Cooking by the Seat of My Pants

What's the Plan?

2012-06-12T07:23:00.001-07:00

I really don't know. I don't know what to do next, how long to continue, or what I plan for when it's over. :/

I started this as a way to have a clean slate. A fresh start. A reboot. A renewal of the system.

Do I feel better? Yes. Do I have more energy? Yes. Do I still feel like I'm 90? No! Have I lost weight? Not really. Two lbs. I guess that's ok since today is only day 5. After all, I still haven't given up my coffee. I probably should but I don't want to. (tantrum-like face)

I'm leaving to go on vacation in 8 days. My family is worried I'll have tummy troubles on my trip if I don't stop beforehand. My hubby (God love him for his supportive nature) says we can buy a juicer when we get there and I can continue. But family dinners will be really hard. I come from a long line of serious eaters and much of our time together is food related. My mom has had the menu planned for two months. My brother (who you'll remember is hands-down the best cook I know) is making us ribs at his ranch and who knows what other delicious wonders he'll have. I'll be staying with one of my sisters (who you may also remember is the one who taught me how to cook and gave me a love of gourmet food.)

So here I sit, with my mornin' joe, trying to figure out where to go next. I'm five days in. I hear it gets easier. I know I feel better. But I am having ridiculous cravings for all things bad. Will I be able to resist those cravings when I'm not home, where just driving past the ihop makes me crave a giant stack of pancakes loaded with butter and syrup? (I don't even like pancakes, really.)

What do I want?

I want to feel better and continue to feel better. I want my headaches, joint pain, stress level, anxiety issues, skin issues, and digestive issues to go away. I want to drop 2 cup sizes. I'd like to drop 2 sizes in just about everything. I'd like to skid into my 50's feeling like I'm 25. (I've got 3 1/2 years for that but still, I know I'll wake up tomorrow and be 50.) I want to get back to running. hmmm...Maybe I should start that now. I just haven't been sure what kind of exercise I should be doing right now. I've been swimming every day, but probably not vigorously enough.

So how long do I continue? Should I plan to quit before I hit the road to avoid failure on the road. Or do I power through and see what happens? Is 40 days my goal? Or will I be ok with only 8?

Do I really have to quit spending my mornings with my frothy friend? Ugh...

3rd Juicy Day

2012-06-10T18:42:00.002-07:00

What a day it has been. Went to church this morning, where Pastor Kevin had bacon as a prop! Yes. BACON. My favorite food on the planet. Really? Not just a piece or two of bacon, but a skillet of still sizzling, hot bacon.

Torture.

But the Lord got me through it. That's the only way I can describe it. I have had a day of serious food cravings. I came home from my sister's house this afternoon and told my husband I want bacon, eggs, potatoes & tacos, please. Ugh.

I went in the house, begged my husband and son to fix themselves lunch, and took a nap. I woke up from my nap and yes, had a second cup of coffee. :\ Not a great choice. I had a 20oz glass of water first, but still probably shouldn't have had the coffee.

Sat down to watch a movie with my family, but had to get up and make a juice. This one was particularly lovely. Still, I need to figure out how to get some protein involved so I can stop craving it.

Anyway, here's my juice for today. I read some really good info on juicing today from another blogger telling me how to get great skin. Going to have to try that this evening. I'll be using frozen because that's what I have on hand. Setting out to defrost now.

Italian Flair

1 med tomato
1 stalk celery
1 stalk kale
1 clove garlic
1 small zucchini
5 carrots

Fruitilicious
Strawberries
Blueberries
papaya
mango
peach
(I used frozen mango & papaya. Remove the seed from the peach.)

Love the ones you feed!

Day Two and I'm a Little Pooped

2012-06-09T17:57:00.000-07:00

Well, I gotta say, yesterday I had this nutty sort of energy about me that didn't allow me to sit still for any amount of time. Today though, I'm a slug. I've had to do some reading from other bloggers who have fasted and apparently I'm feeling about the way I should on the second day - crappy. LOL

The process of fasting helps flush out all the nasty stuff you put into your body and in doing so, it can make you feel as though you have a flu or something of the sort. The good news (or so I read) is that in a few days, that will be replaced by unmitigated joy and feelings of good health. Those are the days for which I wait.

While I wait, I focus on the good. I've had bouts of hunger and real aggravation of not being able to just walk into the kitchen and eat something. In all, we eat pretty good around our house. But in trying not to eat anything, I realize how delicious a buttery cracker with peanut butter would be. Stop that. I know that even though I am hungry at times, I don't really know the depths of starvation. God has blessed me with an abundance of food. So much food that I had to commandeer the hall closet to hold "overstock". Much of the world would never know what that is like. Thank you, Lord, for the favor. Walk away from the pantries. Stop staring into the refrigerator. Stop and thank God for all He does for me and for all He will do with me during this fast.

So how long will this fast be? Got me. I don't really have a plan. I think I'm really happy I began documenting it because it gives me a layer of accountability. Maybe God's using my pride for something good here. You see, my pride would never let me tell others about something that I couldn't possibly stand by and do. Somehow not putting a number of days on it helps give me that little bit of an out, a way of showing myself some grace. But maybe there are other plans in the works. We'll see. I'm back to an hour by hour basis.

I did come up with a new recipe today that I have to share. Give it a try! Even if you're not fasting, it's a cool & refreshing drink on a hot summer afternoon. I had it this afternoon after being out in the sun for a couple hours. It really gave me a boost to get some things done before I collapsed for a couple hours of rest. Which reminds me, God reminded me through another blog post one of my favorite scriptures. “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” (Matthew 11:28) Go easy on yourself. You do nothing alone if you let the Lord into your life. :)

Summertime Pick Me Up
1. 1/2 a cantaloupe, (I scooped the seeds and peeled)
2. 1/2 a cucumber
3. 3 strawberries
4. a couple sprigs of mint

My cantaloupe had been in the refrigerator so it was nice and cold. You could probably add ice to it if you like, but I didn't give it time. It only made about 10 oz of juice and I drank it in about 10 seconds flat. DELICIOUS.

Think FAST! Juice Fast!

2012-06-09T10:40:00.002-07:00

Well, I've gone and done it! For some time I've talked about doing a juice fast. WHAT? I know, I know, but it's something I've been feeling the need to do. My background includes a once militant way of eating. I was vegan for a while, vegetarian for a long time, no processed foods, no sugar, no caffeine, and no salt. Then I got pregnant and the baby growing in my belly demanded bacon at all costs and things pretty much went downhill from there. I've been a full on meat-eater for 10 years now.

But as I've gotten older, my health has been on a steady decline and I've added 50lbs to my 5'3" frame. Not good. My joints ache all the time, my skin is a mess, digestion is not pleasant, and my migraines are a nightmare.

Time for a detox. The time is NOW.

A few months ago we watched Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead. Now, you gotta understand, this was not news to me. I spent years in the natural foods world. My favorite job ever was at Rollin' Oats Market, in St. Petersburg, FL. I was completely intolerant of people who would come in sickly and ask for health tips only to leave the store and go back to their normal lives & crappy food choices. I never could understand how one could have the knowledge of the right thing to do, yet knowingly choose the other path.

Then it happened. I became one of them! So now I'm trying to right myself a little bit. I don't imagine going back to the extreme because (also as I've gotten older) I'm not much into extremes in any direction. I'm pretty happy hovering around the center mark seeing the good and bad in both sides of all aspects of life.

With that in mind, I decided 2 nights ago that Friday morning was going to be the beginning of my change in myself. I'd like to drag my family along, but I'm not going to force them. They'll come along for the ride when it's their time. For now, it's about making my quality of life better so I can make their quality of life better.

Friday morning, I woke up and made my usual latte', after all, I'm not going to extremes. I realize a real fast wouldn't include coffee - unless it was in the form of an enema - but coffee is my vice and I'm just not ready to give it up. I don't usually eat breakfast until late in the morning anyway, so I didn't wake up hungry which I found to be a huge blessing. I always start my day with water while I make my coffee. Friday was no different. Along about 10, I decided to have my first juice.

OK. Time to talk about juicers. In my former, more militant life, my juicer cost a fortune and was available for making juices, hummus and peanut butter. But when I left Florida all those years ago, I just didn't want to take that beast with me. It was just another heavy thing to pack and we already had a truckload of heavy. So now it was time to buy a new one. Would I like the Vitamix or the Jack LaLane juicers? Yes, of course! But I was just getting started on this again and if you're not ready to commit, please don't spend that kind of money. You can get a cheap version of a centrifugal juicer that will do the job for about $50. Do that. Or check Craigslist for an even cheaper one. Make sure that it does veggies though. A citrus juicer won't do the job.

I made myself a juice and was totally satisfied on the hunger front. Along about 11:00 though, I was hungry so I broke down and had a peach. Not juiced. Just a peach. I wanted something and figured even though it didn't fit into the "juice" category, it was at least a healthful snack and was a raw food, so it couldn't be all that bad.

I happened to have a houseful of my favorite children that day (I only have 1, so 5 was an enormous number of kids for me but I love them all very much.) When lunch time rolled around I made them all their sandwiches to order, but didn't really have much on hand for juice and I was starving at this point. I ended up cheating again and having a smoothie. I thought a little protein boost would get me through the afternoon. (This is why planning ahead for these things is a good idea.)

Later in the afternoon while the kids were having cheese & crackers for a snack, I broke down again and had 5 green beans (leftover, steamed & with garlic). Again, not a juice and this time not raw, but still thought it was a good idea. Turns out - not so much. Those little beans turned me into a mess! All I could think about was food and I still had hours before my next juice. (Remember, I still needed to go to the store for more veggies.)

I waited. It wasn't until 6:45 that I got to the store, bought a pile of veggies and headed home to juice them. I was so hungry, I didn't even take the time to wash them. PLEASE WASH THEM. I read somewhere to fill your sink with water and add a little hydrogen peroxide to it to clean them of sprays and germs. I'm going to try that today. You can also buy veggie wash at the store, but I'm cheap, so I'll try the peroxide first. But please do something. There's a new strain of e.coli going around and they haven't found the source yet. Please make sure your food is clean.

I had my juice and felt great. But I also happened to have steak on the grill for my hubby. I didn't cook anything to go with it, but I had a new pile of veggies so I diced up an avocado & a tomato, sprinkled with salt and fresh cracked black pepper, drizzled on some lime juice and stirred it up. I put that on the plate with his steak as a side dish. It actually looked lovely. That was the breaking point for me. I ate the avocado/tomato mix. So. Yummy.

So it wasn't a TOTAL juice day. Grace is the word I try to live by. As bummed as I am that I broke down and "ate" a few things, I give myself grace for it. (Thanks, Carrie.) Also, I don't have a number of days set. I'm taking it a day at a time. Sometimes, an hour at a time. Allow yourself that and focus on what you DO accomplish, NOT what you don't.

Today is day 2. I'll keep you posted. Here are some of my concoctions so far. Each mixture has yielded about 16 oz of juice.

* I don't peel anything & buy organic when possible. *

My Favorite:
1. 3-4 carrots
2. thumb sized hunk of ginger (VERY spicy - you may want to start much smaller)
3. 1/2 a beet (I keep reading that you should peel them because the skin is bitter, but I've never peeled them and I love them.)
4. handful of curly parsley
5. 2" or so piece of parsnip (looks like a white carrot, if you've never had them)
6. 1 small apple (granny smith or gala, unless my favorite "pink lady" are available)
7. 2 stalks celery (including leaves)

My Version of V8:
1. 2 tomatoes
2. 1 zucchini
3. 1 bunch parsley
4. 1/2 cucumber (probably should have peeled, but I was too hungry to worry about it.)
5. 1/2 beet
6. celery heart & leaves
7. red bell pepper
8. 2" parsnip

Cheater's Smoothie:
1. 8 oz of almond milk (plain)
2. 2 cups frozen strawberries
3. 1 Tbsp. raw peanut butter

Blend in a blender for about 2 minutes.

*** Be sure to remember that beets are bright red. When you are suddenly frightened by severe rectal bleeding, that you are not bleeding. It's the beets. The same pigment in the beet that makes your juice a lovely ruby red makes everything ruby red. :) ***

Let me know how you do yours, if you do it. And please, go easy on yourself.

Peace and well wishes!

Love the YOU you feed! <3

Cereal Madness

2012-05-16T16:43:00.000-07:00

Happy Summer, Friends!!! Since our temps are already climbing above 100 and the wind is blowing ferociously, my migraines are really taking a toll on me. (Not to complain, just sayin', and you'll see why in the next sentence.) Over the years I've toyed with going gluten free but haven't really been ready to take that plunge before now. Having said that, please understand that I'm only trying it for a week right now and then maybe another, and so on. I didn't really realize how many ways gluten can negatively affect the body. Once I found out there may be a link to gluten & migraines, I started thinking about how much less important gluten is to me verses the chance to live without migraines.

So I begin at the beginning, and most important meal of the day - breakfast! I am a breakfast fiend, let me tell you, and starting the day with a hot hunk of bread or bagel or toast or french toast, or waffles, or any other number of gluten-laden delights, is my favorite way to begin. But, I'm learning to change that by making the things I begin my day with a little easier on the body. Enter, cereal.

Starting the day gluten free has meant for me a beautiful bowl of cereal rather than my standard egg sandwich. This time of the year brings an abundance of berries to throw into a bowl of my favorite Chex cereal. Add to it some golden raisins and the day starts colorfully and so delicious! But don't stop with just berries. Remember to also add peaches or mangoes to your bowl. Plus, now that I actually have a backyard, every day starts outside. It won't be long though that it will be 104 at 6 in the morning and I'll stop this ritual, but for now it's me, the dogs, the birds, my java and my bowl of beauty. No guilt. No bloat. No cranky joints. All goodness.

Start your day right and feed the ones you love something beautiful!

Tilapia Topped Polenta

2012-04-02T08:47:00.000-07:00

I love Tilapia. It's so mild you can fit it to nearly every type of dish. You can spice it up and make wonderful fish tacos with it, or bake it and serve it alongside something bright green like broccoli. Even my 11 year old, who hates fish, will eat tilapia. There's very little oil, unlike catfish (my favorite.)

Polenta is the same way. I've made it homemade before and it's yummilicious, but sometimes a pre-bought roll is just what I need to add a little flair to my table. My sister makes these little individual tostadas from polenta. I was going to make them one day, but of course didn't have the same ingredients so mine was something altogether different. Here's what I ended up with:

It's very simple because it was mostly pre-made ingredients (aka, canned stuff & pre-seasoned tilapia.) I had a roll of sun-dried tomato polenta, which I sliced up into 1/4" sliced and saute'd in a large skillet with a little drizzle of olive oil & a sprinkling of kosher salt. Cook them until they are a lovely, golden color.

While the polenta is cooking, fire up a small pot with some olive oil, onions & garlic. Slice up 2-3 roma tomatoes and toss them in too. This will be the beginning of some super easy, super yummy beans.

Once you get these cookin' put a large skillet on the stove and drizzle lightly with a little olive oil. Put your tilapia in and cook on med/high heat. (Yeah, I'm still getting used to electric stoves.) I buy these tortilla crusted tilapia when they're on sale, so that's what I used this day. Most of the time, I just use normal tilapia and cook it with a little lime & cilantro. Cook the tilapia until it's a crisp brown on both sides.

While the tilapia is browning, go ahead and add a can of beans to your small pot. I had kidney beans on hand, though I would have preferred black beans. I also added about a 1/4 cup of frozen corn for a little more texture.

While those things were going on, I went back and checked my polenta. At this point, it was the color I was hoping for, so I plated them and set them aside. I did a quick chop of some cilantro and sprinkled them with it to give them a little extra flavor. I have to admit, I had one just like that and it was a delightful treat!

Since I was chopping cilantro anyway, I just added a handful of it to my beans. At this point, I also added a little kosher salt & some crushed red pepper.

That's pretty much it. I plated 3 polenta slices, topped with a serving of beans and crumbled part of the tilapia on that. It was so yummy and it only took about 30 minutes to make, wasn't too bad on the fat/calorie scale and made a beautiful presentation. You can wow your friends and family with a little help from canned or frozen things here and there. Fresh is always my favorite, but let's face it - I live in the desert. There's no such thing as fresh fish here. (Unless my buddy Dave brings me fresh caught trout. But that's another tale.) If it comes down to using canned/frozen vs. fast food - well, you know my answer! Fast food at home is my answer. Even from a can, your food from your kitchen is better than any joint on the street.

Feed the ones you love!

My Husband Won't Eat Brains

2012-03-28T09:24:00.001-07:00

First of all, thank you so much for all your requests that I get back to blogging! I really appreciate the encouragement a ton! Things have been crazy busy for us for the last few months so I haven't actually had time to write. This would mostly be because I talk too much, which brings me to my second point. In the interest of just getting back to writing, I'll try to keep things brief and to the point. I tend to not write because I don't have time for my normal ramblings, which got me thinking, your lives are probably also busy and don't have time to read my ramblings. After all, The Hunger Games is out and if you want it read before you hit the theaters, you don't have time for my wandering words. Also, sometimes I don't write because I didn't take pictures. :/ Well, sometimes I whipped up something on accident and I don't have pics, but I'd still love to share. So from now on, I'll share anyway. So if you see random pics of my dogs rather than my food, it's simply a ploy to keep you entertained. :)

Now - on with the brains. They are NOT brains! Fish don't fry in the kitchen, Beans don't burn on the grill, took a whole lotta tryin' just to convince my husband cauliflower ain't brain matter! (Wait for it...there. You're welcome. You'll be hummin' the Jefferson's theme song all week.)

Cauliflower gets a bad wrap. People love it or hate it and I find very few who truly love this underestimated flower. Low in fat, high in fiber, folate, water & vitamin C. Also high in phyto-nutrients, which means it can help reduce risk of cancer. "Yeah, all that and no flavor," say most people. Rather than thinking it has no flavor, think of it as extremely versatile! It can go into any soup or kick up the vitamin power of your mashed potatoes. Spice it up with crazy curried sauces, stir fry it or roast it. But please, I beg of you, don't steam it to death and pour some gooey "cheese food" over it. You know the one - it's in a certain yellow/orange box and sits in the middle aisles of the grocery store. If it's in a box, has a 12 year shelf-life and never need be refrigerated, it's not cheese. It's a heart attack waiting to happen. Just thinking of it perks up the plaque in my arteries!

I rarely buy cauliflower because there's such a revolt in my house when I do. But last week I bought some for myself with no intention of sharing. Last night though, I baked some tilapia with a little salt/pepper & lime, cooked up some arroze y gandules, and yes ladies and gentlemen - cauliflower.

It came upon me suddenly after I put the fish in the oven and glanced at the nearly empty bottle of Riesling on my counter. I had a little treat for myself in the fridge and tonight was the night. So, I pulled it out, cleaned it, broke up the fleurettes, dropped them in a bowl, poured about a 1/2 cup of wine over them, drizzled some olive oil, sprinkled with kosher salt & fresh ground pepper, crushed two cloves of garlic & mixed it all up with my hands. I then removed my pan of fish from the oven, dumped the cauliflower all around it randomly, cranked up the heat to 400 and put it back in the oven for 30 minutes.

YUMMMMMMMMM!!!! My darling hubster even asked for some because it smelled so good. When I took it out of the oven, it had a lovely gold-kissed color to it, it was slightly tender and oh so delicious.

So next time you think you can't eat cauliflower because it looks like brains - keep in mind that brains don't grow in the ground.

Feed the ones you love!

Thanks for reading!

xoxoxox
I LOVE YOU!

Yep, I'm Out

2011-12-03T20:04:00.000-08:00

Going to have to get some groceries before there's any other food coming out of my kitchen. I can't believe I actually have to admit defeat. But it won't last long because my husband's parents are coming to town, so the food will be fabulous! Bring on the islands!!! I can't wait!

I've been sewing, sewing, sewing for 2 months to get ready for a boutique that finally happened today. Think I'll take a few days off from the Necchi and take care of the things I've neglected recently - mainly grocery shopping and cleaning.

I just wanted to check in and say thanks for hanging around even though posts have been sparse. I promise you there's tasty stuff to come. I'll be back in a day or so. I may actually even make a baking attempt or two. Brace yourselves! You can't imagine the mind control it takes for me to pay attention & follow directions. :) It will be fun to be back in the kitchen. Until then...

Peace, love, & ukuleles!

Necessity = The Mother of Invention

2011-11-30T07:48:00.000-08:00

Who said it? It appears there's quite a few people who've been acclaimed with it, but whether it was Plato, William Horman, Roger Ascham, George Chapman, Richard Franck, or Frank Zappa, the old adage is true. Necessity is the mother of invention. It makes us be creative when we need a solution to a seemingly impossible task. For instance, in the kitchen. My kitchen, to be exact.

We (my husband & I) are minimalists at heart. Partly because we're old hippies, partly because we've just never been flush with cash. We pay cash for everything, which is awesome except that the closer we get to payday, the more creative I have to be in the kitchen.

It all began 2 days ago when I took some mystery meat out of the freezer. First let me tell you, I am crazy fanatic about the way meat should be wrapped before being frozen. I learned long ago not to just bring meat home from the market and toss it in the freezer as is. You may as well just throw it in the trash. Wrap your meat well and label it and you will virtually never find meat in your freezer with icicles clinging to it like an alien life form. If you need help Alton Brown is the man. He taught me all I know about meat wrapping in an episode of Good Eats from years ago. (So sad his show is over.) Anyway, yesterday I found an unlabeled package of meat in my freezer. THE HORROR!!! There were no alien life forms clinging to it, but it was wrapped so well, I couldn't tell at all what it was. No worries. I trust the process.

Hmmm...well, perhaps the process is only to be trusted as far as the wrapper is willing to label and date it. My son was in the kitchen late in the afternoon and said, "Ewww!!! Are we having alien brains for dinner?" Sure enough, there it was. A totally defrosted bundle of what was once ground beef. My mystery meat surprise dinner was going to be a meatless dinner after all.

Now what? I mean I had no meat in the freezer & not a single fresh vegetable in the house. Necessity. OK. Game on! A quick look in the fridge looked grim. The pantry - full of all the basics. The freezer? Ice cream & some frozen veggies that my husband, self-proclaimed Couponeer, had picked up for .29 a few weeks ago. Back to the fridge. BACON!!! My all-time favorite food. Now we're getting somewhere. There's also feta & eggs. Nope. I don't want eggs for dinner tonight. Grab the feta just in case.

Uh-oh. Only 4 pcs of bacon left. Well, cook it anyway and see what comes to mind. (Besides the thought, "Four pieces of bacon. Three of us.") I go back to the freezer. OK. Frozen veggies it is. The Green Giant mix is of sugar snap peas, red peppers & potatoes. I threw them in the microwave. I know. Gross. Still, N = MOI.

Bacon is done. Chop into really small bits, throw on top of veggies, sprinkle with feta & some of my roasted tomatoes from the weekend. YUM after all. :)

Sorry. No pics.

Last night though, left me staring for a much longer period of time into the fridge. Pacing between the fridge, freezer & pantry. Again - plenty of beans, rice, pasta, canned tomatoes, spices, & oils. Pace, pace, stare, pace, gather. (It's the 21st century and we're still gatherers.) Here's what I came up with...

I knew that beef broth would come in handy again! Looking like Black Bean Soup to me. Here we go!

Give your soup pot a couple laps of olive oil. Smash your garlic (I had 3 cloves) and drop it in the pot on a low heat. Add to that kosher salt, crushed red pepper, cumin, dehydrated onion & a bay leaf. While that was starting to smell good, I ran a knife around the frozen blocks of beef broth and put them in the pot as blocks of ice. They melted and everything started to smell fantastic. I adjusted my flavorings here & added more cumin.

When it started simmering, I added a cup of frozen corn & a cup of rice, both cans of black beans and just the single can of fire roasted tomatoes. Two cans would have been too much tomato. Put the lid on it and let it simmer for 30 minutes.

As the soup simmers, turn on your oven to 350 and grab those tortillas. I had some sour cream in the fridge, so I figured we could top it with tortilla strips & sour cream. I took 5 tortillas, stacked them & sliced them into strips. Put them in a bowl, ready to season how you like.

I drizzled with some olive oil and sprinkled in some kosher salt & chili powder. Stir it up nice to be sure all are a little bit coated with flavor. They really don't need a whole lot. Corn tortillas are fabulous as they are. Then spread them out on a baking pan. Taste one to check flavor. I added a little more salt. Now they're ready for the oven.

Put them in your preheated oven and put the timer on for 15 minutes. They'll probably need more time, but better to have add time than wish you had looked at them sooner & everybody's oven will act a little different, plus mine is on a stoneware pan, so they take a little longer. I ended up leaving them in 20 minutes. When they're done, put them on a cooling rack to crisp.

Once they've cooled to a crispy deliciousness, ladle up a bowl of your soup, sprinkle with some tortilla strips, add a dollop of sour cream, and VOILA! Something delicious out of virtually nothing!

It was really, really tasty! Get creative! You'll be surprise what can come out of your kitchen when you think there's nothing there. For me, Necessity is the Mother of Deliciousness!

Love the ones you feed!

What to do with Hoisin Sauce?

2011-11-28T07:45:00.000-08:00

I get tired of eating the same things all the time. That's why I keep a myriad of things in my pantry at all times. Back in September for my husband's birthday I had planned to make a peanut sauce for the chicken. As things sometimes go, I ran out of time and didn't get the sauce made. The guests didn't know they were missing it, so it was ok. But since then, I've had 2 jars of Hoisin sauce in my pantry that I wasn't quite sure what to do with. (Because I've long since lost the recipe or, more likely, threw it out in a fit of last minute clean up before the party.) Here's my attempt.

I gathered some items I assumed would be in the mix and then started putting some things together. I have no idea how much of anything, of course. I tend to measure by piles of stuff unless I'm baking - but that's a whole other story.

Preheat your oven to 425. This is going to be a hot one to start.

First, I put coriander seeds, cumin seeds, onion flakes, peppercorns & kosher salt in my mortar & pestle and crushed everything to season my chicken. I had 8 chicken drumsticks in the freezer, so that's what I'm using here. I personally love dark meat. I know it's not the best for me, but it's my favorite. I also leave the skin on, because I love what high heat does to it. Drizzle on some toasted sesame oil, then sprinkle with crushed red pepper and the ingredients in your mortar. You want to be sure you have enough seasoning to make a nice crust on the chicken.

This is only crushed red. Not sure why I don't have a picture of all spices.

After getting the seasonings on your chicken, put it in the oven for about 25 minutes to brown nicely. We'll work on the sauce concoction what that's doing it's thing.

Honestly, I could have taken the time to look up a recipe for the peanut sauce. If I had though, I probably would have gotten caught up in Facebook or Etsy and my family would still be wondering what's for dinner. So I wing it.

I emptied the Hoisin sauce into a bowl, added a Tbsp of rice vinegar **side note - if you keep lots of kinds of vinegar on hand, you can make almost anything with them. Some are kinda pricey so buy a new one here and there even if you haven't a clue what to do with it.** Then I glopped in a large glob of peanut butter. They looked so pretty together.

Anyway, I added some ginger powder because the last little chunk of my ginger root had gone moldy. :( I always prefer fresh ginger. It's spicy and wonderful. I use it in my veggie juice. mmm...carrot, beet, ginger, apple - my favorite combo for juice. I digress. Whisk it up until it's nice and creamy. Give it a little taste test. I added more vinegar at this point because it didn't quite have the zip I was looking for. Adjust it to your liking. Keep in mind it's going to bake and the flavors will melt into each other.

When the timer goes off on your chicken, pull it out and turn the oven down to 350. See how pretty that is? You can't even imagine how wonderful it smells right now! Now, sauce it up good, tent it with foil and put it back in the oven for another 30 minutes.

I planned to make rice & veggies to go with it, so let's get on those. First, the rice. I know people have a fear of rice, like it's some magical, mystical thing that they can't cook. I don't understand that. Don't waste money on a rice cooker. Just do a few simple things and leave it alone. It will be wonderful.

The one thing I highly recommend is that you toast it before adding broth to it. Most often, I add butter to the rice when I put it in the pan. This time though, I added sesame oil. I put the rice in the pan. I don't measure it. I just put the end of the bag in the pan. Lap some sesame oil around it and turn the heat on med-high. DO NOT LEAVE IT. Stay with it to avoid burning it and being really bummed out.

In my mind rice is shaken, never stirred. Give it several good shakes and practice your tossing skills. This will ensure the rice is evenly coated with the oil so toasting will be a cinch. This also helps keep it from sitting too long in one spot with the potential to burn. Plus, it's fun!

You'll know when it's done. It starts to smell nutty and begins to turn a lovely golden color.

Once you've done that, add chicken broth to it. Now, my family likes our rice al dente. We don't like the mushiness of the 2 to 1 ratio that most recipes call for. (2 cups water to 1 cup rice) First of all - don't use water! It has no flavor and adds nothing to the flavor. Use chicken broth. I pour enough broth over the rice to cover it by about a half inch above the rice line. Put the lid on it, put it on a med flame and let simmer for about 15 minutes. Please don't use instant rice. Rice is so fast, there's no need for instant. In this case especially, I don't care if it's done before the chicken because I will be tossing it into a skillet before we're done anyway.

On with the veggies. Have a large skillet on hand. I'm using a 12" because I make a mountain of food so we have leftovers for lunch the next day. Drizzle a little bit more of the sesame oil in the pan, but not too much. You've already got it on the chicken and in the rice. You don't want the sesame to overpower the rest of the flavors. Smash a couple cloves of garlic and toss them in the pan. Be sure you've really flattened them good and pulled their skins off. You want the oils to be really worked up in the garlic. Here's another time that fresh ginger would have been awesome. The oils/juice of ginger is a fabulous addition to this combo. But alas I don't have it and I don't want the dryness of powdered ginger to play into the veggies.

I'm using sugar snap peas and little sweet peppers. Be sure to pinch off the ends of your peas and pull the stringy parts off. You don't have to, but they're so much better if you do. I just tossed them into the skillet just as they are, but sliced the peppers into little strips.

I waited until the last minute to turn them on. You want the veg to be somewhat crisp to add texture to the chicken & rice. Now that I have a few minutes to wait...

Then I see the nemesis of the kitchen...

The never ending pile of fabric vying for my attention. And sitting there beckoning me is my prince of the sewing table. FROG.

He serves a few purposes for me when I sew. First, he holds up my sewing machine when I'm changing bobbin thread or dusting under the needle or any other such tasks. Second, he makes me smile when I'm really frustrated. Third, it reminds me FullyRelyOnGod. FROG. He's a prince alright.

OK. I've added turned on the skillet, saute'd my veggies, added the rice & a little dose of fire...

It looks beautiful and smells out of this world. Then I did a bad thing. (Wha wha whaaaa) I put a lid on it and let it sit for the last 10 minutes of World News Tonight. I know, but I love Brian Williams!

It was still delicious, but my peas went from emerald green to a paler, sadder color. So don't let yours sit! Toss the rice in the skillet with the veggies, mix it up, spoon into a bowl, top with chicken and serve immediately!

Keep the hot sauce on hand for an extra kick! Enjoy your dinner! Enjoy your loved ones! And thanks for reading!

Love to all...

Sew, a Few Weeks Ago...

2011-11-25T00:02:00.000-08:00

I started something that exploded into something else. Hmm...actually I started several things at once thinking, of course, that I was wonder woman and could handle everything smoothly. I mean, The Pioneer Woman does it. She was an inspiration for me and I was SURE I could do it too!
:-\

So here I sit in the middle of the night thinking, how? How does she do it?

I feel like the Grinch, standing atop the mountain looking down at Whoville and scratching his chin trying to figure out how in the world it's possible? Who knew that starting homeschooling, starting a food blog, starting a new hobby (my beloved ukulele), teaching myself to sew and deciding to start a business (Sew Pretty Sisters), aside from trying to maintain a house, a husband, a son, dogs & life would snowball into this giant load of cargo on a sled teetering atop the mountain while I stand scratching my now hairy chin and wondering, HOW? Yes, I said hairy chin! I'm beyond 40 for heaven's sake! Hairs don't just turn gray, they turn up in places they never should exist! Oh yeah, and did I mention I decided to try to write a novel this month? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!! I thought it would be a good way to improve my blogging skills. nanowrimo.org No biggie. Fifty-thousand words in 30 days, roughly 1700 words per day. I easily speak that many words in a day, surely I can put them on paper. Humf...I'm at right around 4000. "I still have 4 days left," the crazy in me remembers.

Yeah. Snowball turns to avalanche.

So what have we been eating? Have we been eating? Have I been cooking? What have I cooked? I've gained weight, so there's a pretty good indication there's been a LOT of bread in my diet.
:-/
Sandwiches. Lots of sandwiches.

Take last night for example. I didn't bother with sandwiches last night. This time, we just ate an entire loaf of bread with stuff on it. OK, so it was crusty bread (which I bought) and it was slathered in cheeses, but YUM-MY was it good.

Yep. Jarred pizza sauce, mozzarella & feta on some of them. Goat cheese & cranberries on some of them, sliced tomato on some of them and all of them painted with olive oil.

Today I cooked for Thanksgiving dinner at my sister's house. I haven't ever done that. Usually she does all the cooking because her family is very traditional about holiday dinners. I was scared to death I would screw it up because of my whole inability to follow rules or directions of any kind. You know, the whole "fly by the seat of my pants" mentality that I am renowned for.

Sweet potatoes. Green beans. I can do this. And I did. Did I take pictures? No.
:-\

Seriously. How? How does she do it? (The Pioneer Woman, I mean.)

Potatoes were simple & honestly, I loved them. I've never loved that gooey, marshmallowy, syrupy stuff before, but today I actually loved it. What was it? No biggie. Quartered about 8 large yams, put 'em in a baking dish (two dishes, actually), slathered them with olive oil, sprinkled with salt and put 'em in the oven for a couple hours on 200. (Because I was also roasting tomatoes for myself and had to keep things on a low temp.)

Then I pulled them out of the oven, let them cool to handling temperature, peeled the skins off, chopped them into bite size pieces & tossed them into one of the baking pans. Wait! Back up. While they were cooling, I fried 5 pcs of bacon & while the bacon was cooking, I mixed 1/2 cup of butter, 1/4 cup of brown sugar, a Tbsp of molasses, and a 1/4 cup of pure maple syrup in a small pan and cooked it on low until the sugar was completely melted. I poured that over the top, chopped the bacon into small bits and dumped it into the dish. I mixed it all with my hands. Yes, my hands. It's one of the things I love about Jamie Oliver. Lots of mixing can be done with your hands. Just be sure they're clean before you begin.

Anyway, toss that into the oven at 350 for 30 minutes. Pull it out, top with large marshmallows and put them back in for another 10 minutes or until nice and melty. Done.

Green beans were sauted in bacon grease, butter, salt, white pepper, garlic & onion. Done. Delicious. All of it. Not remotely heart healthy - any of it. But delicious still.

So, what will I do for food for the rest of the week? Got me. I know I have chicken thawing out for tomorrow. I wonder what that's going to end up being? I wonder if I'll take pictures? Tomorrow's another day. Actually, I guess it's officially today since it's 1:30 in the morning.

One thing I love about the Grinch. He has a plan, or so he thinks. But before he can blink an eye, he finds himself joyfully flying down a mountain with a pile of stuff behind him that he can't wait to share and his faithful dog (though mistreated he'd been) stands on the top of the pile wagging his tail and smiling. Ya gotta love Max. In the end, we love the Grinch too. Plan or no plan, flying by the seat of his pants, he figures it all out.

Maybe someday I will too.

Joyous holidays, everyone! Feed the ones you love. Even if they're just getting sandwiches, they know you love them because you took the time to do it.

Thanks for reading! Oh! And Oliver's Olive Oils has FREE SHIPPING this weekend, Nov 25-28th!!! Order something from them. The free shipping is worth a bundle in savings and their oils & vinegars are the best I've ever tried. If you're in the market for what to get me for Christmas. ;-)

Peace!

Rock on Game Hens!

2011-11-14T23:53:00.000-08:00

There's something very much fun about having these little chickies on your plate, plus they are always juicy and delicious. I've gone searching for info on these little guys. It turns out, they are not necessarily hens (they are also males) and they are not really "game" but are really a domesticated chicken. They are, however, chickies. They are fast growing chickens that reach about 2.5lbs by the time they are 5 weeks old. Back in the day of a more militant me, I would have had a tortured soul over the fact that people would actually eat baby chickens! (No. I didn't eat eggs at the time either.) And now? BRING IT!

They are mostly white meat, which makes them highly desirable. While most people think it's a chicken dinner for one, it yields about a pound of meat which is more than I would suggest eating in a sitting - although I easily could! Besides, it's so much fun to have your very own little chicken on your plate!

Today, I planned dinner ahead of time. I know. Not my normal MO. Who knows, maybe I'm changing? Actually, it's only because yesterday when I pulled them out of the refrigerator, I found they were still frozen. At that exact moment, the phone rang. It happened to be my dear friend calling to invite us to join her family for dinner last minute. PERFECT! (Whew! That was close, because we're out of bread for pb & j. I think we may be out of the "j" part of that equation as well.)

These are easy little boogers to cook, though they will take a little time, so plan accordingly. They cooked for about 2 hours. I set them up and got them ready for the oven earlier today before I left the house so when I came home, they were ready to go into the oven.

Let's get them ready, shall we? Figure 2 pats of butter per little chickie. put some salt/pepper/garlic powder in a bowl and drop the pats of butter into it. Gently tap it into the mix so that the seasoning sticks to all sides of the butter. (Here's the gross part) With your fingers, seperate the skin from the bird and stuff the pats of butter under it. Put one on each side. Juice a lemon over the top of them & sprinkle some more salt/pepper/garlic over the skins. (You did wash your hands, right?) They're ready to go in the oven. If you're ready, great. If not, put a lid on 'em and stick 'em in the fridge. That's what I did.

(This picture makes me think of Ricky Lee Jones, Danny's All Star Joint. "She don't know your name, but she knows what you got, from your matzo balls to your chicken in the pot, chicken in the pot, chicken in the pot, chicken in the pot...Dowwwwwnstairs at Danny's All Star Joint, they got a juke box that goes doit, doit..." Sorry. Off track again.)

I also decided to make a (small) quick pot of pasta sauce to have with them tonight and put it in the slow cooker on "warm" for 8 hours. You ready? Don't go for that jar of sauce! It's really simple, so here we go!

1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
1 8 oz can tomato paste
tsp each dried basil & thyme
4 cloves garlic, smashed
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup red wine
1/2 cup chicken broth (Remember you made some? Check your freezer)
crushed red pepper to taste
salt/pepper to taste (What kind? That's right, kosher salt and fresh ground pepper)

Lap around the pan a couple times with olive oil, sprinkle in the herbs, salt/pepper, crushed pepper & bay leaf. Go ahead and plop them garlic cloves in there too. Simmer really low until it smells fabulous. Add your tomatoes, tomato paste, chicken broth & red wine. Stir it really good and pour it into the slow cooker. Turn the temp on warm and set for 8 hours.

Now. Go have your day. You've got things to get done, work to do. Go do it. Just come back about an hour and a half before you want to eat and stick them babies in the oven.

Oh! You're back! OK. Take the hens out of the fridge and set them atop your stove while you turn your oven on to preheat at a whoppin' 425 degrees. When the oven reaches the correct temp, put the roaster in the oven, uncovered.

Bake them for 30 minutes to get a nice crispy brown to the skin. (Set your timer! I know you have ADD too. You think you've got plenty of time to go do something else since all your work in the kitchen is done for a while.)

When the timer goes off, put a lid on them and turn the temp down to a more reasonable 350. Reset your timer for an hour and a half. Go do something else. Just before they're done, boil some chicken broth & water (that's right) for your pasta. We had rotinis.

When the pasta is done to your liking, you can either spoon the sauce on it or dump it in the pan with the sauce. I went for the "fewer dishes" route and dumped it into the sauce. It looks prettier if you do it separately, but I was in a less work mode and did it the other way.

All done! It looks like you worked really hard, but you didn't. Isn't that awesome?

Enjoy your baby chickens!

Love the ones you feed!!!

Cherry Chops?

2011-11-10T21:31:00.000-08:00

So I was looking for something different for dinner. I get tired of the same stuff all the time. Sometimes I just stand and stare into my pantry trying to figure out what in the world is in here and what can I do with it?

I spot the dried cherries. Oh my goodness, they are so tangy, tart, and tasty! Hmmm...I've got pork chops planned. I know pork eaters like applesauce (or just apples) with their pork chops, but I've never really gotten it. So I wonder, what about cherries?

I also have these lovely acorn squash. My son is going to hate dinner tonight. Sorry buddy, but tonight I'm feeling adventurous. Oh and I hope you're not too hungry because sometimes my adventures take a while. Better plan for an hour tonight. Here's what you'll need:

4 thick cut chops
salt/pepper/garlic
coriander seeds
1 cup dried cherries
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp honey
1 cup cabernet
2 cups chicken broth
onion
mushrooms
acorn squash
butter
cinnamon

First things first. Let's get some seasoning on those chops so they can sit for a bit coated in deliciousness. Sprinkle kosher salt on both sides of the chops. In your mortar, put the peppercorn, coriander seeds, about a Tbsp of olive oil, and 3-4 cloves of garlic. Smash them with love with the pestle until the garlic is all broken down and your peppercorns/coriander seeds will burst open with flavor.

Massage each of your pork chops with the rub, making sure each one is packed with flavor. Set aside on a plate while you get your squashes ready for the oven.

Preheat your oven to 350 and give your squash a quick wash. Here's my take on cleaning squashes - no, you're probably not going to eat the skin. BUT you are going to slice through them and any bacteria on the outside will be forced inside. Call me paranoid, but that's the way I feel about all veggies, whether I'll eat the skin or not.

And which knife are you going to use? That's right - the biggest one you have on hand. For me, it's my 12" chef's blade. (Hi, I'm Heidi and I'm a Knife-aholic.) Use the right knife for the job. This job calls for a big one.

Once you get the blade through the flesh of the squash, get your fingers out of the way!

Put them in an oven-safe dish and add about 1 cup of water to the bottom of the dish to help with the baking process. Sprinkle them with cinnamon, pat with butter, put a small amount of chicken broth in each one (maybe a couple Tbsps) and put them in the oven for 45-50 mins.

So you'll notice in the first photo, I only have 2 medium portabellas on hand. That's kind of a bummer, because I love them and 2 isn't really enough, but if you slice 'em nice and thin they'll do the job. Also, do not throw out the stems! For heaven's sake, there's flavor in their little stems so be sure to mince them up too.

Next you'll slice up your onion and throw them all in a large skillet to saute on a low flame. Oh man, does that smell good!

While you're letting the onions & mushrooms sweat, let's get your cherries soaking in some liquids to help plump them up. Put them in a bowl and add to them 1 cup of wine & 2 cups of chicken broth. I've started buying the little 4 packs of wine with screw on tops for cooking. They're perfect in size and don't go bad. Also, you can go ahead and add your balsamic vinegar and honey. Let them sit while you get your chops in the pan.

Brown chops lightly and flip 'em over to brown the other side.

After each side is browned, remove everything from the skillet and set aside on a platter. Be sure to leave the brown stuff on the bottom of the skillet. You're going to deglaze the pan when you add the liquids and the flavor will be insane. So turn up the heat and let's get this sauce on the road!

Bring all this up to a pretty heavy simmer and cook it to reduce at least by half, possibly a little more. While the temp is coming up, use your favorite wooden spoon to scrape up the bottom of the pan. By now you'll have such a ridiculously delicious aroma happening, the troops will definitely be stirred. The cherries should be plumping up almost to their original state. Oh my! The smell is to die for!

Once you've reduced the sauce, put the chops, onions & mushrooms back in the skillet and cook until completely done. The inside temperature of the pork should be 165 degrees. Once it reaches that temp, get your plate ready. Take your squash out of the oven, get your chop there with it, top it with the onion/mushroom/cherry mixture and drizzle a generous amount of the sauce over it.

Take your time eating it, and for heaven's sake be sure to have some bread on hand for moppin' up all that juice. You won't want to lose a drop of it!

Enjoy your adventure and love the ones you feed!

Brown Food is Yummy!

2011-11-09T13:44:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know this goes against conventional thinking for someone who loves vegetables as much as I do. But being a Texas girl at my core, sometimes the only food for me is some good 'ol fried food. One of my all time favorites is chicken fried steak! I remember chicken fried steak days back in elementary school. The lunch ladies would so lovingly make a little nest in my mashed potatoes before filling it with green peas and topping it off with gravy. Mmmmmm...now that's comfort food!

Honestly, I don't know what "cube steak" is or why it makes the perfect chicken fried steak, but it does. Quite frankly, if I'm hankerin' cfs, then I don't really care what it is because at this point, it's not about the nutritional value. It's all about fried, crispy crusted beef with some heart stoppin' gravy on top. Oh man, it makes my mouth water and takes me back to Caldwell Elementary at just the thought of it. I'm sure my man Jamie Oliver wouldn't have approved of it - and I do LOVE Jamie. (He's my very favorite chef.) Most days my mom made my lunch, but the chicken fried steak days were all about the cafeteria.

So guess what we had for dinner last night? I was bummed I had no peas to go with it, but I did have tater's. I didn't bother to have a healthy salad or anything with it. Straight up meat and potatoes.

First - a glass of carbernet!

OK, so I have 4 cube steaks which I've seasoned with salt & pepper and left to sit on the counter for about 20 minutes to take some of the chill off of them. While they sit, mix up 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of panko bread crumbs, salt, pepper, cayenne & thyme in a flat container. I think a pie pan works perfectly for this purpose. In a second pie plate, mix up 2 eggs & a cup of cream (that's right - good old fat laden cream).

About the time you need a refill on the carbernet, take your meat and put it in the flour mixture. Drag it through really good, filling all the crevices with flour. Tap it a bit, dredge it through the cream & egg mixture on both sides before putting it back into the flour mix. Now really get in all those lovely spots. Set aside while you heat up a skillet with about an inch of oil. I use canola for this. Once you've got all pieces perfectly coated, dredged and coated again and the oil is beginnng to move around a little on it's own, CAREFULLY slip one steak at a time into the oil.
Let it cook about 6 minutes before CAREFULLY turning it over and cooking the other side.

It will be done in about 15 minutes total. I like my crust to be nice and brown and crispy. After removing, set it aside on a platter with paper towel to drain off the extra fat.

I'm sorry to let you down on photos of the gravy process, but it happens rather quickly and when it was done, I think I poured myself a glass of it and sat down! Just kidding. But seriously, I did for get pictures.

Get a heat proof container (I use my 4 cup Pyrex measuring cup) and CAREFULLY pour off the oil from your skillet. Leave the brown bits! They make gravy fabulous! Put the pan back on a med-low flame and add a heaping spoon of flour to it, whisking it quickly to keep it from burning. Have on hand a Tbsp of butter to add to it. This should brown quickly for the beginnings of your gravy roux. Slowly add 2 cups of milk - a couple Tbsps at first whisking all the while to keep things smooth and creamy. Got some of that beef broth we made last week on hand? YAY! Add a cup of that to it too and turn the heat up a bit more until it begins to bubble and thicken.

When it's the consistency you like, you're done! Take it off the heat, plate your steak & potatoes, give yourself a generous portion of gravy and dive in! Mmmmm....

Feed the ones you love! (Then the next day be sure to load 'em up on veggies to erase the damage you did today!!)

You Say Tomato, I Say Tomahhhhto

2011-11-08T07:52:00.000-08:00

I love me some tomato soup! There's just something about it's velvety richness that can't be beat. That, along with a perfectly toasted grilled cheese - well ok, I was hungry and I cheated. I put my cheese & turkey sandwich in the toaster oven! Still, it was delicious.

The thing about tomato soup is that you can make it as easy or as difficult as you like. If you have fresh tomatoes on hand and you don't have a hungry crew waiting on their dinner, my spoiled rotten boys for example, then take your time with it. Roast yourself some organic roma tomatoes with some lovely infused oil and use that as the main ingredient.

If on the other hand, you are late making dinner and are totally unprepared to make anything, it's the perfect time to pull out a couple cans of petite diced tomatoes. DO USE your beautifully made Ruby Red Veggie broth, though. It will add rich vegetable undertones to your soup.

Quick & easy is this - a lap or two of olive oil around the pan on a really low temp. Add a tsp of dried basil (crushed in your mortar & pestle) along with a couple cloves of garlic & let the flavor come to life. Add to that 4 cups of your ruby red veggie broth.

Take your tomatoes & throw them in a blender to puree' until nice and smooth before adding them to the pot. Salt and pepper (of course you know I mean kosher salt and freshly ground pepper) to taste. and simmer for about 20 minutes. Add a cup of heavy cream and stir it in, watching it turn a lovely pinkish color & let simmer another 10 minutes.

DONE!

Dish it up, sprinkle with a little Parmesan & some of your homemade croutons. Serve alongside a sandwich or just the way it is. It will warm your chilled bones with velvety rich flavor.

Enjoy!

Curry - As In the Spice!

2011-11-02T19:00:00.000-07:00

Today, I've been searching for anything on curry - photos, quotes, quips - anything, really. What do I find? Adam Curry, Ann Curry, Bill Curry, Stephen Curry, Tim Curry. No! Not curried people! Curry spices! Good grief. I had no idea there were so many curry people.

I love curry. It brings to my mind rich, exotic, warm, spicy, flavorful beauty. It reminds me of my favorite Thai restaurant on Indian Rocks Beach in FL. It was right across the street from my apartment and it was fabulous. There was also an Indian restaurant I used to go to with my boss in Dallas that I've long since forgotten the name of.

What I'll never forget is the horror we experienced on leaving there one fateful day. She was a fantastic boss - powerful, creative, energetic, & tons of fun. We had quite a relationship as I was much younger and WAY more aggressive than I have the time or energy for now. She had an after-lunch meeting with the top level money people at one of my accounts. We were working on a multi-million dollar deal with them and she was going to answer final questions. Did I mention she had braces? This was back in the day when the clear bands were a new deal, and they were hardly noticeable. On this day though, there was no getting around them.

We had lunch together, deciding Indian food would put just the right fire in the belly before having a high power meeting. As we were getting into her car after a fabulous lunch, we were laughing about something (who knows what). When she turned my direction, mouth agape with laughter, I screamed. "What?!!" she panics. "OH MY GOD! Look in the mirror!" I'm screaming at her. hahahaha...it still makes me laugh. Those clear, barely noticeable braces were a flaming fluorescent yellow! It was only an hour until the meeting. She dumped me back at the office & raced to her dentist. He fixed it. She made it to the meeting and we landed the deal. But that was one of my favorite moments in my sales career.

Anyway, curry is a colorful blend of aromatic spices, and can range from totally mild to very spicy. Being that I'm a control freak, making my own is the only way to go. Again because I know what's in it and I love the smell of the process. So let's whip up a batch for my soup de jour, Curried Coconut Cream Chicken. Yummmmm...

Please take the time to make your own curry spice mix. It smells so absolutely wonderful. I use a pile of each one. I'm sorry, I don't measure it, so I'd have to guess each one is a Tbsp with the exception of the cayenne. I probably used only a 1/2 tsp of cayenne. You can leave it out altogether if you don't want it to be spicy. We like it hot at our house though. I use turmeric, cardamom, cayenne, cumin seeds, coriander seeds & ginger powder. The cumin & coriander seeds were crushed with my mortar & pestal before being lightly toasted in a small skillet. I combine them all in a food processor and blended it until it was a fine powder.

While all that was happening, I removed my leftover shredded chicken from the freezer. If you made your own chicken broth, shredded your chicken and froze it like I did, it's ready to go. If you didn't, you can quickly grill up a couple chicken breasts, chop 'em up really nice and throw them in. But if you're pulling stuff from the freezer, place the storage bags in a container of hot water to defrost enough to get them out of the bags.

Warm up a couple Tbsps of olive oil in your soup pan. Take a large yellow onion, mince it up good and toss it in the pot on a low flame. Let the onions turn a lovely caramel color while you smash up 5 or 6 cloves of garlic, tossing them in as well. Keep an eye on them so they don't brown, but let them stay in there 2-3 mins.

Now take the curry powder you've made and dump it in the pot. (Yes I used all of it. I'm kind of a flavor junkie.) Stir it up good before adding your chicken and your broth and - are you ready? Remember the salt we didn't put in the broth recipes? Time to add it! Salt is subjective, so add it, taste it & repeat as necessary.

If you have one on hand, chop up and add a large sweet potato. It's gorgeous orange flesh will make your soup even more beautiful. OH MY GOSH! I'm so hungry and it smells crazy good! We're almost there. Lastly, you're going to add a 13-14 oz can of coconut milk to the batch and give it a good stir. Let the whole thing simmer 20 minutes or so to cook the sweet potatoes, depending on the size chunks you put in the pot.

Ideally, I'd have some chives & creme fraise to top this off with. But I was a slacker and didn't get any made ahead of time. As you probably guessed, I'm too cheap to pay the price of it in the store so if I can't make my own I do without. It takes a day & a half to make it so plan accordingly. Watch for a post about it. You'll love it if you've never had it. If you've had it but paid a premium for it, you won't believe how simple it is to make.

I did have some of my yummilicious croutons so I topped it off with that. Get ready, you'll have a fire in your belly for sure tonight!!!

Feed the ones you love!

Please Pass the Salt...

2011-10-31T07:41:00.000-07:00

Yes, yes, I know - if you made any (or all) of the stock recipes I listed - they do need salt to be ultimately delicious. My husband tasted each one and said they need salt. They most definitely will when you are cooking with them, but keep in mind that for me salting should be in the process of cooking the final product. That way you can control exactly how much of the stuff to add to your recipe.

I LOVE salt! Don't get me wrong. I most especially love Kosher Salt. I really think it's the only way to go, unless you also want to have some smoked salt or some other fabulous kind.

Salt brings out the sweetness in things like chocolate and caramel. And who doesn't love salted butter and garlic bread with a sprinkling of salt? There's nothing like soaking a grilling plank to lay out a large salmon filet doused in real maple syrup, some pressed garlic & a good amount of kosher salt. Salt & pepper crusted steaks? Absolutely! Salt crusted roast chicken? Out of this world! If I were going to eat the stock, just on it's own, I would definitely salt it. But I know not of the plans I have for it, so I don't get ahead of myself.

Anyway, I just wanted to warn you, they will need salt. Now, I'm off to get busy with my son's schooling for the day & I'll be back with my first soup installment later.

Love the ones you salt, uh I mean feed!

Happy Halloween!!!

Soup Broth 103: Where's the Beef?

2011-10-30T13:48:00.000-07:00

Here it is, friends, my first beef broth. I've never made one before, but there's no time like the present!

While I was wandering the grocery store the other day, trying to guess what might go into a beef broth, I bought some things for it. Turns out I was "wrong" by everyone else's standards. However, that has never stopped me before. I'm certainly not going to let it stop me today. I've always marched to the beat of a slightly different drum. No need to go all mainstream now!

I figured I needed a big hunk of beef with bone in it. I know that the bone has yumminess in the marrow that will break down and make a flavorful broth. But who knew I didn't actually need the meat? Huh...that caught me a little off guard. Who'da thunk it? I mean, really? Where's the beef?

If you've read anything of mine before, you'll know I'm entirely too thrifty to go throwing things out because I don't have an ingredient the rest of the world calls for. I always do things my way. "Heidicized", my husband calls it. Today will be no exception to that rule.

Every time I've ever made a roast of any kind - chicken, pork, or beef - I always strain off the liquid and throw it into a freezer bag for later use. It's always fabulous and always good to have on hand. While this may not be a "traditional" beef broth, it will be tasty and useful. So there!

I did cut out the bone & bake it like the other broth recipes suggest. I preheated the oven to 450, put the bone in a small baking dish & baked it for about 20 minutes. Holy aroma, Batman! It smelled so good!

While the bone was in the oven, I took my pile of veggies along with a cup & 1/2 of red wine and put 'em in my trusty stock pot. I used 2 yellow onions, 2 bulbs garlic, handful of baby carrots, 4 stalks celery, 4 portabella mushrooms, 1 bunch parsley, 2 bay leaves & the rest of my roasted peppers from the other night (just shy of a cup).

Put them in the pot just the way you see them. I quartered the onions, sliced the mushrooms & chopped the celery. Other than that, it went in without any work. Put the meat on top, plop the bone in there with the rest & fill it with water. Bring it to a boil before turning it down to a slow simmer and set the timer for 3 hours. My goodness, does it smell rich!

Get ready, because the soup ideas have been brewin' in my brain for 3 days. Halloween is typically a chili night for me, so I may have a mutiny on my hands if I try anything else, but I've been dreaming of curries of all kinds though I may have to make a batch of chili just to keep the troops happy. Breaking tradition is rarely without risk!

Remember to cool your soup, bag it, label it & freeze it!

Tell me your favorite soups! I'd love to hear about them!

Love to you & the ones you feed!

George Carlin & Croutons

2011-10-29T20:51:00.000-07:00

"Why do croutons come in airtight packaging? They're just stale bread to begin with." George Carlin had a little something to say about everything. For those of you too young to know who he was, know that he was on the cutting edge of cool comedians back in the day. He was right about croutons and I love that it's true! Do you ever get a loaf of crusty bread from the store & for one reason or another don't get to eat it before it turns into a baseball bat? Well, this is one of my favorite things to do with it.

First I cut the loaf in half so I can season it a couple of different ways. I like to make one batch with a bit of an Italian flavor, the other I make with a bit of a southwestern spice. I really don't do anything fancy with it. They can be chopped up, seasoned, and baked to crispy deliciousness in about 30 minutes.

For the Italian flavor, I put a couple tbsps of butter, some olive oil, garlic powder, salt, & thyme in a pan to melt. (If you happen to have shredded Parmesan cheese, it's a wonderful addition.) Pour it over the bread cubes & dig in with your hands, mixing it thoroughly to cover all the cubes. Spread them on a baking sheet and pop them in the oven for 30 minutes or until golden.

For the southwest flavor, I totally cheat and mix the butter & olive oil in a pan with southwest seasoning. Simple. Pour it on, mix it up with your hands, put it on a second sheet and put it in the oven too.

You can flavor them any way you like. After they've cooled completely, put them in storage bags and keep them for a few weeks. They're cheaper and they are lifetimes better than those rock-like little things in the "airtight bags."

Enjoy!

Soup Broth 102: Veggies Rock!

2011-10-29T14:24:00.000-07:00

I love veggies. I grew up with my dad & grandpa gardening, which gave me a love of fresh food that I can never deny. I especially love root vegetables. Turnips, parsnips, beets, potatoes, carrots & rutabaga are some of the most flavorful and wonderful veggies on the planet. The men in my house are not terribly fond of such things so I rarely have them around. Potatoes of course, they love, but I have yet to convince them of the wonders of the rest of that group.

Today is a different story though. Today I'm making my vegetable stock so I get to use all my favorite things and they'll never know it when they eat it. The pile in the picture above is all I put in there, plus the roasted tomatoes & peppers from last night. (I did keep a small portion of the peppers aside for tomorrow's beef stock.)

The oil in the bottom of the pan is the garlic infused oil I roasted them with as well as all the juices that came from that job. all I did next was chop everything in huge chunks, put them in the pot and filled it with water. I didn't add salt, as I said in the chicken stock post. You don't want to be worried about whether or not something will be too salty. You can always add salt, but you can't take it away. The only herb I added was the parsley. The flavor of the veggies really stand on their own and don't need any kind of a boost.

I turned the fire up to bring them to a boil, then turn it down to a real low simmer and let it cook for about 2 hours. It might have been done in an hour, but what the heck? I may as well let it simmer as long as I can. It smells and looks gorgeous! I hate the idea of tossing the veggies when I strain them, so I've done a double strain. In other words, I strained off all the liquid then I sifted through the veggies to remove the stems, garlic skins, onion skins, etc., and left the veggies to cool. Not totally sure what I'm going to do with them yet. If nothing else, I can make a delicious meal for my dogs. They would totally love that!

This is some beautiful, ruby red vegetable stock. It yielded about 14 cups of stock.

Enjoy stocking up your freezer! Winter's going to yield some fabulous soups!

Prepping the Veggies for Their Broth Bath

2011-10-28T22:05:00.000-07:00

While the easiest way to make vegetable broth is to just throw everything into the pot, I'm a HUGE fan of roasted vegetables. So tonight, I'm prepping my veggies for tomorrow's broth fest. This way, they're done and ready to work with when everything else gets tossed into the pot.
Off we go with roasting peppers. mmmmmmm....

As usual, I have in the fridge a bag of these little sweet peppers. They are tasty, they last in the fridge for weeks, they cost next to nothing, and they are a quick easy fix when you need peppers for any dish. Wash 'em and put 'em on a roasting pan. In this case, I'm only roasting a few and because I have tomatoes roasting in my large oven, these are going to be broiled in my toaster oven. This is also a great thing to do if you're afraid your peppers will go bad before you get to use them. There's nothing worse than throwing out food.

As soon as you start to smell them, keep an eye on them. You don't want to burn them into oblivion. Once they start to blacken, flip them over for the other side to do the same thing.

When they are beautifully roasted on both sides, take them out, put them in a bowl and wrap it tight with plastic wrap. Put it in the freezer, setting a timer for 10 minutes. DO NOT rinse them with water or all your hard work, including the flavor will go right down the drain. When the timer goes off, remove them from the freezer. At this point, peeling them will be a cinch. Put them in an airtight bowl and refrigerate until you want to use them. Trust me on this, you're going to love them.

While all of this is happening I've also quartered 7-8 tomatoes, arranging them on a large roasting pan with another bunch of peppers. Get your garlic infused oil & drizzle it over the whole batch. (See my previous post on roasted tomatoes, if you don't know what I'm talking about.) Put them in the oven with the peppers and bake for 3 hours at 275. Sit down, watch a movie or two and enjoy the aroma of tastiness.

These would be much more flavorful if they were organically grown, or better, home grown. But I'll make due with what I've got. They'll start to shrivel and be browned slightly when they're done. Dump all of the contents of the pan into a bowl, cover it and refrigerate until you're ready to use them. There will be lots of juices that will be wonderful in your soup stock, so be sure to save every last drop.

See you tomorrow!

Soup Broth 101: Welcome to Fall!

2011-10-28T13:02:00.000-07:00

Leaves on a cliff at the Grand Canyon this past weekend. It was as if God sent me a little love & hope for cooler weather.

I know most of the country entered "fall" maybe a month or so ago, but for those us here in the Valley of the Sun, late October begins our fall season. Let me tell you, one sweaty person to another, we are ready!!! Summer clothes have been gone from the stores for 3 months, as though the start of school suddenly means it's time to wear jeans and long sleeves. Just a few days ago we were still topping out at 100 degrees. While the stores all have Christmas decorations up, we're still sweating like it's the 4th of July. Finally though, the temperatures seem to truly have dropped to a reasonable number for the season and the sizzle is gone from my rock yard. No longer are the pillows on my bed warm from resting against (the inside) of the west wall of my house. At last my dreams of warm, golden delicious soups and oven baked breads are about to become a reality. But first, let's get to the basics of it all. The stock.

Soup stock is real simple, whether you do it with chicken, beef, or vegetable. There's no canned or boxed stock that will ever be as good as the one you make yourself. You know what's in it and you know it's made with love. Start with water, a pile of aromatics, veggies, a little patience, & plenty of zip lock storage bags to save all that goodness for your fall soup fantasies.

For starters, I'm working on my chicken stock. Gather all your ingredients and put them in the largest pot you've got, throw it all in together and let it cook really slow for hours on end. You'll have a hard time not eating it right away, but trust me when I say don't do it! If you do, you'll have to go through the process all over again - not that that's a bad thing because like I said, it's easy and your house will smell luscious.

In general, I never salt a stock. Your salt needs will vary from one dish to another and the last thing you want is to feel like a herd of elk at that giant salt lick, Mammoth Hot Spring Terrace in Yellowstone National Park - another breathtaking place to be. Not, however, in your soup.

First off, I get my roasting chicken ready for the pot. Anything from a 4-5lb bird will do the trick. Rinse it good and put it in the pot. In this instance, if you've got an 8 quart pot, that's the way to go.

I can't imagine a life without onions & garlic. To me, that would be a sad existence. So let's use two onions. I use yellow onions in soup stock because I find they are the most pungent. You can dice them up however you like, but leave half of one of them in tact so it can be stuffed into the cavity of your chicken. For the garlic, I use 2 full bulbs and I don't peel them at all. I love the flavor of buttery delicious roasted garlic. If you leave the skins on them, this is the flavoring they'll have. You won't have to worry because you're going to strain the whole batch when it's done anyway. Just break apart the bulbs and drop all of the cloves into the mix.

Image: Carlos Porto / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Next, chop up 4-5 stalks of celery - preferably leafy celery. I hate that grocery stores trim the leaves off of celery. The flavor in celery leaves is fantastic and a wonderful addition to the pot. Get them at a produce market if you can. They're much less likely to be trimmed. Add to that 3-4 chopped carrots.

As for the rest of the aromatics, bundle up a handful of fresh thyme, rosemary & oregano. Put them in a pile, tie them up with some kitchen twine & toss them in the pot. Put in 2 bay leaves for good measure and you're ready to add the water. In my old house, I had herbs growing all over the yard, so they were always easy to gather. Nowadays, I have to buy them at the store and I can't get over the price! Good grief - grow your own if you've got a place for it! Now that the weather is cooling off, I'll be planting some in pots. I can't keep any potted plants alive in the summer heat. Their little roots just fry in the heat. Anyway, once again I'm rambling.

Fill the pot with as much water as it will hold without boiling over. In my case, I get about 10-12 cups of water total. Bring the whole thing to a boil before turning down to a low simmer. Let it cook for a couple of hours, until the chicken just falls apart when you stir it. Then turn of the heat and let it cool.

Once it cools off, strain it. Some people throw out what they strain off. I don't. The thought of wasting all that food kills me. My favorite thing to do is to carefully remove the bones then shred the chicken for enchiladas. You could also shred the chicken, wrap it carefully in plastic wrap & foil before labeling it and put it in the freezer for use at a later date.

The strained stuff is where we're headed. Using quart-size freezer bags, measure your liquid into 1 or 2 cup increments (whichever is most useful for you) and pour it into the pre-labeled bag. Lay it flat on the counter and remove as much of the air as possible. If you ever owned a water bed (now I'm dating myself for sure) then you'll know what I'm talking about. Get rid of the air bubble. Zip it and lay it flat on a baking tray. For best results, layer parchment paper between each of the storage bags so they don't freeze together. Once they are frozen, you've got thin sheets of broth that are easy to store. Then when you've got a recipe calling for chicken broth, you've got the best one on the market!

Until tomorrow...be blessed & feed the ones you love!

Road Food

2011-10-27T11:20:00.000-07:00

Good Morning, All!!!

My family and I just returned from a trip to the Grand Canyon. I've been there several times and I can honestly say, I never get tired of the place. Its absolute beauty is ever changing with the movement of the sun and the change of seasons & I never grow weary of its majesty.

This trip was a little different for us because this time my hubby and I got to do something we haven't done in 11 years - take a road trip sans kiddo. It was like we were newly weds again. We could stop (or not stop) whenever we wanted and we got to eat at our favorite little restaurant in Flagstaff. When we were first married, we made the trek from St. Pete, FL to the Grand Canyon and happened upon a little place in Flagstaff called La Bellavia. It is my very favorite "local" place to eat. As a matter of fact, it's pretty much my favorite restaurant of all time. So if you're ever in the area, please make a point of stopping for breakfast or lunch. We've been going there for 14 years and have never had anything but a fantastic experience every time. It's where hubby discovered his favorite, albeit different breakfast - Trout & Eggs.

The trout is pan fried to flaky perfection. The coffee is delicious. The pancakes are fat & fluffy (even without smiley faces) and the service is sweet. I had a California Benedict, which is an English muffin topped by delicious roasted turkey breast, poached eggs, avocado & buttery delicious hollandaise sauce. SO YUMMY!

Because of our distaste for fast food, we always make it a point to stop in a little local eateries whenever we get the chance. This one never lets us down.

Once at the canyon, there's no such thing as major corporations and the food on site is tastilicious. We love the Bright Angel Lodge & it's homey comfort food. I had a ham/turkey sandwich with root vegetable chips, while Matt had a chili boule. Both were quite good. Bright Angel is another place we really enjoy for any meal of the day.

Our dinner experiences were not so good, but that's because we ate at (or tried to eat at) the hotel we were staying in and the hoity toity restaurant ($25/plate) across the street. The food at our hotel was absolutely horrible, yet it gave me ideas for things to make at home and blog about at a later time. The hotel across the street came with high marks and the menu looked delicious, but the server was so miserable, the 9 of us got up and walked out before we even got to order dinner. That exodus led us to a place called We Cook Pizza & Pasta which turned out to be pretty good and much more friendly to a rowdy group like ourselves. As we were walking up, I recalled I had been there some 20 years ago where I'd had the best beer of my life. It was only a bottle of Budweiser, but I had just spent 5 hours hiking in the Grand Canyon so it was the best beer I'd ever had. Anyway, the food was good, prices reasonable and atmosphere noisy and family friendly. My kind of place for hanging with some of my favorite people.

That's it for now. Now that I'm home, I'll get back in the kitchen. I've got lots of ideas, but I think I'm going to dedicate the next few weeks to soups & sandwiches. The weather is finally cool! YAY! So keep an eye out for some body warming yummies.

Until then, love the ones you feed!

Go Easy on Yourself

2011-10-20T10:23:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, but I'm particularly hard on myself with my expectations. I think my house should be immaculate, my animals perfectly behaved, my life always to have an appearance of normalcy (HA!) and my food to always look as fabulous as it tastes.
But reality is a whole other world, isn't it? Sometimes there are dishes in my sink & the bed's not made. Sometimes my dogs bark. Lord knows they shed like crazy.

Sometimes I don't get along with the people closest to me. And sometimes my food is lacking the pizzazz and creativity I so long for.

The latter seems to bring me a special sort of gravity. I suppose because my love language is very much based on acts of service, my ability to feed my family something beautiful, healthful and delicious is especially important.

I was pondering this last night as I was making pancakes for dinner - brinner, as my boys call it. I don't know about you, but the night before the new budget kicks in (aka, payday) my groceries start to run pretty sparse. We're trying to live on the Dave Ramsey school of thought where everything is done on a cash basis and when the cash is gone, we wait.

Personally, pancakes are not my thing. But I'm the only one in the house that feels that way. I don't do anything fancy with them. I'm a cheater and only use Bisquick to make them. I generally make a fruit compote to go on top, but last night that only consisted of canned pears steeped in butter & maple syrup. (We were out of all things fresh.) Still, I made smiley face pancakes.

First I was irritated that they weren't coming out perfect and almost had more of a "scary clown" face than a smiley face. Then I remembered back to my childhood, when I first learned to make them. I remember standing by the stove with my mom, making them for my dad. I don't remember them not being perfect. She probably doesn't either. I remember it as a fun way to eat pancakes & spend time with my mom. So I lightened up, smiled back at my clown face pancakes and remembered that's what it's all about.

So take it easy on yourself. Life is messy. Things won't always measure up to your expectations & you have to be good with that. It's how you find joy in the little things. Sometimes the greatest joy comes from the littlest things.

Enjoy your day!

Chicken Again?

2011-10-18T16:11:00.000-07:00

Good day, food friends! I hope your day is going flawlessly & that the sun is shining down on you.

This may not be a new idea for some of you, but it's something I'd never tried until last night. I'm always looking for a different, yet healthful way to cook up some bird that won't bore my family to tears. Yesterday, my son & I were standing in line at Costco. Well, ok. We were standing in line to order a Very Berry Sundae at Costco, when my boy said, "Mom, doesn't that chicken wrap look delicious? It's chicken, cheese & bacon wrapped in bread dough. Mmmmm...bacon..." There's no denying he's my son. Bacon was his food of choice when I was pregnant with him and his love for the stuff has never gone away. We saw a t-shirt at a shop in San Francisco that had a little pig on it with the caption "Praise the Lard". HAHAHAHAHAAA! Amen to that!

But that got me thinkin' yesterday that I should try to whip up something a little better than that because if you looked at the link in my Flyer's Tips, you know the food in the picture is never like the real thing. I knew I could make the food at home look & taste WAY better.

It all began in the mortar & pestle. Remember to do this when using dried herbs to help give them a little extra umph & help bring them back from their dry, dusty existence. I put my garlic in there too. The oil from the garlic is wonderful at helping wake up the herbs. Hmm...now what's in that pile? Basil, thyme, onion flakes, peppercorn & kosher salt. Don't pin me down on amounts! I'd venture to guess about a Tbsp each of basil, thyme & dehydrated onion. Maybe a 1/2 tsp of salt and a 1/2 tsp peppercorn along with 4 cloves garlic.

I smash them up really good before drizzling in some olive oil. Yes. Right into the mortar.

Then smash them up a little bit more to get the olive oil soaking into those herbs and flavoring everything really nice. Next, put your chicken breast into a zip lock bag & dump the smashed herb/garlic/oil mixture also.

Once it's in the bag, smoosh out the excess air and seal it up tight because you're gonna pound the chicken really thin and flat. This will help speed up the cooking time and smash those flavors right into the meat. The zip lock bag will keep your hands & your kitchen from having chicken goo on them. Plus you can easily rub the herb mixture all over it. I also take the time to make sure the garlic chunks get embedded into the meat. mmmm...

Make sure you rub it around both sides of the breasts so the flavor is undeniable. Then put it into a hot grill pan to be sure it sizzles good, but not too hot so as to burn the garlic.

While that does it's thing, I cut up some little sweet peppers. I keep these on hand because they are deliciously sweet, easy to cut up for any kind of use & add beautiful color to everything. Wash 'em and slice up.

After you flip the chicken over, add the peppers to the pan. You don't want to over cook them, but keep their color nice and leave them with a little crisp rather than slippery, slimy.

At this point, my husband & son both said, "too bad your readers can't smell this!"

After you've done that, turn your oven on to 350F to preheat. Now, here's where I totally cheated. If I'd had time during the day, I would have made my own dough to make this particularly yummy, but that ain't the way it went. While I was out, I picked up a refrigerated roll of French bread dough. So while my oven was heating and my chickie chickie peppers were finishing off, I opened the can of dough, unrolled it, & spread it out on my 9x13 stone bar pan to get it ready for baking.

Once the chicken was cooked fully through (about 12 minutes total) I took it out and chopped it into small pieces to prepare for rolling.

The rest is a snap - layer the chicken, peppers & a sprinkling of shredded mozzarella over the dough and get it ready to wrap.

Now fold up both sides, tuck under each end, sprinkle a little more cheese on the top & pop it in the oven to bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.

While it's in the oven you can tear up a salad to go along with it. Take it out of the oven, slice & serve it to your lovies. Believe me it will be a hit! It is as yummy as it looks. No food stylists altered this picture to entice you. It's the real deal.

Love the ones you feed!