Cluck and Tweet

Pesto-Chango!

I know i posted a recipe for Edamame Pesto not all that long ago, and posting this leaves me running the risk of making you all think I can't actually cook anything else, but in my freezer-packing furry, pesto has become a major staple around here. Whew. That was such a poorly written run-on sentence. Sorry 'bout that.

In any case, my favorite pesto recipe of all time is so very simple::

1 cup of loosely packed basil leaves

1/4 cup lightly toasted pine nut/sunflower seed combo (or all sunflower seeds if you have folks with nut allergies) The picture is from a doubled or tripled recipe-- I really do know how to measure.

1/2 cup good olive oil

1/4 cup parm cheese.

1 or 2 cloves of garlic, minced.

Mash all together the old fashioned way or through in a food processor and blend.

I leave the cheese out when doing this:

Freezing pesto in individual cubes makes for easy storage (you can fill a glass jar for the freezer and just pluck one or two out as needed or just leave them right in the trays.  I use the BPA free Fresh Baby ones, that I still had from making Lizzie's baby food.  They are really easy to get out-- I've found the cheap plastic trays crack with stuff like pesto frozen in them.

If you want to mix it up try adding some fresh tomatoes to the mix-- a BIG hit around here.  

You could also roast some of the last bits of summer squash and blend those in (sound yummy)....

Or maybe even scoop some butternut squash that has been cooked in...With pesto, the possibilities are endless. And did I mention, pesto takes about 6 minutes, start to finish, to make??? 

Dinner? Again? I've got the answer!

Every day of my life, it seems, I have to make dinner.  I don't necessarily despise the making of the dinner, although it sometimes gets in the way of my doing something else equally as important as feeding my family...things that include Facebook and checking my Etsy shop stats or making beads or watching Ellen...but I do despise the planning of the dinner.  What to have.  Who will eat what.  What ingredients are already in my cupboard.  

Here's an easy solution.  Little Pizzas!  All you need are some English muffins (we prefer Bays, which you can order online through Amazon very affordably.  Who knew?)

Top with pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese:

sprinkle with some parmesan cheese and bake at 350 degrees:

until nice and crispy and melty and brown on top:

 I've made these since I was a kid.  For one of my birthday parties my mom had all the fixings set out...olives, pepperoni, different cheeses...and everyone got to make her own pizza.  It was simple yet really fun.  I've never forgotten it.

She Eats Noodle Shells by the Lake Shore

What a mess.  This doesn't even look remotely appetizing.  I'm sorry.  I want to apologize to Linda in Wagoner, especially.  You can check out the comments on this post to find out why.  And then we will all hug and we'll all feel better.

Any hoo, this is a recipe for stuffed shells.  It's tasty.  A lot like lasagna stuffed in a shell, but somehow that makes it seem a bit fancier.

I'm nothing if not fancy.

Step one:  buy some shells

It seems obvious, but you can't believe how many people forget this step and then instead of stuffed shells for dinner, they end up with just the stuff part.  It's not pretty.

And don't just buy any old shells, they must be the JUMBO shells.  Because we don't mess around.

Mix together all of these cheeses.  I like to use the whole package of mozzarella, a whole carton of cottage cheese (or ricotta works well), and quite a bit of parmesan.  We like our cheese.  We live close to Wisconsin, so maybe that's why.

Add an egg.  Or two egg whites, if you're health-conscious.  However, if you are terribly health-conscious, maybe you shouldn't be eating all that cheese.

I'm just sayin'.

Add some salt and parsley and basil.  Mix all together, now.  Then do the hokey pokey and turn yourself around.

Then stuff those cooked shells.  Oh?  I forgot to tell you to cook those shells?  

Ooops.  

Well, it's not too late.  Unless you've already stuffed them, which, in case you haven't noticed, is quite hard to do when they're not already cooked.

Not that anything like that has ever happened to me.

Top with spaghetti sauce, more parmesan cheese, and pop into the oven at, say, 350 degrees for maybe 30 minutes or until the cheese is all melty and bubbly.

Toss a salad, throw it on a plate, which is what I apparently did.  LIterally.  And you're set.  Another dinner for the record books.

  

And then tomorrow comes and you have to do it all over again.

Save Money! Impress Your Friends! Cure Cancer! Be a Better Dancer!

 

Okay, none of what I said in the title of this post is true.  Except for the save money part.  And the dancing.  You will definitely be rich and a good dancer if you read this post.  

I heart this Izze stuff.  It's juicy and fizzy and I love both those things a lot, juice and fizz, so this is a drink I sometimes crave.  And my 12-year-old, Anna, might just have a very unhealthy addiction to the stuff as well, but man, you should see her dance.

I just found out that, even though the closest Target is an hour-and-a-half away, I can order it from Amazon.com for $23, AND if I add $2 more to my order (because there are many, many items on amazon.com that are $2, I just haven't found them yet) I am eligible for super-saver shipping.

It's all good, people.

But even better is this little tidbit that you all probably have known about for years.

You can make your own fizzy juice drink that I like to call

JIZZY!

Except that I just realized that in no way, shape, or form will that fly.  I'm too down with my bad self not to know what some people would associate with a name like that (I won't name names, Justin, but you know who you are).  "Fuice" won't work because, although it's spelled differently, it's pretty much the trademark of this guy:

Chip Foose, who I am sure is nice and all, but he doesn't scream, "Yummy, fizzy fruit drink!" to me.  But what do I know?

I'll have to get back to you with a name.

As I've revealed, I love the Izze.  But I don't love the price.  So, Anna and I concocted our own version using two easy-to-find ingredients:

 + 

at least I think they're easy to find since we don't live anywhere near any booming metropolis and I can find them.  (Also, just in case you were wondering, yes, that's athletic tape on my kitchen counter and I have no idea why it's there, and no, that's not beer, but honey in the background.  Honest.)

I chose a nectar, rather than a juice, since I thought a juice might be too watered down.  I think some sort of juice concentrate (cherry, for example) would work really well.  And then any type of sparkling water.  Faygo is cheap and really fizzy.

We mixed half and half and then realized that we like more fizz.  Less nectar, more fizzy water. 

Ta Da!

It's really good, too!

It does have to be mixed a glass at a time, but Anna brought some with her to the barn and it held up just fine in a water bottle.

The clincher is the price.  Our juice was almost $5 and the water was 85 cents and it makes 68.6 fluid ounces of yummy, fizzy drink, the equivalent of 8 cans of Izze and about 75 cents a serving.  In comparison, each can of Izze, at the best price I could find, was 96 cents.

We're of the every-penny-counts variety.

Do you have your own recipe for sparkling juice?  Do you have any name suggestions, puhleese?  I'd love to hear it all.

Clean out your fridge day!

This is the point in the season when actually making it to the grocery store becomes a household joke.  Apart from our weekly CSA share, we do a lot of foraging of the fridge when it comes to dinner.  Because hanging out here is way more fun that meal planning.

In any case, popcorn apparently is not considered a food group and my family actually seems a bit miffed if at least, um, once a week, they aren't eating real food.  Totally messing with my summer mojo, I tell ya.

I tell myself there must be plenty of mama's out there that are feeling the same way. Boycotting the grocery store and hitting up local farmers markets or digging out the millionth leafy green from their CSA share and then digging into the fridge to use up whatever looks like it is about to explode or get all drippy and black and mushy.  Or maybe that's just me.

Ahem.

All the same, this Gobble Gobble is simple an attempt to encourage you to open your fridge and pantry and make a meal out of what you've got, so that you can spend the day doing much, much more important things (like hitting the beach, or reading on the front porch, or playing outside with the kids).

If you happen to have these ingredients handy, great. If not, make up something pasta-rific of your own.  Oh, and the photos? Yeah. I am in full summer mode, which means I was rushing to get dinner ready because it was getting late and I forgot to take ingredient shots that were pre-cooked. So you are getting the post-cooked (and sometimes already in the compost bin) shots. Sorry 'bout that.

Everything but the kitchen sink pasta.

I have kale coming out my ears these days, so I started there.  Oh, and this is the only shot I managed to get of raw food.

Cut whatever amount you have into rough chunks and saute in a big pan.  I add about 1/3 cup water to the pan, along with some olive oil and minced garlic.  Then I cover it for about 5 minutes so it steams too.  

Remove the cooked kale from the pan and set aside. Now add some other stuff.  I had a bunch of baby portabellas that had reached definite iffy status, so I added a little butter the pan and tossed them into the pan.  

I had grape tomatoes, so I threw them in after about three minutes. 

I cut a bit of fresh basil from my garden and dropped that in, along with a little cumin. Just because I felt like it.

Meanwhile, I was cooking some thin whole wheat spaghetti we had in the cupboard. I forgot to mention that part. Oh, I also forgot to mention that this is a great time to clean out browning guacamole. Snack away while you whip up your meal.

Once the mushrooms were done, I tossed a little less than a half of a cup of white wine that was opened, ah, two weeks prior, into the pan.

and then I added a wee bit more butter.

And squeezed the juice of one lemon into the pan.

Threw in a pinch of celtic sea salt.

and tossed in the pasta.

Meanwhile, I discovered some leftover grilled lemon chicken in the fridge, counted back the days from its cooking to make sure it was still edible, and cut that up to put on top.  With the last of a parmesan cheese chunk grated over the pasta, I presented it to my famished crowd. 

They were happy, and my fridge was a bit cleaner, and I got to do the dance/shuffle/hop cooking party with Lizzie hanging on my back, which truly is a whole lot of fun (and please ignore the clock in the background. I swear I wasn't feeding my family at ten minutes till midnight. We just haven't gotten new batteries, because, you know, we're so busy).

  

Life is good.

Spare me, asparagus

Alison wrote a really good post yesterday. And its a good thing too, because me? I've got a whole lot of nothin' today.  Well, nothing, combined with asparagus and mushrooms.

We still have fresh local asparagus available here, so I am always on the hunt for new ways to prepare it (we grill it a lot, and there is always the steamed-with-hollandaise version).  I love this recipe from Moosewood. We ate it for our main dish, but if you need some meat in your stomach, it would work as a side dish too.

Pasta with Asparagus/Mushroom Sauce.

You'll need:

Slice a pound of fresh asparagus in two-inch spears.

2 tbs. butter 

1 1/2 cups minced onion

1 tsp salt

1 lb mushrooms, sliced

1/2 tsp tarragon

black pepper, to taste

1 1/2 cups dry white wine

1 cup of water

1-2 tablespoons of flour (more for thicker sauce)

6-8 cloves garlic, minced

1/2- 3/4 pound pasta of your choosing

Oh, and this is why I have no pictures to illustrate the above ingredients:

yes, this unattractive picture depicts a Lizzie strapped to my back, feeding me asparagus spears. Because it was the only way I was cooking without the music of a screaming toddler.

ahem.

Steam the asparagus until just tender.  Transfer to a colander over a sink and refresh under cold running water. Drain well and set aside. 

Melt the butter in a large skillet.

add the onion and salt and saute for about three minutes.  Add the mushrooms, the tarragon and the pepper.  Cover and cook over medium heat for around 15 minutes, stirring on occasion.

Add the wine and water, and sprinkle in the flour. Lower the heat, cook at a simmer for 8-10 minutes, stirring a bunch.  Add the garlic and cook about five minutes more. Set aside.

Cook pasta

Stir the steamed asparagus into the sauce and toss the drained pasta with a little olive oil.  Serve with fresh parmesan.

The thrifted vintage plates are optional, but still, they make me swoon.

oh, and ps-- that crunchy green stuff in the back of the plate is a bunch of kale chips.  We've had a lot of green in our CSA bags this summer. Can you tell?

Rhubarb-alicious!

Oh, Rhubarb.  How I love you.

I know it is late in the season for most places, and in fact, I'm heading across the bay today for the first bout of fresh strawberries this season (which I will promptly come home and mix with rhubarb for something...a pie? a crumb cake?)! Still, there is rhubarb out there yet to be turned from its biting sour self into something so. darn. fantastic.

And fantastic is exactly what this Rhubarb Coffee Cake is. I've made it twice (and it makes two 9-inch cakes each time!) and it has never lasted longer than 24 hours.  I might be bragging here, but I swear this is the best coffee cake I've ever tasted, and if you live in my town, you know the Island Bean's coffee cake is basically unbeatable. Until now.

Without further ado....

you'll need:

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/2 stick butter

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 tsps vanilla extract

1 3/4 cup minced rhubarb (I chop it and then stick it in the food processor and hit "pulse" a couple times).

Topping:

3 tablespoons of very, very soft butter 

3/4 cup sugar

2 tbl all-purpose flour

2 tbl cinnamon

By the way, the reason I only have a few pictures-- most of which are blurry-- is because I had a little person strapped to my back the entire time I was cooking. And she does not like to stay still;)

Preheat the oven the 350, grease and flour two 9-inch rounds 

-Whisk the flours, baking soda and salt together in a mixing bowl.  

-Cream together the butter and sugar in a bigger bowl (I just use my Kitchen Aid mixer)

-Beat in the egg 

- Add the dry ingredients slowly, mixing as you go, and alternating with the buttermilk (so, pour some flour stuff in and mix, add buttermilk and mix, pour some more flour in and mix, and so on).

-Add the vanilla

-Mix in the rhubarb and spread the mixture into the pans (evenly)

For the topping:

Combine the soft butter with 1/2 cup of the sugar and one tablespoon each of the flour and cinnamon. Use your hand to very carefully smooth the mixture on top of the cake; don't worry about covering the whole thing-- you won't be able to.

which is why...

you sift together the last 1/4 of sugar with the remaining tablespoons of flour and cinnamon and then sprinkle it over the cakes.

Bake for about 25-30 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out basically clean. Cool and devour.

Holy Guacamole

I love guacamole.  I kind of like just saying the word.  Guacamole.   Guac, when I want to be cool. 

Which is pretty much always.

I love avocados, tomatoes, and chocolate. I don't add chocolate to my guacamole, however. I'm sure you're relieved. And I always make my guacamole while wearing a sombrero and fake mustache. It's more authentic that way:  

My guacamole recipe for this post is much less involved than the one in the video. That's saying a lot since the recipe in the video isn't involved at all, unless you count chopping tomatoes and deciding between jalapeño versus serrano peppers complicated.  

The recipe includes the following:

  avocados:

Watch the above video to learn how to properly cut open an avocado.  That little morsel of information alone is worth the price of admission.  Okay, that and the baby gringo.

lemon juice:

sour cream (it adds a smoothness to the dip that I like and it also means more guac for less money.  Of course it also dilutes the avocado flavor a bit, so you have to decide how much you're willing to sacrifice):

garlic powder and cumin:

 

and salt.

Mash the avocados with a fork until they're creamy.  Add lemon juice, sour cream (about 1/4 cup) and lots and lots of garlic powder about 1 teaspoon of cumin and salt to taste.  

Stir until smooth. 

 

Smoother than you see here.  And less messy.  

That's it.  

But not quite.  Because the real clincher is how awesomely awesome this tastes on top of a turkey burger:

And the secret to our burgers is in the bun.  Bay's English Muffins.  

You'll never go back to a regular burger.

You're welcome.

Las fajitas. Muy delicioso.

I hate to brag, but I have a minor in el espanol.  You could tell that, couldn't you. 

I can also get a taxi to take my mother-in-law, husband, and me from Mexico, D.F. (that would be Mexico City, to you, unless you're Mexican and thinking to yourself, "That girl has no idea what she's talking about."  Feel free to correct me.) to San Miguel de Allende.  Granted, it took a good hour longer than it should have, but it was a scenic ride filled with danger and intrigue and large trucks barreling toward us going 75 miles per hour.

During the ride the driver and I talked about tuna (because isn't that what you always talk about with your taxi driver?).  Well, I thought we were talking about tuna.  I called it "tuna" instead of "atun."  He nodded politely, but he had to wonder why I was talking about a "group of student minstrels" or a "prickly pear."  

Of course, when I was "studying" in Spain one summer, I did ask if it was possible to rent a nearby mountain.  

That Spanish minor has definitely come in handy.

You'll be relieved to know that today's recipe requires neither atun, tuna, a prickly pear or a group of student minstrels.  Although I hear they are tasty.

Today's recipe requires good old flank steak for FAJITAS!  Que bueno! 

You will need peppers, lots of peppers.  Aren't they pretty?  Slice them into strips.

 

and an onion, sliced.

Slice the flank steak diagonally, across the grain.  There's a lot of slicing, I'm noticing.  Watch your fingers.

Add together the following spices in a Ziploc bag.  I have no affiliation with Ziploc, so it's not imperative that you use a brand name or off-brand or even a bag, for that matter, especially if you are trying to go plastic-free or some such thing.  Somehow mix together the following, enough to coat however much flank steak you have.

Garlic powder, cumin, red pepper, salt, chili powder, and black pepper all showed up for picture day.  They each got a comb and I called them funny names to make them laugh.

 

Or you could always use this:

Coat the flank steak with the spices.

Heat 1 teaspoon of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the steak, onion, and bell peppers and cook until the steak is done. 

 

Stir in lime juice.  I didn't have any lime juice so I used lemon and frankly no one noticed any difference.  Or were too polite to say anything.  

On second thought, no one noticed any difference.

Heat the tortillas according to package directions.  Divide the mixture evenly among the warm tortillas and roll up.  Or, if you're like me, over-stuff them until all of the inside goop drips out the bottom and you're left with an empty tortilla in your hand and a "now what?" look on your face.  If this should happen, just grab a fork.  That's what they're for.

Serve with sour cream, salsa, and cilantro sprigs.

The original recipe is as follows and is from an old edition of Cooking Light.   

3/4 pound lean flank steak

2      teaspoons ground cumin

2     teaspoons chili powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper

4     (8-inch) flour tortillas

1     teaspoon vegetable oil

2 cups sliced onion

1/3 cup green pepper strips

1/3  cup red bell pepper strips

1/3 cup yellow bell pepper strips

1 tablespoon lime juice

1/4 cup nonfat sour cream

Commercial green salsa (optional)

Cilantro sprigs (optional)

Trim fat from steak.  Slice steak diagonally across grain into thin strips.  Combine steak and next 6 ingredients (steak through ground red pepper) in a zip-top heavy-duty plastic bag; seal bag, and shake well to coat.

Heat the tortillas according to package directions.

Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add steak, onion, and bell peppers; saute 6 minutes or until steak is done.  Remove from heat; stir in lime juice.  Divide mixture evenly among warm tortillas, and roll up.  Serve with sour cream.  Garnish with green salsa and cilantro sprigs, if desired.  

Yield:  4 services (serving size: 1 fajita and 1 tablespoon sour cream).

Calories:  330

Fat:  12.6 g

Fiber: 3.3g

Bon appetit!

Buen provecho!

Where's the beef? Oh! It's right here.

Note: This is not a play. It is a scene from my house, pre-dinner time a few weeks ago.

Husband (coming in the door with soccer-playing son): Hey love! What's for dinner? Something smells good...

Wife: I'm making beef pot roast.

Husband: YES! I knew it was a good idea to invite (a friend's husband) over for dinner (because said friend was out of town).

Wife: What does that have to do with anything?

Husband: Because! We're having meat!

-- 

Sad, but true.  Meat, especially of the red variety, is simply not a menu priority for a girl who was a vegetarian, and palled around with a gaggle of vegans-- vegans who wore shirts with graphics like this:

or this:

 

okay, not really, but they easily could have worn them.  

My husband, who has no doubts about his carnivorous desires, is quite the sport, often going long stretches without seeing anything but plants of some variety on his plate.  For him, having a similarly meat-protein loving male dinner guest over was quite possibly a glimpse of heaven. Okay, I may be having a flare for the dramatics here, but still.  There was a whole lot of happy in my house the night I served this, coming straight out of the wonderful The Art of Simple Food cookbook.  

A simple, and fantastic if I don't say so myself, beef pot roast.

Begin with a 3 pound beef chuck roast.  I'll be honest: I have never purchased a beef chuck roast before making this meal.  I was totally grossed out as it moved along the grocery store conveyer belt in the check out aisle, and even more grossed out when I had to (shiver) handle it before getting it into the dutch oven.

The specks on top of the meat?  Celtic sea salt.  Sprinkle the whole roast with the salt at least a few hours prior to cooking.

I did find chopping the veggies first helped the rhythm of this meal, so go ahead do this before you start cooking:

chop one medium leek (by cutting lengthwise and then chopping)

and one medium red onion

Also clean and chop four or so carrots

and SEPARATE them into two bowls-- one with one chopped carrot, and the other with the remaining three

five stalks of celery, chopped and separated into two bowls (do I have to do capitals again?)  One with 2 stalks, the other with three.

And three cloves of garlic, halved.

Also, peel and halve about six petite yukon gold potatoes. Or just peel half of them and leave the other half skin on, both because it adds some contrast color wise, and because peeling petit potatoes is a pain in the tush.

* I keep peeled potatoes in cold water until I am ready to use them. 

Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy pot or dutch oven, and then add that big ol' slab of meat.

Brown on each side for three or four minutes.

Add a tablespoon of butter, and then turn the roast, sprinkling flour on every side

Brown for another three minutes and then add the following:

The chopped onion

The chopped leek

The one chopped carrot

The two chopped celery stalks

and all the garlic.

Also add:

A mess of thyme sprigs

A bit of fresh parsley

and one bay leaf.

Almost looks like a poem, no?

Now pour in 1/2 cup of red wine

And enough water to come almost to the top of the meat.  Bring to a simmer, stirring now and then, and skim the nasty fat stuff off the top. Sorry. I really am not a fan of cooking stuff that you have to skim fat off of. Grosses me out. That said, I swear this is a really, really tasty meal.  

Cover and simmer for 2.5 hours.  If you want to have the most time consuming part behind you, you can do all of the above and then just stick the pot in the fridge overnight if you want. (Just  take out the cooked meat and jump to the straining of the cooking liquid below, and store in separate containers. When you go to warm the cooking liquid the next day, skim out all the fat...the nice thing about doing it this way is that the fat solidifies and you can get it all out with ease), and reheat as you do the next steps.  If you are doing this all in one day, start a salted pot of boiling water in the last half hour of the meat's cook time.

Add the three chopped carrots,

the three chopped celery stalks

and the six potatoes

and cook until very tender.

When the pot roast is cooked, take it out of the liquid and keep it warm while you dump the cooking liquid into a strainer (with another pot underneath to catch it) and press down with the back of a spoon or ladle to get all the juices out of the vegetables-- then discard (compost) them. Return the liquid to the dutch over and bring back to a simmer.

Slice the roast and put it back in the pot.

Add the other cooked veggies.  I also dumped in a can of tomatoes (they aren't in season here, and so I might as well do the canned kind).

 

Bring everything to a simmer and serve hot.

Sending apologies into blank space in honor of your old vegan friends at some later time is optional.  What isn't? Enjoying this super tender, super hearty pot roast, right down to that last bread-sopped bite.

--k

Do You Know the Muffin Man? Well, Apparently He Lives at My House. And He Makes Muffins That Strangely Resemble the Sorting Hat. Yum!

If you have been looking for that perfect muffin recipe that ends up looking like the sorting hat from Harry Potter, look no further (farther?  Whatever.  Just don't look any more.).

Can't you just taste it now?

This recipe originated from the lid of a Stonyfield yogurt container, and I'd like to say you can find that recipe here, but I can't because I couldn't find the recipe here, although you can find a lot of other great looking recipes. 

You will need to mix together the following:

2 cups of flour.  You should use 1 cup all-purpose flour and 1 cup of whole-wheat flour, but I didn't have any whole-wheat flour, not that I have anything against it or anything, it's just that when I buy whole-wheat flour with all the best intentions in the world of using it in anything from bread to muffins to lemonade, it ends up not being used at all, and sits, lonely, in the back of the pantry, having long talks with the ground flaxseed that is jammed in beside it.  I am all for, however, sneaking these better-for-you ingredients into something so yummy you'd never know the difference, and I think you should do as I say, not as I do.  Amen.

1/2 cup of sugar, Sugar:

Measure carefully:

These muffins were only eaten by immediate family members.  Thankfully no one else was exposed to the obvious germs that went into making our strawberry muffins.  We did wash our hands before beginning to cook.  Like that helped.

1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda:

In another bowl mix 2 eggs,

1 cup of yogurt 1/4 cup of butter, melted

and 1 teaspoon vanilla

 

Remember when your mom would tell you not to make that face or it would freeze that way?  She was right.

 

Toss 1 cup of chopped strawberries (fresh or frozen, doesn't matter) into the FLOUR mixture.  Then pour yogurt mixture into flour mixture and stir.  Spoon batter into muffins tins, but first make sure you've sprayed (or greased) said tins.

 Make sure to shake the can before spraying.  Like so:

 

Please do a neater job than I did:

Neatness has never been my strong point, and yes, that is the same muffin pan used for the salmon patties I made, but I promise I washed it thoroughtly and the muffins didn't taste at all like fish.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until tops are golden brown and they look like this:

 

It's smiling because it can't wait to be eaten.

Melt-in-your-mouth Strawberry Muffins

ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole-wheat flour

1/2 cup sugar

1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

2 eggs

1 cup Stonyfield Farm yogurt

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup chopped strawberries, fresh or frozen

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  In a bowl, mix together flour, sugar and baking soda.  In another bowl, mix eggs, yogurt, butter, and vanilla.  Toss strawberries into the flour mixture.  Then pour yogurt mixture into flour mixture and stir.  Spoon batter into greased muffin tin.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until tops are golden brown.  Yields: 12 muffins

Nutrition Facts:  (using Stonyfield Farm lowfat plain yogurt) Calories 150; Calories from fat 45; Total Fat 5g; Carbohydrates 24g; Protein 4g; Fiber 2g

--A

                        

Feeling Crunchy. And not because I forgot to shave my legs either.

I would gladly post a great dinner recipe today, except for one small problem: I apparently forgot how to cook.  Okay, maybe not really, but we've had our fair share of dining out, salad-for-dinner, and "fend for yourself" evenings around here lately.  Maybe it is the hectic spring schedules, or the fact that I've been doing some freelance gigs, or maybe it is just the fact that Yummies (our favorite downtown ice cream store) opened and I want to eat downtown because that always means a trip to Yummies for dessert.  

I will, however, post a recipe for my husband's favorite granola. Because that means I actually have to make the granola, which will in turn make my husband (who is still looking at me cross-eyed from this post) very, very happy.  I modified Catherine Newman's original recipe to appease the picky eaters in my house. And appease them it did, because this stuff goes like, well, like fresh granola around here, which is to say it lasts two days, at best.

Without further ado...

Watcha need:

six cups of rolled oats. Why, exactly do they call them "rolled?" far as I can see, they are flat as pancakes, but whatever.  You can get these awfully cheap if you buy in bulk (and by "cheap" I am referring to local co-op pricing, not blue-light special inexpensive. food bills are a bear to look at, aren't they?)

one and a half cups of chopped nuts. We go the almond route.  I once bought cashews, by mistake, but chickened out before chopping 'em up, more because I hate the word cashew than anything else.  You can use whatever nuts you want though, just make sure you chop 'em.

1/4 cup each of the following:

raw pumpkin seeds (that's the green seeds in the mess of bags above. Did you know pumpkin seeds dry green?)

wheat germ (which is not pretty enough to warrant a photo. sorry).

whole flax seeds

ground flax seeds (you can grind flax seeds in a coffee bean grinder, or buy them pre-ground. Or if you are really fancy, you already own a flax seed grinder, all on its own).

sunflower seeds

a generous 1/2 cup of brown sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3/4 stick salted butter (I'm sure unsalted would be fine too. It is just that unsalted anything in my house is unholy). I guess I got camera-lazy for awhile, or had to stop the kids from sneezing into the rolled oats. My apologies for the lack of visuals. 

1/3 cup Agave Nectar (you can use honey too)

1 1/4 teaspoon vanilla-- NOT the imitation kind either. (whoa. I was a bit strong there. Sorry. I love my vanilla...also, I love this box, because it says "A gluten free food" and that makes me giggle-- I mean, hello-- it's vanilla).

An oven, pre-heated to 300-degrees.

Get a big bowl and dump all the dry ingredients in together. Mix well-- if your kids are helping, make sure you check to see if they really washed their hands and scrubbed out the dirt from their fingernails...or just notice it too late, and hope no other adults get a big wad of backyard in their bite.

Melt the butter in a small sauce pan and stir in the agave, then add the vanilla. Whisk together and pour into the dry ingredients, mixing until everything has been gooped up well.

 Oh, and if you have little helpers, please make sure you teach them how to hold the bowl with one hand, and stir with the other. Otherwise, your floor may look like this:

 

Now spread the (remaining, ahem)granola on a baking sheet-- you'll have to do this in batches unless you have two really big jelly roll pans-- and bake for 15 minutes.

 Take it out of the oven and stir with a spatula. Put it back in the over and bake another 10 minutes. And come back to Cluck and Tweet and look this picture of Lizzie, 

falling in love with the vanilla, butter, and agave combination. Because I could definitely waste 10 minutes fawning over her adorableness. 

 Take the pan out and stir it all again. At this point, you might want to start doing this to the tune of the "Hokey Pokey" and when you put the granola back in the oven  for its last 10 minutes, you can sing "That's what its all about, toot-toot!"

After 35 minutes of total bake time, the granola should be browning and done looking, if not, just stick it back in and watch it carefully for the next few minutes. Pull it out and let it cool before devouring, and store whatever is left in an airtight container. I usually can fill four mason jars per batch.

And of course you can add all sorts of coconut or dried fruits to this basic mix. We just don't do that around here. Our granola prefers a little yogurt and some fresh berries.  Okay-- sorry-- that sounded about as snobby as I meant it to sound, but what it really boils down to is that everyone in my house detests dried fruit, minus Lizzie, but she's been known to eat rabbit turd.

--K

Canned Salmon. Yeah, I Know. For Salmon Patties.

Yes, this recipe uses canned salmon.  Canned.  And before I extol its virtues, let's just get this out of the way.  Here's the salmon before:

and here it is after:

Yeah, I know.

I think if I could use the salmon from the before picture, just throw the whole can into the mix, like Kate wanted to in this recipe, I would do that.  And it doesn't really get better because this salmon includes the bones:

Actually, the bones are a good source of calcium.  I remove them anyway just because of the grossness factor.  And sometimes I remove all the black skinlike pieces, too.  And if you still want to try this recipe, I give you a lot of credit.  Granted, you could use the left-overs from this recipe (which I found out later was steelhead trout, not salmon as I falsely led you to believe and was too embarrassed to reveal until now.  Thanks, Dad, for pointing this out.), we just never have any left-overs. 

After smooshing (an actual cooking term) the salmon to make mush, add the following ingredients:

 

1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire (Woosh-ti-shire? Wur-sti-shur? War-chester-shire? It doesn't really matter how you pronounce it, just don't say it outloud.  Unless you're home alone, then say it out loud all you want.) sauce

1/4 cup mayonnaise (I'm a Hellman's girl)

2 tablespoons mustard (preferably something fancy)

1/4 cup breadcrumbs (I didn't have any and didn't want to pull out the blender, since I'd have to wash it later, to make any, and I didn't have any croutons, which add a nice flavor, so I used corn meal to hold it all together)

minced garlic (the garlic was absent on picture-taking day, and was added last minute when I remembered that my husband had asked me to add lots of garlic to everything...except for things like ice cream and perhaps cereal...in an effort to ward off mosquitoes.  And probably everyone but close family friends.  It's an experiment and worth a try because Northern Michigan mosquitoes are vicious little buggers:

 

I.  Hate.  Mosquitoes. 

I'll let you know how the garlic experiment works out.)

Then I came up with a brilliant idea for cooking the salmon patties!  A MUFFIN PAN!

Okay, so it's not the polio vaccine, and I probably am not the first person to come up with this idea, and most likely Martha Stewart or the Pioneer Woman or you have been doing this for years, but in this house I'm the first person who has thought of this particular idea and Sam was duly impressed because when the salmon patties came out of the oven, they looked like this:

Which is pretty good, except for the bloody-looking juicy stuff on the plate (what IS that?) and the rogue salmon patties that wouldn't hold together even if I had added super glue to the recipe.  The end result being this:

And this, I now realize, looks like every dinner I ever make:

  But it does taste different.  I promise.

I made a sauce, as well, which is simply comprised of the following ingredients:

Although canned salmon isn't as romantic as a salmon filet, it does have its benefits:

1. Canned salmon contains healthy Omega-3, proven to support joint health, improve mental health, and help keep your heart pumping.

2. According to the Environmental Defense Fund, canned salmon is one of the best seafood choices you can make.

3.  It's cheap.

4.  And although not scientifically proven, this recipe just might keep mosquitoes away.

A little Leek love

While I do love our community garden plot, and while I try to eat as local as possible all the time, I cannot lay claim to being any sort of homesteader.  We don't raise much in terms of our own food-- the plot is more about the kids digging in the dirt and discovering the cycle of seasons; we have a CSA membership for the real stuff-- and our family is not exactly self-reliant (unless you count the fact that we don't have tv, which technically makes us sort-of self-reliant in the entertainment category...right). 

We do, however, love those glimpses of a life totally tied to the earth in our backyard.  We live in a place where we lucky enough to get those glimpses pretty often.  We find ways to learn and use-- with great care-- our landscape, from having my four-year old easily identify these:

(Trout Lily's and Trillium) to collecting firewood or being given venison (no hunters here, but Justin once helped clean a deer while getting instructions from someone on speaker phone. See what I mean about not being homesteaders?)

For me, the best part of living in a still-wild land is the fun we have foraging.  From wild raspberries to delicious morel mushrooms, we have a wide array of foodie finds just out our back door.  Right now, the leeks (or ramps for you southerners) are up in abundance, and while those bulbs (think wild onion) need another few weeks to get bigger, the leaves are prim for picking. Or, more accurately, snipping.

If you happen to live near a hardwood forest, venture out for a walk and see if you can find any patches of smooth green leaves that look like this:

If you do, you've found a goldmine of good-for-you greens that have fantastic flavor (don't let the strong smell put you off-- they really are mild). Here's an ever-so-simple wild leek leaf recipe and a lemon chicken with pesto noodles recipe to go with it, because while leeks leaves are yummy, they won't exactly fill you up.

First, collect your leaves.  But not like this, because this shot is of Max collecting the whole bulb. If you are careful with the scissors, you won't even need to wash them before you saute them (too much water wrecks the saute).  I like to leave a bit of the leaf so that I can return at the end of May and dig up the bulbs.  

Since the saute only takes about a half-minute, set the leaves aside and get your chicken (if you are lucky, you can score some organic chicken from a local farmer. Spend the time to look for someone in your area...it is so worth the extra legwork) on the grill.  A few hours (or a day) before all this, marinate the chicken in this:

1/3 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

1/3 cup flavored olive oil (basic is the best) and another 1/3 cup regular olive oil

1 tablespoon minced/chopped garlic

Put the ingredients together and stick the chicken in to marinate. If you want a fast grill time, pound the chicken with the flat end of a meat mallet until relatively even and thin (this is also fun to do if you have had a bad day. Just because it involves the words "pounding" and "mallet").

For the pesto pasta:

This time of year, I am scraping by with the remaining few globs of last year's pesto batches, which I freeze in ice cube trays all summer, making it easy to divide. Basil is an easy garden staple, and I grow loads of it just out my back door.

As we gear into the warm season, this is my tried and true pesto recipe:

A whole mess of fresh basil leaves (and a whole mess amounts to about three cups, if you don't speak Kate-language).

1/3 cup olive oil

2 1/2 tablespoons pine nuts

2 minced garlic cloves

and an optional 1/3 cup fresh parm. cheese.

Cook up some pasta of your choice, add the pesto, and set aside, while the chicken is on the grill.

And now, for the leak leaves...

Take your freshly cut leaves

and add them to a large pan (over medium-high heat) with a tablespoon of olive oil and a tablespoon of sesame oil.

Add as much minced garlic as you dare. Actually, it really doesn't need much. Maybe a teaspoon and a half (one and a half cloves for anyone not being lazy. Ahem).

saute just until wilted (literally less than a minute. So don't go walking away or getting distracted by all the fun happening outside the kitchen window.

Because when you are done, you can plate up a meal that was made almost entirely within a five mile radius. And that is pretty darn cool.

--K

 

If It Weren't for Potluck, I'd Have no Luck at All

Did I just paraphrase a song from Hee-Haw? The fact is, I greatly dislike potluck dinners. Okay. I hate them. For one simple reason. I am 43 years old and I don’t like my food to touch. I’m also afraid of alien abduction. But, should you need to take something to a potluck dinner, or if you just need a side dish for tonight’s dinner, or if you need to take a dish to pass for your next alien abduction, here’s a pretty good one. If I do say so myself.

That hole you see in the picture is where I took a little taste. It was good.

First, take about 3 ounces of whole-wheat pasta, break it into 3 inch pieces and prepare, following the instructions on the package.

Which means: boil until done.

In the meantime, take a package of broccoli slaw:

preferably some that is “Fresh & Crisp!” and mix with the following:

1/3 cup

which actually should be

unless when you take it out of the fridge you find it empty. Then just use any old vinegar you can find. Add 2 tablespoons of sugar

3 tablespoons of soy sauce: 1 tablespoon olive oil:

1 teaspoon of minced garlic: I always add at least one clove. For good luck. And to ward off vampires. This recipe also calls for 1/2 cup of chopped green onions (don’t have any), 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (the taste of which Mr. Incredible hates in a very hateful way), 1/4 cup red pepper strips (I had yellow. And honestly, I couldn’t tell the difference), and 1/2 cup of frozen baby peas:

You are now required to toss all of these ingredients together. Toss! Toss! Toss! This is one of those words that looks weird when you type it too many times in a row. Toss it again. Then stick it in the fridge for 2 hours. Or, if you’re like me and can’t plan that far ahead, stick it in the fridge until the rest of dinner is ready. Enjoy! The original recipe can be found here. Keep it away from the red Jell-O and green bean casserole. And aliens.

–A

I am a big fan of salmon, basically because it is so darn good for you, and so darn easy to cook.  Easy is exactly what this recipe is all about-- the kind of easy that I save to cook on nights that I really, really, really don't feel like putting anything in the oven at all. Like tonight, when my husband and eldest rolled in from a weekend ski getaway, while our youngest two, well, just seemed to roll all over the house, and I was trying to pack for vacation, and....wah wah wah.  Back to the fish. Pick up a nice salmon filet at your friendly neighborhood fish market.  Start by cooking  rice-- I like brown with some pilaf thrown in--  just follow the instructions for whatever kind of grain suites your fancy. For some reason, touching raw fish does not freak me out like touching raw chicken does. That being said, I do prepare this right on the broiler pan, just because.  Lop four big slices o' butter on top.  I didn't say this was the healthiest way to prepare salmon, did I? Fire up your oven's broiler and slice a lemon in half, squeezing one of the halves onto the fillet.   Next, chop up some fresh dill.   Add the dill on top of the salmon and sprinkle with garlic salt. Put the salmon in the oven and broil for 10-13 minutes, depending on the fish's thickness.  The lemon tends to make the outside cook more quickly, be careful not to pull it out too soon (unless you like it on the raw side, which I so do not).  In any case, this is a shot of my fish in the oven, not done, but looking quite done. While the fish is cooking, chop up a fresh tomato. Unless your friendly neighborhood fish market is doing some major overhaul of their produce aisle, leaving not a fresh tomato in sight...then open up a can of diced 'maters. Melt three more nice size slices of butter in a pan (like my accurate measuring terminology? Sorry, I'll try to get better someday. Or not).  Add a half-cup of white wine I made it look blurry on purpose. Like I drank too much of the cooking wine. Really. Wisk the butter and wine constantly over medium heat for 30 seconds.   Now dump about half the can of tomatoes (or the one diced tomato) into the pan and keep on whisking. If you are wondering, those little green things are capers. You can add a heaping tablespoon to the mix if you'd like. If your husband thinks the word caper is really just a stand in for "spawn of the devil" however, I suggest you throw in just a few. You know, to watch him try to roll one away from his rice with a fork. Funny stuff. But I digress. Stir this saucy mix for a minute or so, until heated through. By this time, the salmon should be done. Make a bed of rice, add the salmon, and top with sauce.  From raw fish to table in under 20 minutes. And it even tastes good.

I'm Not Kidding.  Chicken & Garlic.  What More Do You People Want?

Here's the funny thing.  Dan and Jodi, who give me my favorite recipes, gave me this recipe.  BUT THEY DON'T  REMEMBER IT!  Hmmm.  I'm not sure what that means.  Perhaps that they don't want to be responsible for anything I make.  But this, this recipe is good.  It requires the following

  +    + 

equals

Pop it into the oven for half-an-hour or until the chicken is done, whichever comes first.  But about half way through that time (say, 15 minutes), pull the garlic (it should be soft by this point)  Mmmm. Roasted garlic.  There might not be anything better.  Except maybe toasted coconut ice cream.  Press the garlic:

 This is one of my favorite tools in the kitchen.  It's not the best model out there (my brother-in-law has an old metal one that I salivate over), but it does the trick.  I love that you can press the garlic with the skins on and dig out the skin later and have your fingers smell like garlic for 2 days.  And I do wash my hands.  Obsessively. 

Mix the pressed garlic with salad dressing (or balsamic vinegar) and mayonnaise:

      to make this: 

Find a willing victim taste-tester:

 If you use this one, keep a close eye on the sauce, because she will eat all of it.

Serve up the chicken, some rice, some broccoli and you have this:

 No, this is the boy's meal.  He is not much into meat, and I've not come to the point where I set down the law and say, "This isn't a diner.  Eat what I give you."  So he eats yogurt, broccoli, and toast.  Yum.  The rest of us eat this:

  If you'd rather have the yogurt, broccoli, and toast recipe, don't hesistate to e-mail.    Or grow up and eat at the big kid table.

--A

 

 

 

 

  If I'm going to eat an animal, I like it to look mean and ugly, not cute and sweet.  This is a picture of a sockeye salmon.  I have no problem eating that.   I don't have any problem eating chocolate, either, since it comes from this: Didn't know that, did you?  But now you never need to feel guilty about eating chocolate, do you? Back to the ugly salmon...  I like it to look like this before I prepare it:  I bought this frozen at the grocery store, but it is wild salmon and was flash frozen so I figure it has the allhealth benefits I'm looking for.  I cut it into fourths so that it would cook more quickly and evenly.   I cut it with a dull knife, thus the finger holes in the salmon piece on the lower left.   We'll cover that up.  Don't worry. I spray the heck out of it (yes, butter would taste better, but I'm not one of those people who can eat butter and not have it attach itself to my thighs 10 minutes later)  with whatever spray I have at the time.  I'm not loyal to a specific brand of non-stick sprays.  Add salt and pepper.  Notice my fancy salt.  Ignore my pepper.  I should have dressed it up for the occasion. Sprinkle parmesan cheese over top.  Lots of parme.  Even more.  I prefer freshly grated parmesan since it makes the top nice and crispy, but you've gotta do with what you've got.  That makes no sense but really makes me feel like I'm down with my bad self.  Then spray, spray, spray again.   Throw this on the grill, aluminum foil and all, until done.  However long that is.  That's Sam's job.  Prior to this I sauteed some onion, garlic, and mushrooms to add to our basmati rice: Add some broccoli (boy, do we eat a lot of broccoli), and you've got a meal.

Um, is it okay to post a recipe involving chicken on a site called "Cluck and Tweet?" I'm going with yes (with the promise that said chicken led a happy, free-range, organic life on a quaint Amish farm). Without further ado: The easiest and tastiest chicken tortilla soup ever. Well, maybe not ever, but still-- it is super easy, and that counts for something. ingredients: canola oil for the soup pot bottom (something like an 1/8 of a cup will do) I medium red pepper, seeded and chopped 1 medium green pepper, seeded and chopped (unless you are like me and totally forget to buy a green pepper. In that case, the one red pepper works fine) 2 cloves garlic, minced. Or, if you are feeling lazy, one teaspoon of already minced garlic. 2 teaspoons dried oregano 1 teaspoon cumin (which is prettier to photograph than oregano) 1 can diced tomatoes, from the store or your own canned surplus. Personally, canning scares the crud out of me, so I go for the store bought stuff, because the FDA is proving to be a safe bet these days... 4 cups of cold water or chicken stock (I go for the stock) A package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Even typing that gives me the shivers. I. hate. raw. chicken. I wish I could dump it in the soup like this: simply to avoid touching it. 1 (15 ounce) can of cooked black beans 3/4 a bag frozen corn kernels (I do like to use the corn we've frozen from the summer for soups like this, but by March, we're stuck with the "freshly frozen" variety. And that's fine, since the bag promises yellow delights that are "always delicious"). Oh, and some blue corn chips to stick in the bottom of the bowls before adding soup.... Heat the canola oil in a soup pot over medium-high heat. Saute the peppers, onion, garlic, oregano and cumin for 3 minutes. Add the tomato and continue stirring for 1 minute. Add cold water or stock and stir. Looks more like a bubbling acid pool than soup at this point, I know. Now comes the tricky part: add the chicken. without touching it. Okay, that's me...really you just have to toss the chicken breasts in and let them simmer for 20 minutes. I, on the other hand, make it a monumental task... Yeah. While waiting, enjoy a little moment of peace. My moment involves looking out the back door, where this awaits: When the 20 minutes are up, remove the cooked chicken breasts, let them cool for a few minutes, and then cut 'em up, anyway you like. Return the cut chicken into the soup pot (so much easier this time!) and dump in the beans and corn. Bring back to a boil, and serve, over the crunched up tortilla chips. *If you don't have massive aversions to spicy foods like the guy with the hairy arm (see above, meet my husband) does, you can chop up a seeded jalapeno pepper and give this soup a kick! --K

This recipe requires vegetables.  Lots of veggies, fresh from the garden someones garden, somewhere, and I'm hoping it was someones organic garden, but I'm not really sure on that one except for the potatoes.     I used peppers, garlic, redskin potatoes, onion, and yellow squash.  Just chop up all of those vegetables.  You'll also need some thyme and salad dressing.   The thyme can be sprigs (which are actually prettier than the jar of thyme you see before you).   You don't need the salad dressing, you could use balsamic vinegar, but we like the extra flavor.   Can you tell that we love ourselves some Ken's Light Caesar?   I will admit that is does contain high-fructose corn syrup, but I figure the organic potatoes off-set the corn syrup so we're still even.   Mix together the thyme, dressing, and chopped vegetables and put in a pan. Roast at 500 degrees for 15 minutes, stirring half-way through. Don't run to your computer and check on what's up or this may happen.

When the vegetables are roasted, remove the pan and turn the oven down to 400 degrees.  Prepare your pizza crust by sprinkling about a cup of cheese over the crust.  I used a Boboli whole wheat crustand mozzarella cheese, but provolone would be pretty tasty.  Top this with the roasted vegetables and another cup of cheese:  Cook for about 12 to 15 minutes until the cheese is melted.     And dinner is served.

A yummy and easy (albeit not so photogenic) crock pot recipe

This is the final product of a recipe that was given to me by the people who always give me the best and quickest recipes available: Dan and Jodi. Their hallmark recipes are those that you don't have to write down, and believe me, if it has more than 2 ingredients, I have to write it down. I promise, when I ate this at their house it was tasty. This recipe requires the following:  Meat. I chose a pork tenderloin because I needed to use it before it went bad, but I think a pork or beef roast would have been juicier.  A jar of banana peppers. That's it. Beautiful, isn't it? Oh, and a crock pot. Simply dump (that's so not Martha Stewart) the peppers over the roast and let cook for the day. Yum! If that picture doesn't make you an immediate vegetarian, then I'm not getting paid enough from PETA. Here's where I admit that I didn't start my crock pot soon enough in the day and the meal didn't get done and we had to order pizza and try again the next day. Eventually the meat will cook,  and absorb the peppers. And apparently look like simmering intestines. Yours won't look this way. Yours will look like...(I tried to insert a picture of attactive pulled pork, but apparently it doesn't exist. So, the bad news is, your pork will probably look as bad as mine does.) Shred the mixture so that it resembles pulled pork . I made a dressing to go on ours since it looked pretty dry. It was made from a bit of Newman's Own Caesar Salad dressing, mustard, and mayonaisse, but it did help the flavor. I'm a strong believer in condiments. At least for my cooking.  I toasted some Rudi's whole-wheat hotdog bugs with butter and parmesan cheese (something the boy will eat)  Put it all together with a side salad and you've got a meal. Or at least something edible.  As my mom has always said, "It's all good stuff." Which assumes that if you put together any good tasting ingredients you'll end up with something you can eat. Which still doesn't explain the sauerkraut cake she made when I was in highschool. Whatever. --A

This is the final product of a recipe that was given to me by the people who always give me the best and quickest recipes available: Dan and Jodi. Their hallmark recipes are those that you don't have to write down, and believe me, if it has more than 2 ingredients, I have to write it down. I promise, when I ate this at their house it was tasty.  This recipe requires the following: Meat. I chose a pork tenderloin because I needed to use it before it went bad, but I think a pork or beef roast would have been juicier. A jar of banana peppers. That's it. Beautiful, isn't it? Oh, and a crock pot. Simply dump (that's so not Martha Stewart) the peppers over the roast and let cook for the day. Yum!  If that picture doesn't make you an immediate vegetarian, then I'm not getting paid enough from PETA.  Here's where I admit that I didn't start my crock pot soon enough in the day and the meal didn't get done and we had to order pizza and try again the next day. Eventually the meat will cook, and absorb the peppers.  And apparently look like simmering intestines.  Yours won't look this way.   Yours will look like...(I tried to insert a picture of attactive pulled pork, but apparently it doesn't exist.  So, the bad news is, your pork will probably look as bad as mine does.) Shred the mixture so that it resembles pulled pork . I made a dressing to go on ours since it looked pretty dry. It was made from a bit of Newman's Own Caesar Salad dressing, mustard, and mayonaisse, but it did help the flavor. I'm a strong believer in condiments. At least for my cooking. I toasted some Rudi's whole-wheat hotdog bugs with butter and parmesan cheese (something the boy will eat) Put it all together with a side salad and you've got a meal. Or at least something edible. As my mom has always said, "It's all good stuff."  Which assumes that if you put together any good tasting ingredients you'll end up with something you can eat.  Which still doesn't explain the sauerkraut cake she made when I was in highschool.  Whatever. --A

I will offer a disclaimer in the beginning of this recipe: if you don't like messes, you might want to wait this one out.  

Tofu (or chicken or flank steak...) Quesadillas

Slice up a red pepper (and if you don't forget to buy one a green or yellow pepper too).  I like them in long strips like this: And throw them into a large pan with a little olive oil on medium-high heat.   Add chopped onion (sorry, no picture here because I was too busy cursing the fact that I'd chopped it and promptly touched my eye....ouch!) After about three minutes, add two or three cloves of minced garlic (fresh is best, but again, a lazy cook can use the jar stuff. Ahem). Continue to stir and cook for another three minutes, or until onion is becoming translucent and peppers are getting soft.  During this time, chop up the tofu. I like to use extra firm Silken Tofu, but the kind and consistency is really a matter of preference.  I also forgot to take a picture of the cut tofu-- I know that is heartbreaking.  Once it is cut, throw it into a pan or a wok with some mild salsa (or not mild, if you don't have a bunch of wimpy taste bud eaters at your house) and stir fry. Halve a handful of grape or cherry tomatoes and add them to the pan with the peppers, onion and garlic. Also, add some thawed corn to the pan. I would assume it goes without saying that I cannot wait for summer harvests to start rolling in so that I can remove the word "thaw" from my vocabulary. After a minute or so of stirring the veggie mix, add a 15-ounce can of drained and rinsed black beans to the pan and stir until warmed through. The tofu should be done by now, so all that's left to do is put the quesadillas together. This is where the mess comes in folks. First, brush olive oil on your tortillas. If I don't make my own, I like to use Trader Joe's spinach or whole wheat varieties.  Once the fist tortillas have been olive oiled (is that a saying? Olive oiled?), place on a large baking sheet and throw a healthy layer of shredded cheese on top (any variety will do-- I like a mix of colby, chedder, and jack). Then add a layer of tofu and a layer of the cooked veggie mix, and finally, another round of cheese. Then brush the top tortilla with olive oil And put in the oven for about two or three minutes a side, or until the tortillas are browning and getting hard. The flipping of the tortilla from one side to the other is actually the messiest part of the process.  A spatula won't pick up the whole tortilla, so it starts to dump stuff from the side. Just use your hand to help it and flip as fast as possible. You can always add contents back into the quesadilla before sticking it back in the oven. Once the quesadilla is done, use a pizza cutter to divide it into sixths.  Serve with rice, sour cream, tortilla soup...whatever strikes your fancy.

Simple Salmon: An Ode

I am a big fan of salmon, basically because it is so darn good for you, and so darn easy to cook.  Easy is exactly what this recipe is all about-- the kind of easy that I save to cook on nights that I really, really, really don't feel like putting anything in the oven at all. Like tonight, when my husband and eldest rolled in from a weekend ski getaway, while our youngest two, well, just seemed to roll all over the house, and I was trying to pack for vacation, and....wah wah wah.  Back to the fish. Pick up a nice salmon filet at your friendly neighborhood fish market.  Start by cooking  rice-- I like brown with some pilaf thrown in--  just follow the instructions for whatever kind of grain suites your fancy. For some reason, touching raw fish does not freak me out like touching raw chicken does. That being said, I do prepare this right on the broiler pan, just because.  Lop four big slices o' butter on top.  I didn't say this was the healthiest way to prepare salmon, did I? Fire up your oven's broiler and slice a lemon in half, squeezing one of the halves onto the fillet.   Next, chop up some fresh dill.   Add the dill on top of the salmon and sprinkle with garlic salt. Put the salmon in the oven and broil for 10-13 minutes, depending on the fish's thickness.  The lemon tends to make the outside cook more quickly, be careful not to pull it out too soon (unless you like it on the raw side, which I so do not).  In any case, this is a shot of my fish in the oven, not done, but looking quite done. While the fish is cooking, chop up a fresh tomato. Unless your friendly neighborhood fish market is doing some major overhaul of their produce aisle, leaving not a fresh tomato in sight...then open up a can of diced 'maters. Melt three more nice size slices of butter in a pan (like my accurate measuring terminology? Sorry, I'll try to get better someday. Or not).  Add a half-cup of white wine I made it look blurry on purpose. Like I drank too much of the cooking wine. Really. Wisk the butter and wine constantly over medium heat for 30 seconds.   Now dump about half the can of tomatoes (or the one diced tomato) into the pan and keep on whisking. If you are wondering, those little green things are capers. You can add a heaping tablespoon to the mix if you'd like. If your husband thinks the word caper is really just a stand in for "spawn of the devil" however, I suggest you throw in just a few. You know, to watch him try to roll one away from his rice with a fork. Funny stuff. But I digress. Stir this saucy mix for a minute or so, until heated through. By this time, the salmon should be done. Make a bed of rice, add the salmon, and top with sauce.  From raw fish to table in under 20 minutes. And it even tastes good.

This Recipe Is Good. Even Though I Made It.

I'm Not Kidding.  Chicken & Garlic.  What More Do You People Want?

Here's the funny thing.  Dan and Jodi, who give me my favorite recipes, gave me this recipe.  BUT THEY DON'T  REMEMBER IT!  Hmmm.  I'm not sure what that means.  Perhaps that they don't want to be responsible for anything I make.  But this, this recipe is good.  It requires the following

  +    + 

equals

Pop it into the oven for half-an-hour or until the chicken is done, whichever comes first.  But about half way through that time (say, 15 minutes), pull the garlic (it should be soft by this point)  Mmmm. Roasted garlic.  There might not be anything better.  Except maybe toasted coconut ice cream.  Press the garlic:

 This is one of my favorite tools in the kitchen.  It's not the best model out there (my brother-in-law has an old metal one that I salivate over), but it does the trick.  I love that you can press the garlic with the skins on and dig out the skin later and have your fingers smell like garlic for 2 days.  And I do wash my hands.  Obsessively. 

Mix the pressed garlic with salad dressing (or balsamic vinegar) and mayonnaise:

      to make this: 

Find a willing victim taste-tester:

 If you use this one, keep a close eye on the sauce, because she will eat all of it.

Serve up the chicken, some rice, some broccoli and you have this:

 No, this is the boy's meal.  He is not much into meat, and I've not come to the point where I set down the law and say, "This isn't a diner.  Eat what I give you."  So he eats yogurt, broccoli, and toast.  Yum.  The rest of us eat this:

  If you'd rather have the yogurt, broccoli, and toast recipe, don't hesistate to e-mail.    Or grow up and eat at the big kid table.

--A

 

 

 

 

If I'm going to eat

  If I'm going to eat an animal, I like it to look mean and ugly, not cute and sweet.  This is a picture of a sockeye salmon.  I have no problem eating that.   I don't have any problem eating chocolate, either, since it comes from this: Didn't know that, did you?  But now you never need to feel guilty about eating chocolate, do you? Back to the ugly salmon...  I like it to look like this before I prepare it:  I bought this frozen at the grocery store, but it is wild salmon and was flash frozen so I figure it has the allhealth benefits I'm looking for.  I cut it into fourths so that it would cook more quickly and evenly.   I cut it with a dull knife, thus the finger holes in the salmon piece on the lower left.   We'll cover that up.  Don't worry. I spray the heck out of it (yes, butter would taste better, but I'm not one of those people who can eat butter and not have it attach itself to my thighs 10 minutes later)  with whatever spray I have at the time.  I'm not loyal to a specific brand of non-stick sprays.  Add salt and pepper.  Notice my fancy salt.  Ignore my pepper.  I should have dressed it up for the occasion. Sprinkle parmesan cheese over top.  Lots of parme.  Even more.  I prefer freshly grated parmesan since it makes the top nice and crispy, but you've gotta do with what you've got.  That makes no sense but really makes me feel like I'm down with my bad self.  Then spray, spray, spray again.   Throw this on the grill, aluminum foil and all, until done.  However long that is.  That's Sam's job.  Prior to this I sauteed some onion, garlic, and mushrooms to add to our basmati rice: Add some broccoli (boy, do we eat a lot of broccoli), and you've got a meal.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Um, is it okay to post a recipe involving chicken on a site called "Cluck and Tweet?" I'm going with yes (with the promise that said chicken led a happy, free-range, organic life on a quaint Amish farm). Without further ado: The easiest and tastiest chicken tortilla soup ever. Well, maybe not ever, but still-- it is super easy, and that counts for something. ingredients: canola oil for the soup pot bottom (something like an 1/8 of a cup will do) I medium red pepper, seeded and chopped 1 medium green pepper, seeded and chopped (unless you are like me and totally forget to buy a green pepper. In that case, the one red pepper works fine) 2 cloves garlic, minced. Or, if you are feeling lazy, one teaspoon of already minced garlic. 2 teaspoons dried oregano 1 teaspoon cumin (which is prettier to photograph than oregano) 1 can diced tomatoes, from the store or your own canned surplus. Personally, canning scares the crud out of me, so I go for the store bought stuff, because the FDA is proving to be a safe bet these days... 4 cups of cold water or chicken stock (I go for the stock) A package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Even typing that gives me the shivers. I. hate. raw. chicken. I wish I could dump it in the soup like this: simply to avoid touching it. 1 (15 ounce) can of cooked black beans 3/4 a bag frozen corn kernels (I do like to use the corn we've frozen from the summer for soups like this, but by March, we're stuck with the "freshly frozen" variety. And that's fine, since the bag promises yellow delights that are "always delicious"). Oh, and some blue corn chips to stick in the bottom of the bowls before adding soup.... Heat the canola oil in a soup pot over medium-high heat. Saute the peppers, onion, garlic, oregano and cumin for 3 minutes. Add the tomato and continue stirring for 1 minute. Add cold water or stock and stir. Looks more like a bubbling acid pool than soup at this point, I know. Now comes the tricky part: add the chicken. without touching it. Okay, that's me...really you just have to toss the chicken breasts in and let them simmer for 20 minutes. I, on the other hand, make it a monumental task... Yeah. While waiting, enjoy a little moment of peace. My moment involves looking out the back door, where this awaits: When the 20 minutes are up, remove the cooked chicken breasts, let them cool for a few minutes, and then cut 'em up, anyway you like. Return the cut chicken into the soup pot (so much easier this time!) and dump in the beans and corn. Bring back to a boil, and serve, over the crunched up tortilla chips. *If you don't have massive aversions to spicy foods like the guy with the hairy arm (see above, meet my husband) does, you can chop up a seeded jalapeno pepper and give this soup a kick! --K

Eat Your Veggies...on a Roasted Vegetable Pizza

This recipe requires vegetables.  Lots of veggies, fresh from the garden someones garden, somewhere, and I'm hoping it was someones organic garden, but I'm not really sure on that one except for the potatoes.     I used peppers, garlic, redskin potatoes, onion, and yellow squash.  Just chop up all of those vegetables.  You'll also need some thyme and salad dressing.   The thyme can be sprigs (which are actually prettier than the jar of thyme you see before you).   You don't need the salad dressing, you could use balsamic vinegar, but we like the extra flavor.   Can you tell that we love ourselves some Ken's Light Caesar?   I will admit that is does contain high-fructose corn syrup, but I figure the organic potatoes off-set the corn syrup so we're still even.   Mix together the thyme, dressing, and chopped vegetables and put in a pan. Roast at 500 degrees for 15 minutes, stirring half-way through. Don't run to your computer and check on what's up or this may happen.

When the vegetables are roasted, remove the pan and turn the oven down to 400 degrees.  Prepare your pizza crust by sprinkling about a cup of cheese over the crust.  I used a Boboli whole wheat crustand mozzarella cheese, but provolone would be pretty tasty.  Top this with the roasted vegetables and another cup of cheese:  Cook for about 12 to 15 minutes until the cheese is melted.     And dinner is served.

Crock-Pot-astic

A yummy and easy (albeit not so photogenic) crock pot recipe

This is the final product of a recipe that was given to me by the people who always give me the best and quickest recipes available: Dan and Jodi. Their hallmark recipes are those that you don't have to write down, and believe me, if it has more than 2 ingredients, I have to write it down. I promise, when I ate this at their house it was tasty. This recipe requires the following:  Meat. I chose a pork tenderloin because I needed to use it before it went bad, but I think a pork or beef roast would have been juicier.  A jar of banana peppers. That's it. Beautiful, isn't it? Oh, and a crock pot. Simply dump (that's so not Martha Stewart) the peppers over the roast and let cook for the day. Yum! If that picture doesn't make you an immediate vegetarian, then I'm not getting paid enough from PETA. Here's where I admit that I didn't start my crock pot soon enough in the day and the meal didn't get done and we had to order pizza and try again the next day. Eventually the meat will cook,  and absorb the peppers. And apparently look like simmering intestines. Yours won't look this way. Yours will look like...(I tried to insert a picture of attactive pulled pork, but apparently it doesn't exist. So, the bad news is, your pork will probably look as bad as mine does.) Shred the mixture so that it resembles pulled pork . I made a dressing to go on ours since it looked pretty dry. It was made from a bit of Newman's Own Caesar Salad dressing, mustard, and mayonaisse, but it did help the flavor. I'm a strong believer in condiments. At least for my cooking.  I toasted some Rudi's whole-wheat hotdog bugs with butter and parmesan cheese (something the boy will eat)  Put it all together with a side salad and you've got a meal. Or at least something edible.  As my mom has always said, "It's all good stuff." Which assumes that if you put together any good tasting ingredients you'll end up with something you can eat. Which still doesn't explain the sauerkraut cake she made when I was in highschool. Whatever. --A

Super-Easy Crock Pot Meal...Better Than It Looks.

This is the final product of a recipe that was given to me by the people who always give me the best and quickest recipes available: Dan and Jodi. Their hallmark recipes are those that you don't have to write down, and believe me, if it has more than 2 ingredients, I have to write it down. I promise, when I ate this at their house it was tasty.  This recipe requires the following: Meat. I chose a pork tenderloin because I needed to use it before it went bad, but I think a pork or beef roast would have been juicier. A jar of banana peppers. That's it. Beautiful, isn't it? Oh, and a crock pot. Simply dump (that's so not Martha Stewart) the peppers over the roast and let cook for the day. Yum!  If that picture doesn't make you an immediate vegetarian, then I'm not getting paid enough from PETA.  Here's where I admit that I didn't start my crock pot soon enough in the day and the meal didn't get done and we had to order pizza and try again the next day. Eventually the meat will cook, and absorb the peppers.  And apparently look like simmering intestines.  Yours won't look this way.   Yours will look like...(I tried to insert a picture of attactive pulled pork, but apparently it doesn't exist.  So, the bad news is, your pork will probably look as bad as mine does.) Shred the mixture so that it resembles pulled pork . I made a dressing to go on ours since it looked pretty dry. It was made from a bit of Newman's Own Caesar Salad dressing, mustard, and mayonaisse, but it did help the flavor. I'm a strong believer in condiments. At least for my cooking. I toasted some Rudi's whole-wheat hotdog bugs with butter and parmesan cheese (something the boy will eat) Put it all together with a side salad and you've got a meal. Or at least something edible. As my mom has always said, "It's all good stuff."  Which assumes that if you put together any good tasting ingredients you'll end up with something you can eat.  Which still doesn't explain the sauerkraut cake she made when I was in highschool.  Whatever. --A

I will offer a disclaimer

I will offer a disclaimer in the beginning of this recipe: if you don't like messes, you might want to wait this one out.  

Tofu (or chicken or flank steak...) Quesadillas

Slice up a red pepper (and if you don't forget to buy one a green or yellow pepper too).  I like them in long strips like this: And throw them into a large pan with a little olive oil on medium-high heat.   Add chopped onion (sorry, no picture here because I was too busy cursing the fact that I'd chopped it and promptly touched my eye....ouch!) After about three minutes, add two or three cloves of minced garlic (fresh is best, but again, a lazy cook can use the jar stuff. Ahem). Continue to stir and cook for another three minutes, or until onion is becoming translucent and peppers are getting soft.  During this time, chop up the tofu. I like to use extra firm Silken Tofu, but the kind and consistency is really a matter of preference.  I also forgot to take a picture of the cut tofu-- I know that is heartbreaking.  Once it is cut, throw it into a pan or a wok with some mild salsa (or not mild, if you don't have a bunch of wimpy taste bud eaters at your house) and stir fry. Halve a handful of grape or cherry tomatoes and add them to the pan with the peppers, onion and garlic. Also, add some thawed corn to the pan. I would assume it goes without saying that I cannot wait for summer harvests to start rolling in so that I can remove the word "thaw" from my vocabulary. After a minute or so of stirring the veggie mix, add a 15-ounce can of drained and rinsed black beans to the pan and stir until warmed through. The tofu should be done by now, so all that's left to do is put the quesadillas together. This is where the mess comes in folks. First, brush olive oil on your tortillas. If I don't make my own, I like to use Trader Joe's spinach or whole wheat varieties.  Once the fist tortillas have been olive oiled (is that a saying? Olive oiled?), place on a large baking sheet and throw a healthy layer of shredded cheese on top (any variety will do-- I like a mix of colby, chedder, and jack). Then add a layer of tofu and a layer of the cooked veggie mix, and finally, another round of cheese. Then brush the top tortilla with olive oil And put in the oven for about two or three minutes a side, or until the tortillas are browning and getting hard. The flipping of the tortilla from one side to the other is actually the messiest part of the process.  A spatula won't pick up the whole tortilla, so it starts to dump stuff from the side. Just use your hand to help it and flip as fast as possible. You can always add contents back into the quesadilla before sticking it back in the oven. Once the quesadilla is done, use a pizza cutter to divide it into sixths.  Serve with rice, sour cream, tortilla soup...whatever strikes your fancy.