Preparing and planning

We both are starting new jobs in the next few weeks (and mine will involve a commute for the first time in a year) so I'm trying to rethink our daily routine and figure out how it can be adjusted for our new reality. Part of that reality is going to involve less time for dinner prep in the early evening and an increasing need to get dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes. While we weren't creating elaborate meals most nights anyway, I've been used to having the time to make this that require longer cooking times while I work around the house.

I'm also trying to use this time before all the jobs begin to create a stockpile of recipes (ha! as if I follow recipes!) as well as the building blocks for meals we like to eat. Today, that means that I need to turn 2 packages of ground turkey and one package of chicken breasts into something I can freeze for a future meal. I'm thinking that the turkey might become a batch of precooked meatballs and frozen burgers. I know that I'll slice the chicken up, but haven't figured out what to season it with. I've already got a package of "Asian-ish" chicken in the freezer. 

It's also Wednesday which means it's our local farmers' market day. I'll need to decide whether we're going in a couple of hours and then make some appropriate dinner plans. It's pretty overcast, so I'm leaning to a night staying home. 

Summer is coming!

With summer around the corner, I'm beginning to think about what we'll be cooking, canning, and growing this season. I've just reorganized the extra freezer and our garden is in and growing. On top of all of this, I start a new teaching contract in a few weeks for the summer. We're going to be busy!

So, what's on my agenda/wishlist for the summer? Well, I'd like to work on doing a better job of using and saving more of the food that we buy. It's so sad to find a soggy bag of carrots down at the very bottom of the crisper. So, that's priority number 1. In addition, I loved the little amount of canning I did last year (jams and the pickled beans). I even made a small batch of strawberry-lime-vanilla jam a few weeks ago! But, we don't go through as much jam as I like to make, so I'd also like to work on making things OTHER than jam! Where does this leave me? Well, I'm not entirely sure. We made yogurt a few weeks ago which was fun. Chickadee found it a bit too sour, so I might try making some lightly presweetened next time. We've also been prepping more beans and freezing them, which I like to do. In fact, there's a big batch of pinto beans in the fridge right now that I need to break down and freeze. And I started a pot of tomato sauce this morning while working from home that I'll also freeze. I also have a bunch of chicken breasts in the fridge (buy one get one at the store) that I think I want to cut up and freeze in different marinades. I've found that we like some of the TJ versions and why not make our own and save some money. And I'm also intrigued by the idea of relishes. I keep seeing recipes on line for them so that's definitely something I'd like to investigate. Alas, I also need to figure out if there are something we'd regularly eat because, as much as I love canning, it seems silly to can things we won't eat.

The garden will be providing us some nibbles soon. We picked a snap pea each on our way to school this morning for an early snack! And we can probably start taking some early potatoes from the plants as well. There are two teeny, tiny zucchini on the plants but no patty pans yet. And the eggplants are looking a little sad. The beans and edamame are about 10 inches high now, but I don't think we'll have enough of either to save, just enough for some meals in late summer. However, we ought to have LOT of tomatoes of all shapes and colors. I'm super excited about those!

Plums! Again! Eeek!

More plums have arrived! Our neighbor gave us two more bags of plums that I've now turned into plain green plum jam (6 jars) and plum-cinnamon jam (4 jars). Then, another neighbor brought over the bag of plums he had originally given HER because she didn't know what to do with all of the plums! So, now I have yet another bag of plums (and each bag entirely fills my colander) to deal with. This last bag I think will turn into a Plum Converse with nuts and raisins. Then, Sofia and I will deliver some jars of each type back to the neighbors to share the bounty.

I'm almost out of jars now and I'm entirely out of sugar, so I'll need to remedy these things to be able to finish the putting up of the plums. I still don't have any tomatoes preserved, but we have a lot of plums!

Yellow and Green Plum Jam

Our neighbor across the street gifted us a giant bag of lovely yellow and green plums from the trees in his yard. We ate some and then I looked at the giant bag and realized that I needed to figure out something else to do with them before they rotted away. Jam was the answer!

But. I struggled to find a yellow or plum jam recipe that sounded like what I imagined in my head. This led to my first ever experiment with making up my own jam recipe! My reading told me that plums have lots of natural pectin and thus adding more was not necessary (and convenient since I didn't have powered pectin at home). The ratios of sugar to fruit varied but about half the amount of sugar as fruit seemed common so that's what I did.

I halved and quartered the plums, removing the pits (the green ones were a free stone while the yellows were cling) and tossed them with the sugar (about 3c to about 6ish c of fruit) and let them sit while working. I also thinly sliced a small (like really small) apple as a backup extra pectin supply and tossed that to. I also added lemon juice from the lemon in thefridge because the recipes all said to.

Eventually I needed a break and started the jam. Fruit and sugar into a pot on the stove while sterilizing the jars in the waterbath pot. I also put some plates in the freezer as many of the recipes suggested. The fruit cooked down dramatically - reducing by more than half and turning a lovely golden color with streaks of red from the apple. I added some lemon zest and vanilla extract after tasting along the way. I did a few tests and around 30 minutes of cooking found that the jam had set up. Into jars and waterbathed for 10 minutes.

I ended up with 5 half pints and an extra bit for the fridge.

Thoughts
The jam seems a bit too sweet to my taste. Since he just dropped off another bag (this one of just green plums) I think I'll try reducing the sugar a bit to get a less sweet flavor. I'm also wondering about add-ins. Maybe ginger? The jam is firmly set - it's probably a bit overly cooked in fact.

Chile Dilly Beans

As I was hoping, I made the pickled green beans that my mom used to make last week. Sofia and I picked green and yellow beans from the garden and I supplemented with some green beans from the produce stand down the hill.

I followed the old recipe from The Oregonian (by Jan something) but ended up with 6 jars rather than 4. The last jar (of the tops and ends) didn't get quite enough vinegar so it went straight into the fridge after processing. We opened them last night and they were still a bit too crunchy - I'm not sure if I didn't let them sit long enough before opening? Will have to try another jar in a few more weeks. I'm still hoping to try canning tomatoes if I can find some at the farmers market this week or next. And maybe put up some more peppers in the freezer and nay more fruit. 

The Garden

Our tomatoes are starting to get hit hard by the powdery mildew and I just picked off a green tomato with the blossom end rot. I'm hoping that this is a solitary problem! Still no red tomatoes, but lots of orange cherry tomatoes and the large tomatoes are getting big - but still green. Next year we just have to start plants earlier and probably keep them covered longer. It's only getting up to the mid 60s, low 70s during the days now and chilly at night. Not the best tomato weather. The beans are still producing and happy, and the hot peppers are going gang busters. There's one lonely eggplant on the eggplant plant, almost as big as the plant itself. And the sweet peppers have a few fruit, but not much. I'm going to try to winter those over and see if that helps. Carrots and beets are doing fine when they aren't being dug up by the neighboring cat. And I planted a second crop of potatoes because we had some sprouted potatoes in the house - don't know if they will actually do anything this late in the year. The figs are almost done - we've enjoyed those greatly. And, well, that's the garden! 

Putting things up

I've been enjoying being back in the Northwest and using my "free" time to start putting things up. Last week saw the addition of 10 new jars to our cupboards. I made 7 1/2 pints of blackberry jam (and have now given 2 away), one jar of brandied cherries, one jar of blueberry-basil vinegar, and one jar of blackberry infused gin!

In addition, the rest of the flat and a half of blackberries is resting the freezer along with about a quart of frozen blueberries, 3 or 4 containers of red beans, and 2 containers of chicken broth. Oh! and also 2 portions of carnitas. And rosemary salt!

On my putting up wish list...
- apricot-rosemary jam (using our rosemary outside)
- pickled dilly beans (at least one whole batch, maybe 2)
- huckleberries if I can get them
- peaches? plums? either to freeze or turn into jam
- limoncello (we gave away all of our before moving away from Iowa) I have 2 bottles of Everclear waiting so maybe also an arancello?
- bags of frozen shredded chicken for enchiladas etc
- bagels (frozen)
- par baked bread (frozen)
- yogurt (I guess you don't really put this up... but I miss the taste of homemade yogurt)
- marmalade (I keep reading recipes for this and want to try)
- dried hot peppers from the garden, and maybe a small batch of hot pepper jelly?
- something with the massive quantity of tomatoes soon to arrive... freezing? drying? canning? tomato jam?

Crockpot/Slowcooker Beans

Crockpot/Slowcooker Beans

This is my general recipe for slowcooker beans. I rarely cook them on the stove anymore and I try to buy them in the can infrequently (both for reducing our BPA exposure and to save money). The whole family loves beans and could eat them many nights a week.

General directions
Pour beans into a colander and rinse under water. Pick out any weird ones, rocks, or random objects (my beans seem to generally be fine, but occasionally there is a stone). Dump into crockpot. Add water to cover by at least an inch. Choose seasonings. Turn on. Cook.

Seasonings
I usually include an onion (shallot, leek, garlic), some kind of pepper (black, red flakes, fresh hot peppers), and herbs (thyme, oregano, basil, cumin, coriander, a little cinnamon, paprika). I also always add salt initially even though all of the cookbooks tell you not to. I don't find my beans tough or the skins hard and this way I don't forget!

Freezing
You can't can beans without a pressure cooker, so I freeze mine. I actually freeze in rather large containers, because when we have beans we generally are making soup, chili, or fillings for things. So having 20-32 ounces is about right. I'd love to freeze in all glass, but don't currently have the supplies for that. I always cover with the leftover bean water to reduce freezer burn.

Granola Bars

Yummy! My sister sent me the link to these granola bars.

It looked pretty easy, and the ingredients were almost identical to my favorite granola bars that are $5 a box. I'm eating lots of snacks these days (breastfeeding makes me hungry) so a cheaper snack option sounded good.

I made them Friday evening when I was home alone with the baby. They came together quickly and I just left them in the fridge overnight before cutting (rather than putting them in the freezer as suggested). I didn't measure precisely as I figured that granola was more like cooking than baking and thus probably forgiving. I'll definitely be making these again!

Notes and Next Time

• I left out the flax seed (since the baby was sleeping and I didn't want to wake her up by grinding them). I'd add them next time.
• My favorite granola bars (from Cascadian Organics) are basically the same but have rice puff cereal added. I'll do that next time as I think it'll make the bars lighter..
• Other nuts and fruit would be good. I'm thinking dried blueberries and hazelnuts, apricots and pecans.

Ingredients/Recipe

Chocolate Cranberry Almond No-Bake Granola Bars

1.5 cups whole oats

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup coarsely chopped and toasted almonds

2 x 1/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup ground flax

big sprinkle cinnamon

1/2 cup brown rice syrup

1 tsp butter-

1 tsp real vanilla extract

Directions:

coarsely chop almonds. toast on a baking sheet in oven until fragrant and toasty.- heat syrup and butter in small sauce pan over medium-heat until bubbling. stir frequently and let boil for a couple of minutes.- while waiting for syrup to bubble, mix all dry ingredients - once syrup has boiled for a few minutes, stir into dry ingredients.- press mixture firmly into greased (sprayed) small square cake pan. sprinkle with remaining chocolate chips, press firmly - put pan in freezer until totally chilled and firm. pop entire thing onto cutting board and cut into 12 pieces with big knife. store in refrigerator.

Crockpot Oatmeal

So, I've been meaning to make crockpot oatmeal for like the past 6 months? 1 year? something like that. Last night, I finally did it! I dumped the steel cut oats, water, salt and some cinnamon in the pot, turned it on and went to bed. It was warm in the morning. I think it was a bit overcooked, but overall, tasted like steel cut oats. I added brown sugar, milk, and walnuts to mine. I have enough now to have oatmeal every morning at school as long as I remember to pack some to reheat in the microwave.

Notes and Next Time

• Make sure to make extra - not just cause extra is good but because our crockpot is big. I wouldn't want to make a smallish batch and have it all glued to the bottom.
• Maybe put it on low for only 8 hours instead of 10?
• adding dried fruit while it's cooking might be nice

Ingredients/Recipe

• 2 cups steel cut oats
• 8 cups water
• salt
• cinnamon

Michael Pollan's new food rules

Got sent this article from a friend, and you should definitely read it!!!

It's a beautiful online "flipbook" of aphorisms or rules that people live by for their food.

Eating local tastes good!

Today, we were busy. And tired. So tired in fact that Peter took a nap while I stared into the fridge and tried to figure out what we were going to eat for dinner. Luckily, I had taken some ground pork (from the happy pig guy who delivers weekly) and it was defrosting. I then looked at the 8 Japanese eggplants we had hanging out in the fridge and the basket of tomatoes from the garden and started to throw things together.

Take some gorund meat (I used ground pork but sausage would be good too) and saute with evoo. I added S & P and some dried herbs but I'd skip that if I was using sausage. Remove it from the pan once browned, but don't drain whatever oil you have leftover. Chop a bunch of eggplant (we had at least a pound of the dark purple Japanese variety - fresh picked from our "farm") and saute in the pan for at least 10 minutes, letting them shrink and brown. Add a little S & P as the cook and toss regularly. Chop a small hot pepper or add some hot pepper flakes (I did both) and add them after the eggplant has reduced and softened. Also chop some cloves of garlin and add once the eggplant is very tender (so the garlic doesn't burn). Then chop a whole heap of tomatoes - I used mostly romas since that's what we grew, but any type would be fine, I'm sure. Add the tomatoes and stir. Reduce heat and stir back in the pork and the juice from that. Put a lid on and let those tomatoes soften and the whole mixture become tender - kinda like a ratatouille (how the heck do you spell that word?). Boil water and cook some pasta - a short shape that is curly will hold the most sauce. When the pasta is ready, chop a lot of fresh basil and mix it in. Then mix pasta and sauce and eat!

Yum yum. And all the ingredients except garlic and oil were local - or homegrown! Hooray!


Notes and Next Time

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Ingredients/Recipe

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Mom's Zucchini Casserole Redux

So there are some good family stories about Mom, one of the most famous being the way she claims to have "followed" a new recipe but yet has changed just about every ingredient and cooking preparation. Needless to say that this trait runs in the family. Last night, inspired by a gorgeous piece of wild, sockeye salmon (a rariety out here in the Middle), I created this side dish by "following" one of Mom's recipes.

Take a summer squash or two (I used 1 yellow zuke and 1 yellow crookneck from our garden) and dice smallish. Saute them with some garlic and olive oil. Once just starting to brown, add the sides of bell peppers (I used 1 red and 1 yellow) and rice (I used left over white rice). Remove from heat and add quartered cherry tomatoes, shredded Parmesan, and herbs (I used fresh thyme and chives from the garden). Then, spoon this into the hollowed out peppers (I cut the side off if possible so I can serve them with the top on the side... just cuz it looks cool. Cut off the tops if it's easier). I tend to make a lot, so I had enough left over to also fill both halves of a hollowed out zuke AND a small ramekin. Bake in a hot oven until done.

This is what you get!!

Notes and Next Time

• any grain would work well, brown rice, quinoa, etc
• I bet other veggies would work too... some spinach or other greens, bits of leftover winter squash (like acorn)
• tomorrow I might add leftover italian sausage and make them the main dish
• I bet different cheeses would also change things up a lot
  

Ingredients/Recipe

• some veg
• some herb
• some grain
• something to bake in (other veg or baking dish)
  
• some cheese
  

What I've been eating

So, I have no cooking tales to report, but I have lots of tales about eating! Cristiana and Alfredo are both fabulous cooks and they not only share their talents with us, but are very responsive to my nosy questions asking how they did this or that.


For example, yesterday, Cristiana made tacos. Yawn, you're probably thinking, aren't you tired of tacos yet? And truly, the answer to that question is that I could NEVER tire of tacos. But, these aren't any simple, boring old tacos. No, I would call these enchiladas, even though Cristiana doesn't. Anyhoo, let's begin.


The tacos are rolled around a filling of barbacoa and in a green sauce (doesn't that sound like enchiladas?). They were delicious and tasty and I ate all 4 of the ones on my plate. Yum yum.


At dinner last night, I asked Cristiana how she makes them, what's the secret. We've had a few of the conversations so far, and they typically end with, special ingrediant that doesn't exist in The Middle (although you on the coasts might fare better). This time, as always, this was the case. The secret ingredient is barbacoa - not BBQ, but a slow roasted meat in it's own juices so it's tender, not drier like BBQ (no charred bits etc). To make barbacoa, meat is stewed placed in mamey leaves and then placed in a hot earthen oven (like tandoori almost I think). This makes a little packet and the leaves impart their own flavor. Then the meat is cooled, chunked, and the tortillas (fresh from the tortillaria of course) are filled and rolled. THEN, and here is where it gets interesting... the rolled tortillas are quickly dipped in hot oil - not until they get crunchy (that would be flautas or taquitos) but just to soften them. Then, you pile them up on a plate to wait for your hungry family. As they arrive, you place three or four of them in the bubbling plate of green sauce (tomatillos, chiles, garlic, onion) until just heated through. Then move them to a plate and top with crumbled cheese.

Several new techniques stuck out at me that I plan on trying. First, is the not baking the enchiladas in the oven for a long period of time. Cristiana noted that they can get a bit mushy (and PEter and I noticed this the last few times) and that tey just needed to be gently heated through. Also, she made her own sauce so quickly and easily, that I'm convinced I can do it too... and without perservatives and other strange things!

We have a great carnitas recipe at home (but I haven't posted it yet, will do when I get back!) that I think would make an excellent filling for these tacos. I'll experiment and keep you updated!

Notes and Next Time

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Ingredients/Recipe

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Fire Roasted Red Pepper Sausages with Orzo and Veggies

So I was trying to figure out what to do with my raab and spinach I got in my last organic produce delivery (pioneerorganics.com), so I starting digging in the cupboards and fridge. I found chicken/turkey fire roasted red pepper sausages from Applegate Farms. They are raised with no antibiotics, check out their website where you can track where you meat comes from. Found some cherry tomatoes that needed to be eaten and spiced it up with garlic, onions, and red pepper flakes. The recipe that follows has no measurements since I didn't measure anything. It made enough for 3 servings.

Ingredients/Recipe:
2 chicken/turkey fire roasted red pepper sausages (Applegate Farms) http://www.applegatefarms.com/Products/Details.aspx?ProductID=118
chopped onion
garlic
red pepper flakes
raab
spinach
orzo
cherry tomatoes
grated Romano cheese or Parmesan
evoo

Start pasta. While pasta is cooking prep veggies and sausage.
Saute onion, garlic, and raab in evoo till the raab is about half done. Add sausage and put lid on to steam while you drain the pasta. Add tomatoes and spinach, replace lid until spinach is done. Serve and sprinkle grated cheese. Delicious and simple.

Notes and Next Time:
I thought that it was fantastic. The only thing i would change for next time is to make that none of the cherry tomatoes were put into the leftovers and reheated. I would just throw some uncooked ones in after reheating.

Sometimes simple is the way to go

There are times for fancy complicated meals and times for easy, quick to whip up meals. Tonight, it was time for the latter. I threw together a quick meal of quesadillas and a pomegranate soda.

Quesadillas are one of my favorite easy things. I recently found 1/2 white 1/2 whole wheat tortillas at the grocery store and heartily recommend them. They aren't as heavy as straight whole wheat, which I've tried but can't get excited about. And they have more healthy things than the straight white ones (which I need!). I always cook my quesadillas in the cast iron skillet, and I don't use any oil or butter. I'm sure I don't have to give anyone directions for making them, so I'll just record what I filled them with this time.

We had 1/2 an avocado left over from lunch, some preshredded cheese blend, and part of a tomato that all needed to be eaten. I added to this some baby shrimp (the bay or salad shrimp size) and finely minced serrano peppers. I had to go easy on the cheese, since there was little left (maybe 1/3 cup max). I spread part of it on the tortilla, topped with the rest of the toppings, flipped it when the bottom was nice and toasted and ate.

Oh and that pomegranate soda? 2/3 pomegranate juice, 1/3 soda water or tonic water. Yum yum.

Quick, easy, tasty...


Notes and Next Time

• yum
  

Ingredients/Recipe

• tortillas
• cheese
• fillings (peppers, shrimp, chicken, tomato, avocado, etc etc)
  

Chicken Tikka Masala

I love chicken tikka masala. LOVE IT. When I lived in Cambridge MA, there was this small Indian place right around the corner, and I would always order their tikka masala (and pakoras and samosas and nann and saag). We found a recipe in an old Cook's Illustrated, so we decided to go for it. And let me tell you, not only is it super wonderful tasting, it is surprisingly easy to make. So go make some. And then send me some.

I have to say, at first, I was a little skeptical of making this. I've seen other people make Indian food, and the time and process can be a little daunting. Well, it did take us about 2 hours to make this whole meal (including cooking naan and saag), but now that we've done it once, I think we could make the tikka masala in about an hour from start to finish (and we have some naan in the freezer, so we can just reheat that). However, we did use pretty much dish we owned. It would have been nice to have a dishwasher.

First the chicken. We rubbed the chicken breasts with cumin, coriander, and cayenne. Then we mixed up some yogurt with fresh ginger and garlic, dipped the chicken in , and cooked under the broiler until done. The yogurt mix gave great flavor and seemed to keep a lot of the moisture in, while allowing the chicken to char nicely on the outside, just like it was out of a tandoori oven (which, unfortunately, we don't own one of).

As for the sauce, it couldn't have been easier. Just make tomato pasta sauce, but instead of using garlic, basil, oregano, and thyme, use onions, garlic, fresh ginger, and garam masala. Simmer for 15-20 minutes, then add heavy cream. A handful of chopped cilantro provided the finishing touch. Done and done.

Once the chicken was allowed to sit for a couple minutes, we cut into chunks, dropped into the sauce for a quick minute, and proceeded to devour. It was so good. The chicken had the tandoori oven texture - charred in places, kind of dry, kind of hard, but still moist - and the sauce had the perfect creamy-tomato taste.


Notes and Next Time

• I will make this again. Maybe tonight. It was good.
• We used 2# of chicken, which was a ridiculous amount. But with the amount of sauce from one big can of crushed tomatoes and 2/3 c of heavy cream, it was the right amount. We have enough leftovers for today and tomorrow. I guess I don't have to make more tonight after all.
• When we cut the chicken, we make the chunks too big. Next time, slightly smaller.
• It would be interesting to use just the yogurt mix with some bone-in chicken, to see if you could replicate the tandoori oven without the sauce. Might be a fun adventure.
  

Ingredients/Recipe

• 2 # chicken, boneless, skinless
• 1 c yogurt
• dry spices: coriander, cumin, cayenne, garam masala
  
• fresh spices/herbs: ginger, garlic, cilantro
• 1medium onion, chopped
• 1 large can crushed tomatoes
• 1 T tomato paste
• a chili pepper (for heat, but can be left out)
  
• 2/3 c heavy cream
• salt
• sugar
• vegetable oil
  

Naan

With the lack of Indian restaurants in town (there is one Indian restaurant, which is decent, but we're trying to be frugal), we decided to try our hand at making some Indian food (we were also partially inspired by our newest copy of Cook's Illustrated, which we were given as a Christmas gift). Since we were going to try our hand at making some of our favorite entrees, we decided to also try our hand at making naan, a south-Asian flat bread.

Kimberly had a recipe in one of her old cookbooks, so we went with it. It was actually a pretty simple recipe - since it's a flat bread, it has no yeast and, therefore, doesn't need to rise. First, I combined the flour, salt, and baking powder, then added in the yogurt. Once it started thickening, I turned the mixture onto the board and kneaded until smooth and elastic. The recipe called for the dough to sit for an hour or more, but I'm not sure it needed that long.

I then cut the dough into small portions, which were flattened into about 6-8" roundish shapes. They were pretty thin, sometimes ripping and being see through. The dough was pretty sticky, so it wasn't easy to make perfect rounds, but rather, they came out slightly oval shaped, which was a fortunate mistake. Each was cooked on a pre-heated, dry cast iron skillet over medium heat. After a few minutes, the expected black/burn spots would start appearing, and the dough would start bubbling.

I took the naan off the heat before they finished cooking and set aside. After finishing the rest of the meal, I put them into a 500 oven and heated through, then slathered with butter - unfortunately, I took the first few out too early and they were still a little uncooked in the middle.

Overall, they came out pretty well. Crispy and black in some parts, chewy in the middle, nice tangy-ness from the yogurt, a good buttery creaminess. The recipe made 10 breads And we have half the recipe left to put in the freezer for future reheating.

Notes and Next Time

• Finishing the naan in the oven immediately after taking them off the skillet may have worked better. Then a quick reheat in the oven right before serving would have been perfect.
• I need to keep them in the oven longer to ensure that they cook through. I suppose I could have kept them in the skillet longer, which would have given them more color in addition to cooking through.
• In the skillet, the center of the naan was cooking/browning faster than the edges. Since we have a gas stove and the heat was set on medium, the flame was basically in the middle. It might be nice to have a flame diffuser (which would also help with the simmering of sauces and chili and the like).
  

Ingredients/Recipe

From The New Vegetarian Epicure:

• 4 cups AP Flour
• 1 t salt
• 1 t Baking Powder
• 2 c yogurt
  

Risotto

While in Italy, we had risotto a few times and raved about it each time. The first time was during our stay in the agriturismo in Assisi.. Later, in Milan, our cousin Guido made risotto for us. This morning, over breakfast, Peter came up with the brilliant idea to make risotto for dinner tonight.
The grocery store had nice looking asparagus and shrimp, so we decided to add those to the risotto. We started with arborio rice. We sauted shallot in some butter. Then we added in the rice and stirred it until the rice became translucent. Once the rice had turned, we added about a cup of white wine (we used a chardonnay from Australia) and let it cook until the pan dried out. Then we added about 1.5 cups of homemade chicken stock. We let it simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the stock had completely absorbed. After the initial stock, we added the rest in ladleful amounts, letting it absorb between each addition. Once the rice was almost done, we stirred in blanched asparagus and cooked shrimp. Then, after the rice had finished cooking and the asparagus/shrimp had heated through, we added parmesean.

Notes and Next Time

• Guido used red wine too
• peas might be nice
• saffron would be pretty
• cooked pancetta could add a nice flavor
• as could mushrooms
  

Ingredients/Recipe

• arborio rice
• broth
• shallot/garlic/onion
• butter
• asparagus
• shrimp (small bay or salad shrimp)
• white wine
  

Chicken, Artichoke, Mushroom

Well, I'm on my own a lot for dinner these days, so I'm trying to remember both quantity (no need to make enough for 2!) and short recipes. I'm crazy busy these days, so quick one pots meals are important. At the same time, I don't want to subsist on frozen things or totally unhealthy things.

So, tonight I was inspired by the chicken defrosted in the fridge and the package of mushrooms threatening to go bad. I decided that they'd go well together, especially with the addition of some artichoke hearts.

I started by sauteing the sliced chicken in evoo until nicely browned. I tossed in a little chopped garlic, salt, and red pepper flakes. I didn't worry about cooking the chicken all the way through, but instead put the chicken in a bowl once it was nicely browned. Then I heated a little more evoo and sauted the quartered mushrooms (maybe 4 or 5 medium sized ones). I added a little more garlic, dried oregano, more pepper flakes, and a little salt and let them brown. Once they looked pretty, I tossed in drained quartered artichoke hearts (not the marinated ones, just the regular canned ones). I let everything heat and come together. Then I added back the chicken and heated the whole thing until the chicken was cooked through.

I served this with a slice of toasted sourdough bread.


Notes and Next Time

• this would be good tossed with pasta too
• asparagus or green beans would be good in place of the artichoke hearts
• the red pepper flakes are a good addition
  

Ingredients/Recipe
to serve 1

• 1 chicken breast
• 2 cloves garlic
• red pepper flakes
• mushrooms, 4-5 quartered
• artichoke hearts (1/2 can, not marinated)
• oregano
• s&p
  

Pork Cutlets with Broccoli and Quinoa

We made Pork Cutlets again, since we have a freezer full of pork chops. I won't go through the whole thing again, but I will say I followed some of my previous notes, and things worked out much better: I only cut the pork chops once, then flattened by pounding; I soaked in milk only briefly; and trimmed the fat prior to breading.

For our broccoli, we steamed it in a saute pan, with some water. We like our broccoli on the verge of raw, so we drained it pretty quickand just drizzled a little evoo over it for eating.

As for the quinoa, we cooked it using the standard 2 c water to 1 c quinoa ratio. We added some sun dried tomatoes, with its oil, at the end to try to add some flavor. Unfortunately, the quinoa was a little tough and bitter. Not exactly sure why it happened, but it did.

Notes and Next Time

• We need to play with the quinoa some more to make it better. Not exactly sure how to do that, but we'll see. I really like quinoa, so I'll make it work.
  

Ingredients/Recipe

• Boneless, skinless pork tenderloin 'chops', maybe 1/2 # each
  
• Bread crumbs, fixed to your liking
• Milk, or egg, for soaking
• EVOO for cooking and garnish
  
• Broccoli
• Quinoa
• Sun dried Tomato