COOK THE BOOK: BEST STIR-FRIED CHICKEN & FRIED RICE WITH KALE AND GREEN ONIONS

I’m working my way through a cookbook again! Recently I checked out “My Father’s Daughter” from the library, and I have been having fun trying many recipes through the past few weeks. I have a weird can’t-stand-her/am-fascinated-by-her-ridiculousness thing going for Gwyneth Paltrow, but I have to admit, her recipes generally rock. I have been saving the longer ones for the weekends, and making less time-consuming ones as weeknight meals.

This one came together pretty quickly one night last week. The rice is the only aspect that takes time, because it is brown rice, but next time I make it, I’ll cook that the day before, since day old rice fries more nicely anyway. I really liked both the chicken and the ‘green rice’, though I think I used about 2/3 as much brown sugar as her recipe calls for. Both recipes are available online, too, so if you’re interested HERE they are. :)

THIS WEEK ON A STOVE NEAR ME

It really feels like autumn now, though the temperatures have been swinging a little pendulum-style. I really need to remember things like sunshine in the morning does not always mean warm, and sometimes coats are a good idea. Yesterday I was fighting a shivery chin as I crossed the street to my building and pushed the revolving door, even though I had a turtleneck sweater on. Yes, coats are useful.

So, soup was on my mind as I planned this week's menu over the weekend. Plus: tacos, always tacos or chili (or, in this week's case, both!).

I made the Hungarian Ham & Bean soup this weekend, and it's worth the time. It makes a huge amount, and is also yummy. I have found there to be a plethora of smoked pork product choices available here, and decided to make it a little easier by buying some "ham pieces for flavoring" which were -- you guessed it! -- irregularly sliced pieces of ham, probably from making more uniform slices. I subbed that for the ham hock, though I'm sure that would be more authentic and even yummier. However, I'm happy with it as it was and would reuse the ham pieces.

Aside from the recipes above, the old standby ones like tacos, chicken with red beans and rice (leftover chicken to go in chili), and spaghetti with meatballs round out the week. Lame, but comforting. :)

THIS WEEK ON A STOVE NEAR ME

This week's menu is a couple of stand-bys, a couple of new dishes, and a planned night of food brought in, as I won't be home until late Friday. It's the first of the month, and a busy one at work. But hey, at least I'll be in jeans, though I may be only an hour late and I could also be as many as three hours late. So, that night, yeah, I'm telling everyone to pick up some dinner and -- hopefully! -- save some for me. (Maybe a beer, too?)






I made the chicken-potpie pasta tonight and we really liked it. The recipe, to which I added about half a teaspoon of thyme and some mushrooms, made a large amount, and we all had seconds. I claimed the leftovers for my lunch tomorrow (and maybe the next day, too, since I doubt I'll be wolfing down the ~4 cups that were leftover in one sitting. (Woof.) I make the Marcella Hazan sauce to go with sausages and peppers, and then the leftover sauce will be in chili I'm making another night--no recipe for that; it's one of those things you just, ya know... make! Chili or spaghetti sauce is my traditional Halloween dinner, which is easy to make to have either before or after candy-begging time is over. Paul will probably pick up fried chicken, which is Carter's favorite for Friday, and I've been asked to make "breakfast for dinner" for Wednesday night dinner, which is also Carter's EIGHTH birthday! (He wants me to make "a ton" of sausage for him--breakfast sausage, one of his favorites.

Hope it's a great week on your stove!

THIS WEEK ON A STOVE NEAR ME

It's been kind of gray--okay, it's been super gray here. Rainy. Bleh. So, I've been wanting soup... and tacos are a given. (almost always tacos, mmm.)

I made the chicken soup last night and added... KALE. (I put kale in half our meals. Hey, it's nutritious and in season!) The fried rice was never made last week so it's been pushed forward to this week. I made it once before, or as close a facsimile as I usually make, since I tend to think of recipes that are not pastry/baking as a general guideline, and the rice is yummy. I have a couple of salmon filet left from a large package of frozen salmon, which will be good for soup, and I may add some shredded cooked chicken to the bean/posole soup... The stroganoff is a favorite of Bunny's.

COMING THIS WEEK TO A STOVE NEAR ME

Along with some regulars (hello, tacos... I ♥ you), I have some pinned recipes in the works.





The Marcella Hazan sauce will be with sausages & peppers... it's the best sauce EVER. EVER!

FEEDING AN OBSESSION

I have muscadines on the brain. Everywhere I go here I see them in the store. I even came across an arbor full of them at Mordecai House.

Next summer I’m going to be all over these bad boys. Even though it was created at Hacker Dojo, the place my husband frequented when we lived in Silicon Valley, I resisted Pinterest for the first many months or so it was out—who needs another social network to keep up with, I thought... Then, I relented, and now I ♥ it. No more bookmarks! I’ve been using Pinterest for a long time, I guess, and I use it mainly for recipes, which I used to bookmark or print out, and I no longer have to dash back and forth to the computer to look at the recipe, since: tablet app.

It’s also really east to fall down the rabbit hole of finding more-more-more on nearly anything my brain can’t stop thinking about, like muscadines. A couple of keystrokes and clicks and—voila, more ways to use them than I’d ever considered possible.

Here are a few pins I had to add to the two thousand I have at this time. (Yikes, that seems like a lot, doesn’t it? But, I really do make a lot of the recipes I pin, really, I do…)




If these are half as good as they look, we're in for some treats!

Cookin’ the Book: Pioneer Woman’s Pots De Creme

working my way through a new cookbook… this time it’s the second Pioneer Woman cookbook.

Bunny’s birthday was on Saturday, but her party was Sunday. She’d had me deliver tiny cherry pies to her class the day before, and cake was going to be at the party, so it was a perfect time to try out something a little different. I figured the oven could use a break (or maybe it was me that could use the break), so we went for this no bake dessert. The only time necessary is the few hours for it to set up in the fridge.
We liked the mocha flavor that the strong coffee gives to this recipe, but I felt it would have been better if it were more custardy… or more mousse-like. Prepared per the recipe’s instructions, it seemed a bit too loose in consistency.
Not that it kept us from gobbling it down. It is delicious, and easy.

PSST: If you want to try it out, the recipe is HERE.
I’m going to try a baked version sometime to see how I feel about the difference. Maybe this one by Martha. I also have some white chocolate nuts here, and that could be a fun variation, maybe with some pistachios.

Remember the McResolution?

A year ago I had a mini resolution to find or figure out a suitable homemade—and healthier—recipe for McNuggets.  Did you know there are about 40 ingredients in those suckers?

Anyway, a couple of months ago I finally hit upon a recipe that works really well.  The key, I think, is that you grind chicken with some seasonings, then portion it into little chicken meatballs that you flatten after lightly breading them.

They were delicious, and contained 7 ingredients the way I made them (no parsley flakes)!  The one comment from my taste testers was they are not as juicy as McD’s*.  A batch makes about 3 dozen nuggets, which were gobbled up, but they can be slightly undercooked and frozen/reheated in the oven if you’re planning ahead.  Freeze ‘em on a baking sheet in a single layer, then you can move them to a more space efficient bag or container, like how you’d freeze a bounty of fresh berries for later.

I tried one batch with a tempura-style batter instead of the breading to try to make them more exactly like McNuggets, but wouldn’t you know it, Carter preferred the other way!  :)  Everyone else, including a visiting playmate thought they were great with the tempura coating.  However, it was messier for me, and the oil I was frying them in seemed to get funky by the end of the batch, so I will stick with the light breading from now on.

So there you go.  Homemade McNuggets without the eyebrow-raising dubiousness.  Happy New Year!

*I solved the juiciness issue by adding one teaspoon canola oil to the meat mixture when grinding.

Cookin’ The Book: Pioneer Woman’s “Katie’s Roasted Corn Salad” and Sangria

Ages and ages ago, I bought The Pioneer Woman Cooks. For fun, I decided to cook every one of her recipes (in the book, not her site!), anrd I was on a roll for a while.  Then, I hit a place where I’d made a lot of the recipes and the rest were so starchy or, well, dessert (we don’t have that often), that I got stuck.
However, recently I did use two recipes from the book, and, though they are repeats, I realized I’d forgotten to write about them the first time ‘round.  I know, it’s hard to believe, but I do eat a lot of things that I don’t even take photos of!  Imagine!  Just like normal people… ;)

I made a half recipe of the Sangria, because the full recipe calls for 2 bottles each of red and white wine for starters and that seemed like an… ambitious quantity even though we did have friends over.  It’s refreshing and tasty, too—perfect for a warm afternoon.

This blurriness is the roasted corn salad, which really has a lot more going for it than just corn.  I did veer away from the recipe just a little here, as I had heirloom summer squash fresh from the CSA share while the recipe calls for yellow squash.  To me, they’re practically the same thing.  The dressing is a glorious balsamic vinaigrette.  This was Paul’s favorite dish that evening.
Both recipes are book only, so I can’t share links, but trust me, they’re both worth making—and repeating, as the case may be.  I also made her Roasted Beef Tenderloin and Creamy Rosemary Potatoes (link to nearly identical recipe HERE) for that same meal, thus garnering two new checks in the book, and probably three pounds of mystery weight to lose that next week.  ;)  I just counted, and there are still 20 recipes left, about half of which are desserts.  Maybe I’ll finish this someday, after all!

Hello, Goodbye

I love the idea of the highly organized, theme meal. One day I hope I’ll be organized enough to do a back to school celebration for the kids, remember to plan for Valentine’s Day or St. Patrick’s Day… all those things that seem just out of my grasp so far.

However, I decided, as the first of October began to loom, that I wanted to celebrate... something or another. I love the summer, but I also love fall for different reasons. The light changes, but in a way I really like. Some of the more florid colors fade away, but others come right in to replace it. Typically it’s not rained enough—or at all—to make the hills turn green, but the leaves turn yellow and red in response to shorter days. I don’t love the darkest winter, but I love the turn of fall.

It seemed right to say goodbye to summer and hello to autumn as the world struggles to decide whether it’s time to change over once and for all.

Goodbye, Hello Menu

Cannellini and Kale Soup
Tomato Pie
Roasted Corn Salad
Creamy Scalloped Potatoes
Roasted Marinated Filet
Caramel Sundaes*

Sangria
Cider & Oktoberfest Beer

*these were going to be Caramel Apple Sundaes, but by dessert time I just didn’t feel like hollowing apples. They’d have been so cute, though, like the classic fall treat, but with ice cream. Oh well, maybe another day soon…

I was too me to remember to take photos of all the yummy food, but I did remember a few.

I know it sounds weird, but try the Tomato Pie. I adapted my recipe a little, making it single crust, using mozzarella and cheddar, and adding one egg yolk because I worried about it setting with the juicy tomatoes. It was so good I ate it for breakfast the past two mornings. Trust me, if you like tomatoes, this is something else!

We pulled out out little bounce house for hyper kids, and enjoyed an outside fire afterwards. Welcome, fall. I like you just fine.

snippets

::little bits and pieces::

our little Bubo is growing up!  she’s adapted so well to life here in this busy house and now barely flinches when the boys act crazy near her cage.  she even dozed on my lap the other day during quiet time when I was reading in the time out chair.

we love her.  she loves apples.  no really, she will cut a bitch for some apples.  I saw her do it.

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I have not written much about it, but we’ve been enjoying the CSA this year, and have also grown a few tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, and herbs of our own.  Something has been off about the tomatoes this year, and a wily raccoon has been eating tomatoes right off the plant, leaving really rude teases about the tomato we might have enjoyed, but the dry-farmed tomatoes from the CSA have been awesome for soups.  THIS is our family favorite, and I make it exactly like the recipe, if you can believe it.  I keep meaning to freeze a batch, but we keep gobbling it down because it is that good.

While I will never be into as savory a breakfast as my husband who has ordered fish and eggs for breakfast (woof), I do like this simple way to get a leg up on the daily vegetable intake.  I quickly sauteed some leeks and bok choy then topped with a very runny egg—it’s best if you let the yolk coat the greens.  As much bok choy as we’re getting, it’s good to have it in something other than a stir fry!  (We have shrimp or chicken stir fried with tons of veggies every week, too.)

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A rare sighting of brother-sister quiet play, post homework.

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You know what is hard?  Taking a photo of someone toasting marshmallows, is what. 

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Yesterday afternoon was the afternoon of our discontent, at least if you ask the boys.  Big sister was playing at a buddy’s house, and it was funky weather outside, so they seemed inclined to amuse themselves mainly by punching each other.

So I took them and fed them to a hungry hippopotamus after making them play for a couple of hours at an indoor play place. 

Co-op Cookin’: Emerald City Salad

I don’t buy many cookbooks nowadays, because I have plenty and have been procrastinating purging quite a few that are good, but which I simply never, ever use.  However, I’d heard so many good things about Feeding the Whole Family that I picked it up a few months ago.  As a person who’s trying to incorporate the amazing variety of produce provided by my CSA into our daily life, I liked that this book has so many recipes and ideas for veggies one might not find at the big chain groceries.

Last weekend I adapted her wild rice salad using what I had on hand, adding a bit of summer squash and broccoli, using more cabbage than called for, and skipping the kale/chard/collards because I was making massaged kale salad as another side.  What’s cool about these kinds of recipes is you can totally do that and still love the results, as long as you stick to the concept and substitute similar textures or flavors.

Anyway, I liked it a lot, and have been nibbling on the leftovers all week, because it also keeps very well.  This morning I added a couple of spoonfuls to my eggs.

Awesomely, the recipe is HERE.  I really do recommend the whole book.

Co-op Cookin’: Beet Risotto with Goat Cheese

We’re back in the thick of our CSA’s summer share season, and, having been blessed with a really good amount of rain—rain that won’t stop coming because apparently we’re getting Seattle’s weather for a while—it looks like it’ll be a great season.  In recent weeks, we’ve been receiving everything from fava beans and sugar snap peas to beets and cabbage, as well as lots of delicious lettuces, strawberries, cauliflower, and broccoli, plus more types of greens than anyone would want to see written out… I even finally tried roasting fennel, and the dreaded licorice flavor is really tamed down that way, making it nice along with roast chicken.

A few days ago I spied a recipe I just had to try out that very night.  Normally risotto is not a dish I’d make because it’s so time-consuming with all that stirring, but this one takes only a few more minutes than making plain white rice.

I liked this so much, it was all I ate for dinner that night.  Find the recipe HERE.  Yum.

Cookin’ the Book: Pioneer Woman Oatmeal Crispies

I’m slowly working to my goal of completing all the recipes in The Pioneer Woman Cooks. I’m attempting to cook every one of her recipes (in the book, not her site!), as you may or may not recall, since it’s been months since I last made anything from that book, mainly due to pleas from my husband to stop making him so fat.  PW is not into low carb eating.  :)
However, I did make these cookies for the kids a while back, and they’re pretty yummy.  I liked the pecans through them a lot, but if I were to make this cookie again, I would want to skip the crisco and try butter.  Honestly, the only reason I made them was I had the crisco on hand, because I’d bought it to make the red velvet cake and was tired of looking at it in the cupboard.
They’re yummy, simple cookies, but I don’t know if anything with that much trans fat should be called wholesome, ya know?  Still, yes, yummy.  Carter doesn’t like oatmeal cookies and liked these a lot!
Recipe can be found HERE – enjoy!

Picante!

Though the weather is not agreeing with me yet, I’ve been in the mood to move on seasonally with the cooking.  It’s not time to grill out yet, but that looms.  There’s a reason Cinco de Mayo is such a big deal here.  Okay, two reasons.  The reason I look forward to May 5 is it’s a perfect first BBQ kind of holiday here.  (It’s a nice excuse to whip up some Sangria, too, don’t get me wrong!)

Anyhoo, I’ve been wanting braised wintery sides less and summery dishes more… crunchy, fresh tasting stuff.

One of my favorite barely any work at all dinners is Crock Carnitas.  I love a meal you slam in the crockpot in the morning and, to keep the lazy vibe going, I decided to make a  no-cooking side last time.  I love Carolina bbq with creamy slaw, so I thought I’d take that idea and change it a little. (Note: perhaps it’s my crock pot, but I find the above recipe comes out a little soupy.  It’s easy to ‘fix’ that, though – I take off the lid and let ‘er rip, cooking down on high while I prepare the sides and toppings.)

This was super simple, and great with the carnitas.  I took a bag of broccoli slaw mix, added a couple of cups of sliced snap peas, some lime juice, cilantro, and perhaps 1/2 c jarred salsa verde and mixed well, then added a little plain yogurt to cool it down a little bit.  I find I like slaw to sit a little while—just 15-30 mins—to loosen up, so I made this first, then prepped a few toppings for the carnitas wraps.  This is a great ‘serve yourself’ meal for the older kid and adults, making for even less work in a ‘be lazy’ dinner.

Yum.

Menu—A Long Haul Edition

Maybe it was all the times I had to bring everyone  to the store over Christmas break, running amok, making me play the role of *that* grumpass, hissing mom.  Or the time Cole forgot his new stuffed animal (which was found and kept safe until our next trip, yay!).  Mostly it was that it was Friday morning and I decided I did not want to go grocery shopping at all the next week.  That’s why I decided I would make an 11-day menu, from Friday the 14th through Monday the 24th.  I’m not sure I’ll be able to truly avoid the store for that long—we’re already down to only 4.5 gallons of milk, which might not be enough for my milk guzzlers.  All hail the garage fridge!  A woman in the parking lot spied my cart with 6 gallons of milk and about 8 big sturdy grocery bags and asked how many boys I feed.  :)  We bonded over the miracle that is the garage fridge and scoffed at the PG&E ads that suggest they’re a waste (not if you keep it full of food!).  Funny, we think we’re so unique, but find common ground with strangers in the oddest places, like a parking lot.  :)

Anyway, here ‘tis—the 11 Day Long Haul.  It’s Day 5, running strong.  We’re down to one banana, which I would buy more of *if* I get milk, but otherwise, oh well ~ not like we’re having muscle cramps here and need potassium STAT!  ;)

Friday: Beef-Vegetable Soup
Saturday: Salmon, Palak Paneer, Purple Cabbage (just with a little butter, salt, pepper~last of co-op)
Sunday: Crock Pot Carnitas, Black Beans, Cornbread
Monday: Moroccan Garbanzo Bean Stew w/ couscous
Tuesday: Brats & Red Lentils, Salad
Wednesday: Pasta Bolognese
Thursday: Sausage & Zucchini crustless quiche
Friday: Chicken Divan
Saturday: leftovers *or* Low Carb Picadillo, Homemade Mac & Cheese for Kids
Sunday: Carnitas Enchiladas
Monday:  White Bean & Black Olive Soup, fresh bread

Phew.  For some reason links won’t embed today.  Pardon the old school method, just in case you’re interested in trying one.  :)

Black Bean & Olive Soup: http://www.digthischickmt.com/2011/01/hump-day-nuggets-composition.html
Crock Pot Carnitas: http://blogs.babble.com/family-kitchen/2010/10/13/cooking-with-kelle-hampton-easy-pork-carnitas/
Chicken Divan (a repeat because we all liked it, all being a non-Carter, relative term): http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/chicken-divan-casserole-from-scratch-129235
Garbanzo Bean Stew: http://www.formerchef.com/2010/05/24/moroccan-garbanzo-bean-stew/
Bolognese—the one I have used faithfully for 7-8 years: http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/fettucine-bolognese-sauce-10000001049373/index.html

Drink Your Spinach

Being cooped up with Bun on a multi-day sick out, I have been catching up on my sneaky purees.  Purple puree is simply about half a bag of frozen spinach, half a bag of frozen blueberries, and the juice of half a lemon simmered on the stove for a while, then blasted to a fine puree either with a wand blender or small food processor.  What you get is a deep purple thick puree that hides well in brown foods.  My favorite way to get spinach down Carter’s gullet is in a Spinach Chocolate-Peanut Butter-Banana Smoothie.

It’s so easy to make, and it’s really yummy, plus I can load it up with goodness.  LOAD it up.  The cool part is the other kids like it, too.

1 c plain yogurt
1 really ripe banana
1/4 c purple puree
2-3 T peanut butter (couple large spoonfuls, I really don’t measure this stuff)
1 scoop Trader Joe’s vanilla soy protein powder
couple good squirts chocolate sauce  or some cocoa powder and sugar
a few glugs of milk

Put it all in the blender and puree.  Add as many ice cubes as it takes to make it seem right.  Taste and make sure it’s sweet enough… if not, add a little honey.

I find with time, I can up the purple puree amounts to make it more ‘good’ and less treat.  Leftovers work great in popsicle molds.

 

But I almost never have leftovers.  Carter chugged three small glasses this morning.  He likes chocolate a little bit.

This Week’s Specials, Jan 10

I’m sitting to type out this week’s menu as I stuff my face with Monday’s dinner.  It’s Monday, so it’s meatless.  After yesterday’s pizza and cake (plus about half a yummy ale—half because I kept forgetting Paul ran into BevMo when he went to retrieve the ‘za and Paul finally drank it, saving it from a later trip down the drain, I am sure), after all that, I am more than happy to skip the meat.  Ironically, since I didn’t make any ‘big batch meals’ this weekend, I also had to make a pot of chili so that Pablo will have something to take for lunch tomorrow (and likely eat tonight since what I made is awesome, but riddled with noodles.  So much for being meatless, huh?  Last week he did well, and gobbled two bowls of red lentil soup, though… baby steps, I s’pose.

Monday:  Tofu Peanut Udon Noodles (HERE – I added some red pepper flakes and also a shot or two of Tapatio)
Tuesday:  Salmon, Braised Greens, Tomato Soup (HERE) —with the last of this summer’s put-away tomatoes
Wednesday: Cube Steak with Rich Onion Gravy, salad
Thursday:  Brats & Peppers w Simple Tomato Sauce (Best sauce evah – HERE)
Friday:  Rich Onion Soup (can’t find link at moment, but in Jan Whole Living mag and GOOOOOD)
Saturday & Sunday:  TBD after I grocery shop

 
I’m remembering to eat breakfast at nearly the correct time every morning, too.  Wahoo, me.  ;)

Oh so good, quick, easy…

If you’re needing a last minute gift, this really is a thoughtful one—and it’s only a more or less hands-off hour of work.  Add a label and some fabric for the top… et voila.

I have made THIS RECIPE twice now, first with canola oil then with coconut oil—go with the coconut.  It ends up being subtle, but adds a certain something.  It’s awesome over yogurt.  Try it!

Weekly Menu, A Little Late :)

Sunday night—or I guess it was really very early Monday morning, Cole woke and it took me a while to get him back to sleep, then a lot longer to go back to sleep myself, so I was running on fumes yesterday.  Planning the weekly menu never happened, and I regretted it when I was sitting at the computer that night plugging ingredients into recipe finders trying to find something both interesting and quick enough to let this tired mama spend as little time as possible in the kitchen.  I found a dinner we liked, but it reinforced my conviction that dinner time is NOT the time to be deciding what to make.

I think I dozed off by 9:30 last night, trying to stay up late enough to at least mumble goodnight to my husband, who has a late night Mondays.  I was watching a show exploring the consequences of a hypothetical utter disappearance of every human on earth, and I only vaguely remember something about mass nuclear meltdowns a week or so later…  at any rate, I got a much better night’s sleep and am getting that menu planned so I don’t face my own meltdown at about 6 p.m.

Monday: Mushroom and Sausage Ragu with Polenta (subbed fauxtatoes)
Tuesday: Steamed Clams, braised chard
Wednesday: Cabbage Rolls (huge CSA cabbage begs for this)
Thursday:  Carnitas & chicken enchiladas (two kinds, not mixed (ew), carnitas left over from last week)
Friday:  Salmon, green beans, kabocha squash
Saturday: Mexican Chicken-Hominy Soup
Sunday: Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy