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.