Grill 30

We have been grilling fools lately. It is already hitting 100 on a weekly basis so anytime I can avoid heating up the house I will. That coupled with the fact that Jon repaired the gas grill and we are in business. Over the past 2 weeks we have grilled salmon (Alaskan please), steaks, beer can chicken, potatoes, zucchini and asparagus all seasoned with simple olive oil, salt, and pepper. But my personal fav has been the beer brats, which isn't 100% kitchen free but its soooo easy. Take some onions and lightly sweat them down in too much butter, add a can of beer and barely simmer the brats until they are done. Then finish them on the grill to crisp the skin and a light smoke. I prefer them rolled in a flour tortilla, spicy mustard and some onions used in the bath. I have also been hooked on a black bean salad with corn and sweet 100 tomatoes, in a lime cilantro vinaigrette.

Steph   

Breakfast for dinner

Who doesn't love breakfast for dinner? Rudy Landry.....So while he had Aikido last night the girls and I had pancakes, bacon and eggs. The bummer of the deal was that I have this great recipe for buttermilk pancakes from Smitten Kitchen. They have become my staple. I mixed all the dry ingredients and realized I didn't have any buttermilk. No big deal, went to the store and bought THE WRONG MILK! And while I attempted to do the whole lemon juice to the milk equals buttermilk it just didn't turn out right. The pancakes tasted OK, but were pretty thin.

Oh well, the bacon was good.

Ode to Salad –

So easy to make, you don’t have to bake - yet tasty and complex I wonder what’s next…fresh veggies for sure, fruit if you’re sweet, and maybe some meat to make it complete.

Ginger Steak Salad (courtesy of the Pioneer Women)

I had some flank steak left over so marinated it in ginger, soy sauce, garlic, brown sugar, and a lil olive oil and then grilled it and let it rest. For the salad dressing, I used olive oil, soy sauce, sugar, fresh ginger minced, garlic, and lime juice (didn’t have a jalapeño like the recipe called for) then chopped up some tomatoes, asparagus, and cucumber tossed all the ingredients and VOILA – ONE TASTY SALAD. Serving with some Crusty Bread and for dessert Pineapple Angle food cake. Simple mix 1 large can of crushed pineapple (drained) into your boxed batter and bake – keeps the cake super moist and delicious. With the reserved juice, I made pineapple margaritas another easy breezy night at the Smither House.

For Steph -

Some quick Make o’ Meal favorites? I’ll have to write them down as I’m doing it, but we eat mostly Chicken, Whole Wheat Pasta, and Thin Pork Chops made 101 different ways and pair them with...dare I say a Boxed side.

-I will add spinach, tomatoes; maybe some roasted garlic and pine nuts to a box of couscous

-To pasta you both know the possibilities are endless… right now loving mushrooms and asparagus or peas (fresh or frozen) and bacon (left over from breakfast) or edamane (frozen), aruglua, and herbs from my garden

-We eat tuna helper and will add extra tuna and fresh or frozen veggies of choice to punch it up

-With the left over tuna cans or canned salmon, I will make Tuna Cakes the way Grandma Enid taught me with crushed saltine crackers, eggs, and salt and pepper then serve a sauce of lemon juice, dill and mayo

…Or I will use the tuna in a salad with hardboiled eggs, tomatoes, arugula or spinach, red onion, and maybe olives or capers

-I’ve used, but not proudly, boxed mashed potatoes or the scalloped potatoes but will add some more cheese, maybe crispy pancetta (store bought) and dried oregano or I’ve used the potatoes o’ gratin and added cooked chicken to kind of make a casserole

We also use and abuse our slow cooker but that’s another blog

TO BE CONTINUED…

Berry cookie bars

First off, yay for Heather, so happy to have you apart of our blog. And just so you know describing what you ate even if someone else made it is totally ok. Also, believe it or not, I am open to learning how to utilize convenience items mixed with fresh meat and veggies. Some days I cannot bear to be in the kitchen or I have no idea what to make, so it would be nice to have a quick trick with a few of your favorite products.

Anyway, I was searching around on Smitten Kitchen and ran across a blueberry cookie bar. I was gonna post a picture but we ate them too fast. They are really easy, Tony and I made them in about 20 minutes. I used a mix of raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries, because that's what was on sale and we substituted lime juice for lemon juice. Basically you combine, flour, sugar, salt, and lime zest and cut in cold butter. Place half the mix on the bottom, then top with sugar, cornstarch, and berry mix, and the other half of the crumble. I think if you mixed in some rolled oats to the top half it could pass as a breakfast bar. (I ate 2 giant squares with coffee) 

This isn't a new idea but I keep thinking about this ice cream flavor. Homemade vanilla ice cream with Nutella ribbons and then crumble those Ferrer Rocher chocolates. Gonna go freeze the ice cream bowl!!

Oh yeah forgot - took the Mother in law out for Mother's Day lunch and shopping then back home to mini strawberry shortcakes - staying true to my week of "non" cooking I used store bought sponge cake, whip cream, and had some strawberries and mint left over. We washed it all down with a little skinny girl margaritas and enjoyed the rest of our day.

I enjoy cooking - but not as much as my sister’s nor am I as good a cook, but I do enjoy eating so that’s my contribution to this blog. The description of family that fits our story is “a group of objects (us) unified by a significant shared characteristic (cooking/eating/entertaining)”. The question/description of food and cooking I like best is well…what’s for dinner sister?

Now I can set a mean tablescape and I like to use china outdoors, but when I throw together a meal for my husband and I it usually contains fresh veggies or meat added to our box meal of the week hello “Mr. Helper” or “Pasta al a carte”. Last week was no exception. One night it was packaged fettuccine with sautéed mushrooms, canned tomatoes, and olives, all topped with grilled chicken and Parmesan. Then another night was grilled pork chops that had been marinated in a little dijon, soy sauce, maple syrup, garlic, and ginger - I served it with brussels sprouts and Suddenly Salad Pasta. But Saturday we went crazy and cooked. I purchased a whole rainbow trout and stuffed his insides with a medley from my herb garden and limes (cuz I was out of lemons) and we grilled it to a perfect flakiness and served alongside a fresh salad and grilled asparagus purchased that morning from the Farmers Market. For dessert fresh strawberries drizzled with balsamic vinegar and dressed with mint – a light and I’m going to say healthy meal for us.

This week who knows…we might “cook” again but tonight its salad with chicken quick and easy…to be continued.

Heather

Sweet Potatoes

You have told me you have a sugar addiction, I think I need to admit I might have a butter addiction. and the fact that Tony is always trying to eat the butter straight from the dish with a spoon should confirm I use a little more than necessary. That being said I made a really good sweet potato gratin loaded with butter and cheese which probably counters all the health benefits sweet potatoes have.

So I sliced the potatoes thin and layer in a dish with butter, parmesan cheese, and black pepper. Then I poured half and half that I steeped nutmeg and a little brown sugar over the potatoes. I topped it with some panko bread crumbs, parmesan, and crumbled bacon (all mixed with just a little more melted butter) and baked for about 45 minutes. It was yummy and everyone loved it. We had it with roasted chicken and some fresh corn on the cob - also delish and smeared with too much butter.

I have been craving asian noodles - like pad thai or soba and have gone out twice this week to satiate the craving but I still want more. So I might try to tackle that one this weekend. (or realize how many ingredients I have to by and go out for more noodles). I'm not very good at getting the flavors balanced when I make asian food so I will have to do some research.

Do you know any good recipes?

Pizza

So we made our pizza last night and it turned out pretty good. I think that refrigerating it overnight made the dough better! I have read this in several recipes including pancake batter. I made mine with fresh spinach, artichoke hearts, goat cheese, kalamata olives and caramelized onions. Temple had hers with olives and cheese, Jhai was just cheese and Rudy went with the classic pepperoni. What I loved best was all of us gathered around the kitchen counter rolling our dough and just having family time. I am about to go back to work for the next few days so cooking will be limited.

I cooked!

OK so I did some cooking for the family over the weekend. First last night I cooked a ham, broccoli, cheese quiche. Easy, but pretty good. Then today I baked the Sally Lund bread recipe from smitten kitchen. It was OK, good crumb, she said she decreased the sugar in the recipe, but I think I would maybe increase it a little. But warm with some homey butter, can I really complain. Then T and I were going to make pizza for dinner tonight, and we did make the dough, but after soccer practice, and knowing that I would have to go to the store to get toppings, we changed plans and will have pizza tomorrow night for dinner. I couldn't go through a drive thru for dinner and so on the fly I made homemade mac and cheese. I know it isn't much, but I think the last time I tried to make a cheese sauce it was awful! I think I didn't cook the flour long enough and it was really pasty tasting. Tonight it was creamy and cheesy enough without being too much. Both girls ate it so in my book that is a success! It was good to cook again!