doesn’t it just sound fun? I really want to try it. Something sweet? spicy? I mean pork…hello. get in my belly!
July 26, 2009
July 20, 2009
My lady lotsa lox Bagel
Rememeber lady lovely locks? Come on, the cartoon with the girls with long lovely bountiful locks of hair? Still not ringing the bell? she had pixies hiding in her hair that would help her save the day…no? You must not have been a kid in the early eighties…bad style and weird (but great) cartoons.
Moving on…this bagel is wonderful, and not at all an origonal, bagels with lox and cream cheese have been enjoyed for years…but here on the west coast it’s just not eaten very often. and why the heck not?!?! it’s amazing. I don’t keep cream cheese in the fridge that often anymore because I prefer marscapone (the italian version) but I’m sure either is yummy.
One bagel (a good one from a bagel shop would deffinitely be a plus)
smear of marscapone/cream cheese
lotsa lotsa lox (cold smoked salmon, you know the kind that isn’t flaky)
thinly sliced red onion
dill
some fresh lemon juice
coarse fresh ground pepper
toast bagel (duh) smear on your creamy goodness (marscapone in my case) top with lox, load ‘er up, squeeze just a few drops of lemon juice, top with onion & dill and grind some pepper on top. OOOOOOOhhh
*side note*
the lox (a.k.a smoked salmon) from costco is quite yummy and you can portion it out into sandwich bags and freeze it. It gets a little bit mushier, but ins’t terribly noticeable. YUM
July 15, 2009
June 22, 2009
rice reincarnated
So I’ve been contemplating how to use left over rice to make yummy foods. I attempted a rice pudding using left over steamed rice from chinese…I didn’t get the ratio right…way too much rice. I’ll be trying that one again. But the one that I loved was a tortilla soup. I used leftover spanish rice. I used chicken stock salsa and diced fire roasted (canned) chilis to make the rice which I then used to make chicken chimichangas. So with the leftover rice I had some fun. I used a chicken stock that I flavored with a little of a tortilla soup packet (I think what I did next would have been enough) then I added some fire roasted salsa and some fire roasted (canned) peppers and brought it to a boil for a few minutes. In a bowl I added 3/4 cups of rice, a handful of rotisserie chicken chunks, and some shredded (raw) napa cabbage and laddeled the broth on top. I let it sit for a few minutes giving the broth a chance to bring all the ingredients to the appropriate temperature and to cook the cabbage. I then topped it with a generous amount of fresh diced avocado, pico de gallo and crushed tortilla chips. YUM
June 18, 2009
May 23, 2009
Creamy Tomato Basil Soup
8 Cups of chicken stock
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
4 tbsp. olive oil
1 jar of marinara sauce
1 bottle of strained tomato
1 cup of sour cream
1 1/2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp. of crushed garlic
10 chopped basil leaves
salt
Pepper
saute carrots, celery, onion, in olive oil until soft. Deglaze pan with stock and add tomato and marinara simmer until desired thickness. Using a stick blender or a regular blender puree 1/2 the soup and return to the pot. Add sour cream, basil, garlic and vinegar. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
serve with parmasean cheese and freshly chopped basil leaves
May 22, 2009
Shopping=Fun
So we all know that women (most alteast) love to shop. Well, I am no exception. However, I never have enough money to buy even a fraction of what I would like to. So, in order to keep track of stuff that I would like to purchase, and some fun random things I started a kaboodle account. It’s online wishlist/shoppinglist. And I have to say it is soo much fun. I have lists of everything from things I want for my kitchen to what I’d buy if I won the lotto. I keep track of places I want to go on vaction too and places I want to eat at. I put gift ideas on there….gift ideas for people to give to me and gift ideas for me to give to other people. You can have friends and see what they are adding to their lists and even create a poll so people can vote and tell you which shoes are cuter. So when I’m broke, I shop online…I just don’t buy anything, atleast right away. Check out my list here.
February 2, 2009
Mindy’s Naughty Baked Macaroni
Most of the time when I’m cooking I try and avoid too many fats, but every once in awhile you have to have something naughty…The first time I made this the hubby went back for seconds. Everytime he asks me to make he asks for more and more bacon to be added. I usually end up adding an entire package now and it still isn’t enough…he likes his extra bad for you.
1 pckg. of elbow noodles
2 cups each of shredded cheddar, fontina & smoked Gouda
8-12 slices of bacon chopped
flour
Milk
Potato chips, thicker is better (I use kettle chips)
Boil noodles until just before the al dente stage. Fry bacon pieces until crispy and drain, reserving 2 tbsp. of drippings. Add flour to drippings until it makes a soft paste (roux), do not add so much flour that the paste forms a ball or clumps. Add 1 cup of milk to your roux and stir until creamy. Add fontina and gouda and half of the cheddar, stir until melted. Laddel a little of the sauce into the bottom of the baking dish, mix remaing sauce and noodles together and pour into the baking dish. Top with the remaing cheddar the bacon bits and crumble the potato chips on top. Bake at 350 degrees for at least 30 min. Baking time will vary depending on the dimensions of your baking dish. Enjoy!
November 12, 2008
Zucchini
Growing up I was always a weird kid…I loved my veggies. Then again maybe I wasn’t so weird. My family is full of great cooks and I grew up eating veggies from grandma’s garden that were well cooked. This simple way of cooking zucchini or really any squash is so simple that it’s often overlooked.
Ingredients:
Zucchini sliced thinly
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Directions:
Heat olive oil in a stainless steel pan over medium high heat. Add zucchini, and flip when lightly browned. Season with salt and peper and remove when the zuchini are a little firmer than al dente pasta.
Italian Sausage & Roasted Garlic Sauce
My mother’s family is primarily of Italian descent, and food was a big part of my childhood. Grandpa ran a restraunt and everyone considered themselves a self employed food critic. It’s no wonder that as an adult I equate love and caring with food. Shortly after my husband and I set up our own household I contacted my mother for a family recipe for marinara or meat sauce. Amazingly to me at the time, my mom told me that I already knew the recipe…add meat to a can of prego, toss some seasonings in, and simmer….WHAT!!! I suppose that fits into my mom’s frame of mind; She loves Sandra Lee’s semi-hommade mind set. Let me say my mom’s pasta sauce rocks, She’s a great cook. But, that being said, it’s not my favorite approach to cooking. I think that most dishes can be simply prepared and cooked and deliver great results while still be created from scratch. I also think that “recipes” should be easy to adapt to different ingredients, portions and servings. Which usually means that the recipes I create are guidelines rather than hard and fast rules. Remember in cooking you can usually do whatever you want…it’s in baking that you really need to follow the rules. I suppose that’s why I LOVE cooking I can break all the rules I want. I exasperated my mom growing up…she tried to tell me that there was only one way to do something. She was wrong.
Ingredients:
6 Italian sausages (removed from the casings)
1 large yellow onion halved and sliced
1/2 cup of red wine
1 package/can of STRAINED tomatoes
1 cup of roasted garlic puree
1/8 cup of parmasean cheese
1 TBSP balsalmic Vinegar
Sea Salt
Fresh Ground Pepper
Directions:
In a stainless steel pot, brown and chop sausage, pieces should be small bite sizes. When meat is browned add onions and cook until the onions are completely soft and carmalized. Deglaze the pan with wine and add tomatoes and garlic. Simmer for atleast 30 minutes or as long as you want (longer is usually better with sauces and soups). 10 minutes before ready to serve add vinegar, cheese and season to taste with salt & pepper. Serve over noodles tossed with olive oil. Yummmy.