Pico De Gallo, Guacamole and Curry Chicken

This has been one of those weeks that I've wanted to get in the kitchen and get cracking. Having a husband gone for 4-5 days of the week and living off the boys leftover mac and cheese, pb&j crusts and cereal makes me want to be productive by the time Monday rolls around. Throw in a big trip to Trader Joe's and I'm all set for some therapeutic chopping, sautéing and simmering. Yes, cooking is therapeutic for me.


So I'll cut to the chase. I had an insane craving for homemade pico de gallo and guacamole. I love good guac but I can't tell you the last time I made it. It's been years...maybe even a decade. Seriously. That streak is over thanks to Pioneer Woman's recipes for both. Her pico is super easy. Use equal amounts of:
1. diced yellow or red onions (I like yellow)
2. diced roma tomatoes
3. chopped cilantro
Add in some diced jalapenos (I cheated and used a couple spoonfuls of jarred diced jalapenos)
Stir all together in a bowl, add the juice from half a lime and season with salt to taste. Test it with a chip before adding more salt, since the chips usually have salt.

Pico only keeps for a day or so, so only make the amount you'd use in that time.

For perfect guacamole, simply mash a ripe avocado with a fork (not too mushy!) and toss in a hefty pile of the pico. Stir together gently, test to make sure the taste is how you want it and sprinkle with a little paprika to make it look pretty. If needed, add a little more lime juice. Both the pico and the guac are AMAZING with Trader Joe's Reduced Guilt Pita Chips. To me, they're way better than tortilla chips.


So that was lunch...pico de gallo and guacamole. Oh, and I forgot to mention a helping of Pioneer woman's Sherried Tomato Soup. This soup will knock your socks off, big time.

O.K, so moving on to dinner...

Thanks to Jen, I now have a subscription to Cooking Light again! The first recipe I wanted to try was Chicken Curry. I tweaked it a bit, and here's what I came up with. It was pretty good and didn't take long to throw together.

1 TBSP grapeseed oil
2 boneless skinless breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces
salt
2 cups green and red bell pepper strips
half of a small yellow onion, but into strips
small can bamboo shoots, drained
1 garlic clove, minced
2 TBSP fresh lime juice
2 TBSP reduced sodium soy sauce
2-3 TBSP red curry paste
1 tsp brown sugar
1 (14-oz) can light coconut milk
torn fresh basil

3 cups hot cooked jasmine rice

1. Sprinkle chicken evenly with salt and pan fry in oil until lightly browned on all sides. Add bell pepper, onion, bamboo shoots and garlic to pan; saute 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove chicken and vegetables from pan. Combine juice, soy sauce, curry paste and sugar in small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add juice mixture and coconut milk to pan, bring to boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook 12 minutes or until slightly thick. Return chicken and vegetables to pan; cook 2 minutes or until heated through. Toss in some torn fresh basil. Serve over rice.

Root Vegetable Bake

I love my Aunt Kathy. She's my mom's baby sister and to me, she's a great mix of a cool aunt but also a motherly figure in my life. She never had children of her own (by her own choice) but you better believe that all her nieces and nephews claim her as one of their mothers. She's every bit a grandmother to my boys as their real grandmothers are. Kathy has an amazing gift of hospitality and can cook like nobody's business. I often go to her for recipe and entertaining advice and I love to cook for her.

She's mentioned her "Root Vegetable Bake" several times and I finally attempted it today. The rustic smell of root vegetables roasting and caramelizing in the oven made our house so warm and cozy on this rainy and dreary day. Although I originally made this as a side dish I decided to serve them atop a bed of mixed greens; making a simple yet hearty winter salad. I simply took some baby romaine lettuce, drizzled some homemade maple dressing over, topped with a hefty serving of the root vegetables and seasoned with sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Add a few walnuts for some crunch. This is my favorite recipe of the moment! Soooo good. Listen up...don't be afraid of turnips, rutabagas and parsnips. They are SO delicious and tasty when roasted and all the vegetables take on a slight sweetness. You really want to vary your root vegetables, otherwise you won't have as flavorful of a dish! About the only root vegetable I didn't use was carrots, just because I wasn't in the mood.

Here's the method:

Root Vegetable Bake

Use an assortment of your favorite root vegetables. What I use:
1 red potato
1 turnip
1 rutabaga
1 sweet potato
1 onion (red or yellow)
1-2 parsnips
1-3 stalks of fresh rosemary
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
sea salt
pepper

Peel and chuck the vegetables (you may leave the skin on the red potato), making chunks of similar size, about 1-2 inches. Toss in a large bowl with several good turns of olive oil, rosemary leaves, and a few good splashes of balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle with sea salt and fresh cracked pepper. Spread in a single layer on a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan. Roast in a 400 degree oven for 30-45 minutes, or until caramelized and tender. Stir a couple of times while they're in the oven. Don't overcook.


Great fresh out of the oven or on top of mixed greens.
Enjoy!

Maple Dressing:
1/4 C. Maple syrup
1/4 C. Olive OIl
2 TBSP Cider Vinegar.

wisk to combine all ingredients.

Super simple and delish sweet potatoes

Ever watched that show on the Food Network called "Healthy Appetite"? It's great and Ellie Krieger really has a lot of great recipes that are tasty and healthy. They are usually quite simple to prepare as well, using fresh ingredients.
I needed a good sweet potato recipe the other night and I found one of hers and decided to try it out. I like my sweet potatoes on the sweet side. If I'm at a steakhouse and I order a baked sweet potato, I'll usually ask for extra brown sugar and cinnamon. I know some like theirs totally plain but my sweet tooth has a high tolerance and can handle some extra sweetness.

I chose Ellie's recipe because it calls for no sugar, but honey. I figured I'd let the natural sweetness of the sweet potatoes come through for onece, and save my family from unnecessary sugar, even though I love my sweet potatoes swimming in butter and sugar.
This recipes was great! Super easy to prepare, simple, and yes, sweet! You could probably add in some maple syrup to give it some more sweetness but it's really not necessary. Simple, wholesome, and it even passed the kid test!

Honey Roasted Sweet Potatoes
by Ellie Krieger

Ingredients
2 pounds red-skinned sweet potatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Peel and cut the sweet potatoes into 1-inch pieces and put in a 9 by 13 baking dish. In a small bowl whisk together olive oil, honey and lemon juice. Pour mixture over potatoes and toss to coat. Sprinkle with the salt, and bake, stirring occasionally, for about 1 hour, until potatoes are tender.

Thank you Trader Joe's...

for keeping me sane this Christmas season. The only thing is, who are all these people that are crowding my store? They make it very difficult to navigate the aisles and get what I need.

Anyhoo,

I needed something easy for tonight. David headed down to Alabama this morning to pick up his grandmother and I didn't expect him back until after dinner. I was planning on raiding the fridge for leftovers for the boys and I. So, I was surprised when he called at 4 and said he was about 2 hours away. So, Trader Joe's came through for me tonight with a simple but almost home cooked meal.

Our dinner tonight:

TJ's eggplant parmesan (frozen section), fried up in some garlic infused olive oil.
Layered in a dish with TJ's Toscano marinara sauce from a can and yes, it's good!, parmesan and mozzarella cheese, and basil. Pop in the oven on broil (low) until cheese is melted. Served atop TJ's "just spaghetti" (frozen section) which is already cooked and so easy to heat in the microwave. Steamed broccoli with parmesan cheese, lemon juice and seasoned salt on the side and a tossed salad.
Fresh strawberries and blueberries for dessert topped with whipped cream, honey and cinnamon.
Easy, elegant, and yummy!

Swiss Chard Pizza

I treated my aunt Kathy and I Friday night to this wonderful pizza posted by Kara on her blog. I got some nice swiss chard in my CSA box this week and this was the best recipe for it! I will definitely make this again, and I think next time I might toss in a little sauteed granny smith apples. It would really compliment the walnuts and cheese. Kathy's going to make it topped with grilled chicken. Oh, and to make it easy, I used pre-made pizza dough from Trader Joe's.

My new toy and a new soup

I've always wanted an immersion blender. I always knew it would be something I wouldn't use a ton, but when I'd need it, I'd be so thankful for it. Why keep putting it off? Turns out they're only like $30, and with a coupon I got mine for $25. Let me tell you, I'm already pleased with the purchase. It's amazing how well that baby works! No more transferring soup in batches to the blender, spilling it all over the counter. I've avoided making so many things for that reason alone!

And so what did I use my new purchase on? This soup I finally decided to make: Carrot Ginger Coconut Soup.



The immersion blender came in SO handy on this one. You could still make it without one, but you do have to do the whole transfer in batches thing. Either way, it's definitely worth it. Similar to the curried butternut squash soup I've made before, just without curry, so if curry scares you, try this one. Oh, and if you hate carrots, don't worry, it's not too "carrot-y." Really.
We had it for lunch today, along with a sandwich inspired by Jen (who makes wonderful sandwiches).
Turkey on whole wheat with horseradish cheddar, cranberry chutney, mayo, and sliced apples. Fry it up in a pan with a little butter. Yum! And we like to dip our sandwiches in our soup!
I'm thinking it would be fun to make a new soup once a week.

Balsamic Brussel Sprouts

I saw a recipe very similar to this online tonight and decided to try it out. The results were amazing! Who knew brussel sprouts could be SO good?

Balsamic Brussel Sprouts:

Rinse brussel sprouts. Remove the ends, quarter them, and place in a mixing bowl. Drizzle with enough good quality olive oil to coat, sprinkle with a good balsamic vinegar to coat, toss in a couple of minced garlic cloves, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Place on a baking sheet and roast at 450 degrees for about 15-20 minutes or until done.

Fall CSA time again!

It's Fall CSA time again. I almost didn't sign up, but changed my mind at the last minute remembering how much I love Fall produce. I enjoyed the Summer CSA box, but I did tire of the weekly commitment of having to pick it up on Thursdays between 10:30-11:30. Plus, with the abundance of Summer produce on roadside stands, I felt that I could easily get fresh and organic produce just from the local gardens. But Fall produce is a little harder to come by.
I loved getting the box last Fall, so here I go again!

Today my box contained broccoli, tomato, radishes, spaghetti squash, sweet potatoes, purple bell pepper and hot peppers. I'm all about planning these days so I need to commit to a plan to utilize these things and stick with it. I think this will help me out with what to eat on the 4 nights a week David is gone. I'm really excited about the spaghetti squash and I'm thinking I'll have that for dinner a couple of nights, along with a baked sweet potato and steamed broccoli. I also have some cubed butternut squash. I'm going to caramelize that and toss that into a spinach salad, along with the tomato and radishes, walnuts and feta cheese.

Right now I'm enjoying a tasty tomato soup made by Kara. The garlic and fresh tomatoes make for a very bright and clean tasting tomato soup! I added some sour cream, cheese, and a crumbled bacon. Thanks Kara!

Slow cooking

I have a feeling that this is going to be my sanity this Fall.

Our week nights are being taken up with soccer and I'm not happy about it. True, it's my own doing signing up the kids for this, and honestly, I'm doing it for Wyatt. He's finally old enough and has been begging to play. In hindsight, I should have just signed him up, waiting to put Ethan in baseball in the spring. One kid, one sport a season. I think that will be our plan in the future. I'm so adamant about us having a decent family meal together at our kitchen table. It's so important. With soccer practice and makeup games happening right at the dinner hour (6pm) on the weeknights, we are either stuck grabbing a quick bite out after or eating an early dinner just before. I'm opting for the early dinner as much as possible. To make this happen I need my crock pot.

I have a feeling this website will be my new BFF. I saw it posted on Jen's blog awhile back, but after giving it a closer look, I'm really impressed. This girl is into healthy eating! I've shied away from many crock pot recipes because so many of them out there are full of fat, sodium and processed ingredients. She's really put some thought into her recipes and most of them are gluten free. I'm starting this week with her Pesto Chicken and Sweet Potatoes, Orange Chicken and Sweet Potato Chili (Vegan). I'm thinking the chili would be amazing with some sweet cornbread on top!

Fresh Vegetable Soup...or as I call it: CSA box soup

I'm doing a soup swap with some friends this week. We're each making a huge batch of soup then dividing it into 5 large portions. We keep one batch for ourselves then when we meet up this week, we all trade our other 4 batches. The idea is that you cook once, but end up with 5 different types of soup for the freezer. As I type I've got two large pots simmering away on the stove.

I love soup. Love all different types. Ever heard of Apple and Parsnip soup? It's amazing. So is Curried Butternut Squash soup.
For me, part of the joy of soup is the making of it. I love the process of taking a bunch of fresh vegetables, chopping them up, sauteing garlic and onions in EVOO, tossing the veggies in, along with some broth, and letting it simmer away.
By far, my favorite soup to make is Fresh Vegetable Soup. I found a great recipe in Cooking Light years ago and I've been making it ever since. Of course, I've added my own little changes. Whenever I make vegetable soup, this is always the version I make. Although I pretty much know how to make it from memory, I still rely on the recipe just to make sure. When I went to find the recipe a few days ago, it was nowhere to be found. I looked high and low to no avail. Did tons of internet searches to find it, but still couldn't come up with the exact one. I was all prepared to just wing it and do it from memory, but decided to make one last attempt and finding it and thankfully it was found, just stuck in between some random cookbooks.

I'm now posing it here so I'll forever have it. No more searching high and low.
The recipe is more of a guide, as all the vegetables listed can be substituted with whatever you have fresh on hand. Thanks to my CSA box, I had a lot of nice goodies to work with. If you have no potatoes on hand, substitute some dried macaroni. To make it even more hearty, add some shredded cooked chicken or ground beef.

Fresh Vegetable Soup

2 Tbs. Olive Oil
2 C. Chopped Onion
5 garlic cloves, minced
2 C. Chopped Celery (about 4 stalks)
2 C. cut green beans
1 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels
1 C thinly sliced carrot
1 cup. frozen baby lima beans
1 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced
1 1/2 cup. peeled and chopped potato
3 teaspoons dried Italian seasonings
4 (14 1/4 ounce) cans organic beef broth or vegetable broth for a vegetarian version
1 (15 oz.) can kidney beans, drained
2 cups chopped seeded tomato
2 cups crushed tomatoes
2 teaspoons sugar to cut the acidity of the tomatoes
2 cups shredded green cabbage
salt to taste
pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese for topping

1. Heat oil in a large pot over med. heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté for 2 min. Stir in celery and next ingredients through tomatoes. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for at least 30 min.
Add cabbage salt and pepper, cook 5 min. or until cabbage wilts. Serve with cheese.

Mmm...Summer

This is what I LOVE about Summer...all the fresh vegetables.
Being a southern girl, that's what I grew up on in the warmer months. My family reunions are filled with vegetables. Granted, a lot of them are fried, but many are just sliced up as they are.

Our table tonight:
Smashed potatoes
Corn - cut off the cobb with melted butter, salt and pepper
Fried okra (thank you Kara for advising me on how to make it your way, which is the best!)
Sliced tomatoes w/ torn basil, salt and pepper
fresh cantaloupe
Blueberry cornbread






Nothing fancy with the pictures here...just a true to us snapshot of our little family's dinner table. The cantaloupe didn't make it into the shot.

With the exception of the blueberry cornbread, everything came right out of my CSA box. Even right down to the basil. So, not only was everything delish, it was a good feeling to know that our meal tonight didn't have to travel far and by us purchasing it directly from the farmer, we're helping his family out. We explained the concept of buying local to our kids tonight around the dinner table.

And who out there is turning up their noses at the idea of blueberry cornbread? Don't knock it till you try it. It's a recipe from Hans Rueffert's book Eat Like There's No Tomorrow. Haven't heard of him? Check him out. Amazing chef, cancer survivor, and man. I've had the pleasure of meeting him on a few occasions and I really respect the man. I'm not giving you the recipe for the cornbread because I want you to buy his book!
There's some great recipes in there, especially for those who love to make the most of Summer's bounty. And I love the title! For someone who lives to eat, rather than eats to live, it's right up my alley.

Turnips

I got a lot of goodies from Farmer Chad today, but my favorite was the turnips. Yes, I said was. Eventhough I was starving by the time I returned home after running errands, I waited to eat until I could boil those babies until tender, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper and dig right in.

I sure do love turnips.
Why do people turn their little noses up at them?

I don't get picky eaters.

Quesadillas

Yummy quick dinner tonight for myself, the boys and my mother in law:

2 types of quesadillas on whole wheat tortillas:

1.) Shrimp, cheese (low-fat shredded Mexican), and grilled onions with a little creole seasoning sprinkled in &

2.) sliced apple and cheese

Served with sour cream with a bit of fresh lime juice mixed in and TJ's peach salsa.

Easy and yum!

Some things I'm crazy about

I know I've mentioned it before, but there are a few things in the world of food that I'm crazy about. If there's something on the menu with these choice ingredients, I'll definitely be getting it. To name a few...Coconut, butternut or acorn squash, pumpkin and sweet potatoes. And why do I love these things so? They're all sweet, of course!

Upon doing a little search of these ingredients, I came across a few recipes I'll be making in the future. Just thought I'd pass along the goods:

Coconut Ginger Spiced Carrot Soup - different, I know, but I bet it's delish!

Coconut Mashed Sweet Potatoes - Hello! How have I never heard of this before?? It's a Hawaiian dish.

Acorn squash quesadillas -
Yum!

Thai Coconut Corn soup - Thanks Jen Gordon!

Maybe I'll get creative and come up with some of my own.
One of these days I'll share my recipe for my mom's famous homemade coconut or chocolate pie.

Marinara, veggie lasagna and soup

My life has to be all about planning these days. Planning meals, planning lessons, planning what errands I'll run on what day, planning when I'll work out, planning the boys' activities, planning when not to cook, etc. I like to try to spend some time on Sunday each week making my plans for the week. I need to plan on two decent cooked at home meals this week. Why just two? Well, thanks to the baptist church down the road, our boys attend AWANA on Wednesday night and we have a date night each week. Wednesdays are my night off from cooking and eating at home. Out of the other 4 nights (I'm counting weeknights here), I know we'll be heading out of town on Friday, so that leaves Mon., Tues., and Thurs. I'll plan on cooking two nights and having leftovers the other. Of course, good planning requires a big trip to the grocery, which I took care of this afternoon.

So..what to make. I've already gotten a head start on that one. As I type, my house smells amazing thanks to the big pot of homemade marinara I have simmering on the stove. There's enough in there for several meals, so I'll freeze most of it. Let me just say that I don't always make a homemade marinara. There are plenty of good ones out there at the store, so I usually start with a jarred variety and add to it. However, I got inspired this time and decided to make it from scratch. It's really quite simple and not too time consuming. Plus, it leaves you with so much that you can just freeze it in one or two cup batches and have plenty on hand for next time.

So...here is the Basic Marinara recipe from Cooking light.

On our menu for tomorrow night...Vegetable Lasagna inspired by Heather. Actually, that's probably not the most accurate title. It's not technically veggie, I do add meat to it, but there's sure a lot of veggies used. I'll utilize the veggies I have on hand and add some sweet Italian chicken sausage to the marinara. This lasagna is amazing and I'm convinced it's due in part to the addition of pumpkin. It adds such a subtle sweetness. I also love the fact that the veggies are all buzzed up in the food processor so the kids don't really notice them. It's a great way to slip some veggies into their mouths with them even knowing it.

For later in the week, I'm trying a soup I've never made before. Sweet Potato and White Bean Soup with Sage Walnut Pesto.
I just love making soup. I love the versatility of it. It can satisfy lunch or dinner, it will freeze well (usually), and I enjoy the process of making it. It may be a bit ambitious to serve this to the kids, but we'll give it a try. Of course, I'll have bread, fruit and salad to satisfy them if they turn their little noses up at the soup.

Fish...again

So, after reading how Candace does her fish, I decided to do it her way. Instead of Talipia, I used a fish called "Striper" I found at TJ's. It was promised to be mild and never "fishy".
So I did it Candace's way...dipped it in an egg/milk mixture, bread crumbs (my mix including whole wheat bread crumbs, wheat germ, almond meal, and salt) and fried it a little in grapeseed oil.
The verdict...
So yummy! I finally found a fish I think I could add to our weekly menu. It was definitely light and not fishy at all. It didn't even need lemon. Wyatt loved it (which is saying a lot!), but he had to have his with honey on top. Yeah...fish and honey...not exactly what I'd do, but hey, whatever it takes.
I'm happy to have a fish success story to make up for the disaster from last week.
Thanks Candace!

I'll make it quick.
Tonight's dinner was Seared Scallops over Bacon and Spinach Salad with Cider Vinaigrette from CL.
Definitely worth the effort! A little gourmet than we're used to at home, but it was excellent. Just the scallops alone were great and I'd definitely make them again and serve with a couple of side dishes.
It took me longer to make than I'd like, and it's not the type of dish I'd make often, but definitely a keeper for special occasions.
For dessert, I whipped up a peach crisp. TJ's sells big jars of "peach sauce", like applesauce. I picked one up today thinking I'd use my mother's apple crisp recipe using peach sauce instead. It turned out great, and the vanilla ice cream I topped it off with didn't hurt, either.

Last nights' was good too, with a lot less work. A pot roast in the Crock Pot with tons of carrots, celery, onions, potatoes, and mushrooms on top of brown rice. I'm going to make an effort to get the Crock Pot out more. I love the time I save and the convenience of having dinner ready without really having to do anything.

Here's a recipe I ran across from Pioneer Woman. Sherried tomato soup. It looks amazing and I'd love to make it soon, especially when it's cold outside. I'm going to have to figure out a way to cut down on some of that fat content, though. I just can't use that much whipping cream in good conscience.

Vegetable lasagna

So, here it is...my first post on my "foodie blog." After being in a serious cooking "slump" over the holidays, I'm back in business in the kitchen and enjoying it. Hence, the idea for a food blog. I think about food a lot. It's a big part of my life and I'm constantly learning more about it. I thought this blog would be a good way for me to keep track of things I've made. And I'll be honest here as well. If I've made something that wasn't all that great, I'll keep it real and let you know. I'll most likely focus most of my health and weight loss posts here as well. I may play around with both blogs for awhile before I figure out what will work best, so hang on for the ride.

For dinner tonight, I made the vegetable lasagna from Cooking Light, Oct. 2007 issue, (pg. 173). If you're googling it, it's probably under "Colorful Vegetable Lasagna." I got crazy and even made the huge batch of homemade marinara sauce that it calls for. I made that around lunchtime while the boys were at school, and let me tell you, my entire house smelled like Heaven. It was amazing! I ended up using about 3 cups of the sauce for the lasagna and froze the rest for future meals. I'm glad I did because I was able to store about 8 cups in the freezer. I'll definitely be using that for my baked penne pasta in the future.



I used whole wheat lasagna noodles for this recipe. I always use something other than just plain white pasta. I feel so guilty using the white stuff and to me, the whole wheat pastas, or even quinoa pasta taste just as good or even better than the over-processed pastas.
The recipe also packed colorful bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, and zucchini.


The recipe called for fat free ricotta, but I tend to stay away from fat free items. I opt for the part-skim.

It turned out great! I also served it with a tossed salad topped with pears and TJ's candied pecans, and toasted whole wheat sourdough bread (also from TJ's).
Yes folks, our bellies are full tonight. And there's tons of leftovers. We should have had people over for dinner to help us eat it!

As a special dessert (especially for the boys), we had cupcake sundaes. I picked up a pack of 4 chocolate cupcakes from the frozen section of TJ's. Cut each one in half, topped it with vanilla ice cream, cherries, and let the boys go to town with the sprinkles.
What I loved about this meal was the process of making it. I've always loved making Italian food. There's something soothing to me to sauté garlic and onions in a pot, add the tomatoes, spices, and let it simmer. The smells are amazing.