Brined Chicken

If you're not brining chicken before baking your bird you seriously need to get on board with brine. Think of it as a way to make the most tender chicken you've ever had the opportunity to wrap your lips around. The method works for any cut of chicken - legs, thighs, breasts - bone-in or boneless. The amount of soaking is based on your degree of organizational skills on any given day because who can plan chicken soaking for 3 hours before a semi-peaceful supper appears - right?!?! timeframe. The minimum time span that the bird needs to bathe would be about 3 hours and the maximum 24 hours. The brine is made up of water, salt, chile peppers, and a cinnamon stick. After the chicken takes a bath in the salty, spicy, cinnamon bowl you pat dry the chicken and it hits the pan or the oven or the grill. I haven't tried grilling my brined chicken yet, but that is surely next because I have this hunch it's going to be fab. I have had success with the baking method that I detail in this particular recipe and seriously guys - there are Never. Any. Leftovers. 

Barley Risotto with Lemongrass & Roasted Broccoli

In my head I'm a really good farmer. My perfect image farmer self has a chicken coop full of eggs, an overflowing garden in which I preserve, dry, and pressure cook away so that I can sustain my family over the winter and maybe a small, green tractor like the one my dad had when we were growing up. What other farmer things would I have? A barn. I'd have a really cool, old barn. And a big farmhouse porch that I could sit on and fan myself while drinking iced tea. Doesn't this sound so relaxing? I fear there are several important Farmer Details I'm leaving out because my Farmer Knowledge is colored by memory of my little girl self growing up on a hobby farm. We had acres upon of acres of heavily wooded land that a river ran through which fed the mile long garden in which the green tractor plowed. We lived in an old spooky farmhouse littered with antiques that were most assuredly from Laura Ingalls Wilder's day. A two-story barn and out sheds that held chickens, a pig, a pony, a bunny, so many kitties and dogs. Endless adventure was possible for a small child and endless work for a real farmer. Back to my adult imaginary farm that I work really hard on with punishing, back-breaking hard work that puts me in physical pain at the end of the day and guess what? I kinda like that. I like it so much so that I've volunteered to be a trainee farmer by weeding my CSA's real life garden in return for a bushel of garden treasure which will be sure to inspire this blog forever and ever! It's happening people. 

Chai Tea

 

Captain Crawley, Anna and Bates, Lord Grantham, Lady Mary, Cora! I'm obsessed. Lord Grantham was in my dreams last night - I may need an intervention. My husband has been given the pet name Lord Melvie. My inner voice chimes in with witty little sayings like: "simply mahhh-velous!" or "brilliant!". English people are so polite and have the best vocabulary.

I may need to pick up a good habit or two from Downton Abbey. Like drinking tea! The English would probably be frightfully disdained at my version of chai tea, because I'm guessing its very "un-English" by adding sweetened condensed milk and lots of spicy cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, ginger and nutmeg. Maybe Cora the American would approve.

Date & Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Do you have anything luxurious in your life? There are so many degrees of luxuriousness in the world that my luxuries are seemingly simple. Washing my hair, but also having the opportunity to take the proper amount of time to style my hair - you know - add product, blow dry throughly, straighten with a straightener and style so that you don't need to wash your hair again for 4 days because time is a tickin' as two little people need to have their cereal N.O.W. Manicured fingernails. That is a luxury. A meal at a restaurant without children present. Properly cooked asparagus. Flying on an airplane to go on family vacation. A cookie. Nothing too obnoxious. Good hair, clean fingernails, eating out once in awhile, steamed vedge, an annual vacation and cookies. Is that high maintenance? Maybe so. Maybe not. Depends on your life view, but I'm going to bet that everyone in the world counts a cookie chock full of oatmeal, dates, and chocolate chips a true luxury. Because if you don't consider that luxury you must bake this cookie now as to discovery simple luxury. So chewy. So healthful tasting, but in a happy way. Get yourself some dates. Some oats. Some chocolate chips. And get yourself in the kitchen.

Beef Liver Paté

Do you want to be 119% healthier than everyone else you know? I have the secret to being that healthy. Do you want it? Are you sure? OK, you're sure. Eat liver. Liver that has been caramelized, seasoned, creamed and whirred and spread on a cracker is the kind of liver even the squirmiest of squirmers can eat. Because guess what? My husband is a squirmer and he. ate. the. liver. Did he like the liver? Well, no. But he tried it! Doesn't that count? In my book it does.  

On My Bookshelf Now

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho was such an inspiring read - I think I cried a couple times! It was an extremely fast read I completed in one day. The message inspires you to find your life's true meaning - like, right now - don't delay! The book is about a young shepard boy on a voyage across the globe, trying to find the meaning of his life or his Personal Legend. We all are searching for the real, true meaning of lives, aren't we? And this book has you burning to write and command your own Personal Ledgend today! Pick it up for an inspirational beach read.

Rutabaga Turmeric Mash

I'm in love with turmeric. Not only is it the trendiest spice because of its outstanding health benefits, it's also a darling because of the bright yellow color it gives to food. Now do you want to be trendy and darling? Then dust turmeric over all of your yellow and orange tinged foods. You are so trendy. You are so darling. 

Pozole Rojo {Pork & Hominy Stew}

This Pozole Rojo or Pork & Hominy Stew comes together so, so fast. Erm, maybe I should premise that statement with you just need to do a little prep before a so, so fast meal is reality. All you need to do is plan a puttering afternoon in the kitchen, making this Smokey Chili Sauce then you can have about 4 or 5 cups of the sauce to use in soups, Mexican dishes, chiles, stews - like this one - and so much more. If you don't want to putter, a jarred mole sauce would work, too. I didn't have time to snap many pictures of the process making Pozole Rojo, but you hopefully won't mind my lack of instructional photos because basically after making the chili sauce all you do is dump stuff into a soup pot, simmer, make rice in a different pot, plate it up and eat. OK, tiny fib. I actually didn't have any patience time to snap photos because I was trying to prepare and photograph two meals at once, while simultaneously entertaining two children, haphazardly preparing for a girlfriend to come over by attempting to pretend I'm super organized with a tidy, clean home that has uncluttered counter tops (read: hiding it in the laundry room), get supper bubbling on the stove, and involve my children in brain building crafts while they snack on raw broccoli. Which is all so laughable because I usually feel like I'm barely just succeeding at the usual housekeeping, craft supplication, play date planning, accurately calculating and measuring the vegetable to carb ratio of my children's diet - you know those things parents stress out upon. I wasn't going to stress and even attempt to serve Pozole Rojo to children, if I even let them whiff it there would have been utter chaos. A complete revolt. But that doesn't mean I shouldn't enjoy spicy foods. So I decided to indulge my children's carb cravings and try out a new recipe from Smitten Kitchen's cookbook for a child-friendly alternative to spicy stew. A French Toast Strata, which didn't turn out excellently, but I'll keep trying to tweak and make it my own. As I usually do. 

Cauliflower Cakes

Do you have any issues getting your family to eat and embrace and utterly love vegetables? Apparently, according to other parents (OK, one other mom at MOPS) in the same life stage as I my kids are pretty darn good at eating vegetables. Without much pleading they eat peas, broccoli, corn, cauliflower, potatoes, and, and, and that's about it. As high as my hopes were for kiddos eating cauliflower in a cake they were dashed upon serving. Bummer. But I tried and I will. never. stop. Alas! There is good news for this cake. The recipe was a win with hubby. He was head over heels with these cauliflower cakes. Or maybe he was just starving because when he came into the kitchen upon the cauliflower cakes cooling on the baking racks he proceeded to eat 3 cakes. Inhalation. Then he decided to sit down with some leftover tartar sauce and have a fourth. He was in love. With me, that is. Because of cauliflower...among other things, I suppose. Anyway, you should totally make these because someone will love you. Guaranteed. 

Smokey Chile Sauce

Let the record state to all who are leery about a homemade chile sauce that the barely tedious effort is worth the end product a million times over. The flavor of this sauce is luxiourously smokey, just a baby-bit spicy. A glorious multi-function, all-purpose Mexican inspired cooking sauce. Consider this a lazy afternoon in the kitchen recipe which will provide you with 3 or 4 fast and flavorful meals in the future. So many uses for this sauce! It would be a great base for enchiladas, chili and soup, you could marinate chicken and steak for fajitas, the options are endless! I'll be sure to post soon about the Pozole Rojo I made with this sauce. It was out of this world delicious! I'm so glad I finally sprung for the dirt cheap bags of dried chiles that were hanging on the wall at the local Mexican grocery. It's one of those pantry items you know you might use in the future, not sure how you'll come around to finally use it, but know you'd love to experiment with an ingredient so unusual to your regular cooking repertoire. I wish I could tell you a little bit more about the history and typical uses of the types of chiles I used, maybe go on and on about traditional methods and sound super smart, but I can't. I did a quick web search on the spelling of chile vs. chili. Texas has some strong feelings on it and so does California. After quickly realizing that researching chile vs. chili was a lost cause I went straight to Rick Bayless because in my mind he is the final word in modern Mexican cooking. Rick didn't fail me. A straight forward and simple recipe that uses ingredients you're going to have in your pantry at any moment's notice. Bring on the CHILE! 

Pan-Fried Pork Chops

Do you ever get stuck in a really unhealthy nonstop eating binge? Moments when you make, shall we say, unsavory eating choices and just can't stop making bad choice after bad choice or more importantly, just can't stop eating no matter what you're eating, because you just need to crunch or gnaw on something? Yeah, that's me for the last hour. Make that eight hours. Six saltine crackers with butter, coconut popsicle, bread with butter, more crackers, chocolate covered potato chips....and the list goes on....cheeseburger for lunch, leftover Pozole Rojo for second lunch (more to come on that post soon - one of the BEST recipes I've made in a while), but I started with such healthy intentions today eating oatmeal and a hard boiled egg for breakfast, I even threw out the yolk!  Here I am attempting to stop eating by talking about food. I'm thinking this is a smart strategy. Talking about Pan-Fried Pork Chops is going to help me out of this rut because these pork chops were so yummy! The kids loved um, the husband loved um, and the leftovers made the best pork stew you're ever going to have (again, the Pozole Rojo that I swear I'm going to get up reeeeeal soon)! Pahh-romise! But you gotta make these chops first!

Compost Cookies {Momofuku Milk Bar Copy Cat}

How does it work for you after you see a recipe, think you might like to recreate that recipe, finally collect all the ingredients for that recipe then actually cook that recipe? For me it's a lonnnng, lonnnnng, did I say long? process. No joke, years can go by before I actually get to coordinating  and cooking recipes. For example, the bean sprouts for this Egg Foo Young recipe literally sat in my pantry for 3 years (did I just confess to that?) before the sprouts became Young. Or take that time I was served Herb Marinated Shrimp Wrapped in Basil at Travis' mom's house, had the cookbook with the recipe at home, wanted to make it, but yet, 2 years passed before I finally made it my own. You get the point. I have a knack for drawing out my timeline to test new recipes. However! None! And I mean NONE! of that happened with Momofuku Compost Cookies. My definition of cookies will never be the same. Imagine, me: zombie-like browsing blog upon blog, staring at cookies, pancakes, brownies and other carbs when I just happened upon this blog, saw the word Momofuku - which I knew was some fancy and exciting restaurant in NYC - but being mostly contained to the Midwest I had no idea what Momofuku really meant. My life has changed. I needed to know more.  I needed to smell these. I needed to eat these. I needed to know everything Momofuku. So, of course, I immediately checked my local library out of all cookbooks that I could find when it came to Momofuku. I was urgent! I then commenced upon scouring the interwebs for all versions of Momofuku Compost Cookies. All in the matter of 2 hours, mind you. After a little bit of research on the ingredients and method, I settled on this version. These cookies were so intriguing that I baked them within 24 hours of seeing the initial inspiration. Jump to 3 days post-cookie baking madness and they are all eaten. People - you need to make this cookie - it's so fun because the method is madness - it's a garbage cookie. Consider it perfect timing because you can rid your pantry of all that Valentine's Day candy your sweet kiddos haul home and get yourself ready for Easter candy (what is it with candy holidays?). I now fear no Candy Holiday because I have this ammmmmmmazzzzzzzzinggggggg cookie recipe to make all pantry junk into addictive, buttery, crispity, chocolatey, salty, eat me every day, 3 times a day cookie love. 

Rye French Bread {Gluten Free Option}

I had the privilege of having two really cool Grandma's - one who is still on this earth and another who is with our Maker. Both bestowed upon me and my Aunts, Uncles and Cousins different characteristics that I value and exhibit in different ways. During the short time in college that I lived with Grandma Terry I may have inherited some of her WWII super saver mentality that she most certainly acquired because of 11 other beings in her home and it's stuck with me. Ziplocs are reused until my husband begins to guffaw at me. Bread bags are not thrown away after the bread is eaten, but they function as Ziplocs that are doomed for guffawing. The plastic bags used for grocery store produce are my bathroom's garbage vessel. The other Grandma bestowed upon our family, among other things, the gift of cookery. She had 13 mouths to feed - this woman cooked. She taught me how to level baking powder, which apparently is not an innate quality according to the way I remember her reprimanding my younger cousin at the annual holiday cookie baking party. How to make a pie crust out of lard. The way to dip a Ritz cracker peanut butter sandwich into melted chocolate. And the love of fresh made bread. But, after all, it's not hard to love fresh bread. However, I have the impression a majority of home cooks are intimidated by baking yeast breads. My mother never did and I considered her the utmost domestic goddess! But that was in the era of those frozen loaves that became trendy, so I give her respite for not being a yeast bread baker. My personal width and breadth of yeast bread is limited - I try, but I am not an Artisan Bread Baker by any means. So, that means you can do it, too! This Rye French Bread is a dense, crusty, moist and chewy loaf that tastes even better with a huge pat of butter. I dare you to try, too!

Broiled Chicken Skewers

I'm listening to the whir of my Kitchen-Aid running for the last 10 minutes on high speed. What a work horse. It's stirring these Momofuku Compost Cookies that I'll be sure to post about later because if the cookies are as good as the dough was - well - let's just say I'll be needing to donate some cookies to someone real fast. What did our Grandmother's do without stand mixers? As I sit and think about that, I can remember what it means to not have an electric mixer. When I was about 10 years old I was using the hand mixer to beat whipping cream into the topping for Thanksgiving Day Pumpkin Pie when it frizzed out. Just up and died. No more beating beaters. So, what did that 10 year old girl do? I got out the whisk and whisked away for what seemed like an eternity to a 10 year old girl, but I made whipped cream! Good memories - and I'm positive I tell that story every year at the Thanksgiving table. Today has nothing to do with whipped cream or cookies, though. Sorry. Today is chicken! 

Rendering Tallow {Quick Method}

Oh, how to find eloquent enough words to describe the slightly repugnant process of rendering tallow? First off, maybe we could begin with what tallow is. Tallow is the rendered fat that surrounds the kidneys in an animal such as a cow. Once rendered, the fat is very similar to lard in appearance and functionality in the kitchen and it has a high smoke point. Which makes tallow an ideal candidate for deep-frying foods, like french fries. In fact, according to Wikipedia, McDonald's used tallow to fry it's world famous french fries until the early 90's when the no-fat fad became the newest obsession. Some people use the unrendered tallow as suet or food for birds. But, I'm not like most people. I use it for cooking because it is a rich source of CLA fat, an anti-cancer fighting agent. Terriffic! Bring on the tallow! According to www.beeftallow.com: Tallow is an excellent source of niacin, vitamins B6, B12, K2, selenium, iron, phosphorus, potassium and riboflavin. Grassfed beef tallow contains high ratio of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) which is a cancer-resistant agent. Contrary to the popular conception, tallow is good for health as tallow fat is similar to the fat/muscles in the heart. Recent studies have shown that human beings need at least 50% of saturated fats like tallow and lard to keep the heart pumping hale and healthy. Tallow from pasture-raised cows also contains a small amount of Vitamin D, similar to lard. 

But seriously, people - this isn't for the faint of heart. I'm leaving all photos small because no one wants to see rendering tallow in photos up close.  After a quick web search on rendering tallow I was barely patient enough to find two different methods. One method ground the tallow in a food processor, my processor has a 4-cup capacity. Guess how long grinding 8 pounds of tallow would take? Three days. No thanks. The second method suggested boiling the chopped fat in water first. I see how that adds no benefit. Let's review. Too small of a food processor and boiling in water takes too much time. Let's plow on with the Becki Let's Just Try It My Way and See How it Goes Method!

Sausage & Orzo Stuffed Delicata Squash

 

Minnesota has me in a funk today. The trees have lost all their leaves becoming brown, withered, boring and sad - leaving no hope for life. The lawn is frozen solid so when you prance across there is no give whatsoever - leaving no anticipation of a mid-afternoon lawn wrestle with these cuties. The temps are bitter and the wind whips through the windows like Old Man Winter is right around the corner, He was here, but melted in 3 days. I prefer dazzling white to brown, withered and sad. The negativity abounds this evening. There is no hope of sun. Ever. Again.

I'm sitting here, staring out the window, asking myself the age old question: Is this all there is? It's horrible. So I googled becoming a Food Scientist. That lasted all of 3.6 seconds after I discovered a background in physics and calculus is recommended. Let's just stop while we're ahead, mmmK?

Now that I've completely depressed you and myself even further let's commence to stare at the first photo I captured of this beautiful delicata squash! Isn't it pretty? I know!!!!!! Makes me hungry!

Chocolate Chip Kale Cookies

I've just put kale into a cookie. I'm fairly certain I literally never thought I would say those words in a complete sentence together, but I just did. The recipe is from a super cute cookbook 50 Shades of Kale by Drew Ramsey & Jennifer Iserloh that I received for Christmas this year. The cookbook does a little spoof on the book it's obviously based on and ties up kale in S&M chains and whips. Very kitchy. But, the most exciting part is all the kale! When I saw that kale was in a cookie I was seriously hooked. I counted the days, minutes, seconds before I could eat this cookie. It seemed like years before I actually got my food processor out and chopped those kale leaves I so lovingly blanched this summer into teeny little flecks of green that my sweet little men surely wouldn't recognize as something healthy and would straightaway devour. Fortunately I was saved from eating 2 dozen Chocolate Chip Kale Cookies because everyone approved of this cookie! Even the hubs. He jokingly wondered what I would next put into a cookie as I was chopping up kidney offal for a separate project I'll be sure to tell you about soon! But, for now...back to cookies!

Tomato Basil Soup

There can be nothing more comforting than pulling from the freezer bright orange, yellow and red once juicy tomatoes and fragrant, lively basil putting them together and eating them in the middle of a February snow storm that just. will. not. go. away. We've officially earned the title MinnSNOWta this winter. Serisouly ridiculous. I look outside and all I see is a real life snow globe. I'm sure this isn't fair to the loves of my life, but sometimes I dream of where my husband and I will retire to the minute we are empty nesters. Sedona? Palm Springs? Fort Meyers? And those are the things that get a woman through. Besides eating bright, fresh and lively flavors mid-winter snow storm. 

Bacon & Spinach Quiche

I wish I could tell you that I formed that beautiful ridge on this Bacon & Spinach Quiche, but I didn't. A computer-operated machine in a factory did. But I just need to say - For The Record - I usually roll out my own crust with lard, but during the holiday's the mark-down at the grocery store for these babies is like stealing, so I steal a couple and put my homemade aspirations aside for the sake of thriftiness and convenience. 

After the awkwardness of having this weirdly shaped and seriously breakable item in my freezer for 3 months got to me bad, I decided it was time to give this crust some meaning. A quiche! What better way to provide fast breakfast to my family? Easy lunch. Light supper. It's a 3-4-1. And the fillings are endless. It's just an easily learned method. And I'm here to tell you about it. 

Smitten Kitchen Brownies

How about a recipe that's fitting for Valentine's Day? Would that be anything with chocolate? Growing up my dad would give us a small chocolate Whitman's heart every Valentine's Day. Unfortunately for me, I found out after reminiscing about those lovely memories it wasn't my father, but my mother who was providing the Whitman's. So depressing. So, no, I'm not going to wax on about how much I love to hate Valentine's Day. How much ridiculous pressure it puts on our men. The outrageous price of red roses and women's expectations to receive them. The day of love when all you really want is someone to pick up the toys so you don't trip and kill yourself and maybe unload the dishwasher so you don't have to do it for what feels like the gazillionth time, but you're suppose to want a dozen roses that are going to die in a week, but cost the price of a pair of Lululemon leggings and that's what you really want. No, I wouldn't share all that here in this space because that would be really weird and a total over share. So I'll just share chocolate with you. And theeese iiiis some guuuud chocolate (that's me impersonating a Mexican chihuahua). You're not still here, are you? If you are, get out. Now. 

Kale & Cheese Pinwheels

Ever since I vowed to put kale on my radar I've been doing a pretty good job and sadly, the frozen kale that I blanched this summer is dwindling, so in my next posts you may not see as much kale, but I assure you other green things will always be present in my kitchen making their way into the blogosphere, because this laugh out loud Slate article said I should be on an All Kale Diet if I want to have true meaning to my life.

As far as recipes that incorporate kale go, I'd say this one has got to be the least healthy - not really earning any real superfood points because kale enveloped in puff pastry can't really be categorized as a superfood for the fact that puff pastry negates the kale with pure butter, fat, and empty calories which I'm fairly certain Dr. Oz suggests you should eat all superfoods in that way if you're having a difficult time eating enough superfoods. And if you're wondering if kale really is the superfood its been cracked up to be for the last 5 years this article proves and explains all the beautiful aspects of kale you never knew you needed to know. 

Cashew Stir-Fry with Mushrooms & Bok Choy

Craving a quick, mid-week meal that is full of flavor, filling and healthy (but not too healthy - as in - no flavor, totally boring and makes you just want to dive into a box of Milk Duds)? Well, look no further because I'm here to give you just that meal.

Kale, Sweet Potato, & Bacon Bow Tie Pasta

I am having major writer's block while trying to brainstorm enough words to make a post on this absolutely delicious pasta. But words are leaving me. Blank brain. Fingers just keep moving and after about 8 minutes you'll have unwittingly typed up enough describing details to make people want to eat kale. And sweet potatoes. And bacon. And pasta. Because after I get to thinking about eating this pasta my fingers are seemingly moving very fast because this pasta was delicious! And healthy! And easy to make! So get excited people.

Pot Roast & Hot Sauerkraut Sandwich

Could this be one of the reasons why my husband fell in love with me so many years ago? Because I can make a really tasty sandwich? Probably. Because sandwiches are straight up man food. Meaty Man Food.

Vegetable Breakfast Loaf

I'm not sure how to deliciously describe this weird bread creation that I have somehow figured into a loaf-form and named semi-appropriately. The original image that inspired me to frantically form loaves for a friend's jewelry party is a gazillion times more beautiful and appetizing.

After staring at the pin of the bread for what seemed like 16 times a day I realized spring will be coming soon and suddenly must rid my freezer of all summer produce and this bread was just the recipe to use up those 2 huge bags of frozen shredded zucchini and summer squash.