Miss Adventures in a Tiny Kitchen

Gluten Free Black Bean Quinoa Burgers

2014-03-26T16:45:00.001-07:00

A friend of mine ordered a Black Bean Quinoa Burger at a restaurant we were at the other day and kindly let me try a bite. I found the idea of it intriguing and after I tasted it, I knew I had to make this at home. It was actually really delicious. It doesn't truly taste like a hamburger...because it isn't...but it still tastes really good. In fact, Mike actually really loved it and said I could make it for dinner any day!

I looked up a few different recipes and ended up using them as a basis to make my own version. It has since become a staple recipe. It's so easy to make and I usually have all the ingredients on hand already which makes this a great last minute meal.

I have also made double batches and frozen them with great success. There's nothing like having meals already frozen when you don't feel like cooking.

I find myself having a hard time accurately describing the flavor, so you'll just have to make the recipe and try it for yourself!

(This recipe is gluten free but I've added notes where you can use regular gluten-ized ingredients. Some of my friends and family are gluten-free, by necessity or by choice, so I like to make recipes gluten-free if possible.)

Let me know what you think of this recipe and how it goes over with your family:

Black Bean Quinoa Burgers

1 15 oz can black beans
1/4 cup onion, diced small
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/2 of a can of Trader Joe's chopped green chilies or other canned green chilies
1 tsp cumin
some generous grinds of Trader Joe's Everyday Seasoning OR a dash of coriander, and a dash of dry mustard

salt and pepper
2 tbsp dried parsley
2 tbsp sriracha or other favourite hot sauce
1/4 cup cooked quinoa
2 eggs
1/2 cup gluten free breadcrumbs OR gluten free rice krispies, crushed OR regular breadcrumbs

Udi's gluten free hamburger buns OR regular hamburger buns

your favourite toppings, i.e. avocado, red onion, onion rings, ketchup, mustard, mayo, cheese, pickles, tomato, etc...

(this time I remembered to take step by step photos!)

In a large bowl, mash the black beans with a potato masher.

Add the onion, garlic, chilies, parsley and spices and sriracha.

Mix well.

Add quinoa and mix again.

Push mixture to one side of the bowl and add breadcrumbs and 2 eggs, as shown:

With a fork, lightly beat the eggs and mix them into the breadcrumbs. Then mix everything together really well.

In a large sauté pan, heat about 3 tbsp of regular olive oil over medium heat. Measure out about a 1/2 cup of black bean mixture into your hand and lightly shape it into a patty shape. Carefully place it into the sauté pan. Repeat with the rest of the mixture. It should make about 4 patties.

Cook about 5 minutes on each side or until there is a nice crust on each side and burgers are cooked through.

Place them each on a hamburger bun of your choice and go crazy with the toppings. So far, our favourite toppings are avocado and onion rings. I like to serve these with sweet potato fries and a salad or peas.

Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do!

Slow Cooker Lemon Thyme Whole Chicken

2014-01-13T12:09:00.001-08:00

I finally bought myself a crock pot. After having borrowed Mama's for almost a year, I figured it was time to give it back to her and get my own. Plus, hers is the enormous, feeds an army size and I need something that will fit snuggly on teeny tiny counter space.

Now that I have my own, I've been trying to find tons of recipes that allow me to use it as often as possible. The latest one is this Whole Chicken recipe. I put the whole chicken in the crock pot with chicken stock, lemons, thyme and garlic and just let it cook. It turned out great. It was moist and fell apart and with a veggie and mashed potatoes, would make a nice mid-week meal.

Slow Cooker Lemon Thyme Whole Chicken

1 whole chicken
2 lemons, sliced
6 sprigs fresh thyme
3 large garlic cloves sliced thin
salt and pepper
Trader Joes Everyday Seasoning or a poultry seasoning blend

To prepare chicken, remove the insides (eww) and I like to rinse it off and pat it dry with paper towels.

In my crock pot, I poured about a cup of chicken stock, then placed the chicken, breast side up into the crock pot. Pull the skin up away from the chicken breast and slide 1 sprig thyme, 2-3 slices of lemon and 3-4 slices of garlic onto each breast under the skin. Place the remaining slices of lemon, garlic and sprigs of thyme over the chicken on top of the skin and around the chicken. I roughly chopped a couple more cloves of garlic and tossed them in too for a more enhanced garlic flavour.

Season with salt and pepper, and the everyday seasoning. Cover your crockpot and cook according to manufacturer's directions. I cooked mine on high for about 4 hours. Check to make sure that your chicken has reached a temperature of 165 degrees. Serve with a salad, or veggies and potatoes.
I served it on a bed of garlic butter spinach.

Homemade Garlic Knots

2013-12-05T12:49:00.000-08:00

Recently, it was one of those cold wintery nights when all you want is a large blanket and comfort foods. I made spagetti for dinner; nice, warm comfort food. However, I wanted something more than that to go with it. Something else in the comfort food line, like garlic bread. Alas, no bread in the house despite the fact that I had just gone to the grocery store! I had pizza dough though. I thought about garlic breadsticks and then remembered how much Mike loves good garlic knots from the pizzeria. It couldn't be too hard to turn pizza dough into garlic knots, right? Right.

This was incredibly simple and they turned out really pretty too. These would be a great way to dress up any dinner.

Homemade Garlic Knots

1 pkg pizza dough, room temperature
1/3 cup good olive oil
3 garlic cloves, crushed
salt

Preheat oven to 350. In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, garlic and a teaspoon of salt and mix well.

Tear a small egg sized piece of dough off and roll it into a cylinder about 5-6 inches long. Take the two edges, cross them over each other, pull one end through the hole and then pull both ends to make a knot. Tuck both ends under the knot and place on a oiled baking sheet. Continue until you have used all of the dough. (How many knots you get will depend on how big you make each one. I got about a dozen.)

When you've placed all the knots on the baking sheet, take a pastry brush and the bowl of garlic oil and brush each knot with the oil. Make sure to get some of the crushed garlic onto each knot.

Bake knots for about 12 minutes or until they are golden brown on top. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly. Serve with marinara sauce for dipping.

Packing a Carry-On for a Month in Europe

2013-09-21T20:48:00.001-07:00

Everybody said we couldn't do it. "You'll never be able to fit everything you want to take." "You won't have room for souvenirs on the way home." "What if you need something you didn't have room to pack?"

We did it though. Therefore, here's a post about how we did it. First of all, why we chose to pack in carry-ons. While planning this trip, we stumbled upon episodes of Rick Steves' Europe TV show. Besides being super helpful about where to go and what to see, he also discusses on his TV show, his website and his travel books what to pack. He specifically talks about not over-packing and why. Photos of people struggling to lug huge suitcases around the narrow streets of Europe sufficiently scared us from packing a checked bag sized suitcase. (Let's be completely honest here...the fees for checked baggage also scared us away) We also knew that we were traveling to four countries via four flights, four train rides and 800 miles driven in a rental car. We moved around every three to four days. The idea of schlepping our luggage over cobblestone streets, in and out of planes, trains and taxis and the occasional mad dash for said plane, train or taxi also influenced or decision.

But packing in a carry on takes planning, whether it's for a few days or for a month. Deciding first of all, what kind of clothing we would need and what the weather would be like (which, by the way, varies drastically) took some time. Then there is the question of liquids. Since we would be very limited on amounts, we found ways to avoid as many liquids as we could. For example, the store LUSH sells shampoo and conditioner in bar form! One bar lasted the month for both of us and worked out great. We also brought bar soap instead of shower gels and I brought mineral makeup instead of liquid foundation and concealer since those also count towards liquids. Everything that could reasonably be bought in travel size, we bought; deodorant, face wash, mascara, etc.

Here's a list of what I packed in my suitcase:

one pair of black flats
one pair of sneakers
socks
undergarments
brush
makeup
sweatshirt
four blouses
two t-shirts
one cardigan
one dress
two belts
three camisoles
toothbrush
bar shampoo
bar conditioner
bar soap
liquids bag (face wash, makeup remover, hair serum, eye cream, various makeup liquids)
gifts for friends we were visiting (incl. two
stuffed animals)

In my purse:

jewelry
converter plugs
floss
wet ones
tissues
hand sanitizer
wallet
vitamins
book
journal
pens
pencils
pencil sharpener
iPad
charger
handkerchief
shawl
sunglasses
gum
headphones

I wore my jeans and a pair of wedges on the airplane because they were the biggest things to try to pack.

What my husband packed in his suitcase:

two pairs of trousers
one pair of linen pants
one pair of shorts
two polo shirts
two button downs
two t-shirts
socks
undergarments
one pair of boat shoes
one belt
razor
shaving brush
shave soap
Bronner's bar soap (to use as laundry soap when needed)
liquids bag (hair gel, face wash, toothpaste, face lotion)
toothbrush
three ties
handkerchiefs
light jacket
extra duffel bag (this is a light duffel that we bought at a sporting goods store. It comes in a tiny little package. On the way home, we packed the duffel full of clothes and checked one of the suitcases so that we had room for souvenirs)
two clothing envelopes (these packed his shirts and trousers so that they didn't wrinkle)

In his messenger bag:

iPad
journal
pens
pencils
headphones
sunglasses
camera
charger
old iPhone (we took this to use while out on the town to check directions or email when we found free wifi instead of taking having to take our iPad out with us)

Mike was going to need a suit or a suit jacket at times so instead of trying to pack that, he wore a cotton suit on the plane. He said it wasn't uncomfortable at all.

The way we packed our clothes was by laying same size clothing, i.e. all the t-shirts or all the camisoles, together and rolled them. We stuffed our shoes with the littler items and put them on the bottom of one side of the suitcase. The rolled clothes went on the other side. All the other stuff got tucked into the spaces and the thicker clothing, such as my sweatshirt, got laid over the top of everything.

Obviously we didn't pack enough clothes for an entire month. We basically packed enough for a week and did laundry over there. Since we stayed with friends in a few places, we did laundry there. Once we dropped our laundry off at a laundry service and paid for them to do it. (It was about $15, but worth it since we didn't have to waste valuable tourist time doing it ourselves) And a couple of times, we washed things in the sink at the hotel.

It worked beautifully! Having nothing but carry-ons allowed us to move around without worry. It also makes us feel like we can pack a carry-on for almost any trip!

P.S. Our trip was tremendously spectacular!

Slow Cooker Shredded Chicken

2013-06-10T05:17:00.000-07:00

I never saw the need for a slow cooker. I never registered for one when I got married and I've never bought one. To me, a slow cooker was something you only used to make beef stew, which I detest. However, a dear friend of mine asked if I could come up with some recipes for her slow cooker. And since she is now a proud mama, I think her slow cooker might come in handy a lot in the future. So for her, I borrowed my Mama's slow cooker.

Since it's warmer weather, I decided not to start with a soup or stew. After much scanning of the web, I discovered that one can cook a lot of chicken in the slow cooker and use it for a bunch of recipes. I decided to try cooking chicken breast and then shredding it.

This recipe was AMAZING! The chicken came out tasting like a southwestern rotisserie chicken. It was so moist, it just fell apart. I had no idea such delicious chicken could come from a slow cooker!

Slow Cooker Shredded Chicken

2 - 3 lbs of boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup favorite Italian dressing (I used Trader Joe's Tuscan Dressing)
1 cup chicken broth
1 1/2 Tbsp Adobo Seasoning
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp lemon pepper seasoning

In a bowl or large glass, mix together the dressing, broth and spices.

Place chicken breasts in your slow cooker and pour the dressing mixture over the top of the chicken.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. I cooked it for about 7 hrs.

When chicken is fully cooked, remove from slow cooker and shred. To shred it, I take two forks and pull them in opposite directions through the meat. As I said, it will be so moist and tender that it will fall apart.

Okay, so now I am left with 3 lbs of shredded delicious chicken...now what?
The first thing I made with it was Chicken "Tostadas". I also made BBQ chicken sandwiches. I will link both recipes to this one.

The chicken is also fabulous on salads or eaten plain, and it makes a great chicken salad. Add a little mayo, salt, lemon pepper seasoning, scallions and chopped celery.

For the two of us, this recipe made enough chicken for three days of lunches and dinners. I may have to go get myself a slow cooker...we'll see.

Gluten-free and Lactose-free Orange Mango Creamsicle Smoothie

2013-06-06T11:41:00.000-07:00

Summer is around the corner and warm weather automatically makes me think that I need to get back to making smoothies. I can't bring myself to drink slushy ice drinks when it's 20 degrees outside, but now I can't get enough of them. Usually I make mine with a blend of frozen berries, frozen mango and fresh spinach with orange juice as a base and sometimes protein powder. I swear that you do not taste the spinach at all and then I feel as if the smoothie is healthy and good for me as well as delicious.

I stumbled upon this great idea for a creamsicle type smoothie and modified it a little. I don't know if it really qualifies as a 'healthy smoothie'. It's certainly healthier then a creamsicle milkshake or a pint of ice cream but on the scale of smoothies, I would classify this as healthy dessert. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe it's super healthy for you and I'm just completely fooled into thinking it's dessert by how utterly fabulous it tastes. It also makes for a great drink accompaniment to a summery light lunch or dinner. Regardless of what you make it with, it's good.

Orange Mango Creamsicle Smoothie

1 - 1 1/2 cups vanilla coconut milk
1 can orange juice concentrate
1 cup frozen mango pieces
a dash of your chosen sweetener ( i used agave but honey or sugar would work too I'm sure)
a little of your favorite protein powder (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend thoroughly. Serve in pretty glasses. Enjoy. I would say that this probably makes 4 - 8oz servings but let's be honest, you'll drink the entire thing by yourself.

ps. the next day I needed to make this again but I only bought one can of concentrate. so I froze regular orange juice in an ice cube tray and used that instead. It worked just as well. The only difference was that it wasn't as sweet as the first one.

Spring Rolls

2013-05-02T06:53:00.000-07:00

If there is one thing I crave about Chinese food, it would be spring rolls. I love them. Sometimes I try to convince Mike that we need to order Chinese just so I can have spring rolls. I have now discovered that that is no longer necessary as I can now make them whenever I want!

Who knew that the local grocery store carried both spring roll wrappers AND bean sprouts?? Okay, apparently a lot of people knew it but I didn't. I made this discovery while grocery shopping with my Mama, who was not nearly as excited as I was about this. Now, if I had discovered really good Thai-style peanut sauce, she would have felt differently. Alas, that seems to be eluding us. I digress.

Anyway, this turned out to be one of those great moments in culinary trials. You know those days where you say, "Okay, I'm going to make this but I highly doubt it's going to work." And then...it turns out to be more spectacularly delicious than you could even have imagined? This was one of those kind of moments. Added bonus: incredibly easy!

disclaimer: These are probably far from authentic. Nor is this probably the right way to do any of this. But it tastes good.

Spring Rolls

1 package egg roll wrappers
1 shallot, minced
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup bean sprouts
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup shredded cabbage
1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced and then sliced again (photo below explains what I'm talking about)
about 2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
a few tbsp olive oil
a little bowl with about 1/4 cup water and a heaping tsp of flour added to it
a few more tbsp olive oil

In a medium saute pan, heat olive oil on medium heat. Add shallots and garlic and saute till slightly golden, about 1 minute. Add mushrooms and cook for another 1-2 minutes, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are becoming soft. Add bean sprouts, carrots and cabbage and stir again so everything gets along well.

With the lid to your saute pan ready, pour in soy sauce and immediately cover to trap the steam. Keep covered for 1 minute. remove cover and stir again. Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly.

Pull out one egg roll wrapper. Lay it diagonally with one cover pointing towards you. Place that little bowl of flour water near you as well.

Add about two tablespoons of filling to the center of the wrapper and spread it out lengthwise.

Lift the corner that is pointing at you, fold it over the filling and lightly stuff the corner under the filling.

Now grab the corner on the left and fold it towards the right side like one side of an envelope, making sure to stuff any escaping filling back in. Also make sure that there isn't a little hole near the bottom fold or there will be filling escape-age later. Repeat with corner on the right, folding it toward the left, thereby completing the bottom portion on an envelope.

Now, dip a finger in the flour water and swipe it across one side of the flap portion on your envelope. Dip again and swipe across the other side. This will provide a nice seal. Think of it as envelope glue, but tastier. Now take both your hands and grasp the bottom portion of the envelope with filling and roll it towards the flap, all the while making sure to lightly squish all the filling in and creating a roll. Press down the flap to ensure it is sealed and set aside.


success!

Repeat until there is no more filling left. I usually get about four rolls out the above recipe but it may depend upon how full you make the rolls.

Now to cook them. In a skillet or saute pan, heat a few tbsp of olive oil. (you could probably also use grapeseed oil or other oil with a higher smoke point) When oil is hot, place your rolls into the oil gently, so as not to splash. Fry about 2 minutes per side or until each side is golden brown (keep an eye on this because they can burn quick). Because this is in a pan and not a deep fryer, the rolls will be slightly rectangular but, oh well.

When all sides are golden brown, remove to a paper towel lined plate. Allow to cool slightly and serve.

Dipping sauce possibilities: There is of course duck sauce, located usually in the ethnic foods aisle of most groceries. Trader Joe's sells a positively delightful Sweet Chili Sauce that compliments this perfectly. Or, if you want to go completely from scratch and make one yourself, try my recipe for sweet chili sauce that I made to compliment homemade chicken nuggets.

Hope you enjoy these.

The Perfect BLT

2013-03-13T06:09:00.000-07:00

The quintessential summer lunch food... It's not summer... It's cold and rainy and dreary and not at all the season for BLTs. But in the modern world who needs to follow to strictures of our parents that said you can only have chili in the winter and potato salad in the summer.

I'm ready for warmer weather. I feel as if I've spent the last four months in a frozen state. Don't get me wrong, I love winter and snow and cold weather. But when it's bone chilling cold and it isn't snowing, it's time for spring.

I wanted to jazz up the traditional BLT a little bit. But I also didn't want to get too far away from the traditional as Mike is a purist when it comes to his BLTs. So his was made the traditional way and to jazz up my own, I added avocado slices. Let me just tell you I will never, I repeat, NEVER, eat a BLT without avocado ever again. The creaminess of ripe avocado balanced with the other ingredients so well, it was amazing!

For a side dish, I wanted something light and healthy to balance well with the BLT, not the usual potato or pasta salad. A quick Internet search brought up the idea of a citrus-y fruit salad to "balance the saltiness and grease of the bacon". Sounded good to me.

Perfect BLTs with Fruit Salad
(for two)

6 strips good bacon
4 slices good white bread
1 ripe beefsteak tomato, sliced thick
one handful of lettuce, your favourite
half ripe avocado, sliced
mayonnaise

Cook the bacon.

I use the Alton Brown method of cooking bacon. The method is placing a cooling rack over a cookie sheet and placing the strips of bacon on the cookie sheet. You then bake the bacon at 375 for about 10-15 minutes or until the bacon is cooked to your liking.

I love this method. Not only is the bacon not swimming in its own grease while cooking but it also minimizes the smoke created by cooking bacon. As I have said before, tiny kitchen, no windows, no vent, equals fire alarm going off whenever there is smoke in the kitchen. And nothing says heart stopping like a fire alarm going off in a quiet, tiny space. I digress.

While bacon is cooking, slice your tomato and avocado and gather up the lettuce and mayo. You are going to want to assemble the sandwiches as soon as the bacon is done cooking so that everything doesn't get cold.

I also used this time to assemble my fruit salad. I used the fruit that I had in the house at the time.

1 apple, diced
1 grapefruit
a handful of strawberries, diced
a handful of blackberries

Mix together well. I also added a pinch of sugar just to slightly sweeten the grapefruit juices.

Anyway, before the bacon is done, toast the bread slices. I don't have a toaster (they take up valuable counter space) so I use a griddle pan with the teensiest amount of butter on the pan just to get the bread slices to brown a little.

When bacon is done, remove it from the oven. Assemble the sandwich... Spread mayonnaise on each slice of bread. Then add the lettuce on top of the mayo. (I do this so that the lettuce pieces stick to the mayo and don't fall out of the sandwich later.) Top the lettuce with tomato and top the tomato with the bacon.

I fold each slice of bacon in half like a slight V shape and layer two slices vertically and one slice horizontally so that there is equal bacon coverage on the sandwich. Now, on the other half of the bread, place the avocado slices evenly over the mayo and then place that on top of the rest of the sandwich. With a sharp knife, carefully slice sandwich in half. I say carefully because you don't want to lose anything out of the sandwich and you don't want to squish it.

Serve immediately with a large scoop of fruit salad.

Fried Goat Cheese (or why to eat more salad)

2013-02-06T06:23:00.003-08:00

As the title implies, fried goat cheese is a great reason to eat more salad and frankly, I need reasons. It's not that I don't love salad, I do...when other people make it for me. I hate making salad. It never tastes as good as the restaurant kinds. Granted, I realize that's because the restaurant kind is full of eight syllable, multi-hyphenated, chemical substances; but it tastes good.

However, after figuring out this recipe, I now make more way salads. Every salad I make tastes unbelievably good as long as there is a medallion or two of fried goat cheese included. This is a great addition to the Spinach Strawberry Salad. These also look super elegant when placed atop salad in their own little salad bowls.

Fried Goat Cheese

1 small log soft goat cheese (not feta)
breadcrumbs
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup flour
3 tbsp grapeseed oil or olive oil
a sharp knife
paper towel
bowl of hot water, not boiling, just hot

Place breadcrumbs, egg and flour in three separate small bowls. Dip your knife in the hot water for a few seconds to get the metal warm. Wipe dry. Using the warm knife, slice one 1/4 to 1/2 inch medallion off the goat cheese log. Wipe off whatever cheese stuck to your knife and dip it back in the hot water for a few seconds. Wipe dry. Slice another medallion off the goat cheese log. Repeat the above until you have enough medallions or you use all the goat cheese.

Now treat the medallions like you would bread chicken cutlets....flour first, shake off excess...egg second...breadcrumbs third. Repeat with each medallion and place them all on a plate. Cover and put in the fridge for about 15 minutes.

(While they are chilling, prepare all the rest of your salad.)

Get out your saute pan, add the oil and heat the pan at medium. When oil is nice and hot (I sprinkle a little water in it and if the water spurts and steams, then it's ready) add your breaded medallions. Don't crowd them. Fry on each side for about 2-3 minutes until they are golden brown on each side. Serve immediately, while still nice and hot, atop your favorite salad.

Yum... I'm making this for dinner now.

Vacation Grilling

2012-09-25T07:25:00.003-07:00

The view from our balcony

This isn't so much an exact recipe post. It's more of a "what we ate on vacation" kind of post. But the weekend was filled with such delicious foods (mostly made by my husband) that I had to share it.

Since we didn't go away this summer, we took a long weekend this month and went to the beach. It turned out to be a fabulous weekend with near perfect weather and, since it's off-season, no crowds. We rented a small ocean front condo with a full kitchen and with the full view of the ocean right on your balcony, who wants to go sit inside a restaurant for dinner? There also happens to be a grill...

As I have said before, our current housing situation lacks any outdoor space and with that is included a serious lack of anywhere to grill (except on my grill pan on the stove, but it's just not the same). Mike also happens to be spectacularly proficient at grilling without the ability to indulge in this expertise as much as he'd like. Therefore, when presented with breathtaking ocean views and a grill, he grills.

The morning we left, I marinated chicken in olive oil, rosemary, thyme and garlic. (This marinade idea was given me by two good friends who happen to be some of the best cooks I've known.) We also bought steak and packed them and the chicken in the cooler (we drove, obviously, or this would never have worked) I also packed bruschetta, really excellent Parmesan cheese, grapes, apples, olives, bread, salami, wine, potatoes, and vegetables.

When we arrived that first night, I sliced up the potatoes length-wise and thinly and brushed them with olive oil and seasoned them with rosemary , salt and pepper. I also sliced up a couple of bell peppers and an onion (in large slices so they won't fall through the grill grate) and Mike grilled them, the potatoes and the chicken. It was delicious. The chicken had great flavour, the potatoes were like steak fries but better and the peppers and onions had that great charred taste. It was a delicious way to start our little vacation.

Potatoes in olive oil and spices

The following day, we ate lunch in too. It was really an assembling of things we had bought (not made) but it was still delicious and we still had the beautiful view.

Lunch! (Olives are in a separate bowl b/c I hate them and they pollute the other food)

One of the other nights we were there, we grilled the steak...

Before grilling them, Mike brushed each side with butter and then seasoned it with salt and pepper. I made mashed potatoes with garlic and rosemary and we grilled more veggies. It was sensational! The steak was unbelievably delicious.

That's Parmesan cheese in the background, not butter

We did manage to save some to have steak and eggs the next morning; also delicious.

Sorry there aren't any real recipes, but since it was so good, I wanted to share it anyway. We had an excellent time and were properly refreshed for the upcoming autumn months. I already have a plan to get back into some serious cooking. Cranberry season is coming so I am planning on making cranberry sauce. I also want to try out a few more soups as the cold weather comes upon us. If I like any of them, I will definitely post them, hopefully sooner rather than later.

Spinach Strawberry Salad

2012-09-02T18:17:00.002-07:00

A few weeks ago, we ate at this little hotel restaurant with barely anyone in there and no front door. You actually had to go into the hotel entrance and down a long hallway to even get to the restaurant. I was not expecting much. But since it was late, we were staying at this particular hotel, and we did not feel like driving all over, we ate there. More proof, if proof were needed, that you shouldn't judge a restaurant by it's entrance. It was incredibly delicious and super fast. Their portions were also enormous and forewarned by our friendly waitress, we easily split an appetizer and entree between the two of us.

On a side note: This is our standard we're-not-that-hungry or let's-save-money-but-still-eat-out strategy. If you both have similar tastes, this works especially great when away on vacation or at restaurants that serve huge portions.

Anyway, the appetizer we ended up getting was a spinach and strawberry salad with pecans and goat cheese. It was so tasty and looked so simple that as soon as I got home, I tried it myself. The only difference is that I added chicken. It is just as delicious and such a simple and quick, but still healthy meal that I had to share it.

Strawberry Spinach Salad

1 bag baby spinach
10 large strawberries, washed and sliced
1/2 cup pecan pieces
2 chicken breasts, cooked and sliced
1 small log goat cheese, broken up into bite size pieces
Trader Joe's Champagne Vinaigrette or favorite light vinaigrette

After dividing the spinach onto two separate plates, line each plate with strawberries. Any extra strawberries place on top of spinach bed (or eat them yourself).

Place chicken pieces on top of each spinach bed, followed by pecans and goat cheese pieces. Lightly pour vinaigrette over the top. Enjoy.

Notes: I cooked the chicken on the grill pan with a little bit of olive oil, basil, rosemary and thyme, salt and pepper; 3-4 minutes per side until cooked through. It is packed with flavour and so easy to make that I make a bunch of it at once and use it in everything. Also, goat cheese is creamier than feta so it doesn't really crumble, just so you know.

Mediterranean Pizza

2012-06-05T20:10:00.000-07:00

Summer weather started here a few weeks ago; 90 degree weather and 100% humidity. Oh, and did I mention that the AC isn't working super well either? Out the window goes the idea of cooking with the oven. A small kitchen heats up surprisingly quickly. There goes any idea of casseroles and baked dishes.

At the same time, I found a recipe that called for marinating chicken in Greek yogurt before grilling it. I thought that sounded like a great idea but needed some additional ingredients to make a fabulous and quick meal. Adding spices to the yogurt before adding the chicken and letting the chicken marinate for at least 3 hours gave the chicken a wonderful moistness and great flavor. A few other ingredients that I had on hand made it into a spectacular and quick weeknight meal.

4 thinly sliced chicken breasts
1 small container plain Greek yogurt
1/2 tbsp cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 tsp coriander
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp olive oil
naan bread
hummus
1 large cucumber, sliced
basil, if desired
pepper

In a container of your choice with a lid, combine the Greek yogurt, spices, garlic and olive oil and mix well. Add the chicken being sure to coat both sides of each chicken breast with the yogurt mixture. All to marinate happily in the fridge for at least three hours.

Attractive, isn't it?

(As I lack the delightful outdoor cooking experience known as the charcoal or gas grill, I have to be satisfied using my grill/griddle pan thing.)

Spray grill pan liberally with olive oil spray. Heat according to manufacturer's directions. Scrape excess marinade off each chicken breast. When hot, add chicken and grill until cooked through, flipping chicken breasts once. Depending on the thickness of each chicken breast this should be a few minutes on each side. (I always slice into the thickest part of each piece just to be sure it's cooked through) When cooked through, remove chicken to a plate to cool slightly.

On the same grill pan, add the naan bread and cook until warm and golden brown on each side. Remove naan bread to a plate, spread with a thin layer of hummus. Slice a chicken breast (my husband insists that the chicken breast is sliced from north to south. This does not sound right to me but I can't remember the cooking term for how I sliced the chicken so in lieu of the proper terminology: with the chicken breast sitting on the cutting board horizontally slice from north to south)....on second thought, slice the chicken breast however you would like. This is too much thought for what is supposed to be a quick meal!

Anyway, with the unbelievably important decision of how to slice one's chicken out of the way, crumble feta cheese all over the layer of hummus, lay slices of chicken on top of the cheese and lay the cucumber slices on top of the chicken. Sprinkle with fresh ground pepper and basil if desired. I don't add salt since the feta is already salty.

Serve immediately so it's still warm.

You could add tomatoes to this too. Since I made a tomato salad I didn't add them this time, but I think that would be good. Also, this chicken was so delicious that I marinated a large batch of chicken, grilled it and kept it in the fridge to be used for sandwiches, fajitas and snacking.

Jalapeno Poppers

2012-04-24T15:20:00.000-07:00

A while ago, we visited my sister-in-law and family. As you've probably noticed, everything in our family seems to revolve around food. In fact most of the things we do seem to revolve around food. Anyway, when we went to visit, we ate at this restaurant called McAllister's that served loaded baked potatoes that are the size of a loaf of bread. Seriously, they were enormous potatoes and they were amazingly delicious. I must go again.

Anyway, onto the jalapenos. My brother-in-law made these awesome jalapenos on the grill. He filled each jalapeno half with cream cheese and cheddar cheese and wrapped each one with a strip of uncooked bacon and then cooked them on the grill somehow. I'm not really certain exactly how he did it but it was quite delicious.

Being that we live in an apartment whose builders did not see the benefit of putting a window in the kitchen, I am unable to cook anything that is going to smoke badly. This unfortunately includes cooking bacon on the stove. (I can cook it in the oven in the Alton Brown method) So how to recreate these delicious morsels without having the fire department called to my house...again?

Apartment Friendly Jalapeno Poppers

warning: I strongly suggest wearing food grade vinyl gloves when making this recipe. There is nothing worse than getting jalapeno juice on your fingers and then itching your eye. Trust me.

5 jalapenos, sliced in half lengthwise and without stem
1/3 cup cream cheese, room temperature
2 handfuls grated Cheddar cheese
1/4 cup chopped pancetta or bacon pieces

Preheat oven to 350.

Cook pancetta or bacon in a small frying pan dusted with a little olive oil spray over medium heat until cooked and fragrant and a little crispy, about five minutes depending on the size of each piece.
(Our local Trader Joe's sells chopped pancetta. Most grocery stores will sell either slices of pancetta or a small hunk of pancetta that you can chop yourself.)

Meanwhile, scoop all of the seeds and the little vein-y things that the seeds attach to out of each jalapeno. (I use the edge of a melon baller for this, it seems to work well) Set jalapeno halves aside.

In a small bowl, mix cream cheese, cheddar cheese and the cooked pancetta together until the ingredients are evenly distributed. The heat from the pancetta will cause the cheeses to melt a little but that's okay.

With a spoon or spatula, fill each jalapeno half with about a tbsp of cheese mixture. Place all halves on a cookie sheet and bake for about 15 minutes until the jalapenos get a little wrinkly and golden brown on top. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly before serving.

You could also sprinkle more cheddar cheese on top of each half either before or after they come out of the oven.

Enjoy!

I'm sorry I didn't take more photos of the process or the finished product. I got busy making them and forgot and then we were too busy eating them to care about photography.

Spaghetti Sqaush - Coolest Thing Ever

2012-03-21T09:19:00.001-07:00

Okay, any fruit or vegetable (I think it's classified a fruit but whatever) that when cooked, tasted remarkable like pasta gets a gold star in my book. Since we've been trying to eat less carbs on a day to day basis (not the easiest thing for me to do), I've given up cooking pasta for dinner. And with that decision, all of my quick and easy pasta recipes went out the window.

However, Mama called and told me that she had made spaghetti squash and that even Daddy really liked it. Now, I've heard of this squash that actually tastes like pasta before and really couldn't believe it. I don't like acorn squash. I only like butternut squash if it is pureed to oblivion in soup form. I am not a fan of zucchini, or as the grocery store insists on calling it with incredible lack of imagination: green squash. Therefore, the idea of spaghetti squash was not exciting to me, though when mama called I figured, 'If Daddy could eat it, so could I.'

I humbly admit that I misjudged this fruit/vegetable thing. It - is - Delicious. It has the just the right texture and shape and it holds up to sauces just like pasta would. It is also a fairly easy thing to make. Hence, I submit to you my first try with spaghetti squash which was a huge hit:

Spaghetti Squash in White Wine Lemon Sauce

1 spaghetti squash
1 pkg Italian sausage, cooked and sliced
3 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup white wine
2 tsp thyme
1/2 tbsp flour
Parmesan Cheese

First of all, you need to roast the squash.

How To Roast a Spaghetti Squash

1. Remove sticky label that grocery store adhered to said squash.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. With a fork, prick squash all over.
4. Roast in 350 degree oven for 1 1/2 hours.
5. Remove from oven carefully and allow to cool slightly (15-20 minutes just so you can handle it without burning your hands)
6. Slice open lengthwise with sharp knife and scoop out all seeds.

7. Run a fork through the flesh of the squash and stare in wonderment as it separates into "noodles".

Okay, now you are ready to continue with the recipe.

While your squash is cooling, cook your choice of Italian sausage according to package directions. I cooked mine in a large saute pan. When they were fully cooked, I removed them to a plate. In the same saute pan, add olive oil and garlic and cook until garlic is golden brown and fragrant.

Add butter, lemon juice, white wine, thyme and flour to garlic. Cook, stirring a little to incorporate the flour for about three to five minutes until sauce has thickened a bit.

When you've separated your "noodles", add them and the sliced sausage to the lemon sauce and stir to fully incorporate sauce into "noodles".

Remove from pan to plates and sprinkle on Parmesan cheese.

Enjoy!

A Better Chicken Noodle Soup

2012-01-09T07:07:00.000-08:00

As I have previously mentioned, I don't like chicken noodle soup. Mike does though and sometimes one makes things one does not like for a person one loves. I figure if I really don't like what I made, I can always eat toast with jam for dinner like his grandmother used to. The traditional carrot-celery-onion-chicken-in-broth soup recipe is frightfully boring so I started throwing in stuff that I saw in other soup recipes. I figured that all the ingredients came from soup recipes so they should all taste good together. I do realize that this method of cooking does not always work out for the best. I have first hand experience with the times that it has failed miserably. However, in this case, it worked beautifully. I even thoroughly enjoyed it.

Better Chicken Noodle Soup

olive oil
one yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 c white wine
1 small can diced tomatoes
8 cups chicken broth or 8 cups water with bouillon cubes (follow package directions)
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cubed (I baked the chicken in garlic-Parmesan olive oil at 350 for 30 minutes)
3 zucchini, cubed
4 carrots, sliced into rounds
fresh or dried thyme
fresh or dried rosemary
salt and pepper, to taste
1 large can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 cups noodles of choice (I used pappardelle)
1 bag fresh baby spinach
grated Parmesan cheese

Coat the bottom of a large pot with olive oil; heat over medium heat. When oil is heated, toss in onions. Cook, stirring occasionally until onions are translucent and beginning to brown. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about a minute. Add white wine and cook for another minute or two. Add tomatoes and continue to cook, stirring occasionally.

Add broth, carrots, zucchini, chickpeas and herbs (I had fresh thyme and rosemary from another dish I made but if you only have dried I'm sure that will work too. I used three stems of thyme and one stem of rosemary. The rosemary I chopped up but I just picked the thyme leaves off the stems and threw it in without bothering to chop it. If you are using dried, I would use about 2 tsp of each.) Continue to cook until zucchini and carrots are soft, about ten minutes. Stir occasionally. Add noodles and cubed chicken.

*Note: I used pappardelle noodles from Trader Joe's because they looked very pretty in the package. However, because these noodles are so wide and long, they need to be broken into smaller pieces. I suggest that you do this in your hands over the soup pot. Do not try to cut dried noodles with a knife on a cutting board. The noodles break into little noodle shards that rocket all over the kitchen.

After adding the noodles, I left the pot on the stove, cooking on very low heat, for about twenty minutes more until we were ready to eat. Just before serving, add spinach and stir well so that the heat from the soup wilts the spinach.

Serve in bowls topped with Parmesan cheese.

A Quick Mediterranean Meal

2011-12-12T16:48:00.000-08:00

Recently, we went away for the weekend for a wedding. We had a lovely time being away with family and friends, and being able to enjoy the truly beautiful wedding.

After three days of rich, delicious foods and a long drive back, I was not in the mood to cook anything over the top nor were either of us that hungry. So I raided the fridge for something that was healthy, quick, tasty and light. Not an easy task, but I did come up with something...

3 tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 cucumber, roughly chopped
half of a red onion, diced
1 tbsp parsley
2 tsp basil
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 garlic clove crushed
1 tsp Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste
store bought hummus
1 small jar kalamata olives
Naan bread, heated on the stove and cut into strips
Feta cheese, cubed and tossed with olive oil and choice of herbs (I found this all done for me at Trader Joe's)

So, it looks like a long list of ingredients but its still quick. After chopping the tomatoes, cucumber and onion and putting them in a bowl, I mixed together the parsley, basil, oil, vinegar, garlic, Dijon, salt and pepper in a little jar with a tight fitting lid and shook it really well. Then I poured the dressing all over the veggies and set it aside. I heated the Naan bread on my griddle just enough so that it was warm on both sides and then sliced it into short strips. I put the olives and feta into their own little bowls and set the table. I had bought a sample pack of four different hummus flavors so I just put the whole container right on the table.

The whole set up took about fifteen minutes and it was delicious! And again, may I say how much I love Trader Joe's since everything I used here was from that fabulous store!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

2011-12-07T07:15:00.000-08:00

Winter seems to have finally arrived and soup season has begun. Mike loves soup and I don't make nearly enough of them since I'm not really a fan of the broth-based soup. Now, cream-based - broccoli cheddar, baked potato, New England clam, tomato even - those I love. More proof, if proof were needed, that if it's terrible for me, I love it. If it's good for me, it's probably not my favorite. However, I decided to make this soup, even though it's broth-based, because Mike would enjoy it. I'd only have to eat it once and then I could send the rest with him for lunches. I was wrong again. This soup was delicious. As in, still craving it delicious. There are so many dimensions and flavors going on and it's fresh tasting but still warm and hearty and just what is needed on a wintery or rainy day. It was fairly easy as well, which is also right up my alley.

Chicken Tortilla Soup
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 32 oz cartons of chicken broth or 8 cups water and 6 chicken bouillon cubes
3 large cloves garlic, crushed
2 jalapenos, minced (remove the white part and seeds if you want it to be less spicy)
half white onion, chopped
2 tsp ground coriander

2 tsp cumin

1 tsp paprika

1 tbsp Goya Adobo spice mix

salt and pepper to taste

4 large tomatoes, roughly chopped

1 medium bag frozen corn kernels

1 small can black beans

1 tbsp fresh lime juice

tortilla chips

ripe avocado

shredded cheddar cheese

Pour chicken broth into a large stock pot and bring to a boil. Add chicken breasts, garlic, jalapenos, onion and spices and simmer for about fifteen minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken from broth and allow to cool slightly. Roughly chop or shred chicken breast.

Add tomatoes, corn and black beans. Cook for another ten minutes. Return chicken breast to pot and continue to cook until chicken is reheated.

To serve, roughly crush a handful of tortilla chips into the bottom of each soup bowl. Add soup over the top and sprinkle with a little lime juice and cheddar cheese. If desired, add a couple of slices of avocado on top and garnish with tortilla chips. Enjoy!

Sorry for the lack of photos in this post. I forgot to take them while I was cooking and only remembered right before we sat down to eat.

Quick but Delicious Pizzas

2011-11-15T05:07:00.000-08:00

As I've said before, due to my mother's upbringing, I am a strict believer in making everything from scratch. (Except brownies, I still think good boxed brownies and scratch brownies taste virtually the same)

However, I also know that everyone is busy, including me, and making everything from scratch just does not work for every day living. There are days when you come home from work and have an hour to make something eat and leave the house again. Those days require something quick. For those days, I usually turn to Trader Joe's which thankfully is near me. They have great stuff. I love them. If you don't have a Trader Joe's near you, though I'm very sorry for you, you can get the ingredients for this meal at the grocery store or a local farmer's market.

For a quick but tasty meal, I sometimes will make pizza with Trader Joe's (or the grocery store's) pre-made dough.

First, I roll out the dough onto my oiled pizza pan. Then I brush the dough with a mixture of 2 crushed garlic cloves and about 3 tbsp of olive oil. Then I'll coat the pizza with whatever "sauce" I want.
Either homemade pizza sauce:

(to make sauce, empty a can of crushed tomatoes into a sauce pan with some crushed garlic, a little cayenne pepper, a touch of olive oil, some basil (fresh or dried), a dash of salt and pepper and about two tsp of sugar. Simmer until it's thickened, about 15 minutes.)

Then coat the pizza with shredded mozzarella and Parmesan and possibly a little pepperoni or crumbled cooked sausage or cooked onions or chopped, cooked pancetta for a little bacon flavor...

OR

I'll spread about a cup of ricotta cheese all over the pizza after the garlic olive oil and then either dot the pizza with broccoli florets and cover with mozzarella or cover the pizza with slices of tomatoes and then mozzarella or my newest favorite is mozzarella and Parmesan with slices of roasted red peppers and onions.

Cook the pizza for about 20 minutes at 350. Another thing I'll do sometimes right after the pizza comes out of the oven is to sprinkle it with a little fresh arugula and some hot sauce and then slice it.

So good...and so fast...and super easy.

Cannoli Cupcakes

2011-11-04T16:42:00.000-07:00

Last month, I made a cake and cupcake tower for a friend's bridal shower. The detailed post of the cake is here. I was asked to make 48 cupcakes, half would be my standard chocolate recipe (here) and the other half would be cannoli cupcakes. I've never made cannoli cupcakes, I've never even made cannolis so I was a little nervous. I mean, I love a good cannoli but cannoli cream on top of a cupcake? I just didn't know if that would work or be appetizing if it did. I was very very wrong.

The internet is full of cannoli cupcake recipes. So apparently, this is a flavor of cupcake that the rest of the world is familiar with and that I inexplicably totally missed. After much research, I decided that there wasn't a recipe that I loved from start to finish so I adapted a bunch and made my own.

I liked the idea of having the cannoli cream as filling for the cupcake instead of as icing. I just couldn't see a dollop of cannoli cream sitting sweetly on top of a cupcake without moving. And with the richness of the cream on the inside, I thought that simple, fresh, ordinary, slightly-sweetened whipped cream would be the best icing.

For the cake, I adapted my favorite white cake from King Arthur Flour. Here it goes:

Cake:
2 cups sugar
3 1/4 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup butter
1 1/4 cups milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
In a stand mixer, combine sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt. Add butter and beat at low speed until the mixture looks sandy. Add milk and vanilla. Mix for about a minute, scraping down the sides of the bowl after to make sure it’s all incorporated.

Add eggs one at a time with the mixer running on low speed. Continue scraping down the sides of the bowl too.

After last egg, add mini chocolate chips and beat for about 30 seconds.

Fill each cupcake liner with 1/4 cup batter and bake for 20 - 25 minutes.

When cupcakes have completely cooled, hollow out the center. I used this nifty little $3 tool from Bed Bath and beyond

but it can be done with a spoon too. Fill each cupcake with Cannoli Cream (recipe below)

Cannoli Cream:

16 oz tub of Ricotta
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
3/4 mini chocolate chips

Top each cupcake with whipped cream so that the hole is covered.

Whipped Cream

1 pint heavy cream
3 tbsp powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Sprinkle each cupcake with mini chocolate chips.

If you are going to eat these within a couple of hours, keep them in a container in a cooled place. If any longer, I recommend refrigeration.

Bridal Shower Cake: Autumn Tree and Cupcakes

2011-11-01T17:42:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been so long. I haven't been idle but I've gotten myself very into crafting lately and have let it completely take over my free time.

Prior to my latest crafting obsession, I was asked to make a cake for a friend's bridal shower. The hostesses of said shower wanted an autumn leafy theme and decided that they wanted a small round cake with cupcakes underneath. Totally do-able. Then they told me the rest. They wanted me to build a tree to sit on top of the cake with a few leaves attached to it and then have leaves all over the cupcakes as if they had fallen off the tree and landed on the cupcakes.

I read somewhere that you should never say you can't do something. Say yes, accept the job and then figure out how to do it later. I don't know if this is an acceptable motto if one wants to live a stress-free life but I followed the advice anyhow.

For the tree, I decided that cereal treats and fondant would probably be the best but it needed something to make it sturdy. So I took a small dowel and wrapped it in wire to make each branch off of the tree and the roots at the bottom. Then I wrapped the whole thing in copious amounts of aluminum foil and made sure that it stood up on its own.

About a month before the shower, I made a trial tree. It took me a few hours from start to finish but basically went without a hitch. Therefore, I concluded that everything would go swimmingly.

The day before the shower, I packed up all my baking stuff and headed to Mama's for the use of the huge kitchen. First I made all the cupcakes; 24 chocolate (recipe here) and 24 cannoli cream (recipe to come in following post) and then the cake. That was completed quickly enough and without any issues. On to the tree...

Unfortunately, the tree refused to cooperate. This time the cereal treats would not stick to the foil no matter what I did. The stupid tree was made and re-made at least four times and I was very close to angrily throwing the entire thing into my mother's pond. Here it should be noted that my mother should get a medal for most problem-solving patient mother. Without her, that tree would have been in the pond.

Her idea was to wrap the tree in paper towel which we sealed with melted chocolate and corn syrup and then wrap it with the cereal treats. The cereal treats stuck to the paper towel and then we wrapped the whole thing in fondant. Appetizing it is not but it worked! **insert deep sigh of relief**

When the tree was finally finished, we placed it carefully on a plate, wrapped it in plastic wrap and packed it very carefully in a large plastic bin surrounded by crumpled newspaper. With the bin and six containers of unfrosted cupcakes, I headed to the site of the shower. Fortunately, I was able to leave all the cake and assembly necessities at the shower site the night before.

The day of the shower, I assembled the whole cake tower. Tree placed on top of cake ... hold breath while letting go... and, blessed relief, it stayed standing!! Then onto the decorating, which is the most fun part of anything. Some frosting grass and flowers added to it made it really feel like a tree in a meadow.

Oh, I forgot, I also discovered the joys of working with gum paste. Gum paste is like edible clay. It is so much fun to work with. Using gum paste, tinted with food colouring, I made autumn leaves, flowers and two little lovebirds in a nest for the top of the tree.

The quarter is for size comparison. It did not go on the cake.

Nesting birdies

And Voila!

I am very glad that I said yes to this project and that my friends gave me such a challenge. Without their challenging me, I don't know if I would have ever thought of doing this. Thanks to them... and Mama of course.

* I have to just say that the tree was supposed to have six branches, three major branches and three small ones off of the major ones. I forgot to add the three small branches and I cannot tell you how irritating that is to me every time I look at a picture of the tree. Just for me, so I can sleep at night, try to imagine it with six branches. Thanks

Buffalo Chicken Wontons

2011-09-07T18:18:00.000-07:00

Yum, yum, yum!

Confession: I have a minor obsession with Buffalo sauce. I love it, whether it be on chicken wings, pizza or nachos, I love it. Recently, my husband and I sampled this delectable vehicle in which to enjoy copious amounts of buffalo sauce. I mean, what could be better then a fried little pouch of creamy chicken-y goodness with just the right amount of buffalo sauce? I simply had to recreate this while on vacation and did so with the great help of a junior cook. And it was definitely worth it. They were a huge hit with everyone in the house and completely disappeared quickly. Even the most picky of the group loved them.

Buffalo Chicken Wontons
Filling:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cut into quarters
3/4 cup cream cheese
1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles
2 - 3 tbsp ranch dressing, plus more for dipping
1/4 cup - 1/2 cup Frank's Red Hot Sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Other ingredients:
oil for frying
1 package wonton wrappers
ranch or blue cheese dressing for dipping

Combine ingredients in a food processor and pulse until mixture is of desired consistency. It shouldn't be overly mushy or the consistency of soup but it shouldn't be overly chunky either. Sneak a taste, or two, about now to determine if you want to add more hot sauce, ranch dressing, salt or pepper.

Perfect consistency

In a large saute pan, heat oil over medium heat. There should be enough oil in the pan to come up the sides of the pan about an inch.

Retrieve a wonton wrapper and fill it with a heaping 1/2 tbsp of filling.

Seal the edges of the wonton by rubbing all edges with a little warm water, using your fingers, then fold the wonton in half to resemble a triangle and press edges down well.

Drop wonton triangle in oil and fry for a couple of minutes, turning once to ensure browning on both sides. Remove from oil and allow to drain on paper towels. Repeat with remaining wontons.

Serve warm with your choice of dipping sauce. Enjoy these. I am.

A Bridal Shower Plan

2011-07-09T15:03:00.000-07:00

gifts, gifts, gifts

I love weddings. More especially, I love helping to plan weddings. Planning my own was one of the great joys of my life. It was exciting and fun and just plain delightful; not to mention that the actual day went perfectly; my bridal party - the best friends we could ask for and I got to marry the man of my dreams. What could be better? Okay, stop gagging. It's true. However, since my wedding has since been long over, I content myself with being available to help friends, if they so choose, with their own weddings.

Recently, I was asked to be in a wedding and to help plan the bridal shower and I thought: why not do a blog post? Lots of people plan showers all the time and sometimes it's nice to see how other people are planning them. In my own research, I found that I could not find a comprehensive step by step plan of someone's bridal shower. Plus, it is remotely connected to food. There is usually food at a bridal shower. So here it goes. This is how I plan a shower:

First, decide who is going to be the coordinator. Too many people in charge makes for a mess so there needs to be one person that is fielding the ideas and opinions and handling the final decision making and planning. This person is usually the maid of honour but if there isn't one, then someone needs to step up and be the go-to person. If you're that person, your job begins now.

Get in contact with the other bridesmaids, the mother of the bride and the groom. Ask them for their opinions. Though the shower is usually thrown by the bridesmaids, some moms do like to have a little bit of a say on what goes on at the shower. The groom may also have thoughts or ideas especially if the bride may have told him what she wants for her shower. Compile these ideas into the beginnings of a plan.

Decide when and where you are going to have the shower. In this case, we had it at my mother's house because she's awesome and let us, even though she knows it's going to make a mess of her clean house. (I think I've told you all about my mother's tendency towards compulsive neatness) She has a perfect party house: large kitchen area with a good buffet flow, big living room, in case it rains and a large deck that overlooks her enormous fish pond. Very lovely! Not to mention, already clean.

Mama's backyard

Once you decide on a venue, choose a theme. A theme can be anything from luau to the colour pink. There are tons of choices. Like I said, a theme doesn't even need to be super specific, like luau, beach or garden tea party. It can be merely a colour, or mix of colours or something that the bride really loves, like flowers, Paris, art, cooking, etc. For this shower, we chose polka dots. We also chose a colour theme of pink and lime green so as to not get trippy with the polka dots. Too many dots of too many colours could get...weird. Anyway, pick a theme.

Remind the Bride to register. Give her a deadline if she's the kind of bride that needs one and make sure that she gets sufficient registry cards (the little store cards that say, "The Bride has registered at...). The stores want to give you only 25 or so usually, but have her nag them. They will give you more. After all, the cards don't cost them that much to print and they make it back once people buy gifts there. When she's finished, be sure to get those cards from her as you'll need to add them to the invitations. In a pinch, you can also have "The Bride has registered at....(list store names)" printed on the actual invitation.

Next will be getting the guest list and counting how many shower invitations you'll be needing. Small digression here: In my humble opinion, it is tacky and inappropriate to invite persons to the shower that are not invited to the wedding. It's like saying, "We can't have everyone we'd like to at the wedding, but still we want your gifts." Also, those women who are out of state should still get an invitation to the shower. They may want to know where the bride has registered so as to get her a gift anyway and then no one feels like they've been slighted.

You probably noticed that I said every woman. Again, in my humble opinion, I don't think that men belong at bridal showers. I also realize that I am occasionally overruled here but that's what I think. If you are not of my opinion, that's fine. Substitute the word persons for the word women.

End of digression. When you have the list of who is being invited to the shower, choose and order your invitations. If you are getting them printed, triple check your wording and spelling before ordering them. The invitation should include: The bride's name; the date of the shower; the time of the shower; the complete address of where the shower will be given; who they should RSVP to and that person's phone number (which is usually the coordinator of the shower as it makes things easier) the date in which to RSVP by and who the shower is given by (if you choose to add that). Even though you are the planner of the shower, the invite should say given by: and then the names of the bridesmaids. If there are a lot of bridesmaids, just put given by: her bridesmaids instead of individual names. In my opinion, it shouldn't say given by: the planner's name. Every bridesmaid is helping to throw the shower so every bridesmaid is giving it. While on that subject, be sure to continue to ask the bridesmaids for their opinions with regard to venue, theme, invites etc. You want to make sure that everyone feels included. Granted, you won't be able to use everybody's ideas and not everyone will have the last say but nonetheless, they should feel included.

Once invitations have been ordered, start putting together a menu. If you are going to have it catered, choose a caterer and discuss with them the menu. If you are going to have people make food, deciding on a specific menu saves time and confusion later. Since we decided to have the shower in the afternoon, we did finger foods and desserts. Since it was a polka dot theme, we tried to choose items that were circular, if available. Below is the menu:

Finger Foods:

Veggie Platter
Fruit Platter
Chips and Dip
Bruschetta and Bread
Bagel Wedges with Dip
Cracker and Cheese Platter
Cheese Balls and Crackers
Guacamole and Chips
Deli Meats Platter with Rolls
Deviled Eggs
Other Varied Appetizer-y foods

Polka dots!

Desserts:

Cupcakes and Cake
Strawberry Soup
Cheesecake
Almond Cookies
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Fruit Tarts

Drinks

Water
Sodas
Iced Teas
Coffee

Misc. Extras

Ice Cubes with raspberries and mint frozen inside

Invitations have now arrived and are subsequently stuffed into envelopes with the little registry cards, addressed, stamped and mailed. Be sure to keep good records so that you know that everyone that was supposed to get an invite, did. Also, keep a good record of who has RSVP'd. This will help later. Some people when they RSVP, may ask if they can bring something in the food line. Be sure to have your menu list ready and the list of who is making what so that you can tell those incredibly kind people that you already have a veggie platter coming but if they would like to bring a fruit salad that would be greatly appreciated. Another thing you can do is ask them what they enjoy making that fits in with what kind of menu you are doing. Many people have a special dish that they'd love to make.

Now is a good time to think of shower favors. Keep in mind that favors can get expensive so if you're even a little craftsy, you may be able to save yourself some money. For example, at another shower, we made bookmarks (since the bride is an avid reader) and silk flower topped pens. At my cousin's shower, we found cute inexpensive tins and filled them with jellybeans.At my own shower, my girls gave away candles, which some people still have some years later. For this shower, in keeping with the polka dot theme, we found gourmet lollipops and tied pink and green ribbons around them. The post on how to make a stand for the lollipops is forthcoming. Whatever you decide on, make sure that you have the favors arranged well before the shower so that you aren't swamped with things to do the day of the shower.

By now, RSVP's will be flowing in, one hopes. Keep in mind that you will have the complete spectrum of people, from the people that RSVP the moment they receive the invitation in the mail to the people that never respond even after you've called them twice to remind them. It's just how people are. As I said before, keep good records of who is coming and who is not and who hasn't called yet. When the "RSVP by" date has passed, enlist the mother of the bride's help in contacting those that haven't RSVP'd yet to track them down. Count how many you have coming and make sure that you will have enough food, enough chairs and enough favors for all.

With the other bridesmaids, decide on how you are going to decorate. Also decide on who is going to get the needed paraphernalia: plates, cups, hot cups, flatware, tablecloths, balloons, streamers, table centerpieces, napkins, etc. Make sure that whenever something is bought for the shower, the coordinator gets the receipt so that after the shower, the cost of the shower in entirety can be split evenly between the bridesmaids. (Enlist the help of whomever is the best at math, not me in this case.)

When all the the paraphernalia has been purchased and all the the decisions made, it is time to sit back and wait for the day to arrive.

On the day of the shower, have all the bridesmaid arrive earlier to help set up. Decorate the place, set up the tables for food, drinks and gifts. Decide where the bride is going to sit to open gifts. Make sure that she will be easily seen by everyone wherever she sits. As the food, drinks and gifts arrive, set them on their appropriate tables. When the bride arrives, have her get a plate of food and start eating and then have everyone else get their plates. I find that people seem happier when the bride starts opening her gifts right away as they are all eating. It gives everyone something to do while watching the opening of gifts. Before the bride starts opening gifts, ask her to pick a bridesmaid, preferably one with good handwriting, to keep track of who has bought her what in a notebook or sheet of paper that she won't lose. This will help make writing thank you cards much simpler later.

After gifts are opened is a good time to introduce the dessert course and encourage people to mingle and chat with each other. When people start to leave, be sure to thank them for coming and for their kindness and generosity (particularly if they were kind enough to bring food) and remind them to take a favor as they leave.

Pack the bride's car with her gifts and be sure to clean up the venue, attempting to leave it cleaner than you found it. In our case, we cleaned it. It is not humanly possible to leave my mother's house cleaner than you found it but we did try.

The shower was a great success. The bride had a wonderful time and we had plenty of food. The weather was nice and everyone loved having it at my mother's. Thanks to the girls and the mother of the bride for all their help!

Thank you also to the girls whose photos I used in this post since I never took any of my own.

And thank you to my mama for letting us have it there. Everybody loved it, the bride especially. Thanks Mama!

I hope your own shower planning goes beautifully. If I can help in any way, please leave me a comment. I'd be glad to.

Happy planning!!

Ratatouille (my quick version)

2011-05-16T08:12:00.000-07:00

Ingredients and a cup of tea

I realize this is more of a winter meal but spring can have its chilly days too when you want a hearty bowl of something warm and mildly spicy that doesn't take all day to make. This would be that kind of meal. If you prep the veggies earlier, it's even faster.

The recipe calls for garlic and onions. Of course, as I began making this I realized that I was out of both of those. So I substituted garlic powder and onion powder. Granted, the dish tastes far better with the actual garlic and onions but in a pinch, powder works.

Ratatouille

2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 medium onion, diced
1 medium eggplant, peeled and cubed
1 yellow squash, cubed
2 zucchinis (or as my grocery store insists on calling them: green squash), cubed
2 bell peppers, seeded and cubed
1 package sliced mushrooms
1 large can diced tomatoes
1 tbsp basil
1 tsp thyme
3/4 cup good red wine (if you wouldn't drink it, don't cook with it)
1 package Italian hot sausage

In a small saute pan, cook sausage over medium heat until cooked through.

Meanwhile, in a stock pot, combine olive oil with garlic and onions. Cook over medium heat until onions are golden and garlic is fragrant (about 2 minutes) Add eggplant, squash, zucchini, bell peppers and mushrooms. Stir to combine and cook for two minutes more. Add can of tomatoes, red wine, basil and thyme. Stir, cover and simmer for about fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally.

When sausage is cooked through, slice into bite size pieces and add to stock pot, stirring well, remove cover and simmer for five more minutes.

When veggies are soft (after about twenty minutes) and stew is fragrant, remove from heat.

Serve as is, or covered in Parmesan cheese or over rice. This could even be tossed with angel hair pasta. It's very versatile. According to Mike, it also makes a great lunch the next day.

"Alice in Wonderland" Inspired Tea Cabinet

2011-05-14T06:45:00.000-07:00

I love tea and teacups and teapots, and Alice in Wonderland. My husband loves woodworking and making things for the house. Those two loves translated into something amazing. He made me a tea cabinet that hangs on the wall and holds twelve different kinds of tea in twelve individual drawers. Each drawer has a glass front slot that holds one tea bag so that you can see what tea is in each drawer. Then there is a shelf on the top for a teapot and saucers and four hooks on the bottom for the teacups.

Usually when he makes something for the house, it is left natural or lightly finished to show of the wood. This time though, he left it blank, as it were, for me to paint however I wanted. This terrified me.

I am not really an artist and I've never been really sure of myself with paint. The idea of painting this beautiful piece of furniture made me really nervous. After much thought and consultation with a very good friend, I just went for it. At worst, I figured, I could always paint over it again.

Being that it was for tea, I wanted an Alice-y theme to it but I didn't want it too theme-y. For instance, I didn't want it emblazoned with busts of every character from the Wonderland books. I wanted it to be subtly Alice. So I chose Harlequin black and white diamonds for the backs of both shelves; pink stripes for the sides reminiscent of the Cheshire Cat from the Disney version, and Alice blue for the shelves and front.

Below are the photos of the transformation:

My painting setup

Maximus is supervising.

A cup of tea for inspiration.

Marking the edges with painters tape, Callisto is supervising here.

Marking out the white tiles with tape.

Painting the black tiles.

Marking for the pink stripes.

Stripes finished.

And here is the finished product!

Homemade Chicken Nuggets with Dipping Sauces and Fried Plantains

2011-04-19T16:42:00.000-07:00

Recently, we went to an electronics/media/appliances superstore. While wandering aimlessly about in the appliances section (day dreaming about what great things I could make with all these new kitchen gadgets) I stumbled across a fairly expensive oven. I was so shocked when I looked at the 'control panel' part that I took a picture of it.

Notice the top middle button?

What kind of society are we living in that we have to have a button on our oven for frozen chicken nuggets? Seriously? When I showed Mike, he said I should do a blog post of homemade chicken nuggets and corresponding dipping sauces.

Shortly thereafter, while talking to a friend of mine, she told me that her eleven year old son wants to eat nothing but fast food chicken nuggets and fries. So I told her about Mike's idea for a chicken nuggets blog post and I told her I'd post it ASAP for her son. Maybe he'll appreciate the homemade more than the fast food. Not only is it better for you but you can play around with making your own personal dipping sauces too.

Instead of the traditional french fries that goes with chicken nuggets, I made fried plantains. Plantains are those dark green large bananas in the grocery store. I had these at a Cuban restaurant once and immediately came home and tried to make them myself; they were that good! Why not try them instead of fries? Maybe the kids will like them even better. And if not, well, more for you.

I did add a salad to this dinner, to counteract the fried foods.

Homemade Chicken Nuggets

1 package organic chicken breast tenderloins
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 sleeve of Ritz Crackers
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
olive oil

In a heavy saute pan, add enough oil to cover the bottom. Heat on medium low heat.

In a food processor, add Ritz crackers, onion and garlic powders and cayenne pepper. Pulse until crackers are small crumbs. Pour crumbs into a shallow dish or bowl.

In another bowl, add flour and in a third bowl, add the eggs.

Remove chicken tenderloins from package and cut them in half. Coat each chicken piece in flour first, then egg, then cracker crumbs. When each piece is completely coated with cracker crumbs, place piece carefully into saute pan with hot oil. Repeat with all chicken pieces.

Cook chicken until golden brown on each side and fully cooked through. This will vary depending on your stove, pan and thickness of the chicken.

Remove chicken to a plate covered with a paper towel and allow to drain off excess oil.

Serve with your choice of dipping sauces.

Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce

1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup orange flavored vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
2 large garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 tbsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp chili powder

In a saucepan, combine vinegars and sugar (if you don't have the orange vinegar, you can use 1/4 cup of white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar instead). Heat to boiling, then turn heat down and allow to simmer about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add garlic, red pepper flakes and chili powder. Stir well.

Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce

5 tbsp honey
3 tbsp Dijon mustard (I like Grey Poupon)
2 tbsp white wine vinegar

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Mix extremely well.

Spicy Ketchup

1/2 cup ketchup
1 or 2 tbsp of your favorite hot sauce

Combine both in a bowl and mix well.

Fried Plantains

2 plantains, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch rounds
olive oil
salt

First off, the way you peel a plantain is this: cut off each end. With a sharp knife, slice one side of the plantain just through the skin from top to bottom. Using your finger nails or the tip of a knife, pry apart the skin and peel off.

Add enough olive oil to a frying pan to coat the bottom. Heat on medium heat. When oil is hot, carefully add sliced plantains to pan. Cook 2 minutes on each side.

Cover a cutting board with paper towel. Remove plantains from oil and arrange on cutting board. Cover with paper towel. Using a mallet, flatten each plantain. Return flattened plantains to hot oil for 1 minute on each side.

Remove to a plate covered with paper towel to drain excess oil and sprinkle with salt.

Enjoy.