Lisa's Lab

Frozen Spinach Cubes

Last night I was popping out some frozen green spinach cubes out of silicone "brownie bite" tray (well I didn't have a ice cube one- so the brownie one worked great). Anyway, Michael and Austin walked in and they looked at me like I had lost my mind. Austin said "What are those?!" I replied "Spinach Cubes". Austin, "What for?!". "For my morning smoothies" I said. Michael said to Austin "You never know what your mom is doing in her lab".

My lab? I thought it was the kitchen. Hmm...I like that though. Dexter had a lab (the cartoon, you know, Dexter's Lab, okay maybe some of you don't). "Lisa's Lab" - I do like that!

My Breakfast Smoothie:

For those who know me well, know that I really can't stand fruit for the most part. I know! I know! I even had to teach others the benefits of consuming fruit, even when I hated it. It does not taste sweet to me like most people says it does- it mostly taste sour and bitter to me- except maybe watermelon. Yum! Well, I do love blueberries and that is about it. Really.

Love, love vegetables though!

I digress, in effort to consume more fruits I decided to try smoothies again. In the past I have not liked smoothies because they taste awful (I have never even had a Jamba Juice, truth! In fact, I took one of my kids in once and had to cover my nose and breathe through my mouth because the smell of the ripe fruit - well you really don't want to know, let's just say I had to bolt out of the door!) but one day I discovered the real reason-  yogurt. I detest yogurt, always have. Greek yogurt is better, but not that much better. So guess what? I just leave the yogurt out and everything is right in the world!

1/2 cup 1% milk
1/4 cup water
1/4 of a frozen banana
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1-2 frozen spinach cubes
1 scoop of chocolate protein powder

That's it! It's like having a delicious milkshake for breakfast! Healthy to boot! Keeps me full till lunch!

-Lisa

Side Tracked..

..not uncommon. Today I had this soup on my mind:

Rachael Ray's Vegetable Soup w/Pesto Butter

I originally planned to use my small potatoes from my pantry for "Skillet Potatoes with Eggs"- but this "Vegetable Soup with Pesto Butter" would not leave my mind. The idea of all those summer vegetables and a PESTO BUTTER haunted me all day. PLUS, I could make it in the slow cooker and not stand over a hot skillet. One problem though, no meat- me I could care less- the men in the house.. would care!

I took the chance and went for it. The PESTO BUTTER saved the day! Michael wouldn't eat it, opted for leftover chili dogs- bleh! The boys were good sports though. They were not thrilled, but they know by now to make a go of anything I make, because they are willing to take one for the team! Love my boys!!

Here is my review: Would I make it again? Yes, but with changes. The soup would be pretty blah with out the PESTO BUTTER. Love the PESTO BUTTER- can you tell?! Next time, I would saute the onions and maybe even the potatoes before adding them to the slow cooker. I would dice the potatoes even smaller than recommended because it took foreveeeer for the potatoes to cook through- 4 hours on HIGH! Yeesh! Also this is where it would be ideal to use a good quality chicken stock- not the stuff in the can- it will work, shoot that is what I used- but it could have been better. 

I LOVE vegetables, so I am eager to do it again with my changes. Did my boys like it? They said it was okaaaay- thank goodness for that PESTO BUTTER or they would have not eaten it at all.

Enjoy!

-Lisa

Emeril's New Orleans Red Beans & Rice

Several years ago Michael told me that he was craving some good "Red Beans & Rice"- just like the kind he would find in New Orleans. Cool! I loved the thought of a challenge! I did some search on the internet and knew right away if anyone knew Red Beans and Rice it would be Emeril!

This recipe takes some time, but it's hand off time, but worth every minute of it! My family loves it! Nothing real fancy here, but oh so good!

This is my most requested recipe when the boys go camping with the Boy Scouts. When Austin first told me that he wanted to take this the first time, I wasn't sure if the boys would like it, I even tried to discourage him. It's mostly beans and slightly spicy and I was pretty sure the other scouts had not had this at home. However Austin said it was a great success and has been ever since! I make up a huge batch and pour into two half gallon canning jars and away they go. I will send some corn bread along and honey butter and we have some pretty happy campers!

Here are my tips:

-Soak the beans over night. I never knew really what that "over-night" meant- was I suppose to get up in make in the morning and make the recipe then? No, I learned. Just rinse the beans before you go to bed and place in a large bowl and cover with lots of water. Start the next day cooking the beans anytime after noon. The longer the soak the quicker the beans will cook.

-What is a ham hock? it's just a bone with meat on it, well really it's a pig's joint or ankle if you must know (but let's not think about too hard) and you can usually find it by other pork products in the grocery store. If you can find a ham hock that is smoked- all the better! It is a must have, not optional to make this dish standout. Trust me!

-I add about two pounds of sliced smoked sausage in with the beans- yes, two pounds!, have you seen my boys?!  They require meat! You don't have to add it if you don't want to.

-When it's time to pull the ham hock out, just let it cool for a few minutes and the pull the meat off the bone and add back into the beans. Yum!

MMMmmm!  Inexpensive to make, very filling and a little to taste of New Orleans! Doesn't get any better than that!

Enjoy!

-Lisa

Pantry Challenge

Just started looking for a new, second refrigerator- I am looking for a cheap freezerless refrigerator- I can't imagine not having one, especially since the refrigerator we have in the kitchen is so tiny for a family of six- don't get me started...

One of my favorite websites that helps me stay grounded in my "gourmet" world is is goodcheapeats.com. This month FishMama has challenged her readers to cook out of the pantry, frig and freezer. She does this every July and January, to clean out the pantry and have the chance to go through the freezer and defrost it. My freezer is in desperate need of this so I am taking this challenge to heart.

Like FishMama I went out to take inventory of my freezer:

Apparently we love pork in all forms!

I went and took a look at my pantry for a refresher and now it's time to create my weekly menus! This will be a crazy week, Austin has football "two-a-days" which means 6-8 in the morning and 6-8 in the evening and Aidan has golf camp- so I want to keep it simple. This is what I am cooking for dinner this week:

Red Beans & Rice
Skillet Potato & Eggs
Spaghetti
Mexican Stir-Fry
Skillet Pizza's

Watch for recipes to come!

-Lisa

Family and... Refrigerators .

This past week my sister Cindy and her kids, Bailey and Jake came for a visit. We had a fun time! We also got to see some of our family from Georgia- Kim, Hannah and Colton AND welcome our new adorable great niece - Blakeleigh Emma Wade! It was an eventful 4th of July week!

I cooked some, we ate out some, we had some good food and then I had some flops- it does happen. My second refrigerator in the garage that happens to be 20 years old, decided that this would be the week for a slow death- grrr! On the morning of the 4th of July, I pulled out my baby back ribs, and one whiff of those ribs sent me jumping back 10 feet with my hand over my nose. Boy I was mad! Baby Back's are not cheap! Did I already say "Grr"?!

I felt like I had been at the store so many times I really didn't want to go back. I dug back through my freezer and decided that since I had rolls already from Shirley's Bakery, that I would make sliders with the 4 pounds of ground beef I had.

I then decided to make my pie crust while the meat was thawing. I have several pie crust recipes that I really love and went for my friend Brenda's No-Fail Pie Crust since I was going to make two pies. Well....for some reason it didn't come together the way it should-ugh!! I threw it in the freezer to see if that would help. Came back later and tried to roll it out and noooooo- it was falling apart and sticking- I wanted to cry! Nothing was turning out. After staring at my pie crust for 5 minutes trying not to cry, I got a grip, it's just food, "roll with it girl!" was my pep talk and I threw the crust in the trash. I tried to imagine I was a contestant on Top Chef and just worked it through.

So what did we have??

-Sliders on Shirley's Parker House Rolls
-leftover Chicken Salad from the night before
-my copycat of Gandolfo's Potato Salad
-corn on the cobb (from the oven)
-watermelon
-chips
-later frozen Nestle Ice-Cream Drumsticks

Not what I planned, but it worked!

-Lisa

Skillet Chicken Tikka Masala

My reality is using my iphone to capture images of our food, that is, before
someone walks off with it and eats it. It does happen.

The whole family really enjoys Indian food, but it's quite expensive to take all six of us out for dinner. Over the years I have tried my hand at making Indian dishes. Remember the Curried Lentils? Yum!

Spaghetti Sauce

Once a week we have pasta at our house. I love that it provides a blank canvas to create from. Maybe once a month, or more like every other month, we actually top our pasta with spaghetti sauce.

Years ago, I found the best recipe for spaghetti sauce at food.com. It's called Jo Mama's World Famous Spaghetti Sauce. I am always a bit hesitant when a recipe says "world famous", "to die for" etc., - so many times I have been disappointed but not with this one. It is super, fantastic! I kid you not!

I have only made one change to the recipe and that is to replace the 1/4 cup red wine with 1/4 cup grape jelly. I know that might sound weird, but trust me on this. I am not sure what it tastes like with the wine, but the grape jelly adds a hint of sweetness and cuts the acidity that one sometimes tastes with tomato sauces. The grape jelly will just melt right in and flavor the sauce.

This recipe make a huge amount, which is okay for me. I can get 3 or 4 meals out of the sauce (depending on many kids are living at home at the time). I just bag up the sauce in quart-size freezer bags and pop right into the freezer. Having the spaghetti sauce on hand like this is a dinner time saver and tastes nothing like you would find in a jar.

-Enjoy!

Lisa

My Spice Cabinet!

Most of you know that cooking is my hobby- my creative outlet. I love to cook many kinds of cuisines, I love to challenge myself and to be able to do this I arranged my spice cabinet to look like this:

My Spice Cabinet- our family's favorite place!

This helps me get to my spices, herbs and condiments quickly. This is what I have in my bins:

Baking Bin on the Left: cup cake liners, candy melts, a variety of candy sprinkles, coarse sugar, and other colored sugars

Baking Bin on the Right:  a variety of flavored extracts, food colorings, gels and pastes, baking spices

Mediterranean: assorted flavored vinegars, curry powders, bay leaves, dried- oregano, basil, Italian Seasoning, rosemary, turmeric, cardamon; some speciality dried seasonings like greek, tuscan, bouquet garni, pizza, turkish and garam masala

Latino: (pretty much everything hot and spicy goes in this bin)- hot sauces of every kind (were a little crazy in this area), chili powders, creole & cajun seasonings, cayenne, assorted dried chilies, taco seasonings, cumin, Sazon (a Sunday staple seasoning)

Basic: salts in various flavorings, peppercorns, onion and garlic powder, paprika, garlic salt, lemon pepper, dill weed, old bay, seasoned salt and different pepper blends, - etc.

Asian: soy sauces, fish sauce, sesame oil, some different Asian vinegars, siracha, hot chili oils, ground coriander, chinese five spice, Sichuan peppercorns

Because of this collection I can pretty much make whatever I feel like for dinner! With these different seasonings I can have fish, chicken vegetables or whatever every week, but make it taste different each time. 

Tip: I have learned over the years to only buy spices that I know that I will use on a regular basis. I will forego buying a spice I will only use once. Spices typically need to be used within 1 year of purchase. If your spice has no smell, throw it out and decide if that is a spice you really need.

*If you live close to me, you can always try some of mine before making a purchase. :)

I love to buy most of dried spices from penzeys.com. For spices I use the most, I buy larger sizes that comes in bags. I put a small amount of that spice in little tins in my spice bins, then I will place the remaining bag full of spice in a freezer bag and store in the freezer.

No Recipe- Recipes

I probably have a couple hundred cookbooks, two filing cabinet drawers full of recipes and of course all the recipes I view daily from my favorite food blogs that I follow. Oops I forgot to mention my cooking magazines. I am little obsessed! 

As much as I love my recipes and cookbooks, I have really started going through them all and getting rid of quite a bit. I even went through my food blogs that I follow and really cleaned up in that area too. I think at one point I realized there was no way I was going to cook all the recipes I have in my collection, in my life time- yep- that much, gulp. 

Learning to read a recipe and follow the directions are crucial when learning how to cook. There are many skills and things I have learned over the years from using recipes. In fact, they have helped me learn how to cook without a recipe and there is such great freedom in being able to do that.

I thought it would be fun to start a new section called "No Recipe-Recipes"- Ha! Let me give you an example:

Last night I cooked tilapia for me and the two boys that were home. Cooking fish can be intimidating if you don't know how, but once you learn the technique (the recipe or really the method) the possibilities are endless on how you can make it your own and it's so easy!

I used lemon pepper seasoning this time and later added some freshly
grated Parmesan cheese on top!

First, I did not go to culinary school of any kind, so this is my way from all the things I have learned from reading recipes:

Sauteing Fish Filets

needed:

saute pan

fish filets, less than 1 inch thick (one per person)

oil or butter or a little combo of both

flour

favorite seasonings

vegetables, sliced (plan on about a cup or so of cooked veggies per person)

chicken broth

Rub fish on both sides with favorite seasonings*. Then pat fish filets in a some flour, shaking off excess (this helps to keep the fish from sticking to pan). Set aside.

Heat a saute pan to medium-high  heat. Add a little oil or butter or a combination of both until hot and sizzling. Place fish in saute pan and give a little shake. Cook fish for 5 minutes. Flip. Turn the heat down to low and cook for another 5 minutes. 

To check if fish is done, press finger down on the thickest part of the fish. It should feel firm and hot. You can also take a fork and kind of pull at it to see if the fish flakes. Done.

Remove fish from pan and place on plate; loosely cover with aluminum foil to keep warm. 

Turn the heat up on the pan to medium-high and add a little chicken broth to the pan, just enough to barely cover the bottom (this is "deglazing" the pan- some use white wine which is fine). Stir, scraping all the tasty bits off the bottom of the pan from the fish.

Add favorite sliced veggies. Add seasoning if you want and cook until crisp tender. Pour veggies over the top of the fish. Done and Yum!

*Tomorrow I will post seasoning profiles you can use to make your food different each time.

Enjoy!

-Lisa

Chicken Tacos

I love any kind of Mexican food! My hubby, not so much! I love the spicy, meaty, crunchy, cheesiness of it all! I could probably eat it every day! Well, that would be nice, but it does not happen as much as I would like, but that's okay, restraint is good, right?!

This recipe for Chicken Taco's is sooo good! I made this the other night and Alex said "Mom, this is so good, and so authentic tasting!" Oh yeah!

I would love to take credit for the recipe, but it is from The Food Nanny Rescues Dinner cookbook.

However, lets talk about the taco shells for a second. You know those pre-formed taco shells that you buy in a box? Don't ever buy them- yuck! Fresh corn tortillas- that is what you want and if your lucky like me and live near a Hispanic market - go there!! I do when I can, and often find the corn tortillas still warm right after they were put in the bag!! (I have been known to open that bag immediately after purchase and eat one right away- HEAVEN!)

My favorite way to cook corn tortillas is to pull out my griddle and get it pretty hot. I thrown down my corn tortillas and give them a quick spray with vegetable spray. Then I flip them over right away and spray the other side. I cook them for about a minute, flip, and cook for another minute. I then take kitchen tongs and fold the corn tortillas in half, and then cook again for about a minute for each side. I transfer them to plate that has a clean kitchen towel on it and tuck those babies in to keep warm while I do another batch. Perfect! Ready for taco fillings!

Chicken Taco's

2 T. butter

2 T. canola oil

2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces

1/2 cup onion, chopped

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

2 tomatoes, chopped or 1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes

1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

1 tsp chicken taco seasoning (optional)*

salt and pepper to taste

12 corn tortillas, cooked

Add oil and butter to skillet over medium-high heat. Once sizzling add chicken and onions (and chicken taco seasoning if using). Don't stir; let it cook for minute or so to get a nice brown on the chicken. The flip over and do the same. Cook just until chicken is no longer pink inside- don't overcook.

Add garlic; cook for another minute.

Turn the heat to low and add tomatoes and cilantro. (Add chicken broth or water if the mixture seems to dry-this might happen when using fresh tomatoes). Season with salt and pepper.

Cook for another minute or two to meld the flavors and that is it!

I like to use chopped romaine lettuce and shredded Monterey Jack Cheese for the topping. The boys like to sprinkle some hot sauce on theirs. Yum! A must!

* I love Penzey spices (penzeys.com). They have a fantastic "Chicken Taco Seasoning" that I keep in my pantry at all times. I use it for chicken quesadillas, burritos etc. This is my change up on the recipe, but you can certainly leave the chicken taco seasoning out and still have some pretty good chicken tacos!! 

-adapted from "The Food Nanny Rescues Dinner" by Liz Edmunds

Enjoy!

Lisa

Peanut Butter Cookies

This past week, as a youth church activity, Austin and his friends made some cookies for some families in our neighborhood. I was asked to oversee this and give the boys some baking tips along away. For this activity, I decided we would do my favorite Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal Raisin and Peanut Butter Cookies.

I set up three stations in my kitchen, so I divided up the boys and gave them each a recipe. I first went over some basic baking techniques. One thing that is crucial in baking, is measuring the flour the right way. Even though I have known this for years myself, I have usually taken the lazy way out and measured my flour my own way and not the correct way.

Most recipes are developed using "cup" measurements for the home cook. Professional bakers will go by "weight" than "cup". But we are home cooks, so we are fine. It is how we get that flour in the measuring cup that really makes all the difference.  In photo 1, I scooped some flour out of the container and leveled it with a knife (my lazy way). In photo 2, I spooned the flour into into the measuring and leveled it with a knife- see the difference in weight:

Photo 1- wrong way (scooped)

Photo 2- right way (spooned)

About a half of ounce difference. You may not think that is much, but it really is when you want a nice light baked good. If your cookies are "led sinkers"- this could be why. This also applies to pancakes, biscuits, muffins etc. Try spooning flour into the measuring cup next time and you will see.

This is my favorite straight up Peanut Butter Cookie recipe. It makes a ton. So I take half the cookie dough and freeze it. It's quite simple. I divide the remaining dough in two and roll each portion into a log. I then roll each log up in parchment paper and tape the ends tight. I take a marker and write what it is and what to preheat the oven to and how long to bake it. Slip the cookie dough logs into a freezer bag and voila! Done. When ready to use, I put the cookie dough in the frig and let it thaw (a couple of hours). I then cut into the log make slices 1/4" thick and lay on a cookie sheet and bake.

Find the recipe here for "The Last Peanut Butter Cookie You Will Ever Try". It really will be!

-Lisa

Saturday- Family Eat Out Day!- Maize Grill

Almost every Saturday we eat out as a family. I would love to tell you that we try some new cool restaurant every week, that does happen once in awhile, but kids being kids, and adults being, uh, kids, we just want a good hamburger and go to our favorite hamburger joint. Our favorite local joint is Burger Supreme. We have gone there so often over the years that all the employees know us by our first names, even the owner! I am not sure if that is good or bad!? They even know what our favorite orders are! One day, along time ago, I went through the drive-thru to pick up a burger after work and Jennifer, the cashier said to me "You want to dine in? Michael is here having lunch." I was like "yikes, we must eat here too much if they know me that well". Of course, I did not say that, but went and parked my car and joined Michael for lunch.

There are perks to knowing the employees, but that's a story for another day!

Last Saturday though, we broke our normal routine and went to the Maize Grill for some Venezuelan cuisine. We love supporting our local restaurants- especially when they have good food! Alex and I had been there before and loved it, so we wanted Michael and the boys to try it too! It's a tiny place, in the mall actually, but the owner and staff are so friendly and the food is simple but really good!

If you live in town and want to go, make sure you get anything with the beef in it. Fabulous! As Michael was eating, he kept saying between mouthfuls, this is so good, over and over!

The big boys watched soccer why we waited, Aidan's eyes were glued on the cook most of the time!

-Lisa

Whoa!! This Has Been a Crazy Week!

Boy my week got away from me fast! But I have been cooking, but no time to post! So here are some short posts from this last week:

My new kitchen toy:

Oh yeah baby!! I have a bigger, traditional ice cream maker that mom gave me long ago, but this is a nice, electric smaller one that makes 1 1/2 quarts- no ice, no salt, perfect for customizing favorite ice cream flavors.

To break in my new kitchen toy I made Lemon Ice Box Pie from Southern Living. As soon as I saw the picture I knew I had to make it. I love lemon! CHOCOLATE always comes FIRST, but LEMON is SECOND! What I loved about the recipe is the simple ingredients and directions. It calls for half and half instead of full cream- I can live with that! It turned out so creamy, with the right amount of lemon zing! I used cinnamon graham crackers for my crunchy bits and ohhhh yummm!! A keeper!

LEMON TIPS: When buying lemons at the grocery store you should always pick the lemon up in your hand and try to see if it feels heavy for it's size. The heavier it is, the juicer it will be - this goes for all your citrus fruits.

The other thing to do is to give the lemon a slight squeeze- what you are trying to feel for is a thin skin, not a thick one- this is a little harder to do. Who wants pay for a thick skin??- we want juice, not skin, juice. This may take some practice. I still don't always get it right myself- look at the lemons below. Hardly any juice in the one on the left, the right was only a little better.

Watch for more  of my favorite lemon recipes to come!

-Lisa

Southwest Chicken Chop Salad

In the summer I always make a main dish salad once a week. Sometimes this is not easy to pull off with four constantly hungry guys in the house, but once I tell them there is some meat in the salad they all start to relax. I personally could leave the meat out, but when it's the main course, I have to include some meat or they will all be starving in an hour.

This recipe for Southwest Chicken Chop Salad is from a new food website I found a few months ago called Lauren's Latest. Here is the link to the recipe. The recipe comes with a really great dressing that is easy to make, but I, having a salad dressing issue in general, used just enough of the dressing to barely coat the salad. In fact I would recommend halving the recipe of the dressing and I think that would still give one more dressing that is needed, but maybe that is just me (If I am going to have extra calories it's going to come from CHOCOLATE, not salad dressing, if you know what I mean).

This is a keeper.

Stay tuned, tomorrow I will try my new kitchen toy out- wait and see. Also blueberry pie?? Maybe, it is going to be hottest day of the year so far and I am seriously debating whether I really want to heat my kitchen up tomorrow. And, another attempt at trying to love my crock-pot, or slow-cooker, "slow-cooker"sounds better right?!

-Lisa

Lisa's Refried Beans

Austin made a bean and cheese burrito for himself.

It has been a long time since I have made refried beans. Refried beans usually get a bad wrap for being unhealthy, but it is really not true, especially if you make them yourself. Never buy refried beans out of a can - ick!! No taste and what is that texture?? eww! For me there are two ways:

1. dried pinto beans- this is the best way for taste and texture, believe me! It does take a some time to do, but it all hand's off time, so pretty easy really. And ask any chef, using dried beans over canned beans has better taste than that from a can and they are cheaper too!


2. canned pinto beans- like I said never buy canned refried beans, never! But buying the canned pinto beans themselves and making your own refried beans is the way to go when you are short on time. I have tons of dried beans and I have tons of canned beans, we use both- just depends on the time and recipe that I have.


Tonight I made refried beans from dried pinto beans, they are fantastic! Michael walked in from work to change for soccer and said "What smells so good?" and then later Alex walked in from work and said "Yum mom, what are you making?" Yep, this is what I like to hear!

Lisa's Refried Beans

2 - 3 cups dried pinto beans, soaked overnight*
1 smoked ham hock or shank (optional, but for me, necessary)**
1 onion, chopped
2 - 3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 t. salt

jalapeno or a can of chopped green chilies (optional)

cumin, cayenne (optional)

hot sauce (optional)

canola or olive oil

Rinse beans in colander. Place beans and ham hock in large pot and cover generously with water. Bring to a boil. Cover beans and reduce heat between low and medium. Cook for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until beans are tender. Start checking beans after 1 ½ hours.  Beans should be tender.

In the sink place a bowl with a colander on top. Pour beans into colander catching some of the bean liquid below (1-2 cups). 

Place beans in a food processor with about 1 cup of bean liquid and puree (I also add any of the meat, not fat from the ham hock). I like my beans light and airy (not gloopy and heavy!). Add enough water until desired consistency is reached.

In a skillet saute onion and garlic (and jalapeno or green chilies if using) in oil until onions are fragrant. 

Add pureed bean mixture to hot skillet and stir.  Add salt and taste; adjust if needed. Then add 1 t. cumin if using. If you like it hot add 1/4 t. cayenne or more depending on how hot you want it. Or use favorite hot sauce to kick it up. Heat through and you are done- Perfect-O!

Later, the family went on and on about the beans, really?! who goes on normally about refried beans?? see- worth it!

Enjoy!

Lisa

*Soaking the beans overnight is key. Soaking them overnight helps reduce cooking time tremendously. Before you go to bed rinse the dried beans well and look for any particles or small rocks that should not be there. I usually never find anything, but on the rare occasion I do. Place beans in a large bowl and cover with cold water. I always make sure there is about 2-3 inches of cold water above the beans.

**smoked ham hock or ham shank- this gives the beans a richness and smokiness to them that sets them apart from any other refried beans (layering the flavor). No, you don't have to use one- but you will never go back if you do. I buy a shank or hock in the meat section and use half for the beans and freeze the other half for another meal.

Smoked Ham Shank

Half the shank placed in with the beans

Chicken Stir-Fry with Black Pepper Sauce

Once a week I like to make a stir-fry for the family. Some families eat casseroles, we eat stir-fry.  I like to think stir-fry is the healthier version of a casserole.


Here are some hints to get dinner on the table fast with a stir-fry:


*have raw meat already cubed in the freezer and ready to go. I like to have on hand chicken, pork tenderloin and beef sirloin cubed in 1 to 1 1/2 pound packages. The night before or in the morning, put bag of frozen meat in the frig to thaw.


*vegetables- I always try to have assorted vegetables in my crisper drawers that would be good in a salad, stir-fry or to even snack on. Tonight I used sugar snap peas that I picked from my garden and a red bell pepper that was in the drawer. I had onions in the pantry so I was good to go. If for some reason there are no fresh veggies in the drawer I could use frozen veggies and they work just fine (you just have to cook them a little longer and on a bit of higher eat to get rid of the extra moisture).


*sauce- I usually have everything in my pantry to pull together a flavoring sauce of some sort. Tonight I made a black pepper sauce that is really good! We eat a lot of Asian food, so I always have Asian condiments on hand, such as soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, oyster sauce, fish sauce, sesame oil etc. All of these items you can now find in the regular grocery store in the Asian section. Don't be afraid to buy oyster sauce or fish sauce, just use it, it gives a great, rich, deep flavor that you can not pull off with just soy sauce. Tonight I swapped out soy sauce for Ponzu sauce which is really a citrus-flavored soy sauce. This is what Ponzu sauce and Oyster sauce look like:

Chicken Stir-Fry with a Black Pepper Sauce
(adapted from food.com)
1 - 1 1/2 lbs. 1/2 in cubed uncooked chicken (can use pork tenderloin, beef sirloin)

3-4 T. cornstarch
1 large Onion, wedged pole to pole
3-4 cups of favorite stir-fry veggies, chopped or sliced
2-3 T. canola oil
hot steamed rice
Sauce:

¼ cup oyster sauce
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp black pepper
½ tsp white pepper (optional)
1 tsp rice wine vinegar

Place diced chicken a bowl and toss with cornstarch and set aside. Whisk together sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

Heat about 1-2 T. of canola oil over medium high heat in wok or large skillet. Add half of the chicken, don't stir it for about 1 minute (this will help it brown up a bit). After a minute stir and cook until chicken is no longer pink and a little browned. Remove to a plate covered with some paper towels. Repeat these steps again with the second half of the chicken.*

Add a little more oil to the hot pan and add onion. Stir fry for about 1 minute then add remaining fresh veggies.  The key here is to cook the veggies till crisp tender; do not over-cook, you still want a slight crunch to them.

Add chicken back to the pan and then add black pepper sauce; stir to coat. Serve over rice. Makes 4-6 servings

*Note- if you add all the meat at once, the meat will steam by giving off to much liquid. I know cooking half and then half seems like a pain, but it is so worth it- trust me. :)

You will love this!

-Lisa

Memorial Day

Today was nice, the perfect temp- 72! Much nicer than the two previous cold days! Barbecue Sandwiches have been on my mind.

The Menu:
Barbecue Beef Sandwiches - "The Best!!- no, really!!)
Baked Beans
Corn-on-the Cobb
Watermelon
Chips
Smore's

* I usually make a macaroni salad or potato salad, but I had made both recently and just didn't feel like making it again- much to the disappointment of the boys I soon found out.

I have made many a barbecue pork or beef sandwiches but this is the recipe best and I have thrown all others away and, it is done in the slow-cooker and still tastes good! (slow-cookers, crock-pots, whatever the name is- I really want to like them but I don't for the most part, but that is another story).

The Best Barbecue Sandwich

3 to 4 lbs beef chuck roast or pork shoulder roast
12 oz. coca cola (not diet)
1 cup favorite barbecue sauce
1/4 cup honey
2 T. Franks Red Hot Sauce

Spray slow-cooker with vegetable spray (always for easy clean-up). Place roast in slow-cooker and pour coca cola over top and cook on the lowest setting- at least 10 hours and let it go.

About an hour before serving shred the meat. I just take two forks and shred it right in the pot. Add the barbecue sauce, honey and hot sauce (don't be afraid of the hot sauce, I promise it won't make it hot at all, just adds a nice depth of flavor). Let it finish simmering for the next hour to meld the flavors. Serve on your favorite hamburger buns. 10- 12 servings.

-leftovers freeze very well!

Really, Really Good! I promise.

-Lisa

Not for the Faint of Heart

Yesterday, I walked into the kitchen at 4 pm confident that I would have satisfying Indian dinner on the table by 6 pm. I decided first, to make a dessert. Brownies were on my mind. I knew that making my favorite rich, chocolate brownies would come together in no time flat and they could bake and then be cool by the time dinner was over. Easy.

Next I wanted to get the Lentil Curry going. This recipe was posted in our Sunday Relief Society bulletin by a neighbor, Lisa Thomas. I have made it before and our family really enjoyed it and since it was a cold day it would be perfect for my Roti Parartha to be dipped in.

One thing I have learned through trial and error is that not all lentils are the same, meaning they don't all take the same amount of time to cook. I think I need to find a cheat sheet on lentil cooking time. The first time I cooked this I used brown lentils one typically finds in the grocery store- they seemed to take forever, okay an hour and a half. This time I used red lentils found at speciality store and they took only 30 minutes. The lentils really broke down to much by the time I got the dinner on the table, they were still good though.

Lentil Curry
1 T. butter
1 onion, chopped

2-3 T. curry powder
8 oz. lentils, rinsed and picked over
2 cups + chicken broth*
1 can coconut milk
3 T. tomato paste
cilantro, chopped

Saute the onion in the butter. Sprinkle with curry powder and cook for a minute or two. Pour lentils into the pan and stir around. Add 2 cups of chicken broth and bring lentils to a boil. After lentils come to a boil, turn the heat down to low and let simmer 45 minutes or until tender (adding more broth if needed). Pour in 1 can of coconut milk and the tomato paste. Add salt to taste. Simmer until the sauce reduces a little and flavors meld. Add cilantro. Serve over hot rice.

* I have used up to 4 cups depending on the kind of lentil I was using.

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The Roti Paratha, let's just say, it should of been easy, the directions looked easy, but the technique was not. I am convinced that some important tip was missing when creating the layers of this flat bread. I wish I could have taken picture of the process but my hands were covered constantly in oil. Aidan came in at point and stared at the dough rolled out on the counter and then my hands and said "Are you sure you know what you are doing?!" I had to laugh, I was in over my head! The Roti turned out, well, not like the restaurants that is for sure and I wouldn't call it "flat" either, but hey, it was still pretty good regardless and the boys snarfed it down- so I guess my first attempt wasn't too bad.

Dinner was more like at 7:00 instead of 6:00, but with hungry boys in the house it will always work in my favor no matter what the food tastes like.

-Lisa

Flat Breads

I have had "flat breads" on my mind. This week Alex, Aidan and I decided to try a new restaurant called the the "Banana Leaf". It is a combination of Sri Lanka, Indian and food from Singapore. We love Indian food, but this combination intrigued us. It was fantastic! Can't wait to go back!

One of the things we absolutely loved was the flat bread! It was called Roti Paratha. It is very similar looking to a flour tortilla, but a little crispy on the outside with a flaky, melt in your mouth, inside. It also had a bits of toasted garlic on the surface. Oh my!!  I knew I had to learn how to make this, and soon. It is on my list for tomorrow.

This was Aidan's meal.

A "flat bread" is a simple bread with at least three basic ingredients: flour, salt and water. Think about how many cultures have flat bread. Here are a few you might be familiar with:

Focaccia (Italy)
Pita (Greece)
Chapati (India)
Roti (SriLanka)
Naan (India)
Arepa (Venezuelan)
Flour Tortillas (North American)
Corn Tortillas (Mexico)

These are just a few of the many flat breads that our out there, believe it or not!

A lot of the flat breads do not contain yeast, so those kind are relatively easy to make and are cooked on a flat hot surface and I think, make the ideal bread item.

I have made flour and corn tortillas, pita, naan, focaccia and a recipe that just called "flat bread".  One of my goals this summer is to perfect these different kinds of flat breads and to incorporate them more into our everyday meals. So stay tuned...tried and true recipes to come!

Oh, this was my dish that I ordered, but this is an adventure for another day:

Roti is torn up into pieces and is the base for the Kothu. Love!!

Lisa

New Year- New Endeavor!

I feel like stating something like you would write in a journal or diary- "Sorry it has been so long since I last wrote"... But it's true!

With a new year, comes new goals and one of those is going to be to do a better job of keeping in touch with my family and far away friends. Right now my expectations for myself in this endeavor are simple and we will go from there.

Downstairs I have a "work area" or what Michael would call a "mess". It is true. Most of the time is it covered with things I never get time to do. Over the holidays I sorted everything into piles and tried to decide what is most important and what I really want to make time for in this personal area of my life. So here is my list of what is moving back into my life for 2012:

Lisa's Personal To-Do's 2012

1. Daily Scripture Study- actually I really am consistent with this and pretty addicted
2. Photo Organization - Help!!
3. Learn how to use the Silhouette Cameo machine that I splurged on- seems cool, but I no idea what to do first- I am frozen!
4. Personal History- I better write it down before I forget
5. Continue to learn Photoshop
6. Write a cookbook! What? I know!? But I have a great idea!
7. Keep trying new recipes!

but then here are

Lisa's Reality To-Do's:

1. Family First- Always!
2. Work- which for the most part I really enjoy!
3. Church Responsibilities- Ward Monthly Newsletter (must know Photoshop better!) and Stake Cub Unit Commissioner- ??? still figuring that one out.
4. Keep a clean and organized house- uh yeah...
5. Exercise and Healthy Eating..uh yeah..

Here's to a New Year!!