Chicken stock

okay, remember when we were discussing whether or not to peel veggies, and i advised against it? remember that i further suggested keeping the tips and tops of carrots for chicken stock? remember the deafening sound of all those eyes rolling as they read that post? i do. but really, it can be done, and it's not hard at all. what i do is simple, i keep a container in the freezer (an old yogurt quart or plastic ice cream bucket) and as i go along pulling necks and giblets out of chickens or paring veggies i throw the scraps in the freezer in the bucket, all together. then when i'm ready to make stock i just pull the bucket out, thaw it enough to get everything to slide out and dump it into a pot with a bunch of water. add herbs (bay and parsley for me), pepper corns, salt, and make sure you've got celery, onion, and carrot pretty evenly represented and simmer for a few hours. strain and portion into containers to freeze. i like using those plastic yogurt containers, make sure you don't over fill so the lids wont pop off in the freezer. easy peasy and considering that you got your money's worth out of everything already, since it's made essentially from scraps, pretty much free. 

Picatta

My first date with my husband was at a local italian restaurant. it was a lovely date, and many things about it were stellar, unfortunately i ordered the chicken picatta, and it was nasty. i'm sure you've seen this stuff, the glassy, gelatinous 'picatta sauce' three or four ashamed looking capers hiding in the slime, and a monster piece of chicken. gross. simply uncalled for, that's what it is. good picatta is so easy to make, takes almost no time, and DOES NOT need corn starch. last night i tried something new: pork chops. they were quite thick so i cut them in half cross wise then pounded them out to between 1/4 and 1/2 inch in thickness. if you're using chicken you'll still want to pound it, and possibly cut it into smaller pieces, huge chunks of meat are not in keeping with a delicate dish like this. dip the meat quickly into salt and pepper seasoned flour and pat all of the excess flour off, you don't want it to be 'breaded' per se, but a bit of flour on the meat will help keep it from sticking and thicken the sauce a bit. start a good amount of olive oil heating in a large skillet, medium heat. when it's hot add the meat and cook for about 2 minutes on each side, twice. you don't really want the meat brown, you want to cook it gently. when it's done, put it on a plate for a minute. into the skillet goes a few table spoons of butter, when it's done foaming cook about a half a small onion and one or two cloves of garlic (depending on how much you're making)until soft. last night i had some baby bella mushrooms that needed cooking so i threw them in too, they went really well with everything else. the lemon is the star of the sauce though, so don't over do it with either the onion or the garlic. when everything is soft, but not brown add one table spoon of fresh chopped thyme, the zest and the juice of half a lemon, a spoon of capers, and a splash of white wine let everything simmer for a few minutes to cook the alcohol out of the wine, then put the meat back into the pan and squeeze the rest of the lemon over it, if you want it really lemony (like i do) sprinkle the rest of the lemon zest in at this point too. serve over pasta of your choice sprinkled lightly with parmesan cheese.

Zucchini Alfredo

Well it's summer here at the cottage, and that means piles and piles of zucchini! i know people who get 'too much' zucchini, but it hasn't happened to us yet, we just love that stuff. we shred them and add to pancake batter (soooo good with a little cinnamon), grill them, saute them, steam them, and stir fry them. i have three plants this year, and they're barely keeping up! i usually check them every other day or so, and i let the fruits get pretty big so they go farther. every once in a while though one slips by me and gets HUGE, and a little tough. my new favorite solution? zucchini 'pasta'. last week i found a monster hiding in my squash patch and had to think of something to do with it. my husband, uncharacteristically, asked for some sort of pasta with dinner. i'm still trying to get down to pre-baby weight so i cringed a little at the thought of pasta with dinner. i remembered seeing some recipe somewhere for zucchini spaghetti, but i think they used a mandolin slicer, which i do not own because i'm terrified of them. i decided to just shred the largest squash i had in my food processor, and use that for 'noodles'. okay, i know that i have expressed before a simple wish for food to just be happy being what it is. no turkey bacon, no tofu sausage, just let your food keep it's identity and integrity, please. so, no, i'm not really pretending that shredded zucchini is pasta. i just treated it in a way that i would also treat pasta, not because i wished that it was pasta, but because i just love squash and i also love cream sauce. as to the dish in consideration, it was also pretty darn easy to make. heat a skillet to a medium high heat, divide one head of broccoli into florettes with long stems, throw them into the pan dry, let them sit and start to sear. while the broccoli is browning (don't stir it) slice one yellow bell pepper into fairly thin slices, then cut the slices in half. remember the rule about being able to gracefully get your food into your mouth. add the peppers to the pan, let cook for just long enough for them to start to sweat with out stirring, then reduce the heat to medium and add about three table spoons of butter. once the butter is melted, but still creamy, add the shredded zucchs. salt and pepper to taste, and add a few shakes of nutmeg. ever wondered what made alfredo taste like alfredo and not just parmesan cheese? nutmeg. it's actually lovely in pretty much any cream sauce. let the squash get hot and shake in a generous amount of parmesan cheese then pour between 1/2 and 3/4 of a cup of half and half over and stir. simmer for a few minutes until the sauce just starts to thicken and pull it off before the squash gets too mushy. super good! we had ours with baked chicken, but i think actually grilled chicken sliced up and tossed in there would be better. you could also use this as a sauce and serve it over pasta, but i'm trying to avoid bread stuffs after 4 as a weight loss tip from my brother the trainer. it's working, by the way i've only got about 8 pounds to go to my first goal, and another 10 after that for my ultimate goal. (i broke it up so it wouldn't seem so daunting) anyway, please try this! don't give away squash, or let it go bad, dress it up in pasta's clothing! also, if any one at all actually reads these things, give a comment to let me know what you think.

creamy pork chops

having already gone on at some length about the wonder that is pork sirloin chops i'll just dive into the prep on this one. i cut the chops in half, and ended up with 6 reasonably sized chunks. they got dredged in flour seasoned with garlic salt, rubbed sage, tarragon, and black pepper. then browned on both sides. one yellow onion got chopped and put in the pan in a pile, then spread around the meat, then the whole lot got sprinkled with madiera wine. this went into the oven at 250 for about 4 hours. could you put this in your crock pot instead at this point? probably. after 4 hours i returned it to the stove top, removed the chops, brought the heat up a bit, and added one package of baby bellas that i had quartered and some fresh chopped sage. after that had sizzled for a few minutes i added a sprinkle of the dredging flour mixture, with a little extra tarragon and pepper. once that thickened i added about a cup of half and half and stirred until it was smooth, then put the chops back in, spooning the sauce over the top. it all went back into the oven while some fettuccini got boiled, then i actually plated it all up nice and pretty. pasta covered in creamy sauce with tender pork and mushrooms that even i ate. so good, so easy, so cheap. win win win!

beet salad

alright, stop it. this salad is good, i promise. and it's simple! so chop two large beets in half, salt the cut sides, and put them in a foil packet. bake at 350 for two hours. (less time might do it, but i ended up with crunchy beets once, and now i'm paranoid) let them cool, but not all the way to cold. in a mixing bowl combine two table spoons red wine vinegar, one teaspoon sugar, 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin, 1/4 cup olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. cut the peel from two medium sweet oranges, cut them in half, then slice them fairly thin. slice half a large red onion and toss the onion and orange slices in the dressing. peel the beets and slice thinly (about the same as the oranges, see?) then add the beets to the onion/dressing/orange mix and toss it all together. let it sit for a little while, covered, before serving. it's tangy, sweet, and sharp. the oranges are really nice with the beets and the cumin adds a bit of warmth. to state the obvious, this is nothing like the nasty pickled shoe string beets you hated as a child. as a bonus it's absolutely beautiful too!

good ol' curry

i love curry, pretty much any curry. with all due respect to will rogers, i've never met a curry that i didn't like. although, i have met curry that was much too spicy for me. for cooking at home i have two go-to curry standbys. the first is bulk yellow curry powder from winco, the second is kikoman red curry in a bottle. yesterday i made a vegetarian curry by melting butter in a large pan with my curry powder, paprika, cardamom, coriander, and red chili flakes, then adding onions, bell peppers, and diced turnips. once everything had fried together for a while and the turnips were just getting soft i poured in a can of coconut milk and a can of garbanzo beans, then seeded and sliced a cucumber and put that in too. i count it as a success, and oddly enough thing three really liked it. pretty brave for a kid who can't even walk yet. the red curry is a basic idea that i got from a tv show, i may have mentioned it already, but the key with the kikoman is that you can stretch it by adding a can of coconut milk, a big scoop of peanut butter and some extra tamari. i usually get three pots out of one bottle that way. last time i did shrimp and bell peppers in the crock pot with the other stuff, then put rice noodles in at the end to soak up some of the spare juice, and it worked really well. the noodles make a nice break from rice too. as if you could need a break from rice. somewhere along the line curry got a bad rap. i've heard countless times "i don't really like curry, it all tastes the same, it's all so mushy, it's bland" blah blah blah. nothing could be further from the truth! it's versatile, easy, fast, and fresh! and really good for you, do some research on the many health benefits of turmeric and chili flakes, not to mention all the other wonderful spices in there. the added bonus of trying it at home is that you can tweek it to suit you. don't like turnip? use potato. like more heat? throw in some jalapenos. before you know it you'll be a curry master, in your own home.

touche beans, touche

ever heard the expression "not worth beans?" as in, not worth much? well. i have, so there. to bean de-valuers and naysayers i say: bah. beans are super good for you, and also very tasty, and also CHEAP which, right now, means a LOT to me. i've even been making them in my dutch oven on my wood stove, a double whammy for my husband because he doesn't have to pay for any extra energy for the cooking of them. actually, i've been cooking quite a bit on the ol' wood stove, but that's another blog. the basic recipe that i've been working with is two cups beans, one heaping teaspoon each sugar and salt, one dried ancho chili, torn up, two slices of bacon and half an onion, diced. top it off with about 6 cups of water and plunk it on the wood stove once the morning fire stops roaring and leave it there all day, stirring occasionally. i'm betting this would work in a low crock pot too, but i've not done it that way. you could leave out the bacon, if you wanted to go meatless, but in that case i'd add some olive oil. maybe even as much as 1/4 cup. on the bacon front another cool idea is to cut an inch or so from the fattiest ends of your bacon and toss those in. then the bacon you fry up for breakfast will be that much leaner (less messy) and your beans will be that much tastier! a couple of months ago i made a pot that i added maple syrup to, and that was also very tasty. the point, as usual, is this: try it. it's cheap, healthy, and tasty, so that's all my bases covered, with the added bonus once again of you knowing exactly what you're eating.

ortega burgers

let's cut to the chase and just say: voted best burgers ever. not a new idea, i know, but i believe i do one or two things not done by other people. so, start with 1.5 pounds ground beef, set it out to get to room temperature. the meat mixes with everything else more easily if it's not just from the frige cold. in a mixing bowl combine 1/2 small red onion, 1 small pasilla pepper, two cloves of garlic, and one slice of wheat bread, all finely diced. pour in the juice from one 7 ounce can of ortega whole green chiles. set the chiles aside to top the finished burgers with. stir the juice in so that the bread soaks it up, then add the meat. season to taste with black pepper, garlic salt, and a sprinkle of cumin and mix thoroughly. at this point i like to let the meat mixture sit for just a bit, to let the flavors blend. it may or may not actually help, but i do it anyway. form into patties about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick and 5 inches round. many years ago a neighbor gave me sound advice regarding the grilling of burgers. don't fuss them. i find this advice applies to many aspects of life, but in this case it means that you shouldn't have to flip a good burger more than once. wait until juices are collecting on the top of the patty, and probably running off a bit, and the meat is starting to turn brownish on top, then flip. once. don't muck around moving them from one part of the grill to another and tell yourself that doesn't count either, because it does. be brave, pick a spot and leave them there! when they are done, put them on a foil lined baking sheet and top with slices of pepper jack cheese. slide them into a warm oven to melt. while the cheese is getting happy, mix chipotle flavor cholula sauce with mayonnaise, about 1 1/2 table spoons of sauce to four table spoons of mayo. to assemble, smear the chipotle mayo on the top and bottom of the bun, pop a patty on, then one or two chiles, and close it up with the top bun then chow down. you can add tomatoes and lettuce if you want, or sliced avocado, but really i find that the chiles add enough all on their own.

little lasagna

okay, so i know that everyone has 'their' lasagna. i also know that most people settle for frozen rather than making 'their' lasagna, most of the time. i admit that usually when i make lasagna i over-fill a 9x13 pan with two or three kinds of meat and oh, usually, five kinds of cheese. HOWEVER there are those times when that is just plain uncalled for. times like tonight when all of my brothers in law are otherwise engaged, for instance. in an effort to restrain myself i only bought one little 15 ounce carton of ricotta cheese, usually i get the quart. i just managed to make a lasagna in, oh about 20 minutes. a record for me, to say the least. and just to get this out of the way, yes i used a jar of tomato sauce. i fried one pound of beef with half of a bell pepper and half of an onion, chopped. i seasoned the beef with dried oregano, garlic salt, and black pepper, then added one jar of my favorite sauce, francesco rinaldi, reserving just a little bit in the jar. then in a bowl i mixed two beaten eggs, the ricotta, 1/4 cup grated three cheese blend (parmesan, asiago, romano), three minced garlic cloves, one table spoon dried italian seasoning, and 1/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese. then to assemble i diluted the sauce left in the jar with just a bit of water and poured about half into my 8x8 glass pan, and drizzled a little olive oil on top of that. so, now for noodles. i personally use barilla no-boil noodles, i know they're not the 'best' and if you want to dink around with the other kind, feel free. i always get a good result with these, they never have hard spots, they don't pull appart during baking, and they're pretty thin, which my husband likes. i lay two down then spread one third of the cheese mix evenly on them, then top with two more, running the opposite direction, and scoop some meat sauce on those, and continue till i'm out of cheese in that fashion. i top the last layer of meat sauce with the last of the noodles (actually i had two left over somehow this time) and then pour the last of the sauce from the jar on them, making sure they're completely covered. top with more shredded mozzarella and more grated parm-blend and cover loosely with foil, making sure the foil isn't touching the top of the lasagna. bake at 350 for about an hour, and if you want to brown the cheese take the foil off and bake at 400 for an extra 10 minutes or so. we're having ours with salad and wine. probably zin if we can dig any out of the pantry.

pirate party for thing one

my baby turned 6 the day after Christmas, i still can't believe it! we recently discovered jake and the neverland pirates on disneyjr.com and we've all been on a bit of a pirate kick lately. even i've been shouting "aww coconuts!" on occasion. so i decided to let thing one lead a search for pirate treasure for his birthday party. this marks a mile stone for him, because this is his first party that was really about him and his little friends. past parties have mostly been about getting all the family together and, while fun was had, they weren't really what you'd call 'kid' parties. now, being these kids' mom is my full time job, and i admit that i want to get work awards and promotions just as much as anyone else out there in the work force. my bosses are just a bit shorter than most, no less capricious. to put it simply: i am the primary disciplinarian around here on any average day but i still want to be the cool mom sometimes too. saturday was a win for me. even though we were sick my husband and i (with help) managed to make a treasure map, leave clues, bury a treasure chest full of goodies, and all around have a blast with our boys and their friends. we ate cinnamon sugar popcorn and chicken drumsticks, and drank hot chocolate. i still feel like a hero of legend every time thing one says 'that sure was fun, mama' to me, and it was all pretty easy really. with the possible exception of digging the hole for the chest (a cigar box)which gave my poor husband a sore back. to kick it off, tristin got a chess set, in which was hidden a mysterious clue that led him to a map in a bottle, which led him to an X in the yard. all the kids took turns with the shovel that was handily leaning next to a tree by the X digging the treasure out. at one point we thought one of the guests was going to faint from excitement because the shovel finally hit 'something'. the treasure chest contained some booty, and a lot of craft supplies which they all got to use to decorate their own treasure chests (more, smaller, cigar boxes) to take home. when it was all over my son cried. the poor little guy was just having too much fun. i felt bad for him, of course, but i was also never so proud.

pirate party chicken

okay, i admit.... gha. this font is getting to me. okay, back on track... pirates have nothing to do with the chicken recipe, but i did make this for my son's (thing one) birthday party this weekend, which had a pirate theme. it is so simple, and kids (i've taken a survey) love it. so, to start, i used two big family packs of chicken drum sticks, cheap, tasty and what boy doesn't love eating with his hands? in a big mixing bowl i combined about 1 cup of warm crunchy peanut butter, 1/4 cup tamari, one teaspoon each powdered ginger and white pepper. if it doesn't combine really well, that's okay. dump the chicken in and mix, mix, mix, the marinade will smooth together on the chicken. cover and let marinate in the refrigerator over night. line a baking sheet with foil, lay the chicken out in one layer on it, pouring the last of the marinade over the chicken. sprinkle with sesame seeds (if you want a little more crunch) and bake at 350 for one hour. the other good news is that if you have a wheat allergic guest (i had more than one) they can join in the chicken eating fun with no worries. and yes, i know this is a lot like satay, i never claimed i invented it, i just want to encourage people to try it. also, pony up for the big drum sticks, wings are not as fun as you'd think when you're a hungry, growing boy.