"Jambalaya"

So this is an afterthought post. A few days ago I had a wild hair and decided to try and make jambalaya. I saw Art Smith on some show and he had a very easy recipe. I used chicken andouille because that made me think it was healthy. I browned it, then added the trinity, onions, celery and red pepper. Then I added some canned tomatoes, chicken stock and brown rice, some spicy seasoning and let it cook. Rudy and the girls were not fans, but I liked it and ate it for lunch for a week. I was going to add some browned chicken, but decided that I would save the chicken for later.

Dinner with a friend

So last night I roasted some breasts and thighs in a marinade with lemon, honey, and olive oil. I baked it with some kalamata olives and whole garlic cloves. We also had gnocchi, which I have to say were beautiful. After some research I found a recipe from Lucinda Quinn who does everyday food for Martha Stewart. She has you bake potatoes, cool then then run them through the ricer. No eggs, just flour and salt to make the dough. They were so great. I used store bought pesto as a sauce. We finished it with some asparagus steamed. For dessert we had brownies and ice cream. Jonah helped himself to the first batch of brownies so I made some more from scratch. I added some powdered espresso to the batter (a la Ina Garten)

I have to say that I was pleased with the meal overall. The chicken was approaching a little dry, but still yummy.

Etouffee

So the only thing I cooked last week was Etouffee and Grilled Chicken Tenders. The chicken tenders were nothing special just seared in a skillet along with some rice and green beans. But the Etouffee was fantastic!! I have only made Etouffee one other time and its not something I order but we had a customer in that was talking about it and I was inspired I guess. It was very time consuming but the end result was rich, comforting, and a little spicy. I made a dark roux, added in the trinity, seasonings, stock, and shrimp, crab, and sausage and served it over white rice. I don't know if it would pass in Naw'leans but the whole family ate it up.

Less Meat

Ok If you DVR Oprah look for last weeks episode about vegan. Pollan is on and Cargill and this vegan lady. It was really interesting. I would love to eat less meat here but it's so hard to convince Jon otherwise.  I know we could never be vegetarians or vegans (ha) but I wish we would be more aware of our choices. Maybe I could start with meatless Mondays but I need some killer recipes for Jon to go for it. Any ideas that have gone over well with your fam?

So last night I made a chicken tortilla soup. Nothing special, except the hit of the soup was the crispy corn tortilla strips. I ussally use store bought chips, but I had some white corn tortillas and I cut them in thin strips and fried them. Pretty good. Nothing special about the soup except I am trying to cut back on meat and so I added more beans, corns and green chiles. I am starting to read some Michael Pollan books and I think I want to try and implement some of the ideas. I keep putting off a garden until I have a bigger yard, but who knows when that will happen! So Temple's violin teacher talked to me about growing a salad garden. Her husband is some sort of plant guy and I thought it might be interesting. We are eating pho for dinner tonight, but tomorrow I am going to try fried chicken and I am going to soak it in buttermilk!

Gone Country...

So I know you guys are experiencing the same cold weather we are so last night it was beans and cornbread. I boiled some pintos for about 2 hours. Then added sauteed bacon, onions, and garlic. Added diced fresh tomatoes and diced poblanos. Salt, pepper, cumin, and smoked paprika. Simmered for another hour. Served with cornbread made straight from the jiffy blue box. Jon grew up eating beans for every meal so I don't think he liked it as much as I did but there's something so comforting about it.