Until Next Year Tomato Season.

This is my farewell post to my absolute favorite vegetable season. See you next summer yummy BLTs and delicious Caprese salads. I will also miss this play on traditional bruschetta from one of my favorite bloggers. I usually follow How Sweet Eats recipes to a tee, but I made a couple modifications because well, I was lazy and wanted to skip steps like grilling. I don't have a balcony for barbecuing in my new apartment and walking to the communal BBQ is just.too.far. No, not at all, but I love raw corn so here we go!

It is pretty darn close to her recipe, so feel free to jump over to her blog at take a look too.

Tomato, Corn, Basil + Whipped Roasted Garlic Cheese Crostini 

(adopted from How Sweet Eats)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

1 baguette, sliced
12 ounces of sheep's milk cheese (goat cheese or feta cheese works too!)
2 tablespoons of whipped cream cheese
1 head of roasted garlic
2 ears of raw sweet white corn, cut from the cob
1 pint of heirloom tomatoes (grape, cherry, sun golds...I love the color)
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
1 teaspoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

-Place sliced baguette onto baking sheet and bake until golden, about 8-10 minutes (bake longer if you want it really crispy)
-While bread is baking, add cheeses and roasted garlic cloves to a food processor and blend until creamy.
-Toss corn, basil, sliced tomatoes in olive oil, salt and pepper.
-Spread your whipped roasted garlic cheese on your baguette and then top with the tomato/corn/basil goodness.

Eat as many as you possibly can! That's what I do.

Sausage (or not) Stuffed Mushrooms

I feel like most people either LOVE or HATE mushrooms and I definitely used to be one of the haters. Over the years, I have experimented with recipes and find that I like them more and more. Will I eat raw mushrooms? No. Will I eat sautéed mushrooms in a balsamic glaze? Of course. I will also eat these little guys too...stuffed with sausage or not. 

This was my last minute Super Bowl appetizer and I think everyone liked it. I wanted to please the masses, so I made some stuffed with sausage and some vegetarian. There were even some anti-mushroom eaters that seemed to enjoy them too. I mean...it is healthy, right? 

Sausage (or not) Stuffed Mushrooms 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

24-30 white mushrooms (approx. two boxes)

1 medium onion, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

2 tablespoons of olive oil

2 links of Italian sausage (casing removed) 

2 cups of fresh spinach, chopped

3 ounces of Gruyère cheese, shredded (I used Trader Joe's Cheddar Gruyère Cheese)

red pepper flakes to taste

salt and pepper to taste 

- Pop the stems off the mushrooms and place cavity side up on a baking sheet. Bake until mushroom caps are tender, 8-10 minutes. Chop half the mushroom stems and reserve. 

- Cook the sausage on the stovetop until brown. Set aside in a separate bowl.

- Add oil, garlic, onion and the mushrooms stems to the pan. Sauté until tender, 3-5 minutes. 

IF cooking vegetarian, add the oil to a separate pan and cook accordingly. 

- Add spinach, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Mix in the pan until spinach is wilted. 

- Remove filling from the heat and start adding to your mushroom caps. Fill each mushroom and top of the cheese. 

- Bake for another 8-10 minutes or until the cheese is melted. 

Share with all your friends and enjoy! 

Flax Seed Banana Bread

My weekday morning routine usually consists of a green smoothie and a "healthy" muffin or yummy bread. Let's be honest, I could eat a buttery almond croissant every morning but I try to save those for special occasions. You know, like the weekend. :)

One of my all time favorite recipes is this Banana Almond Muffin recipe but when I want to do something different with my ripe bananas, I go for a more traditional banana bread. This recipe is great because it is made with coconut oil and maple syrup. I even add greek yogurt for some protein. The yogurt is an alternative to a banana so, if you don't have the greek yogurt, just add in another ripe banana instead.

Flax Seed Banana Bread
adopted from my fav, Smitten Kitchen

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2 large ripe bananas
1/3 cup greek yogurt
1 large egg
1/3 cup coconut oil, warmed until it liquefies
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp table salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)
1/4 cup flax seed

- Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan with some of your coconut oil and set aside.
- In a bowl (I used my KitchenAid stand mixer), mash up the bananas and then mix in the yogurt.
- Whisk in egg, coconut oil, brown sugar, maple syrup and vanilla.
- Add baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and still until combined.
- Still in flour (1/2 cup at a time if you are using the mixer) and the flax seed.

Pour mixture into your prepared loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes or until your toothpick comes out clean when you test it.

Note: Let the bread cool in the pan before you remove it. I have no patience so I usually pull my bread out too early and haven't allowed it enough time to cool and finish baking in the warm pan. It is easier to slice if it is cooled too.

Enjoy! 

Banana Almond Muffins - healthy and vegan!

Looking for a fast breakfast idea? These muffins are it! I have made this recipe three times now and don't plan to stop anytime soon. They are easy to make and a quick "grab n' go" item in the morning. I think way too many people skip breakfast because they don't have time and when they do grab something, it may not be the healthiest option. I mean, I definitely indulge in a good brunch with some sweet and savory dishes but I try to keep my M-F breakfasts healthy and packed with all the good stuff. 

Enjoy! 

{Vegan} Banana Almond Oatmeal Muffins

adopted from Coffee & Quinoa

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

1/2 cup almond butter

1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (4-5 bananas) 

3 cups old-fashioned oats (I used gluten-free oats)

1 1/2 cups plain unsweetened almond milk (I used vanilla)

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 cup raw sliced almonds + extra for topping

- Grease a muffin tin with baking spray. These muffin tins will be filled to the top!

- Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and stir until thoroughly combined (I used my KitchenAid stand mixer for this). 

- Spoon into muffin cups. Top with a few sliced almonds.

- Place on rack in the center of the oven and bake until oatmeal cups are firm to the touch, about 20-25 minutes.

- Wait several minutes for oatmeal cups to cool before running a knife around the edges and removing them from the tin. Voila! 

I refrigerate and take one with me each morning for a breakfast on the go! These also freeze well, so if you make a large batch, you have the option of freezing and pulling them out as you need to. 

Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies

So, I can't take credit for this yummy cookie recipe. Typically I find a couple different recipes I like and then make them my own, but since this was my first time baking red velvet cookies from scratch, I found one to follow almost exactly. The Cooking Classy blog is where I found these red velvet crinkle cookies and I am really happy with how this Valentine day treat turned out.

Now, the only changes I made to this recipe was substituting almond milk instead of regular milk, left out the white chocolate chips and I used a little bit more lemon juice since I had extra from the full lemon. 

I do recommend using all the food coloring to keep the cookies vibrant in color. If you don't have regular food coloring, icing color works too. I tested it since they offer icing color in several different shades at any craft stores. Last, do exactly what she recommends with cooling the dough and buttering your hands to roll into balls. In fact, I used canola oil on my hands and it worked great!  

Finally, make some cute Valentine tags, bag them up and deliver to your loved ones! 

             

Seasons are changing. Lets bake.

Well...I have officially welcomed Autumn with my first baking session of the season. I must thank Ina Garten for this yummy apple crisp recipe because I was too lazy to think up something on my own. Yes, I know what you are thinking, apple crisp is not a difficult recipe to throw together. Well I was lazy so I needed to rely on the Barefoot Contessa for this one. I will step up my game this season, I still have plenty of time.

                   

Welcome to the season of butternut squash, pumpkin, apples and cinnamon!

See everyone at Feast Portland tomorrow! Can't wait for al the events...stay tuned for this weekend's post. 

Let's Infuse Some Vodka...

What do you do with some really crappy leftover vodka? Infuse it. At midnight on a Sunday.

Recently, we made a homemade Bloody Mary mix and of course, needed the perfect vodka to go with it (we are still perfecting the mix so that post will come later). It was late on Sunday and my lovely boyfriend thought it would be a good idea to run to the store for bacon and jalapeños. Oh yeah, and a surplus of mason jars. Apparently, the three we already had wasn't good enough. Despite the late hour, we had a pretty good time and learned that infusing vodka is very simple.

Infusing lemon vodka OR jalapeño vodka:
1. Fill mason jar 3/4 full of vodka
2. Cut up one lemon OR two jalapeños into quarters and put into mason jar with vodka
3. Let the two infuse for 5-7 days for maximum flavor
4. Mix your favorite drink - preferably a Bloody Mary, duh.

Infusing black tea vodka:
1. Fill mason jar 3/4 full of vodka
2. Place tea bag in mason jar and screw on the lid
3. Let the tea bag steep in the vodka for 3-4 hours (I did it for 6 hours and it was pretty strong)
4. Mix your favorite drink - we love hard Arnold Palmer drinks or something like this

These are the things we learned:
1. Infusing bacon vodka is not as easy as it looks. We had a blog DIY fail on our first attempt. Lots of recipes say to use the bacon fat but I don't recommend it. We had better luck with this recipe.
2. Crappy vodka is still, crappy vodka. Next time we are going to venture up a couple shelfs at the liquor store and go for something a little smoother.
3. It is hard to fall asleep when your house smells like bacon.

Let me know what your favorite recipes are!

Avocado, Tomato & Arugula Salad

I rarely have the chance to eat in our restaurant at work but when I do, I am NEVER disappointed. This past visit to JORY inspired me to try and recreate a lunch entree at home. It wasn't quite the same but it still turned out just as colorful and delicious!

Check out my Avocado, Tomato & Arugula Salad (topped with chicken).

As usual, I found several different citrus chicken marinades online and landed on one of my own (by combined ingredients until it had a good flavor). 

Chicken Marinade Ingredients
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup of olive oil
1/4 cup of white wine
1 tablespoon of brown sugar (white will work too)
juice from half a lemon
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
dash of salt and pepper 

Salad Stuff
1 cup of arugula
1 avocado, cubed
1 cup of sliced grape tomatoes (cherry tomatoes will work too)
2 tablespoons of toasted pine nuts
1/2 cup of cooked barley
2 tablespoons of your choice vinaigrette

Preparation 
Slice chicken breasts into small strips and set aside. Whisk all the marinade ingredients together and pour into a container with a lid. Add the chicken strips to the container and cover with the marinade. Seal container, refrigerate for at least three hours. I recommend marinating overnight if time allows. The flavor is so much better!

When chicken is ready, bake in the oven at 350 degrees like I did or you can grill it for some barbecue flavor. Mix all the salad ingredients in a bowl and toss with dressing. Top with your cooked chicken and voila!

The entree at JORY was prepared with Steelhead, farro and a house made dressing. So, you can see mine was slightly different, but still so fresh tasting!

Almond Vanilla French Toast

I am trying this new thing...cutting out dairy. Not completely because that would be impossible, but I am experimenting to see how it will make me feel over time. So, now I have almond vanilla milk in my fridge which is what lead me to Almond Vanilla French Toast. Yummy. This is a very simple recipe and it can be doubled or tripled with ease.

Ingredients 
3 large slices of sourdough bread (any bread will do, this is just what I had on hand)
2 eggs
1/4 cup almond vanilla milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter
handful of sliced almonds

Preparation
Mix the cinnamon, brown sugar and almonds together in a shallow dish and set aside.

Make an egg wash in a bowl with the eggs, almond vanilla milk and the vanilla extract. Slice large pieces of bread in half.

Place a skillet on the stove at low-medium heat and melt the butter. Dip each slice of bread in the egg wash and then cover with the cinnamon/sugar/almond mixture. Place on the skillet with the melted butter, cook until one side is golden brown and then flip to cook the other side.

Top with some sliced almonds and maybe some powdered sugar too...enjoy.

Serves two.

Chicken Alfredo - Cajun Style

My cute apron was calling my name and it felt like a Cajun cuisine kind of night. To my surprise, I had all the ingredients on hand, so I went for it. My Creole dishes of choice? Cajun Chicken Alfredo & Jambalaya.  

The Cajun Chicken Alfredo recipe is not a new one but it took me a little bit to rack my brain on how to make it. After some online recipe research, I was ready. What I do remember from last time is that I had a heavy hand with the cayenne and pepper spices. This recipe is a bit more mild, but feel free to add red pepper flakes or more cayenne to your blackening spice. 

Ingredients 

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1/2 cup of blackening spice (I made my own) 

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 cloves of minced garlic 

8 ounces of roasted cherry tomatoes (sun dried tomatoes work too) 

1 pint of heavy cream or half n half

1/4 cup white wine

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese

salt & pepper to taste

1/3 cup sliced scallions 

16 ounces of cooked fettuccine 

Preparation 

Dredge the chicken breasts in blackening seasoning. If they are thick, filet them in two and dredge with the seasoning. Place in skillet over medium heat until chicken breasts are fully cooked. Set aside. 

Add two tablespoons of olive oil to the skillet and then add the minced garlic and roasted tomatoes. Sauté in the skillet for 2 -3 minutes. 

Slice the cooled chicken and add to the skillet. Pour white wine in the pan to deglaze and then add the heavy cream. Increase the heat to a simmer and reduce the cream sauce until you reach your desired consistency.  

Once the sauce's consistency is to your liking, add the 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Mix in the cooked fettuccine pasta, garnish with scallions and the remaining Parmesan.  

 Enjoy! 

New recipes from How Sweet It Is

Guess what? It is going to be a weekend in Portland so I hope to have some great new restaurants posts SOON! Stand by.

But, until then, read about my obsession with some of Jessica's recipes from How Sweet It Is. If you haven't been to her blog, then you are missing out. I warn you...once you start, you won't be able to stop. I could make EVERY recipe and last night, I made two - Sweet Potato Burgers with Avocado and Double Bean Burger Patty Melts.

My love for sweet potatoes is almost surpassing my love for anything inspired by caprese salad. Okay, so that might be an exaggeration, but I do love them. This recipe was so easy and the potato/avocado combination is divine. I did alter the recipe slightly, not because it needed it, but because I lacked the proper ingredients to make the cream. Instead, I made a simple rosemary, roasted garlic aioli:

Ingredients - Rosemary Roasted Garlic Aioli
1/4 c. mayo
1 tablespoon rosemary
4 cloves roasted garlic
salt and pepper to taste

Mash up the garlic cloves and then mix with mayo, rosemary, salt and pepper. Voila!

Now, the reason I also made the bean patties is because my other half doesn't drool over sweet potatoes like I do (he did end up liking the burgers though). The Double Bean Burger Patty Melts were fantastic except that I did something wrong and the ingredients didn't stick together very well. My recommendation - rinse and drain the beans properly. I think I had too much liquid from the canned beans, so I started off on the wrong foot. Not good. Yet, the flavor was still wonderful and the caramelized onions tasted great with the beans and cheese.

Since we had extra patties, I just decided to freeze them, just like we would with a traditional beef burger. They won't last long in there, I can assure you that.

What's for dinner? Well, what's in the pantry?

It was a typical, "what's for dinner?" kind of night and I wasn't in the mood for grocery shopping. The challenge: using the ingredients I already had in my pantry. A game that I don't play well. My inspiration was some chicken, mozzarella cheese and marinara sauce.

Naturally, that lead me to Chicken Parmesan! I made it on the fly and I didn't have to spend ten minutes looking up a recipe....it was so easy! Read and learn.

Recipe - Simple Chicken Parmesan

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

You need:
Egg & milk (for the egg wash)
Mozzarella cheese
Marinara Sauce
Chicken breasts

Make your Parmesan crust:
Bread crumbs
Italian seasonings (oregano, parsley etc...)
Minced garlic
Salt & pepper
Parmesan cheese

Now, follow the steps:
Flatten chicken breasts, dredge each one in the egg wash and then cover with your homemade Parmesan crust.
Brown the chicken in a hot skillet with olive oil for about 2-3 minutes.
Place the crusted-chicken in a "bake safe" dish (like a glass baking dish or pan).
Cover with mozzarella cheese and top with marinara sauce.
Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes.


Voila! Serve over noodles and you are good to go (add some delicious garlic bread if you have it)!

For next time, I might try to add some red pepper flakes. My recipe needs something else but I am not sure what. Might need to have a chat with good ol' Giada, the Italian expert herself.

What would you add to this recipe?

Delicious Thai Coconut Chicken Soup

So, I have a terrible trend of only blogging monthly. What a sad excuse for a "blogger" I am. If I spent half the time writing on my blog as I did reading other people's blogs, I would be a pro. Since I spend most of my time on food blogs, I have quite the collection of recipes to try. Yesterday, I made a Thai Coconut Soup from Our Best Bites and oh.my.gosh it was DELICIOUS. They weren't kidding either...it was easy and so quick!

Most of the ingredients I had at home except the coconut milk. So, since I was out, I made it even easier and picked up a cooked rotisserie chicken. This worked great! I love Thai food so it was almost a no brainer that I was going to love this recipe.

I didn't change a thing when I made the recipe but I did add more jalapenos for spice. One piece of advice that I read in the post was to serve the soup quickly because the ramen noodles absorb a lot of the liquid. This is SO true. We had left overs and when I was scooping the soup into smaller containers, there wasn't nearly as much liquid.

Take a look at the ingredients and for the whole recipe, check it out at Our Best Bites.

Easy Thai Coconut Soup

Recipe by Ourbestbites.com
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoon minced jalapeno pepper
1 1/2 tablespoon fresh minced ginger, or 1 ½ teaspoons ground dry ginger
2 14.5-ounce cans chicken broth
1 13.5 ounce can coconut milk or light coconut  milk (about 1 3/4 cups)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 packages ramen noodes (discard seasoning packet)
optional: ¾ cup sliced mushrooms
1 ½ tablespoon fresh lime juice
2 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1 cup diced or shredded cooked chicken
toppings:  additional chopped cilantro, sliced green onions, and lime wedges

Brown Butter Chicken Parmesan Pasta

Chicken. That was my inspiration for tonight's meal. I had two chicken breasts that I needed to use but I was lazy and tired and definitely not into trying a new recipe. But, I was determined. Eventually, I discovered a new food blog called How Sweet It Is and this recipe was on her home page - brown butter parmesan chicken linguine. YUM.

I have never made brown butter before, so that was what first intrigued me (yes, I know...who hasn't made brown butter?). I jumped up off the couch and instantly started pulling out ingredients. The only thing I lacked was the mushrooms and dry wine, but I improvised and it turned out pretty darn good. 

Making brown butter was a success! I just loved how Jessica from How Sweet It Is wrote this post because she made me so excited about something as simple as brown butter. Reading her post made me want to find as many dishes as I can with brown butter! :) 

Here was the photo that inspired me to make this dish: 

brown butter via How Sweet It Is

A quick look at the ingredients:

1.5-2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into pieces

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 1/2 tablespoons canola oil

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 medium sweet onion, sliced

1 cup sliced mushrooms

4 garlic cloves, minced or pressed

3/4 cup dry white wine

1/2 pound whole wheat pasta (preferably noodles)

2/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese + more for topping

fresh chopped parsley for topping

Check out her blog for other delicious recipes! 

Black Beans & Rice with Apple Salsa

I found another delicious recipe that I had to try, and guess what? It was actually a healthy one! This recipe is from Our Best Bites blog and is sort of a latin dish, Black Beans & Rice with Apple Salsa. I was drawn to this recipe because I wanted to try the apple salsa and it was so easy. I will definitely be making this again.

This dish calls for chicken and you can prepare it anyway you would like. Grilling chicken on the barbecue would be tasty and I want to try this next time, but I was in a rush, so I went for the rotisserie chicken from the grocery store.  

If you read Sara's original post, she recommended adding less broth and I couldn't agree more. I ended up probably adding about 10 ounces instead of the full 13.5 ounce can - you can decide though.

See below for the ingredients and check out the recipe from Our Best Bites:

Black Beans and Rice with Chicken and Apple Salsa
Adapted from Bon Appetit, January 2012 

Feel free to play around with the quantities in this recipe, like I did.  You can add more onion to the salsa, or increase seasonings in the beans.  Taste as you go and make it your own!

1 cup chopped peeled Granny Smith apple
1/4 cup chopped cilantro, divided
1/3 cup finely chopped red onion, divided
2 limes
1/3 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
3 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 teaspoon chili powder
3/4 teaspoons coriander
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 13.5 ounce can chicken broth
2 15-ounce cans black beans, drained and rinsed
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 cups cooked brown or white rice
1 rotisserie chicken, or 4 grilled chicken breasts
4-6 lime wedges

Baking with berries - Berry hazelnut honey crisp

Summer is upon us and sadly we only have a few weeks left...but lucky for us Oregonians, we have a great berry season! Last year, I went berry picking at Rowell Bros. in Hillsboro, Oregon, but this year I headed to the farmlands at Crawford's Produce in Cornelius, Oregon. They have a stand at the Orenco Station Farmer's Market with all kinds of berries and other produce. So we headed out to the farm and ended up picking 12lbs of berries, including blackberries, boysenberries and blueberries!

My craving for berries came from a Blackberry hazelnut honey crisp recipe that I found in Sunset Magazine! It looked fabulous...so I found a similar recipe online and improvised (if you have read my blog before, you know I like to find multiple recipes and make my own creation).

Find the full recipe here, but below are the ingredients and my modifications:

• 1 1/2 cups fresh blackberries
• 1 1/2 cups fresh raspberries (I used boysenberries) 
• 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
• 4 tablespoons white sugar (I used wildflower honey to sweeten instead) 
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 1/2 cups butter

PLUS - add 1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts to the mixture. YUM! 

This recipe was delicious and did not take long at all! As usual, it was easy...because I like simple and quick recipes.

It is a great dessert for a dinner party or a summer BBQ. I prepped it in the pan ahead of time and then after dinner I put it in the oven 30 minutes and it was ready to go! Have it with some homemade whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Do you have any great berry recipes you love? I still have about 8 more pounds of berries to use :)

Homemade Mini Pizzas - a family tradition

My family has been making mini pizzas for Christmas Eve dinner for as long as I can remember. It is a tasty and interactive dinner that is great for any age. Normally pizza is a little underrated for Christmas Eve dinner, but not in my household! We love the tradition and it is even something you can do anytime of the year.

Over the years we have experimented with a variety of ingredients and explored all the different crust options. This year was the best by far - we added pesto and basil to the ingredients. If you have read any of my previous posts, you know how much I love basil.

It all started with the kid-friendly pizza - english muffin crust, marinara sauce, cheddar cheese, pepperoni and sausage. (There may have been veggies to choose from, but as a kid, I was not interested).

Now we have stepped up our game with the option of making our own crust with pre-made pizza dough or already baked eight inch pizza crust rounds. My mom even bought some pizza crust rounds layered with cheese. Yum!

Here are some toppings we used - try these or experiment with your own!

Our toppings

Fruit

Tomatoes

Pineapple

Meat

Ham

Sausage

Pepperoni

Cheese
Mozzarella
Cheddar
Parmesan

Veggies
Mushrooms
Olives
Basil
Green Peppers
Scallions

Take a look at the finished product!

Next year I think we want to try a BBQ chicken pizza or maybe a Thai chicken pizza? 

Let me know what sounds good to you!

Update 10/2/12: Where to get the crust? Check out Trader Joe's pizza dough. They have it in three different flavors - whole wheat, traditional and garden herb. Also, you can buy pre-made pizza crust rounds too. I have had luck buying them at Winco but I believe Trader Joe's sells them too. 

Chicken/Shrimp Kabobs and Chocolate Mousse

Alright so I am a couple weeks behind on this one...but I have to tell you about the awesome kabobs and chocolate mousse we made on Memorial Day. I lucked out for two reasons, one - I had the day off on Memorial Day and two - the weather was nice! You know what that means, time for barbecuing!

On the menu - chicken and shrimp Kabobs (with an array of veggies) and an easy easy chocolate mousse



We already had most the ingredients for the mousse and we had shrimp and pineapple already for the kabobs. But, we still needed a few more things so, my sister Kenzie and I headed to the store for the remaining ingredients:

Chicken (look for the $1.99 a lb chicken on sale at Albertsons)

Zucchini

Bell peppers

Sweet yellow onion

Red potatoes

Strawberries

Heavy whipping cream

A great baguette (which was gone before it hit the table...oops)

When we got home, we fired up the grill and cut up all the vegetables while we waited for it to heat up. Kabobs are fun because you can give everyone a couple skewers and they can customize their meal however they would like.

We then added the spices to the kabobs. You can do whatever you want (lemon pepper, salt, garlic powder, coriander...), but we used Dean Jacob's Seafood Rub for the shrimp and Poultry Rub for the chicken. A tasty melody of spices and each rub complemented the meat nicely.

*When you are grilling kabobs, remember that some items cook faster than others. We cooked the shrimp on separate skewers because they cook so much faster than the chicken and vegetables. Also, cut the potatoes smaller than your zucchini, onion, peppers etc...because they take a lot longer on the grill and you don't want undercooked potatoes.

While that was cooking, we starting to make our easy chocolate mousse. We found a recipe online that we used and I usually add or subtract ingredients, but this one was perfect the way it was and it took us 5 minutes to make:

6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/3 c. strong hot coffee
1 tbsp. rum or Kahlua  (We used Kahlua)
2 eggs
1/2 pt. whipping cream

It looked so good, we doubled it...and thank goodness we did because it was gone in less than 24 hours!

So another successful dinner and I had leftovers to take to work which was even better. Now it is your turn, get cooking and enjoy!

Grilled Brown Sugar Pork Chops

Beautiful days in the Northwest always call for some outdoor grilling on the barbecue. On last night's menu were some good looking pork chops so I decided to find a quick and easy glaze to whip up that was light but had some good flavor. On allrecipes.com I found an easy brown sugar glaze that got excellent reviews. It had of course two of my favorite ingredients, brown sugar and ginger (but, who am I kidding? I have a lot of favorite ingredients!). Oh and we also cannot forget the 1/2 cup of apple juice, which was the selling point for me on this recipe. You can't go wrong with pork and apples.



I did not do much modifying to this recipe because I liked all the flavors, so I will just list the ingredients below:

• 1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed


• 1/2 cup apple juice


• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil


• 1 tablespoon soy sauce


• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger


• salt and pepper to taste


• 2 teaspoons cornstarch


• 1/2 cup water


• 6 boneless pork chops

All you have to do is combine the oil, soy sauce, juice, ginger and brown sugar in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Once you do this, mix the cornstarch and water in a separate blow and then add to the sauce slowly until you get your desired thickness. I just kept adding the cornstarch and water mix until my sauce had a consistency similar to maple syrup.

Of course while you are making the glaze, sample it a few times to make sure it has the flavor you want. I added a little more apple juice for flavor, but that was about it.

For a marinade, eliminate the cornstarch and water and just marinate the pork chops in the sauce for 30 min and then place on the grill. Yum!

Here is the full recipe and reviews at allrecipes.com - Grilled Brown Sugar Pork Chops

Enjoy!

Coconut Shrimp with Southwestern rice

A couple of weeks ago I was craving shrimp, but I did not just want boring shrimp with cocktail sauce. I love trying new recipes, especially if they are easy ones. In another life I am supposed to be a chef, but in this life, I will stick to simple cooking. On the menu was coconut shrimp with southwestern rice and a side of asparagus. I was going for a zesty southwestern dish, so that is how I came up with the coconut shrimp and rice. As for the asparagus, that was just something I had on hand and it adds color! Why not?

My starting recipe was one I found on Food Network, this is usually my default Web site to start looking for delicious dishes. When I find a recipe, I usually end up adding and subtracting ingredients or I combine multiple recipes. Here is what you need for my coconut shrimp recipe...

Canola oil for frying (or anyone you have on hand)

1/2 cup seasoned crushed croutons (or bread crumbs)

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 pinches ground cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon of ginger

1 cup shredded coconut

2 egg whites

1 lime

1lb large fantail shrimp, deveined and peeled

The recipe online calls for Chinese Five Spice and that can be used instead of all the spices I used, I just did not have Five Spice.

Directions -

Heat oil over medium heat.

Mix coconut, bread crumbs and all spices together in a bowl.

Lightly beat the egg whites. Dip shrimp in the egg whites, then dredge shrimp in coconut mixture.

Fry shrimp 5 minutes in hot oil until evenly golden and crispy. Garnish with lime wedges and serve.

So simple! Next, you can bake or cook your asparagus and season with salt and pepper to taste. If you want to add a southwestern or yellow rice, be sure to start cooking it on the oven before the coconut shrimp, so it is all ready to serve at the same time!

Eat and enjoy.