Reduced Sodium

I have been feeling dizzy today at work so I decided to make an easy dinner. I chopped pork and made some reduced sodium Zatarain's Jambalaya. I ate it on the back deck with the hubby.

1. Only make Zatarain's with Polish kielbasa.

2. Don't buy reduced sodium. It tastes very bland.

Gluten Free Risotto Mix

Lundberg's Gluten Free: Creamy Parmesan Risotto box mix

I give this a thumbs up. Let it sit a little while for it to thicken, but don't keep it in the pot for second serving cause it dries out fast.

I served this with microwave steamed broccoli. Since I keep Cabot seriously sharp white cheddar cheese in the frig, I grated some on top of the hot broccoli to give it a good bite :-)

Rainy Day Chili

using a cooking torch to melt a huge block of Cabot sharp cheddar cheese inside a toasted dinner roll isn't a good idea. It lights the entire top of the roll on fire. We watched our neighbor's grass-less hill wash down the street while eating our chili. Lots of clay!

Sunday - Dessert Day

I'm going to try to make 1 dessert a week for Sunday dinner. This past Sunday I made banana creme pie. My husband doesn't allow me to buy cool whip and makes me make the creme from scratch. He underestimated the whipping cream so the pie was a little too thick, but still tastes good.

All this rain lately was has made my thyme grow so I decided to make up my own marinade. I minced 3 garlic cloves and combined it with white wine vinegar, olive oil, and fresh squeezed lemon. I got out my meat tenderizer and made pork tenderloin cutlets. I marinaded it in the refrigerator for 4 hours before grilling it. It was pretty good. Might try it again sometime.

Survived Hurricane Irene

We survived Irene in Raleigh. No real damage at our house. Only a little rain and occasional wind gusts.

I'm making a simple dinner of left over basil, pine nut, parmesan cheese, garlic, and olive oil pesto with some fresh tomatoes from my garden on pumpernickel bread. Thankfully our electricity never went out.

Husband's Turn to Cook

I guess my cooking all last week inspired my husband to try it this week. Yesterday he made fajitas and we ate on the deck out back. Tonight he asked me to harvest 2 cups of basil from my garden for some pesto on a homemade pizza. He put basil, pine nuts, garlic, olive oil, and parmesan cheese in a food processor and used that as the pizza sauce.

Question: Is he cooking because he wants to compete or because he hated my new recipes last week???

Thai Shrimp Stir-fry

Fish sauce... my husband and I went to Lowes Foods with the Everyday Food grocery list. We had no idea what it was or where to find it. I looked in the seafood section, but just old bay and cocktail sauce. So my husband started googling. It is in the Asian section.

When I was cooking the thai shrimp stir-fry from pg 81 in September 2011 Everyday Food, everything looked good until I opened that fish sauce. It stinks and the whole time I was cooking it, I was nauseous. When I served the food over the rice, I made sure to use a slotted spoon to avoid excess liquid.

The dish was pretty good, but I'm going to throw out the rest of the fish sauce. I don't think I'll be purchasing that again.

Fish Sauce ingredients: anchovies, water, salt, sugar

Stovetop Chili Mac

Wednesday, pg 80 of Everyday Food, suggested stovetop chili mac. This was super easy. The only thing I would change is I didn't cut the zucchini small enough and it took longer to cook because of it.

Since it is still summer, this dish seemed out of season. I think I would love it after a long fall hike through my backyard, Umstead. Our house is just 2 miles away from Lake Sycamore where we like to go fishing off the pier. We just put the fishing poles in our fishing bags and hike on out there. Awww this makes me wish for Fall, probably my favorite season.

My Husband Brought Home Steve Urkel for Dinner

Everyday Food Sept 2011 pg 79 suggested Tuesday's menu be pork chops with plums and whipped potatoes. I was cooking this dish and turn around and there is Steve Urkel in my kitchen. My husband brought him home for dinner. He thinks it's funny to place him around the house and when I walk into a new room the life size cutout makes me jump.

Anyway, I grilled the pork chops instead of cooking in a frying pan. They were really thick bone-in chops and really tough. But the plum/yellow onion combination was delicious over the homemade mashed potatoes. We forgot to pick up salad from the grocery store so I microwaved some frozen green beans and tossed with the white wine vinegar (not very good).

Summary, Mr Urkel is going to have to find a new home and homemade boiled, not microwaved, mashed potatoes with whole milk is really good with cooked plum slices/yellow onions and fresh green onions on top!

Boring Chicken and Rice

Everyday Food September 2011 page 76: one-pot chicken and rice with swiss chard

No matter how you dress-up chicken and rice, it's never a favorite. Filling, but not amazing. Lowes Foods never has everything on my list. They didn't have swiss chard so I got kale instead. Also, they didn't have chicken quarters so I got boneless, skinless chicken thighs. At least I go to use some kitchen toys!

Plum Blueberry Upside-down Cake

I always get so excited when my new Everyday Food issue arrives in the mail. I decided to devote this week to recipes in the issue. To kick off the week, I am making a plum blueberry upside-down cake since we are having company today.

Slightly altered from Page 102 September Issue:

10 tblsp unsalted butter, room temp, plus more for pan

1 c light brown sugar

1 ripe black plum, cut into 1/2 in wedges

1 package of fresh blueberries

1 large egg plus 1 large egg white

1 tblsp finely grated orange zest

1 1/2 c all-purpose flour

1 tsp poppy seeds

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp fine salt

1/2 c whole milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat 375. Lightly butter an 8-in round cake pan; line bottom with parchment paper. Melt 2 tblsp butter and pour into pan; use a brush to coat paper. Sprinkle 1/2 c brown sugar evenly over butter. Arrange plum evenly in pan, then add blueberries, filling any gaps.

Beat 8 tblsp butter & 1/2 c brown sugar on high about 3 min. Beat in egg, egg white, and orange zest until combined. In another bowl, whisk together flour, poppy seeds, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With mixer on low, beat flour mixture into butter mixture until combined. Beat in whole milk and vanilla until smooth.

Transfer batter to pan and tap firmly on counter several times to remove air bubbles (note I did this 10 times and it wasn't enough cause my cake cracked); smooth top.

Bake until cake is deep golden brown, juices bubbling around edge, and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Let cake cool 1 hour in pan on wire rack. Run a knife around edge of pan and invert cake onto a serving plate. Serve warm or at room temp. (Store, covered, at room temp, up to 2 days).

I served this warm with Caribou coffee. It was a wonderful mid-afternoon treat. This would be good for a tea party or after dinner with company. Not too sweet. Like my orange poppy seed scones, the orange zest and poppy seeds position this cake from a boring box mix to a yummy homemade treat!

Quick Post Church Sunday Lunch

Back in March, I volunteered at UNC-PBS. I was one of the people in between shows answering the telephone for the telethon. I got 2 gifts for my service. 1. a Mama Dip cookbook and 2. a $2.50 off coupon for Cabot Vermont cheese.

Everyday Food's September 2011 issue has an advertisement for Cabot cheese and a recommended recipe. I thought I would cash in my coupon and try out the cheese. I purchased the Seriously Sharp Cheddar Cheese.

I grilled some chicken breats 2 days ago and cut it up.

I boiled some pasta with salt. The last 2 minutes, I added frozen broccoli. Then I drained all but 1/2 cup of water. I added a little olive oil and 2 minced garlic cloves. I let this cook about 10 seconds. Then I added the chicken, pasta/broccoli, and 4 oz of shredded Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar Cheese. Once the cheese melted, I began to serve.

I will keep this in my box of meals under $10 and easy. Try it for yourself!

Post Surgery - Attempt to Cook Again

I neglected my blog because I haven't been cooking. I had surgery last week so I have been recovering with my Kindle, The Help, on the couch for quite a while now. Since I finished the book yesterday, I have had a real mean craving for fried chicken, but don't really know how to fry it.

Now I made 9 meals prior to surgery, bought nice new Tupperware, and put them in the freezer with good intentions. I had one and it was pretty nasty (white rice, no preservative soup, frozen vegetables, and chopped white chicken). So needless to say I lost a pound or two since I am limited to what is in the pantry and those frozen dinners.

Thankfully, some real nice friends and family brought over some delicious meals. Why is it that someone else's food always tastes better than your own? Maybe it's just my cooking.

So here I am today, still in minor pain, standing there at the grill and in the kitchen and attempted to regain my cooking strength.

Tonight's Goal: Southern Fried Chicken - but really just breaded grilled chicken, risotto, and spinach

Chicken:

Earlier in the day I grilled 2 large chicken breasts to make sure they weren't pink on the inside. I cut them up into bite size pieces and put them in a zip lock in the frig for later.

When I was ready to start cooking dinner, I poured buttermilk in the zip lock surrounding the chicken. Then I rolled each bite size piece in Food Lion brand bread crumbs. I placed these on a cookie sheet and broiled them on low for about 7 minutes on each side.

Spinach:

I put 1/2 cup of water, 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter, little coarse sea salt, cut up large tomato, and a block of frozen spinach into a 2 qt pot and let it boil for about 5 minutes.

Risotto:

I opened a box of Lundberg Organic Risotto - Florentine - Spinach & Mushroom. I followed the box stove top instructions.

Results:

Lundberg Organic Risotto is now going to be a staple in my pantry. At first I thought it tasted funny, but then I got to thinking about grilled tuna steak. Boy, it would taste amazing with grilled tuna steak. I would still top it with my spinach mixture, except I would have added minced fresh garlic (mainly because I'm obsessed with using my garlic mincing tool from Williams Sonoma) to the spinach boil if I had some in the frig.

Try out the risotto from Lowes Foods and tell me what you think.