Pecan Crack

#making

I just got back from a week in California and the weather here is just like there - gorgeous! Hard to think about Christmas when it's sunny and warm out but once we get past our first Thanksgiving meal this weekend, we might be ready to put up the tree. I did purchase a Christmas ornament while I was away though.

Not really Christmasy but fits in with the eclectic collection of ornaments we already have...

Let Them Eat Cake

A few weeks ago David and I were watching The Best Thing I Ever Ate, cake edition, and Anne Burrell was foaming at the mouth over this fabulous coconut cake that she schlepped from the Village to Midtown to get.  After watching them make the cake at Smith and Wollensky, I knew I had to make that cake soon. So I did. For Easter.

Succour

noun - assistance and support in times of hardship and distress.

synonyms aid, help, a helping hand, assistance; comfort, ease, relief, TLC

Chess Square

Va-Va-Vanilla!!!

Vanilla is my favorite go-to scent and flavor.  Sure, I love me some chocolate, but vanilla finds its way into way more recipes around here, and this year I wanted to make some good quality vanilla for Christmas gifts.

Vanilla Extract Made with Brandy [Note: This would be nice sipped from a glass with a giant ice cube!]

Antipasto Salad

Even though the name means "before the meal", we typically have this with the meal at our house.  It's also a favorite item to take to a potluck.

SALAD:

Celery
Purple Onion
Black & Green Olives
Dry Cured Italian Sausage (Bridford pepperoni from Walmart)
Sliced Provolone 
Pepperoncini
Grape Tomatoes
Artichoke Hearts (optional)
Asparagus (optional)

HERBS:

Thyme
Basil
Oregano
Marjoram
Crushed Red Pepper
Black Pepper

DRESSING:

Olive Oil (5 oz)
Garlic, 2 cloves pressed
Dijon Mustard
Red Wine Vinegar

Chop up the salad ingredients into small pieces and toss them into a big bowl. Rub the dried green herbs between your palms over the bowl to release their flavor. Add the crushed red and black peppers and stir well.

For the dressing, place the olive oil in a salad dressing bottle with the 2 cloves of garlic. Add 1/2 TBSP Dijon mustard and about an ounce of red wine vinegar. Put the lid on the bottle/jar and shake well until the dressing emulsifies. Toss the salad with the dressing and refrigerate for a minimum of one hour.

Saturday Night Special

Last night was Italian night at our house with my brother-in-law treating us to some delicious spaghetti with meat balls, shrimp lasagna rolls and prosciutto mozzarella appetizers. We sampled wine and porked out on the food. It was a good night and I am so happy to have close family who also loves to cook. The spaghetti was delicious again today for lunch...my brother-in-law is like my mom in that they prepare way too much food for gatherings. And in this economy, actually in any economy, we like leftovers in this household.

Today has been a dreary day. And as much as I really wanted to get out and dig and chainsaw in the backyard, the forced down time was good for us. We watched Wreck It Ralph and Here Comes the Boom with the kiddos.

David had a soccer game before the rain hit and his team won (again)! David has a pattern in which he scores the winning (or the last, depending on how high the score is) goal. He is really relishing these wins because he is on a new team. His first team in the Fall won every game and so had some reservations about playing on a new team (he was worried they were going to lose). I personally think that he needs to experience a few losses to be humbled and know that life is not all about winning. But Lord help us when that first loss happens...

The girls and I hit the mall while the guys were at the soccer fields. We had to get some pants for the Emster and socks for the Little Ones. Just in time for the warmer weather too... We also hit Natural Grocers to pick up some stuff they don't have at Homeland (ingredients to make "wheat meat" and other hippie food). I have wanted to make seitan for a while now, ever since I saw how easy it was on HHH and now I have all of the ingredients in my pantry...it's on the menu for later this week.

Making Greek Cucumber Salad

Greek Inspired Dinner (Lemon Chicken with Brown Rice and Greek Yogurt/Cucumber Salad)

My little helper also helped me make another pecan pie like we made 2 months ago using this recipe, but it didn't come out the same. It might be because I was trying to "healthy" it up a little by swapping out corn syrup with brown rice syrup. It seemed a bit soupy the first time out of the oven....and also the 2nd time out of the oven 20 minutes later.  I am sure I messed the custard up earlier, not mixing it up properly because I don't think that corn/rice syrup made the difference. I will have to test that theory out later this week.

Meanwhile, this pie works as a topping for vanilla ice cream and milk mixture.

Corn-Fusion Cooking

Wednesday night after work I was scrambling around the kitchen for a healthy meal to cook after I had text-suggested to Scott that we have pizza for dinner. I thought better of that suggestion when I got home and wanted to unwind from the day in the kitchen. Previously when gathering groceries, I envisioned making a Mexican type salad with roasted corn but I got hung up on what to use for dressing.

Can you picture me staring up at the selection of ready made dressings in Walmart? Scott had to circle back (twice) to retrieve me in the dressing aisle. I ended up selecting 3 bottles that I thought I could make do with...

So, anyway, I had some ground turkey, corn on the cob, spring salad and cilantro.  Once in the kitchen I decided to go Asian (it's in my blood!) and try to make something similar to Swiss Chicken Salad that's been in my repertoire since high school (something we served in the Frusen Gladje deli).

Swiss Chicken Salad

chicken breasts, chopped into small pieces
olive oil (back then we used spray Pam)
garlic minced or pressed (back then we used garlic powder)
soy sauce
apple, chopped into bite sized pieces
pecans
grapes
celery, chopped into bite sized pieces
sour cream

Saute the chicken breasts in olive oil and garlic and soy sauce. Once cooked, let the chicken and sauce cool in the fridge (or freezer) while you assemble the rest of the salad (this step can be done ahead and it's always a good thing to have swiss chicken at the ready in the fridge). Chop up the apples and celery and place into a big bowl, then add pecan halves and grapes and the cooled chicken with a dollop of sour cream. Mix well and serve with buttered bread (or not). Yummy! I have served this for friends and family for years and there are always suggestions on more ingredients to add (like pineapple). I have never deviated, actually, except for the subbing olive oil for Pam and real garlic for garlic powder (made it more healthy).

I didn't have any celery or grapes on hand so I couldn't make Swiss Turkey Salad (but that sounds delish too!) and I wanted roasted corn in the salad. So I coated the corn with toasted sesame oil and salt and put it in the oven and then started cooking the turkey in canola oil with garlic and soy sauce.



Asian Sesame Turkey Salad

ground turkey cooked in olive/canola oil, pressed garlic and soy sauce and cooled
sesame roasted corn cut/scraped from the cobs (I used all 5 cobs that I had on hand)
spring salad mix
pecans (from my back yard!)
carrot slivers
diced bell pepper
cilantro
ginger 
lemon juice
1 package of crunched up ramen noodles

Dressing: a mixture of Kraft's Asian Toasted Sesame Anything Dressing and Olde Cape Cod Toasted Sesame Ginger Soy (fat free) dressing plus I added some toasted sesame oil, pressed fresh ginger and the juice of a lemon to bring it all together.

[Note: I did not have any Annie's Naturals Shiitake & Sesame Vinaigrette on hand or I'd have gone with that - so good!]

Mix all ingredients together and enjoy to your heart's content. Crunchy, savory and healthy...

It's Been An Asian Kinda Day

Recently a friend from high school posted a request  on FaceBook for good lumpia in Norman. I posted that there were no filipino food options in Norman - save for a possibility of some on the buffet at Riverwind - and that I would gladly show her how to make lumpia. Any excuse to make lumpia is a good excuse.

We started off the day with Egg Fried Rice for breakfast and then we got busy working in the yard.

My friend came over at lunchtime and we got busy frying some rolls that I had already prepared. After we had eaten a couple I showed her which wrappers to use (Simex lumpia wrappers) and how to properly roll lumpia. We ate lumpia until our bellies were full and then we sent my friend home with some rolls to fry for her mom.

Summertime Pho and Naked Ladies

After drooling over the pictures of the pho in Aura's last post and finding myself with some leftover pork roast, an abundance of cilantro, basil and limes, I decided to make pho for my family last night. All of the kiddos have had some sinusy thing going on (summer colds?) and I thought a nice broth with fresh herbs and alkalizing limes would help them to kick this sinus junk.

Into my organic chicken broth I put thinly sliced leftover pork and half moon onions. I let that simmer for a bit with some cinnamon and fish sauce then I added some fresh ginger and cilantro. I cooked the rice noodles in the soup so as not to heat up my kitchen unnecessarily with another pot of water (this is not preferred as the rice noodles will have absorbed the wonderful broth when you go back for your second bowl of pho).

I wish you could smell this...heaven in a bowl.

I love that my kids love my cooking as we tend to have quite a variety of dishes served in our home. They all ate healthy amounts of the fresh herbs and broth but stayed clear of the jalapeno and Srirachi sauce...no premature enlightenment for them.

Earlier when I went out to snip the basil I saw some unexpected blooms in my back yard:

Naked Lady Lilies

It was a very satisfying dinner with my family and I feel blessed that we can all be together for a home cooked meal.

Happy Friday Eve, friends!

Miso Hungry

During my first trip to the new Natural Grocers I picked up a bottle of something I thought looked interesting: Miso Mayo. I like miso. I like mayo...why not?

"MISO MAYO is made with miso from Hawaii, and is hand-packed in small batches to ensure quality and freshness. The full-bodied umami flavor of MISO MAYO enhances and completes many different foods..."

Umami, indeed.

During an evening when I had nothing planned for dinner and the natives were getting restless, I inventoried the kitchen and found tortillas at the ready, fish sticks in the freezer, mixed herb salad in the crisper and Miso Mayo, ready to try. I baked up the fish sticks and made Fish Tacos for the family and they were a hit. I can't recall if I took photos of the finished dish or the process but it was really easy and certainly not the worst thing we could have eaten health-wise.

I squirted some Miso Mayo on a tortilla, placed 4 or so fish sticks on top of that and then added in a handful of herb salad and a squeeze of lime. Et voila! As I recall, the whole family gave this dish a "thumbs up".  We also used a little chipotle sour cream to kick it up a notch. Yum!  

Sangria, Sangria

Each year for the lake party we make some really good sangria for the non-beer drinkers (the beer drinkers are welcome to the sangria too). A friend of mine makes the wine himself (yum) and donates 2 cases to the party. We typically can make 20 gallons of sangria with that much wine. I wanted to share the recipe with you in case you might like to make some for a party.

Time to make the sangria!

A Very Good Thing

LAKE PARTY SANGRIA (makes 5 gallons!!)

6 bottles Red Wine
3 cups Brandy
1 Large Can Frozen OJ concentrate
3 Lemons, sliced
6 Limes, sliced
4 Oranges, sliced
6 Applies, sliced
Strawberries, sliced
Pineapple, Blueberries (frozen works too)
4 liters Lemon/Lime soda

Mix the wine, brandy and OJ concentrate together, then add all of the fruit and let marinate overnight (or as long as you can stand it). Add the soda and serve. I like to add frozen fruit in with the cold soda to chill the mixture for the party. We usually start out with two 5 gallon coolers available and add vino, brandy, OJ and soda to the marinated fruit when we deplete that...Enjoy!

Sunset at the Lake

Unlikely to Be Liked...And Yet

We have been trying to clear out the fridge and pantry of items in an effort to not be wasteful and use up stuff we've bought and stored. I am surprised at the creativity I can muster up when pressured with avoiding a trip to the grocery. Last night I knew I'd be roasting veggies left over from the veggie tray on Sunday (cauliflower, baby carrots and orange peppers tossed in olive oil, salt and pepper) but I wanted something to go with, something hearty for my family.

I had some Cavatappi pasta, bacon (leftover from the best Corn Chowder recipe ever), partial wedges of parmesan and sharp cheddar, whipping cream and some frozen baby lima beans.

I fried the chopped bacon pieces and placed them on top of the defrosted baby limas while the pasta was cooking. Using some of the bacon grease in the pan I added a couple of tablespoons of flour to form a roux, then added the cream plus a little milk slowly to create a sort of bechamel sauce as the base for the cheese sauce. I grated the parmesan and added it all to the bechamel with some nutmeg and stirred. I drained the pasta and placed it with the lima beans and bacon into a lightly buttered casserole dish and mixed it well. Then I put the grated cheddar on top of the pasta and poured the cheesy sauce all over the pasta. I added some bread crumbs to the top (panko crumbs are the best!) and I put it in the oven to warm with the roasted veggies.

This dish was a big hit with the family! I was surprised because I hated lima beans when I was a kid - of course those were served plain. The last time I cooked with lima beans was a success too - Roasted Cod with Lima Beans but this was my different take on mac 'n cheese with tuna and peas. Everyone got seconds of this dish!

Vegging Out

Many times over the Summer my oldest daughter Emi (of course, who else?) has mentioned wanting to become a vegan. While I am behind this wonderful idea, I am not sure I want her to be vegan every day. Vegetarian, no problem, we are ALL for eating less meat and we frequently eat vegetarian dishes, but I want her to be realistic. It's not that I don't have faith (so much) but we do have other meat/cheese/egg eaters in the house and that might cause her to eat non-Vegan food sometimes. And I hesitate to completely rule out a food group/type because we have to be flexible and we live in Oklahoma. A few years back we leaned towards Mostly Macrobiotic eating with mostly organic food but we were flexible with food (and a fair amount leaner I might add).

But to support her endeavor and also to expose the Little Ones to some newer foods I am tracking down some Vegan recipes to add to our tried and true keepers (not necessarily vegan or vegetarian, but maybe). We've made hummus before and truly prefer it over the nasty store bought stuff so I thought we could make hummus sammies for everyone's lunch today. We'd run out of tahini so we used peanut butter. Our hummus was very good and this is what was in it (all organic):

1 can garbanzo beans, drained
drizzle of olive oil
peanut butter
juice of 1 lemon
1 garlic clove pressed/minced
salt

For the sandwiches we spooned hummus into whole wheat pitas pockets and added in slices of avocado! Yummers! We wanted to add alfalfa sprouts but our local Target did not have any...(boo). We even packed hummus sammies in the Little Ones lunch boxes. The hubs texted me at lunch that his hummus sandwich was "awesome" and "soooo good". We also packed yellow pepper strips and grape tomatoes for sides and yogurt (not vegan, see what I mean?).

Alpha State

Emi's teacher gave her class a recipe (Edwina's recipe, actually) for chocolate chip cookies made with yellow cake mix, 1 egg, 1/4 c. brown sugar, 3/4 c. veg oil and 1 cup chocolate chips. We made a batch and immediately had to send over a dozen to the neighbors so that we wouldn't be responsible for wolfing them down. Of course we will have to answer for the remaining 2 dozen that disappeared....

Purple Majesty

So we located some Purple Majesty Potatoes while we were at the first ever Norman Music Festival and I finally tried that recipe I found on Smitten Kitchen and save for a little deviation (no pepper), the resultant potatoes were scrumptious! Two days in a row! Hot with fish one day, then cold with chicken the next.

Michael Anthony’s Fork-Crushed Purple Majesty Potatoes

1 lb. Purple Majesty Potatoes, washed
4 small shallots, minced
2 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice
6 tablespoons good extra-virgin olive oil
Fleur de sel to taste
White pepper to taste (I omitted pepper)
2 tablespoons parsley, chopped

In a large pot, cook potatoes with skins on in heavily salted boiling water until tender, approximately 15 minutes. Remove potatoes from pot, and peel them while still warm. (1) Place potatoes in a large bowl and, using a fork, gently smash them, maintaining a fairly chunky consistency. (2) Fold in minced shallots, lemon juice, olive oil, fleur de sel, and white pepper. (3) Finish with parsley. Serves 4.

Foodie Goodies...

Last weekend I saw Ellie Krieger make Thai-Style Halibut with Coconut-Curry Broth and I thought to myself - What a wonderful addition to my repertoire THAT might be! So we tried the recipe last night, with some ingredient substitutions and YUMMERS! The recipe calls for halibut obviously, but my store only had salmon and tilapia.

So, we went with the tilapia. And instead of shallots, we used green onions because that's what I had on hand and ditto with the lemon for a lime. Scott scoured another store for the last can of coconut milk because we didn't feel this could be substituted. I sauteed the onion and added in the wonderful curry paste, then added the chicken stock and coconut milk. [NOTE: This broth tastes a lot like the Tom Yon Gai that we used to enjoy from Royal Thai when we lived in Dallas.]

After the broth cooked down a little, I added the salted tilapia, covered the pot and cooked for 7 minutes. Meanwhile, Emi was steaming spinach in the microwave. When the fish was done, we mounded Jasmati rice and steamed spinach on plates, then placed the wonderful fish on top. To the broth/sauce we added cilantro, green onion and lemon juice stirring briefly over the heat, then we ladled the broth into the bowls.

OMG! The end result was so good! Emi told me that it was the best fish I'd ever cooked and even enjoyed the heat from the curry. This recipe is definitely a keeper.

Monday night we made Mongolian Chicken with water chestnuts and green onion. It was also very yummy served with brown rice cooked a la Alton Brown's method (baked!). I had suggested Mongolian Beef for the menu, but Emi wanted to mix it up a little so mix it up we did! Happy with
those results too! We marinated the chicken thigh strips in a mixture of veggie oil, soy sauce, corn starch, ginger and garlic for about an hour, then cooked the chicken quickly in the wok adding about a cup of water after the chicken was mostly cooked. We added water chestnuts and green onion and covered the pot to let the sauce thicken.

As a side dish we served a soybean/green bean/mushroom medley (frozen Archer Farms product) that complemented the Mongolian Chicken nicely.