A Pretty Cool Deal

So there are many way cool things about living here in Idaho. The weather (97 is hot. In Phoenix, that's a cold-front), my sisters (7 minutes door-door), Sun Valley is close enough for weekend trips, and now one of my oldest friends!!


We met on Jr high and became good friends in high school. I hit him with my car (long story that culminated in stupid teenage behavior. It's a good thing that I didn't kill him). He and I share the same twisted sense of humor and like most of the same things. Then he moved away (Jerk). And not a little away- he moved FAR away. Several States away. And left me to fend for myself in the world of high school friendships. Lucky for me, I'm extremely likeable. HA!


We clearly kept in touch and it just so happened that he was planning on moving here about a month after we did. And it has been way too fun to see him again. It's even fun when he the the hubster spend all night playing "Let's make fun of Sarah". It seems to be a favorite sport around here lately. Did you know that they even share the same birthday? Different years, but the same moth and day.  


The best part his son and D totally get along and play so well together. It's sweet. 


The two of them (he and his son) came over for dinner and games tonight and it was a blast. We had super tasty chicken and RK Treats for dessert. I botched the RK treats (hey... we all have those times when we mess up.) For the record, when your children ask you: "When will I EVER need to know about fractions and multiplication?" The answer- when you double a batch of RK treats. That's when. If you can't multiply a fraction (like me tonight) you get treats that are still good, but could be WAY better. Sigh


But let's talk about the chicken. My sister came by as I was putting it together and when she walked into my house she said "What smells so good?" Then she informed me that I needed someone to taste the couscous. How could I object? She loved it and we devoured almost all of it. Which is impressive since it was a whole chicken, a bunch of Israeli couscous and vegetables. 


The original recipe was from Anne Burrell. I love her. Classic food with a it of sass. I feel like that fits my personality...except I'm way more on the sassy side. What I would give to go to a Anne Burrell cooking boot-camp. I've considered purposefully cooking bad food to get on America's Worst Cook, but can never bring myself to do it. Bad food is such a sad thing...


Anyway- you can find her recipe HERE, but this is what I did to it (never can leave it alone, can I):

Ingredients

• 2 whole garlic bulbs
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 1 large bunch thyme, leaves only
• 1 tablespoon cumin seeds, toasted and ground
• Pinch crushed red pepper flakes
• Kosher salt
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 5-6 pounds chicken parts (skin on/bone in) I used a pre-cut up whole chicken

Couscous:

• Kosher salt
• 2 cups medium-size Israeli couscous
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 ribs celery, sliced thin on the bias
• Pinch crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 1/2 cups red wine
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 to 3 cups chicken stock
• 
  

Directions

Chicken:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Remove most of the outer wrapper, but kept the cloves together. Cut the tops off the the garlic and drizzle with olive oil. Roast them until they are soft when squeezed, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool. Once cooled, squeeze out the garlic cloves from the wrappers. 

Put the garlic in a food processor with the lemon zest, lemon juice, thyme, cumin, crushed red pepper and salt, to taste. Add some olive oil and puree into a loose paste. Massage the mixture all over the chicken pieces and let sit for at least 1 hour.

Couscous:

Bring a pot of well salted water to a boil, over medium heat. Add the couscous and cook it until it's about 2/3 of the way done, about 5 to 6 minutes. Drain and reserve.

Coat a large saute pan with olive oil and a little butter over medium-high heat. Add the chicken to the pan and brown it on all sides. Careful the garlic will burn pretty easy!!

Remove the chicken to a plate. Drain the fat from the pan and add the onions and celery. Season with salt, to taste, and the crushed red pepper. Deglaze the pan with the wine, scraping up all the browned bits on the bottom of the pan.  Cook the onions and celery for 7 to 8 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Add the cooked couscous, and chicken stock. Stir to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning, if needed. 

Transfer the mix to a baking dish. Nestle the chicken, skin side up, in the couscous and cover with foil. Add additional chicken stock to keep everything moist.

Roast the chicken for 20 minutes, covered, then remove the foil and roast for another 10 to 15 minutes.

Little Feet. Little Shoes.

I love Pinterest. There are so many ideas on there I could get lost for days. This is one that I found for my little squirts. A mini sized bench for them to sit on to put on their shoes. I tried to find the original pin, but no such luck. Sadness. 

They love it. But I think I love it more. Especially when we tell our one year old to go put her shoes on and she backs up to the bench with her little diapered butt. I just want to eat her. 

There are how to pictures somewhere, but I don't know where. The general idea is get squat legs and leg attachments from Home Depot. Screw them to a piece of scrap wood that is about the right size. Buy foam from Joann's that matches your board size. Hot glue the foam to the board. Cover with fabric and staple gun like mad on the bottom pulling the fabric tight. Screw the leg attachments to the board. 

Love your bench. 

If you make one of these leave a comment with a link to a picture! I want to see them!

Holy Amazing Vegetables Batman!!

Okay. It's no surprise that we eat meat-free on a regular basis. Actually we were just saying last night that we wanted to be meat-free more often. Like more than half the dinner meals being vegetarian would make us happy.

We made a new veg meal tonight -roasted veggie enchiladas. And HOLY COW! It was fabulous. Like so good. Like "What is everyone else having? Because this is all mine" good. Like "Excuse me while I make out with my dinner plate" good. And careful people that make out session might need an adult rating. Yes. Really. That good.

So thanks to Pintrest I found this recipe. If you would like to see the original click HERE. But as always I never leave a recipe alone, so here is what I did to it:

Roasted Vegetable Enchilada Casserole

1 Jalapeno seeded- but with ribs in, cut into matchsticks

2 red bell peppers, cut into matchsticks

1/2 head of cauliflower, cut into 1/2-inch chunks

1 small sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 1 1/2 cups)

1 medium onion, halved and slivered

1 cup corn kernels frozen

3 T vegetable oil

1 1/2 tsp ground cumin

4 garlic cloves, minced

salt and black pepper

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 cups red enchilada sauce

1/2 pound baby spinach leaves

9-10 corn tortillas, halved

2 cups shredded cheese- I used pepper jack

sour cream (optional

sliced scallions (optional)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly oil a large shallow roasting pan or rimmed cookie sheet.

Place jalapeno, red bell peppers, cauliflower, sweet potato, onion, and corn kernels into a large bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle the cumin and minced garlic over top. Add a generous pinch or two of salt and black pepper, then  mix everything together. After everything is coated well, spread the vegetables evenly on to the cookie sheet. Roast for 30-40 minutes until vegetables are tender and begin to brown. Stir or shake the pan every 15 minutes for even roasting.  Remove pan from oven and drop the temperature to 350.

Prepare an 11x8 baking dish with nonstick spray. Spread 1/4 cup of enchilada sauce into the bottom of the baking pan sprinkle with a little cilantro. Add a layer of tortilla pieces, to completely cover the sauce. Top with 1/3 of the vegetables, a handful of spinach, and 1/3 of the cheese. Add more sauce. Keep layering just like that until you've used it all. Cover with aluminum foil.

Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake another 10 minutes. The cheese is melted and everything is heated up and bubbling in that oozy goodness. Try not to make out with it yet. It's hot.

Let it sit for 5 minutes and cut into squares. Serve with sour cream and scallions, if desired.

Tofu- The Beauty of Bland

The hubster and I do meatless Mondays. Many of those Mondays include tofu. I know, I know. Tofu. The most dreaded and bland food known to man. I get a ton of questions about how to make tofu tasty (or in some cases how to make it into food). Here's my answer:

1. Press your tofu.  This allows all the water to get out of the tofu. This is important because then it will soak up your marinade in a flash it also increases it's density so it is more meat like.You can do this one of two ways. 
1. Lay out about 3 paper towels on a sheet pan. Take your extra firm tofu out of the package and put on the towels. Toss another pan on top and put a hefty cookbook on top of the pan. Careful to not have the book be too big. It will split your tofu. Sad.  Let it sit there for about an hour. 
2. Cut your tofu into four thick slices. Wrap those in paper towels and then place the sheet pan/book combo on top. Let it sit there for about an hour.
   
2. Marinate it. 
1. Tofu is bland. Like crazy bland. Like if it were a superhero, it would wear a cape and a mask and be called Captain Bland. Add some flavor. Marinate it.
   
3. Make the outside crispy.
1. You can fry it after putting  alight coat of flour and egg on it. In that order: flour THEN egg. Fry in a pan with about a 1/4" of oil in it. 
2. Broil it. 

Honestly, most of the time I wing it. I just toss a bunch of stuff into a bag and throw my pressed tofu in. Embrace your inner-chef. If it tastes terrible, order pizza!  But if you aren't feeling your inner Ratatouille, here are two of my favorite tofu recipes.

Sweet Mustard Glaze-

• 1/4 cup vegetable stock
• 1 large shallot thinly sliced
• 1 garlic clove minced
• 1 Tbs tomato paste
• 2 Tbs honey
• 1 Tbs dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp fresh thyme (1/4 tsp dried)
• 1 tbs lemon juice
• 1/2 lemon zested
• 2 Tbs balsamic vinegar
  
• Bring the stock to a boil. Add the garlic and shallot. Boil for about 7 mins or until the veggies are soft. Add the remaining ingredients and boil until it becomes thick and dense. Remove from heat. Brush on the tofu and broil. 
• Great with sauteed collard greens!!

Tandori Spice

• 2 cloves garlic
• 2" piece of ginger peeled and sliced thin
• 1/2 tsp lemon zest
• 1/2 lime juiced
• 1/4 cup cilantro leaves minced
• 1 Tbs curry powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 2/3 cup plain yogurt
• Pinch cayenne
• 1 tsp salt
  
• Combine the garlic, ginger, zest, lime juice, cilantro, curry, and cumin in the bowl of a food processor. Process until everything is very fine. Add yogurt process again. Pour into a glass bowl or a plastic zip-top bag.
• Add the tofu and marinate for 15-20 mins. 
• Broil and serve with rice.  

Alton brown did an episode on tofu. I think it's worth a youtube visit. HERE

Let's talk about THIS!

No really. Let's talk about this dish. This crunchy, light, a little bit spicy, INCREDIBLY easy meal that has me mesmerized and wanting more. I had it for dinner last night and lunch today. So good. I could eat this for days...wait I have. :p


If you like coconut: it's up your alley. If you are all about the (hidden?) veg: this is where it's at! If you're into seafood: I've got your number. Trust me. You'll love this. And for my vegetarian readers, toss in some marinated pressed tofu, and you've got it goin' on!


I pulled this from Pintrest. (Warning! Rabbit trail alert!) I love Pintrest. No really I do. I love it that I can bookmark things and then find them later with out looking through the 50 saved web pages I saved. I love that I don;t have to feel like my Chrome bookmark bar is as cluttered as my junk drawer. I just simply love Pintrest. If you like to check out my boards, you can HERE. OK. Back to the divinity of this dish.


Like I said I got this from Pintrest, but I never leave a dish alone. EVER. It drives my hubby a little mad actually. He'll like a dish the way I made it last time, but this time it's a little different. Rarely bad, but always different. So here is my take on this yumminess. (If you would like to see the original recipe click HERE)

Ingredients

• Marinade-
• 2 tablespoons fresh garlic minced or pressed
• 1.5 tablespoon fresh ginger peeled and minced (or grated)
• 1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 cup olive oil1 
• 1/2 pounds medium shrimp, peeled and de-veined (about 36 shrimp)
• 
  
• Rice-
• 1 cup water
• 1 can light coconut milk
• 1 1/2 cups uncooked long-grain rice
• 4 shredded carrots
• 2 cups diced peeled mango (about 2 mangoes)
• 1 1/2 cups diced red bell pepper
• 1/2 cup sliced green onions
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (or more to taste)

Combine the marinade ingredients in a medium bowl. Add shrimp; toss to coat. Cover and chill 1 hour.

• 
  
• Rinse the rice under running water to get out some of the starch. (Warning! Diatribe ahead) Rinsing rice is not something I see a lot of people do, but it is so important. Especially when you know you are going to have left overs that you will eat the next day. We've all had that nasty super hard super starchy refrigerator rice. It's gross. Spare yourself and rinse your rice. It will make it tastier and fluffier. Just do it. 
• I threw my rice coconut milk and water into my rice cooker. But if you do this, know that coconut milk is bubbly stuff. Do yourself a favor, throw a towel under it to catch drips. Or put it on a cookie sheet. Either way, avoid drips. 
• Add your veg, herbs and lime juice. Salt it to taste. 
• Prepare your grill to medium-high heat. Thread shrimp onto skewers. If you are using metal ones, fine. If you are using wooden ones, soak them for 20 mins first. You should put three shrimp on 2 skewers. The skewers should be parallel. Doing it this way makes flipping them so much easier. 
• 
  
•  Place skewers on grill. Grill 3 minutes on each side or until shrimp are done. 

Throw the shrimp on top of the rice. Enjoy! 

The Not So Merry Berry

We all have them. Especially this time of year. Don't deny it. It happens to all of us. There's nothing to be embarrassed about. We all go to the outdoor farmer's markets with our significant others, our kids, maybe even our dogs, and we see those huge beautiful flats of berries. And they look so good. We know they will be eaten. We promise ourselves that we will dine on those ripe delicious little morsels instead of ice cream for dessert. We are certain.

Fast forward a few days. And there the berries are. Uneaten. They aren't bad...yet. But they are past the beauty of the market. There is too much guilt to throw them away...but they don't look as appetizing and that ice cream is calling. So what to do with those little guys?? I have your answer!

Make homemade syrup! It is great on pancakes, waffles, that ice cream. But even better on these hot summer days, it makes the BEST Italian sodas ever. No really. Trust me. I know. This also works with peaches. :)

What you need to do:
Boil 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar in a 4 qt pot. Heat it until the sugar until it is dissolved. Add 2 cups of your less than fabulous fruit-- 1.5 cups for blueberries, raspberries and blackberries. NO MOLDY PIECES! 

Boil the fruit for 10 minutes. Then reduce to a simmer for another 10 minutes.










Strain the fruit out and you have a lovely syrup.

If you want the syrup thicker, return it to the pan and let it reduce more over med-low heat.






You can save the fruit for use on pancakes, waffles, ice-cream, or whatever. It's really pretty sweet, so watch out!

The syrup will keep for about a week in the fridge...but ours rarely lasts that long.

I really like it as Italian sodas.

What you will need for a 16oz glass:

3 Tbs fruit syrup
Club Soda
1/2 n' 1/2 (optional)
Ice

Pour the syrup in the glass. Add ice. Add enough club soda to fill the glass with room for cream (if you are using it). Stir and enjoy! So easy and so good.

Now you can be free of berry (and peach) guilt!

Deep Chocolate... The Final Frontier.

Ok. Not the final frontier, but it was a chocolate or die kind of day. What can I say? I was having a chocolate craving. Actually it was more than a craving. It was one of those give-me-chocolate-or-get-out-of-my-way moments. You know what I'm talking about. In that moment, chocolate was the final frontier.

Anyway, my go to recipe for those moments when it's give me chocolate or deal with my wrath, is brownies. I know, I know. Brownies. But wait. You have not had these brownies. They are the perfect amount of chewy and not too sweet. They are a cinch to make so you can whip em up right before you sit down and they are done just about the time you are winding down your meal.

You can add nuts if you are into that. I'm not. I'm a chocolate purist. You can also add dark chocolate chips (1/2 cup) if you need more oomph. Any way you do these, stand back! They are divine!!

I also have a Baker's Edge pan. It may be the best thing EVER. It makes it so EVERY piece is an edge piece. Which, in my book, is Heaven. I also use it for lasagna...but that is a different post.  If you make this for that pan, double it.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp espresso powder (optional)
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup walnuts coarsely chopped (optional) 

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a baking dish.

Melt the butter and stir in sugar. Stir in eggs 1 at a time. Add vanilla. Add all dry ingredients to a separate bowl and mix. stir into butter mixture. Spread into baking dish and bake for 25 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted into the center comes out (almost) clean.

The almost clean is pretty important. It shouldn't be sloppy, but it should have a little stuff on it. A clean toothpick is an overdone and dry brownie.

Cool in pan on a wire rack. Best served warm with cold milk. :)