Chili and Ravioli. . . .

Chipotle, Beef and Bean Chili
Jerk Turkey Chili
Spicy Slow-Cooker Chili
White Chicken Chili
Ravioli fillings  . . . . 
Chicken Marsala Ravioli Filling
Green Chili Chicken and Lime Soup

Breakfast time!

Chicken-Apple Sausage

Apple Oatmeal

Coconut-Carrot Morning Glorious Muffins

Florentine Hash Skillet

Other notes: Poaching an egg in a microwave

 Basic idea is to take 1/3 to 1/2 cup water (some source say hot, some don't specify), a dash a vinegar (to help egg set better), egg. . . put water in cup / mug. add vinegar, then egg.  Cover with saucer, and microwave 45 - 60 seconds (80% - 100% power depending on how strong the microwave is and how done the eggs should be. . . .).  The link above has lots of pretty pictures.  And lots of other good recipes - need to check it out later (like on a Friday evening / Saturday morning when I'm planning out the menu for the week. . . . )

Chocolate Stuff

When I find an interesting recipe, I'll usually try to post the link here so I can try it / try it again if it was good.  I found a copy cat recipe for Mellow Mushroom's pizza dough, but now I can't find it.  I found a couple of similar ones, but I suspect they have too much sweetener in them (honey and molasses).  In any case, a few new things to track:

Brownie Batter Dip

Cast Iron Skillet Brownies

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour 
1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder 
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
8 ounces chocolate chips or coarsely chopped chocolate

• 
  
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar and eggs. In another bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, and salt.
• In a medium cast iron skillet, bring butter and cream to a simmer over medium heat. Add chocolate; reduce to medium-low. Cook, stirring constantly, until chocolate has melted, about 1 minute. Remove from heat, and let cool 5 minutes.
• Add chocolate mixture to sugar mixture, whisking until blended (reserve skillet). Fold in flour mixture. Pour batter into skillet, and bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. (for a gooeyer brownie bake for about 35 minutes).

Can also reserve a handful of chocolate chips to sprinkle over the top of the raw batter.

How to temper chocolate in a food processor

(the Rocky Road Bark sounds yummy as well)

Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken with Fried Rice

(okay, so not chocolate, but it has the same first letters. . . )

Chicken

3-4 boneless chicken breasts

salt + pepper

1 cup cornstarch

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup canola oil

Sweet and Sour Sauce

3/4 cup sugar

4 tbs ketchup

1/2 cup distilled white vinegar

1 tbs soy sauce

1 tsp garlic salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Rinse chicken in water and then cut into cubes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Dip chicken into the cornstarch to coat then dip into the eggs.  Heat 1/4 cup oil in a large skillet and cook chicken until browned but not cooked through. Place the chicken in a 9x13 greased baking dish. Mix all of sweet and sour sauce ingredients in a bowl with a whisk and then pour evenly over the chicken. Bake for one hour, turning the chicken every 15 minutes.  

Fried Rice                                                                                             

3 cups cooked white rice (day old or leftover rice works best!)

3 tbs sesame oil

1 cup frozen peas and carrots (thawed)

1 small onion, chopped

2 tsp minced garlic

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1/4 cup soy sauce

On medium high heat, heat the oil in a large skillet or wok.  Add the peas/carrots mix, onion and garlic. Stir fry until tender. Lower the heat to medium low and push the mixture off to one side, then pour your eggs on the other side of skillet and stir fry until scrambled. Now add the rice and soy sauce and blend all together well. Stir fry until thoroughly heated!   

Miscellaneous Stuff

A few recipes to try. . . . .


Suggestions for breakfast


Florentine Hash Skillet

Creamy Wheat Berry Hot Cereal



Salad Dressings:

Fresh Strawberry Dressing

Pear Vinaigrette

1 ripe pear - peeled, cored, and chopped

1/2 cup white wine

1 clove garlic, chopped

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 cup olive oil

Place all in blender and mix.

A new plant to take care of . . . . 

Streptocarpus

Caribbean Chicken Recipe

This morning, I decided to find a nice Caribbean chicken recipe that I'll enjoy as well as the kids.

This one sounds promising with the pineapple and banana:
http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=59

The image doesn't match the recipe, and I'd have to drop the green pepper, probably the brown sugar, as well.  And then use fresh ginger and garlic.  Not sure brown rice would be ready in 20 minutes, however. . . .

1 pound skinned and boned chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
2 cups pineapple tidbits, drained, reserve ¼ cup pineapple juice
1 cup chopped green pepper
1 cup water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
garlic, ginger
1 medium diced banana
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1 cup uncooked brown rice

6 servings, 34 carbs per serving including 1/3 cup rice or about 11 without the rice.

This one looks great:
http://castletonbanquet.wordpress.com/2010/06/24/castletons-caribbean-chicken-receipe/

The chicken looks pretty standard - marinade of lemon juice, lime juice, Jerk seasoning, salt, pepper, curry powder and olive oil.  But Lemon Basil Rice Pilaf and Pineapple-Mango Salsa sound lovely!

Pineapple-Mango Salsa 
1 each fresh mango, peeled and cored, cubed ½”
½ ea fresh golden pineapple, peeled and cored, cubed ½”
2 each vine ripened tomatoes, cored and cubed ½”
1 each green bell pepper, cored, seeded, cubed ½”
3 each scallions, stemmed and sliced thin on an angle
1 each cored and seeded jalapeño, fine dice ( more if you like hot )

3 tbsp chopped cilantro, no stems
1 tsp curry powder
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
juice from 2 limes

Mix everything together and place in refrigerator overnight. Drain liquid and bring to boil in saucepan. Thicken with a small amount of cornstarch mixed with enough cold water to dissolve. Blend well and let come to boil. Remove from heat and pour over salsa ingredients. Mix well. Serve room temperature over grilled chicken, fish or beef.

I think I'll try replacing the brown rice in the first recipe with the Lemon Basil Rice Pilaf in the second (or the Pilaf recipe below that I pieced together from three others), and then serve the Pineapple-Mango Salsa over some coho salmon.  


Rice and Orzo Pilaf
1/2 cup silvered almonds

Celery, Onions (green?), diced

1 Tbsp browned butter

1/2 cup orzo

3/4 cup rice

2 cups chicken stock

1 tsp lemon zest (?)


Sauté vegetables in a heavy bottomed saucepan in 1 tbsp browned butter. When just starting to become translucent, add the orzo and rice and stir for about 30 seconds.   Add two cups chicken stock and lemon zest.

Cover, turn heat to low, and cook 20 minutes.

Fluff with fresh ground pepper, one tbsp fresh parsley and the toasted almonds.

A few recipes to explore. . . .

Quick Chicken-Corn Chowder
Chicken and Lemon Pot Stickers
Chicken Biriyani

The original article was on CookingLight.com

Orzo Soup

Progresso has a Chicken and Orzo Soup with Lemon that my #2 son has decided he loves.  And of course he asked if we could make some.  So here's a few recipe links to try:

Shredded Tex-Mex Chicken (okay, so it's not even soup, but it sounds like it go well with some Teeny Tiny Tacos)
Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup
Lemon Chicken and Orzo Soup

Berries!

Actually, it's more like berry recipes - from the Driscoll's website.

Some of them sound like they're trying to push things too much, but some of them sound good (or at least interesting):
Blueberry Balsamic Glazed Chicken
Blueberry Ice Cream with Dark Chocolate Chunks
Vanilla Mascarpone Cheesecake with Blueberries

Update: The Glazed Chicken was rather blah - wouldn't make it again.  The Blueberry Ice Cream (made without the Chocolate) was wonderful!  Still haven't tried the cheesecake yet - maybe for Father's Day?

Indian?

So, I've never eaten much Indian food - may be because because where I grew up, there was no nearby Indian restaurants?  But every time I've had some, I've loved it. . . .today, at Trader Joe's, they had samples of their Channa Masala which was rather tasty.  Of course, when I got home, I had to look up recipes to see if I could make it.  Which lead me to the Smitten Kitchen with several glorious Indian recipes:

Smitten Kitchen:
      Chana Masala
      Cucumber Scallion Raita
      Indian-Spiced Vegetable Fritters

So maybe I'll put it on the menu next week . . . . .

Recipes for the week. . . .

Waldorf (Chicken) Salad with fresh fruit
Southwest Tilapia with black bean and corn salad and Zucchini
Dijon Crusted Chicken
Cranberry Glazed Turkey Meatloaf

For next week:
Chili-Lime Grilled Chicken
Chicken Jambalaya

Dinner Thursday

Menu Ideas for today. . . .

I was planning to make some baked Tilapia this evening for supper, but wanted to try something new.  A quick search revealed lots of options!  I picked the following one to try because it didn't have any added salt, and I have everything already on hand:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/lemon-garlic-tilapia/

To go with it, I was thinking of adjusting the following recipe (from the Gorton's website) to remove the shrimp:
http://gortons.com/recipe/guilt-free-shrimp-pineapple-fried-rice

It has pineapple which will make it a little sweet and (hopefully!) get the kids to eat it.

More links. . . .

So after the all the chaos at Thanksgiving (an evening in the ER, followed by an afternoon in the ICU), I never went back to comment on my Thanksgiving recipes.  And now, I don't remember details about how they turned out, or what I could do better.  My Christmas menu was more successful, but then I didn't carefully document what recipes I used.

But that's okay.  I found a lovely little app created by the California Strawberry growers.  It's called 'Strawberries', and not only is it free, it also contains lots of recipes using strawberries (of course).  Each recipe has a photo in addition to the ingredients and steps.  It also has a link to the original recipe.

At this point, I'm not sure what I'll actually use more - the recipes, or the links to the recipe sources.  Every time I find an interesting Strawberry recipe, I check out the source blog and find a dozen or so more recipes that I've got to try.  It's really getting bad.  I'm running out of ways to keep track of them all. Oh, the horror!  The horror!


Crockpot Chicken Tortilla Soup
Chickpea Stew with Caramelized Onions
Baked Fries
Southwestern Eggs Benedict
Rice Noodle Salad
Granola bars with bananas, cranberries, and pecans
Mini frittatas with broccoli, cheese, and chipotle pepper
Asian beef noodle soup
Chicken, apple, and gorgonzola salad
Cookie and Cream Rice Krispy Treats

Thanksgiving menu

Honey Brined turkey or just a Brined Turkey Breast (recipes are very similar)
Duchess potatoes (Maybe use this recipe with less cream or something like this, although the Pommes de Terre Lorette also sounds lovely)
Dressing (How to Cook Everything - really good with lots of butter!)
Green bean casserole (family tradition)
Another veggie (maybe broccoli / cauliflower with cheese or Hollandaise Sauce using this recipe)
Rolls (something from KAF, either cookbook or website - maybe Golden Pull Apart Rolls)
Gravy
Cheese straws (request from #1; likely use the one from How To Cook Everything or the variation listed here which is slightly spicier, but I ilk the idea of the Italian herbs)
Layered Pumpkin Cheesecake, made in my mini pumpkin cheesecake pan (still trying to figure this one out - I think I want to do some as layers (half pumpkin / half plain) and some just as pumpkin and some just as plain cheesecake)
Cranberry sauce (I normally use this Cranberry-Raspberry Sauce recipe but might try this more straightforward Cranberry Sauce instead.



And as a side note, I made some thin crust pizza using a recipe on the KAF site that was very tasty!

It's cold outside! There's no kind of atmosphere. . .

Not really a post, just adding a few links that I haven't had time to research yet. . . .or in the case of the recipes, make. . . . .


A few more recipe links:


http://www.thehungrymouse.com/2009/10/30/chocolate-stout-layer-cake/

http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Montasio-Cheese-Crisps


(a rather dangerous site):

http://www.cupcakeproject.com/2010/10/pumpkin-pie-frosting.html

A cool link to a Google Doodle:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/comic-riffs/post/les-paul-the-coolest-google-doodle-yet-is-picked-for-guitar-greats-96th/2011/06/09/AGWVysMH_blog.html


And a few swimming links:

http://www.articlesbase.com/videos/5min/172311372

http://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-Swim-Butterfly-172311421

http://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-Swim-Freestyle-172311399

Recipe:

Cornmeal Butter Crust
· 1 cup all-purpose flour
· 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
· 2 tablespoons sugar
· 1/4 teaspoon salt
· 7 teaspoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
· 3 to 4 tablespoons ice water

Instructions

1.     Mix flour, cornmeal, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Add butter and pulse until incorporated. Add water, 1 tablespoon at a time while pulsing, until ball forms. Remove and wrap with plastic wrap. Chill at least 30 minutes.

2.     Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 14-inch diameter round. Fit into a 9-inch pie pan, and crimp excess dough around the edges of the pan. Chill at least 15 minutes

More KAF Links. . . .

More recipe links from KAF!

Heavenly Healthy Banana Bread
Whole-grain pizza crust
Barbecued Chicken Pizza
Cupcakes with Bubble Sugar
Baked Zucchini Sticks
Blueberry Breakfast Cake
Nanaimo Bars
Cast Iron Pizza 

I think I'll try the zucchini sticks for supper - maybe with burgers?  Sliders?  The banana bread I've made before, and despite having whole wheat flour in it, it's really tasty (maybe the brown sugar and honey has something to do with that?). I've also mande Nanaimo Bars, but there's a couple of tweaks in this recipe I'd like to try.

I'm more interested in the Bubble Sugar than the Cupcakes - looks really cool!  When it's a bit cooler, I'll probably try the pizza recipes.  The whole-grain one uses roasted potatoes as demo pizza topping.  And I love potatoes on pizza!  Especially if there's some nice rosemary to go with it!

For the rest of the week. . . I'm thinking a fish dish one day (tilapia for the kids; coho salmon for the parents), spaghetti (leftover sauce from last week's lasagna), maybe some Chicken Calypso with island peas and rice or Scallops with creamy bacon corn sauce (both Publix Apron recipes; typically, Publix's recipes use too much prepared stuff,  but if you can substitute something with less salt or additives, they're not bad).

Links

I've been keeping a bunch of emails, just to keep the recipe links in them. But that's what this is is for. . . .

A couple from KAF:

Doughnuts!
Favorite Fudge Birthday Cake

In other news. . . . swam a mile yesterday. I was planning on swimming a half mile . . .then decided 1000 yards. . . .then decided 1000 didn't sound nearly as good as 3/4 mile. . . then figured go ahead and go for the full mile. . . .

Dinner to go

It's been too hot to cook lately . . . been doing too much take out. But it's all right.

Blueberries

Blueberry bushes are full of blueberries.

Tomato plants are full of little green tomatoes.

The blueberries are lovely.

I hope to be eating the tomatoes soon. . . . .

Today's word of the day: Scorpacciata

From CNN.com's Eatocracy: Scorpacciata

Scorpacciata is a term that means consuming large amounts of a particular local ingredient while it's in season. It's a good way to eat.

http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2011/06/08/on-ramps/?iref=allsearch
http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2010/09/10/scorpacciata-mario-batali-explains-it-all/

And miles to go . . .

So I've been trying to focus mainly on food, but I wanna scream to the world that I swam a mile this morning!

It wasn't all freestyle - kept switching to different strokes. But it was a mile!

Latest dinner menu:
Chicken in sage browned butter on top of a spring mix salad with berries (raspberries, blackberries and - my favorite - blueberries! Which reminds me: I need to go check how the blueberry bushes are doing, see if there are any ripe berries.)