Taco Tuesday

Well yesterday was kind of a wash at the house. I was in quite the funk and not the blues. To quote one of my favorite movies, "No. The blues are because you're getting fat and maybe it's been raining too long, you're just sad that's all. The mean reds are horrible. Suddenly you're afraid and you don't know what you're afraid of. Do you ever get that feeling" (Breakfast at Tiffany's)

That's how I was feeling. So naturally I wasn't feeling very inventive with food. Not to mention Dill stole my car so I couldn't go to the store to even GET something inventive. As boring as they are though, tacos are still one of my favorite "go-to" dishes. 

The meat really go into many different things and always seems to be a hit with the family. Not to mention only takes like 20 minutes. Look at that beautiful meat! 

Had to give it a 60's finish just for kicks! Haha! 

Anyway, I went with just a classic soft taco but Dana had nachos, the rents had taco salad... See, versatile! All the same ingredients just different ways.
 

Oh and an ice cold Oktoberfest! Hahaha. It was that kind of day, you know?

Eggplant Parmesan

So I said I was going to find a way to use eggplant last week and I did it! It was pretty delectable too. I mean, how could you not want to taste this beautiful produce?!

It was just calling my name! Maybe because I happen to favor the color purple. especially in clothes! Eggplant and red hair are a perfect combination. But that is besides the point. Even when I went back yesterday to get these little Graffiti Eggplants, I was just staring at the awesome color nature gave them!

I've never cooked Eggplant Parmesan so that was a first. It was very easy and quick too! To be sure that everyone ate though since this was a new food for my family I also made chicken Parmesan. I used StoveTop turkey stuffing instead of bread crumbs because we had too many boxes of that this past weekend that I needed to use up. It worked great! It got nice a crispy in the oven and kept in all of the delicious juices of the chicken and eggplant. 

I'm not sure if it is just Graffiti Eggplants but they had a similar texture to Portabella mushrooms! I totally could have tricked the picky eaters saying that they were but I decided to be truthful. I have been known to not tell the truth about food a lot to get someone to try it haha. I once convinced my brother, Dill, that a cherry tomato tasted like a maraschino cherry. I mean they look alike! I really just wanted to satisfy my own needs of having people try food. (it's a pet peeve of mine when someone won't even TRY it! You can always eat something after that! Geez! lol) Any way, it didn't go over well.. he hated it. And he uses it against me quite often that I do this so I didn't even try. I think I might have pulled that one on all of my siblings come to think of it. 

Well here is the platter of the chicken on the bottom half and the eggplant on the top half. 

Turned out way better than I could have guessed and it was a hit with the family! There was litterally no left overs which is rare for my family! This is a single picture of both. First the Eggplant and then the chicken.

I ate it with a salad because that is plenty of food for me but the fam ended up needed to noodles or something to hold them off. I guess I can understand that. They are some tall people! I'm the shortest of the 6 of us and I'm not that short at 5'6"!!  

Full Disclosure: next time I'll cook the eggplant a little bit longer, it was still pretty firm. I wasn't really sure I wanted to serve it mushy though for everyone's first time eating it!

Weekend Pizza, Flank, and Turkey

Well, the weekend went well and was pretty uneventful. Friday, when making the pizza sauce, I ran into more problems but I won't dwell on those. The pizza turned out fine, not spectacular. I forgot to take pictures because of my bad mood haha. 

So moving on, I made flank steak in a soy marinade with peas and German potato salad. I LOVE German potato salad! The colors are just so vibrant with the red potatoes and the green celery and green papers. Also, the tangy taste with the crunchy bacon just surprises me every time.Take a look at how delicious it is!

The flank steak marinade is an old family recipe and it is probably one of the most asked for in this house. The soy really gives it the flavor that is sometimes hard to get with a cut of flank as well as breaks down the tough chewiness the longer you marinade it. At least a day is necessary. A nice caramelized crust forms if you use the left over marinade to baste while grilling it. Take a gander!

YUM!!! Well I would talk about the Turkey but it was really just a thanksgiving so I'll save all of that for thanksgiving day! Here's a tip though, make the gravy from the juices left in the pan after cooking! And DON"T CHEAT by using corn starch to thinken it up faster... let it simmer and reduce. You will get such a rich flavor full of aromatics! Trust me, it's worth it!

Chicken Roll Ups

Well last night was a throw together kind of meal. Spent most of the day reorganizing the kitchen and cleaning so I just tried a quick new recipe. Chicken Roll Ups seem like a good name for them. I adapted a recipe from this blog, The Weekend Gourmet. She made these delicious looking concoctions so I tried them out! Here is how they turned out!

I took the peppers out of mine because I am such a wussy and can't handle hardly any heat! I put the peppers in for the fam and they complained it wasn't hot enough! I'll get 'em next time! They were tasty though! I also had to add a sweet and sour mixed drink to the table because it just fit perfectly. There was lime in the chicken, lime in the avocado dip, why not in my drink?! 

The weekend gourmet used Chiobani greek yogurt instead of sour cream and it really didn't taste that different! What a great way to sneak in some extra protein! The texture gives it away but the taste and bonus nutrients gives it the leg up, I must say.

Tonight I am going to make home made pizza! We have an old recipe from my father's father's uncle or something like that. At any rate, it's old and secret and absolutely to die for! I mean, I would eat it with a spoon or possibly even bathe in it! I am still in need of the perfect pizza dough but I'm trying out two. Also ont he  menu for the weekend is marinated flank steak and a mock trial for the turkey dinner next month. 

So as I was saying I went to the store to pick up the stuff for this weekend. Relatively short list because I have most of the stuff in the pantry already but still had to be done. I probably looked like a crazy person or someone that had never been to the store before because I had to keep double backing and rechecking things. Who knows why?! Anywho, I found a beautifully plump 11 lbs. turkey and the flank steak. I got fresh veggies for the pizza and notices the beautiful eggplant and graffiti eggplant, which I didn't even know existed. The colors were so vibrant I wanted to buy some but I have no idea what to do with them! That will be on the list next week for sure!

I get to my car to load it all up and I notice the turkey is not in a bag. If anything in that basket needed a bag, don't you agree it would be the 11 pound turkey?! How am I supposed to carry it into the house? With frozen hands? Well fortunately I had a bag in the car that I could use so I did but then when I got home and was putting everything away... another snafu. I got some Oktoberfest beer since we are having pizza, beer is only natural and I happen to love Oktoberfest brews so I was very excited to get it. Putting it in the fridge and BAM! I drop one and it shatters. Beer and glass all over the floor. I know it's not that big of a deal but I just seem to be having an off day. So what do I do? The only logical thing... cry.  Yup. Cleaning up broken beer and just crying. What a mess. Hahaha. 

Anyway, I've gotten that out of my system and now am determined to make a delicious pizza. Thank heavens for that delicious sauce that will be fabulous and the 5 bottles of Oktoberfest I have left!

Bruschetta and Pesto Torellini

I made bruschetta for an appetizer with home-made pesto sauce on Bertolli tortellini and an apple pie.

For the bruschetta I used this recipe I found on allrecipes.com (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/double-tomato-bruschetta/) for tomato bruschetta. It was rated 5 stars by over 17 hundred people... I think it's safe to say it was going to be good! It absolutely was! I have never made bruschetta before and was not entirely sure that I would even like it. It never really made sense to me; toast with tomato on it. Weird. But the movie Julie and Julia inspired me. It looked so delicious when she and her husband are eating it and try (ironically) to decide what to write her blog about. So I thought, "just make it, if nothing else the name is fun to say." I had a revelation! I could eat this all the time!!! The fresh Roma tomatoes with the sun-dried gave it a really rich, deep flavorful tomato flavor and I absolutely love balsamic vinegar. I would put it on bread alone so that was a major selling point. Everything just really worked together to make this flavor that burst in your mouth. Very impressed with the tomatoes on toast! See how yummy they look?!? 

I also made my own Pesto sauce. I used almonds instead of pine nuts to make it, not because I prefer them or anything, but because the store didn't have pine nuts. Apparently they aren't in high enough demand to stock them so I used almonds. It tasted the same though so still delish. Pesto is my mom's favorite so that is the main reason I decided to make it. Also, it is SOOO much cheaper to just make it yourself! And I highly recommend growing your own basil if possible because grocery stores charge upwards of $5 per fresh handful. 

I am a big gardener though so I prefer to use my own produce whenever possible. I'll post pictures of the produce as it becomes ready. Right now my family is growing pumpkins, zucchini, strawberries, and mixed greens... none of which we have tried before. Also we are doing the usual tomatoes, banana peppers, and green bell peppers which always seem to be easy. 

So anyway the pesto was great, I put it on Bertolli's chicken stuffed tortellini because I didn't want noodles and I also didn't have time to make my own pasta. I really love making it myself but its something you need a lot of counter space for which I am lacking in currently.

Looks good yea?

Finally, my dad has been pestering me about making an apple pie lately so I finally agreed that I would. I used Cameo and Granny Smith apples. The Cameos are great because they are tangy and sweet making it a perfect mix. I add the Granny Smith in there just for funzies. I like a little variety in everything. This time I was able to find pie dough. Silly me, I thought it would be with the pie shells and pastry dough but really it's by the biscuits. How ridiculous?! It over flowed quite a bit (good thing I put the cookie sheet under it) but still turned out fabulous with a scoop of ice cream! A la mode anyone?

Pot Pie Accidental Awesome Crust!

The chicken pot pie went GREAT! Here is a beautiful picture of the delicious meal! 

The crust on the top was absolutely superb and completely accidental. I couldn't find pie dough at the store, maybe they were out or perhaps there is a bake sale going on at a school where all people decided to make pie or something, I really don't know. At any rate, I decided to use puff pastry dough since in my head it made perfect sense for a flaky top. I personally think it was better! It was flaky, buttery and turned a beautiful golden brown. I think I will continue to use puff pastry instead because of the success. Here is what it looked like fresh out of the oven! 

And here's another tip! Use frozen peas! it makes them keep their shape and not get too mushy! It also adds moisture and make the gooey sauce stay runny. I personally needed to add more sauce to these (I had enough but didn't use it all). I was afraid of it spilling over the edges in the oven but it didn't and my family likes it to be goopey.

The family loved it! Even my oldest brother, liked it! He has never eaten a pot pie in his life. Not because we never had it thought! This is the guy who, when we were children, had a diet that consisted of pizza, tuna, bacon, hamburgers, peanut butter sandwiches, and chicken. He was like the opposite of an Atkins’s Diet, all carbs and protein. I have no idea how he managed to be such a skinny little twig of a kid. 

Anyway, he gets home and I tell him what we are having for dinner and he says, “yea, I remember you telling me at lunch what it was. I was going to stop at Subway to get a sandwich but I didn’t have gas and I didn’t want to wait in line.” … Gee, thanks for the faith bro. HAHA. At any rate, it was an exceptional pie and he loved it! If I can get him to like most of my meals, I will have succeeded. I usually have to alter half of the meal for his likings. I’d say day one was success!

Why write a food blog?

I have found myself at a cross roads in life. Much too young for one I suppose but never the less I am here. What seems like ages ago, when I was in high school, I was diagnosed with cancer.  Now, a mere ten years later, I have 3 degrees, a knee that does not perform up to normal functioning limits and no idea what to do with my life.

Now what? I have a master’s degree and no job to show for it! Not because I couldn’t find one mind you, I found a few great ones and was about to take one that I thought was perfect in San Antonio, TX when…. BAM! When kidneys attack! I got horribly sick and nothing was explaining my illness and I just kept getting worse to the point where I could hardly walk 20 ft without feeling as if I’d pass out.  All of that happened as I was in the final interview stage of this job… awesome, I know. Come to find out I was suffering from acute kidney failure. It has since been managed and I am back to feeling mostly healthy. But my knee is really kickin into gear with the pain and so it’s just be a whirlwind. 

During all of this I have been living at home with my large and in charge family and basically being the personal chef. I love it! I haven’t really taken the reigns all the way yet, just cooking 3 nights a week about. But that is all changing starting NOW. 

My plan now is to cook… EVERYTHING. I’m going to try all kinds of recipes and try them out of the family and post the results and so forth. Kind of a road to self discovery if you will but mostly I really enjoy it! I love seeing my family enjoy it, I love the time spent preparing and tasting, I love getting to be creative and change recipes as I please, and I want to share it. If you want the recipe, I’m happy to give it out. If I get high demand for them I’ll post but until then… it’s just work haha. 

What’s on tonight’s menu you ask? Chicken Pot Pie! Simple, traditional, and a family favorite! A friend of mine made it and posted pictures and I thought, “oh yea! I forgot about that dish!”  I haven’t made it in years and I’m doing it from scratch so let’s hope it’s the creme de la creme!