Necessity = The Mother of Invention

Who said it? It appears there's quite a few people who've been acclaimed with it, but whether it was Plato, William Horman, Roger Ascham, George Chapman, Richard Franck, or Frank Zappa, the old adage is true. Necessity is the mother of invention. It makes us be creative when we need a solution to a seemingly impossible task. For instance, in the kitchen. My kitchen, to be exact.


We (my husband & I) are minimalists at heart. Partly because we're old hippies, partly because we've just never been flush with cash. We pay cash for everything, which is awesome except that the closer we get to payday, the more creative I have to be in the kitchen. 


It all began 2 days ago when I took some mystery meat out of the freezer.  First let me tell you, I am crazy fanatic about the way meat should be wrapped before being frozen. I learned long ago not to just bring meat home from the market and toss it in the freezer as is. You may as well just throw it in the trash. Wrap your meat well and label it and you will virtually never find meat in your freezer with icicles clinging to it like an alien life form. If you need help Alton Brown is the man. He taught me all I know about meat wrapping in an episode of Good Eats from years ago. (So sad his show is over.) Anyway, yesterday I found an unlabeled package of meat in my freezer. THE HORROR!!! There were no alien life forms clinging to it, but it was wrapped so well, I couldn't tell at all what it was.  No worries. I trust the process. 


Hmmm...well, perhaps the process is only to be trusted as far as the wrapper is willing to label and date it. My son was in the kitchen late in the afternoon and said, "Ewww!!! Are we having alien brains for dinner?" Sure enough, there it was. A totally defrosted bundle of what was once ground beef. My mystery meat surprise dinner was going to be a meatless dinner after all. 


Now what? I mean I had no meat in the freezer & not a single fresh vegetable in the house. Necessity. OK. Game on!  A quick look in the fridge looked grim. The pantry - full of all the basics. The freezer? Ice cream & some frozen veggies that my husband, self-proclaimed Couponeer, had picked up for .29 a few weeks ago. Back to the fridge. BACON!!! My all-time favorite food. Now we're getting somewhere. There's also feta & eggs. Nope. I don't want eggs for dinner tonight. Grab the feta just in case.


Uh-oh. Only 4 pcs of bacon left. Well, cook it anyway and see what comes to mind. (Besides the thought, "Four pieces of bacon. Three of us.")  I go back to the freezer. OK. Frozen veggies it is. The Green Giant mix is of sugar snap peas, red peppers & potatoes. I threw them in the microwave. I know. Gross. Still, N = MOI. 


Bacon is done. Chop into really small bits, throw on top of veggies, sprinkle with feta & some of my roasted tomatoes from the weekend. YUM after all.  :)


Sorry. No pics. 


Last night though, left me staring for a much longer period of time into the fridge. Pacing between the fridge, freezer & pantry.  Again - plenty of beans, rice, pasta, canned tomatoes, spices, & oils. Pace, pace, stare, pace, gather. (It's the 21st century and we're still gatherers.) Here's what I came up with...

I knew that beef broth would come in handy again! Looking like Black Bean Soup to me.  Here we go!  

Give your soup pot a couple laps of olive oil. Smash your garlic (I had 3 cloves) and drop it in the pot on a low heat. Add to that kosher salt, crushed red pepper, cumin, dehydrated onion & a bay leaf. While that was starting to smell good, I ran a knife around the frozen blocks of beef broth and put them in the pot as blocks of ice. They melted and everything started to smell fantastic. I adjusted my flavorings here & added more cumin. 


When it started simmering, I added a cup of frozen corn & a cup of rice, both cans of black beans and just the single can of fire roasted tomatoes. Two cans would have been too much tomato. Put the lid on it and let it simmer for 30 minutes.


As the soup simmers, turn on your oven to 350 and grab those tortillas. I had some sour cream in the fridge, so I figured we could top it with tortilla strips & sour cream.  I took 5 tortillas, stacked them & sliced them into strips.  Put them in a bowl, ready to season how you like.

I drizzled with some olive oil and sprinkled in some kosher salt & chili powder. Stir it up nice to be sure all are a little bit coated with flavor. They really don't need a whole lot. Corn tortillas are fabulous as they are. Then spread them out on a baking pan. Taste one to check flavor. I added a little more salt. Now they're ready for the oven.

Put them in your preheated oven and put the timer on for 15 minutes. They'll probably need more time, but better to have add time than wish you had looked at them sooner & everybody's oven will act a little different, plus mine is on a stoneware pan, so they take a little longer. I ended up leaving them in 20 minutes. When they're done, put them on a cooling rack to crisp.

Once they've cooled to a crispy deliciousness, ladle up a bowl of your soup, sprinkle with some tortilla strips, add a dollop of sour cream, and VOILA! Something delicious out of virtually nothing!

It was really, really tasty! Get creative! You'll be surprise what can come out of your kitchen when you think there's nothing there. For me, Necessity is the Mother of Deliciousness!


Love the ones you feed!

What to do with Hoisin Sauce?

I get tired of eating the same things all the time. That's why I keep a myriad of things in my pantry at all times. Back in September for my husband's birthday I had planned to make a peanut sauce for the chicken. As things sometimes go, I ran out of time and didn't get the sauce made. The guests didn't know they were missing it, so it was ok.  But since then, I've had 2 jars of Hoisin sauce in my pantry that I wasn't quite sure what to do with. (Because I've long since lost the recipe or, more likely, threw it out in a fit of last minute clean up before the party.)  Here's my attempt.

I gathered some items I assumed would be in the mix and then started putting some things together. I have no idea how much of anything, of course. I tend to measure by piles of stuff unless I'm baking - but that's a whole other story.


Preheat your oven to 425. This is going to be a hot one to start.


First, I put coriander seeds, cumin seeds, onion flakes, peppercorns & kosher salt in my mortar & pestle and crushed everything to season my chicken. I had 8 chicken drumsticks in the freezer, so that's what I'm using here. I personally love dark meat. I know it's not the best for me, but it's my favorite. I also leave the skin on, because I love what high heat does to it. Drizzle on some toasted sesame oil, then sprinkle with crushed red pepper and the ingredients in your mortar. You want to be sure you have enough seasoning to make a nice crust on the chicken.

This is only crushed red. Not sure why I don't have a picture of all spices.

After getting the seasonings on your chicken, put it in the oven for about 25 minutes to brown nicely.  We'll work on the sauce concoction what that's doing it's thing.


Honestly, I could have taken the time to look up a recipe for the peanut sauce. If I had though, I probably would have gotten caught up in Facebook or Etsy and my family would still be wondering what's for dinner. So I wing it.


I emptied the Hoisin sauce into a bowl, added a Tbsp of rice vinegar **side note - if you keep lots of kinds of vinegar on hand, you can make almost anything with them. Some are kinda pricey so buy a new one here and there even if you haven't a clue what to do with it.** Then I glopped in a large glob of peanut butter. They looked so pretty together.

Anyway, I added some ginger powder because the last little chunk of my ginger root had gone moldy. :(  I always prefer fresh ginger. It's spicy and wonderful.  I use it in my veggie juice. mmm...carrot, beet, ginger, apple - my favorite combo for juice.  I digress.  Whisk it up until it's nice and creamy. Give it a little taste test.  I added more vinegar at this point because it didn't quite have the zip I was looking for. Adjust it to your liking.  Keep in mind it's going to bake and the flavors will melt into each other.

When the timer goes off on your chicken, pull it out and turn the oven down to 350. See how pretty that is? You can't even imagine how wonderful it smells right now!  Now, sauce it up good, tent it with foil and put it back in the oven for another 30 minutes.


I planned to make rice & veggies to go with it, so let's get on those.  First, the rice.  I know people have a fear of rice, like it's some magical, mystical thing that they can't cook.  I don't understand that. Don't waste money on a rice cooker. Just do a few simple things and leave it alone. It will be wonderful.


The one thing I highly recommend is that you toast it before adding broth to it. Most often, I add butter to the rice when I put it in the pan. This time though, I added sesame oil.  I put the rice in the pan. I don't measure it. I just put the end of the bag in the pan. Lap some sesame oil around it and turn the heat on med-high. DO NOT LEAVE IT. Stay with it to avoid burning it and being really bummed out.

In my mind rice is shaken, never stirred. Give it several good shakes and practice your tossing skills. This will ensure the rice is evenly coated with the oil so toasting will be a cinch. This also helps keep it from sitting too long in one spot with the potential to burn. Plus, it's fun! 

You'll know when it's done. It starts to smell nutty and begins to turn a lovely golden color. 

Once you've done that, add chicken broth to it. Now, my family likes our rice al dente. We don't like the mushiness of the 2 to 1 ratio that most recipes call for. (2 cups water to 1 cup rice) First of all - don't use water! It has no flavor and adds nothing to the flavor. Use chicken broth. I pour enough broth over the rice to cover it by about a half inch above the rice line. Put the lid on it, put it on a med flame and let simmer for about 15 minutes. Please don't use instant rice. Rice is so fast, there's no need for instant. In this case especially, I don't care if it's done before the chicken because I will be tossing it into a skillet before we're done anyway.

On with the veggies. Have a large skillet on hand. I'm using a 12" because I make a mountain of food so we have leftovers for lunch the next day. Drizzle a little bit more of the sesame oil in the pan, but not too much. You've already got it on the chicken and in the rice. You don't want the sesame to overpower the rest of the flavors.  Smash a couple cloves of garlic and toss them in the pan. Be sure you've really flattened them good and pulled their skins off. You want the oils to be really worked up in the garlic.  Here's another time that fresh ginger would have been awesome. The oils/juice of ginger is a fabulous addition to this combo. But alas I don't have it and I don't want the dryness of powdered ginger to play into the veggies.

I'm using sugar snap peas and little sweet peppers. Be sure to pinch off the ends of your peas and pull the stringy parts off. You don't have to, but they're so much better if you do.  I just tossed them into the skillet just as they are, but sliced the peppers into little strips.

I waited until the last minute to turn them on. You want the veg to be somewhat crisp to add texture to the chicken & rice. Now that I have a few minutes to wait...

Then I see the nemesis of the kitchen...

The never ending pile of fabric vying for my attention. And sitting there beckoning me is my prince of the sewing table. FROG.

He serves a few purposes for me when I sew. First, he holds up my sewing machine when I'm changing bobbin thread or dusting under the needle or any other such tasks. Second, he makes me smile when I'm really frustrated. Third, it reminds me FullyRelyOnGod. FROG. He's a prince alright.


OK. I've added turned on the skillet, saute'd my veggies, added the rice & a little dose of fire...

It looks beautiful and smells out of this world. Then I did a bad thing. (Wha wha whaaaa) I put a lid on it and let it sit for the last 10 minutes of World News Tonight. I know, but I love Brian Williams! 


It was still delicious, but my peas went from emerald green to a paler, sadder color. So don't let yours sit! Toss the rice in the skillet with the veggies, mix it up, spoon into a bowl, top with chicken and serve immediately!

Keep the hot sauce on hand for an extra kick! Enjoy your dinner!  Enjoy your loved ones! And thanks for reading!  


Love to all...

Sew, a Few Weeks Ago...

I started something that exploded into something else.  Hmm...actually I started several things at once thinking, of course, that I was wonder woman and could handle everything smoothly.  I mean, The Pioneer Woman does it.  She was an inspiration for me and I was SURE I could do it too!
:-\


So here I sit in the middle of the night thinking, how? How does she do it?


I feel like the Grinch, standing atop the mountain looking down at Whoville and scratching his chin trying to figure out how in the world it's possible? Who knew that starting homeschooling, starting a food blog, starting a new hobby (my beloved ukulele), teaching myself to sew and deciding to start a business (Sew Pretty Sisters), aside from trying to maintain a house, a husband, a son, dogs & life would snowball into this giant load of cargo on a sled teetering atop the mountain while I stand scratching my now hairy chin and wondering, HOW?  Yes, I said hairy chin! I'm beyond 40 for heaven's sake! Hairs don't just turn gray, they turn up in places they never should exist! Oh yeah, and did I mention I decided to try to write a novel this month? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!! I thought it would be a good way to improve my blogging skills.  nanowrimo.org No biggie. Fifty-thousand words in 30 days, roughly 1700 words per day. I easily speak that many words in a day, surely I can put them on paper. Humf...I'm at right around 4000. "I still have 4 days left," the crazy in me remembers.


Yeah. Snowball turns to avalanche.


So what have we been eating? Have we been eating? Have I been cooking?  What have I cooked? I've gained weight, so there's a pretty good indication there's been a LOT of bread in my diet.
:-/ 
Sandwiches. Lots of sandwiches.

Take last night for example.  I didn't bother with sandwiches last night.  This time, we just ate an entire loaf of bread with stuff on it.  OK, so it was crusty bread (which I bought) and it was slathered in cheeses, but YUM-MY was it good.

Yep. Jarred pizza sauce, mozzarella & feta on some of them. Goat cheese & cranberries on some of them, sliced tomato on some of them and all of them painted with olive oil. 


Today I cooked for Thanksgiving dinner at my sister's house.  I haven't ever done that. Usually she does all the cooking because her family is very traditional about holiday dinners. I was scared to death I would screw it up because of my whole inability to follow rules or directions of any kind. You know, the whole "fly by the seat of my pants" mentality that I am renowned for. 


Sweet potatoes. Green beans. I can do this. And I did.  Did I take pictures? No. 
:-\


Seriously. How? How does she do it? (The Pioneer Woman, I mean.)


Potatoes were simple & honestly, I loved them. I've never loved that gooey, marshmallowy, syrupy stuff before, but today I actually loved it. What was it?  No biggie. Quartered about 8 large yams, put 'em in a baking dish (two dishes, actually), slathered them with olive oil, sprinkled with salt and put 'em in the oven for a couple hours on 200. (Because I was also roasting tomatoes for myself and had to keep things on a low temp.) 


Then I pulled them out of the oven, let them cool to handling temperature, peeled the skins off, chopped them into bite size pieces & tossed them into one of the baking pans. Wait! Back up. While they were cooling, I fried 5 pcs of bacon & while the bacon was cooking, I mixed 1/2 cup of butter, 1/4 cup of brown sugar, a Tbsp of molasses, and a 1/4 cup of pure maple syrup in a small pan and cooked it on low until the sugar was completely melted.  I poured that over the top, chopped the bacon into small bits and dumped it into the dish. I mixed it all with my hands. Yes, my hands. It's one of the things I love about Jamie Oliver. Lots of mixing can be done with your hands. Just be sure they're clean before you begin.


Anyway, toss that into the oven at 350 for 30 minutes. Pull it out, top with large marshmallows and put them back in for another 10 minutes or until nice and melty.  Done.


Green beans were sauted in bacon grease, butter, salt, white pepper, garlic & onion. Done. Delicious. All of it. Not remotely heart healthy - any of it. But delicious still.


So, what will I do for food for the rest of the week? Got me. I know I have chicken thawing out for tomorrow. I wonder what that's going to end up being?  I wonder if I'll take pictures? Tomorrow's another day. Actually, I guess it's officially today since it's 1:30 in the morning.


One thing I love about the Grinch. He has a plan, or so he thinks. But before he can blink an eye, he finds himself joyfully flying down a mountain with a pile of stuff behind him that he can't wait to share and his faithful dog (though mistreated he'd been) stands on the top of the pile wagging his tail and smiling.  Ya gotta love Max. In the end, we love the Grinch too. Plan or no plan, flying by the seat of his pants, he figures it all out.


Maybe someday I will too.


Joyous holidays, everyone!  Feed the ones you love. Even if they're just getting sandwiches, they know you love them because you took the time to do it.


Thanks for reading!  Oh!  And Oliver's Olive Oils has FREE SHIPPING this weekend, Nov 25-28th!!!  Order something from them. The free shipping is worth a bundle in savings and their oils & vinegars are the best I've ever tried. If you're in the market for what to get me for Christmas.  ;-)


Peace!

Rock on Game Hens!

There's something very much fun about having these little chickies on your plate, plus they are always juicy and delicious.  I've gone searching for info on these little guys. It turns out, they are not necessarily hens (they are also males) and they are not really "game" but are really a domesticated chicken. They are, however, chickies.  They are fast growing chickens that reach about 2.5lbs by the time they are 5 weeks old.  Back in the day of a more militant me, I would have had a tortured soul over the fact that people would actually eat baby chickens!  (No. I didn't eat eggs at the time either.)  And now? BRING IT!


They are mostly white meat, which makes them highly desirable. While most people think it's a chicken dinner for one, it yields about a pound of meat which is more than I would suggest eating in a sitting - although I easily could!  Besides, it's so much fun to have your very own little chicken on your plate!


Today, I planned dinner ahead of time.  I know.  Not my normal MO. Who knows, maybe I'm changing?  Actually, it's only because yesterday when I pulled them out of the refrigerator, I found they were still frozen.  At that exact moment, the phone rang.  It happened to be my dear friend calling to invite us to join her family for dinner  last minute.  PERFECT!  (Whew!  That was close, because we're out of bread for pb & j. I think we may be out of the "j" part of that equation as well.)


These are easy little boogers to cook, though they will take a little time, so plan accordingly. They cooked for about 2 hours.  I set them up and got them ready for the oven earlier today before I left the house so when I came home, they were ready to go into the oven.


Let's get them ready, shall we?  Figure 2 pats of butter per little chickie. put some salt/pepper/garlic powder in a bowl and drop the pats of butter into it. Gently tap it into the mix so that the seasoning sticks to all sides of the butter.  (Here's the gross part) With your fingers, seperate the skin from the bird and stuff the pats of butter under it. Put one on each side.  Juice a lemon over the top of them & sprinkle some more salt/pepper/garlic over the skins.  (You did wash your hands, right?) They're ready to go in the oven.  If you're ready, great.  If not, put a lid on 'em and stick 'em in the fridge. That's what I did.

(This picture makes me think of Ricky Lee Jones, Danny's All Star Joint. "She don't know your name, but she knows what you got, from your matzo balls to your chicken in the pot, chicken in the pot, chicken in the pot, chicken in the pot...Dowwwwwnstairs at Danny's All Star Joint, they got a juke box that goes doit, doit..." Sorry.  Off track again.)


I also decided to make a (small) quick pot of pasta sauce to have with them tonight and put it in the slow cooker on "warm" for 8 hours.  You ready?  Don't go for that jar of sauce!  It's really simple, so here we go!


1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
1  8 oz can tomato paste
tsp each dried basil & thyme
4 cloves garlic, smashed
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup red wine
1/2 cup chicken broth (Remember you made some? Check your freezer)
crushed red pepper to taste
salt/pepper to taste (What kind? That's right, kosher salt and fresh ground pepper)


Lap around the pan a couple times with olive oil, sprinkle in the herbs, salt/pepper, crushed pepper & bay leaf.  Go ahead and plop them garlic cloves in there too.  Simmer really low until it smells fabulous. Add your tomatoes, tomato paste, chicken broth & red wine.  Stir it really good and pour it into the slow cooker.  Turn the temp on warm and set for 8 hours.


Now. Go have your day.  You've got things to get done, work to do.  Go do it.  Just come back about an hour and a half before you want to eat and stick them babies in the oven.


Oh! You're back!  OK.  Take the hens out of the fridge and set them atop your stove while you turn your oven on to preheat at a whoppin' 425 degrees.  When the oven reaches the correct temp, put the roaster in the oven, uncovered.  


Bake them for 30 minutes to get a nice crispy brown to the skin. (Set your timer!  I know you have ADD too. You think you've got plenty of time to go do something else since all your work in the kitchen is done for a while.)  

When the timer goes off, put a lid on them and turn the temp down to a more reasonable 350. Reset your timer for an hour and a half. Go do something else.  Just before they're done, boil some chicken broth & water (that's right) for your pasta. We had rotinis.  


When the pasta is done to your liking, you can either spoon the sauce on it or dump it in the pan with the sauce.  I went for the "fewer dishes" route and dumped it into the sauce. It looks prettier if you do it separately, but I was in a less work mode and did it the other way.


All done!  It looks like you worked really hard, but you didn't.  Isn't that awesome?

Enjoy your baby chickens!


Love the ones you feed!!!

Cherry Chops?

So I was looking for something different for dinner. I get tired of the same stuff all the time. Sometimes I just stand and stare into my pantry trying to figure out what in the world is in here and what can I do with it?

I spot  the dried cherries. Oh my goodness, they are so tangy, tart, and tasty!  Hmmm...I've got pork chops planned.  I know pork eaters like applesauce (or just apples) with their pork chops, but I've never really gotten it.  So I wonder, what about cherries?

I also have these lovely acorn squash.  My son is going to hate dinner tonight. Sorry buddy, but tonight I'm feeling adventurous.  Oh and I hope you're not too hungry because sometimes my adventures take a while.  Better plan for an hour tonight.  Here's what you'll need:


4 thick cut chops
salt/pepper/garlic
coriander seeds
1 cup dried cherries
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp honey
1 cup cabernet
2 cups chicken broth
onion
mushrooms
acorn squash
butter
cinnamon


First things first.  Let's get some seasoning on those chops so they can sit for a bit coated in deliciousness.  Sprinkle kosher salt on both sides of the chops.  In your mortar, put the peppercorn, coriander seeds, about a Tbsp of olive oil, and 3-4 cloves of garlic. Smash them with love with the pestle until the garlic is all broken down and your peppercorns/coriander seeds will burst open with flavor.

Massage each of your pork chops with the rub, making sure each one is packed with flavor.  Set aside on a plate while you get your squashes ready for the oven.

Preheat your oven to 350 and give your squash a quick wash.  Here's my take on cleaning squashes - no, you're probably not going to eat the skin.  BUT you are going to slice through them and any bacteria on the outside will be forced inside.  Call me paranoid, but that's the way I feel about all veggies, whether I'll eat the skin or not.


And which knife are you going to use?  That's right - the biggest one you have on hand.  For me, it's my 12" chef's blade. (Hi, I'm Heidi and I'm a Knife-aholic.)  Use the right knife for the job. This job calls for a big one.

Once you get the blade through the flesh of the squash, get your fingers out of the way!

Put them in an oven-safe dish and add about 1 cup of water to the bottom of the dish to help with the baking process.  Sprinkle them with cinnamon, pat with butter, put a small amount of chicken broth in each one (maybe a couple Tbsps) and put them in the oven for 45-50 mins.

So you'll notice in the first photo, I only have 2 medium portabellas on hand.  That's kind of a bummer, because I love them and 2 isn't really enough, but if you slice 'em nice and thin they'll do the job.  Also, do not throw out the stems!  For heaven's sake, there's flavor in their little stems so be sure to mince them up too.

Next you'll slice up your onion and throw them all in a large skillet to saute on a low flame.  Oh man, does that smell good!

While you're letting the onions & mushrooms sweat, let's get your cherries soaking in some liquids to help plump them up.  Put them in a bowl and add to them 1 cup of wine & 2 cups of chicken broth.  I've started buying the little 4 packs of wine with screw on tops for cooking.  They're perfect in size and don't go bad. Also, you can go ahead and add your balsamic vinegar and honey.  Let them sit while you get your chops in the pan.

Brown chops lightly and flip 'em over to brown the other side.

After each side is browned, remove everything from the skillet and set aside on a platter.  Be sure to leave the brown stuff on the bottom of the skillet.  You're going to deglaze the pan when you add the liquids and the flavor will be insane.  So turn up the heat and let's get this sauce on the road!

Bring all this up to a pretty heavy simmer and cook it to reduce at least by half, possibly a little more.  While the temp is coming up, use your favorite wooden spoon to scrape up the bottom of the pan.  By now you'll have such a ridiculously delicious aroma happening, the troops will definitely be stirred.  The cherries should be plumping up almost to their original state. Oh my!  The smell is to die for!  


Once you've reduced the sauce, put the chops, onions & mushrooms back in the skillet and cook until completely done.  The inside temperature of the pork should be 165 degrees.  Once it reaches that temp, get your plate ready.  Take your squash out of the oven, get your chop there with it, top it with the onion/mushroom/cherry mixture and drizzle a generous amount of the sauce over it.  


Take your time eating it, and for heaven's sake be sure to have some bread on hand for moppin' up all that juice.  You won't want to lose a drop of it!

Enjoy your adventure and love the ones you feed!

Brown Food is Yummy!

Yes, I know this goes against conventional thinking for someone who loves vegetables as much as I do.  But being a Texas girl at my core, sometimes the only food for me is some good 'ol fried food.  One of my all time favorites is chicken fried steak!  I remember chicken fried steak days back in elementary school.  The lunch ladies would so lovingly make a little nest in my mashed potatoes before filling it with green peas and topping it off with gravy. Mmmmmm...now that's comfort food!


Honestly, I don't know what "cube steak" is or why it makes the perfect chicken fried steak, but it does.  Quite frankly, if I'm hankerin' cfs, then I don't really care what it is because at this point, it's not about the nutritional value.  It's all about fried, crispy crusted beef with some heart stoppin' gravy on top.  Oh man, it makes my mouth water and takes me back to Caldwell Elementary at just the thought of it.  I'm sure my man Jamie Oliver wouldn't have approved of it - and I do LOVE Jamie. (He's my very favorite chef.)  Most days my mom made my lunch, but the chicken fried steak days were all about the cafeteria.  


So guess what we had for dinner last night?  I was bummed I had no peas to go with it, but I did have tater's. I didn't bother to have a healthy salad or anything with it.  Straight up meat and potatoes. 

First - a glass of carbernet!


OK, so I have 4 cube steaks which I've seasoned with salt & pepper and left to sit on the counter for about 20 minutes to take some of the chill off of them.  While they sit, mix up 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of panko bread crumbs, salt, pepper, cayenne & thyme in a flat container. I think a pie pan works perfectly for this purpose.  In a second pie plate, mix up 2 eggs & a cup of cream (that's right - good old fat laden cream).


About the time you need a refill on the carbernet, take your meat and put it in the flour mixture. Drag it through really good, filling all the crevices with flour. Tap it a bit, dredge it through the cream & egg mixture on both sides before putting it back into the flour mix. Now really get in all those lovely spots.  Set aside while you heat up a skillet with about an inch of oil.  I use canola for this.  Once you've got all pieces perfectly coated, dredged and coated again and the oil is beginnng to move around a little on it's own, CAREFULLY slip one steak at a time into the oil.
Let it cook about 6 minutes before CAREFULLY turning it over and cooking the other side.

It will be done in about 15 minutes total.  I like my crust to be nice and brown and crispy.  After removing, set it aside on a platter with paper towel to drain off the extra fat.

I'm sorry to let you down on photos of the gravy process, but it happens rather quickly and when it was done, I think I poured myself a glass of it and sat down!   Just kidding.  But seriously, I did for get pictures.


Get a heat proof container (I use my 4 cup Pyrex measuring cup) and CAREFULLY pour off the oil from your skillet.  Leave the brown bits!  They make gravy fabulous! Put the pan back on a med-low flame and add a heaping spoon of flour to it, whisking it quickly to keep it from burning. Have on hand a Tbsp of butter to add to it.  This should brown quickly for the beginnings of your gravy roux.  Slowly add 2 cups of milk - a couple Tbsps at first whisking all the while to keep things smooth and creamy. Got some of that beef broth we made last week on hand? YAY!  Add a cup of that to it too and turn the heat up a bit more until it begins to bubble and thicken.


When it's the consistency you like, you're done!  Take it off the heat, plate your steak & potatoes, give yourself a generous portion of gravy and dive in!  Mmmmm....


Feed the ones you love!  (Then the next day be sure to load 'em up on veggies to erase the damage you did today!!)

You Say Tomato, I Say Tomahhhhto

I love me some tomato soup!  There's just something about it's velvety richness that can't be beat. That, along with a perfectly toasted grilled cheese - well ok, I was hungry and I cheated. I put my cheese & turkey sandwich in the toaster oven!  Still, it was delicious.

The thing about tomato soup is that you can make it as easy or as difficult as you like.  If you have fresh tomatoes on hand and you don't have a hungry crew waiting on their dinner, my spoiled rotten boys for example, then take your time with it.  Roast yourself some organic roma tomatoes with some lovely infused oil and use that as the main ingredient.

If on the other hand, you are late making dinner and are totally unprepared to make anything, it's the perfect time to pull out a couple cans of petite diced tomatoes.  DO USE your beautifully made Ruby Red Veggie broth, though.  It will add rich vegetable undertones to your soup.

Quick & easy is this - a lap or two of olive oil around the pan on a really low temp.  Add a tsp of dried basil (crushed in your mortar & pestle) along with a couple cloves of garlic & let the flavor come to life.  Add to that 4 cups of your ruby red veggie broth.  

Take your tomatoes & throw them in a blender to puree' until nice and smooth before adding them to the pot.  Salt and pepper (of course you know I mean kosher salt and freshly ground pepper) to taste. and simmer for about 20 minutes.  Add a cup of heavy cream and stir it in, watching it turn a lovely pinkish color & let simmer another 10 minutes.

DONE!

Dish it up, sprinkle with a little Parmesan & some of your homemade croutons.  Serve alongside a sandwich or just the way it is.  It will warm your chilled bones with velvety rich flavor.  

Enjoy!

Curry - As In the Spice!

Today, I've been searching for anything on curry - photos, quotes, quips - anything, really. What do I find?  Adam Curry, Ann Curry, Bill Curry,  Stephen Curry, Tim Curry.  No!  Not curried people!  Curry spices!  Good grief.  I had no idea there were so many curry people.  


I love curry.  It brings to my mind rich, exotic, warm, spicy, flavorful beauty.  It reminds me of my favorite Thai restaurant on Indian Rocks Beach in FL.  It was right across the street from my apartment and it was fabulous.  There was also an Indian restaurant I used to go to with my boss in Dallas that I've long since forgotten the name of. 


What I'll never forget is the horror we experienced on leaving there one fateful day.  She was a fantastic boss - powerful, creative, energetic, & tons of fun.  We had quite a relationship as I was much younger and WAY more aggressive than I have the time or energy for now.  She had an after-lunch meeting with the top level money people at one of my accounts.  We were working on a multi-million dollar deal with them and she was going to answer final questions.  Did I mention she had braces? This was back in the day when the clear bands were a new deal, and they were hardly noticeable. On this day though, there was no getting around them.  


We had lunch together, deciding Indian food would put just the right fire in the belly before having a high power meeting.  As we were getting into her car after a fabulous lunch, we were laughing about something (who knows what).  When she turned my direction, mouth agape with laughter, I screamed. "What?!!" she panics.  "OH MY GOD! Look in the mirror!" I'm screaming at her. hahahaha...it still makes me laugh.  Those clear, barely noticeable braces were a flaming fluorescent yellow!  It was only an hour until the meeting.  She dumped me back at the office & raced to her dentist.  He fixed it.  She made it to the meeting and we landed the deal.  But that was one of my favorite moments in my sales career. 

Anyway,  curry is a colorful blend of aromatic spices, and can range from totally mild to very spicy.  Being that I'm a control freak, making my own is the only way to go.  Again because I know what's in it and I love the smell of the process.  So let's whip up a batch for my soup de jour, Curried Coconut Cream Chicken. Yummmmm...


Please take the time to make your own curry spice mix.  It smells so absolutely wonderful.  I use a pile of each one.  I'm sorry, I don't measure it, so I'd have to guess each one is a Tbsp with the exception of the cayenne.  I probably used only a  1/2 tsp of cayenne.  You can leave it out altogether if you don't want it to be spicy.  We like it hot at our house though.  I use turmeric, cardamom, cayenne,  cumin seeds, coriander seeds & ginger powder.  The cumin & coriander seeds were crushed with my mortar & pestal before being lightly toasted in a small skillet.  I combine them all in a food processor and blended it until it was a fine powder.  


While all that was happening, I removed my leftover shredded chicken from the freezer.  If you  made your own chicken broth, shredded your chicken and froze it like I did, it's ready to go. If you didn't, you can quickly grill up a couple chicken breasts, chop 'em up really nice and throw them in.  But if you're pulling stuff from the freezer, place the storage bags in a container of hot water to defrost enough to get them out of the bags.


Warm up a couple Tbsps of olive oil in your soup pan.  Take a large yellow onion, mince it up good and toss it in the pot on a low flame.  Let the onions turn a lovely caramel color while you smash up 5 or 6 cloves of garlic, tossing them in as well.  Keep an eye on them so they don't brown, but let them stay in there 2-3 mins.  


Now take the curry powder you've made and dump it in the pot.  (Yes I used all of it.  I'm kind of a flavor junkie.) Stir it up good before adding your chicken and your broth and - are you ready?  Remember the salt we didn't put in the broth recipes?  Time to add it!  Salt is subjective, so add it, taste it & repeat as necessary.


If you have one on hand, chop up and add a large sweet potato.  It's gorgeous orange flesh will make your soup even more beautiful.  OH MY GOSH!  I'm so hungry and it smells crazy good!  We're almost there.  Lastly, you're going to add a 13-14 oz can of coconut milk to the batch and give it a good stir.  Let the whole thing simmer 20 minutes or so to cook the sweet potatoes, depending on the size chunks you put in the pot.


Ideally, I'd have some chives & creme fraise to top this off with. But I was a slacker and didn't get any made ahead of time.  As you probably guessed, I'm too cheap to pay the price of it in the store so if I can't make my own I do without.  It takes a day & a half to make it so plan accordingly.  Watch for a post about it.  You'll love it if you've never had it.  If you've had it but paid a premium for it, you won't believe how simple it is to make.


I did have some of my yummilicious croutons so I topped it off with that.  Get ready, you'll have a fire in your belly for sure tonight!!!

Feed the ones you love!