about a Tablespoon of lemon juice. I marinaded about 3/4 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breast for about an hour in this mixture, then skewered it along with a little onion, bell pepper, and lots of grape tomatoes. The chicken turned out delicious. I wasn't as happy with the onion & pepper results, probably because I was using an indoor grill. Tomatoes, as usual when heated, were great. This will be a dish I try again, but I will probably try for a more Asian style marinade next time. It does make a beautiful colorful dish, though!

Creamy Taco Pasta

2010-06-19T10:12:00.000-07:00

This recipe has been hugely popular in the blogging world the last several weeks. It has been advertised as a homemade Hamburger Helper. When I saw that, I knew I would be making it, but also knew that I wouldn't be telling the husband about it being a Hamburger Helper sub! I love HH and usually make it for one of my meals if my husband is out of town for a week. I can't make it when he is home because he really, really dislikes the stuff. I think one of the reasons he doesn't like it is because ground beef is really heavy on its own, and then you add all sorts of processed, not-good-for-you stuff and it is just wrong! So I knew he would like this meal as long as I made it with ground turkey, since all the ingredients are identifiable and not as processed (though not necessarily good for you). I really enjoyed this fresh, and found that it tasted pretty good as leftovers as long as you added some additional liquid before microwaving.

Creamy Taco Pasta (as seen on Annie's Eats and LOTS of other places, original from Delish)

1¼ lbs. ground turkey

8 oz. dry pasta shapes

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 (14 oz.) can diced tomatoes, drained

1 Packet Taco Seasoning (or use 4 Tbs homemade)

3 oz. cream cheese

½ cup sour cream

Salt and pepper

Shredded cheddar cheese (optional, I omitted)
Bring a large pot of water to boil. Cook pasta according to the package directions. Drain, set aside. Meanwhile, in a large skillet or sauté pan, cook the ground turkey over medium-high heat until no longer pink. A few minutes before the turkey is cooked through, add the chopped onion to the skillet. Once the turkey is cooked through, mix in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Mix in the diced tomatoes and taco seasoning and let simmer over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Stir in the cooked pasta, cream cheese, sour cream and continue stirring until the cream cheese is melted and the sauce is well blended. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer over medium-low heat 3-5 minutes to reduce the sauce a bit. Remove from the heat and top with shredded cheddar cheese, if desired.

Chicken Pesto Pasta Bake

2010-06-18T16:42:00.000-07:00

I really like the flavor of pesto, but I'm kind of picky about it. It needs to be exactly the right combination of herb/oil/garlic or I am just not happy. I saw this post by Joelen for chicken pesto stuffed shells and I was intrigued. I didn't have any jumbo shells at my disposal, but decided to make this as a casserole by mixing with some medium sized pasta shells. This had a great flavor, but I think making this as a casserole dried out the pasta a little bit. I really liked how the cream cheese dilutes the heavy pesto flavor, though. I would say it "lightens it up" but it is cream cheese, so it isn't really lighter, just not as strong of a pesto flavor. Can't wait to try this again, but in the future, I'll stick with stuffed shells or maybe I'll throw this into a Calzone, as Joelen recommends. On a separate note, Joelen has recently posted a TON of freezer friendly meals, so if you are interested, check out her blog! This is one of those freezer friendly meals.

Pesto Chicken Casserole (Adapted from Joelen's Culinary Adventures)
1/2 lb short pasta (I used whole wheat med. shells)
1/4 cup prepared pesto (homemade or store bought)
2 cups shredded cooked chicken (I used store rotisserie)
1/2 cup grated parmigiano reggiano cheese
2 Tbs light sour cream
4 oz light cream cheese
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Cook pasta according to package directions, but stop cooking a few minutes early so that pasta is a little al dente. Drain. Meanwhile, add chicken, garlic, pesto, cream cheese and sour cream in a small saute pan and warm over medium heat until cheese is melted through and entire mixture is warm. Add parmigiano cheese and mix well to combine. Add drained pasta and mix well. Pour all into an 8" x 8" casserole sprayed with cooking spray. Top with mozzarella and bake in preheated. (Note: To reheat as leftovers, add 1-2 Tbs milk before microwaving)

Jalapeno Popper Chicken

2010-06-13T20:00:00.000-07:00

I've posted a couple different recipes for stuffed chicken, and it continues to be one of my favorite ways to cook chicken. This chicken was fantastic. I came up with it after my husband's many southwestern inspired dishes in Hawaii led me to realize how well oregano works in Mexican/southwestern dishes. The most important part of this dish was using really high quality pepper-jack cheese (I used Sonoma-Jack) and using panko bread crumbs to give the chicken that crunch that you would expect from a popper. I could see adding some crumbled cooked bacon to the stuffing on this, but I kept it simple here.

Jalapeno Popper Chicken (my original creation)
2 6 oz boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 oz pepper-jack style cheese, sliced into sticks
1 jalapeno, seeds & ribs removed, julienned
1 tsp ancho chili powder (or plain chili powder)
1/4 tsp oregano (I used dried, but ground would work better)
1 egg, scrambled in shallow dish
1/2 cup panko style bread crumbs
cooking spray
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut a pocket into each chicken breast by carefully inserting knife into the middle of the thin side of the breast and cutting gently until a good sized pocket is formed (do not cut through to the other side). Stuff about half of the jalapeno & cheese into each chicken breast. Pull chicken back into shape, sealing with toothpicks if required. Sprinkle each side of each breast with oregano and chili powder. Dip each side of each breast in the egg and then in the panko. Place in shallow baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. Bake uncovered for 25 minutes. Spray tops of the chicken breasts lightly with cooking spray or oil and continue to bake for 5-10 minutes more or until bread crumbs start to turn golden brown.

Fried Rice - that I like!

2010-06-13T19:05:00.000-07:00

If you asked my sister and me what our most hated meal was when we were little, the answer would have been "Tuna" (also known as tuna casserole, a meal you will never see on this blog). In second place for me was "Fried Rice." My family's interpretation of fried rice consisted of leftover rice, scrambled egg, a bunch of soy sauce and a ham steak from the refrigerated section of the grocery store (you know, those thin, pressed into shape things?) diced up. Pretty much, this was all just mixed together in a wok and topped with chopped green onion. It still makes me a little sick to think of it. The difference between this gross childhood meal and icky tuna is that I knew all along that fried rice has potential of being quite tasty with the right treatment, and I've even had some at a local teppanyaki place that I really liked. So I recently decided to try out chicken fried rice at home. I used Joelen's recipe as inspiration, but as Joelen says in her blog entry about it, the best part about fried rice is that it is so adaptable. You can use whatever leftovers and veggies you have on hand, and measuring isn't something that is all that important. This turned out great - the ginger that I used brought a delicious brightness to the dish (although ginger is generally more known for Japanese cuisine than Chinese, it worked here). I also loved the fresh veggies and will probably use more veggies the next time I make this. I also used tamari style soy, which is a little richer than regular soy, and I thought it was great, since the soy flavor is so key to this dish. This definitely blew the childhood ham steak version out of the water!

Chicken Fried Rice (inspired by Joelen)
2 small boneless skinless chicken breasts, diced into 1 inch pieces
4 Tbs soy sauce
1 tsp ginger
2 cloves garlic
Marinate chicken in soy with garlic & ginger for about 20 minutes

1 1/2 cups leftover white rice (day old works best)
2 Tbs + 1 tsp vegetable or canola oil
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 cup mixed vegetables, chopped (I used 2 diced carrots)
1 egg
1 clove garlic
2-3 Tbs Soy Sauce (this is where I used the Tamari)
1 green onion, chopped into 1/4-1/2 inch pieces (green part only)
Heat 1 tsp oil in large wok or pan over medium high heat. Add chicken and stir fry until cooked through, about 5 minutes. Remove from pan, add 1 Tbs of oil and add onion & clove garlic and stir fry until just soft, about 1-2 minutes. Push to the sides of the wok and add scrambled egg, cooking until thoroughly cooked through. Add vegetables and cook for about one minute. Add remaining Tbs oil and crumble rice into the wok, stirring to keep the rice "unclumped." Add chicken back in, then drizzle soy into the mixture, stirring constantly until desired color/flavor is achieved. Serve immediately and top with green onion pieces.

Hawaii Day 7 - Traditional Maui (Aloha O'e)

2010-06-08T21:26:00.000-07:00

For our last day in Maui, I knew I wanted to have a day filled with our favorite traditional Hawaii things. We spent a lot of time in the ocean (had to get more time in on our gorgeous boogie board investment!), visited Maui Tacos for lunch (no pictures, but everyone loves Maui Tacos!), and had shave ice for snack (I had "Root Beer Float" flavor while the husband had "Mounds" flavor). But the most important part of our traditional Maui day, so important that I had reservations made over a month in advance, was our last night dinner at Mama's Fish House. Mama's is not a well kept secret, and everyone we know who has visited Maui in the last few years has headed here. It is always busy, even though they are in a fairly remote location. This is the restaurant you are thinking of when you are wishing for a romantic beachfront location serving delicious food in a mellow atmosphere. They do it right here, and we just love it. It is completely worth the splurge - you will spend a lot here. We started with drinks - I ordered Plantation Punch (rum and juices) and the husband got his traditional Gin Martini. Then, we moved onto the dish I've been dreaming of for the last year and a half - the Ahi Poke. Just look at that picture. Those pieces that look like jello they are so deep pink and shiny? Those are perfectly seasoned pieces of the freshest ahi tuna ever. Served with surprisingly tasty taro chips, grape tomatoes, sprouts and maui onion, this is ahi at its finest purest form. We moved onto our fish entrees from here. This visit, I was able to order the signature mahi mahi dish that the husband got last year. He ordered the ono, which was also good, but we both agree that the mahi mahi is tops. Stuffed with crab, crusted with macadamia nuts, and topped with lobster, asparagus and a light sweet sauce, this is some serious delicious food. We finished the meal with their signature Black Pearl Chocolate Mousse and Liliko'i Cream served in a pastry seashell. Such beautiful presentation, and we devoured it like two people on their last night of a yummy vacation!

Can you believe this perfect rainbow?

So beautiful!

I always think of Gilligan's Island with this view! So tropical!

Walking into the bar area - lots of little decor touches

Our drinks!

Oh, this is heaven!

The husbands tasty ono dish

My delicious mahi mahi dish

The Polynesian Black Pearl dessert

Oh Maui, how we will miss you. But we will return to conquer your shores sometime soon (next year, perhaps?)!

Hawaii Day 6 - Lounging in Maui

2010-06-08T20:31:00.000-07:00

My main goal of this Hawaii trip was to make sure that I did enough "nothing." This day, more than any other on our trip, really epitomized that philosophy. We started off with a nice stroll over to Kihei Caffe for breakfast. We both enjoyed our Banana Macadamia Pancakes and the husband was so happy to be able to go out to breakfast, as I had been forcing him to eat cereal at the condo & hotel the entire trip! Walking was a great idea (and that was my husband's call, not mine) as we were able to really enjoy the views that we wouldn't have noticed from the car. A new trend since our last Hawaii trip was paddleboarding. I have definitely heard of this sport back in Santa Barbara, but it is HUGE here in Hawaii, and they even have lessons for tourists. Maybe we'll try it next time - but I've heard it is harder than it looks! We also really enjoyed the flowers along our walk. Everything is so different than back in Santa Barbara (except the hibiscus, which my mom insisted my dad plant at every house we lived at, since it reminded her of home!).

Banana Macadamia Nut Pancakes - Kihei Caffe

Paddleboarders at Cove Park

Pretty flowers - I love the yellow hibiscus

After breakfast and our walk, we spent some time in the water and sunning ourselves on the lawn outside our lanai. I think I overcooked it a little, because I was a little burned even while wearing SPF 70 sunscreen - I just LOVED reading outside in the sun and stayed out much longer than I should have. The burn wasn't too bad, but I got a little heat exhaustion that hit me later that night. We ate lunch at the condo and then headed out to buy more sunscreen (I went through an entire bottle of my Neutrogena spray sunscreen in 6 days!) and to finally purchase a boogie board! More on that later... After our errands, we drove down to the most Southern area of the island and stopped at the creatively named "Big Beach." While we love the Kama'ole Beaches that our condo is on, this was a beautiful humungous beach, and I'm glad we visited. It was a little too cloudy to swim here, so we headed back to the condo for our christening of the boogie board!

Big Beach is...BIG!

I have wanted the husband to try boogie boarding on every one of our last 4 trips to Hawaii, but I finally talked him into buying a cheap board on this trip. It was cheaper to just buy a cheap one at the grocery than renting, and we just left this beauty at the condo when we were done. Boogie boarding is so much fun, and I was pleased to find out that it is like riding a bike - I hadn't forgotten how after almost 20 years and was still pretty good at catching waves. Even more fun than riding myself was watching the husband learn how. He was so enthusiastic and we just had a blast riding around, calling out good waves to each other, and generally acting like children.

It takes a real man to ride around on this beauty! $11.99 at Foodland.

We had some difficulty choosing a restaurant for dinner, first visiting a recommended restaurant in our Maui Revealed book that ended up being closed, then heading to Ma'alaea Waterfront, a place with a great view and pretty good food. For the price, I think we would have rather gone back to Cuatro, but we were glad we were able to try someplace new. I had the Broiled Ahi with Hawaiian Salsa and the husband had another Mexican inspired dish - Onaga with Southwestern Flair. We both liked our fish and thought the preparations were inspired, but this restaurant was a little pretentious - they almost seemed offended when we didn't order their traditionally prepared Caesar Salad (at $11 each) and we were kind of laughing at how we really didn't fit in with the elite atmosphere (in Maui? Really?). We headed home where I promptly went to sleep at 8:00 (couldn't even stay awake for LOST!) because of my sun exhaustion.

Fish Dishes at Ma'alaea Waterfront

Hawaii Day 5 - Lahaina Whale-Watching (sorta) Tour

2010-05-31T15:31:00.000-07:00

I had decided that for once, I wasn't going to overplan a Maui trip this time. On our last Hawaii trip (which was Maui/Kauai), I really felt like we didn't have enough time to just do nothing because I planned so many activities. For this trip, the only activity I planned was to do a Whale Watching tour because all our other trips have been in November, before whale season begins. Unfortunately, although whale season is early February through mid-May, our early May visit didn't garner any whale sightings. It really was the tail end of the season. We did get to see some unusual (for us) dolphins and we thoroughly enjoyed viewing the Maui coastline by boat. Although the Pacific Whale Foundation does offer "Just a Fluke" coupons good for another visit if you don't see a whale, we were satisfied with our experience even without a whale sighting.

The harbor town of Lahaina

The famous Lahaina Banyan Tree

The view of Ka'anapali from the ocean

Spotted dolphins

More spotted dolphins - the crew kept calling them "toothed whales."

After the Whale Cruise, we strolled through Lahaina for a bit, then had a quick lunch at the Hard Rock. The food was okay, but the view was fantastic, and the waitress gave us a free (huge) Sundae because she dumped a bowl of coleslaw on the ground in front of us (didn't get us messy at all). After lunch, we decided to drive up the coast to see more parts of the island that we haven't visited before. We turned off the highway at Kapalua and drove along the coast the rest of the way back down. It was nice to see the other resort areas, but we aren't any more interested in staying up in this area than before - it is just too fancy for our tastes!

The view from Hard Rock Lahaina

Kapalua Golf Course

The view from Kapalua

After we got back to the condo, we went for a stroll on the beach (again!) and then headed out to one of the best meals we had on our entire trip! Cuatro restaurant received pretty rave reviews on Yelp and Trip Advisor, but I probably never would have eaten there if I hadn't read all the reviews. The restaurant seats around 30-40 people (total!) and is located inside a strip mall where the main restaurant attraction is Sensei, which is a great sushi place that gets lines outside the door. Who knew that right around the corner was this little delight! I had read that the Spicy Tuna Nachos were killer, so I talked the husband into ordering even though we aren't usually appetizer people. These are now my favorite appetizer EVER. The basic description is a crispy wonton topped with the insides of a spicy tuna roll, topped with 3 different complementary sauces and served over a bed of local greens. I would simply describe it as fantastic. Our other dishes were amazing as well, and as I was looking at the menu, I actually mentioned that I didn't see much on there that didn't look like something that I would love. On top of all that, the staff was super friendly and several different staff members came over to chat, find out where we were from, how we liked our food, etc., but without being intrusive. If our stay on Maui had been a little longer, we would have come here several times. I am trying to spread the word about this place - I want to make sure they are still here when we come back next time!

The heaven on earth that is the Spicy Tuna Nachos!

Husband's fish - Mahi Mahi "Classic Style" - Mexican blackened fish with house vegetables, rice pilaf,cumin-oregano buerre blanc, and avocado pico de gallo. Declared: "Perfect"

My fish - Monchong "Mauiterranean Style" - grilled vegetables, garlic mashed potatoes, tomato-caper relish, basil buerre blanc, and balsamic syrup. Fantastic presentation, and the sauce was drinkable.

Hawaii Day 4 - Arrival in Maui!

2010-05-31T14:54:00.000-07:00

Our interisland flight from Oahu to Maui went very smoothly and we arrived at about 11:30 in Kahului. We thought that would be perfect timing for picking up the rental car and then stopping for a bite to eat before heading over to the condo. Unfortunately, the experience at the Budget counter thwarted our plans, as it took nearly two hours to get picked up by the shuttle and make it through the ridiculously long line. I waited in the line while the husband watched our bags outside and took some pictures. I loved all the people throwing conniptions in line, like that was going to improve anything! By the time we headed out in our (identical to Oahu) Pontiac G6 Rental, we were pretty starving. I didn't take any pictures at Amigo's Mexican restaurant, but we highly recommend this place if you get to Maui at lunch time and need something tasty before heading out to your final lodging. It is on the main road (333 Dairy) that you have to take to get to any of the major hotel areas, so it is very convenient, and the food is fairly authentic and inexpensive (by Maui standards). About $30 for lunch, and that included a margarita for the husband. We drove on to Kihei to pick up the keys to the condo at Hale Pau Hana. Man, we love this place. I've been told I'm crazy for staying in Kihei all the time when there are fancier resort locations we could stay at, but I just LOVE Hale Pau Hana for it's convenience to Kamaole Beach. Kihei is a great little beach town, with great beaches on one side of the main road, and little strip malls on the other. It is still fairly centrally located on the island, so if we want to head over to Lahaina, up to Haleakala, or over to Central Maui, all are reachable pretty quickly. The last two Maui visits, we have stayed on 1st floor condos at Hale Pau Hana, and we love the convenience of walking out our condo back door straight onto the beach. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking the beach, calling his mom/my stepmom for Mother's Day, picking up some groceries, and heading to Cafe O'Lei for dinner, which was right across the street and relatively inexpensive for a nice dinner. The husband particularly enjoyed his blackend mahi mahi from here. I liked that the meals came with a very fresh salad, something we hadn't had since arriving on the island.

Picture courtesy of my bored husband in the Budget waiting area

We spent hours on these lawn chairs right outside our door. This is also where we made our Mother's Day calls. My mother-in-law said "Make those birds be quiet! I can't hear you!" when she was talking to the husband.

The HPH condos have pretty nice TVs and all rooms have internet access. We always bring our laptop to Hawaii so that we can get directions, phone numbers for reservations, etc. We usually aren't tempted to contact work, so it works for us to bring the laptop.

Beach view to the left of our condo

Beach and grounds view to the right of our condo - Smaller sized complex, right on the beach.

View of Molokini from our condo

Hawaii Day 3 - Oahu's North Shore

2010-05-22T10:36:00.000-07:00

The main reason why we chose to stay on Oahu for a part of this Hawaii trip was the chance to visit with the husband's college friend, J. Since husband attended a very small college in Michigan, he was able to make some really good friends that we have managed to stay in touch with over the years. J moved to Hawaii about a year ago, so pretty much the only chance we will get to visit with him will be when we are in Hawaii. Our 3rd day in Hawaii was spent with J and his parents, who also live on Oahu in the North Shore area. J showed us some interesting spots that we might not have explored on our own. We had lunch in Hale'iwa Town at Pizza Bob's, where I had a yummy Ahi Katsu sandwich (Panko Crusted Fried Ahi with Wasabi mayo, really unusual and good). Then we headed to his parents, where we explored their huge backyard with enormous fruit trees before heading out to dinner at Ginger House Restaurant in Mililani. J's parents explained that Mililani is the closest city they can go to for most of their shopping (other than grocery). It is about 45 minutes away, so they really live in a remote area. It struck me as funny, since so many people don't go to Oahu because "It's too busy, too many skyscrapers," etc. There may not be as many resorts outside of Waikiki, but when we go back to Oahu, we will either stay in a rental property or a B&B somewhere outside of Waikiki. Here are some pictures of our great day with J:

The end of the road - these shots were taken at the farthest point driveable by car - several filming locations for LOST are located along the North Shore (yay, Lost!). The ocean and earth interact in such unique ways on the islands, making cool rock formations!

Turtles at Turtle Beach (not to be confused with Turtle Bay Hilton!). I will never forget telling husband that we were going to Turtle Beach, then getting out of the car to hear him say "Woah, there's like, HUGE turtles here!" He didn't really understand the literal naming of the beach, I guess!

La'ie Point - We spent a lot of time in this area just watching the ocean, the fishermen, and admiring the rock formation created by a tsunami in 1946 (you can't really see much of it in these pics). La'ie is heavily populated by Mormons, who run the Polynesian Cultural Center nearby. This is important because if you visit on a Sunday, you might find a lot of closed businesses.

Pipeline Beach - This beach is pretty hidden from tourists, as you have to walk through a neighborhood and it is not visible from the roads. What a beautiful stretch of white sand beach! We didn't stay long, but on our next Oahu visit, I could picture bringing a lunch and spending the day here!

J's Parents backyard, including (from top) the house framed by their mango tree; a funny prickled fruit that J says doesn't taste all that good, but is fibrous and you suck on it to get the sour juice out; the biggest grapefruit tree I've ever seen (and I'm from CA!); and the biggest snail I've ever seen.

Our sincere thanks go out to J and his family for their hospitality. They were all so sweet to us and really showed us that Aloha spirit that makes Hawaii special. The people are what makes Hawaii great, beyond all the beautiful sites and amazing weather.

Hawaii, Oahu Day 2 - Pearl Harbor Exhibits

2010-05-19T16:55:00.000-07:00

We woke up fairly early, had cereal at the hotel for breakfast, then headed out to the Pearl Harbor area for a nice long day of history. We knew that this would be one of the highlights of our trip, because we both really enjoy historical sites like this (we also really enjoy history museums, Alcatraz, etc.). We arrived at about 8:15 on a Friday morning and promptly picked up our (free) tickets for the 9:20 boat ride to the Arizona Memorial, the earliest available time. We spent an hour checking out some of the cool artifacts around the waiting area, including a vast collection of historic torpedos over the ages:

Japanese Manned Suicide Torpedo

The husband showing off his guns!

I had been to the Arizona once before, on a choir trip to Hawaii in High School, but the husband had never been. It is sobering to think that these servicemen went from relaxing on their ship during peacetime to entombed in a sunken ship due to a horrific act of war - all in a matter of 9 minutes. The memorial is beautifully done, run incredibly efficiently by our military. You don't spend all that much time on the memorial itself, but that isn't necessary. The memorial visit is a time to reflect and remember; all the displays and sites back at the dock are where you want to spend your time taking pictures and learning more details. Here are some pictures we did take at the memorial

Me in front of one of the turrets visible above water

Husband, with USS Missouri in background

The memorial wall

I love symbolic flag pictures - this is a good one.

Alright, now down to the really good stuff: Folks, you can't go to Oahu and do the Arizona Memorial and then leave. You MUST go to at least the other two main attractions at the Pearl Harbor Historical exhibit: The USS Bowfin Submarine and the USS Missouri Battleship. Yes, they cost money where the Arizona is free. However, these sites offer so much insight into the lives of soldiers/sailors during WWII that it is completely worth the time and money to devote your day to these sites. Do not miss out! The Bowfin will have you climbing up and down fairly steep staircases and through porthole style doors, so if you are claustrophobic or have some difficulty moving around in tight spaces, the Bowfin may not be for you. But otherwise, man is this a fun little tour. They give you a headset to guide you through each area (similar to Alcatraz) and explain each little room of the sub in detail while giving you an account of life on the sub during its very active war history. I found it just as fascinating now as I did when I went on this tour in High School (I was one of the few in our group who paid the extra for this, the Missouri wasn't even an option back then):

Torpedo readying room

Sub kitchen

Mess Room

Husband, on the sub, viewing an active duty sub being brought up on the other side of the base - one of the coolest things we saw on the entire trip. Pearl Harbor is an ACTIVE Naval Base, people!

After the Bowfin Tour, we ate some hot dogs (Yes, family members reading this, that IS very funny) before headed out to the bus stop to drive over to Ford Island and the USS Missouri dock. The first thing you realize upon stepping off the bus is that this is a really big boat. I know, this makes me sound like a simpleton, but it really takes your breath away, and this is "just" a battleship, not even a "floating city" Aircraft Carrier. I knew that the Missouri is where the paperwork was signed to end the fighting in the Pacific for WWII. I didn't realize that the ship had been recommissioned for a short time during Operation Desert Shield and was in service as recently as 1992. I have an interest in modern military life due to my work (advertising to reach the military), and so I was thrilled that I was able to get a sense of life on a ship that was used so recently. I'm a military dork, what can I say? One thing I noticed was that while we were on the lower levels of the ship, I got a little bit of a vertigo feeling even with the ship just very gently swaying. Without windows or a horizon, it was a little disorienting. I can't imagine what it would be like if you were prone to motion sickness, which I am not, usually. The best part of this tour was the guides who were positioned throughout the ship to answer questions. They were so informative and obviously passionate about their work. One little visitor from Australia (about 6 years old) tailed one of these guides so closely that he kept running into him if the guide turned around quickly. Kids about 6-10 years old would LOVE both the paid tours. This tour, more than the others, made me want to call my dad and ask him more questions about his time in the Navy. He served in Vietnam and was on a ship that was sheared in half by a collision with another during manuevers. After being on this ship, the realization of how terrifying that night must have been for him becomes even more real to me.

Approaching the Mighty Mo'

One of the dorm areas

The chiefs mugs

This is a big boat!

We could have spent much more time on the Missouri, but the husband was getting hungry for what he was calling "real lunch" and so, at about 3:00, we headed back to Waikiki. We split a California Pizza Kitchen pizza because by this point, we knew we were going to dinner with our friend Jeff and so didn't want to spoil that by eating somewhere we didn't know or getting too large a portion. Jeff took us to Colony inside the Hyatt, which was a very short walk from our hotel and his apartment. We had a great time catching up with a longtime friend of the husband's, and the food was quite good. I didn't get a picture of my Hot Rocks Ahi, which was sashimi grade ahi served with a scorching hot rock that you put your ahi on to sear it to your liking. Yum, I love Ahi! Here are some of our other flavors of that night:

Filet Mignon, medium rare

Trio of potatoes - Molokai Sweet, Okinawa Purple, and Idaho Russet

Hawaii Trip Day #1 - Oahu arrival

2010-05-15T12:49:00.000-07:00

Well, we couldn't stay away! It is no secret to my friends and family that I LOVE Hawaii. I was blessed to go there many times as a kid because my mom's family all lived there, and even though no one is left on the islands, I still feel like Hawaii is a part of my soul that I inherited from my mama. The husband likes it too, but I think he would imagine that we would go there much less often than we have. He says every five years would be about right, but we've been there 4 times in the last 6 and a half years! This latest trip was not for any particular celebration, but we had vouchers from Hawaiian airlines from our last trip (return flight was an 8 hour delayed fiasco), and we had to purchase tickets within one year for them to be valid. You can only go to Hawaii with Hawaiian Air tickets, so off we went!

We decided to split our time between Oahu and Maui. Oahu is the only island that the husband has not spent any time on, and we now have a good friend to visit. J, from the Husband's Kalamazoo College days, has been living on Oahu for the last year, working as a Doctor of Radiology for a hospital group based in Indiana. The time zones work out nicely for both parties (night shift is a much more day shift in Hawaii!).

We had to wake up at 3:00 am to catch the 4:00 am Airbus from Goleta to LAX. We don't often fly out of LAX, but it makes lots of sense for the flight to Hawaii. Airbus also makes sense so that we don't have to drive 2 hours while half asleep, or pay/deal with parking. Our flight landed in Honolulu on time at 11:30am, and we proceeded to the Budget Car Rental counter. I had booked through Costco at a great price, but unfortunately, the system messed up my order and produced one confirmation number for my two separate island rentals. My Oahu rental was lost, even though I had a printed confirmation sheet. Luckily, Budget was able to match the rate within about $3 of the original price, so off we went in our Pontiac G-6. Driving in Honolulu/Waikiki is a nightmare. The streets were not well planned, and getting into and out of Waikiki is really difficult considering it is the main tourist area. Luckily, I was prepared and planned our routes in advance. I also prepaid for parking at our hotel at half price ($10 instead of $20). We stayed at Aqua Bamboo, which is about 1 block away from Waikiki Beach. This was a great deal! It was a small suite with a kitchen, living area, and separate bedroom all for only $108 per night! The only complaint is that the bathroom is a little small, but that was fine for the 3 days we were in Oahu. Some people may have found the street noise a little loud, but we slept with the air conditioning on all night (we like our room cold), so the white noise blocked that out.

View

Kitchenette

After check-in, we decided to walk along Waikiki Beach/Kalakaua to see if we could find a bite to eat and a tropical drink. We found both at Cheeseburger in Paradise, a small chain that is a little overpriced, but which offered a great view and some yummy maitais:

After our mini lunch, we headed back to the hotel for showers & naps. We were feeling really weird from being up so early and then having a 3 hour time change, not to mention the two maitais each we just slurped down. We slept for 4 HOURS! It really felt great, though, and we were able to head out for a late dinner. Since this was our 5th meal of this weird day, we kept it to appetizers & dessert. I declared my Ahi Poke eggrolls from Duke's to be "my perfect appetizer," (a title that would be undone just a few days later), and the Husband thought his shrimp cocktail was the perfect late-night tide-over. The Hula Pie was a testament to simplicity, with quality ice cream and rich chocolate sauce sprinkled with toasted macademia nuts over a cookie crust. Of course, we couldn't finish it, but it was tasty! While waiting for our table, we were able to walk a little on the beach, and I was just giddy with excitement over our return to this amazing place!

Monterey Trip 2010

2010-05-15T11:20:00.000-07:00

We really love the Monterey area of California, and we are lucky enough to have an excuse to go to Monterey every year for the annual Sea Otter Classic bike race. The event takes place at the Laguna Seca raceway, about halfway between Salinas & Monterey, and the Platinum team has stayed in Carmel for the last several years at the Hofsas House. Hofsas House is a cheaper option for anyone wanting to stay in Carmel without paying exorbitant rates. We love that the team pretty much takes over this place when we are here, and it is rare that there isn't at least one person we know hanging out by the pool or cleaning their bikes in the parking lot. Here are some pictures of Hofsas House:

Driveway artwork - Right before the driveway drops off in a ridiculously steep grade that the team refers to as "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride." It is so silly the husband had to take a picture.

View from the upper level balcony. Weather was awesome while we were here.

This year, I managed to avoid going into the expo area at the race. This is the largest race expo in the country, and it is overwhelming at times for me. It costs $10 a day for spectators just to go in and walk around. I have found ways around this fee (usually involving picking up scraps of racer wristbands and cobbling them together to make my own) because I think it is ridiculous to charge the friends and family money just to get in to the area where you are able to spend MORE money for food & drinks. This year, I avoided the expo altogether and hung out at the hotel or went out with the other wives of the team. Here are just a couple of pics that the husband got (his entry was free as a racer) of the madness:

Before crossing the bridge over the racetrack into the insanity

Just one of the booths - We do love Specialized in this family!

I am rather proud of how well researched I was on this trip. I didn't take pictures at all the restaurants we ate at, but there were some that were worth mentioning even without the pictures. I used Yelp and Trip Advisor extensively to research the types of food we were interested in and to find the best options for our entire group. The first night there, I inadvertantly ended up planning the "team dinner" as more and more couples signed up to join the husband and me at our chosen dinner spot, Little Napoli. The husband is very particular about where/what he eats the night before a race, so I chose this place for its simplicity - Italian food in an American style where you know what you are getting when you order spaghetti & meatballs. We ended up with a table for 12, which was a great size, since everyone was able to interact and no one was left out. Everyone seemed to enjoy their meals, especially my husband, who got a spicy pasta with swordfish that he really enjoyed and was a perfect fit for his pre-race needs. The next night, the race was over and we were both exhausted after a long day (husband got 12th, see team website for all the team successes and photos by me!). We decided to celebrate with Mexican food and some margaritas. I found Club Jalapeno on Yelp and never would have found it otherwise, since it is tucked inside a business area courtyard. This place was fantastic. The sauces are unique combinations. I loved the Spicy Yellow Pepper sauce with my beef tamale (roasted yellow bell pepper with habaneros), and the husband thought the Oaxaca style Mole sauce was better than any other he had tasted. Several teammates went here the next night and loved it as well.

Now, onto the food that we DID take pictures of. We had eaten at Katy's Place for breakfast last year, and knew we wanted to go back again. The husband is a big fan of eating out for breakfast, and even my small breakfast eating self enjoyed Katy's Place enough to return. It is expensive, and cash only, but it is a fun environment and has very tasty food. Although they are known for their Benedict items, we have yet to try any of the benedict combos, since we aren't huge fans. The husband's banana chocolate chip pancakes did start a trend, however. After his plate was delivered, we saw several people ordering by saying: We want THAT! I got a delicious strawberry waffle and a hot chocolate:

We also ate at the Sardine Factory, which was our "fancy" meal of the weekend. We had a few recommendations for this location, so we made reservations and headed over to the Cannery Row area. We accidentally stole another couple's table (I swear they said "Moore!"), but thankfully, they were able to accomodate both parties in the lovely conservatory room. We dined on their famous abalone bisque, the albacore special (Husband) and Sole Americana (me - Sole with Diver Scallops and Lobster pieces over local greens, yum!) and finished with their Chocolate Marquis Cake, which was fantastic:

Of course, we also visited the aquarium. We don't visit every year, because it is expensive and doesn't always work into our schedule, but it is a really well run show here at Monterey Bay Aquarium. They are very passionate about saving the oceans and have become known across the U.S. for their sustainable fish consumption guide. I don't always abide by the guidelines while dining out, but I do try and choose sustainable options when buying fish to eat at home. Here are some of my favorite pics of the many I took at the aquarium (having an SLR at an aquarium makes picture taking much more fun!). We loved the sea dragons/horses and the jellyfish, and I think I'm in love with that little sardine with his mouth open!

Brown Sugar Meatloaf

2010-05-15T11:00:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the very long hiatus! The good news is that I've been tasting & touring for the last month and have lots of posts to catch up on. But my adventures have kept me away from my blog far too long and so now, I begin the catch up - starting with a recipe that uses ketchup! Ha ha!

Meatloaf is a classic recipe that many people consider a staple. I grew up with a pretty standard meatloaf recipe that included dry onion soup mix, bread crumbs and eggs, with a basic ketchup glaze. It was always just okay, so I was never really inspired to try it out on my own. But lately, with my food blog, I've decided to try making some of the classics on my own, utilizing the techniques I've been learning through the blogging world, plus adjusting for our personal tastes. Meatloaf was back on the list of potential "to-try" recipes. This recipe received some pretty rave reviews on allrecipes, and we do like savory items sweetened with brown sugar, so I thought I'd start there. I added some worcestershire sauce and Tabasco to the glaze and we really enjoyed that added kick to the glaze. Spicy and sweet just go so well together! This meatloaf was very moist and was tasty on sandwiches the next day. Everything a meatloaf should be in my book! I'm thinking of making this with a mix of beef and turkey next time, so that it is a little lighter. But as it was, it wasn't too greasy, since I used a pretty lean mix of ground beef. Good recipe.

Brown Sugar Meatloaf (adapted from allrecipes)

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup ketchup

(added: 1 Tbs Worcestershire Sauce)

(added: 1 tsp Tabasco Sauce)
1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef (I used 93/7% Lean/Fat ratio)
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 cup finely crushed saltine cracker crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 5x9 inch loaf pan.
Press the brown sugar in the bottom of the prepared loaf pan. Mix ketchup, worcestershire sauce and Tabasco in a small bowl. Spread on top of the brown sugar in loaf pan.
In a mixing bowl, mix thoroughly all remaining ingredients and shape into a loaf. Place on top of the ketchup. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour or until juices are clear. Allow to cool for 10 minutes prior to slicing.

Tofu Parmesan Florentine

2010-04-14T18:12:00.000-07:00

I knew I wasn't going to use an entire block of tofu on the Peanut Tofu recipe, so I figured I'd want another great tofu recipe to try with the remainder before it went bad. I looked no further than Mary Ellen's blog. Mary Ellen has some great tofu recipes because she really experiments with it when her husband is out of town (since he doesn't like it). I know that I make some of my favorite experimental recipes when my husband is out of town, as it really gets the juices flowing to know that if you fail, you can always eat cereal or ramen for dinner and not disappoint the husband! Anyway, Mary Ellen's Tofu Parmesan recipe looked fantastic. I made a couple of changes (I added some Parmigiano cheese and removed the dreaded mushrooms), but I loved this recipe. The husband declared it a "definitely make again" which is really saying something for a new tofu recipe. The key was that since Mary Ellen didn't list specific amounts on the spices for the breading, I went a little heavy on the cayenne (which I used instead of pepper flakes). Wow, the flavor of that spice, combined with all the other intense flavors, made me forget that I was eating "boring" tofu. The tofu turns an amazing golden color with the light pan fry because the square shape has more consistent contact with the pan than most other proteins would. After I pressed the tofu dry, I cooked the spinach first and used it as a bed for the tofu, sauce & cheese, which I then placed in the oven just until the cheese melted. This is not exactly healthy fare, but it is a healthier way of enjoying the flavors of chicken parmesan that I love so much without the deep fried chicken.

Tofu Parmesan Florentine (adapted slightly and halved from Mary Ellen's Cooking Creations)

1/2 block extra firm tofu
1/4 c bread crumbs and 1/4 cup parmigiano reggiano mixed with the following spices:
Spices: salt, pepper, garlic powder, oregano, onion powder, cayenne
1 egg, beaten
1/2 c marinara
1 bag baby spinach
1/2 c shredded cheese; I used mozzarella

1 tsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 375. Slice tofu into 1/2 inch slices. Press between two cutting boards with paper towels to remove most of the liquid. Heat olive oil over medium heat in non-stick pan. Saute spinach until just starting to wilt. Place in 11x7 baking pan, set aside. Dip tofu in egg, then in bread crumbs and add to hot pan. Cook until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. Place on top of spinach in baking pan. Top each slice with marinara sauce and cheese. Bake uncovered for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted & bubbly. Serve over hot whole wheat pasta. Serves two.

Peanut Tofu

2010-04-14T17:50:00.000-07:00

I have a lot of friends who celebrate Lent, and although I am not technically Catholic, I did go to a Catholic elementary school, and my mom was raised Catholic. I have given something up for Lent for the last several years, but I have yet to give up meat on Fridays. I realized at the end of Lent this year that it might be because my vegetarian repotoire is lacking a bit. I decided to try a couple new vegetarian recipes so that I can attempt meatless Fridays sometime soon. I started with Peanut Tofu because I realized while eating Peanut Chicken recently that the flavorful sauce would be great for tofu, which doesn't have much flavor on it's own. This was the best tofu recipe I have had, and I would highly recommend this for someone interested in experimenting with tofu, but is afraid of bland or weird textured food. I followed my standard tofu practices for this recipe - sliced into 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch slices, then press between cutting boards with lots of paper towels to dry. Then, sautee in a completely dry non-stick pan until very light golden and dry. Allow to cool before dicing into squares.

Peanut Tofu

1/2 package extra firm tofu, dried and diced into 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch cubes

1 medium red bell pepper, diced into 3/4 inch pieces

4 Tbs Low Sodium Soy Sauce

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp grated ginger

1/2 cup Picante Sauce (I use Pace Medium, and I double the sauce)

2 Tbs creamy peanut butter (I use reduced fat)

2 tsp canola oil

1/2 tsp sesame oil

Marinade tofu in soy, garlic & ginger 20-30 minutes. Heat oils in stir fry pan over medium high heat. Add bell pepper and stir fry until fragrant, about 1 minute. Remove, reserving as much oil as possible. Add tofu and stir fry until most of the marinating liquid has cooked off and become carmelized. Remove. In separate bowl (important!), combine picante and peanut butter and stir until mostly combined. Cold sauce will have a stringy consistency, sauce will blend as it cooks. Add sauce to hot stir fry pan. Cook & stir until thick and bubbly. Return peppers and tofu to the sauce. Stir well and cook until heated through. Serve over hot rice. Makes 3 servings when sauce is doubled.

Porcupine Meatballs

2010-04-02T15:59:00.000-07:00

There are some recipes that I make quite often, only to find that I've never blogged about them. This is one of them. Perhaps because I know that not everyone has a pressure cooker, perhaps just because I've been eating these my entire life (although my family used a different recipe when I was younger), I don't know why I haven't blogged about these. They are such a cute recipe, and they are very tasty, too. I loved these as a kid simply because of the cuteness factor. They are called porcupine meatballs because all the rice sticks out of the meatball like porcupine quills. They come together easily in the pressure cooker and always come out tender and delicious.

Porcupine Meatballs (adapted from my Presto pressure cooker manual)
3/4 lb lean ground beef (I used 90% lean)
1/2 cup white rice, uncooked (I use short grain)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1/2 Tbs dried minced onion
1 cup tomato juice (I use spicy V-8)
1/2 cup water
8 oz can tomato sauce
Combine meat, salt, pepper, onion & rice. Shape into about 12 small meatballs. Heat tomato juice & water in pressure cooker. Drop meatballs into boiling mixture, top with tomato sauce. Close lid and cook for 10 minutes with pressure regulator rocking gently. Allow pressure to drop of its own accord. Serve over hot rice, spooning juices on top. Makes 3 servings of 4 meatballs.

Island Spiced Pork Tenderloin

2010-04-02T15:28:00.000-07:00

I've seen this recipe pop up on a couple of blogs recently, but it wasn't until I saw it on Annie's Eats that I realized that these island spices aren't what I originally thought they were. I hear "Island Spiced" and I think more along the lines of Hawaii - perhaps a macademia, pineapple or coconut concoction. These spices are more Caribbean in nature, and the recipe is a combination of items that you are likely to have on hand most of the time. This is a delicious combination of smoky, spicy and sweet, which are all flavors I love with pork. A few things to note: The "glaze" starts out quite dry, not like a traditional glaze at all, more like the texture of moist sand. Annie halved her glaze amount, but I left it at her measurements for only one tenderloin, so I guess it was back to the original amount. Also, I cooked the pork to an internal temp of 170 degrees, as that is our doneness preference for pork (no pink, but still very moist all the way through). This came together quickly and was a nice variation from our usual pork tenderloin recipe. I'll definitely be making this again.

Island Spiced Pork Tenderloin (from Annie's Eats, originally from Gourmet)
For the spice rub (I halved these amounts for one tenderloin):
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cayenne (I added this)

1 pork tenderloin (about 2-2½ lbs. total)
1 tbsp. olive oil

For the glaze:
½ cup packed dark brown sugar
1 tbsp. (2-3 cloves) finely minced garlic
1½ tsp. Tabasco sauce
Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Combine the salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder and cinnamon in a small bowl. Stir together to blend. Pat the mixture over the pork tenderloins. Heat the olive oil in an ovenproof 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Place the tenderloins in the skillet and brown on all sides, turning occasionally, about 4 minutes total. Remove from the heat, leaving the pork in the skillet.

Stir together the brown sugar, garlic and Tabasco in a small bowl until blended. Spread the mixture evenly over the tops of the tenderloins. Place the skillet in the preheated oven and roast about 20 minutes, until an instant-read themometer inserted in the center of each tenderloin registers 140-170˚ F. Loosely tent the skillet with foil and let stand 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

Pressure Cooker Chicken Tacos

2010-04-02T15:17:00.000-07:00

This recipe is a variation on a family favorite that we got to try this Christmas when we visited the midwest. I've been telling the husband for years that we should try his family's famous pork tacos with chicken, but I make the recipe so rarely that he was afraid of trying something new and ruining his once a year taco experience. I'm so happy that he enjoyed this version when we were visiting the rest of the family during the holidays, because these are so much healthier than the pork version that I'm much more likely to make them more than once a year for him. Thanks to the two K's (my sisters-in-law) for forcing my husband to try Chicken tacos! I surprised him by making these during the week this week and he was so excited he almost couldn't believe it. It's the little things in life, I guess!

Pressure Cooker Pork Tacos

Step 1 Ingredients:
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast, diced into 1" pieces
1 medium onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup water

Place above ingredients in pressure cooker. Once pressure regulator is gently rocking, cook for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and allow pressure to release of its own accord. Remove pressure cooker lid and shred chicken.

Step 2 Ingredients:
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/2 - 3/4 tsp of ground red pepper (cayenne)

Add Step 2 ingredients and mix well. Stir well and allow to simmer on medium low for about an hour or until nearly all the liquid is absorbed into the meat. Serve with soft flour tortillas and usual taco toppings (traditional for my inlaws include shredded lettuce and chopped tomatoes, but extended friends & family like cheese and sour cream, too). Makes about 6 servings of 2 tacos (but good luck stopping at 2!).

Scallops Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce

2010-04-02T14:59:00.000-07:00

I had a bag of Bay Scallops from Trader Joes, and I had no idea what I wanted to do with them. I just knew that I wanted to do a pasta dish. After searching a little online, I found this recipe and blended it a little with what I pictured in my head. This was delicious. I would order this at a restaurant, it was perfect for my tastes. Bay scallops are a little bit sweeter than Sea Scallops, and they are smaller, so they cook faster (and are even easier to overcook, so be careful!). I'm really excited that I've been able to try cooking scallops at home. They are a nice alternative to the usual protein choices that I make. For those of you who don't like seafood, I would imagine this recipe would taste pretty good with chicken as well.

Scallops Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce
1 small bag Bay Scallops, thawed and drained
1 Tbs Butter
1/2 cup white wine
1 large shallot, diced (about 2 Tbs)
1 clove garlic
1 cup heavy cream (I used nonfat 1/2 & 1/2)
1 small can (14.5 oz) crushed tomatoes
1/4 to 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
2 Tbs chopped fresh basil (I used 2 Trader Joes basil cubes)
1/2 lb whole wheat linguine pasta
Cook pasta according to package directions. Rinse and pat the scallops dry. Heat the butter in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add the scallops and saute for one minute. Add garlic, shallots and wine. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes or until scallops are done. Remove scallops from pan with slotted spoon, reserving liquids. Add tomato, cream and pepper flakes and reduce by half. Add basil and scallops and toss with hot pasta. Serve with parmesan cheese.

Keyesville Classic 2010

2010-04-02T14:52:00.000-07:00

Not really food related, but I had to post a picture to show why we love the Keyesville Classic mountain bike race in Lake Isabella, CA. Even though I get funny looks when I say we are travelling to "an hour east of Bakersfield," which truly sounds like the middle of nowhere. I think that is the best part - it IS the middle of nowhere, and it is absolutely beautiful. It reminds me of why we love the sport of mountain biking so much!

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

2010-04-02T14:29:00.000-07:00

I think there is something with males and the mint/chocolate combination. So many guys I know say this is their favorite ice cream & candy combination. My husband is one of them. He loves mint chocolate chip ice cream. We were watching the Food Network the weekend before St. Patrick's Day this year and the Neely's were making some mint chocolate chip ice cream. The husband immediately declared that the ice cream should be my special St. Paddy's recipe, since it is green. Not necessarily Irish, but I thought the husband was being awfully cute, so I obliged. The recipe is straight out of my Cuisinart Ice Cream maker manual (a variation on their basic vanilla ice cream, which is not cooked). This recipe, like most homemade ice cream recipes, is very rich, but since I was making my husband's favorite flavor and not my own, I didn't care how fattening it was (I had a couple very small bowls, but it wasn't calling my name each night!). I was particularly pleased with the dark chocolate mini chunks from Whole Foods. They were a perfect mix-in for ice cream - deep chocolate flavor, but small enough to not hurt your teeth while eating. I'm going to try and use my ice cream maker more this Spring & Summer, so stay tuned!

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream (from Cuisinart)
1 cup whole milk, well chilled
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 cups heavy cream, well chilled
1 1/4 tsp peppermint extract
6-8 drops green food coloring (or to your liking)
3/4 to 1 cup mini chocolate chips or mini dark chocolate chunks
In a medium bowl, use a hand mixer or a whisk to combine the milk and granulated sugar until the sugar is dissolved, about 1 – 2 minutes on low speed. Stir in the heavy cream, food coloring, and peppermint extract to taste. Turn machine on, pour mixture into freezer bowl through ingredient spout and let mix until thickened, about 25 – 30 minutes. Stir in chocolate chips during last 5 minutes of mixing. Freeze in airtight container at least 2 hours before serving.

Homemade Pizza Dough

2010-03-16T21:05:00.000-07:00

One of the first things I wanted to make with my new KitchenAid mixer was homemade pizza dough. It seems this is a good first step with working with yeast, and that is definitely something I will be pursuing with my mixer. Pretty much everything that Annie makes on Annie's Eats looks fantastic, but I've particularly been inspired by her yeast baking, so I went with her dough recipe. I was impressed by how easy this dough was, and I think I was able to learn enough with this recipe to help me with future yeast recipes (my oven, preheating, is too hot for the rising dough to proof on top of it, but if I put a large wooden chopping board on it prior to the dough bowl, it is perfect). I made this with half deluxe pizza toppings (pepperoni, mushrooms and bell peppers) and the other half with bell peppers and tomatoes. I think the deluxe side turned out much better, as the best homemade pizza has dry toppings, in my opinion. I'm looking forward to experimenting with lots more flavors & toppings in the future. I followed Annie's recipe exactly, so I won't repeat it here.

Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies

2010-03-16T20:46:00.000-07:00

In February, we had houseguests. Refugees from the midwest snowstorms, I should say. The husband and I were happy to serve as home base for Santa Barbara training camp for our Ohio transplants. One of this pair happens to be my blog's biggest stalker, and as a thank you for letting them escape to some warmer weather, she sent me this recipe for Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies. This was a fun recipe, and it came together quickly using my new KitchenAid stand mixer. Yes, folks, I was already gravitating towards more baking, but this new fantastic toy will definitely lead to more sweet treats in my future. This dough would have killed my previous hand mixer, as it is a very thick dough. The stand mixer had no problems with this dough. The cookies turned out chewy and soft, and the cherry flavor really shined through. I did have problems with melting the chocolate for the glaze, but I've always had problems with finding the right heat for our microwave for melting chocolate. Hopefully, this will improve with practice! Thanks to K for this tasty and unique recipe.

Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies (from my sister-in-law)

For Cookies:

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1 egg

1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 jar maraschino cherries

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

For Topping:

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp cherry juice from maraschinos

In mixing bowl, cream margarine, egg, sugar and vanilla. Add flour, cocoa, baking powder & soda. Dough will be stiff. Refrigerate. Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Use knuckle to make indents. Push one cherry halfway into each ball. Melt chocolate chips, then add milk and cherry juice and mix well to combine. Spread topping over each cookie (it will not run or melt in the oven). Bake approx 9 minutes at 350 degrees.

Taco Pasta Casserole

2010-03-16T20:27:00.000-07:00

If you haven't figured it out yet, I really enjoy casseroles. They are comfort on a plate, and they make great leftovers. I run into trouble finding casseroles that are healthier. So many American casserole recipes are based in creamy condensed soup and/or covered in cheese. I was very excited to see this recipe from Joelen's Culinary Adventures, as Joelen is one of my favorite bloggers out there, and I knew she wouldn't have any condensed soup in her casserole. The best part of this casserole recipe is that it is adaptable. If I don't have one of the ingredients, I can toss in something else, and I can certainly adapt this to more in season vegetables if I want. As expected, this casserole was great as leftovers, too.

Taco Pasta Casserole (adapted from Joelen's Culinary Adventures)

1/2 lb dry short whole wheat pasta

1 Tbs Olive Oil

1/2 medium onion, diced

1/2 lb lean ground turkey

2 Tbs Taco Seasoning

2 Tomatoes, seeded & chopped

1 bell pepper, diced (mine was yellow)

1 can black beans, drained & rinsed

1 cup salsa (I used Medium)

Salt & Pepper to taste

1 cup shredded Cheddar Jack cheese

1 green onion, sliced

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large pot, fill with water and let it come to a boil. Add pasta and cook until slightly under done. Drain. Meanwhile, in a saute pan, add the oil and saute onions until softened. Crumble in the ground turkey and brown. Add the taco seasoning, tomatoes, and bell pepper strips. Saute until vegetables soften. Add beans and salsa then add salt & pepper to taste. Toss the ground beef and vegetable mixture until incorporated. Top the pasta with shredded cheese and bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until cheese melts and lightly browns. Before serving, top with sliced green onions for garnish. Serve hot and if desired, serve with guacamole and/or sour cream.

Stuffed Pepper Stew

2010-03-16T20:05:00.000-07:00

The first time I made this stew, it was well before I had started blogging, but I had been reading several to collect recipes, never imagining I would start my own. I highly recommend this recipe for those interested in stuffed pepper flavor, but without all the time involved in making the real thing. I don't often make soup recipes as a main entree for fear that my husband will wonder where the rest of his meal is, but this recipe is really hearty and definitely holds up to the husband standards. I got the recipe from What's Cooking in the Orange Kitchen but it is originally a Rachael Ray recipe, and I can't find it online anywhere anymore, so I can't link it! This makes really good leftovers, too. I halved the recipe and there were still two full helpings leftover.

Stuffed Pepper Stew
2 tbsp EVOO
1 1/2 lbs ground sirloin
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp allspice (I used a tsp of chili powder instead for the 1/2 recipe)
4 cloves garlic
1 lg onion cut into bite size pieces
3 green peppers, seeded and cut (I used one green, one yellow for the 1/2 recipe)
1 bay leaf (I omitted)
1 quart chicken stock
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 cup orzo pasta (I used about 3/4 cup for my 1/2 recipe)
12-15 basil leaves,torn (I chiffonaded these instead)
Grated Parmesan to top
Heat medium soup pot over medium high heat with EVOO. When oil is hot add onions, beef, salt, pepper and allspice (or chili powder). Brown the meat for about 5 minutes then add garlic and peppers and cook 7-8 minutes or until veggies are tender. Stir in stock and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Add pasta and cook to al dente. Turn off heat and fold in basil. Serve in shallow bowls with grated cheese on top.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

2010-03-16T19:51:00.000-07:00

Our local Ralph's grocery store had some kind of fruit mishap involving some bad grapes, rain checks and false advertising that led to bananas costing only 29 cents per pound! I snatched them up at that price, knowing that we could always use them in banana muffins if we didn't eat them before they went brown. I found this recipe on Lemons & Love (originally from epicurious) and loved that they looked really chocolatey and delicious. They did not disappoint, as I made two separate batches of these. I did add one teaspoon of vanilla, because everything is better with vanilla! They came together quickly and my husband's co-workers LOVED them. I even got a message at home from his boss saying simply "The muffins were great, thank you!" I will make these often.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 large)
1 large egg
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line twelve 1/3-cup muffin cups with foil muffin liners. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Mix mashed bananas, egg, melted butter, vanilla and milk in medium bowl. Stir banana mixture into dry ingredients just until blended (do not overmix). Stir in chocolate chips.Divide batter among prepared muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full. Bake muffins until tops are pale golden and tester inserted into center comes out with some melted chocolate attached but no crumbs, about 32 minutes. Transfer muffins to rack; cool

Stuffed Strawberries

2010-03-03T17:19:00.000-08:00

I just finished "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver. In it, she describes how she and her family ate entirely locally (from their own or neighbors farms) for one year. It inspired me to go a little more frequently to our (very local) Farmer's Market. It is literally a walk in the park away, so I don't know why we don't go more often. One of my latest finds, in addition to my absolute favorite local strawberries, was a soft German style cream cheese called Quark. I always think of ad formats, not food, when I hear this word. It comes in lots of varieties, but the kind sold at our market is a lightly lemon flavored and slightly sweet cheese and it is fantastic with strawberries. I stuffed our local strawberries with this cheese and rolled them in graham cracker crumbs to create this lovely dish. Served with a little Hershey's syrup, these were a delicious and light dessert. The cheese only has about as much fat as yogurt, believe it or not! I don't know how regularly available this cheese is elsewhere, but if you have access to it, I urge you to try this application!

Homemade Brownies

2010-03-03T17:09:00.001-08:00

I have always classified myself as more of a cooker than a baker. Most of my baking has been of the boxed mix variety. One of the best things about the blogging world is that I have found so many inspiring baking recipes to try out. I decided to make these after a discussion board I frequent was questioning the best brownie box mix on the market. Most said that Ghirardelli brownie mix is the best, but so many also said that making from scratch is so easy that they haven't tried mixes in a long time. I thought - Easy, Chocolatey and homemade goodness? Perfect! I found this recipe on Hershey's website and it really was very easy. I made this while my houseguests were napping and by the time they woke up, it was brownie time! I don't think I'll ever make a boxed mix again. These really didn't take much more time, and the result was a delicious brownie with a perfect texture - not too rich, not too dry, and not oily like I sometimes find the boxed mixes to be. These were a hit with my houseguests and were also a hit with the bike shop when I made another batch a week later. I think I might be inspired to bake a lot more now (hmmm, maybe I need a Kitchenaid Mixer?)!

Homemade Brownies (from Hershey's Kitchens)
3/4 cup butter, melted
1-1/2 cups sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 eggs
3/4 cup AP flour
1/2 cup unsweetened baking Cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Optional: 1 cup chocolate, peanut butter or butterscotch chips
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 8-inch square baking pan.
2. Combine butter, sugar and vanilla in bowl. Add eggs; beat well with spoon. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; gradually add to egg mixture, beating until well blended. Add chips and mix well (optional). Spread batter evenly into prepared pan.
3. Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. About 16 brownies.

Trader Joe's-Like Homemade Tartar Sauce

2010-02-14T15:04:00.000-08:00

We don't eat fish all that often, but when we do, we LOVE Trader Joe's Jalapeno Tartar Sauce. I knew I was going to be stopping by the fresh fish market this weekend, but I also knew we had no tartar sauce and there was NO WAY I was heading into Trader Joe's on the day before Valentine's Day. I've done it before and I just can't take the crowds. After doing a little research, I found that homemade tartar sauce is ridiculously easy and there really is no reason for me to buy store-made anyway. I mixed this up based on what I thought would work for our tastes and was pleasantly surprised at how perfect this was. The spiciness was right on par for our liking, and it ended up a little spicier than the Trader Joe's version, which was great. It is also a little lighter than the Trader Joe's version, since I used low fat mayo. It is almost too easy to blog about, and the picture is pretty bad, but here is my recipe:

Homemade Jalapeno Tartar Sauce (my creation)

1/2 cup light mayonnaise

1 heaping Tbs. sweet pickle relish

1 tsp sliced jarred pickled jalapenos, finely chopped

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/8 tsp onion powder

Mix all ingredients well in a small bowl. Cover and refridgerate, allowing flavors to marry for at least one hour. Serve alongside favorite fish.

Turkey Sausage Pasta Bake

2010-02-14T14:52:00.000-08:00

As this blog may show, I am a sucker for casseroles. I love their comforting nature and I especially love that they make good leftovers. I am always on the lookout for casserole recipes that don't have condensed cream soups, so this recipe from What's Cooking in the Orange Kitchen was perfect for a delicious weeknight meal. I halved this recipe, and this still made several servings for lunches during the week. Since I love turkey sausage, I will definitely be making this one again soon. Since I added a bell pepper, I found it had a lot of the flavors of an Italian sausage, peppers & onion sandwich. Yum!

Turkey Sausage Pasta Bake
1 (1-pound) package uncooked ziti (short tube-shaped pasta)
1 pound hot turkey Italian sausage links
1 cup chopped onion
1 bell pepper, chopped (I added)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon tomato paste (I used a little more)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 (14.5-ounce) cans petite-diced tomatoes, undrained
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
Cooking spray
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded fresh mozzarella cheese (I used a little more)
1 cup (4 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese (I used a little less)
1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain the pasta, and set aside.
3. Remove casings from sausage. Cook sausage, onion, pepper and garlic in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until browned, stirring to crumble. Add the tomato paste, salt, pepper, and tomatoes, and bring to a boil.
4. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Combine cooked pasta, sausage mixture, and basil. Place half of the pasta mixture in a 4-quart casserole coated with cooking spray. Top with half of mozzarella and half of Parmesan. Repeat layers. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until bubbly.

A blog award!

2010-02-14T13:03:00.000-08:00

I have really enjoyed blogging over this last year. It has been a great way to organize my meals, digitally scrapbook my trips, and organize my thoughts. This is a public blog, but I don't write all that often and I'm not incredibly active with promoting my blog online, so I always looked at the blog awards on the other sites I followed and thought, "There is no way I'll ever get one of those!" Imagine my surprise when Leah over at My Life Uncensored nominated me for a Beautiful Blogger award! The best part about blog awards is that it gives me a chance to point out some of my favorite blogs that have given me so much inspiration in this last year. So thanks to Leah, and thanks to all these inspirational blogs!

The Rules:

1. Thank and link the person that gave you the award.
2. Pass this award on to 15 blogggers that you have recently discovered and think are fantastic!

My nominees:

1. Mary Ellen's Cooking Creations: Mary Ellen's blog was one of the first I ever followed in my Google reader. She has inventive, tasty weeknight friendly recipes and I love tuning in to see what she comes up with next.

2. Elly Says Opa: I have used more recipes from this blog this year than any other. Elly's blog has some great weeknight friendly meals in addition to tasty ethnic cuisine (her favorites being Greek and Mexican, yum!).

3. Paved With Good Intentions: I discovered this blog last week and spent several hours (at work, I'm so bad!) reading back to read all about ThatGirl's fantastic trips. She and her husband like to take small weekend trips to explore California in between the big trips, just like me and my husband. Great travel pics and a nice writing style.

4. Simply Satisfying: Another great weeknight meal source. This blogger was also the first person to link to one of my recipes, so she'll always be special to me!

5. The Rookie Chef: This cooking blog has a great writing style and I love that she doesn't take herself too seriously. I love the progress that her blog shows, as everything she posts these days looks pretty non-rookie to me!

6. Lemons & Love: I love that this blog has a good ratio of baking to cooking recipes. I have definitely marked a lot of her recipes to try soon.

7. And a Cookie for Dessert: I love both of this blogger's blogs, but I'm nominating her cooking blog in the hopes that she has more time to post on her food blog soon (she has two beautiful babies to take care of, though, so it is tough!). Brooke's taste in recipes is similar to my own and she has a great writing style.

8. Macaroni and Cheesecake: In addition to having about the cutest blog name ever, this blogger inspires me. She likes to spoil her husband and friends with tasty baked goods and is the type of party guest who always brings something yummy. I would love to be more like that!

9. Le Petit Pierogi: I've been following this blog for a while, too. This was the first blog I linked to from mine. She's also got a great mix of sweet treats and delicious dinner options.

10. Confections of a Foodie Bride: The first recipe on her blog right now is deep fried goodness. That's enough for a nomination for a Beautiful Blog in my book!

11. A Taste of Home Cooking: This blogger recently had a baby girl and still manages to post more often than me with delicious recipes. I'm inspired by her ability to keep blogging about food when she is so busy.

12. Jenn and Food, Perfect Together: This blog has had some nice healthy options lately, which is much appreciated at the beginning of the new year. Many of her recipes are Weight Watchers friendly!

13. Cooking This and That: When I'm looking for something with a little extra pizzazz, I know I can find it on this site. She has a knack for taking something with simple ingredients and adding a polished, unique touch. Lots of great party ideas here.

14. Elizabeth's Edible Experience: Normally, I don't follow blogs that have lots of step by step pictures. This is probably the only one that I follow that does the step by step. Elizabeth does a great job with showing only the most important steps, and her recipes are great.

15. Crockpot Tuesdays: This blogger has so many crockpot ideas, and even though I haven't made anything from her blog yet, I have several recipes marked in my Google Reader and just seeing how often she uses her crockpot inspires me to pull out my own, especially at this time of year!

Thanks to all these fantastic bloggers for making this last year my best ever for cooking. I look forward to making more of your yummy favorites in 2010!

Yummy Taco Burgers

2010-01-24T18:45:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited about our dinner that I had to post right away. I haven't made beef burgers at home in a really long time. We eat ground turkey whenever we can because it agrees with my tummy a lot more and it is much healthier. I saw this recipe on A Taste of Home Cooking (recipe originally from Vintage Victuals) and thought it might be just the recipe to bring me back to home beef burgers. I loved that it was simple, but brought in some of the Mexican flavors we love, and it was a great opportunity for me to make my tasty homemade guacamole. I made a couple of changes. I omitted the egg (I didn't want to figure out how to divide it, since I made 1/3 of the original recipe, plus I don't like what it does to the texture) and I added about a 1/4 cup of chopped green onions to add some moisture to the mix to make up for the egg. I used a taco seasoning that was from Whole Foods and had no salt, but I added a little extra to my guacamole and that worked out great. I will probably use more taco seasoning next time (I used about a Tablespoon). These were particularly special because I grilled them up on our new cast iron grill! What a treat!

Taco Burgers

(original recipe for 4 burgers, I made 2)

1 packet of dry taco seasoning (I used a Tbs)

1.5 lbs. ground beef (I Used 1/2 lb 93% Lean)

1 egg, lightly beaten (I omitted and added 1/4 cup chopped green onion)

4 slices cheddar or cheddar jack cheese (I used 2 slices cheddar)

4 buns (I used 2 whole wheat buns)

Red onion sliced (I omitted)

Guacamole (I used about 1/4 of my original recipe shown here)

In a medium bowl, combine taco seasoning, ground beef, and green onions lightly until completely combined. Divide the meat into two equal patties.
Grill the patties to desired done-ness, topping with sliced cheese during the last 2 minutes of grilling. Grill the buns, too (We both agreed the grilling of the buns was required. Soggy buns would be a tragedy here!). Place a patty on each bun, and top with guacamole. Enjoy!

Hot soup on a rainy day: Burrito Soup

2010-01-23T10:50:00.000-08:00

Most people have heard, the weather here in California has been nasty. A tornado touched down about a block from our apartment. We live in Santa Barbara, people. Seriously, a tornado? And this was the first of several that happened last week. Bad weather calls for soup, but I have a hard time making soup for dinner unless it is really hearty. Thankfully, this soup from Elly Says Opa fit the bill perfectly. It really is everything that you would find in a burrito, but in soup form. I loved that I could mix up the different types of chili powders I had, as the complexity of the spices worked out great. Both the husband and I took soup leftovers into work this week, and the guys at the bike shop were incredibly jealous. One guy swore he was going to stop by and pick up a crockpot for his fiance on the way home! The husband really liked this soup, but kept insisting that it was really chili in disguise, which I guess is a good sign that it was hearty enough to count as a meal for him! For my Midwestern family members reading this - make this, but I would use half as much chili powder for your spiciness tastes!

Crockpot Burrito Soup (from Elly Says Opa)

2 tsp. canola oil

1 large onion, diced (mine was more of a medium onion)

1 lb. extra lean ground beef

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce

5 cups beef broth

2 Tbsp chili powder (I used 1 Tbs regular, 1/2 Tbs Chipotle and 1/2 Tbs Ancho Chili powders)

1 Tbsp. cumin

2 tsp. oregano

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

2/3 cup corn

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 cup uncooked rice (or, cook rice separately)

Heat a large heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat and add oil. Cook the onions for a couple minutes before adding the beef. Brown the beef with the onion and drain if necessary. Put back on the heat and stir in the garlic, just until fragrant. Pour the beef mixture into the crockpot and then add the tomato sauce, beef broth, spices, corn and black beans. Cook on low for 8 hours. Increase temp to high and add the rice, just until cooked. Alternatively you can put the cooked rice in bowls and ladle the soup over it. Garnish with your favorite toppings (I used shredded cheddar, light sour cream and sliced avocado, yum!). This made about 8 servings.
Nutritional Information Per Serving (with 93% lean beef): Calories: 302 / Fat: 7.5g / Carbs: 33.5g / Fiber: 6.3g / Protein: 26g

Healthier Fettucine Alfredo

2010-01-23T10:31:00.000-08:00

I love restaurant Fettucine Alfredo. I so rarely order it because it is so bad for me. One restaurant we go to serves it as a side to a chicken dish I like, and I usually get it with the pasta sauce on the side so that I can dip a small amount of sauce onto the pasta and keep it a little lighter. I haven't tried making Fettucine Alfredo at home because we used to eat it when I was younger, and I didn't like the grainy taste that came from the cheese not melting well enough into the cream. Not to mention, the home made version is often not that great for you either! I found a recipe in my Cooking Light cookbook that I thought looked promising, but I wanted to make it more like my childhood memory (we always had peas & ham added in) and I wanted it to be pretty veggie heavy, so I added pancetta, peas and broccoli. This was very tasty, and only had a little bit of grainy taste from the cheese. We will definitely make this again.

Fettucine Alfredo with Pancetta, Peas and Broccoli (adapted from Cooking Light)

1 Tbs Butter

1 1/4 cups Half & Half

3/4 cup grated fresh parmesan cheese (I used half American Parmesan, half parmigiano reggiano)

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp fresh cracked pepper

2 oz diced pancetta

1.5 cups frozen or fresh broccoli

1 cup frozen peas

3/4 lb dried fettucine pasta

Cook Pasta according to directions, adding broccoli and peas in the last 3 minutes of cooking. Meanwhile, melt Butter in medium saucepan. Add pancetta and cook until fat has rendered and meat is just starting to brown. Remove pancetta from pan with slotted spoon, reserve. Pour fat mixture out until only about 1 Tbs remains in the pan. Add half & half, cheese salt and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly, for about 3-5 minutes or until cheese has melted completely into the sauce. Add Pasta/veggie mixture and reserved pancetta. Toss well, serve hot. Makes 4-6 main servings.

Sea Scallops with Lemon Beurre Blanc

2010-01-07T18:17:00.001-08:00

I know that sea scallops aren't for everyone. I myself hadn't even tried a bite of them until my boss' wedding 5 years ago, when I felt I had to at least taste all the dishes out of respect for my boss and his wife (who I love). I thought, at the time "This might be something I could like someday, but I can't picture ordering this." Since then, I have had several opportunities to sample scallops and have always thought: "I should eat these more often." Well, last night I took the plunge! I purchased 8 sea scallops from Whole Foods and researched quite a bit on how to cook them (even the guy next to me at the seafood counter had some tips, as he was picking up scallops as well!). I learned that you needed the pan screaming hot, you should be very careful not to overcook, they need to be super dry before cooking, and you should keep the seasoning simple. For the scallops themselves, I simply followed all the advice. But I knew I would want some kind of sauce, and I researched this one on allrecipes that I thought would work nicely with some alterations. This dish was truly fantastic. What a great way to start out my new year of blogging (this was the first dish I cooked after my blogiversary!)! I was so proud of myself for cooking something that I really haven't even eaten out very much, and one that could be intimidating. I loved how the sweetness of the scallops played with the tang of the sauce. We will definitely be eating this dish again! I would imagine the sauce would go well on any kind of fish. On a side note, I have always gotten scallops, shallots and scallions mixed up, so it is kind of funny that this dish uses two of the three!

Seared Sea Scallops with Lemon Beurre Blanc

8 large fresh sea scallops

Salt & Pepper to taste

3 Tbs flour for dredging

1 Tbs Olive Oil

2 shallots, diced very fine

1/4 cup chicken stock

1/8 cup lemon juice

1/8 cup dry white wine

1 Tbs unsalted butter

Heat oil over high heat in a heavy bottomed skillet. Dry scallops very well with paper towel. Season with salt and pepper. Dredge each side of all scallops very lightly in flour (this is really just to ensure they are dry, it shouldn't be a breading). Place scallops into nearly smoking hot pan. Cook just until browned, turning once, about 2 minutes per side. Remove to plate and keep warm. Lower heat. Add diced shallots to pan and cook until soft, about 30 seconds. Add chicken stock to deglaze pan, then add lemon juice and white wine. Stir well and allow to boil until reduced by almost 1/2. Add in butter in small pieces. Sauce will get rich and creamy (if you desire a thicker sauce, sprinkle in some of the leftover flour and stir well). Serve over scallops. Makes 2 servings.

Pat's Pie (chocolate silk pie)

2010-01-07T18:06:00.001-08:00

As much as my brother wanted to think this pie was named for him, Pat's Pie is a creation of a friend of my grandfather's, long ago. This is the pie that meant "Holidays" to my brother and sister and me. I haven't made this in a very long time (and probably have the recipe a little messed up), but I decided to make this for our Christmas Eve dinner that some sweet friends invited us to. We were leaving for Michigan the next day and Roger was sick, but these guys had us over for a delicious Christmas spread. Unfortunately, the pie sat out of the fridge while we ate dinner, so, while it was still cold, it lost a little of its firmness. Thankfully, the flavors were still delicious! I think it even tasted good enough that Roger might "let" me make it for my family next year instead of his traditional pie requests.

Pat's Pie (old family recipe)
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 square unsweetened chocolate
2 eggs
1 pie crust
Melt Chocolate square in the microwave. Cream butter and sugar, then add eggs one at a time, beating each egg for 5 minutes. Blend in chocolate and vanilla. Pour Mixture into a blind baked, cooled pie shell and chill in fridge for at least 2 hours. Serve with whipped cream, if desired.

Peanut Butter Cookies

2010-01-07T17:49:00.000-08:00

This was the last of my cookie recipes for the year. I wasn't extremely happy with how these turned out (they were a little thin for my liking), but I got a compliment on them that made me think a little more highly of them. I have a co-worker with 4 kids who were the consumers of his entire cookie bag this year. They actually called me after work to tell me how much they enjoyed them. His oldest son (about 6 or so) has loved watching the Food Network since he was really young, Paula Dean is his hero, and he's always game for trying something new. This little guy grabbed the phone and said "Thank you, the Peanut Butters are my favorite!" How cute! If the little kiddie foodie likes them, they must be good! So thanks to the BH kids (all their names start with "B") for giving me a little confidence with this recipe!

Peanut Butter Cookies (from Crisco)

3/4 cup Creamy Peanut Butter
1/2 stick Shortening
1 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 3/4 cups All Purpose Flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt

HEAT oven to 375°F. Combine peanut butter, shortening, brown sugar, milk and vanilla in large bowl. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended. Add egg. Beat just until blended. COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt (I sifted these). Add to creamed mixture at low speed. Mix just until blended. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls (You might want to use more) 2-inches apart onto greased baking sheet. Flatten slightly in a crisscross pattern with tines of fork.
BAKE one baking sheet at a time 7 to 8 minutes, or until set and just beginning to brown. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheet. Remove cookies to cooling racks to cool completely.

And here is what my goodie basket looked like for the bike shop! I look forward to doing this every year. I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday season!

More Cookies - Cake Cookies

2010-01-06T20:17:00.001-08:00

Here is the secret of my Cookie Extravaganza success: Cake Cookies. I get the most compliments on these cookies every year, and they are so easy to do, and they are actually pretty cost effective as well, since boxed cake mixes are usually on sale during the holidays. For this year, I purchased 4 boxes of cake mix (2 yellow, 2 chocolate) for $4 total, and my add-ins were chocolate chips for the yellow cake cookies and butterscotch chips for the chocolate cake cookies. These cake mixes made about 15 dozen cookies, and I cranked out these batches in about one afternoon of solid work. This is the only way I can really accomplish the amount of baking I have to do during the holidays to have enough cookies for everyone, and it doesn't really feel like I'm cheating because people really love these cookies!

Cake Cookies (from Allrecipes.com)

1 package cake mix (any basic flavor will do)
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips or other mix-in goodies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a medium bowl, stir together the cake mix and baking powder. Add eggs and oil, then mix until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips, or your choice of additions. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto cookie sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Bake less for chewy cookies and more for crispy cookies. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Makes about 3 dozen.

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-01-06T19:55:00.000-08:00

Now, my friends, begins the cookie assault of 2009. I am not a huge baker, but for the last 3 years, I have set myself a goal of baking cookies for all my co-workers and my husband's co-workers for the holidays. It would be one thing if I was making 2 cookies per person, but we're talking 8 cookies per person for 25 people. Lots of cookies every year, and although it does increase my chore workload in a potentially stressful time, I get a lot of joy from sharing these baked goods with our co-workers, who are truly like family to us. These cookies were the first I made for the holidays, and since my husband and I didn't see each other for a couple of weeks during the season due to crazy schedules, I left him 2 cookies with a note that said "For my taste-tester" before going to bed. I woke up to a return note saying, "I say, these are awesome! Great job!" These cookies were our only source of communication for about a 24 hour period. And my husband does say these were quite possibly his favorite cookies of all time.

Double Chocolate Dream Cookies (from the Tollhouse bag)
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup baking cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate morsels (I used Ghirardelli)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in medium bowl (I sifted these). Beat butter, sugars and vanilla until creamy. Add eggs and beat for about 2 minutes until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels. Drop by rounded Tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheets (I used parchment & silpat). Bake for 9-10 minutes until cookies are puffed up. Cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes before removing to racks to cool completely. Makes 4-5 dozen cookies.

My Lighter Textured Pumpkin Pie

2010-01-06T17:49:00.000-08:00

This year, my family didn't request my pumpkin pie, but my husband was really itching for some pumpkin pie, so I decided to bake one for our Holiday visit to our friends who live about an hour and a half away. I used a frozen pie crust, which fit perfectly in my pie carrier and allowed me to leave a good section of pie with our friends. Someday, I will master a homemade crust, but this wasn't the day. I didn't like pumpkin pie for most of my life, but a few years ago, I decided to make one for my husband and didn't feel like using the one on the back of the Libby's can. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com, but the recipe is no longer active on the site. The original recipe included a homemade whipped cream topping with candied ginger, but I haven't ever made that. I just love the basic recipe for this pie. It is a cross between a standard pumpkin pie and a chiffon pie - a little airier than normal, but still substantial enough. This was a big hit for our holiday visit!

"My" Pumpkin Pie

1 Prepared, uncooked pie crust

2 eggs

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup whipping cream

1 15 oz can pumpkin

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or a little more, if you like it spicy)

1/2 tsp salt

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Beat eggs at medium speed in a large mixing bowl until thick and lemony (about 2-3 minutes). Add cream. Beat for 1 minute more. Add remaining ingredients and beat until well incorporated (1-2 minutes). Pour into prepared crust. Bake for 10 minutes. Cover edges and reduce oven temp to 350 degrees. Continue baking for 40-50 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely. Serve with whipped cream.

Slow Cooker Pot Roast

2010-01-06T17:38:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! Wow, it was a very busy holiday season for me, so as you can tell, I've gotten behind on blog posts. Thankfully, I have a bunch of recipes that I've been saving up with all my holiday baking as well as a few savory dishes, like this one. Unfortunately, this Pot Roast didn't turn out the way I remember it usually coming out. My cut of meat seemed fine in the package, but after I removed it from the package, it was revealed that my 3 lbs of roast actually had about 1.5 lbs of fat on the back side that was well marbled and I couldn't cut it off. Cooking beef in the crock pot can do wonders for a bad cut of meat, so I thought it would still be okay, but this was just ridiculously fatty. I think in the future, I'm going to go with a rump roast or another slightly leaner cut of beef instead of the chuck roast I used. This is such a great recipe (I've made it plenty of times), I'm not letting one bad experience turn me off!

Awesome Slow Cooker Roast (From Allrecipes)

2 10.75oz cans of cream of mushroom soup (I used 1 can Cream of Celery)

1 package dry onion soup mix (You can use half the package, I used it all)

1 1/4 cups water (I used beef stock)

5 1/2 lbs pot roast (Mine was about 3)

I added about a cup of baby carrots and 2 large white potatoes

In a slow cooker, mix cream of mushroom soup, dry onion soup mix and water. Place pot roast in slow cooker and coat with soup mixture.
Cook on High setting for 3 to 4 hours, or on Low setting for 8 to 9 hours.

Baked Ravioli

2009-12-01T21:30:00.000-08:00

I stopped by Whole Foods tonight, thinking I would pickup something easy for dinner, since the husband was out on a night mountain bike ride. I had heard good things about Whole Foods jarred pasta sauce, and I had some mozzarella at home, so I decided a baked ravioli would be pretty good. I picked up some sauce and Whole Foods whole wheat spinach & cheese ravioli and headed home to find some basic instructions on how long to bake this. I'm kind of in shock at how easy this recipe was to make. I just threw in the layers and baked for a 1/2 hour, the amount of work was so minimal. I think next time, I'll make sure I have enough shredded mozzarella. I was pretty lazy and when I ran out of the preshredded mozzarella, I just layed slices on top for the last 5 minutes of baking time instead of grating it. I think this meal could be a lot better with minimal work (adding onions, garlic and turkey sausage would be great), but as it was, it was pretty darn good for the work to taste ratio.

Baked Ravioli (loosely based on allrecipes)

1 package frozen raviolis

1 jar pasta sauce

2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded

2 Tbs grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp dried oregano
Layer 1/3 pasta sauce, 1/2 ravioli, 1/3 pasta sauce, spices, 1/2 mozzarella cheese, 1/2 ravioli, 1/4 mozzarella cheese & parmigiano (in that order, bottom to top) in a 13x9 baking dish. Bake, covered with foil for 30 minutes. Uncover and top with remaining 1/4 cup cheese. Bake for 5 minutes more until just starting to brown. Makes 6 servings.

Mom's Famous Cherry Pie

2009-12-01T20:38:00.000-08:00

My mother-in-law makes fantastic pie. We fly back to Michigan for Christmas every year, and every year, my husband has been giddy over the fact that Mom's homemade cherry pie will be waiting for him. When I first started making pie for my family on behalf of my husband, I made a cherry just to make my husband happy, but we both knew that opening a couple cans of cherry pie filling and dumping into Pillsbury Pie crust just wasn't cutting it. This year was the year that I made Mom's Homemade Cherry Pie, and I think I did pretty good, considering that I had to write down the recipe on the back of an envelope as Mom quickly read me the recipe. This recipe isn't as easy as it sounds. I had a hard time measuring out the cherries (although that was more from forgetting than difficulty), the roux got a little lumpy, since there is a lot of flour to a small amount of butter, and I think we may have thrown away my almond extract (I know we didn't use it all!). All in all, however, I think I did a pretty good job with this one. I may never make my own crusts, since that little doughboy does them so well, but at least I can make homemade filling for all my pies now!

Mom's Cherry Pie
1 recipe double pie crust (I used Pillsbury)
1 Tbs butter
1/4 cup All Purpose Flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup cherry juice
1 cup sugar
3 cups canned tart cherries (in the canned fruit section, not pie section)
4 drops almond extract
10 drops red food coloring
Melt butter and add flour, stirring quickly. Add juice, sugar and salt and whisk quickly. Cook and stir until bubbly. Cook and stir for one minute more. Add food coloring and almond extract, then add cherries. Pour into pie crust in 9" pie pan. Cut top crust into 1/2 inch strips. Starting in the middle, lay out crust strips in a criss-cross pattern, folding alternating pieces in half to allow pattern to form (you can do an internet search to see how this is done). Crimp ends of top crust to bottom crust, trim any extras, and shape into a pretty pattern if desired. Bake for 45-50 minutes at 375 or until golden, loosly covering with foil or pie protectors when the edges get brown.

Pecan Pie Cookies

2009-12-01T20:23:00.000-08:00

It is the holiday season, and I'm usually in charge of desserts for my family. My family is not really into pies, and the husband and I joke that he nearly had to break it all off with me when we were driving the (back then) 10 minute drive to my parents for Thanksgiving and he asked what kind of pies we would be having. I told him "We're not really a pie family" and he about had me turn the car around. We thankfully survived that catastrophe and I now bake pies every year for Thanksgiving. This year, I decided to also make these Pecan Pie Cookies for my daddy. When my mom was still alive, I remember her making a full size chocolate pie for the entire family, and then making a little itty bitty pecan pie for Daddy, since he is the only one who liked pecans. I thought these cookies would be in that same spirit, so I baked up a batch. Other than my oven running a little hot, these cookies turned out great. I would strongly advise, however, that everyone use a silpat or at least parchment on their baking sheet. The filling will inevitably run off the cookie a little, and this stuff turns into sticky hard candy when it is heated! My dad, my sister's boyfriend, and the bike shop boys all seemed to love these, even the darker ones from when I was still experimenting with the oven. These are a great Thanksgiving treat!

Pecan Pie Cookies (from Elizabeth's Edible Experience)

Cookie Ingredients:

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

3/4 butter, softened

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

Filling Ingredients:

1 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/4 cup whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

Heat oven to 350°F. Combine all cookie ingredients except flour and baking powder in large bowl. Beat at medium speed until creamy. Reduce speed to low; add flour and baking powder. Beat until well mixed. (I had better luck with chilled dough, you might want to chill at this point) Shape dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Make indentation in each cookie with thumb; rotate thumb to hollow out slightly. Combine all filling ingredients in small bowl. Fill each cookie with 1 rounded teaspoon filling. Bake for 8 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets.

Roasted Cauliflower Cheese Soup

2009-12-01T20:09:00.000-08:00

Immediately following my Vegas girls weekend (no blog post on that, what happens in Vegas....), I returned to an empty house. The husband had to go on yet another business trip, this time up to Morgan Hill for a Specialized Bicycles training course on how to fit riders to their bicycles. As usual when my husband is out of town, I took this opportunity to make meals that I knew he wouldn't like. This is one of them, since he hates cauliflower. I loved this soup and it really gave me confidence that I can make delicious soups at home and don't need to just wait until we go out so I can order soups. Of course, when I described my dinner to the husband during our nightly phone call, husband was acting like he was going to be sick! I'm looking forward to making this again when he leaves for his next trip!

Roasted Cauliflower Cheese Soup (by me!)

2 cups cauliflower florets

2 cloves garlic

2 Tbs olive oil

1 Tbs Butter

1 Tbs Flour

1 cup chicken stock (separated)

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 cup cheddar cheese

salt & pepper to taste

Toss cauliflower with garlic and oil in a large ziploc bag. Roast in a shallow pan for about 25-30 minutes (until tender). Meanwhile, melt butter in large saucepan. Add flour and cook for about a minute. Add 3/4 cup of the chicken stock and stir to create a thick sauce. Puree cauliflower with about 1/4 cup chicken stock in blender or food processor (I used the Magic Bullet). Add to saucepan. Stir well to combine. Add cream and stir. Add cheese and stir well until melted. Season with salt & pepper and serve very warm. Makes 4 small servings, 2 large servings.