Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we are blessed with the opportunity to spend the holiday with friends in the North Carolina mountains. We will be having dinner at Russ and Sara Anne Ford's home on Lake Glenville. My contributions to the meal will be roasted vegetables and a sausage dressing. At the farmers' market I picked up sweet potatoes, new potatoes, butternut squash, fennel, and brussel sprouts. For the potatoes I plan to flavor olive oil overnight with rosemary and garlic. The butternut squash will be tossed in plain olive oil and seasoned with herbs de provence(Thanks to my big brother, Bird, for that tip! Love ya!). The fennel just gets olive oil and s&p. The brussel sprouts get lots of love - bacon drippings! Yes, even I loosen up on special occasions!

If you need a quick pie idea, try this.

Apple Tart
Pilsbury refrigerated pie crust
apricot jam
cinnamon
3 Granny Smith apples - pealed and sliced into 1/4" wedges
candied pecans pieces (see note)
whipped cream

Unroll the pie crust into a tart pan spread the bottom with apricot jam. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Arrange the apple wedges into concentric circles and top with candied pecans. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes or until the crust is browned and the apples are tender. Allow to cool for 10 minutes then serve warm with some whipped cream - YUM!

Note on candied pecans - I think you can get candied pecans at most grocery stores these days. I know you can get them at Trader Joe's. But you Atlanta girls should take yourselves over to Greene's Fine Foods in Decatur and buy some Praline Pecans! I'm talking love on a nut, here! All their pecans are so meaty and delicious. Check it out! http://www.greenesfinefoods.com

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!  I'll update with pictures when I get them!

Grilled Pork Tenderloin

The weather is fabulous and you should take advantage! Do some easy grilling!!! I think the best pork tenderloin is done simply. I season the meat with 1/4 tsp minced garlic, 1/4 tsp minced rosemary and salt & pepper. It is always delicious! A tenderloin only needs to cook about 25 minutes over a medium fire. It should be slightly pink and still moist.

And do you know how nutritious broccoli is? Vitamin C, calcium and fiber! Try drizzling steamed broccoli with olive oil & season with lemon pepper for an easy and healthy side!

Whenever I cook rice, brown or basmati, I season the water with this Knorr Caldo de Pollo chicken bouillon. You can find it in the mexican section of grocery stores. Knorr makes different recipes of bouillon for different countries. The Mexican version is one of my secret ingredients! It doesn't taste too artificial or too salty. Word of warning however, the picture on the back shows 1 Tbsp = 1 cube but the fine print says 1 teaspoon. It is a TEASPOON! I use 1 heaping teaspoon in 1 3/4 cups of water to cook 1 cup of rice. I like the Uncle Ben's brown rice (let it sit for 20 minutes after cooking). Caterina and Jack prefer Lundberg white basmati. All of this is available at Kroger.

Happy Eating!

Yummy Salts & Cheater Pants Chicken Marinara

My friend Alisa gave me Bella Cucina Aromatic Savory Salt, citrus & fennel, for my birthday. This morning I made my favorite dish with them - an omelet with provolone and chives. My omelet didn't look pretty so you won't see a picture but it tasted delicious! You can also do this with scrambled eggs and that is so much easier. Bella Cucina has so many yummy things in their store in Virginia Highlands. Their website and blog are beautiful too. www.bellacucina.com 

Last night I made a great dinner in 45 minutes from start to eating - including time to snap a couple of pictures which I know my family is going to get tired of! When I have the time I make real chicken parmesan and it is wonderful. Last night I wanted a quick dinner. I still had some Gia Russa sauce in my fridge so it was Cheater Pants Chicken Marinara! Yes, I know you are getting tired of hearing about this pasta sauce. Good news for you, I finished the jar last night!

Cheater Pants Chicken Marinara
Thin sliced boneless skinless chicken breasts
Italian seasoned bread crumbs
Olive oil
Tomato & Basil sauce
Mozzarella cheese
Spaghetti

Preheat the oven to 350. Put some bread crumbs on a plate and dip your chicken cutlets in them. Brown the breaded cutlets in a tablespoon of olive oil - see picture. While the chicken is browning, put your pasta water on to boil. Be sure to salt it - about a tablespoon in a big pot of water. It should taste like sea water. Place the browned cutlets in a oven safe dish. Spread each cutlet with a big serving spoon size dollop of pasta sauce. Put extra sauce along the sided of the chicken to serve on your spaghetti. Top the chicken cutlets with mozzarella cheese and place the dish in the oven. The chicken is basically cooked at this point so all you are doing is melting the cheese and warming up the sauce. Put the pasta in the boiling water now and the chicken will be ready by the time the pasta cooks.

Enjoy!

Pizza with Arugula

I love gourmet pizza. One of my favorite spots to eat is Fritti and I was inspired by their speck and arugula pizza. Although I don't have a brick oven so my crust is not as amazing, I can get the sense of it with this weeknight substitute. Do you know how healthy arugula is? It's right up there with spinach - vitamins A, C, & K as well as calcium! I buy pizza dough from Trader Joe's. Publix also sells pizza dough in the bakery. My friend, Bill, in Cashiers buys his dough frozen from Ingles. The other key is to not use too much sauce. I use the Gia Russa (see earlier post) tomato & basil sauce. Use a red pasta sauce, not thick jarred pizza sauce and it can't be sweet! The prosciutto and arugula go on after it comes out of the oven. On this one I only put the arugula on half because Caterina likes her salad on the side :-).

Prosciutto & Arugula Pizza
pizza stone or perforated pizza pan
pizza dough
1/2 cup Gia Russa tomato & basil sauce
8 oz fresh mozzarella - shrink wrapped kind
3 - 4 thin slices of prosciutto
arugula
olive oil
parmesan cheese
salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 425 with a pizza stone inside if you have one. This pizza pan has little holes in the bottom which also creates a crisp crust. I think the stone is better though. Thinly slice the mozzarella. If you have the kind that is packed in water, place it on paper towels to dry out. The shrink wrapped kind is dryer. Put a generous amount of flour on the counter. My dough was very sticky and required a lot of flour so it didn't stick. Be sure to flour both sides. I use my hands to stretch the dough into a circle. I even hold it up by the edge to stretch it thin as well. To transfer the pizza dough to the hot stone or pizza pan, fold the dough in half then half again to form triangle. Put it on the stone and open it up! Top with 1/2 cup of sauce and the mozzarella. Place it in the oven and cook for about 10 minutes or until the crust & cheese are browned. While it's cooking shred the prosciutto. Top the hot pizza with the prosciutto, arugula, a drizzle of olive oil, large grated parm, and lightly salt & pepper.

Enjoy!

Grilled Chicken Cuban Style

The beautiful days in Atlanta this week inspired some time on the Big Green Egg. I think this chicken would also work beautifully on an indoor grill. It is flavored with lime, cumin and cilantro and was delicious! I made a little avacado relish and some brown rice which made a lovely weekday dinner. I took the skin off my chicken because I don't eat the skin and I like the flavors to be on the meat. Using olive oil spray keeps the moisture in. This is really easy & fast, folks!

Grilled Chicken Cuban Style
Chicken peices - skin removed
Olive oil spray
Fresh lime juice
Cumin
Garlic salt
Salt & pepper
Chopped fresh cilantro

Spray the chicken with olive oil spray. Squeeze lime juice over the chicken. I used half a lime on 4 pieces of chicken but it depends on how big & juicy your lime is. Sprinkle lightly with cumin. Sprinkle with garlic salt, salt & pepper. Top with a little cilantro. I used about half a teaspoon on 4 pieces. I let this sit in the fridge for a couple of hours because I had a meeting. I'm sure it could have marinated longer if that works into your schedule. If you're a last minute cook, dress your chicken first in your meal preparation and let it sit at room temperature while the grill is heating up and you get the rice started.

Let the chicken sit at room temperature while the grill heats up to 350. Chicken on the bone needs to cook for at least 30 minutes. 10 minutes, turn, 10 minutes, turn, 5 minutes, turn, 5 minutes turn. Boneless breasts for 20 (10 minutes per side), I think cooking chicken on the bone is easier because it is less likely to dry out. And let it rest for about 5-10 minutes before cutting.

Avocado relish
Diced avocado
Diced tomato
Lime juice
Tabasco sauce
Chopped fresh cilantro

The leftovers made a delicious salad (on a paper plate at The Big Chandelier!).
Red Boston lettuce & spinach
Diced grilled chicken
Red grapes
Gorgonzola cheese
Toasted pecans
Balsamic vinaigrette

Happy Eating!

Buy 1 Get 1 Free!

I love a good sale!! Publix has my favorite jar sauce on Buy 1 Get 1 Free. Even my husband, the grandson of Italian immigrants, likes this sauce. All my Atlanta friends should get yourselves over to Publix before the end of the day November 10 and buy multiple jars of this sauce! You can use it on pasta (Barilla pasta is also half price), as pizza sauce or to zip up your chicken soup. It is a really good red sauce and it will only set you back $2.90 if you go in the next two days!!!

The Part That Was Good

I really enjoyed seeing some of you yesterday at Pedal 4 Patrick. What a great event!! Congratulations to Ann, Christina & Peri for a well run, entertaining & successful event! It looks like the kids raised a lot of money for Press On which funds research to find a cure for childhood cancer. As I mentioned to some of you we had Red Beans and Rice for dinner. In case you were wondering, red beans take about 5 hours in the slow cooker. Unfortunately, that did not work into our plans and I over cooked them. They were very tasty but too thick and mushy. I will perfect that recipe and give it to you later.  However, there were many parts of our meal that did work and are blog-worthy.

Salad dressing is really easy to make. A classic vinaigrette is 1/3 vinegar to 2/3 oil. A homemade dressing tastes so much better than a bottled dressing and when I have time I will make my own because it is really easy. For the spinach salad I made a raspberry vinaigrette using part apple cider vinegar because I find raspberry vinegar overpowering. I put in some walnut oil because it is another really healthy oil (good for the heart) and pairs really well with raspberries. If you don't have walnut oil, use all olive oil.

Raspberry Vinaigrette
1/4 tsp dijon mustard
1 Tbs raspberry vinegar
1 Tbs apple cider vinegar
salt & pepper
2 Tbs walnut oil
4 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

Don't measure the dijon mustard, just put a dollop in the bottom of your bowl. Add the vinegars, a couple of good pinches of salt & some pepper. Whisk this together and continue whisking as you slowly add in the oil. Taste to see if you need more salt & pepper.

Tip: If a dressing ever seems too vinegary but you feel like you don't want to make it heavy with more olive oil, add a splash of water. It works amazing with strong vinegars.

Pumpkin Hot Chocolate
Caterina found a recipe in the American Girl magazine for Pumpkin Hot Chocolate. She loves pumpkin. We tweaked it and it was delicious! So if you were wondering what to do the leftover caned pumpkin from your pumpkin pancakes, here you go!

1/2 mug of milk
1 package of instant hot chocolate
1/2 mug of water
2 Tbs canned pumpkin
cinnamon
whipped cream
toffee bits

I always make hot chocolate with half milk (1% or skim) and half water. It tastes so much richer! Heat the milk in the microwave for 1 minute. Mix in the hot chocolate mix and add hot water. Stir in the pumpkin and a good sprinkle of cinnamon. Top with whipped cream and toffee bits. Yum!

BBQ Flat Iron Steak

This is one of my family’s favorite meals. The steak tastes so good that Jack always asks what kind of steak it is. He is sure it is a more expensive cut; flat iron steak is really inexpensive. I got this one at Kroger for $5/pound! For $7 in meat my family of three had a wonderful meal with steak left over for a yummy sandwich for lunch!! The trick to cooking a flat iron steak is to season it well. The BBQ dry rub and garlic work magic here. I paired this with a granny smith apple & gorgonzola salad. This is such an easy meal you can make it during the week but its good enough (and elegant enough) to serve to company!

BBQ Flat Iron Steak

flat iron steak

½ tsp minced garlic

Kosher salt & fresh ground pepper

1+ Tbs (a big handful) BBQ dry rub *

The meat should sit out for about 30 minutes to come to room temperature. If you are using a charcoal grill, light it then season the meat. If you are using a gas grill, you can light it after you season the meat. Rinse off the meat and pat it dry. Spread garlic over the steak. Season it with salt & pepper. Sprinkle the dry rub on the steak and pat it into the meat. It sticks to your hands but enough will stick to the meat as well.

The grill needs to be 450 - 500⁰ - nice and hot! Grill on the first side about 8 - 10 minutes until you have a nice crust. Flip over and cook for another 5 minutes for medium-rare. It should be nice and dark brown on both sides with a good crust.  Remove from the grill, loosely cover with foil and do not touch it for at least 10 minutes!!!  After the meat has rested, cut it into ¼” slices.

Salad

Mixed spring greens

Diced granny smith apple

Gorgonzola cheese crumbles

Toasted pecans

Balsamic vinaigrette

Nuts are the secret to a really great salad. I keep walnuts and pecans in the freezer at all times. Toast the pecans whole then chop them so they won’t burn as easily.

*Pantry Item of the Day

BBQ dry rub – I like Better Butt Rub that you can get in The Big Green Egg Store or Whole Foods. If you’re fortunate enough to live near Memphis you can pick up Rendevous or Corky’s at the grocery store. And if you’re nice to me, I’ll give you some of my house made dry rub for Christmas.

Quesadilla Bar

Last night for dinner I set up a quesadilla bar and fired up the griddle in anticipation of everyone fixing their own.  This may have worked if I had a more cooperative audience.  With Jack and Caterina all I got was “You know what I like.”!  However, I still think this is a great idea if you have kids over for a sleepover. They will all have it their way! But with 10 year olds, I’m still manning the griddle…

On my Quesadilla Bar

flour tortillas

shredded Monterey & pepper jack cheese

diced chicken

sautéed mushrooms

black beans

taco sauce

Helpful tips:

Chicken – mine was leftover from the whole roasted chicken we had earlier in the week. It’s also a great way to use a rotisserie chicken. I love Whole Foods rotisserie chickens because they have not been treated with antibiotics. Other really yummy option are leftover grilled pork tenderloin or steak.

Sautéed mushrooms – I was so excited when Rachael Ray demonstrated sautéing mushrooms. The trick? Don’t salt them until AFTER they are cooked! If you put salt on them at the beginning all the juices come out and they won’t brown. Mine shown here were put in the pan with about a tablespoon of olive oil and cooked on medium. They get a gorgeous caramel color and taste so, so good! I salted & peppered them after they cooked.

Taco sauce – By putting taco sauce inside the quesadilla, I don’t have to have salsa to dip it in. This is really helpful if you ever take them to a party! It tastes really good too. This is also good for the picky husband who does not like the chunky salsa you get at the grocery store.

Coconut Oil – I use coconut oil instead of butter on my griddle for pancakes and French toast. Extra virgin coconut oil is one of those ‘healthy’ oils - so much better for you than butter! I tried it on my quesadilla and it gave it such a nice clean taste. Buy this for your pantry! Another hint - Your Dekalb Farmers Market has extra virgin coconut oil in plastic containers really cheap!

Happy eating!

Pumpkin Pancakes

I know pumpkin pancakes really don't scream "DINNER!" but I gave some to my friend and she wanted the recipe.  Hmm, I may have to change the title of my blog...

The pumpkin pancakes I gave to Alisa & Erin were made with my own pancake mix.  I decided to make my own pancake mix because it is less expensive and I can use more whole wheat flour.  One of my philosophies is to make food as healthy as possible but still considered edible by my 'white flour, junk food lovin' husband'.  To make this super easy, however, you can use a pancake mix.  I am going to ask you to forgo the trans(really, really bad for you)fats  found in most pancake mixes and buy Maple Grove Farms of Vermont Buttermilk & Honey Pancake & Waffle Mix.  You can get it at regular ole grocery stores.

This is a big batch that makes enough of these to freeze.  They are great to heat up in the microwave for a quick breakfast!

Pumpkin Pancakes
pancake batter made from 3 C of mix
1 can of pumpkin puree
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp ground cloves
3/4 tsp ground nutmeg *

Mix together and cook on griddle!  Top with maple syrup.  I think toasted pecans would be delicious also. Freeze the leftovers separated by wax paper.

* Nutmeg - this is the problem with me giving you recipes. I grated some nutmeg from a nut over the mix and have no idea how much it was. This amount is a complete guess for regular ground nutmeg. It should be about right. Feel free to adjust!

Happy eating!  I'll pass on the pancake mix recipe in a later post!!!