Tag: Cooking

A little Pinning going on

 

I admit it – I’m a Pinterest addict. I love it.  I love the visual stimulation. I love the myriad ideas. I love the variety.

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I thought I’d share some of my recent pins with you – some of the projects/recipes I’ve got on my “to do” list for the near future.

Recipes to try:

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Fall things to do/try:

  • I love this fall wreath.
  • and these pumpkins are just beautiful. May have to steal SuperMan’s drill…
  • this table-topper is simple and beautiful.
  • and this fall trail mix looks really good. May make some of these for the kids to share with friends.

Do you Pinterest?  Have any projects you have pinned that you are planning to do (or have done)?  Share!!

Follow Me on Pinterest

 

Best-Ever Black Beans & Cuban Pork

 

Last Friday SuperMan and went to a Cuban restaurant for lunch.  I hate to say it, but the food was less than what we’d hoped for. As a matter of fact, it really just left me with a hankering for some good Cuban food. I was rather disappointed.

So, we decided to make our own!

I bought a pork butt and marinated it over the weekend and then decided Monday was the day to cook it. It was really good, but what was even better were the black beans I cooked with it.

They were surprisingly good. Like, really, really good.

Almost exactly like I’ve had from some of the best Cuban restaurants I’ve eaten at in the past and exactly like what I think of when I think of Cuban black beans.

After raving about it on Facebook last night, I received many requests for the recipes so I decided to share with you here.

It may not be “officially” Cuban, but it sure was good. We devoured it.

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(sorry for the blurry phone picture – didn’t have my glasses on and didn’t know it wasn’t focused!)

Pork Butt in the Crock Pott  Smile

4-5 pound pork butt

Marinade:
1/4 cup fresh lemon or lime juice
1/4 cup fresh grapefruit juice
1 bay leaf (or 2)
1/4 cup water
2 Tbsp minced garlic (or more)
1 Tbsp minced onion
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp ground cumin (or more)

Houston House Seasoning

  1. In a large ziplock bag, add all of the marinade ingredients.  Add the pork and refrigerate. Let it marinate from 8-24 hours.
  2. Place marinade and pork butt in the crock pot and cook on high for the first hour and then on low for 6-7 hours.
  3. Shred meat, and serve with juices from the crock pot as “gravy.”

Best-ever cuban black beans

2 cans black beans (do not drain)
1 finely diced onion
1 finely diced green bell pepper
1 can petite diced tomatoes
1-2 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp ground cumin
2 Tbsp minced onion

  1. Add all ingredients to a small crock pot (I use my “baby” one)
  2. Allow them to cook on low for 1-3 hours (no less than an hour)
  3. Serve with cooked rice.
  4. You can add some heat by adding some red pepper flakes if you desire.

eat and die of goodness. Smile

 

Friday Adventures & Menu Plan Monday ~ 27 Aug

 

Last Friday, SuperMan and I had a big adventure. It started out as a trip to the store where I buy my wheat berries & sucanat for baking. I mentioned I needed to stop by the grocery store and he suggested going to the international market. I was game, but then we realized that it was over an hour away from where we were and we decided that was just too far to go and try to make it back for carpool.

So, SuperMan said, “Leave it to me. I know where I’m going to take you.”

I sat back and enjoyed the ride…

and we ended up at a SuperH Mart. Have you ever been to one of these? It’s a Korean market and they had the coolest things. SuperMan was laughing at me as I snapped picture after picture with my phone.  He said, “You’re not going to buy anything, just take pictures of it?” IMG_1967[1]

I decided that pictures were safer than purchases – IMG_1968[1]

This picture is titled “Things I’ll never eat”

But it was so much fun. (well, except for the overwhelming fish smell. me no likey raw fish smell)

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And then we went to lunch at a Cuban restaurant. (grin)

A great time together – almost like a “date” although we were being productive at the same time.

This week, we’re looking forward to an early release day at school and the long holiday weekend.  Seriously, we can’t wait.  SO ready for a little fun with the family.  It’s going to be busy, busy before we get to that holiday weekend. We have meetings and classes almost every night.  That long weekend will be well-earned, for sure.

In preparation for the week, here’s what I have planned on the menu:

  • Monday: Cuban Pork, black beans & rice
  • Tuesday: Taco salads
  • Wednesday: Pesto chicken with pasta & parmesan
  • Thursday: leftovers

So, what’s on your menu plan for the weekend?

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Spinach Artichoke Pasta with Grilled Chicken

This was one of my recent recipe experiments thanks to Pinterest. I stumbled across the recipe and thought it was worth a try given that we all love Spinach Artichoke appetizer at restaurants.

I have to say, this one didn’t disappoint.  It was really, really good. So much so that Big Girl decided to have leftovers for dinner the next night instead of what we had already planned for dinner… and she ate two helpings. of leftovers.

Yeah, it’s that good.

This makes A LOT of food. So much so that I shared a healthy portion with our neighbors for their dinner the night I made it and we still had some leftovers.  So, save this for a meal when you’re having folks over or make it and give some away like we did. Your friends will love you if you do.

I don’t have a picture – it didn’t last long enough for me to get one – but here is the one on the Pinterest link:

I used ziti pasta instead of the bowtie you see here.  I don’t think it really matters. You could even use linguine if you wanted. Whatever you have on hand. It’s merely a vehicle to get the luscious sauce into your mouth. Smile

I also added some grilled chicken that wasn’t in the original recipe. I marinated it in some Italian dressing and then grilled it, cut it up and added the bite-sized pieces to the mixture as I added the pasta.

It was a hearty and filling dinner, a one-stop cornucopia of goodness for your mouth and your body.

Spinach Artichoke Pasta with Grilled Chicken

Ingredients:

2-3 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup Italian Dressing
Houston House Seasoning

1 12 ounce box of pasta

1 tsp butter
2 Tbs minced garlic (about 2-3 cloves)
1 8 oz package reduced fat cream cheese
1/2 cup milk (I used 2%)
1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream
1/2 lemon, juiced (I used about 1-2 tsp of lemon juice)
1/2 tsp salt
pinch of red pepper flakes
1 14 oz can artichoke hearts (packed in water) drained & chopped
10 oz chopped frozen spinach, thawed, with as much water squeezed out as possible
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
Additional parmesan for serving

Instructions:

  1. Marinate chicken breasts in Italian Seasoning & sprinkled with Houston House Seasoning for about 1 hour.
  2. Cook pasta.
  3. While pasta is cooking, grill chicken. (or sauté in a skillet)
  4. Cut cooked chicken into bite-sized pieces and set aside.
  5. In a large skillet, over medium heat, melt butter and add garlic. Cook for about 30-45 seconds, being careful not to scorch garlic.
  6. Add cream cheese, stir until melted and combined with garlic.
  7. Slowly add milk, whisking it gently into the cream cheese.
  8. Add sour cream, lemon juice, salt & pepper flakes. Combine, being careful not to boil the mixture as the sour cream can curdle.
  9. Add in the artichoke hearts, grilled chicken, parmesan cheese. Mix to combine – you can turn off the heat here.
  10. Drain pasta.
  11. Add the pasta (if your saucepan is big enough) and stir to combine.
  12. Season with additional salt & lemon juice as desired (I needed both)
  13. Serve topped with additional parmesan.

Menu Plan Monday ~ 20 August 12

 

Hello, and Happy Monday to you all!

It was another busy weekend at our house, filled with Saturday baths for the puppies, car washes and grass cutting.  And some great times with great friends on Saturday night.  The weekend was capped off by the very best part – Picking up Big Girl on Sunday from her Boot Camp weekend.  It’s a weekend retreat the church does just for sixth graders – to focus on them for one whole weekend as they transition to middle school.

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Little Bit has been sick with a cold.  And has tried to share it with us big people. I have been running a low fever today so I think she may have been somewhat successful. Big Girl sent me a text at 1AM on Sunday telling me she was all stuffy and had a sore throat. I guess she got infected before she left us on Friday. Sad smile

Regardless, it was a good weekend.  And I think she had a good time as well at her retreat.  Sunday was the best day of the two – of course – because Big Girl came home.  I couldn’t wait to see her!

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She was exhausted (of course) and ready for a hot shower and some peace and quiet.  We were all in bed by 7 last night! The power went out because of storms so we just all decided to turn in early.  I think we all needed the rest.

This week, I’ve got some comfort food planned for the first part of the week – at least until we kick this virus to the curb.

Here’s what’s on my menu plan this week:

I’m also making some homemade bread – trying this new recipe out.  Big Girl is making some brownies for lunch snacks and I’ll probably make some other lunch snack/sweet later in the week.

What’s on your menu this week?

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Bourbon Street Chicken

 

With the new schedule for the girls’ schools and after-school activities, I’m on the hunt for some new, easy recipes to cook. The after-school schedule is different enough that I’m having to get creative with some dinner routines. I’m shooting for 6:00 for suppertime, but that doesn’t work on the nights that Big Girl has dance classes because they are later in the evening. I think she and Super Man will be eating late dinners together those nights and Little Bit and I will eat together earlier. It’s a juggling act and we’re just going with the flow for right now.

Last night, we tried something relatively new for dinner.  I’ve made it once before, but no one seems to remember eating it and I can’t remember if everyone liked it or not!  As I cooked, I was wondering if I was making something I was just going to throw in the garbage because of this, but it turned out to be a success and everyone loved it.

This will definitely go into my list of regularly-cooked menu items, I think.  It’s a sweet and tangy glazed chicken dish – reminiscent of some of the chicken dishes I remember having at the quick-cook Asian restaurants when I worked downtown.  It’s not technically Asian in origin and I think the original recipe hails from Bourbon Street in New Orleans.

Regardless, it is really good and worth a try!

(sorry for the grainy cell phone picture – I forgot to take a “real” one before we ate!)

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Bourbon Street Chicken

4-6 servings

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts; cut into bite-sized pieces
1-2 Tbs olive oil
1 heaping tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 pinch red pepper flakes (more if you like it spicy)
1/4 c apple juice (I just used an apple/grape juice box I had in the fridge for kids’ lunches)
1/3 c brown sugar (or 1/4 c Splenda brown sugar blend)
2 Tbs ketchup
1 Tbs apple cider vinegar
1/2 c water
1 Tbs corn starch (to thicken sauce)

  1. In a large skillet, sauté the chicken pieces in the olive oil.
    (I seasoned mine lightly with Houston House Seasoning)
  2. While chicken is cooking, whisk remaining ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
  3. Once chicken is browned, pour in the sauce. Stir to coat chicken and bring to a rolling boil.
  4. Reduce heat and simmer on low, uncovered, for about 15-20 minutes. (Until sauce thickens)
  5. Serve over rice.

I also served mine with some steamed veggies.  It was a huge hit – Big Girl even ate two helpings!

I think next time I might even toss some sesame seeds on the chicken right before serving.

 

Pesto Palooza

Happy Monday!

I hope you all had a good weekend. We did. It was full of friends and fun – and a little date night for SuperMan and I as well. So nice.  We went to a local German restaurant and the food was incredible.  We enjoyed our dinner so much, lingering over our food with just one more glass of wine and some great conversation, that we totally missed our movie!  It was just as well. I told SuperMan I’d rather sit and talk with him than watch a movie any day.

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Sunday afternoon the girls and I spent a few hours with our good friends – they invited us over to make homemade pesto!  Cindy and I both have prolific basil plants and we had been talking about making some pesto with the leaves.

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I had never made pesto, so Cindy offered to give us a lesson.  Our other good friends joined in on the fun and we had PESTO PALOOZA!

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All of the kids got involved, from mincing the garlic to loading up the food processor, measuring the ingredients and spooning the finished pesto into the storage containers.

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Many helpful hands make small work …

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Our junior chefs –

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The house smelled SO GOOD – one of Cindy’s sons came home as we were in the middle of a batch and he said the house smelled like spices. And it did! Such good spices…

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I think we ended up with ten or eleven cups of pesto by the time we were finished.  Each family took a batch home to freeze and enjoy this fall – and I know whenever I take a container out of the fridge to use for cooking this winter I’ll remember the fun we had on that Sunday afternoon.  Good friends and good times.

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We enjoyed our first batch last night for dinner. I grilled some chicken and served it with some sun-dried tomato pesto pasta. SO good.

Here is the recipe in case you want to make some of your own:

Basil Pesto

from Family Fun Magazine

Makes about 1 cup of pesto

2 c firmly packed basil leaves (fresh)
1/3 c walnuts of pine nuts
3 Tbs grated Parmesan cheese
2 small cloves garlic (or 1 large)
1/4 tsp each salt/pepper
1/2 c extra-virgin olive oil

  1. In a food processor, combine all ingredients except the oil. Pulse until a thick paste forms.
  2. With processor on, drizzle in oil in a slow stream until mixture is well combined. You may need to clean the sides of the processor to ensure all ingredients are mixed in.
  3. Transfer to an airtight container. Cover with lid, refrigerate up to 4 days or freeze up to 2 months.

Black Bean Soup on a chilly Monday

It’s chilly here today – almost like Spring and Summer got mixed up. It was warm in February/March and now that we’re knocking on the door of May it decides to be cool and windy. Go figure.

Because it was in the 40’s this morning and my little toes were frozen, I decided soup would be a good bet for lunch today.  And because I have been craving black bean soup from my favorite restaurant and they only make it on Wednesdays (and I never seem to get out on Wednesdays for lunch) I decided that I’d make some here at home.

Traditionally, I make black bean soup from dried beans. It’s a labor-intensive, time-consuming process which is really not worth it because I’m the only one in my house who really likes black bean soup.  SuperMan will eat it, but it probably isn’t his first choice of things to eat.  The girls are grossed out by it and won’t even give it a try (hoping one day that changes)

So, because of this, I rarely make black bean soup at home – and eat it out almost as rarely because, as I said earlier, my favorite place to eat it only makes it once a week and I am not usually there on that day to eat it.

I decided today to do a little experiment and try making some using canned black beans. I keep these on hand all the time as I love them in chili and in my quesadillas, etc.  So, why not, I thought?

The result was yummy goodness.

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I thoroughly enjoyed my little bowl of goodness and have enough for lunch all week, unless SuperMan decides to sample some himself one day.

Super easy and super quick to make. I think I made it from beginning to end in less than 20 minutes.  It would make a great meatless meal one night.

Black Bean Soup

Ingredients:

2 cans black beans, drained & rinsed
1 can fire-roasted tomatoes (you can substitute a jar of salsa or can of diced tomatoes with chilies if you don’t have these)
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1/4 cup minced onion (about 1/4 of a small onion)
1 Tbsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cilantro (dried)
~ 1 cup chicken broth
olive oil
salt/pepper

  1. In a small stock pot, heat the olive oil and sauté the onion & garlic until onions begin to become translucent. Be careful not to burn the garlic. (use medium heat)
  2. While this is sautéing, rinse your beans and dump them, along with the tomatoes, in a food processor.  Pulse a few times until the beans are slightly creamy. You can determine how “chunky” or creamy you want this to be.
  3. Add the tomato/bean mixture to the stock pot.
  4. Add chicken broth until soup is desired consistency.
  5. Add cumin, chili powder, cilantro & salt/pepper.  Simmer 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until everything is hot & flavors combine.
  6. Serve with a dollop of sour cream and some tortilla chips.
I also added about 3-4 tsp of my favorite tomatillo salsa to my soup when I ate it.

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Fajitas!

Fajitas are one of my family’s favorite dinners. I could probably serve it once a week without anyone complaining. They love it that much.

I’m not sure why – I don’t feel like I do anything special – but they absolutely love them.

I thought I’d share my recipe with you –  just in case you’ve never made these yourself at home before. I think they are better than the restaurant version.

The secret, to me, is two-fold: lots of seasoning and time. Time makes the meat tender. Seasoning makes it flavorful.  I don’t use any fancy ingredients; no special spices or exotic foods. You can buy any of this at the grocery store:

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I cut my chicken tenders into smaller, thinner slices.  Sometimes I do the same for the meat (depending on how thick it was cut at the store). I slice my onion thin and the bell peppers I leave a little thicker because I like that taste when I bite into my fajita. The refried beans I don’t put in the fajita meat when they are cooking, but I do heat them and serve them on the side to put in the fajita when it’s made at the table.

So, let’s get this recipe going here:

First, brown your meat in a little oil in your skillet:imgp4167

I put all the meat in together. It’s probably not how the Food Network folks would do it, but I (am lazy) don’t have time to cook each part separately and put it aside while I cook the rest. Just toss it all in, I say.

When the meat is cooked, I add the tomato and seasoning:imgp4168

Once I get that incorporated and let a little of the juices from the tomato cook off, I add the peppers and onion: (I don’t normally do yellow, just happened to have them on hand)imgp4169

Let it all simmer for a while – until the veggies are tender and you’re ready to serve. I love this skillet I inherited from my mom – I can set it to “Low” and let things stay warm under the lid until we’re ready to sit down to eat dinner together.

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Serve with warm tortillas, sour cream, cheese, lettuce, tomato, salsa, etc.

fajitas

Ingredients:

2 pounds steak, sliced thin
1-2 pounds chicken tenders, sliced very thin
2 bell peppers, julienned
1 large onion, julienned
1 can Rotel tomatoes with chiles
1 packet taco seasoning
Cumin
Chili Powder
Garlic Powder
Salt/Pepper

Instructions:

  1. Slice your steak & chicken into thin strips. Season lightly with salt & pepper & set aside.
  2. Slice your peppers and onion into thin strips. Set aside.
  3. Heat your skillet with some oil and add the meat.  As the meat is cooking, sprinkle liberally with cumin, chili powder and garlic powder.
  4. Sauté the meat until it is browned and then add the can of tomatoes and the taco seasoning.
  5. Simmer until most of the juices from the tomatoes has cooked off.
  6. Add the vegetables and cook until the onions are translucent.
  7. Serve with warm tortillas, sour cream, cheese, lettuce, tomato, salsa, etc.

Chicken Fried Rice

I had a hankering for fried rice on Tuesday.  I had planned to do leftovers (quesadillas) for dinner, but I kept thinking about the fact that I needed to pre-cook some chicken for Wednesday night’s dinner and if I was going to do that, why didn’t I just make some stir-fry chicken and fried rice?

So, that’s exactly what I did.

And I have to say, it was one of the best stir-fries I have made and most definitely the best fried rice. Totally awesome.

I made it in stages – making the fried rice first and storing it in a pre-heated sauce pot (heated by boiling some water in it and then pouring the water out) while I cooked the chicken stir fry.

I found the source recipe for my fried rice here, but, of course, I modified it to suit my family’s tastes and what I had in the pantry.  The only change I think I’ll make next time I make it is to add some toasted sesame seeds and maybe try to sneak in some more veggies. (diced teeny tiny so the kids will eat them)

This would be a good meal all by itself. With the edamame (soy beans) and eggs, you have your proteins and the addition of some veggies would make it a good, rounded meal. And it tastes SO GOOD.

You can find the edamame in the freezer section at the grocery store. Just be sure you get the hulled version. I wouldn’t want to be shelling soybeans if I didn’t have to!

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Fried Rice

Ingredients:

1 egg, beaten
1 cup rice (cooked, yield ~2 cups)
Sesame Oil
~ 1  cup carrots, diced fine
1 cup shelled edamame
1/2 onion, diced fine
1 tsp ground ginger
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1/4 cup soy sauce (reduced sodium)
2 Tbsp brown sugar

Instructions:

  1. Cook rice. Let cool.
  2. In a large skillet or wok, spray pan with nonstick spray. Add your egg and cook until scrambled.  Remove to plate and clean skillet.
  3. In the same skillet, heat approximately 1 Tbsp sesame oil.
  4. Add vegetables to the skillet & sauté until the onions begin to become transparent, stirring frequently. (about 4-5 min)
  5. Add rice to skillet.  Cook until the rice is browning and becoming crispy. Depending on how hot your skillet is, this can take 5-9 minutes.  The pan does not need any additional oil or moisture at this time. You are trying to brown the rice.
  6. While the rice is browning, whisk together the ginger, garlic, soy sauce & brown sugar.
  7. One the rice is browned, add the egg and the soy sauce mixture to the rice/veggies and stir well.
  8. Drizzle the rice with a little more sesame oil and serve.

I served it to the girls with some of the chicken I cooked for the stir fry that SuperMan and I ate with the rice. They gobbled it up happily.

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(that’s a o sooo good food MB says) – I found this typed in my blog writer after I got back from taking the girls to school. I guess that is her editorial contribution. Smile

I’ll share the stir fry recipe later this week. It was the perfect accompaniment to the fried rice. I can’t wait for lunch today to eat the leftovers!