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!!