Chicken "salad"

I have a sister who is four years younger than me, but personality wise she is about ten to fifteen years older. Sometimes I feel that she would have been better suited as my older sister, rather than my younger. For instance, my idea of budgeting is taking my pay cheque for the week, making sure I cover the bills for that week, and spending the rest. My sister actually plans out the months ahead, what she will take in, and what she has to put out, and then what goes into savings. She has offered to make a budget for me, but I think we both know how it would end.

I mentioned to her yesterday about how I couldn't decide what to make for dinner. She had just read yesterday's blog entry, and was apparently deeply concerned about my arteries and she said "Maybe you should make something for your heart, like a chicken salad"

My very mature response was "Bleh"

Salad is an appetizer in my books. No one will ever be able to convince me that a plate made up mostly of lettuce is a main course. (And yes I know that salad isn't necessarily made with lettuce). I don't care how much meat is in the salad, it is still an appetizer.

Knowing she had a point about my heart, I knew I should make something loaded with vegetables. I also bought a case of beautiful chicken breasts last week so I figured she also had a point regarding the use of chicken.

Everyday Food has a recipe for Thai Chicken and Noodle Salad. I'm not really sure how this dish is labelled a salad, other than it has a lot of raw veggies in it.

The following is what I did different from the recipe:

1) I added a red bell pepper, cut into thin strips. (I have also been calling bell peppers capsicums lately. Capsicum is their real name, and it is annoying someone I work with when I call them that, so naturally I do it more)

2) I used 2 chicken breasts cut up into chunks instead of the amount they called for

3) Instead of chopped peanuts, I added toasted cashews

4) I didn't cut the cucumber into half moons, I peeled it, and then used the vegetable peeler to cut long thin strips of cucumber

5) The garnishes I used were green onions and cashews. I meant to use bean sprouts, and I even bought them, but as I write this I remembered I left the bean sprouts in their package in my crisper.

6) For the dressing I didn't have the anchovy that was optional, but I put in a few dashes of fish sauce since fish sauce's main ingredient is anchovy.

7) I used egg noodles instead of Chinese rice noodles. I have used Chinese rice noodles before, and I prefer them, but the grocery store was out yesterday

I have made this recipe countless times before, and each time I really love it. The chicken and noodles are hot, and since the veggies are raw they are crisp and taste really good. If you are making some to eat for dinner and then take some for lunch the next day, you will want to package the chicken and noodles separately from the veggies. When I make this I take a bowl and mix in what I am eating for supper, but I do not mix all of it together so the veggies (mainly the cucumber) get soggy and gross.

Delicious!

Surf n Turf

When I first moved to Edmonton I was living in a townhouse that had ample storage place. The kitchen had enough cupboards that I could place all my kitchen stuff in them, and I still had empty cabinets to spare. I had a huge pantry with lots of shelving as well. After a couple years in that condo, I made the move into an apartment. While there is so much about my apartment that I like better than my condo, I really lost out on a lot of storage areas.

This has made things trying at times, but in the most recent weeks I was so frustrated with this that I felt like throwing out all of my belongings. Instead of throwing everything out, I got rid of a lot of things that I had been holding onto for no reason. I knew that to create more storage space I needed to buy a couple bookcases, so on Saturday I went to IKEA.

I invited C to tag along. One, because she loves IKEA, two, because she has an SUV, and three, because I just plain love her company! Since C was so generous with helping me transport my purchases, and helping me carry them into my apartment, as well as helping me put them together, I made her dinner.

A while ago my doctor told me that I have high cholesterol, and I needed to change my diet. He told me to eat lots of almonds, fish, fruit and vegetables. He warned me against red meat and butter. The meal I made for C would make my doctor cry. I almost cried too, it was so good. I will warn you, this meal is not for anyone who is watching their waistline, or is concerned about their arteries.

I'll start with my least favorite from the menu. The roasted cauliflower. I have had no previous experience with roasting cauliflower. To be honest, I wanted to boil it but the rest of the dishes were using up my burners. I poured some oil on the cauliflower and season it with salt and pepper. I placed it in the oven at 350 F. About 15 minutes into it I noticed that the cauliflower was still raw hard. So I poured some water into the dish so it would steam at the same time. This didn't work. So we had cauliflower that was still sort of hard, and not at all fork tender. Though really, once you see the rest of the meal you will see why we didn't care too much about the cauliflower.

I still think it looked pretty. I will get to the sauce on top of the cauliflower momentarily. Right now, I want to talk about the potatoes. I made the potatoes using a recipe from Nigella Lawson's How To Eat. You boil new potatoes until they are fork tender. (I used red potatoes for color, and to make them pretty I peeled a strip off the potato around the middle). Once tender, you drain the potatoes and toss with a bit of butter until the potatoes are glossy. Then you pour a bit of truffle oil on the potatoes, being careful not to use too much or your potatoes will smell like a barnyard. Nigella's words, not mine.

Truffles are an extremely decadent and expensive ingredient. I know I couldn't afford to every use them, and a lot of recipes use truffle oil to bring a bit of the decadence to the dish without having to actually use the truffles. When my friend D came to visit me she brought me a present, and when I opened it to find truffle oil I was ecstatic.

I loved the bottle so much I have to show a picture of it, as well as a picture of the potatoes.

The truffle oil adds a certain taste that I can't identify. It's very earthy, but something about it reminds me of something I had once. A very nostalgic and comforting ingredient.

The sauce on top of the cauliflower is a Bearnaise sauce. It also came from Nigella's How to Eat. You can find the recipe here. This links to a recipe for steak with the Bearnaise sauce, but we only used the recipe for the sauce.

The Bearnaise sauce's main ingredient is butter. And it is delicious on steak. To make my steaks I took two new york strips, rubbed them with oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, and placed on my hot grill pan for about five minutes on each side. I was careful not to move them once placed in the pan, and I let them rest under foil for five minutes after they came off the pan.

Since this meal wasn't already completely indulgent, I made scallops as well. To make the scallops I heated a bit of oil and butter in a pan, and when it was hot I placed the scallops in to sear. To sear the scallops the oil and butter must be hot, and once placed in the pan they cannot be moved. When meat of any kind (including shellfish) is placed in a hot pan the meat sticks to the pan. If it's moved right away it will tear. You have to wait until the meat naturally lets go of the pan so it can be moved. The scallops take roughly one minute on each side to cook. They are finished when both sides are brown and the middle is opaque. DO NOT OVERCOOK THE SCALLOPS.

To serve, I place the steaks on a plate, poured the Bearnaise on top, and then placed the scallops on top of the saucy steak. Then I took the pictures, and drowned the scallops in more sauce after that.

I was eating the steak and scallops separately until C told me if you take a bit of steak with a bite of the scallop it tastes really really good. So I took her advice, and she wasn't lying. When the two are put together something very magical happens. I'm not joking. Please try it.

Healthy take on meat sauce

Mondays are my least favorite day. After getting used to sleeping in, and spending forever in bed before finally dragging myself out to search for coffee, I wake up to an alarm at the crack of dawn and have to get out to go to work. This morning I woke up and the cracks in the blinds were playing tricks on me, making me believe it was lighter out than it usually is when I wake up. I jumped up, and looked at my clock to see how late I was for work, and it was still forty minutes before my alarm was set to go off. Try going back to sleep after jolting awake, it's not easy.
I also like to sleep with my window open a crack. I can't fall asleep at night if my room is stuffy or stale. Which means on a Monday morning (or any day, really) when I already am struggling to do the last thing I want to do, it's that much harder because I have to brace myself to leave a warm, cozy retreat, and walk to the bathroom in sub zero temperature.
After I fully wake up, I realize when my alarm goes off I should shut the window, and turn on the space heater, but this stroke of brilliance doesn't occur to me until it's too late. Every morning.
One thing that I was excited about today though, is that I have new food to post about!

On Friday I sat with my cookbooks trying to figure out what I wanted to make for my first dinner after my power returned. It came down to a chicken or pasta dish. I had chosen the chicken dish, and even wrote up the grocery list, but I had this nagging feeling in my stomach that I really wanted to have pasta.
Over the course of last week I found this recipe for Sweet Basil Pork Ragu. What really caught my eye on this was the use of balsamic vinegar in the sauce. If you have read this blog before you know I love balsamic vinegar. A lot. Sometimes I buy bread for the sole purpose of eating it dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar as an after work snack.
If you didn't click on the recipe I will give you a rundown of the ingredients in the next blurb here.
I really liked this recipe, it tasted great, but the real plus is that it was also a bit healthier than my standard meat sauce. My standard meat sauce consists of ground beef, a carrot, half an onion, maybe a celery stick, a large can of tomato sauce (original, so I can add my own spices) and a mix of dried herbs and spices. The dried herbs and spices are usually basil, oregano, garlic salt, red chili flakes, cayenne pepper, and a bay leaf.
This recipe was made with ground pork. While pork doesn't have as much taste as ground beef, it does sop up all the flavors of the sauce. And it's better for you than beef, health wise and pocket wise because ground pork is cheaper.
I used a full onion, one stalk of celery, a cup of mushrooms, and I also added a chopped carrot to the recipe. When I added the vegetables into the meat, there was an equal ratio of vegetables to meat. I am fairly picky when it comes to jarred sauces with vegetables, I will avoid the veggies at all costs. However when I am the one who picks out the vegetables and chops them myself, I will eat them. Back to my point, I liked that the veggies and meat portions were equal. It made me feel better about eating pasta, and also that I haven't had much in the form of fruits and veggies lately.
I also strayed a little and bought a red wine and herb jarred sauce, instead of my usually can of tomato sauce. It was Friday night and I was feeling indulgent. I also used dried basil. Or oregano. I can't tell since they look so similar and I keep them in unmarked jars that are identical. Genius, I know.


I topped mine with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and cracked black pepper. Delicious.

I also had the genius idea of making focaccia bread from scratch to go with it. I recommend not making fresh focaccia for dinner, when you start making it at 7 pm. At least with my recipe. It called for rising for an hour, followed with another rising for twenty minutes, followed by a final rising for thirty minutes, before being put in the oven for thirty minutes. This did mean I was eating dinner at 10 pm on Friday.
The recipe called for 3 cups of flour, plus an extra 1/4 cup. I used the 3 cups and noticed as I was kneading (rather, my stand mixer was kneading) that the dough wasn't smooth and elastic. Or at least, what I assumed smooth and elastic should be. I assumed the dough was too dry, but my experience with bread making is slim to none, so what the heck would I know?
By the time the dough had been kneaded, risen, kneaded, risen, poked, risen and baked I knew something was really wrong. The dough didn't roll out right, and the focaccia resembled a lady bug. I did try it, and it tasted alright (especially with some balsamic vinegar), but it wasn't worth the effort.
I complained about this bread the next day to C, who bakes bread, and she mentioned that in Edmonton the weather in the winter is extremely dry and most recipes aren't written with that in consideration, so in the winter sometimes you have to use less flour than what the recipe calls for.
Sigh. This is not improving my opinion of baking in any way.
I will be attempting the bread again, and I will post pictures and the recipe when that time comes.

Back in Action

I am thrilled beyond measure to announce that my kitchen is back to functional. As of this afternoon power has returned to my entire apartment. I know from the way I have been complaining about this you would think I would be cooking tonight and posting up some food immediately.

Unfortunately once I realized my power would be down for at least a week, I begged everyone I knew to take pity on me and feed me home cooked meals. So tonight I am still going to a friend's for dinner, but as of tomorrow night I plan to be back in the kitchen.

I can only take so much take out. Throughout the week I have a certain system. One night a week I go to my sister's for dinner, and on Fridays I usually pick something up, and the rest of the week I make dinner. Fridays I am usually tired from the work week and want to do nothing except eat food prepared by someone else and watch a movie. I do like to go out for dinner too, but I couldn't eat restaurant or take out food a lot because I do love home cooked meals.

I am different on vacation though. When I went to Hawaii I loved going out to eat, mainly so I could have really fresh seafood. Last year I also spent some time in the Caribbean on a cruise. The best thing about a cruise is that there is food available all the time, usually in a buffet. My favorite thing about the food, aside from how good it tasted, was that it was all inclusive. One dinner I even ordered escargots, because I wanted to try them and figured the best time to do it was when they were free, so I wouldn't feel bad about wasting money if I didn't like them.

When our ship stopped in Mexico, we ate lunch at a Mexican cantina. I didn't realize this, but the sign for pesos on the menu was the same as the sign for an American or Canadian dollar. So when I was looking at the margarita list I was shocked to see a margarita for $120. (I also questioned how much tequila would have to be in said drink to make it cost that much) Thankfully our waiter explained the price was in pesos. Ahh tourists.

This is me, enjoying the fajitas that didn't cost $150. What you can't see is that right beside me was the ocean. It was very beautiful!

More Lemon

I am going through some major with drawl. My apartment still isn't fixed yet, and I haven't been behind a stove in over a week. I'm itching to get back to cooking. I did find some pictures today on my camera from a dinner I made last week before the power problems. (Which someone is coming to look at tomorrow).

I should scratch that last paragraph. I am currently typing this with Intervention playing in the background on television, and I am nowhere near an addict.

New start:

The power to my kitchen is still out. I have been racking my brain trying to figure out how I can make an actual hot meal using only outlets, without the use of my stove, oven or microwave. Being the idiot that I am, I didn't even think to use The Wife until I got home tonight, which is kind of late notice to put a meal together in a slow cooker. I do miss being able to cook though, and I am getting tired of take out. The only reason why I have a post to put up is that I found some pictures on my camera today from a meal I made last week. (I believe this is the one that was being made at the time the power started going wonky)

When I was at my friend C's parents' place on New Year's Eve, the topic of conversation led to food. Someone brought up my blog and some of the dinners that I had been making and someone asked me why I would want to put so much effort into a dinner that only I will enjoy. I'm not sure what I had answered with, but it would have been along the lines of why wouldn't I?

I have to eat every night, so I might as well enjoy my meals. I did admit though, that sometimes trying to cook for one with recipes that are made to serve four or more can be a pain in the ass.

This is when C's mom pulled out a couple of magazines with recipes designed to serve two people. This is perfect for me since I like to make enough food in one meal to serve me twice, once at dinner and once the next day for lunch.

One of the recipes was Lemon Sirloin with Feta Tabbouleh.
Tabbouleh is a Mediterranean salad that consists of bulgur, vegetables, and herbs. I have never worked with bulgur before but from the picture in the magazine I knew it would be similar to couscous or quinoa. The bulgur grains are slightly bigger than couscous, which I liked. The salad is incredibly healthy, it's loaded with vegetables and the oil used in it is the heart-healthy olive oil. The only unhealthy item is the feta, and I did use a bit more than what the recipe called for. Because I love feta. I could eat it straight out of the container.

The only issue I had with this recipe was due to my lack of experience with a grill pan. My aunt had called me a couple weeks ago. She was at Canadian Tire and they had a sale on KitchenAid grill pans, and she wanted to know if I wanted one. As soon as she mentioned "70 % off" I said yes, without even asking what color it was. (It was red by the way, so obviously I was meant to have this pan)

I didn't heat the pan up slowly, and I also didn't let it get hot enough before placing the steaks on. This will explain why there are no grill marks on the steak. Also why you don't see much of the steak in the picture, it isn't very pretty looking. The lemons look beautiful which is why the picture is even getting posted.

Overall, I loved this dish. I don't normally think to pair lemon with red meat, and I think they make a great pair. The tabbouleh was incredibly tasty and I can see it making a regular appearance at my table.

Bleh

It's been a really rough couple days for me. The biggest problem for me has been with my power in the apartment. A couple weeks ago when I was cooking dinner my fridge and microwave turned off. They both turned back on about five minutes later, only to turn off again five minutes after that. This repeated itself a few times before they both came back on for good.
Two nights ago I was making dinner when my microwave and fridge turned off for five minutes, turned back on, then ten minutes after that they shut off for good. About a half hour later I called my dad who told me to at least find a plug that was working to plug the fridge into. Oddly enough, the outlet right beside the fridge was working.
That night I went into my room to go to bed, and my bedroom light wouldn't turn on. My closet light and bathroom lights both turned on though. The next morning I woke up and my light wouldn't turn on, the microwave still had no power, and my spare bedroom lights were off.

This is a rough map of my house. Notice that the bedrooms, and kitchen are not close to each other, or beside each other or even on the same side of the apartment. Everyone's solution to my problem has been to check the breaker. Which I have. Several times.
Tonight I go to make dinner. I turn the stove on and go to empty the dishwasher. I notice that my microwave has turned back on! So I run to my bedroom, and sure enough, the lights are working!
About ten minutes later I realize my pot of water hasn't boiled. I check the coil, it's not hot. I turn it off, and the microwave turns off. I turn the stove back on, and the microwave turns on.
I'm beginning to fear my power problem is a much bigger issue.
Not only that, but now I don't have use of my stove. So I did the first thing one would do in such a situation and called my sister while in tears.

Here's to hoping I will be cooking and blogging again soon!

Pea Soup, the Right Way

When I am writing this blog, I usually make use of Google to help me find links to the recipes. Every time I start typing Nigella into the search, I always laugh. Google has this feature called auto complete, and when you start typing something, Google has a drop list that includes some possible searches you are looking for. When you type in Nigella the first three auto completes are as follows:

1) Nigella Lawson

2) Nigella Lawson recipes

3) Nigella Lawson breasts

I could see how her recipes are the most searched thing about Nigella, but her breasts came in second? Not that I am saying they should have been first, I'm just saying it makes me laugh that that's an actual popular search amongst people. If I were Nigella I don't know if I would feel more offended or proud.

Back in October I unsuccessfully made Nigella Lawson's Split Pea Soup. The end result was more of a gruel than a soup. This is not Nigella's fault, this was my own. I didn't have enough chicken broth for the soup and the dried split peas absorbed more than I thought they would. The gruel was not aesthetically pleasing, and the texture was hard to stomach, but the taste itself was not bad.

After reading the post, my friend C had mentioned that she had loved that recipe, she even drew five stars beside the recipe in her cookbook, and that it was too bad that I didn't enjoy it.

Yesterday morning I opened an email from C which read "When you made Nigella's pea soup, did you not like the taste or was it something else? I was thinking of making it for supper tonight for when you come over, but if you hated the taste I could make something else"

I wrote back saying the soup itself tasted good, but it was my poor execution that was the problem so I would be more than happy to have the soup. Then I also said I would be taking pictures of it and posting about the soup made the right way.

The pictures were taken by me, but all the food was made by C.

The soup:

Nigella calls this "Yellow Split Pea Soup with Frankfurters". If you are opposed to the use of hot dogs in the soup, you could use chopped ham instead. I personally like the franks, the picture reminds me of sharks circling around their prey. The soup is also pretty healthy (franks aside), the ingredients are celery, carrot, onion, broth, split peas and some seasonings.

If the soup isn't filling enough on its own, you could serve it alongside some bread. One thing I love about C is that she has the patience to bake and there is never a shortage of baked goods in her house.

C made Nigella's Potato Bread, which was still warm when we ate it. Really, is there anything better than fresh, warm from the oven, homemade bread? I could have ate the whole loaf myself, I didn't, but I wanted to.

I noticed in the recipe Nigella didn't do this, but C brushed melted butter on top of it when she pulled the loaf out of the oven. It made the bread shiny, but also the crust tasted of butter, and who doesn't love that?

Lemony Snickets

I was thrilled to receive The Cook's Book of Everything for Christmas. I had been eyeing it up at Chapters for a while, although when it comes to cookbooks there is very little I don't have my eye on. This particular book really does have a recipe for everything. It also has an herb and spice guide which is very informative.

My grocery store has this one produce aisle, I call it the miscellaneous aisle. That aisle is home to a random assortment of vegetables or herbs that can be unusual. The problem I have with this aisle is that I can't always count on a certain item to be there. For instance, I have seen Thai basil in the aisle on occasion, but not every single time that I shop there.
When I was walking down that aisle recently I saw lemongrass, an item that I have never noticed before at Sobeys. I went home, forgetting about the lemongrass, and opened my new cookbook. No joke, I opened it up to a recipe for lemongrass beef. Not seeing this as a coincidence the next night I picked up some lemongrass and made the dish.

Lemongrass Beef

Ingredients:

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tbs grated ginger

4 lemongrass stalks, white part only, finely chopped

1.5 tbs vegetable oil

600 grams lean beef fillet, thinly sliced (I didn't know what they meant by beef fillet so I just used steak)

1 tbs lime juice

1-2 tbs fish sauce

2 tbs kepap manis

1 lg red onion, cut into small wedges

200 g green beans, sliced

To make:

1)Mix together garlic, ginger, lemongrass and 2 tsp oil in a large, non-metallic bowl. Add the beef, toss well to coast, then cover and refrigerate for at least 10 minutes

*note: when working with lemongrass, peel off the outer leaves*

2) To make the stir-fry sauce, mix together the lime juice, fish sauce and kecap manis. (Kecap manis is a thick, dark sweet soy sauce used in Indonesian and Malaysian cooking. If not available, simply stir a little soft brown sugar into regular soy sauce until it dissolves) Sobeys did not have kecap manis, so I used the soy sauce and brown sugar combo

3) Heat the wok (or large skillet) over high heat, add 1 tbs oil and swirl to coat. Stir fry the beef in batches, 2 -3 minutes, or until browned. Remove from wok and set aside.

4) Heat the remaining oil in the wok over high heat. Add the onion and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add the beans and cook for a further 2 minutes, then return the beef to the wok. Pour in the stir-fry sauce and cook until heated through.

Delicious! I have never worked with lemongrass before, and I have to say their smell reminded me of lemon wet-naps. Some people might find that to be an unattractive quality, but I love wet-naps so I didn't think this was a bad thing at all. I was skeptical of first of how lemony the lemongrass would make the meat taste, but there was a very strong citrus flavor to it. Not exactly like lemon, but lemon with a hint of herb.

The other night I used actual lemons in another recipe from The Cook's Book of Everything.
Chinese Lemon Chicken
Ingredients:
500 g (1 lb 2 oz) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tbs light soy sauce
1 tbs Chinese rice wine
1 spring onion (scallion, or green onion), finely chopped
1 tbs finely chopped ginger
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten
100 g (1 cup) cornstarch
oil, for deep frying
Lemon Sauce Ingredients:
2 tbs lemon juice
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/4 cup chicken stock
1/2 tsp cornstarch
To make:
1) Cut chicken into slices. Place in a bowl, add the soy sauce, rice wine, spring onion, ginger and garlic, and toss lightly. Marinate in the fridge for at least one hour or overnight.
2) add the egg to the chicken mixture and toss lightly to coat. Drain off the excess and coat the chicken pieces with the cornstarch. The easiest way to do this is to put the chicken and cornstarch in a plastic bag and shake it.
3) fill a wok one-quarter full of oil and heat to 190 C (375 F), or until a cube of bread dropped in the oil turns golden brown in 10 seconds. Add half the chicken, a piece at a time, and fry, stirring constantly for 3-4 minutes. Or until golden brown. Remove with a wire sieve or slotted spoon and drain. Repeat with the remaining chicken. Reheat the oil and return all the chicken to the wok. Cook until crisp and golden brown. Drain the chicken. Pour off the oil and wipe out the wok.
4) To make the lemon sauce combine all the ingredients.
5) Reheat the wok over med heat, add the lemon sauce and stir constantly until sauce thickens. Add chicken and toss lightly until the chicken is covered in the sauce.


Sadly I was in a hurry to eat so I just quickly threw it all onto a plate. As I was about to take a bite I remembered I should take a picture of it for the blog, which is why the picture seems to be lacking.
The chicken was so good. I think next time I would use honey instead of the sugar in the lemon sauce, and I would add another tsp.
I have used cornstarch as a coating for fried chicken before, and I liked the results. This time around I LOVED the results, I credit it to dipping in the egg first, but also frying the chicken twice. The chicken is very crisp this way.

Even if only half the recipes in the book turn out as well as these two did, I would have to say no home should be without it.

I can't resist making this post even longer without telling this story. A friend and I were out at a pub when we ran into her neighbors. Her neighbors turned out to be the biggest germaphobes I have ever met. They were telling us that they wash all their produce in soap and water before they will eat them. They also mentioned that they will never buy a lemon or a lime. Ever. They use the bottled lemon or lime juice. You see, one time they watched a documentary on what happens to a lemon or lime from the time it is picked off the tree, to the time it gets to one's house. At this point, you should be able to tell what kind of people they are judging their entertainment picks. During this enthralling film a lemon had been handled by 4 people who had picked their nose, which had scared them off buying lemons and limes forever.
I had a couple problems with their theory. I can understand being thoroughly grossed out by this but:
1) Wouldn't all fruit/vegetables that are hand picked off trees or wherever, also have a chance of being handled by nose pickers? Or is nose picking only limited to the lemon and lime workers?
2) If you bought a lemon or lime from the store, you could take it home and wash it in water and soap, and feel confident it is clean, but the bottled juice is made from actual lemons and limes. Are we sure the factory cares enough to wash the fruit before juicing it?
This is only one...quirk this couple had. Perhaps over time I will share what the entire, very painful, evening had to offer.

Nigella's Birthday

Today is Nigella Lawson's birthday! A while back I wrote about how wonderful Nigella is (if you click the "wonderful" link you will be sent to that post, which not only talks about how much I love her, but also has a picture of Bruce Willis, win win)

Funny story. A while before Christmas my friend C mentioned she really wanted How to Be a Domestic Goddess, and How to Eat by Nigella. A couple weeks before Christmas (I procrastinate) I had bought her How to Eat. I thought I did such a great job in remembering what she wanted, and I was so excited to give it to her, and I didn't even read it first! A couple days before our gift exchange she casually mentions that she opened her presents from her mother in law. I asked her what she got, turns out I'm not the only person she told about wanting these books. On the plus side, I had also wanted How to Eat and now I own it.

In the preface Nigella says "although it is possible to love eating without being able to cook, I don't believe you can ever really cook unless you love eating. Such love, of course, is not something that can be taught, but it can be conveyed-and maybe that's the point."

She is simply the greatest, and one of my biggest inspirations.

Skins

The New Year has inspired me to make some changes. I even made some resolutions this year. Number one on my list was to complain less. The classic "go to the gym more" is on my list too. I can already see this is not going to happen. Maybe my resolution should be to find out when my contract runs out and cancel the gym membership. Boom! Roasted. I also resolved to blog more.

I am making one change on the blog. Right now the title to each post is a song title, and while I still like this idea it's hard to tell from the title which food is involved in the post. I want to make it a bit easier to navigate through older posts.

A while ago I stumbled onto a blog, The Pioneer Woman. The Pioneer Woman, or Ree Drummond, was a city girl who fell in love with a cattle rancher and started a blog about transitioning from a city girl to a country girl. She recently released a cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks. When I heard about this book coming out, I immediately put it on my Chapters wish list. I had flipped through it a couple times, but as Christmas was nearing I couldn't justify spending money on myself. I did buy the book for my friend C. The book sat on my kitchen table, tempting me to open it. Since it was her Christmas present, I didn't feel right about flipping through it and reading it before giving it to her. Temptation proved to be too much, and I did read it. And I loved it. So I kept that copy and bought her a brand new one.

What I love about this cookbook is that the recipes are so simple. My friend C is married to a very picky eater, and when I buy her cookbooks I always try to find ones with things I think her husband would eat too. When she flipped through the cookbook after opening it, she did confirm my belief that her husband would love many of the recipes as well.

On New Year's Day, I took a day for myself. I spent the entire day lounging, reading, and watching more Moonlighting. I was also going to make use of my new cookbook and make some of her appetizer recipes for snacks.

The first thing I made was her Pico de Gallo. Pico de Gallo is a mix of tomatoes, onion, jalapenos, cilantro and lime juice. I'm posting the link to her recipe and I recommend that you click on it. She gives step-by-step instructions, as well as a picture for every instruction. (This is also something I love about the book, she gives step by step pictures) I used a little less cilantro than she does (mainly because I don't really like it), and a bit more lime juice (because I love it), though not enough lime juice to kill the flavor of the onion and tomato. I really liked the Pico de Gallo, it was really refreshing, and it makes a great healthy snack. Not only can you use it for tortilla chips, you can also use it to top tacos, fajitas, grilled chicken or fish. I think I might try it with seared scallops sometime.

Her guacamole was next on my snack list. It's very simple, you mash up some avocados and add some Pico de Gallo to it. I liked this guacamole, but it was not nearly as good as the other guacamole I have posted before.

Get the recipes HERE

I am really sorry this picture is so grainy, I tried everything I could to make this better, but this was the best I could do. However, if you listened to me and clicked the link, you will see her beautiful pictures there.

The next thing I made was her potato skins. I can't find a link on her site for the recipe, and I found another blogger who made them but she wrote SOY BACON WOULD BE A GOOD SUBSTITUTE FOR BACON. A clear sign that the blogger is deranged and I will not link to anything that would make that kind of a comment. My soul weeps for humanity.

Pioneer Woman's Potato Skins

Ingredients:

8 russet potatoes

8 slices bacon (NO SOY!!)

canola oil

salt

1.5 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated

1 cup sour cream

4 sliced green onions

The instructions in my words:

1) preheat oven to 400 F. Scrub and dry the potatoes, and then bake them for 45 min to an hour, until fork tender

1a) chop the bacon and fry it in a pan. Ree fried the bacon in whole strips and then chopped it later, but I don't think it makes a difference either way

2) when potatoes have cooled a little, cut them in half and scoop out the inner flesh, leaving a small margin of potato. You are making potato canoes, but you want to leave enough potato that the canoe is sturdy and it still technically a potato skin without being just the skin.

3) brush both sides of the potatoes with canola oil and salt them.

4) place the skins flesh side down on a baking sheet and bake for 7 minutes.

5) flip them over and bake 7 minutes more, or until skin is crispy.

6) divide the cheese and bacon into each skin and bake again just until the cheese melts.

7) place a dollop of sour cream into each and top with green onion.

I burnt the bacon by accident, but even with burnt bacon these potato skins were so delicious!

Note: with the leftover potato flesh that was scooped out you can mix in some cheddar cheese, green onion, bacon and form it into a cake of sorts. Heat up some butter and oil in a skillet and place the cake in the skillet. When that side has browned, flip the cake onto a plate. Heat up a bit more oil and butter and slide the cake into the skillet, browned side up. This is my version of a rosti, so that you don't waste the potato flesh. Top with sour cream.

I had every intention of actually making the rosti, but I didn't get around to it, so I don't have a picture. It is a good way to use up any leftover ingredients from the skins.

Bother

Pizza is one of my all time favorite things to eat, and I rarely get tired of it. I will eat, and even like, frozen pizza from the grocery store. I'm of the belief that some pizza is better than others, but there's no such thing as bad pizza.

I have made homemade dough before, and I wasn't crazy about it. So I didn't see much of a point to making your own dough, until one night I was at my friend's house. She made the best pizza dough I have ever tasted. The recipe is as follows:

C's Pizza Dough

Ingredients:

3 cups flour, separated

2 tsp quick rising (instant) yeast

1 tsp salt

1 1/4 cups hot (120 F) water

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1) Mix together 2 3/4 cup flour with yeast and salt

2) Gradually add water and oil until dough forms

3) Knead dough adding remaining flour 1 tbsp at a time until dough is smooth & elastic

I use my stand mixer for this part, using the wire whisk for step 1 and 2, and the dough hook for step 3.

4) Place in a greased bowl, and turn dough so it's greased on all sides. Cover (feel free to use non stick spray for the greasing, and you can cover with cling film or a kitchen towel)

5) let the dough rise in a warm place for 1 hour, or in the fridge for one day

6) punch down dough. Roll out to 14", sprinkle pan with cornmeal, top pizza, and bake for 20 minutes at 425 F

Couple things to remember. You want to use a fine cornmeal. One time my friend bought cornmeal that wasn't very fine and it was like trying to break up rocks with your teeth. While it was still a very good pizza, and a hilarious moment, it is better to have fine cornmeal.

Also this pizza dough can be ruined if you're not paying attention. I used 1 3/4 cup water, instead of 1 1/4 cups the second time I made it. I just added more flour to make up for it (as I wasn't about to waste 3 cups of flour by throwing it out and starting over), but since this is a baking recipe it did change the dough. Instead of being easy to roll out, it was tough, and the pizza crust was heavy and hard instead of light and fluffy. So follow the recipe carefully.

As for toppings, the sky is the limit. I used a ready made pizza sauce, pizza pepperoni, hot Italian sausage (casings removed, and browned up like ground beef), mushrooms, bell pepper, onion, and mozzarella cheese. I also use Real Bacon. As in the heavily processed, bacon-like product in a jar. It holds up really nice in the oven.

Trust me, this dough is super easy to put together and the result is amazing. The dough is airy, and fluffy, but still crisp on the outside.