Salsa Chicken-in-a-bowl

I don't like food that's too carefully arranged; it makes me think that the chef is spending too much time arranging and not enough time cooking. If I wanted a picture I'd buy a painting. ~Andy Rooney 

 Ha! Andy Rooney would love this one! I pretty much repeated my "recipe" from last night but with chicken. I roasted boneless chicken breasts sprinkled with seasonings until done but not dry. I sliced them and put them in a roasting pan with green and red pepper and onion wedges. A light sprinkling of olive oil and popped them back in the oven. I turned the mix a few times while it roasted for about 20 minutes. When done, I scooped the mix into a large pasta bowl, folded up some handmade (not by me) white corn tortillas and dolloped with a large spoonful of salsa. Dinner. Done. Delicious. Andy Rooney style.

Pork Redone

“I have lived in this world just long enough to look carefully the second time into things that I am most certain of the first time.”~ Josh Billings

Last night I enjoyed dinner and a beer at a wonderful new local brewery where our younger companions enjoyed the oh-so-yummy Macaroni and Cheese pictured below. Ladyface Alehouse and Brasserie is a brand new brewery and Belgian-style brasserie in Agoura Hills, CA. I have linked the home page for this amazing spot below. If you live anywhere in the area, you must go! I LOVE this place! So tonight I had to accept more mundane fare...but not so bad! I cut thin slices of leftover pork medallions and added onion and peppers and olive oil and spices and roasted. A nice salad on the side. Simple. But I can't wait to get back to Ladyface for a martini!

Ladyface Alehouse & Brasserie 

Pork Medallions and Spring Veggies

Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!"  ~Robin Williams

No party tonight. Just a regular Monday night after a long day...until I made these Pork Medallions. Said I would try them next and I did! Terrific flavor. They marinate over night so really easy to pull together on Sunday evening and finish off after work. Quick cook time. Light. Right. Link is below. This is another Trisha Yearwood recipe!

Trisha Yearwood's Pork Medallions 

 

 

Apple-Sausage Loaf

All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast. ~John Gunther

 Cinnamon rolls, scrambled eggs and apple-sausage loaf. SO glad it is Sunday. This is an old family recipe that always turns an ordinary Sunday into a holiday. There is, however, a complication with this recipe as it calls for "cracker meal"...an item that I have learned (after looking all over for it) has been discontinued. So, I have tried various cracker crumb combinations...this time I used a mixture of cornflake crumbs, panko and crushed Town House crackers. I have tried other combos and they taste about the same. Be sure to thoroughly bake to a brown (and yummy crunchy) crust. I used to form into a ring but the loaf is easier. The recipe is included after the jump below. Please enjoy!

How do I live without Hot Corn Dip?

 

And tell me now, How do I live without you...~Trisha Yearwood Lyrics

I can't live without this corn dip and so I am sending out a big thank you to Trisha Yearwood. Not only is she a successful country music artist but she has also mastered the art of fabulous southern cooking! Her newly released second cookbook  Home Cooking with Trisha Yearwood: Stories and Recipes to Share with Family and Friends is terrific. Filled with oh-so-good comfort recipes, the book holds pages of recipes I want to try. I started with the Hot Corn Dip above. This is the kind of appetizer that causes a frenzy and is gone in a flash. I can post a link here because Trisha appeared on The View and the recipe is posted on that site. I used "Southwestern Corn" as that is what I could find easily. I used a little less chilis than the recipe called for. Pork Medallions are next. Can't wait!

Trisha Yearwood's Hot Corn Dip 

Food Frames

There are always two people in every picture:  the photographer and the viewer.~Ansel Adams

Admittedly, I am late to this party. I have only recently appreciated the joy that comes with photographing food. I am neither a photographer or a chef. So I have become curious why this activity has become such a joyful activity for me. It does validate all those years that I cooked for my family. Hours spent in the kitchen and my labors of love gone in an instant. Lots of photos of happy faces but few if any of the meals that brought those smiles. Compliments linger as memories with no documented history. So I read with interest the New York Times article "First Camera, Then Fork" (link below). I don't quibble with some of the psychology attributed to the practice. But I do think the article missed a few points. First, I began to photograph what I was cooking and eating so that I could become more conscious of the process from start to finish. And that happened. It happened because through the added step of photographing the food, I have reignited the visual aesthetic associated with my cooking and eating. That had almost faded away as cooking and eating became wholly functional. Now I am satisfied more by the colors, the patterns, the shapes. I acknowledge the food before I eat it. I start eating already satisfied on one sensory level. Second, I get a great sense of community from the ever widening global table that has unfolded for me. Pulling up a chair and sitting at YOUR table is a truly happy moment in my day. Thank you all!

First Camera, Then Fork 

Easter Brunch

Such a beautiful gift. Easter Brunch lovingly and masterfully put together by my daughter. Even an Easter Day earthquake could not shake this exquisite presentation. And so delicious. Simple. 

Elegant. Mimosas and Bellinis. The best. Yes, she is!

Agnolotti and Ravioli

No matter what you've done for yourself or for humanity, if you can't look back on having given love and attention to your own family, what have you really accomplished?~Lee Iacocca

Our family is celebrating both a birthday and Easter this weekend. What a wonderful chance to be together but tonight I needed an easy, elegant and spring-y dinner. I made a nutmeg-sherry cream sauce to pour over butternut squash ravioli and proscuitto and caramelized onion agnolotti. The pasta was handmade...(here's the shortcut) not by me but by my favorite Italian deli. While I was there, I picked up one of those great traditional sweet Easter breads with the whole colored egg baked in the middle. Finished off the day making double chocolate Easter Eggs. These are ridiculously rich and, therefore, ridiculously good. I have linked the recipe below. Very easy and made me feel I had done something special for the day!

Double Chocolate Walnut Easter Eggs 

RECIPE FOR SHERRY CREAM SAUCE...

Mascarpone and Pear Crepes

Seize the moment.  Remember all those women on the Titanic who waved off the dessert cart. 

~Erma Bombeck

Mimosas and these fabulous crepes. Sunday Brunch bliss. I did not get the recipe (perhaps I was in a sweet haze) but I did find the recipe for blintzes linked below that must be very close. The crepes in the photo were served with a Spiced Maple-Butter Sauce as the one in the linked recipe. No currants and no ricotta in mine but I think with a little tweaking, these would be close. I'll know this weekend! Can't wait to try!

Pear Blintzes with Spiced Maple-Butter Sauce 

Family and saffron risotto

 

. . . gastronomical perfection can be reached in these combinations: one person dining alone, usually upon a couch or a hill side; two people, of no matter what sex or age, dining in a good restaurant; six people . . . dining in a good home.

~M.F.K. Fisher

The highpoint this weekend was a birthday dinner that my daughter and I put together. Tarragon chicken, roasted asparagus and risotto. My daughter is a vegetarian so the risotto was vegetarian...oh yes, and outstanding. She is phenomenal and flexible. She even made a turkey for Thanksgiving...very challenging for a vegetarian! A great meal and great company. Nothing like family! Annie's risotto and asparagus recipes follow. This recipe is the result of her efforts to recreate a risotto she had when she and her husband were dining at the Lagoon restaurant in Bora Bora. 

RECIPE...

 

Pasta and desert sun

If the family were a fruit, it would be an orange, a circle of sections, held together but separable - each segment distinct.  ~Letty Cottin Pogrebin

My mother has always been the most fabulous cook. She not only prepares beautiful foods in innovative ways that satisfy the appetite, but she also presents food in beautiful tableaus that satisfy the eye.  This weekend, she created this amazing lunch served on her patio. Coupled with the warm desert sun and good wine, it was a day to remember. Fettucini with caramelized onions, sundried tomatoes and goat cheese. Al dente. Al fresco. All'appetito!

RECIPE...

Tote-ally Awesome Rosemary Chicken

The layers of multitasking can run very deeply in our daily lives.~Mitch Thrower

And so I plopped chicken breasts in my clay pot along with some wine, 21 Seasoning Salute and rosemary sprigs from the garden. That simplicity and time allowed me to finish the quilted tote pictured below. It is a gift for a very special lady ~ my mother! It's her birthday tomorrow.  I'm so pleased with how it turned out. And now I have some fabulous chicken to eat. That worked out nicely!

 

Quinoa Oatmeal Cookies

Think what a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down on our blankets for a nap.~Robert Fulghum

I work in a preschool and I often say I want to enroll there when I retire. Yes, we should all have cookies and milk and a nap everyday. Tonight, I was short on sleep and long on household chores. I popped chicken breasts in my clay pot with a splash of wine and a sprig of rosemary. I made some sticky sweet brown rice and green beans. Not too complex yet lovely. And then I made these little wonders! I am an Oreo girl so a cookie has to taste GOOD for me to enjoy it. These do. The fact that they are a much healthier choice is secondary. I followed Marian Blazes' recipe linked below exactly. I omitted the cinnamon and raisins and used toasted walnuts. I baked them for 18 minutes. Yay! I know I will grab one as I race out the door in the morning!

Quinoa Oatmeal Power Cookies 

How to Make Irish Eyes Smile

May you never forget what is worth remembering, nor ever remember what is best forgotten~Irish Blessings quote

Worth remembering. Definitely. I followed the recipe linked below exactly. I used my new Sclemmertopf which is slightly smaller than the described Romertopf. It worked great for a 5 lb. brisket. I served the corned beef with a coarse Colcannon.  I boiled quartered red potatoes with carrots and onions. Added quarters of green cabbage after 20 minutes. When vegies were soft, I mashed slightly and added butter. Easy to put together after work and the advantage of the clay cooker tonight was starting with a cold oven. This was outstanding!

Corned Beef in a Clay Cooker 

 

Pasta Squared

Everything you see I owe to spaghetti.

~Sophia Loren

What's the only thing better than a pasta? Two pastas! Side by side. Rossi Tomato Basil Garlic and Spinach Basil Garlic Fettucini smothered with Vodka Sauce and nestled side by side in a bowl. I love this stuff. We ration it so it lasts! It doesn't get faster or easier or better. Saving my energy for tomorrow's Irish Feast of Corned Beef and Cabbage. This year I am going to try cooking the brisket in my new Schlemmertopf. We'll see...! The Rossi link is in the February archive - Day 26!

Getting stewed....

The only thing new is you finding out about something. Like nothing's really new, but you reinvent it for yourself and find your inner voice.
~Mike Watt

Ok, this is becoming my favorite soup. But this time it became more stew-like. Thicker and heartier. I doubled everything (recipe on Day 6) using one can of kidney beans and one cannellini beans but kept the broth at 32 oz. Lots of vegies and 2 packages of tortellini. Quite good!

Cooking up a quilt

Really, I don't dislike to cook, but what you cook is eaten so quickly.  When you sew, you have something that will last to show for your efforts.  

~Elizabeth Travis Johnson

And 'sew', tonight I cooked up a quilt! Not in one night, of course. But tonight I enjoyed it in all it's finished wonder. A simple flannel rag quilt that has the look of an heirloom. And as for any concern about food being eaten so quickly...food fotos fix that!

Cobb Monday

 

To remember a successful salad is generally to remember a successful dinner; at all events, the perfect dinner necessarily includes the perfect salad.
~George Ellwanger 

I was on my own tonight so, in this case, the perfect salad WAS the perfect dinner. Cobb. Avocado and bacon. Mmmm. From Agoura Deli. They make the best. Oscar dénouement coverage. Nice relaxing night.

Day 35 Birthday Bliss

 

The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age.  ~Lucille Ball

Family, flowers, cheese souffle and Sprinkles cupcakes. A sunny day and a sunny outlook. Special. All for my birthday. Priceless. I no longer focus on the years for my birthday, so I decided today that I will no longer focus on the days of my blog entries. Too much pressure. I have been away for a few days. Sometimes forgetting to note my culinary products with a photo; sometimes realizing that they did not deserve noting (although I made a mean hot dogs and beans the other night)!  So tonight I will watch the Academy Awards with some hummus and pita and bask in the bliss of the day.

Day 30 A Pie in a Pot

All my fans tell me what a glamorous life I have, but I tell them how hard I work and how many nights I spend alone with my dogs, eating chicken pot pie

in my bedroom.
~Shannen Doherty

Aw...Pot Pie can be glamorous. Well, sort of. This one was tasty and that's all I care about. Easy peasy...and carroty! Perfect after work. Two cans of chicken drained and flaked, one can of cream of anything soup, 1 cup of vegie or chicken broth, 3/4 cup buttermilk or cream, 1/2 cup white wine, one small bag frozen mixed vegies. Add preferred seasonings. Mix it up. Pour in greased flat casserole dish. Open and roll out one 14 oz. box refrigerated pie crust (2 pieces). Work into one piece. cover casserole, seal and pinch. Trim off extra and use to decorate the top of the pie. Cut slits for ventilation. Bake at 400 degrees for 50 minutes.

Day 28 Big day...

 

You don't really understand human nature unless you know why a child on a merry-go-round will wave at his parents every time around - and why his parents will always wave back. 

~William D. Tammeus

Son moves out=UHaul=Long day=Bare New Apartment=Golden Arches=Home is wherever family is!

Day 27 Nothing beats comfort food!

 

Some sensible person once remarked that you spend the whole of your life either in your bed or in your shoes. Having done the best you can by shoes and bed, devote all the time and resources at your disposal to the building up of a fine kitchen. It will be, as it should be, the most comforting and comfortable room in the house.~

Elizabeth David

Pot roast. Slow cooked for 8 hours in the crock pot. Noodles and carrots and potatoes and green beans and rolls...oh my. A feast for a crowd of men. I nibbled and enjoyed their joy. That's what it's all about anyway. I used a simple recipe adding carrots, quartered red potatoes and onions to the bottom of the pot. Layed chuck roast over. Then mixed two packets of brown gravy with one cup water. Poured over all. A sprig of fresh rosemary to satisfy my culinary sensibility. Comforting. Good. 

Day 26 Again with the pasta...

 

This is the best pasta in the world! I took advantage of some Lemon Pepper Fettuccini sent to me as a wonderful gift. You can order online. All natural and handcrafted. Located in Ohio, I have been a fan for years! Check out the website!

Rossi Pasta

 

Day 25 Pasta-bulous!

 

Life is a combination of magic and pasta.~
Federico Fellini 

This dinner wins no awards for healthy eating. And considering I added a basket of Il Fornaio Rosemary Rolls to the table, it can be called that old heart-attack-on-a-plate. It definitely can also be called delicious. Why this choice? This weekend, one of my sons will be moving to his own apartment. And that means losing my taste-tester and eater extraordinaire. My son runs in marathons...after he goes to the gym. He can eat whatever he wants! So for the next three days, I am trying to fill his plate in my best motherly way. And that means pasta tonight. Yummy small ravioli filled with butternut squash bathed in a cream-walnut sauce with a pinch of nutmeg. Fresh parmesan grated over the top. Maybe he won't move....

Day 24 Deli Day

He that but looketh on a plate of ham and eggs to lust after it hath already committed breakfast with it in his heart

~C.S. Lewis

Tonight I committed breakfast not only with my heart but with my order. I had a fabulous omelette from my favorite deli. Sandwiched in between work and errands, it was still a better choice from my perspective when cooking in wasn't in the realm of possible. Shout out to Brent's Deli! A Zagat top pick for 2010!

Brent's!

Day 23 Accompaniment: something added to complete or embellish or make perfect

 

Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.~Mark Twain

Grilled chicken and this. Curried Rice Salad...warm. The perfect accompaniment. I kept the grilled chicken simple. Just a dusting of Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute. Perfect flavor. Grilled the breasts slowly and straight from the freezer. No time to defrost after work but ends up done to perfection. As an add, baked up frozen Il Fornaio dinner rolls. Fabulous. Out-of-the-bag perfection. Bake for 10 minutes. The rice recipe is in Robin Robertson's book Vegan Fire & Spice: 200 Sultry and Savory Global Recipes. So many good recipes in this book!

Get the book!

Day 22 Gobbled up dinner

 

Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal: my strength lies solely in my tenacity ~Louis Pasteur
Tenacity is Mondays. When you have to get back on track. When you are fighting a cold. But I did it. I came home from work and moved right in to creating these fabulous Turkey Couscous Meatloaves. The recipe link is below. I baked the loaves for about 45 minutes instead of the recommended 30. Almost no need to crisp under the broiler. And I used a Granny Smith apple as I had one on hand. I doubled the recipe for a hungry group. Otherwise, I stayed true to the recipe. Moist. Delicious. And the Cranberry-Walnut-Apple Relish was more than a garnish...it really made the flavor burst! If you make the loaves, take the time to make the relish. Turkey Couscous Meatloaves Recipe

Day 21 Starve a cold, feed a fever?

Or is it the other way around? Either way, it's toast and Zicam for me tonight. I have my shopping list and plans for some interesting meals this week. So I better get better and quick! In the meantime, here is an interesting take on sous vide...

Really, Really Slow Food

Day 20 Conscious Carry Out

A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety.~ Aesop

I ate this in peace. Promise. No white squiggles on my cupcakes last night and no white wrapper on my burger tonight. Counter Burgers. The conscious choice for take out burgers. Divine.

Hormone and anitbiotic free; humanely raised and handled. 

http://www.thecounterburger.com/menu/ 

 

Day 19 Decadence for a Friday

 

Las cosas claras y el chocolate espeso." (Ideas should be clear and chocolate thick.) ~Spanish proverb 

Vanilla bean cupcakes virtually crushing under the weight of thick, rich chocolate frosting. Now THAT is a Friday night treat. Fresh and Easy has a great Madagascar Vanilla Bean Cupcake Mix which made these a breeze. Topped with my favorite easy Chocolate Frosting recipe...and indulgence is mine!

Chocolate Frosting

2 squares unsweetened chocolate

4 T. butter

2 t. vanilla

3-4 cups (1 lb. box almost) powdered sugar

1/4-1/3 cup whole milk

Melt chocolate and butter together in microwave. Add vanilla. Alternately add milk and powdered sugar, mixing well. Stir vigorously by hand. Add milk to desired consistency.

Day 18 Repurposing Food

 

When you cannot make up your mind which of two evenly balanced courses of action you should take--choose the bolder.  ~ W.J. Slim

Where is the burger in the white wrapper? Not here! Instead of going for the bag and burger, I repurposed my ingredients for the Caprese sandwiches and reheated my sweet potato soup. Lovely!

Recipe: Flatbread sprinkled with nigella seeds

Recipe: Flatbread sprinkled with nigella seeds

Day 17 Kids n' Fried Rice

 

I've come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It's my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or de-humanized.~Dr. Haim Ginott

I am a preschool teacher. And today, once again, the children taught me. While making fried rice, they each became involved in the full process...

Day 16 Sweet Potato Soup and Caprese Sandwich

 

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.~Leonardo da Vinci

It's highly unlikely that da Vinci was thinking of soup and sandwich when he said that, but it applies here. After three days of dining out and celebrating holiday and vacation days, it was time to return to cooking...

Days 13, 14 & 15 A three day weekend and a holiday...

One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating. ~Luciano Pavarotti and William Wright

Jack's Deli for Valentine's Day breakfast and a trip to 3rd Street on Monday and, yes thank you, Doughboys re-opened! Hallelujah! Each bite made the wait worthwhile!
http://www.doughboyscafe.com/

Day 12 Pizza Salad: The Organic Choice

It's Friday, gotta have pizza! But this time, all organic and all good!

PizzaSalad

Day 11 Vegetable Heaven

 

I don't like gourmet cooking or "this" cooking or "that" cooking. I like good cooking. 

~James Beard

My grandmother used to say "pretty is as pretty does". This dinner was pretty is as pretty does. It is beautiful to serve but behind the beauty is amazing taste...

Can't wait to try this wonder!

Recipe: Momofuku's Crack Pie - latimes.com

Posted using ShareThis

Day 10 Chili Part Deux

"Can implementing the three R's - reduce, recycle, reuse, save you money? If you only implemented the three R's in your kitchen, you would save money."
Catherine Pulsifer

This one is sheer yum! Today no temptations tried to lure me as I really was looking forward to this uber-easy and delish dish.  I remembered a recipe I found a while back in my Trader Joe's Fearless Flyer for a Chili Cornbread Casserole. Originally, I made it with TJ's Turkey Chili. But tonight, I had leftover Three Bean Chili Mole (see Day 7 for the recipe) and a plan...

Day 9 Tortellini Soup Redux

 

 Opportunity may knock only once, but temptation leans on the doorbell.

To drive by Wendy's drive-thru tonight, I had to grip the steering wheel with a vise grip. This is the night, I was sure, that I would cave in. Who would know? The rationale was flawless...

Day 8 Chili'n yesterday, Roast'n Today

 

Art must take reality by surprise.

Francoise Sagan

So not long before the holidays, I was watching some guilty pleasure TV...you know, the 'reality' show about that great chef Kendra? OK, it wasn't a show about cooking nor is she, by her own admission, able to cook (she is actually the former girlfriend of Hugh Hefner). But to prove to me that great ideas come when and from where you least expect them, there it was...

Day 7 Chili'n on Super Bowl Sunday

“Who among us hasn't envied a cat's ability to ignore the cares of daily life and to relax completely?”
~Karen Brademeyer

 

Super Bowls and family traditions and...

Day 6 Soupy Saturday

"Let the rain kiss you.  Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops.  Let the rain sing you a lullaby."
  ~Langston Hughes

Lots of rain in the west and snow in the east! It is a perfect Saturday for soup. Big bowls of steaming vegetables and tortellini! This one cooked in the crock pot so I enjoyed the wonderful aroma of simmering soup with a hint of garlic. I paired the soup with simple bagel chips. Topped it with bits of fresh basil and sprinkled fresh grated Parmsan cheese over the top. Oh, yum. Highly recommend this recipe! And climbing under the covers and listening to the rain.

Gold Standard Food & Wine Event

Gold Standard Food & Wine Event

Funny Food for Friday

It's not nice to neglect your spice...

YouTube - Live at the Apollo - MICHAEL McINTYRE - HERBS & SPICES

Day 5 Good Morning, Sunshine: The Haute 5 Breakfast Spots in Los Angeles

No cooking for me tonight. I'm off for a glittery Hollywood night. A movie opening and late night noshing afterward. I'll be home in the wee hours of the morning and hope for a late Saturday morning sleep in. Saturday morning brunch, here I come!

Good Morning, Sunshine: The Haute 5 Breakfast Spots in Los Angeles