Sour Cream Pound Cake

For dessert on Christmas (and every day since) we had Sour Cream Pound Cake with raspberries and whipped cream.  This cake was amazingly simple to make!  The recipe I followed is June Dorminy's from a 4-H cookbook in my hometown published in 1996.

Preheat oven to 300.

1/2 pound butter
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
3/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup milk
1/4 tsp baking powder
3 cups plain flour
1 tsp vanilla

Cream the butter and sugar, then add the eggs in one at a time.  Combine sour cream and milk and mix.  Then add flour a little bit at a time.  Add the vanilla and mix a tad more.  Spray your bundt pan with a cooking spray that has flour in it.  I like Baker's Joy.  It makes a difference! 

Cook the cake for 1 1/2 hours or slightly longer until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Let the cake cool before you try to flip it out of the pan.  Top with whatever fruit you like and whipped cream.

I really have been cooking...

Despite my lack of posting recently, I have been cooking.  Cooking and cooking and cooking.  It's the holiday season after all!  Here's a list of things recently made and my critique of each of them:

• I made pumpkin bread (the recipe was for pumpkin muffins but c'mon...like I'm going to follow that?).  It turned out so well that I shared some with people at work and then sent some to my dad for Christmas.  I think what makes it so tasty is the addition of golden raisins.
• For Thanksgiving I made my first ever real bake-it-in-the-oven cheesecake.  It was a pumpkin cheesecake for which I got the recipe off of a Philadelphia Cream Cheese advertisement.  It turned out great!
• It's been a month of pumpkin ok?  The pumpkin risotto I made didn't taste like I expected it to.  It could have been an overabundance of parmesan, but something made it taste almost Italian-ish.  I wanted it to taste like pumpkin.  It wasn't bad, just not what I thought it would be.
• Thursday night I thinly sliced some boneless country style pork ribs, sauteed them in a pan, then simmered in bbq sauce with a little white balsamic vinegar added (to make it more like Carolina bbq sauce).  I then toasted some awesome buns with a little cheese on them, put a big spoonful of the pork on top, and then added coleslaw.  Right. on. top.  Delish!
• Of course, with the work potluck and all, I had to make the Rosalyn Carter Cheese Ring.  While no one believes cheese and strawberry jam will be good together, they do after they taste this.  
• So there you have it.  Some recent cooking sessions.  Christmas Eve will be filled with skiing and a large pot of spaghetti with marinara sauce and Italian sausage.  Christmas will of course be ham-centric ;)

Undaunted Courage

     Lewis and Clark have made it to the Pacific!  While they aren't hanging out on a beach anywhere, they are facing the wintery storms and blustery winds of modern-day Astoria, Oregon at this point in the book.  I'm almost 2/3 of the way through and so far we've packed for the journey, traveled up the Missouri river, met with bands of Sioux, Hidatsa, Mandan, Shoshone and Nez Perce Indians, suffered through a gross winter in North Dakota and discovered the culinary delights of roots, horse and dog.  Hey, you've gotta eat what you've gotta eat.
     I think Ambrose does a great job of mostly telling it like it is - he allows you to envision it for yourself and to come to your own conclusions about some things.  Sometimes he does include his opinion about what most likely happened, the causes of certain events, etc.  His most vexing mystery, for himself at least, is where are the rest of Lewis's journals?  Surely the guy who was ordered by Thomas Jefferson to keep a daily log didn't just forget...or just disobey a direct order... Ambrose's theory?  Lewis's manic-depressive nature caused him to sometimes turn melacholic and not write.  It's not as if no one was writing - Clark wrote almost daily.  There are notes everywhere for everything and Lewis went so far as to sometimes send live specimens back to Jefferson - he shipped back a prairie dog!
     I haven't been disappointed with this book.  It's insightful and I'm really able to see Lewis and Clark as characters and as makers of history - not just as two guys who decided to take a trip to the Pacific Ocean.

Caramel Cake - It only survived because of my mom

This weekend I made a caramel cake.  A from scratch, covered with cooked caramel icing, straight-from-the-south caramel cake.  I followed this recipe from Deep South Dish.  Why didn't I follow the recipe of someone from the Food Network or from a 4-H cookbook?  I don't know, but the recipes were the least of my problems so I guess that chick knows what she's talking about.

I started yesterday by making the cake part of the caramel cake.  Good thing I hadn't planned to make the icing yesterday since it was rainy and cloudy all day and ANYONE from the South knows you can't cook candy or icing on a rainy, cloudy day.  I'm making the assumption that it's because there's too much moisture in the air.  So anyway, I made the cake.  Keep in mind that the only "from scratch" cake I've made before was a pound cake.  It turned out well but that didn't keep me from worrying about these. 

I whisked my dry ingredients (that's my version of sifting), creamed my butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla, added in the flour and milk (alternating, ending with the flour because that's how the recipe did it).  I divided the batter into 2 springform pans coated with Baker's Joy (Thanks Kisha!) and waxed paper.  Everything was going great.  I got them in the oven with no trouble.  The recipe said to make sure not to overcook them, and to start with 20 minutes, then check them.  And there's where the trouble began.

At 20 minutes I could see they probably weren't ready, but I thought I would check anyway.  Wrong move.  Why?  Because as soon as I opened the oven door both layers sank in the middle.  Not a little bit - a LOT.  I thought maybe they would rise back up a little, but no.  Two sunken-in-the-middle layers.  This was not going to do, not at all.  One sunken layer?  That I could probably deal with...but TWO?  No.  So I set about making a third layer.  I halved the recipe, got it in the oven, turned on the oven light and set the timer for 30 minutes.  I watched it but I did NOT open the oven at all.  That one turned out much better - not perfect, but close enough.  Still, I only needed 2 layers soooooo what to do with that third sunken layer?  Why treat the Voodoo Biker and his employees that's what! 

Here's what I did:  I peeled and chopped two pretty big peaches (almost softball sized).  I melted 2 tbsp butter, about 1/4 cup brown sugar and a little vanilla and lemon juice in a pan.  I threw in the peaches and sauteed for a few minutes.  In the mean time, I poked some holes in the layer with a toothpick.  Then I dumped the peaches and glaze over the layer and took it down to the store.  I heard it was great ;)

Anyway, I put the other two layers in the freezer overnight.  Today after an awesome bike ride with my friend A, I set about making the icing.  I read the recipe twice before I even began.  It involved melting sugar (the "burnt" sugar portion of the recipe) in a cast iron skillet while at the same time bringing to a boil a milk, sugar, butter and vanilla mixture in a separate pan.  Eventually all this gets combined.  Tip #1:  Always use a bigger saucepan (like a 4 qt) than you think you'll need.  This was mistake #2 for me as I did not do that. 

When I poured the caramel mix into the milk mix it rose up to the top of the pan and over the sides as I was screaming to no one in particular, "This isn't going to work!  It's not going to work!"  I set the saucepan down on top of the cast iron skillet (although it had already poured melted sugar onto the stove eye) and grabbed a bigger pan.  As I was pouring from one to another my candy thermometer fell onto the floor.  Smoke was coming off the one burner, I was throwing the pan and sugar mix onto another burner and the candy thermometer was lying on the floor.  I turned on the fan, picked up the candy thermometer, and went back to whisking the mix to get it to the soft-ball stage.  The candy thermometer was sitting on "Soft-ball" after only a minute or two.  Wow, that was fast, I thought.  I took the mix off the heat and continued to whisk.  It was supposed to get thick and creamy.  It wasn't.  That's when I realized the candy thermometer was broken. 

At this point I suppose less stubborn people might give up, or at least start over.  I was determined to make this work.  I threw the candy thermometer away, got the pot back on the heat, and started whisking again.  They call it the "soft-ball" stage for a reason.  I grabbed a glass of cold water and a spoon and set them beside the stove.  I thought back to all the times I made fudge with my mom and sister.  Soft-ball stage literally means the mix will form a soft ball when you drop it in water.  So I whisked and every minute I would drop a little drop of mix into the water.  The caramel began to change, to get hotter - you could see it from the way it bubbled.  I checked again - still no soft ball.  After probably a full 5 or 6 minutes of whisking and checking, it finally changed - it didn't exactly form a ball shape, but it formed a shape instead of just streaming to the bottom of the glass.  

I took it off the heat and kept whisking.  I looked at the clock and figured I'd give it 5 minutes.  If nothing had changed by then I could assume it was ruined.  But it did start to change!  I thought again to the candy making from my childhood and knew to whisk until some of the sheen was gone from the caramel.  It started to thicken and get dull and I stopped whisking and picked up the phone.  "Mom?  The fact that this caramel icing worked is all because of you."

The bottom layer was the sunken one and you can tell that even here.  I tried to get the icing to flow prettily over the edges...

Is the cake beautiful?  No.  That's because I waited a bit too long to start icing it and the caramel started to set...BUT it tastes amazing! 

Fall Corn Chowder

I sort of kind of made this corn chowder recipe last night from the USA Weekend newspaper insert...Creamless Corn Chowder.  I say "sort-of-kind-of" because once I got home and started looking at it I realized I did not have time to grill the veggies.  So instead I followed the "short cut" version's suggestion of sauteing the onions, peppers, etc. with the bacon.  I didn't puree the corn either.  I cut the corn off the cob and then used a spoon to scrape the yummy milky goodness out of the cobs as well.  I added 4 medium-hot roasted green chilis as well.  SO, in a nutshell, here's what I did...

I chopped up 4 slices of bacon and started frying them in a pan.  I added 1/2 of a large Vidalia onion and 1/2 of a green bell pepper once the bacon was almost done.  I also added in 4 chopped green chilis.  In a separate pot I added 2 cups of chicken broth and 1 cup milk.  I chopped 3 small potatoes and 1 large potato fairly small and added that to the pot.  Then while that was coming to a boil, I cut the corn off of 4 ears and scraped out the corn milk too.  I added all that to the pot of boiling broth/milk/potatoes and let it cook (stirring frequently) until the potatoes were soft.  I added lots of salt and black pepper.  Once the potatoes were pretty soft I used the potato masher to smoosh the potatoes up a little bit and make the chowder a little smoother.  Then I dumped in all the peppers, onions, bacon and let it simmer for about 10 minutes.  To serve I added hot sauce and a side of cheese and chipolte salsa quesadillas.  I will definitely be making this soup again!

Gringo Chile Rellenos and more uses for roasted green chiles...

I didn't know roasted green chiles were a popular item until I moved to Western Colorado.  Here we all await late July because we know that the Hatch green chiles will soon be roasting at all the farm stands in the area.  There is nothing like pulling up to your favorite produce stand and seeing a giant roasting drum outside.  You just know it's green chile season!  Bags and bags of warm, freshly roasted peppers lined the table at my favorite stand just yesterday.  An old farmer stood there labeling, bagging and sealing quarts of deliciousness.  Before November I'll have the freezer stocked with several bags of these awesome delicacies.

     Roasted green chiles have a very distinct flavor, I think.  There's a hint of smokiness along with a peppery bite.  They are soft and silky.  Some are hotter than others, but there's nothing that can replace the taste of a fresh green chile in a burrito, in scrambled eggs, or even in an eggroll wrapper.  What's that you say?  An eggroll wrapper?  Oh yes.

This is a bag of green chiles before I peeled and de-seeded them.

A lovely roasted green chile - peeled but with seeds still inside.  These come out very easily.  We usually split our chiles down the middle and rinse the seeds out.

    

These are Voodoo Biker's "Gringo Chile Rellenos" before they are cooked.  They are eggroll wrappers filled with a green chile and a nice slice of pepperjack cheese.  You just roll them up and brown them in about 1 tbsp oil.

Nicely browned Gringo Rellenos!

How awesome does that look?  Gooey cheese, a beautiful green chile...mmmm!

     Even though I could eat these for days on end, we do find plenty of other uses for green chiles.


Green chile creamed corn:  This is best with Olathe sweet corn :)  I cut the corn off the cob, then use the back of a spoon to get all the "milk" out of each ear of corn.  Then I saute onions and garlic in 2 tbsp butter, add in the corn, and a splash of chicken broth.  I let all that cook for a few minutes, until the broth is absorbed.  Then I add in about 1/2 cup of chopped green chiles and a lot of salt and black pepper.

Corn cut from the cob is on the right.  "Milk" from the cob is on the left.

Mexican flatbread (aka pizza).  For this I use the Santa Fe blend of Philly Cooking Creme as the sauce.  Then I top the pizza with red onions, red bell pepper, green chiles and cojita cheese (and of course a little mozarella).

 
You can also add them to scrambled eggs with cheese, turkey sandwiches, burgers...the list goes on!  I think my favorite ways to eat them are the simplest - wrapped in an eggroll wrapper, sprinkled in a quesadilla... But however you enjoy them, make sure you do it before the season is over!

Bunk? Bun? BUNDTTTTTTTT

    Everytime I use a bundt pan, I do two things:  1. Tell myself to wait until the cake is completely cooled before I invert the cake pan.  2. Giggle over my favorite scene in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."  You can watch that scene here. 
     Impatient people should not use bundt pans.  Seriously, if you're like me and you cannot wait until the darn cake is completely 100% cooled before you try to flip it out of the bundt pan, do not use one.  The cake will still taste great if you use a 9x13 pan. 

     I made this Chocolate Pistachio cake again from a recipe I found on the Pioneer Woman's website.  Here's a link to it.  You can see from the picture that Ree (the Pioneer Woman) must be a patient person.  Then again, she's posting her pictures for millions to see and therefore wants her cake to look perfect.  I was bringing mine to work where I have lots of friends - they don't care how it looks as long as it's tasty :) 

Creamed Spinach and the Farm Stand...

This is not my creamed spinach.  This is Emeril Lagasse's creamed spinach from the Food Network.  I didn't take a picture of mine and there was none left!  Voodoo Biker had creamed spinach last week at a BBQ place in Denver last week and it put me in the mood for some...Yesterday I knew I had spinach in the fridge so I thought, "well, why not?"  We were having leftover pintos and cornbread, a grilled steak, that we split, and sliced tomatoes...creamed spinach seemed like a good addition.

I've made it once before and stuck with my original recipe though I did glance at some others (Emeril's included).  First I washed all the spinach I had left.  That amounted to a salad spinner full.  That's about enough for 2 people ;)  Spinach wilts and turns into about a quarter of what you started with before you cooked it - so keep that in mind. 

I chopped up some (about 1/4 cup) onion and 2 cloves of garlic.  I got out 1 small sauce pot and 1 skillet.  In the sauce pot I started 1 tbsp of butter melting (real butter - not margarine).  When that began to melt I added in the garlic.  In the skillet I heated 1 tbsp olive oil and threw in the onions.
Once the butter was melted I added in a couple of spoonfuls of flour and whisked that around.  I let it cook for just a minute or two.  Then I added about 3/4 of a cup of skim milk because that's what I had...obviously 2% or even cream would be better ;)  I whisked all that around, added salt, pepper, and nutmeg (maybe 1/4 tsp of this).  I turned the heat up slightly so it would bubble.

In the mean time, I sauteed the onions until they were softening and then I threw in all the spinach.  I started stirring it around so it would start to wilt.  The sauce should be ready at this point - a little thicker, but not super thick.  Just enough to coat the back of a spoon.  Take the spinach off the heat as soon as it begins to wilt and add in enough of the sauce to coat your spinach.  Add more pepper or nutmeg if needed.  Trust me, the nutmeg makes a difference!

That's it!  So simple and, if you use skim milk, not at all bad for you.  Spinach is a great source of all sorts of things - fiber, Vitamins A, C, Iron and Calcium!

In other news, I've visited the Taylor's Farm Stand in front of K-Mart twice in 3 days.  We were almost out of tomatoes this morning and, now that I've gotten a taste of the "home grown" ones again, I can't stand the grocery store ones.  I spent $17.50 today on tomatoes, squash, cucumbers and garlic.  YAY summer!

The Pioneer Woman's Spicy Beans

So, I made these spicy beans today.  Why?  Well why not?  I had a day where I was going to be home (that's right, I didn't go biking or hiking or to the gym today) and after reading about them on her website I was craving them!  Have I ever made beans from scratch before?  No.  Have I ever eaten them before?  I am sure I have at authentic Mexican restaurants where they cook black beans all day long...or at some soul food restaurant...but I have never had them from someone's home kitchen before that I can remember.  Still, I read the recipe and I had. to. make. them.  So here they are, simmering away...they're close to done, which is why the lid is off...

What's going with them you ask?  Fresh cooked Olathe sweet corn, tomatoes and cucumbers from the farm stand down in front of K-Mart and southern cornbread!  I am really, really, really excited about this meal.  Cooking beans from scratch does take more time and effort, but just to do once in a while when you have the time...especially in winter when you just want something warm and comforting...I say, why not?

Pizza for Thought...

     Did you know that you can go to our local "Homestyle Bakery" and get pizza dough balls for a 12" pizza for only .99 cents?  I did not know this.  I knew they had pizza dough...or I had heard they did.  So today, since I'm cooking for 1 tonight, I stopped by to get some dough.  They had the cutest little balls of pizza dough!  Apparently they also have larger ones so you can make full-sized pizzas, but for 1, or for a "make-your-own-pizza" night with the the family and kids?  You can't beat .99 cents! So, here's the pizza I plan on making tonight...

     I haven't decided on a sauce yet.  It will either be a garlic olive oil sauce or tomato sauce.  Then I plan to top it with grilled artichokes (from a jar...I'm not that fancy with my pizza!), fresh spinach, mushrooms, and probably some onion.  Of course that will be topped off with mozzarella cheese.  I think that sounds pretty spectacular myself!

     What's your favorite pizza creation?

Blueberry Coffee Cake - my redemption

     After the huge FAIL of my fresh blueberry muffins the other night, I was more determined than ever to make an awesome recipe with blueberries in it.  I found Ellie Krieger's Blueberry Coffee Cake recipe on the Food Network website.  I made it today and I must say, it is awesome!

My (very few) modifications are in ().  You will need:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour or regular whole-wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I omitted because we were out.)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tbsp room temperature butter
2 tbsp oil
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup plain nonfat yogurt (I used lowfat)
1 cup fresh blueberries or frozen ones that have been thawed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray an 8-inch square cake pan with cooking spray (I used a round springform pan.).

Whisk together the all-purpose and whole-wheat flours, the baking sode and salt.  In a small bowl, stir together the granulated sugar, cinnamon and walnuts. In a large bowl, beat the brown sugar, butter and oil until fluffy.  If necessary, use a spoon to press out any lumps in the brown sugar.  Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time., beating until fully combined.  Beat in the vanilla and yogurt.

Add the flour in two batches, stirring until just combined.

Spread half of the batter into the prepared pan.  (I sprayed my spatula with cooking spray to make it easier to spread the thick batter.)  Sprinkle half of the nut mixture over the batter and top with the blueberries, gently pressing them into the batter.  Spoon the rest of the batter into the pan, smoothng the top.  Sprinkle the remaining nut mixture over the cake, pressing gently.  Bake until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30-35 minutes.  Let cook slightly and then invert and unmold to allow complete cooling on a cooling rack (this is optional, but I did do that with the springform pan). Makes approximately 12 servings.

1 ingredient - 3 recipes

     Have you guys tried this yet?  I bought some last week on a whim and used one container for 3 different recipes.  It's really good!  I try not to buy a lot of processed items, but hey, when can you ever go wrong with cream cheese?  Here's how I used it:

Rigatoni with sausage and creamy tomato sauce:  I added a large spoonful of the cooking creme to my tomato sauce to give it a creamier consistency and to change the taste up a little.

Pizza with turkey kielbasa and grilled artichokes:  For this one, I spread the cooking creme directly onto the pizza crust before I added any other sauce or ingredients.  I just used a little, but it definitely added flavor!

Pasta Primavera with roasted garlic and cream sauce:  Tonight I was looking for something to make that had very little acid...I wanted something comforting and not very spicy.  SO I cooked a box of penne pasta, sauteed some broccoli, the rest of the jar of grilled artichokes and the oil they were in, red pepper, onion, and roasted garlic.  I then added about 1/2 cup of the cooking creme and topped it all with toasted panko bread crumbs.  It was super!

I'm definitely a fan of the Philly Cooking creme - the Italian herb flavor at least.

Spicy Summer Soup

     Yes, I know it's summer.  I know summer is not usually the time to make soup...unless you're making gazpacho, which I'm not.  However, it was cooler yesterday than it has been in recent weeks and I found this recipe in Runner's World that I really wanted to try.  It. Was. Great!  Believe it or not, the only thing I did differently was to double the recipe.  WARNING: It is spicy!  I added homemade pico de gallo, avocados, and grated cheese.  You could also easily make this a vegetarian dish by using black beans in place of the chicken.

     To see the recipe, click here!

Cobb Salad and a new Green Goddess Dressing

     Yesterday my friend Penny brought me some Shiso.  Also known as Perilla, Shiso is a leafy herb.  There are two varieties:  green and red.  Penny was growing the red kind.  It's more of a purple color and has broad leaves.  Penny had done some research and knew that for the most part, Shiso is used in Asian cooking.  I researched a few recipes and saw a sidenote that caught my eye:  If you don't have Shiso around, you can substitute Tarragon. 
     When I was on my walk by the river today I got to thinking about what I wanted to make for dinner.  It was hot today; who wants to cook when it's hot?  I thought a big cobb salad would be good...I could grill shrimp to go with it.  More importantly, I could make Green Goddess dressing to go with the salad, and I could use Shiso in it!
     I got home tonight and got started with dinner:  First I started thawing the shrimp.  I like the raw e-z peel shrimp that you can get in the frozen foods section.  They are almost always on sale!  I also put some eggs on to boil.  While all that was happening, I started the dressing:

I took liberties with the Green Goddess dressing recipe.  It didn't call for garlic or lemon grass.  Still, I was using the Shiso, which is more of an Asian ingredient, so I threw in a few more.  I started with:  1 cup of mayo/sour cream (mostly mayo), 1/4 cup of parsley, several (3-4) shiso leaves (it's the purple stuff on the right), about 2 tsp chives, and 1 tsp lemon grass puree.  I also added 1 clove of garlic.  I pureed all this in the food processor.  From there I just added parsley and shiso until the flavor was strong enough for my tastes.  I also added about 1/2 tsp black pepper.  Then, to thin the dressing out a little, I added 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar (add more if you want) and about 1/4-1/2 cup milk.  Start with 1/4 cup and add until it's the consistency you want. 

Here's my finished product.  Creamy, cool, and herby.  I put this in a container in the fridge while I readied everything else (that I forgot to take pictures of during the process).  The wind was too gusty for me to light the grill, so I broiled the shrimp with olive and sesame oil (like 1 tsp sesame oil) for about 5 minutes or until opaque. 

Here's my beautiful salad sans dressing.  I knew it wouldn't look as pretty once I added that!  From top to bottom:  a mix of spinach and red leaf lettuce, blue cheese, sugar snap peas/carrots/tomatoes/vidalia onion, boiled egg, and shrimp.  It was a great dinner on a hot, windy night.  Experiment and make your own Green Goddess dressing tonight!

Chimichurri and Chipotle

   *Excuse the photos.  I couldn't find my camera and had to use Voodoo Biker's. I'm not used to it!*  Ok, I'll admit it - I like Guy Fieri.  I think he's hilarious and I love watching "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives."  Even the Voodoo Biker likes that show!  Therefore, last night before bed we found ourselves watching an episode in which he visits a place that only cooks fish.  One of the things they make a lot of?  Fish tacos.  Here in the condo, we love fish tacos.  All day today I craved fish tacos.  So I thought, "well I guess that's what we're having for dinner!"  I also decided that I wanted to make chimichurri sauce.  I had seen a recipe on the NYTimes website recently and then saw another on the Food Network.  I had had it before and remembered really liking it, so I thought...why not?

     I had 2 flounder fillets in the freezer and a whole bag of raw easy peel shrimp.  I find the pre-cooked shrimp seem too watery and they have a weird texture.  The raw ones seem much better to me.  Anyway, I set out about 2 cups of shrimp and the 2 flounder fillets to thaw and got started on the chimichurri because it needs a little time to set and kind of infuse itself with flavor.
     

So, you'll need 1 cup (packed) chopped parsley

1/4 cup chopped cilantro (you can see I used a little more)

2 peeled cloves of garlic; 1/2 cup olive oil; 1/3 cup red wine or white wine vinegar; a sprinkle of red pepper flakes, cumin, and salt

Blend everything in the food processor and then taste.  I added a tad more oil and herbs to mine. 

I spooned a little chimichurri on my fish and shrimp and then grilled them for approximately 2 minutes on each side.

In the mean time my corn tortillas got all toasty in the oven.

I melted cheese on my tortillas and then added shrimp to one and flounder to one.

Next, I topped each with chimichurri sauce, chipolte cream sauce (chipolte in adobo pepppers and sour cream mixed in the food processor), chopped onion, and coleslaw mix (cabbage).

Fish tacos are much better with a "diet" margarita!  1 shot of tequila and triple sec (3/4 tequila, 1/4 triple sec), a big squirt of lemon juice, and diet 7-up.  Don't frown on my cheap tequila - if you're adding all that stuff to  it you don't need the super expensive stuff ;)

These fish tacos were SO good.  The sauces were good, the grilled fish was great, and my craving has been taken care of for another week or so...

A new twist for rice

     That's right - rice.  We love rice here in the condo...in fact, right now we have 4 kinds of rice:  brown, medium-grain white rice, arborio rice and calrose rice.  Brown is our go-to rice when we have the time to cook it.  White is, of course, what we use when we're in a hurry.  Arborio is used for making risotto - it is a very short-grained rice.  Calrose is used for sushi.  So see, they're all necessary!  Tonight I was in a hurry.  I'd gone biking after work and was, of course, starving!
     Everyone knows 1 cup of rice is cooked in 2 cups of liquid...but what liquid to use?  Regular old chicken broth?  Maybe.  BUT I looked in the cabinet and found a can of lite coconut milk.  Hey, why not?  We'll take a Thai twist on dinner.  So I measured out 1 cup of rice (had to use a little Arborio because I was about 1/4 cup short of regular white).  I heated the can of lite coconut milk and enough chicken broth to equal 2 cups total liquid in a pan.  When it came to a boil, I added the rice, turned the heat down, and set the timer for 20 minutes. In the meantime...
     When I left to go biking, I got a package of chicken tenders out of the freezer to thaw.  I took those (once thawed) and coated them with Thai spicy peanut sauce (I used enough to cover the bottom of a plate) mixed with about 1 tbsp soy sauce.  While they were hanging out, I fired up the grill.  These cook SO fast!  Once the grill was hot (it's propane so it gets hot pretty fast) I put the tenders on the grill for 2 minutes.  Then I flipped them and cooked for another 2.  I added a little more peanut sauce on top (from the bottle, not the raw chicken plate) and cooked for 1 more minute.  Seriously, that's it!  They were done.
     The rice turned into a wonderfully creamy dish in its 20 minutes of cooking.  It needed a little something else, so, in sticking with my Thai theme, I added about 1/4 cup of cilantro.  You could also add chopped roasted peanuts (like pad thai) or even a bit of lemon juice or lemon grass. 
     I also made a spinach salad, but it had nothing to do with the Thai dishes... ;)
     So there you have it - Coconut Rice and Chicken Satay in 30 minutes! 

How I spent my lunch break

It's feast or famine some days at my job...today is a famine day...until the next RFP comes in or something...anyway.  I headed home for lunch today wondering, among other things, what I was going to make for dinner.  Today is one of those days when I have plans to bike after work and therefore don't have much time to cook dinner.  But I am determined to continue my efforts to cook something on these nights - not call Nick and Willy's or Papa Murphy's for a take-and-bake pizza.

I decided to make some pesto.  It's fairly quick to whip up in the food processor and you guys know how I love pesto!  I'm calling this one "Four Herb Sunflower Pesto."  So when I get home tonight I'll cook some pasta, sautee some cherry tomatoes with garlic just until they pop (might throw in some anchovies) and then I'll add some feta cheese to it all and mix in the pesto.  Ta-da!

Clockwise from Top Left:  Curly leaf Parsley, Italian Parsley, Basil, Tarragon

Throw a bunch of it in the food processor.  This probably equals 1 1/2 cups. There is also a clove of garlic in there.

Once you pulse that a bit, add about another 1/2 cup of herbs, 2 tbsp each parmesan cheese and sunflower seeds (or walnuts, or pistachios, or pine nuts...)

Ooooh.  Ahhhh.  This is after you've streamed in at least 1/4 cup olive oil.

I added about 1 tsp lemon juice to help keep it from getting brownish before dinner.  It's such a pretty color!

Then I made cinnamon iced coffee.  This is 3 heaping spoonfuls of coffee and 1/2 tsp cinnamon.  I added about 10 oz water and let it steep for 6 min.  Then I poured the coffee over a travel mug full of ice with 1/4 cup of vanilla soy milk added.  Perfect pick-me-up after lunch!

Totally Tostadas

Tonight I made tostadas.  Ok, let me back up...around 9 a.m. today this is what I was thinking:  I'll just pick up a pizza from Papa Murphy's.  I really want to finish that freelance work tonight and I don't know that I'll have time to cook.  Voodoo biker is working...so I might as well just get a pizza.  At noon I came home for lunch (I am very fortunate that I can do that.).  I flipped on the Food Network and Rachel Ray was on with a MYOTO (Make Your Own Take-Out) episode of 30-minute Meals.  She reminded me that no matter what, you always have time to make a 30-minute meal. 

So since I have an hour for lunch, I took some chicken out of the freezer to defrost and set about chopping up 1/2 an onion, 3/4 of a green bell pepper, and a handful of baby bella mushrooms.  I did all this in the 8 minutes it took for my electric kettle to boil water and my coffee to do its thing in my French Press.  (I was dragging and needed an iced coffee for the afternoon).  I put that stuff in the fridge in a storage container and headed to work, leaving the chicken out to thaw.  (It was only 4 hours, I knew it would be fine).

The wind was blowing, literally, 33 mph when I got home, so grilling was out of the question...I poured some honey teriyaki marinade on the chicken (I use it whether I'm making mexican, asian, or just grilling chicken.  It's great!) and threw the chicken in a glass 8x8 pyrex dish.  I baked it at 350 for about 40 minutes or until it was all cooked through.    While it was doing its thing, I got down to business with my freelance work.  When the chicken is done, slice it and reserve for your tostadas.

With the chicken done, I set about cooking some brown rice.  Another 30-40 minutes free to work!  Rice is so easy to just get started and forget about...(with a timer set!)  When the rice was close to done and I was through working, I heated about 2 tbsp olive oil in a pan and dumped in all my chopped vegetables from earlier.  I added 1 chopped garlic clove and chopped another one for some pico de gallo.  I then also chopped about 1/4 of an onion (1/2 cup) and 1/2 of a jalapeno pepper.  I put all that in a bowl with the garlic clove and then added about 2 cups of chopped golden cherry tomatoes (my favorite until the locally grown ones come out).  I added about 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp black pepper and mixed it together. 

The pico...or what was left after I ate ;)

So, the rice is almost done, the vegetables are browning and cooking over medium heat until the peppers are soft...better add a bit of cumin (1/2 tsp) and some salt (to taste) to that.  Now it's time to heat up some refried beans and work on my corn tortillas.  I've discovered how to get them nice and crispy without frying them:  the toaster oven.

Use your toaster oven tray.  Put 2 corn tortillas on the tray and spray one side with olive oil spray.  Toast until the edges start to get crispy and dry.  When you see that happen, slide the tortillas out and spread refried beans on them.  Top with some grated cheese and return to the toaster.  Toast until the edges of the tortillas are browned and super crisp.  Everything should be ready by now.  Here's what I do:  Add my veggies, sliced chicken, and pico on top of each tostada.  I also add some sour cream and tabasco of some sort.  On the side I make a small bowl (1/2 cup) of rice topped with pico and hot sauce.

I love tostadas because corn tortillas have about 100 calories less per serving than burrito-sized flour tortillas.  They are tastier too and you can eat them one-handed!  Change up your typical tacos, fajitas, or burritos and make tostadas!

Greek without pics

And once again I forgot to take pictures.  I DID take a picture of the salad, but not of anything else.  Sigh.  I've got to get better at this!  Suffice it to say tonight's dinner was Greek inspired.  We had a Greek chopped salad, Greek pizza, and "Baklava" ice cream.  I'll try to recreate the recipes for you (there was also a lot of beer which is why I almost spelled recipes, "recipeas.")

Salad:
Cucumber (English, preferably)
1 lb small golden cherry tomatoes (or grape tomatoes)
1 heirloom tomato (I got a cool green one)
1 plum or roma tomato
1/2 red onion, soaked in ice water for 5 min.
Mix all that together then add:  1/2 block of feta cheese and about the same of goat cheese, if available.

Dressing:

Olive oil
Lemon juice
splash balsamic vinegar
1 garlic clove
1 tsp oregano

I cannot tell you how much olive oil and lemon juice...2 to 1 is the ratio I think, so follow that until it tastes right.  Oh, and add salt and pepper!

Pizza:  1 whole wheat pizza crust (or whatever you have)
sauce:  tomato sauce (spaghetti sauce is what I use)
toppings: goat cheese, red onion, spinach, artichokes in oil, mushrooms, 1 sliced plum tomato with seeds removed, mozarella

Cook according to crust directions.

Ice cream:  Your favorite vanilla ice cream.  Toast walnuts in toaster oven or pan until lightly browned.  Sprinkle nuts with cinnamon (about 1/2 tsp).  Put 2 scoops ice cream in a bowl or cup.  Top with toasted walnuts and honey.  Everyone will love you and say things like, "I'm never brushing my teeth again!"  (Direct quote from Brooke B.)!!!!

Creole Fried Rice

     Forgive me.  Once again we got half-way through dinner and I said, "Oh no!  I didn't take a picture of the finished product!"  So, you get a picture of the half-empty pan of creole fried rice.  This dish seems sort of like a combination of jambalaya and gumbo...without as much sauce or roux.   It was really great and was a nice twist from our usual weeknight dinners.

You'll need: 
1 cup uncooked long-grain rice
2 cups chicken broth
1 lb skinned and boned chicken thighs (I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts.)
1 1/2 tsp creole seasoning, divided
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 lb. andouille or smoked sausage, sliced. (I used smoked turkey sausage.)
1/2 small onion, chopped
1/2 small green bell pepper, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 cup frozen sliced okra, thawed
3 plum (roma) tomatoes, chopped
2 green onions sliced (green part only) (I didn't use these.)

So, cook the rice according to the directions on the package.  When it's done, spread it out on a baking sheet (I put aluminum foil on mine first) and then stick it in the fridge so it can cool off.

Next chop up your chicken into bite sized pieces and sprinkle with 1 tsp creole seasoning.  (Sorry the picture is sideways.)  Cook the chicken in a large skillet in hot oil for about 3 minutes.  Add in your sliced sausage and cook 3-4 more minutes until everything starts to get nicely browned.  Add in the onions, peppers and garlic.  Cook until the onions are soft, about 5 more minutes.  Stir in the okra and last 1/2 tsp creole seasoning.  Increase heat to high and add the cooled rice, stirring constantly for 4 minutes or until everything is heated through.

Add in the tomatoes and green onion at this point and serve immediately.  We added tabasco to our's as well :) 

Things to do with Tarragon

Seriously, until like March of this year I didn't even know what Tarragon looked like.  A friend of our's sent some home with us after a ski trip (he'd dried it the year before) and then a week later a coworker gave me a ziploc bag of fresh Tarragon.  What the heck do I do with Tarragon?  I had one recipe in mind...  Tarragon Pistachio Pesto.  Here's the original:

http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/quick-recipes/2011/04/chicken_skewers_with_tarragon_pistachio_pesto

I've used it a few times for Pesto.  You don't need a lot.  To me, when you chop it Tarragon has a licorice odor.  I will only use 1-2 tbsp in a dish because I'm worried it will quickly overpower everything.  But in small doses you just get this barely sweet, flowery taste in the background.

The other night I made risotto:  chop 1/2 an onion and begin sauteeing it with some olive oil.  At the same time, start 5 cups of chicken broth simmering in another pan. After about 5 minutes of sauteeing the onions, add 1 cup Arborio rice.  Cook this for about 5 more minutes on medium heat.  Add 1 ladle-full of broth to the pan.  Stir.  Let the rice absorb the broth.  Repeat.  Stir frequently. When you are down to the last bit of broth, (about 20 minutes later), add 1/2-1 cup frozen green peas.  Add the last bit of broth.  When it's almost all absorbed, add 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese, 1/4-1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley and 1-2 tbsp tarragon.  REALLY good!

Tonight we sauteed some onions and yellow summer squash.  "What would be good with this?" I wondered.  My first thought?  Bacon.  I cooked up 1 tiny slice all chopped up and added in about 3/4 of an onion.  Once those were super soft I took them out of the pan and slid in 2 sliced up summer squashes.  Squashes?  Squash?  Anyway, I let those cook down with a bit of water, then I let them start to brown a bit with the heat turned up to around 7.  Once I thought they were almost done, I threw in the onions, bacon, and again about 1/2 cup parsley and 1 tbsp tarragon.  Trust me, that is PLENTY but it really adds a different flavor.

I didn't start cooking with any fresh herbs until a few years ago, and if all you have is dried?  That's fine.  Just use double the amount.  I'm lucky to have friends with fresh herbs growing :)  My sis says most fresh herbs are anti-inflammatories, so that's one more reason to use them!

Because you don't feel like cooking a big meal every night

It was rainy today.  Rainy and cold and gross.  My original plan had been to use some flounder and make fish tacos.  However, the rain put me in the mood for soup.  I had this soup in the cabinet.  I bought it the other day on a whim while looking for low sodium vegetarian soups.

The soup was fabulous!  Of course I did add more salt and pepper :)  We had cheese, caramelized onion and mushroom quesadillas with our soup, and both of us added parsley and sour cream to the soup too.  It was super creamy and slightly sweet tasting.  It made for an easy dinner and an easy clean up!   To see more about Pacific Organic Foods, click here!

Fried Rice made with Brown Rice and....Tofu!

That's right I said it.  Tofu!  Once you've had the deep-fried sesame tofu at Zen Garden, you realize tofu can, in fact, be tasty.  Voodoo Biker and I agreed yesterday to again try to cut back on meat, so I figured what the heck?  He wanted brown rice and a stir-fry/fried rice dish seemed appropriate. 

I used extra firm tofu.  Drain all the water out.  I only used half.  Make sure that when you cut slices, you lay them on paper towels so that any excess water can drain out.  Pat the pieces dry very well!

I used my basting brush to dab Yoshida's Teriyaki Marinade on both sides.  You can use Kikkoman or whatever, but make sure it's a marinade and not just the regular teriyaki sauce.

Next I breaded the tofu in Panko bread crumbs (you can find them in the Asian section).  I added about 1/2 tsp garlic powder and powdered ginger to the breadcrumbs before coating.

Heat about 4 tbsp vegetable oil in a wok or large, deep pan.  Cook the tofu for about 5 minutes, flip, and cook for another 2-3 until it's brown all the way around.

Take out the tofu, add a little more oil, and stir fry whatever veggies you want.  I used about 1 cup broccoli, 1 cup onion, 1/2 cup - 1 cup red bell pepper, and about 1/2 cup sugar snap peas.  Add in 2 tsp grated fresh ginger and about 1 tbsp teriyaki marinade.  Cook quickly over medium-medium high heat for about 6 minutes.  Remove the veggies and throw in 1 cracked egg.  Stir quickly, pan-scrambling.  After you remove the egg, add a little more oil to the pan and then add leftover, or refrigerated rice.  (Same amount you'd normally make - 1 cup dry).  Continually stir the rice for a few minutes.  Add in 1 tbsp teriyaki marinade.  Take the rice off the heat and add the veggies and egg back in.  Mix everything together.  Top with the tofu and then drizzle with about 2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce and 1 tsp red pepper flakes.

Rainy Weather Makes me Want to Cook

It's been a rainy weekend.  Rain means soup and comfort food and so on Saturday I made a Thai Coconut Chicken Soup (Tom Ka Gai) and Sunday I made a Caramel-Apple Upside Down Cornmeal Cake.  It may have been cold and rainy outside, but we were warm and full inside.

Thai Coconut Chicken Soup

The Thai soup starts with 2 cooked, shredded chicken breasts and a quart of chicken broth (The Tyler Florence Foodnetwork recipe this is based on uses homemade chicken stock, but I used low-sodium store bought chicken broth).  Get the broth simmering and add the following:

To 1 quart chicken broth add: 1 tbsp lemon grass puree, or 1 lemon grass stalk white part only, cracked open (I used puree), Add 1 tbsp (roughly) lime zest, about 2 tbsp grated ginger (peel and freeze it first and it's super easy to grate), and 1-2 jalapeno peppers or Thai chilis, seeded and chopped.  Oh, you also need 2 chopped garlic cloves.

Let the broth and added ingredients simmer for about 10 minutes.  Then add 1 can of coconut milk (I used light coconut milk) and the shredded chicken.  Also add about 1 cup sliced mushrooms and the juice of 1 lime.  I actually threw the lime halves into the soup and let them simmer with it.  Finally, add 2 tbsp Thai fish sauce and 1 1/2 tsp sugar.  Let simmer for another 5-10 minutes.

Top your soup with fresh cilantro.  It's very light and brothy, with a slightly sweet and spicy taste. I'll be making it again, that's for sure!

Caramel Apple Upside Down Cornmeal Cake

You'll need: 6 tbsp butter (plus another 1/4 cup melted later), 4 apples, 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, 2 tsp milk, 1/2 cup chopped pecans (i used walnuts), 1/3 cup dried cranberries (optional, I left these out), 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, 2 tsp granulated sugar, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt, 3/4 cup cornmeal, 1 cup hot water, 2 eggs, lightly beaten, 1 1/2 tsp vanilla.

Peel, core and slice the apples.  Melt 2 tbsp butter in an oven-safe, 10" skillet and saute the apples.

 I sauteed these for about 8 minutes.

Next, remove the apples from the pan.  Melt 4 tbsp butter and add the brown sugar.  Stir until everything is dissolved and the mixture boils.  Remove from heat and add the milk.  then sprinkle in the nuts (and cranberries if you used them).

Layer the apples on top of the walnuts and caramel.  You can be pretty about it if you wish.

In 1 small bowl mix the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.  In a medium bowl mix the cornmeal, 1/4 cup melted butter and 1 cup hot water.  Then add in the eggs and vanilla.  Finally, mix the flour mixture into the cornmeal mixture, just until combined.  Pour this over the apples.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until a knife, inserted, comes out clean.

Let cool for 10 minutes.

Ta-da!  Carefully invert the cake onto a platter.

Doesn't that look awesome?  We had ours with a scoop of Ben and Jerry's caramel ice cream with dark caramel swirls. In this house, there's no such thing as too much caramel!