I take baked potatoes and their toppings very seriously. Yes, I live in Idaho. And no, we don’t eat potatoes often. I’m actually pretty sure they ship all of the best potatoes out of state. (Please, don’t come after me, potato guild – I’m just kidding. Sort of.) But back to the toppings. None of this boring butter and sour cream and chives baloney. I dump it all in. Whatever we have. The more the merrier.
Read MorePeople, I can’t take a picture of a taco to save my life. I know, I probably should have taken a nice photo of the whole spread – tortillas, chicken, grilled limes, sliced jalapeños, grilled onions and peppers… I didn’t. We had friends over and it just didn’t seem like the right thing to do to make everyone wait to eat. The original photos from Confections of a Foodie Bride are lovely. So there. Take my word for it, these chicken fajitas are good.
What’s better than how they tasted is that I didn’t cook them. My husband did all the work. Marinated the chicken all day, prepped and grilled the veggies, even set the table. I can’t in good conscience review something that I didn’t make. But you should. This was tasty chicken.
I did, however, lift a finger for something related to Saturday night’s dinner. I made dessert. Not just any dessert. Key lime squares with coconut crust. Hello little bites of heaven!
Read MoreI have got to clean up the piles in my house. Seriously, I have piles that have been growing since March when we left the house for the floor/kitchen upgrade. I’ve had my summer issue of Sweet Paul now for almost a week and still haven’t turned a page. My priorities are clearly in need of a reshuffle.
In the interest of getting a start on the clutter, I tackled a pile of magazines on Friday night. One of those magazines, the May issue of Martha Stewart Living, had a great article about updating ten basic family recipes. I’ll admit that few of these basics were already in my repertoire but I am willing to update what I didn’t know I needed. Can’t go wrong with kale and farro salad or walnut brownie cookies. So I started updating on Saturday morning with the baked blueberry pancake.
Read MoreI like a good burger. Despite what my kids might think, burgers are not my favorite food, but when done well (and not well done), there’s nothing quite like a good burger.
Read MoreI’ll admit that when I planned this meal, I was in a hurry. I came across a couple of new food blogs, saw some things that looked tasty, and signed myself up. Then it came time to make stir-fry. In summer. What was I thinking? I almost didn’t do it. I mean, grill season is so short, right? I could just grill up those shrimps and asparagus and call it a day. I’m so glad I didn’t. This shrimp and asparagus stir-fry in lemon sauce is light, flavorful, and just the thing for a nice summer meal.
Read MoreWe’ve had a few changes to the old menu already this week and it is only Tuesday. On Sunday night, we (my husband) opted out of halibut in favor of Kings’ playoff hockey at the local watering hole. I went with a pretty tasty turkey club and the Kings won. I’m sure the two are connected. We moved our lovely halibut to Monday night, thinking we would push everything on the menu back by a night, only to find that our oldest daughter, freshly back from college and entertaining a visiting friend, will be joining us for dinner tonight. I just can’t see serving lo-mein as planned. I think we might go with the fajitas.
Read MoreMy little kids (and perhaps my older ones too) think that noodles in any form are the best thing ever. So when Gus saw that I was making three color penne for Tuesday night’s dinner, I thought he was going to jump for joy. The little kids were not impressed with Monday night’s greek meatballs and orzo salad (although I was extremely impressed, as were the older kids, and it’s a good thing too because that orzo recipe makes enough for 20 people even though it says it is for six). I was a bit concerned that they might not be impressed with Farmer’s Beans and Pasta (seriously? who named this dish?) either because of the aforementioned beans and the vegetables. I was happy to be wrong.
Read MoreWe’ve been on the road. Eating junk. That’s not to say that I haven’t been eating some pretty good stuff. I’ve mentioned the crawfish already. The wedding cake was amazing. I’m a sucker for almond wedding cake. I had a shrimp po-boy, and fried catfish, and beignets, and Rob had an amazing blackened snapper sandwich. We also ate at a cool beachside spot near Pensacola called The Gulf.
Read MoreI may have mentioned before that we make banana muffins all the time around here. As in so often that I no longer have to look up the recipe. And neither does our Girl-Friday, Lacie. I keep banana muffins in the freezer for snack or breakfast on the go or lunchbox treats. The recipe that I have used forever is from an old Williams Sonoma cookbook for kids that my mom gave my older kids ten years ago. Fortunately, the recipe is available online here.
Read MoreI saw a photo of spring pea farro salad from What’s Gaby Cooking on Instagram and I had to make it. I actually wanted to make it the very day that I saw it except that I don’t live in Los Angeles, and our farmer’s markets are open yet, and there are no spring peas or pea shoots to be had in the mountains in April. And I almost couldn’t find farro. It’s ok, though. I persevered. Anything for a good meal.
Read MoreI love grilling season. You can sit on the porch or in the backyard and smell the fantastic smells no matter what is cooking. The best part? Someone else is doing the cooking. Thanks, Honey.
Read MoreI was really excited to make rosemary-citrus shrimp tacos. Gluten free, vegetarian, and still appealing to the carnivores in my house? Sign me up. I was looking for big flavor. A tasty little Sunday night treat. Right. So Sunday morning, I started my usual process of going through each recipe on the weekly menu to build my grocery list and that’s when I noticed that the “rosemary-citrus” portion of these shrimp tacos was a pre-made dressing. Really? There was no way I was going to find rosemary citrus dressing in my local grocery store.
Read MoreCacio e pepe is my favorite dish. Ever. I know, I know. It’s pasta with pepper and cheese. Simple. Kid food. But when done right, it is absolutely amazing. I’ve been trying to perfect cacio e pepe since I first ate it in Rome nearly four years ago. When I saw this recipe for cacio e pepe with Brussels sprouts, I had to give it a try.
Read MoreI will admit to not wanting to cook last night. I had’t been to the grocery store in days. Or maybe all week. We were out of everything and all I could think was pizza. But I am really glad that Monday night’s menu was chicken with olives and capers.
Read MoreOk, so I am gushing over this new cookbook, right? Collards and Carbonara. Yum. And I decide to make Flounder with Beets, Brussels Sprouts & Brown Butter. Only, I can’t find flounder. Or baby beets. And I don’t have a pressure cooker to cook the beets. And I have absolutely no clue what sea beans are.
Carry on. Yep, that’s what I did. Just like that overused, over-edited, over updated sign. I bought groceries and carried on. The only white fish at my market was sole. I picked the smallest beets that I could find. The recipe called for 12 baby beets for four people. I had non-baby beets and eight people. I went with eight beets. I bought some Brussels sprouts. Was it two pounds? I doubt it. But I knew how to roast garlic and I finally found Sherry vinegar. I was ready to go.
Read MoreNon-stick skillet. Seriously. The directions for Patty Melts say to use a non-stick skillet. Why did I skip this instruction? Did I really think there was enough butter in the world to NOT have my patty melts stick to my regular old pan?
Read MoreI know, I know. It’s spring and this is totally a fall dinner. Last week, we were eating Not Quite Summer Greek Pasta Salad. Pick a season, lady. But trust me when I say that it really is ok to make Braised Chicken Thighs with Carrots, Potatoes and Thyme in your kitchen right now. You will eat it and love it. And your kids will have seconds. Of vegetables. Especially if you let them make the Brussels sprouts on the side.
Read MoreIt’s craziness here in the mountains this week. I’m pretty sure that it is warmer than it was the entire time we were in Southern California for spring break. We’ve been able to eat out on the porch and walk to the store for popsicles… I’m hoping this lasts forever.
In the spirit of spring, one of the recipes that we tried this week was Not Yet Summer Greek Pasta Salad from Joy the Baker. I L-O-V-E Joy’s blog. Her photos make me hungry. She’s funny (see especially this recent post). Oh, and she makes really good food. So it was only a matter of time before I tried her Greek pasta salad. Fortunately, my associates were up for the task.
Read MoreI mentioned earlier this week that I am taking a kids' nutrition class online. I’ve made quite a few new recipes this week with the kids and can say that we have been mostly successful. The kids are eating more vegetables for sure. Perhaps the carb filled vacation that we just had was overload for them too. Anyway, one of the things that I tried to make this week was homemade strawberry roll-ups. I sorted through a bunch of recipes (some of which you can see here), each with slightly different sugar content, each with slightly different technique, but all involving puréeing the fruit then baking it at 170° for several hours. This seemed pretty easy.
Read MoreCan I start by stating the obvious? Construction projects are not fun. Don’t get me wrong, the results are great. But be honest. If you were putting an outlet in a white island, what color would outlet would you use? Black, of course. Any fool knows that. I mean, you want the very first thing that your eye is drawn to in the kitchen to be the island outlet. Really? Black outlets on a white wall? You would also paint over gouges in the wall without patching them in hopes that no one would notice the gouges that were already pointed out to you. Let’s just say I was NOT at my personal best in terms of behavior yesterday.
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