food – Page 3 – Peaceful Reader

Weekly Recipes {8}

I have a foodie crush on Jamie Oliver and I found this book at a sale and had to have it. Friday I took this book to dance class and browsed while Groovy Girl did her thing. I found many recipes I wanted to try but this curry recipe was the one. Our family loves curry and it was a special night as the 20-year-old was joining us for dinner so I made a special stop at our international store for roti bread and spices.

My Favorite Curry Sauce
(p. 32) serves 4

5 T vegetable oil
2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp fenugreek seeds (couldn’t find these on short notice)
3 fresh green chillies, deseeded and thinly sliced. (I used only one)
1 handful of curry leaves
2 thumb-sized pieces of fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
3 onions, peeled and chopped
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp tumeric
6 tomatoes, chopped
1 14-oz can of coconut milk
salt

He has three seperate variations; fish, chicken, and veggie. I had a good piece of chicken so I used that, cutting the chicken in to bite-sized pieces and adding 1 T coriander seeds, crushed to the skillet.

Heat the oil in a pan, and when hot add the mustard seeds. Wait for them to pop, then add the fenegreek seeds, fresh green chillies, curry leaves and ginger. Stir and fry for a few minutes. Using a food processor, chop the onions and add to the same pan. Continue to cook for 5 minutes until the onion is light brown and soft, then add the chilli powder and turmeric. Using the same food processor, pulse the tomatoes and add these to the pan. Cook for a couple of minutes, then add 1 or 2 wineglasses of water and the coconut milk to the pan. Simmer for about 5 minutes until it has the consistency of heavy cream, then season carefully with salt.

Take this sauce as the base and add in whatever meat, veggies or tofu you would like. Be sure to stir fry your meat in a skillet and then add it into the sauce.

I served it with jasmine rice and Indian bread. It was good, and well worth it but I was missing key ingredients; the fenegreek seeds and curry leaves. I wasn’t happy that our small ethnic grocery store didn’t have either of these and the sales person offered me a bag of bay leaves instead. (what?!) I don’t have any trips planned to Minneapolis or Chicago so I did what I had to do but don’t like to do; I ordered them from Amazon. I love my small town but it is hard when I’m looking for unusual ingredients.

I want to make the dish again when these unusual spices arrive and see the difference. Also I will add all three chillies in! I worried it would be too spicy but it wasn’t spicy enough. The flavor was good and the bread was a huge hit so it was a win. My husband and son had multiple large helpings and there was still leftovers for lunch the next day.

Because I was making a special dinner I thought I would do a dessert as well and I was drawn to Jaime’s fancy pudding recipe.

Cheeky Chocolate Mousse

(p. 278) serves 4
8 oz good quality bittersweet chocolate, bashed up
5 T butter, cut into pieces
1 3/4 cups heavy cream
2 large eggs, pref. organic
1 T. Amaretto
2 T. good quality honey
.
In a bowl over some gently simmering water, slowly melt the chocolate and the butter together then remove from the heat. In a separate bowl, semi-whip the cream (until it forms soft peaks, not too stiff). In a 3rd bowl, whisk the eggs and honey until light and fluffy then fold in the Amaretto, melted chocolate mixture and cream-gently-so you don’t lose too much air. Pour into some small wineglasses, martini glasses, or dessert dishes and leave to chill for about an hour before serving. I served it topped with a little extra cinnamon-infused whipped cream. Both kids really disliked the dessert because it was a strong chocolate favor but not sweet enough for them. Ha! That left more for me. I’ve had a tiny dish of it every night this week to finish off my dinner. I love the strong flavor.

If I had the opportunity to sit and have a meal with a chef I would pick Jaime. His casual style appeals to me, we could have a cold beer and chat about spices, and he makes even a difficult dish sound doable.

Food-centered life styles

“Come on in and have something to eat”

“We should go get something to eat.”

“What do you want to eat?”

“It’s a potluck.”

“Bring food.”

All statements that we hear in our lives daily. We are a food-centered society with first world problems. Which restaurant to eat in, what cut of meat to choose from the deli case, which foods do you pick as you walk down the buffet line?

When you are attempting to cut down on the amount of food you eat you begin to notice how every event centers around food. This weekend we attended two music events and both had food offerings available. “Go eat…” After church someone serves cookies, bars and now fruit and cheese because last year we choose a healthier initiative.

Food, food, food. It seems to be necessary at gatherings, get-togethers, and everything we celebrate; birthdays, anniversaries, holidays. Reunions. We are headed to a family reunion this weekend. I’ve been working on cutting my calories way back and getting in more activities. So this weekend I have to get in the car and ride for several hours to go to a gathering where people will have all kinds of unhealthy treats laid out on paint chipped picnic tables.

Even virtual gatherings are often food-related as we scroll food blogs, websites, and pinterest for tasty offerings.

I think it is going to be a new goal of mine to ignore the food at gatherings and just focus on the people. I might even try and get together with people without food involved. How would that even look?

We could meet for a walk in the park, or a movie (no popcorn), coffee (no biscotti + I don’t drink coffee). There’s got to be a way to make this work. Anybody else struggle with this notion?

I love food just as much as the next person but it’s just not good for us to be constantly focused on food. Angelle, Verda, and I did discuss this at the great reading retreat. We didn’t solve it there either. We were eating cheese, crackers, and hummus while we were pondering this life question. We were outside at least enjoying the beautiful nature around us.

I’m going to test it out this weekend as the stuff spread out on that table will not be the healthy fare I normally ingest so it will be easy to walk past potato salad, green bean salad, and

Weekly Recipes 5

I’ve been pretty low maintainance on making actual recipes this week as most of my family is out of town. Teenage Boy and I have had the week to ourselves and it has been lovely. We’ve watched a few movies together. I’ve watched a binge-worth of Parenthood and I am finally on season 4. Yeah for Jasmine and Crosby! A little worried about new adoptee Victor. My son thought it best if I turned it off as I was cleaning and watching like my 7th episode, tears running down my face. Pitiful.

The son and I also went thrifting this week. We both found clothing items we liked and while he continued to browse I headed to the book section. I found several fiction titles I was mildly interested in but not enough to add to my already huge piles at home but as I kept browsing my treasure came to me: a Jamie Oliver hardcover cookbook. I have a foodie crush on Jamie and I love a good revolution. This book is one of his first though and tackles easy-to-prepare recipes. I’ve not made one yet but I’ve loved reading through the pages and listening to his stories.

I’m thankful for this week with my son. It’s been a blessing and I’ve also tackled mounds of clutter. I did make time to visit with friends yesterday and Kay made a rhubarb Prosecco cocktail that was perfect. I don’t have her recipe YET.

{Source}

I also experimented with some bread again. I wanted something yeasty and quick. This 5-minute Artisan bread did not take long to put together but it didn’t rise quickly. I gave it some time. Meditated over it and kneaded it again. I love the way the dough feels in my hand; it’s very calming. I baked it around 11 pm (late for me), went to bed after I took the steamy loaves out of the oven. The smell drove me crazy while I was desperately trying to get to sleep. I gave up and went down stairs and cut myself two slices-luckily it was still steamy. Amazing.

Weekly Recipes 3

In my constant search for new and different foods to lay at our table I made this delicious (say the kids) chicken recipe this week:

Grilled Lemongrass Chicken with Ginger Rice
{weeknight gluten free by Kristine Kidd}
*we are not gluten-free; I only used regular ingredients where it specifies gluten-free

Shallot, 2 T, minced
gluten-free tamari, 2 T.
Sugar, 1 1/2 T.
Asian fish sauce, 1 1/2 T.
Lemongrass stalks, 1 fat or 2 thin, peeled and minced, or 2 tsp lemon zest
vegetable oil, 1 T.
Asian chile sauce, 1/2 tsp
kosher salt, 1/2 tsp
skinless, boneless chicken thighs, 1 1/2 pounds

Ginger Rice
Fresh ginger, 1 1/2 T., minced
kosher salt, 1/8 tsp
uncooked brown basmati or jasmine rice, 1 cup
Gluten-free tamari, 2 tsp
chopped green onions for garnish

1. In a bowl, mix the shallot, 2 T. tamari, sugar, fish sauce, lemongrass, oil, chili sauce, and salt. Cut any excess fat from the chidken. Add the chicken to the bowl and toss to coat. Let the chicken marinate while preparing the rice.
2. To make the ginger rice, in a small saucepan, bring 1 1/2 cups water, the ginger, and salt to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook for 30 minutes. Turn off the heat and let stand for at least 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork, then mix in the tamari.
3. Meanwhile, prepare the grill for direct-heat cooking over high heat. Remove the chicken from the marinade and add to the grill rack, cover and cook until springy to the touch and cooked through, about 6 minutes per side.
4. Divide the rice among 4 warmed plates. Top with the chicken, sprinkle green onions, and serve right away.

My normal habit of not reading the recipe all the way through was a problem here-I did not know about the GRILL-I cooked the chicken in my huge cast iron skillet, added marinade in, put the lid on and let it cook/steam to done. Also my kids would balk if I cut green onions over the top so avoided that step altogether. My son said the chicken was wonderful, flavorful, and tender. I made this meal just so he would eat something while the rest of us were out of town for 2 days. Over-mothering, yes, but he weighs next to nothing so I do what I have to to get food into him.

{source}

Plus I made this amazing rhubarb recipe. They are tart and just the perfect size!

How was your week of cooking?

Starter curry from Jenny

I love my copy of Dinner; A love story for many reasons. It has fantastic recipes, amusing stories, and I agree with her on many topics. We love dinner at our house. Sitting down together eating and sharing conversation. When my son moved back after living on his own for a year and a half it was the dinners together that he raved about missing. Every night he felt blessed to be back at the table eating good food with family surrounding him.

Even though I love this book I’ve only made a few of the recipes from this book. Chicken cutlets and dark and stormy are two top favs. I pulled the book out the other night and decided I was going to experiment with more of her recipes.

Tonight I made Curried Chicken with apples. Everyone had 2nds and fought over scraps. Groovy Girl sadly didn’t like some of the ingredients but she loved the chicken and the sauce. Apples confused her and those she refused to eat. She suggested a potato instead of the apple.

[yep, already had a bit or two but you can see the cilantro, yogurt, etc}

Here’s the recipe so you can try it yourself.

Starter Curry; Curried Chicken with apples (it is only one apple…really)

2 T canola oil, plus more as needed
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 large stalk celery, chopped
1 large apple, such as Granny Smith, peeled, cored, and cut into bite-size pieces
1 tsp grated peeled fresh ginger
2 T madras curry powder
3 medium-sized boneless chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 lbs) {Organic or farm-raised by someone you know preferred)
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup light coconut milk
Handful of frozen peas (optional) {I opted out-don’t like frozen peas, or any pea from a pkg}
Few dollops of plain yogurt
Suggested garnishes: chopped cilantro or mint, sliced or chopped almonds

Heat the oil in a deep, large skillet over medium high heat. Add the onion and saute until it begins to soften, about 2 minutes.
Add the garlic, celery, apple, and ginger. Cook for 2-3 minutes and then add the curry powder, stirring to combine.
Push the ingredients to one side of the pan, add a little more oil, and brown the chicken on all sides. If your pan is too stuffed, you can do it in two batches.) Stir all the ingredients together then add the broth and coconut milk. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Add the peas (if using) then cover and cook 10 more minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.

Serve with basmati rice or flatbread and top with a dollop of yogurt and desired garnishes.

Enjoy this delicious recipe and many others in Jenny Rosenstrach’s book and website.

The night before Christmas…

and all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. I stirred most of the day though.

What a beautiful Christmas Eve day we’ve had here in the Holt household. The kids woke up lazy and late, eating breakfast for lunch. I, on the other hand, had been up since 5 a.m. putting together dough for three loaves of bread, making my last list and checking it twice. I dislike to be all crazy on a holiday yet I didn’t want it to be Christmas Day and not have what I needed for our meal and our, most importantly, mimosas! So I did have a long list of things to do since it was my first day off and even though I’d shopped previously. I blame it on our too small refrigerator.

We’ve done a lot of sharing over this holiday since it is now rare for all 5 of us to be together. Somehow it’s made us more appreciative. The older kids have shared many memories and both said that eating breakfast together on Christmas morn is very special to them. That over opening gifts! That is a happy thought I will savor all through the year.

Tomorrow morning we are having this french toast recipe which I picked just because I could make it in my crock pot. I adore the idea of getting up and having it all ready. We usually only look at Santa gifts and stocking gifts before we eat so this will be perfect. I am also going to cook some bacon (for our meat-loving men) and fried eggs to round out the meal.

(Bon Appetit clam chowder)

Christmas Eve meals have always been special in our house and many times I’ve many lasagna but the last few years we’ve had clam chowder. In my family we always had oyster stew with fresh bread which was so perfect but I married a man who cannot eat oysters so we came around to clams-for some reason clams are okay. I will use this Bon Appetit recipe again -it had excellent flavor and I’m sure it came from the pound of real clams I started with and I was so excited when they all opened. The fresh bread was perfect for dipping and soaking up the broth. I made a double batch and we have just a small amount for leftovers.

Tomorrow we have a hodgepodge of favorites for all types. My husband and son will enjoy a spiral-cut ham (a gift from a friend) and the rest of us will enjoy a variety of veggie dishes + a big salad. Mostly I want to just sit and enjoy my kids as we laugh together, go for a walk, and play board games. I think watching a movie is in the works as well.

Appreciate the love of your family as you celebrate this holiday season! Feliz Navidad.

Happy Thanksgiving!

{Etsy art}

We have much to be thankful for and we shared those thoughts during our husband/dad cooked breakfast this morning. It is a joy to be alive and feel the fresh, freezing Midwest air fill your lungs as you lope from house to car. I also said a few blessings this morning as I curled warmly under the blankets this morning as I slept and read until about 9:30. Glorious. I’m always sleepy as I just don’t get enough sleep anymore. And I’m in the middle of a good book and it’s tough to put it down even as my eyelids blink shut repeatedly. Holling Hoodhood has just read The Tempest with Mrs. Baker and the cream puffs just devoured by the two escaped rats in The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt so you can see my sleeping/reading dilemma this morning.

All I’m trying to say is the day has started off luxuriously just as Thanksgiving should be. We did watch a little of the Macy’s parade as we devoured the breakfast (biscuits with fruit jam, local bacon, scrambled brown eggs, and orange juice) and then we cleaned. Yes, we cleaned our family room. When you work full-time and don’t have a full-time maid to help you keep up with it; it all kind of settles and clutters around this main area of space. We did it together and got it polished up in about an hour. The table is all clear and ready for our food spread.

We are very untraditional when it comes to our holiday meals. We don’t care what others are consuming (turkey) and even though I have brined and roasted a lovely organic bird a time or two for large family gatherings it wasn’t going to happen this year. We have a perfect piece of Alaskan salmon as our main fare accompanied by sweet potatoes, a tossed green salad, and fresh cranberries cooked to pop with drizzles of maple syrup, honey, and orange zest. A glorious meal of favorite food for the three of us to share. I wish I still had some brussel sprouts to roast-they would be perfect also.

What’s on your menu?

Sometime we’ve gone to a movie on Thanksgiving night but tonight we have tickets to a volleyball tournament hosted at our local university. I don’t like to see anybody work on a holiday such as this but it will be fun to watch two top teams compete. Better than football for me.

Wednesday I had two opportunities to read my favorite Thanksgiving picture book, A Turkey for Thanksgiving by Eve Bunting, which has Mr. Moose off looking for a turkey who gets to join in the holiday meal instead of the main course. Kids always love this surprise ending and it shares the grand idea that who you are eating with is far more important than what you are eating!

Enjoy! Happy Thanksgiving.

Traveling Mercies

(collage by Groovy Girl: G.G. with her super cute cousins)

We spent three days last week in Minneapolis, one of my favorite cities. I lived there for years while I went to college the first time and loved it. Lucky for me I still have family there so it is easy to drive the 3 1/2 hours north to see some of my favorite people. Sadly I don’t make it as much as I’d like to but this time our purpose was to see our new niece born August 13th. You’d think (because of my deep love of babies) I would have made the journey before now except that was just about the time school started for me and then it seems that pretty much every weekend after that was filled to the brim with activities.

Somewhere in October I vowed not to fill November weekends up just so we could head north and it worked. I persuaded my husband to journey with us and he complied by finding a Bluegrass show to sweeten the deal. The show just happened to be on Thursday night so I took a day off from work (oh, so rare) and we headed to Harriet’s Brewery after dropping Groovy Girl at my (step)sister Robin’s new house. Her family of four just moved to the Minnehaha neighborhood after living in South Chicago for about 6 years and they are so excited about this move.

https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/VFR63YxU6R4&source=uds

Greg and I enjoyed music by The Last Revel at the brewery. They were fantastic and I would head out of town again to hear them play. The second band was good also but I can’t remember their name.

This was a perfect toe-tapping band and the guys were equally as nice by they way they tolerated chatting with my husband several times about music.

I was a wreck that night for some reason. I got carded coming through the door into the steamy brewery and I could NOT find my driver’s license anywhere in my bag. While I was desperately searching my glasses dropped out of my hand because I’d taken them off due to that steaminess. They snapped in half and were completely unwearable. So I couldn’t drink the delicious brewed beer or truly see the band. It was a mess and I still managed to enjoy the evening. Now I have to buy new glasses and I wasn’t ready to do that and I still don’t know where my ID is.

(Upside down cousins)

The rest of the weekend was spent at my (step) sister Autumn’s home in Eden Prairie. We walked even though it was chilly. We ate delicious pizza and generally lazed around the house holding her little one. My hope was to give my sister time to sleep and rejuvenate. Maybe it worked. Sometimes just visiting with each other can make the day solid. We also had a delicious lunch at a diner in their neighborhood with Robin and family on Saturday before we left town. I had the best fish sandwich ever. The coleslaw had cranberries in it and the fish had perfect crunch.

Thank you for the alignment of the stars to bring us all together on one weekend even though my glasses and ID decided to jump ship.

We also checked out the construction of my brother’s new house. We can’t wait for a return trip in December or January to see the finished product.

(new house)

This picture is all about the cookie. Groovy Girl wanted to show the size; it is bigger than my face. My husband is behind me hoping I’m not going to eat that cookie. My glasses in the photo have been super-glued. That trick only lasted two days.

Summer Salsa Season

{source}

My mom brought me enough tomatoes to fill an entire kitchen counter. My young nephew Jasper picked most of them for her and his count I think was 72 plump and vibrant red toms. Last night I started the process of turning them into salsa. They were so gorgeous though it was hard to not want to save them for mozzarella, basil salads or avocado, lettuce sandwiches; I compromised and saved 6.
The rest I plopped into boiling water then plunged into an ice bath before slipping the skins from the meat.

I used this great article from AllRecipes.com to remind me how to skin the tomatoes.

It was late last night and so the rest of the process will happen today. Most of last week I had back-to-school classes that I had to attend because I’d switched districts. This week I have school everyday with meetings the first 3 days and students on Thursday. I have MUCH to do but today I will spend most of it making the salsa that I love because the tomatoes don’t wait. And the fruit flies start to circulate.

Read more about my salsa-making adventures right here with cute photos of a younger short-haired Groovy Girl + the recipe! Have a healthy week!

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads weekly foodie meme, Weekend Cooking, and you should click there for many more interesting food related posts. Cheers.

Weekend Cooking; Recipes of the week

{The Kitchn}

I made this wonderful pasta dish: Lemony Ricotta Pasta with basil. I will definitely make this recipe again as it was easy and tasted great. Groovy Girl’s comment, “too cheesy,” didn’t even bother me one bit as I took another bite. I’ve got a lot of basil to use and am going to make a pared down pesto to freeze to use up my bounty.

I did make these healthy (and delicious!) swiss chard rolls. It’s a little like eating a sushi roll and the lemony flavor makes my mouth sing. They were very easy to make and it was my first time cooking with bulgar.

I plan to make this swiss chard risotto this week because I’ve acquired another huge bunch. Candace at Beth Fish Reads suggested risotto. I love risotto so it’s perfect.

I made a blueberry pie as my grocery store had USA blueberries on sale. And my husband LOVES pie. He left for RAGRAI yesterday and I wanted him to leave with a belly full of pie.

I also made him my mother-in-law’s famous chicken salad. It’s so easy (and worth it) to compliment someone on the food they make simply by asking for the recipe. I found myself in Target thinking about making the chicken salad and so I called Phyllis to ask for a run-down of the ingredients. As we were chatting about the recipe she relayed that Kaylee, my 22-year-old step-daughter, had called her and also asked for the recipe recently. That’s how simple it is to compliment someone on their cooking.

{the start of good chicken salad}

Curried Chicken Salad

Combine in a large bowl:

1 1/2 cups cooked (locally sourced or at least organic) chicken*, cut into bite-sized pieces (about 2-3 breasts)
1/2 cups seedless grapes, green or red (I always use red as my preference)
1 can water chestnuts, sliced and drained
1 can mandarin oranges or pineapple, drained (look for low-sugar content)

Mix together 1/2 cup olive oil-based mayonnaise or healthy egg-free substitute, 1/4 tsp kosher salt, and 1 tsp curry powder (I always use extra curry powder). Combine dressing with chicken mixture. I serve this on top of a bed of salad greens. It is delicious and a perfect meal for summer. Thanks Phyllis for all your inspiration!

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme hosted by Candace. Click to her link to find many other food-related posts. Have a healthy weekend.