Curried Mango Bread

Pretty stinkin' unconventional, in my book, anyway, but pretty darn tasty! All three guys liked it, too. That is always the 'real' vote!

Curried Mango Bread

The guy who posted this recipe is right in his analysis - the batter is fairly dry, which did make me a little nervous, but the bread bakes up perfectly moist. The first time ever that the look of dry batter is deceiving (in my experience, anyway). Also, you will do a double take at some of the ingredients: garlic (yep),  and ground red pepper (I subbed this in place of the diced red chili). But just do it - I promise it will be great. And, you'll taste a little kick when you eat it! Enjoy!

Tuesday Night Dinner

Well, since Monday's earned rave reviews, here is Tuesday's meal in the works. Looks DELISH!

Black Bean Cocoa Quinoa 

Oh, yeah - it rocked. The boys liked it and I loved it! Being a vegetarian makes me more easier to please in the food department. Simplicity reigns, and I taste my food more than I did before. Not because I eat it differently - the tastes just stand out to me more. I can taste each ingredient in my food now, because I eat so much more simply. One of the many additional benefits I am discovering on my Veggie Journey!

Monday Night Dinner

This is what I am making for dinner tonight... you know you're really a true vegetarian when you can't stop craving these kinds of dishes, and that is just what happens to me now, on a daily basis!


Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Sauteed Leeks, White Beans and Walnuts

This is for you!

For Michele, my faithful vegetarian recipe reader...

Ridiculously basic, and easy, but, oh, so good!


Pasta with Roasted Broccoli and Garlic


Thanks, Gina's Skinny Recipes! Oh, and bookmark that sight - it is a great resource!

Two Questions

I need help (well, you knew that, right, but that's not the kind I'm talking about...hee hee hee).

1. Any information you can share, if you have had experience with growing avocado trees in this area, would be greatly appreciated. It would be appreciated so much that perhaps sharing some first fruits would be in order.

2. I really, really want to make my own bread, but without a bread machine. I had one when we first got married, and I wasn't crazy about the shape of the loaves. I want to make my own where I knead it, etc. Please, do you have anything to share on this topic? Pretty please? With a cherry on top?

Yes, I know books and internet sources abound - but I am on information overload and want to hear from someone who has done these things, had personal experience. Plus, conflicting information abounds in those numerous sources. So, have at it, and give me all the advice you've got (uh, we're talking about avocados and bread!).

Chicken Ropa Vieja

Yes, I know this isn't veggie...but I still need to feed my carnivores! Here is a link to a great take on a Cuban favorite, only with chicken, to make it more heart healthy. The boys loved it, and that's saying a lot, considering the hubs is Cuban and grew up on Cuban cooking.


Chicken Ropa Vieja

What Happened to the Vegetarian Cookbook?

You know, the one I was supposed to be cooking my way through, and posting about?

W-e-l-l, I suppose the only accurate way to explain the absence of my posts on the subject is to admit the truth. I felt very restricted and 'boxed-in' with the cookbook. I have become, over the last several years, something strangely similar to a food snob. I enjoy, no, rather, I love anything to do with food. Cooking, preparing, serving food - I revel in all of it. I have developed, ashamedly, a tiny bit of cooking ego as well. Now, that does not mean I think everyone should like my food, or that I think my food is better than the food others prepare. Instead, it means I have moved through my culinary journey to a point where I enjoy figuring it out myself, or experimenting on my own. I reached the point where recipes are either merely a guide, or in some cases, just good decoration for my kitchen (!).

It has become difficult for me to sincerely enjoy cooking that is entirely, always from a cookbook or a recipe. And, since I've had to switch to vegetarian eating in the last couple months, I have discovered, ironically, that a lot of the 'vegetarian' recipes from that cookbook, still include dairy products, which I can no longer eat.

Therefore, I will post in the future about things I am trying on my vegetarian journey in place of items from the cookbook I was using. Some may be my own concoctions, and some may be from various crazy cool vegetarian food blogs I have discovered in recent weeks.

Woops!

This is what happens when you set a plastic cutting board on the stove and accidentally turn on the wrong burner. I seriously did this the other night - I am such an idiot because every time (four times) I walked back to the stove to check what was supposed to be cooking, I kept wondering, "That's strange that the onions aren't changing color yet. Hmmm." Then, I even went to cut something else to add to the pan, and wondered, "Hmmm, I don't remember my cutting board being convex - seems to me it used to be a little more flat. Hmmm. " Two more times until I realized I had the wrong burner on - the one under the cutting board. Let me tell you that the smell was horrific! I was certain we were all going to get poisoned by toxic fumes! Not one of my most intelligent moments!

And the Winner is....

The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook!

Even when I asked for tie-breaker votes, I still ended up with a tie (Dave was given a vote, and of course he voted for the Mitford Cookbook). I was trying to decide between the two, and told Dave that I felt for the sake of our marriage I needed to go with the Mitford cookbook, because he just was not very enthusiastic about vegetarian anything. I had explained I had been looking forward to stretching myself with the self-imposed 'assignment.' And while each of the cookbooks would have been a stretch to some degree, I felt the Mitford cookbook was going to be the least stretching of any (except for our waistbands, of which I'm sure it would stretch plenty). David indicated that as long as I don't expect him to become vegetarian (which I don't, and I wouldn't even consider doing because I like meat too much), that he would be happy to allow me to try to entice him into eating his veggies more with some yummy recipes from the vegetarian cookbook.

I plan to have my first recipe prepared in a few days, so get ready for the journey and stay tuned!

Tiebreaker

Last chance to voice your opinion (if you have not already). New votes, only, please. There is a tie between the Mitford Cookbook and the Vegetarian Cookbook. I could go with either one, but I want you all to decide. I look forward to beginning from the winning choice sometime this week!

Because I Don't Have Enough to Keep Me Busy

Yes, I'm adding another thing to the list, by choice. Am I crazy?

Most of you have probably seen Julie & Julia. Well, I knew nothing about Julie and her blog until I saw that movie. Ever since then (certainly I'm not the first to think this), I thought it would be fun to pick a lesser-used cookbook of mine to cook all the way through.

I've picked three books out of my collection that, for various reasons, I have not used much, yet. I will present each of them below, and then it is up to you to leave your comment, voting for which you think I should journey through.

 A few important notes to consider:

• Regardless of book choice, it is going to take a while to 'cook through' it. I doubt I will be able to do one recipe per day, and also, I'm sure some of the ingredients will get a little pricey, so I'll have to spread out the recipes.
• Some recipes will be easy for me to adapt based on my son's food allergies; others will not. Whenever possible, I will make adaptations to recipes, and note them accordingly.
• Some recipes will completely gross me out; while the idea is to get out of my comfort zone, if Dave is not available to help with some particular gross-ness, we may have to 'table' a few recipes (I will try to keep that to a minimum though). I know which cookbook will involve most of this, but I will refrain from swaying your decision, as I will enjoy cooking from any of these three.

The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook
Vegetarian food has come a long way since the days when it was regarded as the province of faddists. Now it is fresh, modern and young - an exciting and sophisticated cuisine enjoyed by an increasing number of people who appreciate fine food. This book contains a wealth of superb vegetarian recipes, from snacks to substantial meals, desserts to drinks. Drawing on flavors from around the world and using fine, fresh produce, vegetarian food will never again seem second best.

Jan Karon's Mitford Cookbook and Kitchen Reader
Millions of Mitford fans will agree - it's easy to put on a pound of two reading a Mitford novel. In scene after scene, you find colorful characters enjoying ravishing dishes like Puny's golden-crusted cornbread and Father Tim's baked ham with bourbon glaze. And before you know it, you've read several pages by the glow of the refrigerator light bulb. 
Now, when you read about a dish that starts a craving, you can go to the kitchen and create it yourself. Gathered here are recipes for 150 dishes that anyone would be thrilled to put on the table.

Memories of a Cuban Kitchen
"The best foreign cookbook honors go to Memories of a Cuban Kitchen. The book rings wonderfully true, both in its recipes and its evocations of pre-Castro Havana as recalled by author Mary Urrutia randelman with heartfelt affection. This beautiful book is a memory piece as much as a cookbook." --The Washington Times
"Memories of a Cuban Kitchen will be and added treasure in any cook's library and a must in the kitchen of any American of Cuban Heritage or anyone who's interested in exploring Cuban cooking more fully at home." --The Miami Herald 

DON'T FORGET to leave your comments and vote on your choice!

Recipes from MOPS 4/15/10

For those of you who wanted the recipes to some of the items I brought to the 4/15 meeting, here are the links:

Amazing Overnight French Toast
I tripled this recipe.

Sausage and Egg Casserole
I tripled this recipe as well, and added fresh summer squash (zucchini and yellow squash).

Crockpot Oatmeal
I doubled this recipe. For those of you who did not have any of this, you missed out. If you truly enjoy oatmeal as much as I do, you will find this to be quite delicious.

Homemade Kitchen: Part 2

It has been a LONG time since we started Drew's kitchen project, and it has been done since mid-June. However, I kept forgetting to post a photo of the finished product!

It has served Drew very well - he loves to cook in it. He now has dishes, pots and pans, utensils, food, serving pieces, a stand mixer, a toaster, a phone and a message board! He even 'multitasks' at the stove or oven once in a while by talking on the phone at the same time! Hilarious...

We have had much fun with this kitchen, as have many of Drew's friends when they have come over to play. It is so much nicer than a store bought kitchen, and cost a total of about $25 to make. The wood was free (it was furniture out of the trash). We just cut it up, re-purposed it and constructed several different pieces together to make it work. The 'sink' is a bowl from Goodwill that cost about $1.50 I think. The sink knobs were the most expensive items - $8 a piece from Anthropologie. The hardware on the oven and refrigerator were just a couple dollars at Lowe's. And if you notice, we put a racing stripe on the refrigerator like the one Guy Fieri has.

I give Dave a lot of credit for putting up with my vision for this. He said he did not 'see' it at first, and was somewhat reluctant to put a lot of time into something that he wasn't sure was going to work out. BUT, he stuck with me - I told him I was sure it would work, I just couldn't do the construction myself. In the end, he was very happy to have built it, and is thankful it didn't cost much money at all!

Little Taste of New Orleans

I had some short ribs in the freezer I bought on sale a few weeks back and was in search of the perfect recipe because they can be a tricky sort of cut to cook properly. And, along come the Neelys, with their easy recipe for short ribs.

I made a few modifications, based on what my time frame was and what I had on hand.

• 1/4 cup dry red cooking wine (instead of 2 cups)
• two fresh tomatoes, diced small (instead of a 15-ounce can of diced tomatoes)
• no thyme
• lemon zest (instead of orange zest)

1. I seasoned the meat with salt and pepper on all sides, and seared in olive oil for just a few minutes. Then I placed it in the bottom of my crockpot.


2. My chopped veggie ingredients (carrots, celery, rough chopped onion, tomatoes) were then added to the pan where I seared the meat. I then added the other ingredients and liquids as directed by the original recipe. Then I finished with a little lemon zest on top and 1/2 lemon's worth of juice.


3. All the ingredients from the veggie sauce were added over top of the meat in the crockpot. Set on low for 10 hours.


When trying to decide on a side dish, I was thinking about the wonderfully large bag of fresh cornmeal I have from Georgia and thought I would attempt to make polenta for the first time. I used Giada's Basic Polenta Recipe. After making it in the saucepan, I spread it on a cookie sheet and refrigerated it until we came home. Then I cut it in rectangles and re-heated it, adding a little color on both sides, in the pan. Served it next to the short ribs with the vegetable ragout on top. DELISH!

Fire it Up

My pregnancy hormones were kicking in the other night and it was just too hot for me to heat up my kitchen while cooking dinner, so I prepared everything in such a way that Dave could cook it outside on the grill. Perfection - he is such a grill master, and we sat down to eat in a nice, cool dining room. Here is what we made:

Spice Rubbed Grilled Chicken
5 chicken drumsticks
Olive or vegetable oil
1/4 cup Back to the Basiks Original Blend Spice Rub

Slide fingers under skin to loosen it from meat, but do not remove it. Rub chicken all over with vegetable or olive oil. Season with 1/4 to 1/3 cup spice rub both under and over skin, patting in gently. Let rest for 15 - 30 minutes.

Heat grill to medium low. Oil grates; grill chicken, covered, turning frequently to prevent charring, about 20 to 30 minutes, until internal temperature reaches 175 degrees.

Grilled Potatoes with Onions and Peppers
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 packet Lipton Recipe Secrets Onion Soup Mix
1.5 lbs. yukon gold potatoes
1/2 cup sliced mixed bell peppers
1 yellow onion, roughly chopped

Roughly chop potatoes and combine with oil and soup mix in a bowl. Mix well.

Create foil packet by folding a 4-ft. sheet of foil in half to make a double-layer sheet. Add the potatoes to the center. Add the peppers and onion, tossing gently. Form the packet, folding the foil over the vegetables and crimping the edges to seal.

Place on grill over medium heat, turning once, until potatoes are tender, about 25 minutes.

Here is the end result, and while it was a struggle for me to eat the chicken, it wasn't because of the flavoring or the grilling. I actually prefer chicken grilled to any other form of preparation; it's just hard for me to eat meat off the bone right now. David gave it rave reviews, though, and said it is definitely a staple recipe. The potatoes, onions and peppers were spot on for this pregnant girl, and I had heaping helpings of those.



I will also add that I bought the drumsticks on sale a while back, so the entire meat portion of our dinner was under $1.70 for the three of us, and we had leftovers.

New Cooking Experiences

If you read this blog, you probably know me well enough to know that I love to cook. It is one of my favorite creative outlets (the artistic expressions of painting and drawing got left somewhere in my early twenties - one day I hope to re-visit them).

Andrew is old enough now that he recognizes the joy in cooking, making things from scratch and the desire to share special time together in the kitchen. This week, we made two new things, both very easy, that we wanted to share with you. I'm a slacker and don't have cutesy photos of us doing this together, but you will have to trust me when I say Drew helped in every way and was very good at it.


This is photo is so out of focus, but it is of a Mini Beef Wellington we made, on the fly. I was digging through the pantry, the freezer and the refrigerator, and decided with some leftover chopped mushrooms, half an onion, some butter, a top round roast, a can of pizza dough and some 'saucy' ingredients, we could manage to pull off individual Wellingtons for dinner.

We pre-cooked the roast in the crockpot, in a sauce of beef broth, mixed with some Worcestershire sauce and a little Dijon mustard. I can't give you measurements, because I just eye-balled it. Once the beef was cooked, its juice mixed with these three ingredients created a lovely sauce.

While the beef was in the crockpot, we chopped the onion and mushrooms in the mini-chopper to a rough paste mixture. Then we cooked over some butter in a non-stick pan.

Then we cut the pizza dough into six pieces, flattened each piece, put a spoonful of the mushroom mixture in the middle, and wrapped like a little present. This was Drew's favorite part! We then baked in the oven for about 15 minutes to warm and cook the dough. We served with our homemade sauce that was heated and whisked over low heat.




These are called Kart Wheels. We got this recipe out of the Alpha-Bakery for Kids cookbook put out by Gold Medal Flour. My godmother gave me this book a long time ago to save for when I had children.

We mixed the dough mixture, then shaped them into little bowls and we filled with raspberry jam. Drew loved getting to make these, as prior to our getting started, he was asking to play with Play-Doh. This was way better, and we could actually eat these!

Jaime's Birthday and Cookie Cake

We celebrated Jaime's birthday as a family on Sunday. My little sister is, ahem, 28 years old! So not possible.

Drew helped me make Auntie J's chocolate chocolate-chip cookie cake. It was her special request, and after reviewing the recipe, you can imagine my elation to know it was Drew-safe. Here are some photos of him helping me with the cake and our celebration.

$4 Chicken, Four Ways

I want to share with you all the things I made this week with a whole chicken. I will include recipes (as I prepared them), but am not able to provide photos. The camera batteries are dead, and preggo brain keeps forgetting to charge them. :)

I had several whole chickens in the freezer that I bought for under $1 per pound a while ago. This particular chicken was $4.86.

MEAL ONE: My take on a cuban favorite, Fricase de Pollo.

1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp pepper
5 lb. whole chicken (rinsed, patted dry, inner parts removed and reserved for later use)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 large yellow spanish onion, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup red, green, and orange bell pepper strips, sliced very thin
15 oz. can plain tomato sauce
1 cup dry white cooking wine
1/4 cup pitted and chopped kalamata olives

I put the chicken in the crockpot, and added all the other ingredients to it. I mixed the liquid as best I could. Cook for 8 hours on HIGH setting. The result is unbelievable tender, fall off the bone, tasty chicken with a nice sauce that is great to have because I served it with rice. There will be a lot of sauce/liquid left. Strain and save it; you will need it later for another meal.

MEAL TWO: A soup I prepared using the chicken stock I made from the whole chicken.

To make the stock, I deboned the whole chicken, reserving the meat (there was lots of it) in a seperate container. Put the bones and reserved inner parts in a large saucepan, and add 3 to 4 cups water. Bring to a boil, and simmer for about 1 hour. Remove bones and inner parts; discard.This is how I make the basic stock- I don't add seasonings until I put the stock in a soup.

Eggplant and Edamame Soup

1 tbsp. olive oil
1/4 large onion, roughly chopped
3 to 4 cups eggplant, peeled and cut into cubes
Chicken stock
1/3 to 1/2 package frozen shelled edamame
3 tbsp. tomato paste
1/2 tsp. dried marjoram
1/8 tsp. black pepper

Add the olive oil and onions to the pan. Cook about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the eggplant. Cook 3 minutes more. Stir in chicken stock, edamame, tomato paste, marjoram and pepper. Boil and reduce heat. Cover and simmer about 5 minutes until eggplant is just tender. Do not over cook.

This soup was very tasty for me, as right now meat is not all that appealing and veggies are :)

MEAL THREE: Using the chicken meat I pulled off the bone and saved, I made Chicken Enchiladas.

Enchilada Sauce:
2 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. flour
3.5 tsp. red chili powder, or to taste
1/2 tsp. cumin
2 tsp. garlic powder
6 oz. can tomato paste
Reserved sauce/liquid from Fricase de Pollo
salt and pepper to taste

Add flour to melted butter and whisk until smooth. Add spices and tomato paste until well blended. Add reserved sauce/liquid gradually, whisking constantly. Simmer until desired thickness and season to taste. Remove from heat.

Line the bottom of a baking pan with a layer of enchilada sauce. Using 6 inch tortillas of your choice, wrap 1/4 cup chicken and 1 tbsp. shredded mexican blend cheese into each tortilla. Roll closed and place seam-side down in the pan on top of sauce. Continue until all enchiladas are made. Spoon remaining sauce over top and sides of enchiladas in baking pan. Sprinkle a little cheese on top. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, or chill and microwave one by one as needed.

This recipe will also leave you with more enchilada sauce than you need (unless you like a LOT of sauce). There will be enough to freeze for another time, about 1 cup.

I hope you enjoy!

Turkey Sliders

This is SO easy- you only need these ingredients to add to some ground turkey meat:


2 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp minced garlic
1/4 cup finely chopped red, green and yellow bell pepper




Mix together with 1 to 1.25 lb ground beef; form into small patties and place in pan or on grill (I didn't have time to clean the grill, so I did mine on the stove). Right before removing from pan, add a little teriyaki marinade/sauce to the top of each slider.



I served with sweet potato fries, and veggies (yellow carrots, navy beans and spinach).

Got Figs? Put 'Em in Your Chicken!

I modified this recipe by cooking it in my crockpot and using six chicken thighs. I also used preserved figs in syrup instead of the dried variety. I did not have store bought gnocchi, so I made my own from this recipe. It tasted fine, but looked different than I expected.

Ingredients (all stuff I had on hand):


My sweet little sous chef adding the salt!


The gnocchi dough once kneaded and then cut into bite size.


Finished products:


Both were a hit with my guys, and me. My only 'critique' is that I would have like for the chicken dish to be a little less on the sweet side. No prob- nothing a little extra salt on my plate couldn't fix!