Adventures in our Kitchen

Grecian Pork Tenderloin

2010-03-07T18:38:00.002-05:00

Another winner from allrecipes.com is this delish pork recipe. It calls for 1 1/2 cups of fresh lime juice...holy lot of limes! I squeezed an entire bag of limes and only had 1 cup. That was plenty of juice for 2.5lbs of tenderloin so you can definitely decrease the amount of marinade from what the original recipe calls for. It's simple ingredients, marinated for a few hours, then cooked. The recipe says to grill it, but I just baked it and it was wonderful.

The meat was super tender from all the acidic lime juice, and it had a wonderful flavor. Highly recommend!

Strawberry Sour Cream Ice Cream

2010-03-04T19:31:00.004-05:00

I got a new cookbook...just in time for Spring.

The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz is full of tasty looking recipes for ice cream, sorbet, sherbet, granitas, and various toppings and mix-ins. There are the usual suspects like chocolate, vanilla, peach and coffee but then there are some really unique ones such as avocado, olive oil, and lavender and honey. If you like making ice cream, you need this book!

Publix had Florida strawberries on sale that looked good, and I had some sour cream in the fridge I got for free using coupons last week, so we tried this one:

Strawberry Sour Cream Ice Cream

Unfortunately neither of us really cared for it, I think it was the sour cream. It was not very sweet, and while it didn't taste at all like sour cream it was definitely more tart than what we like. There's nothing at all wrong with the recipe though, it turned out perfectly so if you are a fan of not-too-sweet desserts, you may love this one. Me? I'll have my ice cream minus the sour cream please.

Cake Success!

2010-03-01T13:26:00.002-05:00

I tried the pound cake again (recipe from previous post) and baked it in the Razorback pan. It turned out great! The only problem with this pan is that the snout and tail sections get tough and overcooked in order to get the thickest middle part done. But that's the price you pay for a super cool Hog cake.

Honestly, the fallen-apart ugly cake from last time tasted better although this one is much more presentable. All in all, this recipe is a winner and you can do so much with it as far as mixing in chocolate chips, adding different glazes, etc.

Um...another cake flop

2010-02-25T18:51:00.002-05:00

Sour Cream Pound Cake from allrecipes.com

I'm not sure exactly what went wrong. Maybe I didn't adequately grease and flour the pan? The recipe actually calls for a loaf pan, so maybe that would have worked better. After I already had this one in the oven, I read the reviews on allrecipes.com and a lot of people said they doubled the recipe to make it in a bundt pan. It was pretty short, so a double recipe would probably have fit perfectly. I only cooked it 40 min, not the 60 min that the recipe called for and it was done at 40 so start checking around 35 minutes or so.

So it looks crummy, but how does it taste? Holy sweet deliciousness, thank goodness I don't have gestational diabetes so I can eat this cake good!!!! I made a butterscotch glaze out of butter, sugar, a little water, and Buttershots butterscotch liquor (if I can't drink it, at least I can cook with it).

Maybe it's a good thing it didn't turn out pretty, now I will be forced not to take it in public but instead to keep it here and eat it myself..you know, wouldn't want to subject anyone else to ugly pound cake:)

The Day of the Steak and Cake Flop

2010-01-20T19:25:00.004-05:00

I share my successes so I'll share my failures as well.

FAILURE #1 Steak in a cast iron skillet

I read these two sets of instructions for cooking perfect steaks in your cast iron skillets and thought it looked easy enough. You start it on the stove then move to the oven.

Where I went wrong: "always salt generously" it makes a great crust and a juicy steak--I guess I salted TOO generously because it turned out so salty I almost couldn't eat it, and I like salty food. I followed the advice to cook in the oven for 10 minutes and this was WAAAAY too long if you like your steak anything other than well done. So I took a beautiful filet mignon and made it taste like salty burned beef jerky, nice.

Another problem is the smoke. I mean, like A LOT of smoke...open all the doors and it's still really smoky in the house an hour later lot of smoke. The recipe warns you that it will smoke, but I have to believe that this much smoke is not normal or nobody would cook steaks in the skillet ever. I wish I had taken a picture at it's worst so you could understand just how smoky it was.

FAILURE #2 vanilla cake with oreo buttercream

In theory this should have been gorgeous and delicious but, alas, that was not the case in my kitchen today.

White layer cake:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 egg whites, room temp.
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/3 cups buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour 2 9-in round pans. In large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add egg whites one at a time, mixing after each. Beat in vanilla.

2. In separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to creamed mixture alternating with buttermilk in thirds. Mix but don't overbeat after each addition. You can do this part with a spatula instead of mixer.

3. Spread evenly into prepared pans. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Where I went wrong: My last couple of cakes have come out just a bit drier than I would like and I think it was from overbaking them, so naturally this one came out underbaked. I took them out at 25 minutes because they were pulling away from the edges slightly and the top kinda bounced back after I touched it. I guess it wasn't quite to that "spring back" stage that it should be because it is definitely a little batter-like still. Tastes good though:)

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
1/2 cup butter
4 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
5-6 Tbs milk

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter until light and fluffy. Beat in sugar and vanilla. Add enough milk to achieve desired consistency.

Where I went wrong: I think the powdered sugar/liquid ration is off in this recipe because the end result tasted way too powdered sugary and not enough buttercreamy. I think it needs less sugar and more butter. I added crushed up oreos to the icing, but the oreo chunks combined with the texture of the icing made it impossible to spread. The not-quite-done cake kept coming off in chunks because it would get stuck in the cement-like icing. Let's just say I'm really glad this was just a practice/for fun cake and not one I was taking anywhere because I would have had to start over. I still think the oreos can work, the just need to be pulverized in the food processor first so they don't impair the spreadability of the frosting.

Parmesan Crusted Salmon and Winter Squash with Cranberries and Raisins

2010-01-19T19:37:00.003-05:00

I'm still trying to use up the giant vat of parmesan in the fridge so I searched allrecipes.com for 5 star parmesan recipes and found up this one. We agree, 5 stars!

Parmesan Crusted Salmon- seriously try this if you like salmon. Rich said it was one of his favorites ever. Take a second to read the recipe, then I'll tell you what I did differently. Ok, once I put the fish in the pan (a large skillet not a saucepan like the recipe says) I had to keep adding more wine and teriyaki sauce because it kept reducing away. It was fine because I had plenty and it resulted in a more concentrated flavor in the end, but you'll need more on hand than what the recipe calls for. I didn't have any teriyaki sauce so I just mixed up some soy sauce, sherry, a pinch of sugar, some garlic and dried ginger as a substitute teriyaki sauce. I added more parmesan and some sea salt for a little salty crunch after taking it out of the pan.

Winter Squash with Cranberries and Raisins-
adapted from Vegetarian Times Complete Cookbook

2 acorn squash, halved and seeded
1/2 cup fresh cranberries, or frozen berries, thawed
1 small apple, chopped
1/4 cup raisins, chopped
juice and grated zest of a small orange
1.5 Tbs honey
pinch of salt
2 Tbs butter

1. Preheat oven to 375. Place the squash in a lightly greased baking dish, cut size up

2. Combine the berries, apple, raisins, orange juice, zest, honey and salt in a bowl. Put half the mixture into each squash half. Place 1 Tbs (or less if you want) butter on top of the mixture in each half.

3. Bake until the squash is tender, about 30-45 minutes. Every 15 minutes baste some of the liquid from the center around the edges of the squash to keep the flesh from drying out. Remove from oven and serve warm.

Pork Loin 2 Ways and Winter Salad with Roasted Beets and Citrus Reduction Dressing

2010-01-18T07:41:00.003-05:00

Since the packages of pork tenderloins actually have two in them, I decided to try out a couple different recipes. One I chose because I had lots of fresh grated parmesan leftover from the spaghetti carbonara, the other because I had peach preserves on hand and thought it would go well with pork. Both are from allrecipes.com:

Parmesan Pork Tenderloin is in the skillet on the left, and Spicy Peach-Glazed Pork Chops is in the skillet on the right.

We both loved the parmesan version, but neither of us really cared for the peach. I love peaches and most things peach-flavored but I just don't think I like the combo of cinnamon and sweetness on meat. The parmesan got a nice crispy crust and was excellent. It will definitely be going in the keeper file.

We also had a salad from the Dec 2009 Cooking Light:

Winter Salad with Roasted Beets and Citrus Reduction Dressing

Rich has never had beets and it was questionable as to whether or not he would try or like it, but he did try it and he didn't hate them...success! The recipe calls for goat cheese which neither of us care for so I bought feta, but then forgot to use it. I also just used regular red leaf lettuce instead of the Boston lettuce/watercress/radicchio combo in the recipe. I tried to tell him that the shallots in the dressing were like a bigger bulb of garlic but he wasn't buying it. He said "those taste like onions" so we had to strain the shallots out, but the dressing was still great.

Here are the beets after roasting and removing the stems and roots. You then peel and slice them.

Dinner!

Red Lentil Soup

2010-01-17T15:35:00.003-05:00

Red Lentil Soup from the Vegetarian Times complete cookbook. I couldn't find red lentils at my local store and didn't feel like making another trip to go to Whole Foods so I just used regular lentils. It tastes great, but maybe next time the red lentils will make it even better. This is a pureed soup packed with healthy stuff.

3 Tbs vegetable oil

2 medium onions, chopped

1 cup red lentils

3 medium carrots, peeled and roughly chopped

About 2 cups canned coconut milk

1 tsp salt, or to taste

1 bay leaf

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 one-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and minced

1 Tbs curry powder

1/2 cup chopped cilantro (I used dried)

1. Heat 2 Tbs oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and cook, stirring often, until they start to brown, about 10 minutes. Add 4 cups of water, lentils, carrots, coconut milk, salt and the bay leaf. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cook partially covered until the lentils are tender, about 20 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, heat the remaining 1 Tbs oil in small skillet over medium heat., Add garlic, ginger, curry powder and cilantro. Cook, stirring often, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add to the soup.

3. Remove the bay leaf and puree the soup in batches in the blender or food processor.

Sorry, no pic of this one.

Spaghetti Carbonara

2010-01-16T20:45:00.000-05:00

Spaghetti Carbonara from allrecipes.com

I made this as a way to use up leftover cooked bacon. Rich doesn't like onions so I substituted onion powder, and since I didn't have to cook the bacon or chop and sautee the onion this came together extremely fast. It was quick, easy and tasty. You could definitely make it healthier by using less oil, turkey or canadian bacon and whole wheat pasta and adding in some peas or broccoli. It's a good base recipe to play around with.

Brown Butter Vanilla Cake with Chocolate Ganache and Caramel Buttercream

2010-01-16T17:52:00.006-05:00

Now that's a mouthful, both the name and the cake itself.

This thing took me literally about 6 hours from start to finish, and I think every utensil in the kitchen is dirty. But it was a fun way to spend a rainy Saturday and Rich and I both give it two thumbs way up.

Here's the blog with the recipe. I made a few slight modifications. I don't have a whisk or paddle attachment for my stand mixer so I used my hand mixer for everything, just on low when it called for the paddle attachment. I wasn't sure how to heat the egg + sugar mixture over a pan of simmering water, so I heated it over medium in a saucepan and used a candy thermometer to cook to 160 degrees. The ganache was a bit of a disaster. First, I accidentally used unsweetened chocolate. Rich tasted it and made a face and I realized what I'd done, so I remelted the chocolate and added sugar. Then after chilling and mixing, it was a dry crumbly mess so I reheated again and just tried to get it to some sort of spreadable texture.

I'm not sure I'd make this very often because it is a lot of work, but the brown butter vanilla base is great and would make a great sheetcake with the caramel icing for a lot less time and effort.

Here are some of the steps in pictures:

Start by making the browned butter, which is basically just cooking the butter until it reaches the appropriate color and smell. I just googled and read about this a little to help me judge it.

This is the browned butter, poured into a bowl to go in the fridge. It has to chill and harden to be used in the cake.

To make the ganache, finely chop the chocolate (SEMIsweet, not UNsweet), then pour the hot cream over, let sit a minute, then stir. In theory...but mine didn't all melt so I had to add more cream and microwave a few seconds.

Once I realized it was unsweetened, I scooped some out and remelted with sugar then rechilled.

Bake the brown butter vanilla cake layers, put in pans on wire rack for about 20 minutes to cool, then run knife around edges of cakes and turn out onto racks to finish cooling.

This is the buttercream frosting before the addition of the caramel.

The caramel, made by cooking sugar and water then cooling slightly. You mix this with the buttercream.

The two layers with the chocolate ganache in the middle.

The finished product...looks great to me!

Ready to eat.

Granny's Chocolate Cake

2010-01-16T11:36:00.003-05:00

Preheat oven to 350 and bring 3 eggs to room temperature. Grease and flour three 9 inch round cake pans.
Sift 2.5 cups flour, 1/2 cup Hershey's cocoa powder, 2 tsp baking soda and 1 tsp salt together.
In separate bowl, cream 1 cup crisco or butter, 2 cups sugar for 3-4 minutes with a mixer.
Add 2 tsp vanilla extract and 3 eggs, one at a time and mix after each one.
Add a total of 1 cup of buttermilk and all the flour mixture, but in thirds alternating flour/buttermilk starting and ending with flour. Do not overbeat.
Add 1 cup boiling water and mix until smooth.
Bake at 350 about 25-27 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Cool pans for 10 minutes then turn cakes out onto wire racks to cool completely. Once cakes are cool, make frosting.

Frosting:

Melt 1 stick butter in saucepan. Add 3.5 Tbs cocoa and stir until smooth. Add 5-7 Tbs
milk and bring to boil. Add 1 lb sifted confectioners sugar, 1 tsp vanilla and a dash of salt.

Let cool just a little but frost cakes while frosting is still warm enough to spread easily.

This is my favorite cake in the world. Granny, my mom's mom, makes this every year for my birthday and it is the best! She gave me the recipe a couple years ago and I finally got around to trying it. The writing in purple are things that she didn't include in the recipe that should be included for those of us who don't know what we're doing.

I had found some aprons online that I just thought were adorable so my parents printed out the pics, bought fabric and the pattern and Granny made me two for Christmas. How special is that?? Here's one of them, it's got cupcakes all over it. The other is pink and brown polka dots. I'm greasing and flouring the cake pans.

Somehow even with the awesome apron I still managed to get flour on my black shirt on the hip area. Anytime I use flour or powdered sugar I wind up covered in it.

The finished product from the top looks pretty good. Check out that cake stand...another new but vintage addition to the kitchen from Ebay. Love love love it!

Side view...not so good. I let the icing cool which was wrong because it was too thick and resulted in using way too much between the layers and not leaving any for the outside of the cake. I also need some work on evening up the layers so I don't have a leaning cake. This cake stand is huge, much wider than the standard sized cake pans so for presentation I think next time I'll decorate around the edges with chocolate covered strawberries or something similar so there's not so much blank space between the cake and the fluted edge of the stand. I also need to get a glass dome to cover the stand so the cake doesn't dry out.

Gran's are always much prettier and a little tastier, but it wasn't too terrible for a first attempt.

Cooking with the family: Lost Bread, Baked Brie, Shrimp & Grits, and She-Crab Soup

2010-01-16T11:34:00.007-05:00

Warning: You may gain 10lbs and increase your cholesterol just by reading this post.

Rich is from south Arkansas, about 15 minutes from Louisiana and his stepdad is from LA so he grew up with a lot of Cajun foods. One of our favorites is the Cajun take on French toast, called Lost Bread or Pain Perdu in French. It originated as a way to use up leftover French bread. His mom always makes this for us for breakfast, but using regular bread instead of French bread. While my family were here visiting over the holidays, Rich took over the breakfast tradition and made Lost Bread for us all.

Cece's Lost Bread

3 eggs
4 Tbs sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
small can Pet milk
butter

Beat eggs well then stir in sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. Add enough Pet milk
"to achieve correct consistency" (don't you just love family recipes like this:)) Melt butter in electric skillet (or on the stove if you prefer) at 350 degrees, melt enough to completely cover bottom of skillet. Dip 4 pieces of white or wheat bread, one at a time, in the egg mixture until bread feels heavy but does not tear. Place in skillet. Brown completely on one side. Pick up each slice of bread before turning and melt more butter underneath it, then turn over and place on melted butter to brown the other side. Serve warm with powdered sugar and syrup.

The menfolk cooking breakfast for the ladies. Rich was making the Lost Bread while Dad made bacon and eggs.

A couple nights we just did an hors d'ourvres style dinner with chips & salsa, a cheese/meat/cracker tray, olives, fruit and baked brie. I had never baked brie before so I made the mistake of buying a wedge instead of a wheel. Bake wedge=melted cheese runs out the side. It still tasted delicious though. I added some chopped butter, brown sugar and pecans underneath and on top of the cheese and baked in small baking dish in the oven. We served with crackers and apples..YUM!

Shrimp & Grits is the quintessential Charleston meal. There are several different varieties, some using a brown gravy sauce and some using more of a barbecue or tomato based sauce. This recipe uses brown gravy. It's not gravy like you would put on mashed potatoes, so if you're not a gravy fan I wouldn't let that deter you if the rest of the recipe sounds good to you. I'm not sure what kind of grits you're used to but the ones here are different from what I was used to in Arkansas. They are thicker, creamier and heartier..and more delicious! We made some modifications to the recipe, adding more cheese and some cream to the grits to really fatten it up and make it richer. It turned out really great but it could use a little kick if you like your food a little spicier so I think next time I will add a bit of red pepper or more hot sauce at the end.

Dad and I peeling and deveining the shrimp that we bought from a local seafood market.

Dad chopping veggies.

Sh e-Crab Soup is also a very Lowcountry dish. It's a rich, creamy bisque-like soup. We cheated a bit and used a mix for the soup base but it was wonderful and was easily as good as what we've gotten in some of Charleston's finest restaurants. Mom cooked the soup and added quite a bit of extra butter and cream, so I think next time I'll cut that back to keep it from being quite so rich. You can order the mix online at amazon, and can used canned crab so you can bring a bit of the Lowcountry to your kitchen wherever that may be!

Mom making the soup in my very awesome new but vintage Le Creuset dutch oven from the '50s.

Everything cooking on the stove.

Time to eat! I even put my juice in a wine glass to be festive.

Of course we had to have dessert. This is my Aunt Beth making a cake. It was a boxed yellow cake with homemade chocolate peanut butter frosting.

Feel like you need to run 26.2 miles to work that off??

Pumpkin Bread and Orange Cranberry Loaf

2009-12-12T15:42:00.005-05:00

I pulled out some fun baking pans and made a batch of pumpkin bread batter. I made heart-shaped muffins, a Razorback loaf and regular loaf + white chocolate chips. Then I made one loaf of orange-cranberry bread to use up some fresh cranberries I had. Both these recipes came from allrecipes.com so you can read other cooks' reviews for ideas on modifications. For the pumpkin, I supstituted applesauce for half the oil. I didn't modify anything on the orange-cranberry. These make great breakfasts, snacks and dessert, yum!

Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread

Orange Cranberry Loaf

White Bean Chili, Pumpkin Roll and Vanilla-Maple Steamer

2009-12-08T13:05:00.006-05:00

White Bean Chili

Here's what you'll need.

Rich is not a fan of anything soup-like so he ate his with a fork to avoid the broth and onion.

I cooked the chili in my enameled cast iron dutch oven (aka french oven) and some cornbread in my newly resurfaced and reseasoned cast iron skillet.

Pumpkin Roll

Here's what you'll need.

You turn the cooked portion out onto a powdered sugar coated dish towel (clean and dry of course).

Then you roll it all up together.

After it cools, you unroll and frost, then later re-roll, chill and slice. Next time I'll use a larger jelly roll pan and a thinner dish towel to get a tighter roll, although this did turn out pretty well.

Vanilla-Almond Steamer

I didn't have almond extract so I used maple, and it was delicious. A nice nonalcoholic, decaffeinated alternative to something like a Bailey's and coffee.

Some new gadgets and scalloped potatoes

2009-12-08T11:58:00.002-05:00

When we were in Arkansas over Thanksgiving, I was able to go visit my dear friend Kendra. We have been friends for about 17 years if I'm doing my math right. She had a little goodie bag for me for my 30th birthday. How cute is this stuff?? We used the mouse cheese grater and monkey veggie peeler when cooking the scalloped potatoes. I used the gorgeous reusable grocery bag at the store this morning. Thanks again Kendra!

Out of this World Scalloped Potatoes- these turned out great!

Very cheesy and yummy, a good comfort food to go with a meat and green veggie. It was supposed to contain green onions but after chopping them up, I forgot to actually add them. Oh well, it was great without them.

Wooo I finally cooked again!

2009-12-04T14:51:00.004-05:00

It has been a long time since I've cooked. Being pregnant just zapped the energy and desire to prepare food right out of me. I got a new cookbook as an early Christmas present and some fun new kitchen gadgets for my birthday (pics to come) so I had some motivation to get back in the kitchen. I didn't want to let the whole fall/winter food season pass me by without using some of my favorite ingredients for this time of year like pumpkin, sweet potatoes, squash and cranberries.

This is my new cookbook and it's going to be the source of my December recipes. I flipped thru it and it has a ton of great looking recipes.

This morning I made Orange-Cranberry-Glazed Pork Tenderloin and it was wonderful. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture but it turned out great. I only had jellied cranberry sauce, not whole-berry sauce, and it turned out fine. Quick, easy and delish!

I also made Belgian Wassail, a nonalcoholic warm holiday punch. I halved the recipe but accidentally forgot to halve the sugar so it wound up being extra sweet. I had a big mug before work and am looking forward to another one when I get home from work tonight.

While the above 2 recipes turned out wonderfully, the 3rd was a huge fail. I won't even bother giving you a link to the recipe. It was for a peanut butter cookie, rolled in powdered sugar....sounds great but turned out very floury and dry and I wound up tossing the whole batch in the trash. Oh well, 2/3 isn't bad!

I'm excited to have some actual home cooked food leftover for dinner tonight. I brought some of the pork loin and a baked sweet potato. Unfortunately I ran out of time before I had to leave for work so poor Richard is going to come home to a sink full of dirty dishes and a dishwasher full of clean dishes needing to be put away....bets on whether it'll still be there when I get home a few hours later?:)

Juicing

2009-10-17T11:29:00.001-04:00

So cooking has not been going so well this month...oh well, it's a process right? I have been juicing quite a bit so I thought I would share a little of that with you here. Two years ago my awesome mother-in-law got me a Jack Lalanne Power Juicer and I love it!! It's a great way to get in some fruits and veggies. While the pulp is discarded and you miss out on the nutrients and fiber it contains, homemade juice is still far superior to what you would buy in a store. It has no added sugar or preservatives, and is as fresh as it gets. I have The Complete Idiot's Guide to Juicing and it's got some great recipe ideas and general juicing tips.

I made some fruity carrot juice with apples, grapes, carrots, oranges and a hint of lime. You could also easily sneak some other kind of veggie in here since the sweetness of the fruit helps mask the flavor. You peel the oranges and lime, pull the grapes off the stem and quarter the apples, then drop them in the shoot and out comes the juice.

I know it doesn't look that appetizing, but this one is delicious. Ya'll know how picky Rich is about all things health-food and he loved this one.

Next up is a mango/yellow bell pepper juice with some celery, orange and lime added. You remove the seeds and half the pepper, peel and seed the mango, and peel the orange and lime.

Here's the celery going in the juicer, you can see the juice coming out and going directly into the glass.

The only bad thing about juicing, other than the vast quantities of pricey organic fruit and veggies that we use, is the cleanup. You have to disassemble and clean after every use which takes about 5 minutes. It's really not that big of a deal, and a small price to pay for fresh, healthy juice.

Chicken in a mustard pan sauce with risotto and veggies and homemade brownies

2009-10-05T11:20:00.004-04:00

Chicken in Mustard Pan Sauce

Ingredients
4 boneless chicken breasts (halved, with skin, about 2 lbs) Note: I used skinless
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup white wine
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons whole grain mustard
1 tablespoon unsalted butter (optional)
salt
pepper

Directions
1Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Pat chicken dry . Season with salt and pepper. Add the oil to the hot pan and swirl to evenly coat. Lay chicken in pan skin side down; cook without moving the pieces until the skin crisps and browns, about 5 minutes. Flip chicken and cook about another 3 minutes. Transfer to a baking dish, skin side up, and bake until cooked through, about 10 minutes.
3Pour the wine into the hot skillet. Use wooden spoon to scrape up the brown bits in the bottom of the pan. Boil until almost all the wine evaporates and it gets a little syrupy, about 3 minutes. Add the broth and bring to a boil.
4Mix the flour and water together to make thin paste. Whisk the paste and mustard into the broth and boil until the sauce thickens, 1 to 2 minutes more. Remove the pan from the heat. Swirl in the butter, if using, to give the sauce a little richness. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Pour the sauce on top and serve.

It turned out pretty good, nothing super spectacular though. There are a million great chicken recipes out there so I don't think this one will be a keeper although there was really nothing wrong with it.

Here's the ingredients:

Rich was in charge of the sauce and somehow managed to crank the heat up so high that we had wine and oil splattered from ceiling to floor. but he missed the vital step of mixing the flour with the water and then adding to the sauce, and he just added the flour and water individually and wound up with a clumpy mess. This is his unhappy cooking face:)

We didn't love the risotto so I'm not going to post the recipe unless someone wants it, then I will be more than happy to. I enjoyed making it just to learn how since it's kind of complicated with the addition of small amounts of liquid while stirring constantly. I thought it was ok, but Rich said it just reminded him of gummy rice without much flavor. Next time I think I'll try a flavored one instead of just plain.

Risotto ingredients:

The finished products, with a side of steamed veggies.

I also made deep dish brownies from scratch but we each ate a piece and threw them out.
Fail! Their consistency was very dense, almost like a heavy dark chocolate cake. I like my brownies a little sweeter and chewier. These definitely did NOT top the boxed mixes so I'll keep searching for a good homemade brownie recipe.

One final misadventure was when I caught a dishrag on fire. I didn't notice that it was a bit too close to my favorite fall candle (Yankee Candle Pumpkin Pie...smells so good!) until the rag started smoking and flaming. Yikes! All in all not our favorite dinner. Oh well, I guess they can't all be great.

Reflections from month 1 and where to go from here

2009-10-04T16:53:00.003-04:00

It's been a month already since I started this blog and I think September was a success. I really enjoyed all the cooking and blogging about it. I realized that with a little planning, it's not that difficult to plan meals, cook a couple days a week, and have leftovers for the rest of the week. Most of my recipes from the past month came from online. I have several cookbooks that go unused as I turn to the internet again and again for new recipes. So, the next phase of Adventures in our Kitchen is to choose a cookbook per month and cook only recipes from that particular cookbook during that month.

October's Cookbook of the Month is How to Boil Water from Food Network Kitchens. This cookbook is a must-have for any new cook or just for anybody who could use a review of some basics. It is full of great, easy recipes with pictures and notes on how to modify them, how to freeze and thaw them, where to find unusual ingredients, etc. In addition to recipes, it has lots of charts and information such as what to do with different vegetables, what different cuts of meat mean, what temperature to cook certain things to, how to tell when things are done, and lots more. I've made a few recipes from this cookbook over the last year or two, but I'm really looking forward to getting more in depth with this one. Here's to a tasty October!

Lemon Cream Pasta with Chicken

2009-09-25T07:00:00.000-04:00

Yet another success from allrecipes.com. Here's the recipe.

I had some leftover heavy cream, bowtie pasta, a lemon and some thawed chicken breasts. Type all those ingredients in and this is what allrecipes gave me.

Here are the seasoned chicken breasts before going in the oven. I only had one lemon so I saved it for the sauce and used lime juice on the chicken for baking.

Here' s the finished product. It is a very bland colored meal, but oh so tasty and unhealthy.

Notes: This is a great basic recipe, you could use any kind of pasta and add chicken, shrimp, scallops or veggies. It is creamy and rich and begs for a green salad or a side of green vegetables. Rich LOVED this one (naturally, the meat and pasta only/veggie-free dish he raves about ;))

You could probably modify the sauce with low-fat milk, or half and half instead of all heavy cream but I didn't. Yum, you need to try this!

Mmmm, bread

2009-09-24T06:06:00.005-04:00

Apple Walnut Bread from allrecipes.com
click here for the recipe

I had some leftover walnuts from the pesto, and several apples on hand so I typed in those ingredients and allrecipes gave me the recipe for this bread. Yum!!

Here is is after coming out of the oven.

Here's a cross section so you can see all the apple chunks.

Notes: This recipe was excellent, and pretty healthy. I used half whole wheat flour and half all-purpose flour, decreased the oil to 1/2 cup and increased the applesauce to 1/2 cup, and decreased the sugar to about a 1.5 cups. It made 2 short and dinky loaves, so next time I think I would just make one jumbo loaf. I only baked it either 50 or 60 minutes, not the 70 that the recipe suggested, so just start checking it around 45 or 50 minutes and take out when the toothpick or knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Rich liked this one but said he would prefer smaller apple chunks next time and I agree that dicing the apples smaller is a good idea. All in all, 2 thumbs up!

Beer Bread

There is really no recipe here since it uses a mix. You just mix these 3 things up and bake.

It turned out great. This mix makes a dense, heavy, sweet and salty loaf of bread that is really good with soup. It wouldn't be ideal for sandwiches because of it's texture but on its own it is delicious. The box lists several suggetions for making it your own, such as adding italian herbs and parmesan cheese to the batter, so maybe I'll try that next time.

Carb heaven!

Making use of fresh, local seafood

2009-09-16T10:19:00.007-04:00

Creole Shrimp and Sausage Stew from this months Sept '09 Cooking Light.

Click here for recipe.

This is a fast, easy meal. The longest part was peeling and deveining the shrimp, but if you buy them already peeled and deveined, you can have this ready to eat about 20 minutes. I served this over some brown rice seasoned with Cajun seasoning (we like Tony Cachere's in the green container). My step-father-in-law is from Louisiana and can cook some mean Cajun dishes. I have a few of his recipes that I'll be trying out soon. This one can't hold a candle to his cooking, but for what it is---a fast, fairly healthy, yummy warm meal---it's excellent.

Here's the ingredients. You can see the peeled/deveined shrimp on the black & white plate, but you could probably use thawed frozen shrimp in place of fresh in this dish.

Here's what Cooking Light's looks like:

Here's what my finished product looks like: not quite as pretty:)

My first hummus attempt...success!

2009-09-16T09:06:00.002-04:00

Hot and Spicy Hummus Vegetarian Times Cookbook p. 122

I really like hummus, and often buy it at the grocery store. It's several dollars per container, and I found this recipe and decided to try to make my own. Much cheaper and better!

We've eaten it as a dip with veggies and pita chips, on salad, and as a spread on wraps and sandwiches. It's full of protein, fiber and good fats and is extremely versatile.

What you'll need:
3 cups cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed (I used canned)
1/4 cup tahini, olive oil or light sesame oil (I used a mix of EVOO and toasted sesame oil)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 cup minced jalapeno or other chile
1/4 cup diced red bell pepper
salt and pepper to taste

How to make it:
1. Put chickpeas, tahini (or oil) and lemon juice in food processor or blender, puree until smooth, adding wter as needed to make a creamy mixture. Transfer to bowl.
2. Add garlic, cumin, cayenne, jalapeno and bell pepper to the mixture and mix well. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and chill 2-4 hours to allow flavors to blend.

Notes:
I added the spices and peppers while still in the food processor and pureed it all together because Rich doesn't like chunks of peppers. It turned out great that way and he actually gave it 2 thumbs up.

Yum, it's great as a dip with veggies!

More fun with herbs

2009-09-16T08:49:00.003-04:00

Rosemary Roasted Almonds from Cooking Light magazine, Sept'09 pg 113.

I have a rosemary plant potted in the backyard that I've had for a couple years, and I love the flavor of fresh rosemary. If you've never tried to roast and flavor your own almonds, or any type of nuts, you should give it a shot. It's very easy and there are endless different sweet and savory variations you can make.

What you'll need:
1 Tbs finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 Tbs EVOO
1 tsp chili powder
3/4 tsp kosher salt
Dash of ground red pepper
about 2 cups whole almonds (you want plain ones, not ones that are roasted/salted/otherwise flavored)

1.Preheat oven to 325.
2. Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl, toss to coat. Arrange nut mixture in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with foil (makes clean-up a snap). Bake at 325 for 20 minutes or until lightly toasted (you'll be able to tell by smell when they're done). cool to room temperature.

Here's the mix before going on the baking sheet. I didn't have kosher salt so I used sea salt. I also used blood orange infused olive oil from The Olive Press. If you need a unique gift for a food lover, I highly recommend ordering something from The Olive Press, they have several different oils and they are all delicious!

These roasted almonds turned out great. I'll definitley use this recipe again!

Sweet Treat

2009-09-15T11:54:00.003-04:00

Orange Juice Cake from allrecipes.com (you know the drill, click here for recipe)

I chose this recipe because I had a package of instant pudding and some orange juice that needed using. Allrecipes has a feature where you can search by ingredients so I just searched for recipes that contained both vanilla instant pudding mix and orange juice and voila, there it was. I never said it was a healthy sweet treat....

This is the sauce simmering on the stove. You cook the cake, then poke holes in it while still in the bundt pan and pour the sauce over. It soaks in and makes for an incredibly moist cake.

I almost forgot to get a picture before it was gone!

How was it? Fabulous! Even a proclaimed orange-cake-disliker thought it was excellent. The cake mix I used already had pudding in the mix, plus the extra pudding made it very moist and soft. I had to cook it longer than the 30 minutes the recipe called for, and just kept toothpick testing it every few minutes until it was done. I would definitely make this again.

Modifications I made or would make next time: used Canola oil instead of vegetable oil (not really sure what the difference is), used about 2/3 cup sugar instead of 3/4 and it was definitely sweet enough. Next time I will cut down on the butter and sub in some unsweetened applesauce. Also, it would look prettier with a dusting of powdered sugar on top.

What did I learn? That the easiest way to get this cake from the bundt pan to the cake platter was to put the platter over the pan, hold them together and invert quickly. Grease your pan well!

Using more garden goodness

2009-09-15T11:29:00.003-04:00

Three Cheese Stuffed Banana Peppers
from recipezaar.com (click here for recipe)

This is not something I would ordinarily choose to make, but we had a lot of banana peppers in the garden that I picked Saturday morning that I didn't know what to do with. Thanks to google, this little gem of a recipe was printing out minutes later.

Here are the ingredients, nice and simple. Of course, homemade spaghetti sauce would be ideal but Bertolli it was for us!

You have to cut the ends off the peppers and remove the seeds, and there doesn't seem to be a great way to do it. I just cut the ends off, then used my fingers to scoop out the seeds. Some of them, like the really curly deformed looking ones, I had to slit the side and pull out the seeds that way. Then you stuff them with the mozarella, feta and parmesan mixture and top with sauce.

Easy cheesy and ready to go in the oven.

I didn't get a fresh from the oven pic, but you want to cook them until the cheese is bubbly and peppers are soft. The recipe recommends 30-40 minutes, but we took ours out at 40 minutes and they were still a little hard so you'll just have to judge by look and feel.

How were they? Really good, and had they cooked a little longer and softened up a bit more they would have been excellent. If you like peppers, you'll like this recipe. They were a big hit with everyone at dinner Saturday night (except Rich, he's not a fan of peppers which is why I said that I wouldn't have made this had we not had the peppers already)

Modifications I made or would make next time: none

What did I learn? To not always trust the cook time on recipes.

Homemade Pesto Sauce

2009-09-14T12:05:00.003-04:00

This summer we planted a couple basil plants, and I have been meaning to make pesto while the basil is still good this season. I used my trusty friend allrecipes.com for the recipe. I am not a huge pine nut fan, so I liked that this recipe uses walnuts instead. It is super easy and turned out great.
Here's what you need, plus a food processor.

It looks yucky, but it is really yummy! I think it just turns a little brown and loses some of its bright-greeness when exposed to air.

We took it over to our friends for dinner and it was a hit. We just tossed it with some whole wheat penne and grilled chicken. Yum!!

9/9-Wednesday

2009-09-09T19:22:00.004-04:00

Veggie Fajitas from allrecipes.com

Click the link above for the recipe. It's called Vegan Fajitas, but since I'm adding sour cream and cheese to my finished product I'm calling it Veggie Fajitas. I love LOVE allrecipes.com. I like the daily recipes, and that each recipe is rated 1-5 stars and that people leave reviews and comments on modifications they made when cooking each recipe, which is really helpful. I'm not sure how Rich will feel about this one...he'll probably turn his nose up and want a chicken and cheese only fajita but maybe he'll at least try some.

Modifications I made: I made my own fajita seasoning and added it to the veggies when I put them in the pan to sautee. It was a mix of paprika, garlic powder, cumin, chili powder, and onion powder. I like that better than buying a prepacked fajita seasoning that has preservatives and/or extra salt. Added some shredded mexican cheese, sour cream, salsa and wrapped it all up in a whole wheat tortilla. Next time I think I will add some sliced avocado or quacamole as well.

How was it? Wow, it's delicious. I'm impressed! I'll add an edit later once Rich gets home and tries it. He works til 9 so I have to go ahead and eat.

What I learned: How easy it is to mix up your own fajita seasoning and that you can have a quick, healthy and hearty main dish without meat.

You marinate the veggies for at least half an hour. Mine were probably in there for about 2 or 3 hours. This is after taking them out of the fridge and right before tossing them in the skillet.

Once the onion, zucchini, yellow squash and peppers are soft, you add in your black beans and corn.

And here it is all ready to go in my belly.

I just can't quit you

2009-09-08T12:30:00.002-04:00

We caved and had Los Arcos for dinner last night. Hey, we made the whole first week of September without it. It was so delish and totally worth it. Rich is in charge of cooking a healthy dinner for us tonight so I won't have to cook after work today!!

9/6 Saturday

2009-09-05T15:45:00.001-04:00

Dinner:

Pulled pork barbecue sandwiches using the leftover pork loin from last night, plus:

Hayride Kitchen Bean Soup - a family recipe from my mother-in-law

1 can white navy beans

2 cans pinto beans

2 cans Campbell's Bean and Bacon soup

2 cans chopped ham or leftover ham bone

1 large onion, chopped

1/2 large bell pepper, chopped

1 C water

Chop onions and peppers, saute in a little bit of olive oil for a few minutes in a large soup pot. Add all other ingredients. Cut up ham and add. Cook for at least 2 hours (on medium if using crockpot).

Modifications I made: used 2 ham hocks from the grocery store, cooked it in a large Le Creuset dutch oven over medium for half an hour, then turned it down to low to simmer for another hour.

How was it? Excellent! I have always loved Bean & Bacon soup, so I was eager to try this one. It would be great on a cold day with some nice buttery cornbread. It is also nice and cheap to make if you can get store brand beans on some kind of buy one get one free special. Rich said it was "not too bad" which is about as much as I can ask for from him since he is not a big fan of soup or onions.

9/5-Friday

2009-09-04T14:37:00.000-04:00

Breakfast:
Peanut Butter and Banana Smoothie-just added a frozen banana, big scoop of creamy PB, big scoop of fat free vanilla yogurt, some skim milk and ice in the blender....delish! Would actually be a great dessert. Peeling and freezing overripe bananas for smoothies is a great way to avoid throwing them out.

Dinner:
Marinated Pork Tenderloin (from allrecipes.com)
"For this easy-to-follow recipe, pork tenderloin marinates in sherry, cinnamon, brown sugar and soy sauce, for sweet, moist and tender results."
Ingredients:
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons sherry
1 1/2 teaspoons dried minced onion
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pinch garlic powder
2 (3/4 pound) pork tenderloins
Directions:

1. Place soy sauce, brown sugar, sherry, dried onion, cinnamon, olive oil, and a touch of garlic powder in a large resealable plastic bag. Seal, and shake to mix. Place pork in bag with marinade, seal, and refrigerate for 6 to 12 hours.
2. Preheat grill for high heat.
3. Lightly oil grate. Place tenderloins on grill, and discard marinade. Cook 20 minutes, or to desired doneness. Slice into medallions, and serve.

Modifications I made: used brandy instead of sherry, doubled sauce because I had a total of 2.25lbs pork loin, used onion powder instead of dried onion. Cooked one tenderloin on a grill pan, cooked the other in the oven after searing in a skillet. Boiling down the remaining marinade and adding some cornstarch (mixed with water in a separate bowl, then added to sauce) to make gravy.

How was it? Great, would definitely make again! The cinnamon in the marinade was a great and unexpected flavor for the pork, perfect for fall. The meat was moist (once you got underneath the blackened exterior of the grill-pan version) and delicious.

What did I learn? I'm not sure I like grill pans. Every time I use them, and this was no exception, my meat winds up black and my house winds up full of smoke. I think part of the problem may using olive oil. Maybe I need an oil with a higher smoking/heating point. Also, I have a fairly cheap grill pan and I think a lot of the nonstick coating has been scraped away in trying to scrub off the blackened-on meat and marinade residues. Anybody have any grill pan tips? I tried cooking the 2 loins differently to see how they each turned out, and in this case the seared+baked combo was the clear winner. I used a meat thermometer to cook them to 160 degrees. Also, I learned to add cornstarch/water mixture in small, gradual amounts instead of all at once to avoid gelatinous gravy.

Here's the gelatinous gravy. Had good flavor, but too gooey.

Grill pan version: See all that blackness, stuckness, and smoke...what am I doing wrong?

Seared+baked version. The marinade turns really dark, but this one wasn't burned at all despite how dark it looks in this pic.

I shredded one of the tenderloins to use later, either as barbecue or in pork tacos or quesadillas.

Pineapple and Sweet Potato Gratin
1.5 lbs sweet potatos, peeled and sliced into 1/2 inch slices
1/2 large fresh pineapple, peeled, cored and sliced thinly
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp black pepper
5 Tbs. margarine or butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350. Brush oval gratin or other shallow baking dish with 1 Tbs butter. Alternate slices of sweet potato and pineapple to fill the dish. Mix the remaining butter with the salt, cinnamon and pepper and drizzle evenly over the sweet potatoes and pineapple. Bake until very tender, about 1 hour.

Modifications I made: I accidentally forgot to mix the seasonings in the butter so just added the to the top after drizzling the butter.

How was it? Very tasty. The mix of summery pineapple and fall-y sweet potato is great for early September. The top layers tend to dry out because the butter sinks down, so next time I would stir it once or twice during cooking to mix the bottom layers and top layers..not as pretty, but much tastier.

What I learned? Pineapple and sweet potatoes go well together.

Here are all the ingredients, ready to be put together.

Before going in the oven....

Here's the finished product fresh out of the oven.

9/3-Thursday

2009-09-04T14:21:00.000-04:00

Meal #1 of the challenge (yeah, should have officially started 9/1 but we haven't eaten out yet this month so we're good to start now).

Nothing fancy, farfalle pasta with jarred tomato-basil marinara sauce with added ground turkey. Side dish: broccoli and zucchini steamed in a Zip n' Steam bag...I absolutely love these!
All in all, it was pretty good. The broccoli was a little tough, and the pasta sauce was a little chunky for Rich's taste. He prefers it smooth and likes it when I put it in the blender, but I'm working on him to develop more "grown-up" tastes and he's getting much better! We also had an incredible wine that we bought in California last summer: a 2000 Dry Creek Valley cabernet sauvignon from Raymond Burr Vinyards...seriously maybe the best wine I've ever had!

Why this new adventure?

2009-09-04T13:57:00.000-04:00

Richard and I LOVE to eat, and we LOVE to go out to eat. Mexican is our favorite, and we frequently (as in at least once a week) eat at Los Arcos, our local fav Mexican restaurant. It's your typical authentic Mexican place with great food, fast service, big margaritas and low prices. Speaking of these low prices...we looked at our spending for the last few months and realized we are averaging $250 per month at Los Arcos. Holy Guacamole! Something's gotta give...and it looks like it's our out of control eating-out habit.

Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy cooking and am not terrible at it...not great, but decent. The problem lies in the fact that Rich and I work very different schedules are are often not at home together for typical family dinners. And then the nights that we are off together, the last thing we feel like doing is cooking. Why? I guess because it feels like work, and we like to relax at home, not work. How can we remedy this? Cook more so that it becomes easier, cook easier things (homemade marinara is great, but on a Tuesday night when you've worked all day, not so much), plan ahead and have ingredients on hand for quick and easy meals.

What's the challenge? For the month of September:
1. Limit the eating-out to a max of one night per week

2. Cook at least 3 meals per week (hopefully with enough leftovers to get us through the remaining 3 days).

3. Document it here for your entertainment and culinary inspiration.