Time to make you jealous again with my sweet, sweet fisherman friend hook-up. Here in Florida we are in the middle of lobster season, the Florida lobster (sometimes called the spiny lobster or Caribbean spiny lobster) is a crustacean that lacks the large claws of the Maine lobster but has sweet and succulent tail flesh. Oh my gosh do we love our "bugs" down here and we will eat them any way we can get them. Some of the favorites are lobster Ruebens, lobster linguine, lobster alfredo, steamed tails served with drawn butter, or even spicy tempura battered and fried lobster bites!
Here is a wonderful lobster recipe that we make with Florida lobster and I add Key West Pinks (a type of shrimp) to it as well, delicious and flavorful! Just be careful not to overcook the tails or the shrimp as they can become unpleasantly chewy and tough. Also, just eat it all in one night, reheated lobster is not great. I think pairing this with a nice bottle of white wine, maybe a Pinot Gris, would be a perfect end of summer dinner.
Showing posts with label summer time recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label summer time recipes. Show all posts
Friday, August 26, 2011
Thursday, August 25, 2011
BBQ Pork Sandwiches (Your Way)
I took the leftover pork roast and shredded it with two forks, mixed it with some high-fructose corn syrup free BBQ sauce and heated it all up briefly on the stove, meanwhile I took some frozen corn niblets, frozen green beans and microwave steamed them. I also served some store-bought potato salad and some crispy, crunchy coleslaw.
The secret to really crisp coleslaw is to salt your shredded cabbage and let it sit in a colander to drain for at least 20 minutes, then rinse it well and spin it in a salad spinner or wrap it in dishcloths and wring it out. Add your shredded carrot and maybe some shredded onion and thinly sliced green pepper too, but those are optional. I then like to toss my cabbage with a bit of olive oil and apple cider vinegar, before blending in some mayo (not too much) and salt, pepper, celery seed and a dab of dijon mustard. Then just combine well and chill until you are ready for dinner, but at least 15 minutes. I am not giving amounts because it truly depends on how much cabbage you are using, a whole head of cabbage versus a small bag of premixed slaw necessarily require different amounts. Also, I like my coleslaw very dry, more like a tossed salad than absolutely swimming in dressing, some people require a lot of dressing, all a matter of taste; but always add less than you think you need, you can always add more. You MUST taste your food as you are cooking, it helps you learn what you like and in what amounts and combinations you like it.
Now, my husband has got me eating cole slaw ON my pulled pork sandwiches instead of on the side and I think it is delicious! You may top your sandwich with pickle chips or cheese or both, or maybe add lettuce and tomato and thinly sliced onion.
The kids had pork sandwiches with cheese, all the sides and decided they wanted to eat some pickled okra too. We washed it all down with some ice cold lemonade!
Stay cool friends!
The secret to really crisp coleslaw is to salt your shredded cabbage and let it sit in a colander to drain for at least 20 minutes, then rinse it well and spin it in a salad spinner or wrap it in dishcloths and wring it out. Add your shredded carrot and maybe some shredded onion and thinly sliced green pepper too, but those are optional. I then like to toss my cabbage with a bit of olive oil and apple cider vinegar, before blending in some mayo (not too much) and salt, pepper, celery seed and a dab of dijon mustard. Then just combine well and chill until you are ready for dinner, but at least 15 minutes. I am not giving amounts because it truly depends on how much cabbage you are using, a whole head of cabbage versus a small bag of premixed slaw necessarily require different amounts. Also, I like my coleslaw very dry, more like a tossed salad than absolutely swimming in dressing, some people require a lot of dressing, all a matter of taste; but always add less than you think you need, you can always add more. You MUST taste your food as you are cooking, it helps you learn what you like and in what amounts and combinations you like it.
Now, my husband has got me eating cole slaw ON my pulled pork sandwiches instead of on the side and I think it is delicious! You may top your sandwich with pickle chips or cheese or both, or maybe add lettuce and tomato and thinly sliced onion.
The kids had pork sandwiches with cheese, all the sides and decided they wanted to eat some pickled okra too. We washed it all down with some ice cold lemonade!
Stay cool friends!
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
If you can't stand the heat, then get out of the kitchen!
One of the few challenges I actually KNEW I was going to be facing in this house was the fact that only the bedrooms are air conditioned. The living areas are dependent on ocean breezes and ceiling fans to keep it cool. So obviously cooking dinner is bit of a challenge because I want to prepare food without heating up the house unduly. Today I tried two new experiments in meal preparation and I feel like I was *mostly* successful. I tried making meatloaf in the pressure cooker and I tried making "oven roasted" rosemary potatoes in the microwave.
For the meatloaf recipe I read a lot of "pressure cooker meatloaf" recipes and sort of distilled their wisdom down into my own take on it. I made a meat loaf recipe, adding to 1 pound of ground beef 1/2 C of slow cook oatmeal moistened with several tablespoons of milk (keeps things moist), I added salt and pepper to taste, 1/2 of a large onion finely diced, about 1/2 TB of dried Italian seasonings, 2 eggs lightly beaten, and some worcestershire sauce. I mixed this all up and placed it into a plastic container somewhat smaller in circumference than my pressure cooker and then I placed it all into the freezer uncovered for 15 minutes. Meanwhile I helped my 3rd grader with her math homework and prepped the potatoes by scrubbing them clean and cutting them into approximately 1" cubes. When the timer went off I popped the now firmed up meatloaf into my pressure cooker and set it on the "browning" level and crisped the bottom of the meatloaf. While it was browning I brushed the top of the meat loaf with a mixture of ketchup and worcestershire sauce. I added a 1/2 C or so of water to the bottom of the cooker, topped it with the lid and set it to high pressure for 15 minutes. Well, after a few minutes it clicked off and I realized I had not added enough water. I let the pan come back down to pressure naturally (the meat will keep cooking during this stage) and then I added another 1/2 C of water mixed with worcestershire sauce for seasoning, popped the lid back on and cooked it for another 6 minutes.
While waiting for the meatloaf to cook I made preparations for the microwave oven potatoes. I have to admit I don't really cook much in my microwave, I use it to reheat things of course or make water for tea or melt butter or defrost meat, but actual cooking? Not so much. I was intrigued by the idea of using it to as it does not heat up the kitchen and it actually uses a lot less energy than cooking on a stove or in an oven. I smashed a clove of garlic and placed it into a glass bowl that was about 8 inches across. I added a few teaspoons of Smart Balance spread (maybe a tablespoon) because that is what I had on hand, you can use butter or olive oil I am sure. Then I added some salt and microwaved it for about 45 seconds, next I tossed in and mixed up the chopped potatoes (about 3-4 medium sized potatoes) and crushed some dried rosemary and tossed that in as well. Then I covered the potatoes with a microwave safe splatter guard and let them cook on high for 15 minutes. Now microwave times and powers will vary, so keep a CLOSE eye on your food when you try this, but it was totally worth the little extra worry, the potatoes come out great. You could smell the rosemary and they spuds had very good texture, a few of them even got a little brown around the edges! I quickly used the microwave to steam some cut up broccoli (official vegetable of the Dinner 365 Family) and we were ready to eat. (The kids also had a side of applesauce, "Because Mom if you have a dinner plate with 4 sections all 4 sections need some food in them!")
Anyhow, I made dinner; I stayed cool and comfortable and everything was ready very quickly, so a total WIN for us tonight.
For the meatloaf recipe I read a lot of "pressure cooker meatloaf" recipes and sort of distilled their wisdom down into my own take on it. I made a meat loaf recipe, adding to 1 pound of ground beef 1/2 C of slow cook oatmeal moistened with several tablespoons of milk (keeps things moist), I added salt and pepper to taste, 1/2 of a large onion finely diced, about 1/2 TB of dried Italian seasonings, 2 eggs lightly beaten, and some worcestershire sauce. I mixed this all up and placed it into a plastic container somewhat smaller in circumference than my pressure cooker and then I placed it all into the freezer uncovered for 15 minutes. Meanwhile I helped my 3rd grader with her math homework and prepped the potatoes by scrubbing them clean and cutting them into approximately 1" cubes. When the timer went off I popped the now firmed up meatloaf into my pressure cooker and set it on the "browning" level and crisped the bottom of the meatloaf. While it was browning I brushed the top of the meat loaf with a mixture of ketchup and worcestershire sauce. I added a 1/2 C or so of water to the bottom of the cooker, topped it with the lid and set it to high pressure for 15 minutes. Well, after a few minutes it clicked off and I realized I had not added enough water. I let the pan come back down to pressure naturally (the meat will keep cooking during this stage) and then I added another 1/2 C of water mixed with worcestershire sauce for seasoning, popped the lid back on and cooked it for another 6 minutes.
While waiting for the meatloaf to cook I made preparations for the microwave oven potatoes. I have to admit I don't really cook much in my microwave, I use it to reheat things of course or make water for tea or melt butter or defrost meat, but actual cooking? Not so much. I was intrigued by the idea of using it to as it does not heat up the kitchen and it actually uses a lot less energy than cooking on a stove or in an oven. I smashed a clove of garlic and placed it into a glass bowl that was about 8 inches across. I added a few teaspoons of Smart Balance spread (maybe a tablespoon) because that is what I had on hand, you can use butter or olive oil I am sure. Then I added some salt and microwaved it for about 45 seconds, next I tossed in and mixed up the chopped potatoes (about 3-4 medium sized potatoes) and crushed some dried rosemary and tossed that in as well. Then I covered the potatoes with a microwave safe splatter guard and let them cook on high for 15 minutes. Now microwave times and powers will vary, so keep a CLOSE eye on your food when you try this, but it was totally worth the little extra worry, the potatoes come out great. You could smell the rosemary and they spuds had very good texture, a few of them even got a little brown around the edges! I quickly used the microwave to steam some cut up broccoli (official vegetable of the Dinner 365 Family) and we were ready to eat. (The kids also had a side of applesauce, "Because Mom if you have a dinner plate with 4 sections all 4 sections need some food in them!")
Anyhow, I made dinner; I stayed cool and comfortable and everything was ready very quickly, so a total WIN for us tonight.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Dinner is ready! I
I know, it's only 9:30 a.m. EST. But see I've been up since the wee hours of the morning being systematically tortured by thoughts of faulty wiring causing our house to burn to the ground and by the incessant kicking, headbutting and general bed- hogginess of our otherwise adorable 3 year old. Seriously, how can someone only 3 feet tall take up 90% of the space in a king-sized bed? Also my friend Mark brings up a great point with his theory that children actually grow extra arms and legs in the night because they flail around like beached octopi. But I was talking about dinner wasn't I? Yes, since I have literally been up since the crack of dawn it gave me a chance to start a crockpot meal.
Taco Crockpot Chicken
To the crockpot add 1 16 oz package of frozen corn
Over that place 1 can of rinsed and drained black beans
On top of that add boneless chicken(3 breasts, 4-5 thighs, tenders what have you)
Over that pour 1 16 oz container of salsa
Put the lid on and cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours. You can shred the chicken with two forks and serve it as taco filling, or you can add a can or two of chicken broth and make a tasty soup.
This recipe has been making the rounds on a parenting website I frequent and I have no idea who to credit for it, but my friend Lisa passed it on to me.
What makes this recipe a winner to me is 1) the chicken can be added frozen and 2)slow cooker recipes are perfect because they do not heat up the house and they are not labor intensive at all. Enjoy!
Taco Crockpot Chicken
To the crockpot add 1 16 oz package of frozen corn
Over that place 1 can of rinsed and drained black beans
On top of that add boneless chicken(3 breasts, 4-5 thighs, tenders what have you)
Over that pour 1 16 oz container of salsa
Put the lid on and cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours. You can shred the chicken with two forks and serve it as taco filling, or you can add a can or two of chicken broth and make a tasty soup.
This recipe has been making the rounds on a parenting website I frequent and I have no idea who to credit for it, but my friend Lisa passed it on to me.
What makes this recipe a winner to me is 1) the chicken can be added frozen and 2)slow cooker recipes are perfect because they do not heat up the house and they are not labor intensive at all. Enjoy!
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Everything Will Kill You
So I grew up in the South making sun tea, we even had the special little glass jar with a spigot on the bottom just for making it. It was painted with little flowers and was super cheerful. Sun tea is so easy too, just add water, tea bags and let it sit in a sunny spot for a few hours. Then add sugar, lemon, or mint and you were done.
Now apparently, sun tea CAN KILL YOU!!! By not boiling the water you are allowing an environment where bacteria can grow and (it is implied) eat your face off, scare your dog and ruin your credit rating.
I live in a house without air conditioning, and boiling anything on my stove top add a certain humid heat that is unpleasant. I made some deviled eggs for the girls the other day and standing anywhere near the stove was what I imagine a wrinkled shirt feels like under the iron. I could make it in the microwave but I always forget it and then hours later I open the door to defrost something and BOOM there's a glass measuring cup full of cold tea staring at me.
What is a southern girl to do? Make some refrigerator tea, of course! Just add water and tea bags to a pitcher the night before and leave it in the fridge for 12 hours. The next day you will have fresh iced tea. To add sweetness to already cold tea, I simply make a cup or two of simple syrup and use it to sweeten individual glasses. Simple syrup is just 2 parts sugar to one part water, for instance if I boil up 2 cups of water, then I add in 4 C of sugar, stirring constantly. Once the sugar has dissolved I remove the water from the heat, let it sit and cool and thicken, then pour it into a clean mason jar and refrigerate it till I need it.
So there ya go. Of course you really need a refrigerator for this recipe and I won't have one until this weekend, but have a nice cold one for me!
Now apparently, sun tea CAN KILL YOU!!! By not boiling the water you are allowing an environment where bacteria can grow and (it is implied) eat your face off, scare your dog and ruin your credit rating.
I live in a house without air conditioning, and boiling anything on my stove top add a certain humid heat that is unpleasant. I made some deviled eggs for the girls the other day and standing anywhere near the stove was what I imagine a wrinkled shirt feels like under the iron. I could make it in the microwave but I always forget it and then hours later I open the door to defrost something and BOOM there's a glass measuring cup full of cold tea staring at me.
What is a southern girl to do? Make some refrigerator tea, of course! Just add water and tea bags to a pitcher the night before and leave it in the fridge for 12 hours. The next day you will have fresh iced tea. To add sweetness to already cold tea, I simply make a cup or two of simple syrup and use it to sweeten individual glasses. Simple syrup is just 2 parts sugar to one part water, for instance if I boil up 2 cups of water, then I add in 4 C of sugar, stirring constantly. Once the sugar has dissolved I remove the water from the heat, let it sit and cool and thicken, then pour it into a clean mason jar and refrigerate it till I need it.
So there ya go. Of course you really need a refrigerator for this recipe and I won't have one until this weekend, but have a nice cold one for me!
Friday, July 8, 2011
Last night's dinner: Pressure Cooker to the Rescue
Okay, I think I actually sort of invented a one dish meal for the pressure cooker, GO ME! Here is what I did.
I added 1 C of brown rice to the pressure cooker, 2 C of water, an onion cut in half, some salt and cooked it on high pressure for 10 minutes, when it was done I added 2 semi-frozen chicken breasts, cut into chunks and seasoned with adobo to the pan, put the lid on and cooked it all for another 10 minutes, while that was cooking I chopped some zucchini into nice thick rounds and when 10 minutes was up I stirred up the chicken and rice; added the zucchini, 1 TB of Italian herbs, another 1/4 C of water and cooked it all for 5 more minutes. Semi-frozen chicken (still very firm and cold in the middle) is much easier to chop up into cubes, plus you don't need to take the extra time to defrost it completely before cooking which saves time. The brown rice cooks (in about half the time!) into a creamy texture in my pressure cooker, almost a risotto type consistency without the bother of standing over a pot for 30 minutes stirring and adding ladles full of broth. I think another fun way of making this would be to add a can of chopped Italian style (herbs added) tomatoes in the last 5 minutes of cooking. To serve you could top it with a bit of freshly grated Parmesan cheese or some chopped fresh herbs. Prepared just as it was it was a flavorful, nutritious and very easy dinner. Another bonus of pressure cooking is because it is all one contained unit it does NOT heat up the house the way you do cooking on the stove top or in the oven.
Pressure cookers require some water in order to come up to pressure, which is why I added water every step of the way, your pressure cooker may require more or less liquid in order to cook, please consult your manual before attempting my recipe.
I added 1 C of brown rice to the pressure cooker, 2 C of water, an onion cut in half, some salt and cooked it on high pressure for 10 minutes, when it was done I added 2 semi-frozen chicken breasts, cut into chunks and seasoned with adobo to the pan, put the lid on and cooked it all for another 10 minutes, while that was cooking I chopped some zucchini into nice thick rounds and when 10 minutes was up I stirred up the chicken and rice; added the zucchini, 1 TB of Italian herbs, another 1/4 C of water and cooked it all for 5 more minutes. Semi-frozen chicken (still very firm and cold in the middle) is much easier to chop up into cubes, plus you don't need to take the extra time to defrost it completely before cooking which saves time. The brown rice cooks (in about half the time!) into a creamy texture in my pressure cooker, almost a risotto type consistency without the bother of standing over a pot for 30 minutes stirring and adding ladles full of broth. I think another fun way of making this would be to add a can of chopped Italian style (herbs added) tomatoes in the last 5 minutes of cooking. To serve you could top it with a bit of freshly grated Parmesan cheese or some chopped fresh herbs. Prepared just as it was it was a flavorful, nutritious and very easy dinner. Another bonus of pressure cooking is because it is all one contained unit it does NOT heat up the house the way you do cooking on the stove top or in the oven.
Pressure cookers require some water in order to come up to pressure, which is why I added water every step of the way, your pressure cooker may require more or less liquid in order to cook, please consult your manual before attempting my recipe.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
4th of July Dinner and Tonight's Menu
The 4th was a day of extremes here, high heat, high humidity and high excitement. We went to our local parade and saw some of our friends in the parade and sat with other friends on the roadside waving and chatting. The weather looked iffy so we scrapped our plans for the beach and headed home for a quiet celebration. We cooked out ribs, basically my husband gets the coals ready while I coat the ribs (either short spare ribs or babybacks) all over with a patented super secret rib rub that my Father in Law created. For your purposes (since I'd be cashiered out of the family for telling) I'd use Alton Brown's rib rub recipe, it is excellent. The ribs get put on and cook for 15 minutes before being turned and basted with mojo crillado. Then he comes back inside out of the INCREDIBLY MOIST HEAT until his watch timer goes off and then he's back out turning and basting and this goes on for about 3 -4 hours. Needless to say the secret to great barbecue is LOW and SLOW, meaning low heat and takes a looong time. The meat will be so tender you won't believe you didn't boil them first (a common recipe component for ribs). These ribs will be juicy, flavorful, and tender, but only if you cook them low and slow.
Our side dishes were corn off the cob, green salad, ice cold watermelon, Bakerella's Cake Balls. Our dessert was supposed to be this amazing bundt cake from "Cooking with Sugar" but as I was turning the cake out of the pan and onto the cake plate it broke into many, many red, white and blue pieces. I literally cried and then googled "what can I do with broken cake". It all turned out. It always does, and if I hadn't been so needlessly upset with myself I would have remembered there are a MILLION things you can do with broken cake, not the least of which is just slap some ice cream on top and call it a sundae! Then you could make trifle (layers of cake, pudding, fruit and all topped with shipped cream). You can just saw off the broken top with a serrated bread knife and frost the remaining cake. If it isn't broken too badly you can "paste" the cake back together with extra frosting and then frost the outside. You can cut the broken cake with cookie cutters and frost them individually to make "baby cakes", I mean there is a whole world out there and it is useless (and let's face it a little petulant) to cry over spilt cake.
But I was under a lot of stress you see, because the day before I had found out that we are indeed MOVING HOUSE this month. This will be our 5th move in about 6 years and I am a little bit stressed out. We don't intend to be moving this much, but unfortunately my husband's job keeps placing him at other branches where it is juuuuuuust too far to drive, so then we move again. I'm glad they like him so much (I really am!) but this moving is stressful, expensive and worst of all dusty! My allergies have kicked into high gear!
Our new house is super cute though and has a much better kitchen than this one. I promise to keep cooking, but I have to tell you posting may be sort of light for a month. I may just post what I made for dinner and not explain much, but I promise to check in when I can. Wish me luck y'all!
Tonight's dinner: Pressure cooker beef stew, you can find the recipe on the blog; I make it all the time.
Our side dishes were corn off the cob, green salad, ice cold watermelon, Bakerella's Cake Balls. Our dessert was supposed to be this amazing bundt cake from "Cooking with Sugar" but as I was turning the cake out of the pan and onto the cake plate it broke into many, many red, white and blue pieces. I literally cried and then googled "what can I do with broken cake". It all turned out. It always does, and if I hadn't been so needlessly upset with myself I would have remembered there are a MILLION things you can do with broken cake, not the least of which is just slap some ice cream on top and call it a sundae! Then you could make trifle (layers of cake, pudding, fruit and all topped with shipped cream). You can just saw off the broken top with a serrated bread knife and frost the remaining cake. If it isn't broken too badly you can "paste" the cake back together with extra frosting and then frost the outside. You can cut the broken cake with cookie cutters and frost them individually to make "baby cakes", I mean there is a whole world out there and it is useless (and let's face it a little petulant) to cry over spilt cake.
But I was under a lot of stress you see, because the day before I had found out that we are indeed MOVING HOUSE this month. This will be our 5th move in about 6 years and I am a little bit stressed out. We don't intend to be moving this much, but unfortunately my husband's job keeps placing him at other branches where it is juuuuuuust too far to drive, so then we move again. I'm glad they like him so much (I really am!) but this moving is stressful, expensive and worst of all dusty! My allergies have kicked into high gear!
Our new house is super cute though and has a much better kitchen than this one. I promise to keep cooking, but I have to tell you posting may be sort of light for a month. I may just post what I made for dinner and not explain much, but I promise to check in when I can. Wish me luck y'all!
Tonight's dinner: Pressure cooker beef stew, you can find the recipe on the blog; I make it all the time.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Last night's dinner and how to grill corn on the cob
We have some more chicken and corn to make, but this time we are doing a different marinade on it (BBQ rub and olive oil) and instead of steaming the corn we are grilling the whole cobs. To make grilled corn on the cob, remove the husk and silk, rinse and remove any additional silk from the ears. Soak the corn in water for 15 minutes, making sure cobs are completely covered. Remove cobs from the pot and shake off any excess water, brush ears with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper, roll in aluminum foil. Place the wrapped cobs on the grill and turn frequently allowing the cobs to be over direct heat for about 5 minutes. Then remove cobs to an indirect heat source (or cooler edge of the grill, cover and allow to cook for another 10-15 minutes, when an individual kernel pierces easily the cobs are done. Serve with a light coating of butter and enjoy! We are also making s'mores over the grille for dessert, a s'more (for those who may not know) is a lightly toasted marshmallow, placed on a graham cracker with a piece of chocolate and then topped with another graham cracker. I remember having them for the first time as a Girl Scout (I had only ever had toasted marshmallows before) and it was a revelation to me. I literally thought it was the best dessert ever!
Last night's dinner was pizza, delicious veggie topped pizza. A tip on covering your pizza with veggies, pre-cook them in a separate pan. The veggies (especially mushrooms!) give off a ton of water as they cook and can make your pizza unappetizingly soggy. Also, chopping those veggies into small pieces makes them more easily eaten, larger pieces tend to slide off the slice. Broccoli can be lightly steamed and then chopped small to make a delicious pizza topping, especially on a white pizza. Another great pizza variation is to try a roasted bell pepper sauce instead of the usual tomato sauce on top of the pizza, yummy and fairly easy to do. Simply blacken a red bell pepper under the broiler of an oven, over the open flame of a gas burner, or on an outdoor grill, cover it with wax paper (loosely) after grilling and then remove the blackened outer skin, and seeds, Chop the pepper into rough pieces, throw it into the blender with salt, pepper, roasted garlic and sauteed onion and hit mix to combine, slowly drizzle in some olive oil (as if you were making an emulsion) and use in place of tomato sauce on pasta, on pizzas or even in lasagna!
Last night's dinner was pizza, delicious veggie topped pizza. A tip on covering your pizza with veggies, pre-cook them in a separate pan. The veggies (especially mushrooms!) give off a ton of water as they cook and can make your pizza unappetizingly soggy. Also, chopping those veggies into small pieces makes them more easily eaten, larger pieces tend to slide off the slice. Broccoli can be lightly steamed and then chopped small to make a delicious pizza topping, especially on a white pizza. Another great pizza variation is to try a roasted bell pepper sauce instead of the usual tomato sauce on top of the pizza, yummy and fairly easy to do. Simply blacken a red bell pepper under the broiler of an oven, over the open flame of a gas burner, or on an outdoor grill, cover it with wax paper (loosely) after grilling and then remove the blackened outer skin, and seeds, Chop the pepper into rough pieces, throw it into the blender with salt, pepper, roasted garlic and sauteed onion and hit mix to combine, slowly drizzle in some olive oil (as if you were making an emulsion) and use in place of tomato sauce on pasta, on pizzas or even in lasagna!
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Lunch and new plans for dinner
Realized I have fresh sausage in the fridge that needs to be used up, going to make a red sauce with roasted bell pepper and sausage to go over pasta tonight. Also I just squeezed a cup and a quarter of fresh Key Lime juice from Key Limes from my MIL's tree. I have graham crackers in the cabinet. I am making a Key Lime pie!
Today for lunch I took last night's roast chicken and made chicken salad and placed it over chopped salad greens and served it with crackers.
Today for lunch I took last night's roast chicken and made chicken salad and placed it over chopped salad greens and served it with crackers.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Saturday Sweets
It is Summer, Summer, Summer time... and what says Summer more than homemade ice cream? We pulled out the handy-dandy recipe booklet that came with our ice cream maker and decided to make Rocky Road ice cream. This necessitated some deviation from the recipe, we didn't have bars of semi-sweet chocolate, so we measured out an equal amount of semi-sweet chips. Lacking mini-marshmallows we instead chopped up a number of over-sized "camping" marshmallows (leftovers from the s'mores dessert of the previous night). We also lacked pecans and instead chopped up some walnuts.
Here's a few hints and tips for this recipe, a quick way to "chop" the nuts is to measure them into a plastic zip-top bag and bash them with a rolling pin; that's a fun way to get the kids involved too. Cutting up marshmallows proved to be much more difficult. Cutting them with scissors into small chunks only worked until the kitchen scissors gummed up, slicing them with a knife proved equally tricky and time consuming. Finally we hit upon pressing the marshmallows one by one through the largest grates on the Vidalia Onion chopper. We pressed them through by hand instead of using the chopper itself to keep it from getting gummed up. As the marshmallow was extruded through the grid it would stick together into a shredded lump, but once it hit the milk and chocolate mixture that formed the base it would break apart into discrete pieces again.
Another hint is to make sure you remove the ice cream from the ice cream churn (the metal tube it turns in) and pack it firmly into individual containers before freezing it in the freezer. We started making ice cream at 1 o'clock yesterday afternoon, but we didn't get to eat it until 8 o'clock that night, so it is certainly not a quick process! However it was totally worth the wait! Meltingly smooth and chocolatey with delicious chunks of walnut and marshmallow it went down a treat after a dinner of pulled pork, mashed potatoes, corn niblets, and green beans.
A brief note on the pulled pork, I read a recipe where you cover a pork tenderloin in A&W Root beer and cook it in the crockpot for several hours. I decided to try it but first I seasoned the meat with a spicy sugar-free BBQ pork rub and then used the root beer. There are a lot of recipes out there that call for cooking meat (especially pork) with various types of soda, ginger ale, Sprite, Coca-Cola even! The meat was very tender and very moist but I do have to say that it wasn't overly sweet nor did it have any discernible root beer flavor. We served it on buns and topped it with a vinegar based Carolina style BBQ sauce. Delish!
Here's a few hints and tips for this recipe, a quick way to "chop" the nuts is to measure them into a plastic zip-top bag and bash them with a rolling pin; that's a fun way to get the kids involved too. Cutting up marshmallows proved to be much more difficult. Cutting them with scissors into small chunks only worked until the kitchen scissors gummed up, slicing them with a knife proved equally tricky and time consuming. Finally we hit upon pressing the marshmallows one by one through the largest grates on the Vidalia Onion chopper. We pressed them through by hand instead of using the chopper itself to keep it from getting gummed up. As the marshmallow was extruded through the grid it would stick together into a shredded lump, but once it hit the milk and chocolate mixture that formed the base it would break apart into discrete pieces again.
Another hint is to make sure you remove the ice cream from the ice cream churn (the metal tube it turns in) and pack it firmly into individual containers before freezing it in the freezer. We started making ice cream at 1 o'clock yesterday afternoon, but we didn't get to eat it until 8 o'clock that night, so it is certainly not a quick process! However it was totally worth the wait! Meltingly smooth and chocolatey with delicious chunks of walnut and marshmallow it went down a treat after a dinner of pulled pork, mashed potatoes, corn niblets, and green beans.
A brief note on the pulled pork, I read a recipe where you cover a pork tenderloin in A&W Root beer and cook it in the crockpot for several hours. I decided to try it but first I seasoned the meat with a spicy sugar-free BBQ pork rub and then used the root beer. There are a lot of recipes out there that call for cooking meat (especially pork) with various types of soda, ginger ale, Sprite, Coca-Cola even! The meat was very tender and very moist but I do have to say that it wasn't overly sweet nor did it have any discernible root beer flavor. We served it on buns and topped it with a vinegar based Carolina style BBQ sauce. Delish!
Friday: No Fish!
No Fish Friday this week, but we did have a very nice night. Our daughter's softball team celebrated a very successful and fun season with a picnic, wiffle ball game (parents versus kids) and a projector showing of "A League of Their Own". It was an awesome party!
It was a potluck; I brought watermelon and s'more fixings.
Potluck Menu:
Fried Chicken
Hamburgers
Hotdogs
Grilled onions
Grilled mushrooms
Macaroni and Cheese
Baked beans with apple chunks (delicious)
Homemade hummus and carrot sticks
Spinach artichoke dip and crackers
Chips and onion dip
The grilled mushrooms and onions were delicious and made possible by a flat cast iron skillet on the grill, they basically sizzled in the run off of fat from the hamburgers. Everything everyone brought was absolutely delicious. After we all ate dinner and played wiffle ball for awhile we made s'more as the sun set, when it was dark we went up to watch the movie and have some popcorn. We didn't get home until midnight, but the kids (even the toddler) held up and were very happy.
A return to Fish Friday next week!
It was a potluck; I brought watermelon and s'more fixings.
Potluck Menu:
Fried Chicken
Hamburgers
Hotdogs
Grilled onions
Grilled mushrooms
Macaroni and Cheese
Baked beans with apple chunks (delicious)
Homemade hummus and carrot sticks
Spinach artichoke dip and crackers
Chips and onion dip
The grilled mushrooms and onions were delicious and made possible by a flat cast iron skillet on the grill, they basically sizzled in the run off of fat from the hamburgers. Everything everyone brought was absolutely delicious. After we all ate dinner and played wiffle ball for awhile we made s'more as the sun set, when it was dark we went up to watch the movie and have some popcorn. We didn't get home until midnight, but the kids (even the toddler) held up and were very happy.
A return to Fish Friday next week!
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Tuesday: beef stew in the pressure cooker
I have put the beef stew recipe up before, but there is a reason I go back again and again to making it. It is super fast and super easy, contains inexpensive ingredients and is very tasty. I recently got a new super tiny gas grill that just fits the front step so I am hoping to start grilling out more often. One of my Mom's most go-to Summer recipes was to simply make some hamburger patties, a side of cottage cheese and a big "dinner salad" with lots of greens, carrots, garbanzo beans, chopped boiled eggs, and tomatoes. I make that and also grilled chicken breasts and grilled veggies. The more I cook outside the less I heat up the house, the less air conditioning I need and the happier I am. :)
Another hot weather favorite of mine is to take some canned salmon (super healthy wild caught) and form it into patties with beaten egg, chopped celery, seasoned bread crumbs, and minced onion, salt and pepper. It bakes or grills (in a grill pan) in no time at all and pairs well with one of those bags of 90 second seasoned rice and a green salad.
Rice salad is another delicious hot weather favorite. You can make rice in a flash the night before in a pressure cooker and refrigerate it for the next day before mixing it up with other ingredients. I like it made with chopped broccoli, or peas, chopped bell pepper and corn, it pairs nicely with fresh fruit and some sweet dinner rolls.
What are your good recipes for hot weather?
Another hot weather favorite of mine is to take some canned salmon (super healthy wild caught) and form it into patties with beaten egg, chopped celery, seasoned bread crumbs, and minced onion, salt and pepper. It bakes or grills (in a grill pan) in no time at all and pairs well with one of those bags of 90 second seasoned rice and a green salad.
Rice salad is another delicious hot weather favorite. You can make rice in a flash the night before in a pressure cooker and refrigerate it for the next day before mixing it up with other ingredients. I like it made with chopped broccoli, or peas, chopped bell pepper and corn, it pairs nicely with fresh fruit and some sweet dinner rolls.
What are your good recipes for hot weather?
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