buttermilk fried chicken with roasted root vegetables (a Jess post)

I never fry anything. Really, never. And yeah, I say it's because frying isn't that healthy, but really it's because I don't know what the hell I'm doing with hot oil. But then I found a recipe for buttermilk fried chicken in my very favorite cookbook, so I HAD to try it. Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home is gorgeous and simple. It gives you all the tools you'd need to be an excellent home chef. And this recipe did not disappoint.

I DID have to tweak it a bit. First, because the recipe called for two whole chickens (and my tiny family would NEVER get through that much food). Second, because it calls for an overnight brining (which I totally forgot to do- my bad) and last because I pan fried the chicken as opposed to deep frying. So here is what I did:

Ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne
2 cups buttermilk

1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 large boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into strips
4 boneless skinless chicken thighs
apprx. 1 c olive oil/ canola blend

directions:
mix the flour, garlic and onion powders, paprika and cayenne. Divide mixture between two bowls. Pour buttermilk into a third bowl and mix in salt and pepper. Line all three bowls up as your dredging station.

Make sure chicken has been patted dry, then piece by piece, dip into the first bowl of flour and cover completely. Tap off excess flour and then dredge in buttermilk. Let excess drip off then toss in third bowl of flour. Keep battered chicken pieces on a plate or sheet pan until ready to fry.

Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium-high until it shimmers. Carefully add chicken pieces in batches to form one layer (do not overlap). Fry approximately 5 minutes each side (until coating has browned and chicken is cooked through).  Pull out of oil and drain on paper towels. Lightly season with sea salt.

This was by far the BEST fried chicken I ever had- and I made it!! I can only imagine how wonderful it would be after brining. Drew was beside himself with joy and said "I didn't know you knew how to fry food!" Which was actually a bit endearing in that it was obvious he thought it was the hardest job ever (a myth I MAY have encouraged). Though I'm a bit afraid he will start demanding it constantly.

I served the chicken with roasted beets and turnips. I simply sliced them into discs, tossed them on a baking sheet with salt, pepper and olive oil and then baked them at 425 for about 20 minutes. Griffin and I both LOVED them. At least Drew liked the chicken!

Homemade Pizza & Meal Plan

My meal plan took a major hit when William got super sick this week.  So we've been flying by the seat of our pants.  The turkey burger recipe was a MAJOR fail (super gross and bland - the entire clan concurred).  So I won't bother sharing that recipe.  But, tonight, I made a REALLY good homemade pizza!

I used the homemade french bread dough for the crust, some of my homemade spaghetti sauce, and tracked down the whole milk mozzarella we like.  I sprinkled the pizza stone with corn meal and preheated it for 20 minutes.  Then I rolled out the pizza dough, put a thin coat of olive oil in it - a little bit of sea salt, onion powder, and garlic power on top of the olive oil.  Then I dotted the crust with a fork so I wouldn't get big bubbles and put on the sauce, the cheese, and a handful of parmesan too.  I cooked it for 13 minutes at 425 and it came out brown and bubbly!  YUM!  I *may* have overdone it a bit and am feeling a tad sickly-full and bloated.  Some peppermint tea is in my near future.

I am doing something new with the meal plan this week. I never really plan breakfasts or lunches - I just get some stuff I like and hope for leftovers for the rest.  But, what often happens is that I end up foodless for some of those meals and the result is either me being really hungry or eating something gross.  One day last week I had a banana and peanut butter for lunch.  It was a wakeup call, people.  So, this week, I am preparing! I am making a giant batch of oatmeal pancakes tomorrow and reheating them throughout the week for breakfast.  I'll share if they're any good.  Then, I still plan to rely most heavily on leftovers for lunch, but I am going to buy an emergency stash of Amy's frozen meals and Evol burritos (both of which are good, relatively healthy, and can be frozen for months and pulled out when I need them).  And for dinners, here is the meal plan for this week:

Sunday: Chicken Parmesan with more leftover spaghetti sauce, a side of spaghetti, and green salad

Monday: Tuna melts

Tuesday: Cory's quasi-invented tandoori shrimp recipe.  Jess shared a good tandoori shrimp recipe with me a few weeks ago, but it calls for fresh shrimp.  All I have is frozen.  So I am tweaking it a bit - we'll see how it turns out. I'll serve it with rice and a veg

Wednesday: Leftover homemade pierogi with caramelized onions, applesauce, and sour cream

Thursday: out!

Friday: after tonight's yummy pizza, The Boys have requested it for next Friday as well.  

Saturday: heading up to visit my in-laws!

Spaghetti Sauce and A Crack in the Meal Plan (a Jess post)

Monday night, as per my meal plan, I made pasta sauce in the crock pot. It was the first time I ever made it that way and it is now the only way I will make it. Letting it simmer on low for hours and hours reduced it to a thick, flavorful masterpiece. Unlike Cory, I do like a few chunks so I used the following recipe:

1/2 lb bulk Italian sausage (I used chicken sausage left over from last week's broccoli rabe)
1 T olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1 T jarred chopped garlic
1 29 oz can tomato sauce
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes in their juice
1 12 oz can tomato paste
1 t organic beef Better than Boullion, dissolved in 1 c hot water
2 T balsamic vinegar
1 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1/2 t each garlic powder, basil, Italian seasoning, & oregano
1 T Parmesan cheese (I actually used an herbed Romano cheese blend)
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

I brown the sausage with the onions, pepper & garlic in the olive oil. Once the sausage has crumbled and cooked through and the vegetables have softened, I put them with all the remaining ingredients in the crockpot for about 4 hours on high.

I generally use red wine instead of the balsamic vinegar, but I was looking for a bit of a bite to the flavor this time and I really liked how it turned out. I will sometimes also use ground beef or meatballs instead of sausage and ripe plum tomatoes, mushrooms, and more peppers (when I'm not cooking for Drew).

That recipe is based on the one my mom and I put together when I was about 8 or 9. In fact, my mom's copy entitled "Mom and Jess's Spaghetti Sause" (sic) is still in my childhood handwriting. I told Cory the other week that I think it's neat how pasta sauce recipes are one of those things that are almost always handed down from generation to generation (her version is her mom's as well!)

Unfortunately, that was the last night I cooked this week. Last night G came down with some kind of crazy illness that necessitated a trip to Urgent Care during the normal dinner hour. He needed to stay for observation for quite awhile so by the time we came home it was after 8 and we ate some horrible fast food that really made me wish I just went hungry. He ended up sleeping in our bed last night which meant I didn't sleep at all, so while I had every intention of coming home and cooking, Drew's suggestion of pizza caught me in a weakened state.

I'm ready for tomorrow though and I'm jumping right back in with buttermilk fried chicken. I cant wait!

Fake Steak

I made vegetarian "steak" tips for dinner tonight (that I called f'steak).  *I* thought it was delicious.  Look at this and tell me if you'd know it's fake steak:

F'steak with brown rice and roasted asparagus

Well, clearly, The Boys knew.  William took one bite and goes, "Ew. This is NOT steak.  I'm not eating it."  Steve choked it down, but made it very plain he did not like it...at all.  After dinner, as I moped around because my family sucks and is RUINING all my culinary delights, Steve came up and patted me on the back and goes, "I'll eat it again...if I have to."  I should make f'steak every night out of spite! Instead, Steve has conned me into making homemade brownies with his sad f'steak eating cow eyes.

UPDATE: So I make the homemade brownies (did I mention they were FROM SCRATCH) and The Spouse goes, "they're kinda dry."  Shit just got real up in here.  If you see Steve tomorrow...HE FELL.

slow cooker pot roast and baking bread a mile high (a Jess post)

Tonight I made a bison pot roast in the crock pot. There are about a billion ways to make pot roast and as long as you're starting with a good cut of meat, it will usually be excellent. Because of that, I wont post a detailed recipe or instructions, but I will point out how the way I make mine may be a bit different than the way you make yours.

First, I always season and brown my roast before putting it into the crock pot. I have skipped this step before and have payed dearly in flavor and texture. I start with about 3/4 c of plain flour and add whatever seasonings sound good at the time. In tonight's case, that was about 1/4 tsp each of garlic powder, onion powder, parsley, dried chives, seasoned pepper, hickory smoked sea salt, and all purpose seasoning. I blend the flour and spices and then dredge the roast in it. I then heat about 2 T of olive oil and I brown the roast on all sides.

While the roast is browning, I chop whatever veggies I'm using and throw them in the bottom of the crock pot. This selection varies every time I make it, but ALWAYS contains carrots, onions, and potatoes. I then blend whatever liquid and seasonings I am using during the cooking process. This always has beef stock, a tablespoon of the flour/ spice blend that you used for dredging, and Worcestershire sauce. Sometimes I will also use a soup base (french onion or cream of mushroom), a dash of steak sauce, and/or red wine. I pour the seasoned liquid over the vegetables, lay the browned roast on top, add a bay leaf, and then add the finishing touch- horseradish! I know that puts some people off, but it was the way my whole family always made it so it is the only way that seems right to me. I slather the top of the roast with a nice layer of horseradish and cook for about 6 hours.

right before turning on the crock pot

Like Cory, I also made bread to go with dinner tonight! Bread making has been a challenge for me living in Colorado. Our altitude usually makes the bread rise too quickly and then deflate which usually leads to very dense or hard breads. But I think I have finally found the perfect recipe! This is adapted from Joyful Abode's Honey Wheat bread machine recipe. Though mine has DEFINITELY been tweaked for flavor and altitude!

Ingredients:

1 cup plus 1 T hot (apprx 110 degree) water
1 T honey
4 T butter, cut into chunks
2 cups white flour (preferably bread flour, but I used all purpose)
1 c whole wheat bread flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vital wheat gluten
1 1/2 tsp yeast

Put the water and honey in the bottom of your bread maker's pan. Place butter chunks in all four corners. Dump in flours, salt, and vital wheat gluten. Create a well in the middle of your dry ingredients and pour in the yeast. Set the machine to either sandwich bread or wheat bread setting (I used wheat bread setting) and your color preference (I chose medium). Creates a 1 pound loaf.

Those of you at sea level should reduce the water by 1 T, increase the yeast by 1/2 tsp, and skip the vital wheat gluten.

The bread is amazing though- nice and soft, very flavorful, and the perfect sized loaf for sandwiches. I am beyond thrilled.

So this was Sunday dinner! Yum!

Garlic Parmesan French Bread

Tonight, I made the cheesy vegetable chowder that Jess made last week.  It was a hit!  Steve ate all of his and the rest of mine once I got full. I followed Jess's recipe exactly, except for a glug of white wine I added in.  It made a big 'ole vat that will make for a few lunches this week!

I stumbled upon a french bread recipe this week that sounded easy and yummy - it seemed perfect to go with the soup.  I have never made french bread before, so I thought I'd give it a go.  The main difference I noticed right off the bat is that there was no sugar for the yeast to eat.  So I afraid the whole time that it wouldn't fluff up and the yeast would starve to death.  Luckily, that didn't happen and it turned out GREAT!  I will definitely (definitely!!) be making this again!  The fun part is that you can do all sorts of add-ins.  You can just have it plain, or you could make parmesan, cinnamon sugar, herb, cheddar, garlic, or whatever french bread.  The possibilities are endless!  Since we were having it with soup, I decided to make it garlic parmesan.  Here's how I did it:

• 5-6 cups all-purpose or bread flour
• 5 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 2 teaspoons salt 
• 2 cups warm water 
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted
• 1 egg white
• 1 tablespoon water

In a large bowl, combine 2 cups flour, yeast and salt. Stir in 2 cups warm water and melted butter, and beat until well blended using a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment. Stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can.

On a lightly floured surface, knead in enough flour to make a stiff dough that is smooth and elastic. Knead for about 8 to 10 minutes total. (Or knead in your mixer with the dough hook for 8 minutes on low-medium speed.) Shape into a ball. Place dough in a greased bowl, and turn once. Cover, and let rise in a warm place until doubled (about 30 minutes to 1 hour).

Punch dough down, and divide in half. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Cover, and let rest for 10 minutes. Roll each half into large rectangle. [This is where you can add in whatever you'd like inside your bread. I added butter, garlic salt, and parmesan cheese.]   

Roll up, starting from a long side. Moisten edge with water and seal. Taper ends.

Grease a large baking sheet. Place loaves, seam side down, on the prepared baking sheet. With a very sharp knife, make 3 or 4 diagonal cuts about 1/4 inch deep across top of each loaf. Lightly beat the egg white with 1 tablespoon of water, and brush on. Cover with a damp cloth. Let rise until nearly doubled, 35 to 40 minutes.

Bake in a preheated 375º  F oven for 20 minutes. Brush again with egg white mixture. Bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes, or until bread tests done. If necessary, cover loosely with foil to prevent over browning. Remove from baking sheet, and cool on a wire rack.

You'll notice that the recipe makes 2 loaves and I only have one.  I froze the dough from the other loaf and that will be our pizza crust on Friday!  I had thought about saving it for the weekend and making a cinnamon sugar loaf for breakfast, but decided the pizza crust was more pressing.

Wm hated the soup and hated the bread.  He LOVES when I make homemade bread and was doing the Dance of Joy as it was baking.  But, when he ate it he made a face and goes, "are there onions in this?" I was like, "well, garlic," and Wm was all, "I'm done."  So he had a peanut butter sandwich along with some of the veggies that went into the soup.  I've found if I deconstruct the meals we are eating, Wm will eat a lot of it - just not touching.  And never, under any circumstance, soup.  Or onions. Or cauliflower. Or peas. Or bananas. Or.....

Roasted Vegetable Enchilada Casserole & weekly meal plan (a Jess post)

Tonight I made roasted vegetable enchilada casserole. And Good. Lord. I think it was the best thing I have ever made. I could have cried. Seriously, I could eat it every day. Luckily, I may have the chance, since Drew not so much... and there were LOTS of leftovers. I'm actually feeling pretty good about that for once!

The view while I cooked may have helped:

I started out by using this recipe from Perry's Plate as a basis and then added my own spin. So here's how it goes:

Ingredients-
1 poblano pepper, cut into strips
1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
1/4 head of cauliflower, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 medium onion, sliced thin
1 cup corn kernels, fresh or canned
1 zucchini, halved and chopped
2 T olive oil
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp chopped jarred garlic
salt and black pepper
1 can green enchilada sauce
1/2 to 3/4 c tomato based salsa
2 ounces baby spinach leaves (about 2 big handfuls)
5-7 large whole wheat tortillas, torn into large pieces
8 oz shredded cheddar cheese
sliced avocado for garnish


Preheat oven to 425. Put all vegetables onto a baking sheet and drizzle with the oil. Sprinkle with cumin, garlic, salt and pepper, and then toss with your hands to evenly coat.

Roast in the oven for approximately 40 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes or so, until all the vegetables have softened and dark/ char spots are starting to appear. Reduce oven to 350.

Lightly spray a 9x9 baking dish with cooking spray and then pour approximately 1/3 of the enchilada sauce into the bottom, swirling to coat. Lay tortilla pieces on top of the enchilada sauce until the bottom is covered. Top with 1/2 roasted vegetable mix followed by 1/2 of the spinach and 1/3 of the cheese. Add another layer of tortilla pieces to cover. Top with the salsa followed by the remaining vegetables, spinach, and 1/3 cheese. Add another tortilla layer, then cover with remaining enchilada sauce and cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 10 minutes. Allow to sit for about 5 minutes before cutting and serving.

These flavors were just so magical... the smokiness of the cumin dusted roasted veggies, the sweetness of the sweet potato, the richness of the cheese... this time I am the one that went back for seconds! Griffin also loved it- even with the slight kick! Such a proud mama... I will DEFINITELY make this again... Drew loses that battle.


So here is my meal plan for the coming week. 


Sunday- bison pot roast with veggies and home made bread
Monday- pasta with meat sauce (Cory's post got me craving home made sauce!)
Tuesday- brinner! (eggs and buttermilk pancakes)
Wednesday- ham steak & home made pierogies
Thursday- buttermilk fried chicken with roasted beets & turnips
Friday- dinner out
Saturday- pork chops with lemon caper sauce


We'll see how it goes!

Soy Successful...& Meal Plan

I made tacos tonight with soy crumbles instead of ground beef for the first time.  Steve's verdict: "I can tell the difference, and I like meat better...but this is OK."  Wm's verdict: "this is infinity good!" Since the soy crumbles are cheaper and better for us, and Steve is willing to eat them, I think it will be a permanent substitution.  The only problem was that I am used to browning ground beef, which has lots of grease...so I didn't grease the frying pan - forgetting that soy isn't greasy.  Now I'm going to have to soak that thing all night.  Lesson learned.

And, now, drum roll, please - this week's meal plan...

Sunday: I am actually copying a recipe from Jess and making the cheesy veggie chowder she made last week!  It looked so good - thanks for the inspiration, Jess!!  I am also going to make homemade french bread to go with it.  I've never made french bread before.  Fingers crossed that it turns out!
Monday: The Big Salad.  This will include hard boiled egg, dried cherries, feta cheese, carrots, walnuts, any other veggies I have laying around, and croutons and bacon on Steve's.  (The only way Steve agrees to The Big Salad is with the addition of bacon.)  We'll eat up the french bread along side the salad.
Tuesday: Turkey burgers.  I found a new recipe for turkey burgers I want to try.  If it's turns out well, I share! I'll make oven fries to go along with the turkey burgers.
Wednesday: BBQ "chicken."  This will be another soy substitution trial.  Wm hates BBQ flavored things, but I'm going to try and slip this one passed him anyway. I'll serve it with whatever veggies I have leftover from the chowder and The Big Salad.  And, maybe...hopefully...the last of the french bread, if I have managed not to eat it all by this point.
Thursday: out!
Friday: Homemade pizza.  This is Wm's request.  I plan to use some of the leftover spaghetti sauce I have in the freezer from last week.  I usually make my own dough, but since it's Friday, I have a feeling Whole Foods will be contributing the crust this week.  I am also hoping they contribute the whole milk mozzarella that totally MAKES the pizza - but they are often out of it for some reason.  And, you would not believe how hard it is to find whole milk mozzarella.  None of that part-skim crap in this house.
Saturday: Salmon out on the grill with sweet potatoes

herb stuffed prosciutto-wrapped chicken (a Jess post)

It was 80 degrees and gorgeous outside today. The last thing I wanted to do was crank my oven up to 400... but it's Colorado, and since we never know what the weather is going to be, the prosciutto wrapped chicken was on my meal plan.

I originally found this recipe in this month's issue of Real Simple. I'd link it, but I couldn't find it on their website. I've actually never had prosciutto before (I know- I've been living under a rock) and I was intrigued so I gave it a go. I changed a few of Real Simple's ingredients... Not As Simple, I guess.

Ingredients:
4 slices prosciutto
4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 T softened (room temp) butter
1 tsp chopped jarred garlic
1/4 tsp freeze dried parsley
1/4 tsp dried rosemary
salt & pepper
olive oil

Preheat oven to 400. Lay the prosciutto slices on a baking sheet and put a chicken thigh on each one. Mix the butter, garlic, parsley and rosemary and distribute evenly between 4 chicken thighs.

Sprinkle each thigh with salt and pepper. Roll chicken and prosciutto together and lay seam side down on baking sheet.

Drizzle with olive oil and bake until cooked through (approximately 20 minutes). Voila!

I served mine with steamed rainbow chard. It was actually SUPER quick and easy to make. It reminded me of a much simpler chicken Kiev (only with pork instead of breading). I thought it was pretty good and the guys LOVED it. Well, Drew hated the rainbow chard, but he loved the chicken and actually ate two rolls! I split my roll with Griffin which he was fine with, though he kept begging for more chard! Funny kid. And as it turns out, I like prosciutto! It got nice & crispy and added a great salty, more complex flavor. Though I am wondering if I would have actually liked it better with bacon (I'm such a bacon girl...) Maybe I'll try that next time!

I'm glad I got to make Drew happy tonight since tomorrow's dinner will have LOTS of veggies! Pray for me.

cheesy vegetable chowder (a Jess post)

I find so many amazing looking recipes on Pinterest. That site has really inspired me. One of those was for cheesy vegetable chowder . For some reason I was thinking it was a crock pot recipe so I had that in my head all week until I finally thought about getting it started this morning. Sadly, it was not. But that is actually ok because my crock pot was still soaking from last night's garlic chicken anyway!

I used Lulu the Baker's recipe VERY loosely, just as a basis for the chowder. But I will actually write mine out since it differed pretty significantly! I sort of used this as a "kitchen sink" type of recipe to use up a lot of the veggies that I had on hand!

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons butter

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 cup shredded carrot

1 stalk celery, finely chopped 

1 teaspoon minced garlic

5 cups chicken broth

salt & pepper

1/4 tsp thyme 

3 medium yukon gold potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 Tablespoon flour

1/2 cup water

1 cup milk

1.5 cups chopped broccoli

1 cup chopped cauliflower

6 asparagus spears, chopped into 1 inch pieces

8 oz shredded cheddar cheese

Melt the butter in a large soup pot. Add the onion, carrot, celery and garlic and saute until tender. 

Add broth, thyme, salt and pepper to taste, and potatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are tender- approximately 15 minutes. Mix flour with water until smooth and then stir into soup and heat until it begins to thicken. Add milk and remaining vegetables. 

Simmer until vegetables are heated through, bright in color, and become tender- approximately 7 minutes. Stir in cheese until melted and incorporated into broth. Serve immediately with crusty bread.

Tada!

You guys, this stuff was AMAZING if I do say so myself. I happen to LOVE creamy soups and this hit the spot. I can only imagine how awesome it would be on a cold, snowy day. And since it had so many veggies in it, I didn't feel as bad about the cheese! And actually, 8 ounces for the entire pot is not so bad. Drew really liked it too (except for the cauliflower, apparently). Unfortunately, it took longer than little G was able to wait for so he had a separate dinner. But he'll get to try some leftovers this weekend! (if I don't eat them all myself...) This is going to be a simple pleasure I make again and again and again...

Tuna Burgers...and Cinnamon Crunch Banana Bread

I finally made the tuna burgers. The reviews said it was more like a crab cake, so I served mine like a crab cake - but both Wm and Steve wanted theirs burger style.  I was all excited to make them...crab cakes - yay!  And they DID taste remarkably like crab cakes...

But, as soon as I tasted them, I remembered that I like the IDEA of crab cakes way better than ACTUAL crab cakes.  So, I was not a superfan of this meal.  I won't make it again.  Steve really liked it.  Wm was lukewarm. He ate the crap out of some bun though.  That kid loves him some bread.  If you are a fan of crab cakes, you'll probably like this.  If you prefer your tuna sitting blandly atop a Ritz cracker (like me), you will not.  

So, to make myself feel better, I decided to make a new recipe for banana bread I discovered.  This is cinnamon crunch banana bread with chocolate chips.  I always put chocolate chips in my banana bread, but this one called for way more than I usually use (liking the sound of that) and also a crunchy cinnamon topping.  

Aaaaaand, it wasn't good.  It was bland and gummy.  Tonight has been an epic fail.  I will never stray from my standard banana bread recipe again.  I feel like an adulteress!  I have learned my lesson, O Delicious Standard Banana Bread Recipe!  I will never cheat on you again!  If you want a really good, really easy banana bread recipe, here it is:

3 large or 4 medium very ripe bananas, mashed to smithereens kamikaze-style

1/3 cup melted butter (the above recipe had no butter...I should have known that was a terrible sign)

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

1 1/2 cups flour (I like to use 3/4 cup white and 3/4 cup whole wheat, I think it gives the bread a heartier flavor and denser texture...which is what I prefer.  So I made it this way even before I gave a flying fig about being healthy at all)

a giant handful 'o chocolate chips (leave this out at your own peril)

Preheat over to 350. Mix butter into mashed bananas.  Mix in sugar, egg, and vanilla.  Sprinkle in baking soda and salt and mix.  Add the flour.  DO NOT OVER MIX or it will be tough. Throw in the chocolate chips and stir gently to distribute.  Pour into 4X8 loaf pan.  Bake 1 hour.  You're welcome.

Slow Cooker Garlic Chicken (ANOTHER WINNER!)- a Jess post

I came home for lunch today and while I was there, I threw dinner in the crock pot. Tonight I adapted Martha Stewart's garlic chicken, a recipe I actually originally found on Pinterest.

Instead of a whole yellow onion, I used half of a red one (because that is what I happened to have in the fridge). Instead of halved garlic cloves, I used about a tablespoon and a half of jarred chopped garlic. I only had 3/4 of a cup of white wine left so I added 1/4 cup of chicken broth. I used the awesome freeze dried parsley instead of fresh again. And I apparently totally forgot to buy couscous to I served it over white rice.

The only annoying part of making this dish was browning the chicken in the oil before putting it in the crock pot, and that is really only because I had to go back to work and I left smelling like grease. (contrary to popular belief, that is not generally what I smell like). But I came home to the most incredible smells and to not have to do anything besides make some rice and steam some Brussels sprouts was PRICELESS.

And then look how it turned out!

It was so pretty, I actually felt like we were eating at a fancy restaurant. And it was DELICIOUS. Both of the guys loved it. Griffin actually got his own little wing (bones removed, of course). I was so excited that I made brownies from scratch as a treat. We're on a roll!

Bravo Salmon

I hit up ye olde Whole Foods today for lunch and they were having a sale on Alaskan sockeye salmon.  Bingo.  I really like the grilled salmon at Bravo Italian Kitchen so I tried to recreate it at home.  I think I did pretty well!

I served it with a raw veggie platter on the table too.

I cooked the salmon in foil pockets, then opened them up and put the crumb topping on (panko bread crumbs, fresh lemon juice, olive oil, parsley flakes, thyme, salt and pepper) and cooked it for another few minutes to crisp it up.  The big difference between mine and Bravo's is that I left off the capers (barf) and the cream sauce (delicious...but probably not too good for you!)  Steve and Wm both liked it - Wm's was crumb topping-less, of course!  I wanted to make fried sweet potatoes to go with it, but we are still having water issues, so I served leftover brown rice and a raw veggie platter.  Steve will be taking our sink apart this evening to see what is going on.  He is super intense about also watching the season finale of Walking Dead we have DVRed, but I am making the sink a priority.  He threw a temper tantrum last night because the power went out for the initial taping of the Walking Dead and we had to wait for the re-air.  I will not be able to walk to my car without checking for zombies tomorrow morning in the new daylight savings darkness.

Creamy Spring Pasta (and success!!)- a Jess post

The most exciting news in my kitchen this evening was that Drew finished his project! (thank god) so I can go back to using the room like normal! We have a cubby with two shelves above the lower cabinets on one side of the kitchen. Prior to this week, the shelves were a horrible shade of mauve Formica that made me want to die. (as an aside, until recently, Drew pronounced mauve like "mauthe" which I found interesting) I have spent the past several months angry at the people that owned this house in 1960-whatever as they made the ENTIRE place pink. And I mean everything, inside and out (it is unbelievable where we are finding shades of rose). I even assigned them a back story- they clearly owned stock in Pepto Bismol and were trying to honor the sludge that brought them their livelihood. Drew, on the other hand, just decided to take it upon himself to fix it... and fix it, he did. It is GORGEOUS!

right after Drew completed the mosaic project

with my beloved microwave and cookbooks piled back on top. Ahhh... HOME.

So the completion of this project made my meal making FAR less stressful this evening (although Griffin decided to put on quite the temper tantrum extravaganza as I finished up). BUT... we have a winner!!!

Tonight I made creamy spring pasta that I adapted from this Cooking Light recipe. Instead of using torn baguette, I just used regular breadcrumbs and I skipped toasting them. I also used linguine instead of fettuccine, dried tarragon instead of fresh, and shallot instead of onion (we all know how Drew feels about onion).

But it was phenomenal!!

With the peas and asparagus, it was the perfect recipe to welcome the first day of spring. Its thick, creamy, cheesy sauce made for incredible comfort food. And you know what? Both of my boys LOVED IT! Drew actually went back for seconds!! I am on a cooking high, people! This recipe will definitely make it on the regular rotation at our house.

Life...interrupted

I was super excited for tuna burgers yesterday.  But came home from work to discover our water was off. As was all the neighbors.  So, life got in the way of my perfect meal plan!  Typical.  Instead, we trouped out to dinner at William's favorite pizza place, Dewey's.  It was actually really nice!!  Tuna burgers can wait.

Today, I made a big crock pot of spaghetti sauce.  The way I make my spaghetti sauce is constantly changing.  And I think everyone has their own recipe!  So here's how I made mine today...

I very finely chopped about half an onion and a couple cloves of garlic and sautéed them in oil until they were tender.  While that was happening, I added a giant jug 'o tomato juice and three little cans of tomato paste to the crock pot. (I do not like chunky sauce, in general, so don't use any actual tomatoes.)  I threw in a healthy glug of red wine, some salt, a bit of sugar, and a little olive oil.  Then, I added a handful of parmesan cheese, onion salt, garlic powder, and whatever spices I wanted to use.  I'm not a spicy person, so it's often just parsley (as it was today).  Then, I added the softened onion and garlic, as well as the now onion-infused oil that I cooked it in.    Cranked up the crock pot and let it simmer for 8 hours - and I come home to a house that smells wonderful and dinner nearly ready to go!  Plus, it makes enough for multiple meals - and some to freeze.  It makes a great pizza sauce too!

Bonus: William loves spaghetti!

Sauteed Sausage with Grapes & Broccoli Rabe (a Jess post)

This meal started out with a minor panic at the grocery store. The recipe (from this month's issue of Cooking Light) specifically called for broccoli rabe. Once in the produce section, I found broccoli, broccolini, and an oddly broccoli looking veg called rapini, but no broccoli rabe. In all honesty, since I never cooked with it before, I wasn't sure what I was looking for. I was positive it wasn't regular broccoli though so I had a 50-50 chance that I'd buy something at least sort of similar. I threw the rapini in my cart and peered at it out of the corner of my eye for the rest of my shopping trip waiting for a clue that never arrived.

rapini (aka the elusive broccoli rabe)

As soon as I was home I ran to my beloved Google and found out that rapini actually IS broccoli rabe. Pfft... I TOTALLY knew that. I'm sort of a brassica genius, I don't know if you knew that about me.

So this recipe SHOULD have actually been super easy to make. There aren't many ingredients or complex cooking techniques. But in the midst of my preparation, this happened:

Drew decided that RIGHT THEN was the best time to continue with his home improvement project. Nevermind that I SAID I was making dinner and would therefore not be able to parent our child for the next half hour. Oh, and that crap ALL OVER MY FLOOR? Yes, that is grout. Big, giant puddles of grout. Oh, and that tiny human on the floor dangerously near the grout? Yes, that is our son. You cant tell, but he was actually hysterical at this point because no one was playing with him. So I got to try to make dinner while my husband slopped cement all over the house and my son screamed curses at us in between trying to permanently mortar himself to our floor.

That being said, I think it turned out quite well:

I LOVED it. The broccoli rabe has a nutty, bitter quality to it. When combined with the spicy sausage, sweet grapes, creamy parmesan and sour vinegar it was the perfect flavor and it made me happy on an otherwise difficult evening. Griffin enjoyed it too which really surprised me given the unusual flavors!

note Drew attempting to clean his giant mess in the background

Drew, on the other hand, was not a fan. He blamed it on the onions but then went on to say it was just a "plate of veggies". Uhhh, dude- it was WAY more than that! Sigh. But I liked it enough to risk it, I think. His loss anyway.

linguine with shrimp, artichokes & a bit of whine. (a Jess post)

I decided to make the linguine tonight instead of the spring pasta I planned because I got the shrimp fresh today and I wanted to use them instead of freeze them. This was a recipe I adapted from this one in Real Simple. I LOVE artichokes, but I think the marinated ones are a bit too oily so I just subbed a whole regular can of halved artichoke hearts instead. I also used regular breadcrumbs instead of panko because that is what I had on hand and they worked fine, though I'm sure the panko would have been crispier. And instead of fresh parsley, I used Lighthouse freeze dried parsley.

I'm going to go on a tangent here.

Oh. My. God. If you have not experienced freeze dried herbs, YOU MUST. They are in regular spice jars but are usually located in the produce section. I ADORE fresh herbs, but I have a bad habit of not being able to use them fast enough and I end up with bags of squishy, stinky plants in the back of the fridge that I have to throw away. I know there are all kinds of great preservation tricks like blending and freezing them, yadda yadda... maybe one day I'll get there. But in the meantime, these freeze dried herbs are like green gifts from heaven. They do not have to be refrigerated, they rehydrate in food so they have a bit more bulk, and they taste super close to the real thing. Genius!

So back to the linguine. It was ridiculously easy to make and only took about 15 minutes from start to finish. I don't have any cooking pictures because my kitchen was in serious disarray (another Drew project- a story for a different day) but here is what it looked like right before I served:

As I suspected, we had a split verdict. Griffin and I LOVED it. I thought the flavor was light and simple with just the slightest kick from the red pepper flakes. This was G's first experience with both shrimp and artichokes and he was thrilled with both. Drew, on the other hand, refused to even try an artichoke and he painstakingly picked each one out (which KILLED me!! It's like throwing away gold!!) He was also not a fan of the fact that I left the tails on the shrimp. Sooo... although I really liked it, I probably wont make it again. Hate mail and letters of utter disbelief can be forwarded to my husband. I will accept notes of sympathy. Especially if they are on pretty paper.

Twister

I am writing this as we are huddled in the basement hiding from the "cloud rotation" that the news says could become a tornado right over where we live.  William is remaining remarkably calm.  Likely because we have not lost power, and thus, not lost SpongeBob on the iPad.

Despite the threat of tornado, I bravely ventured into the kitchen and made a first time recipe: ginger sesame tofu.  Kitchen success!!!  I think the fun thing about this blog is that we don't claim to be gourmet chefs - just busy moms trying to cook healthy and delicious food for our family!  So, I anticipated a major kitchen disaster.  Steve hates tofu.  Wm refused to even try it and had Annie's Organic Mac n' Cheese for dinner.  While Steve will eat nearly anything (other than peas), he has no qualms about whining INCESSANTLY about what I cook.  So I was kind of nervous about tonight's dinner.  (Also on Steve's List of Foods he Whines About is brown rice.)  But...it was good!  And Steve loved it!!

I asked Steve if he would eat it again and he said "Yes!"  His one complaint (he wouldn't be Steve if he didn't have at least one) was that he liked the crispy edges and wished I had it up smaller, creating more crispy edges.  The BIG WIN of the night was that I tried my go-to brand of rice (Rice Select Texmati), but got brown rice (not usually allowed to be served to Steve) - and Steve ate it and LIKED it.

The one downside of this meal is going to be clean up.

It's soaking now.  Steve is not pleased.  But, since he actually liked dinner, the whining has been kept to a minimum.  

Cory's Question of the Day: any ideas about healthy kid-friendly breakfasts?  William never wants to eat in the morning and then he is STARVING by lunch time.  And then his "belly hurts," so he just picks at his lunch - only making it worse.  Right now, we can get him to eat a kid's Clif bar and an apple, but that's not enough.  Keep in mind the kid eats nothing.  And needs some protein.  Don't come at me with ideas like "oatmeal" or "eggs."  He won't eat that jazz.  You have to think outside the box, people.  This is what I'm dealing with:

Blastoff!! (hello from Jess)

So when Cory and I were talking about starting this blog, we wanted to do it for a few reasons. First, it would be a fun endeavor to take on together! We're great friends, but we live far away from each other, so this helps to bridge the distance a bit. Second, we both love cooking for our families, but we are constrained by time (we both have careers) and picky eaters. We wanted to share our successes and failures as well as any cool food-related fun we happen to find. We also like to think of ourselves as pretty progressive people, but we really do love the kitchen! There is no return to 1950s values up in this piece, we are some Bad Ass Ladies. That happen to like cooking utensils. So we will both share our meal plans each weekend and then along the way, we'll talk about recipes, products, shops, restaurants, gardens, and anything else that crosses our minds. (Cory and I can both have short attention spans a tendency to multitask, so that may end up being A LOT) So without further ado, here is my meal plan for this week:

Sunday- spring pasta with asparagus & peas, leftover soda bread
Monday- sauteed sausage & grapes with broccoli raab and salad
Tuesday- slow cooker garlic chicken with couscous
Wednesday- linguine with shrimp & artichokes and salad
Thursday- cheesy vegetable chowder with homemade garlic herb bread
Friday- prosciutto wrapped chicken & leftover bread
Saturday- our friends are coming over for dinner & game night! stacked roasted veggie enchiladas, sliced fruit & sangria

We will also be forced to consume the rest of this chocolate Guinness cake I made for St. Patrick's Day. Poor us.

this is before I frosted it with Bailey's cream cheese frosting. yeah... it WAS fantastic, actually.

Griffin should be totally cool with all of it. Drew will likely give me a hard time about anything that contains more than one vegetable. We shall see...

Hello from Cory!

Hello and welcome to our blog!  This is...clearly...my first post. If you want more info about me, feel free to click "About Us" and check me out.  Right now, my cooking is mostly focused on trying to be healthy - by trying to match an anti-inflammatory diet as closely as possible (which will probably end up being not that closely at all!)  After an awful cold/flu season and a visit to my doctor, she suggested a bunch of dietary supplements (probiotics, Vitamins D and B-5 complex, fish oil, calcium, magnesium, a multi, and astragalus) and an anti-inflammatory diet.  Since I also have allergies and asthma, this should also help with those things.  If you're not familiar with an anti-inflammatory diet, here is the pyramid:

I figure I'll give it a go!  It will challenge my sweet tooth and my love of baking - neither of which I will completely forgo (life's not worth living without chocolate cupcakes now and then!)  My other big challenge is feeding these guys - especially the little one:

Figuring out what to pack in my son, William's, lunch that he will eat and is relatively healthy...is difficult to say the least!  I'll try to post weekly what we are putting in his lunches.  He usually eats the same thing all week since he's not a big fan of change!

I'll also try to post our weekly meal plan and then update with what's good, what worked, and what didn't!

This week in William's lunch:

1. all natural chicken nuggets

2. organic fruit leather

3. baby carrots

4. "super" crackers (with broccoli!)

5. organic cheese cubes

6. 100% fruit/vegetable juice 

And now, the meal plan...

Sunday: Sesame Ginger Baked Tofu with brown rice and roasted brussel sprouts. A new recipe!

Monday: Tuna Burgers - another new recipe! With raw cauliflower and green salad.

Tuesday: crock pot spaghetti sauce over angle hair pasta with green salad

Wednesday: Soup with shrimp and soba noodles...and whatever vegetables look good at Whole Foods

Thursday: out!

Friday: Tacos with soy crumbles and corn

Saturday: lemon butter salmon with brown rice and steamed broccoli

I am excited to try the sesame ginger tofu and tuna burgers!  I will report on their success...or failure.