Archive for April, 2009

April 24th, 2009

The Brown Bag Lunch: White Beans with Salami

whitebeanssalami

I haven’t written a Brown Bag Lunch post in ages. I’m still making new and hopefully interesting dishes for my husband’s lunch, so I don’t know what my problem is. Maybe it’s that I’m jealous I don’t actually get to eat any (or much) of what I make for him. It’s kind of hard to recommend something when you only try a bite or two, you know? I can take my husband’s word for it, but he has a rather… interesting… palate sometimes. :) Which is why when he said he wanted barbeque beans with salami in it, I looked at him funny. It’s not that I think it would taste bad, I just thought other combinations would be better. I ended up making the dish with a more tomato-y tasting sauce than a traditional thick and (usually) over-sweet barbeque sauce, mostly due to what I had on hand, but also because, well, I wanted to. I AM still the cook, after all! But also because I couldn’t find a whole package of Gallo Italian Dry Salami, the kind with the rind on it. All the store now carries is the thinly sliced version, and I knew that would get totally lost in barbeque sauce. The results with the tomato-y sauce were fantastic, however! And luckily I made enough that I got two servings out of it, too! The bad news is: I didn’t measure anything, so neither I, nor you, will be able to duplicate it exactly. That doesn’t bother me—I’m not one of those cooks who makes the same thing taste exactly the same twice. If you like precision, however, um, I’m sorry I can’t help you…

Ingredients:
2 cups dry Great Northern White Beans
14 oz tomato sauce
a couple ounces Italian Dry Salami, diced or sliced
smoked paprika, about a tablespoon
molasses, a couple tablespoons
garlic powder, about a teaspoon
a pinch of cumin
fresh thyme, about 4 sprigs
salt and pepper to taste

Guidelines:

Cook your beans. You can do a quick soak, like I do, or an overnight soak, if you prefer. To do a quick soak, cover your beans with plenty of water, sprinkle in some salt and pepper, some garlic powder, if you like, and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, and let sit for several hours. Drain. Rinse. Put your beans back in the pot, cover with plenty of fresh water (about 2-3x more than beans), add more salt, pepper, garlic powder if you like, and a couple of thyme sprigs. Bring to a simmer, and simmer for about an hour until they reach the desired tenderness. Drain.

For the sauce, heat the tomato sauce with the smoked paprika, molasses, garlic powder, and cumin. Simmer on low for about 10-15 minutes to let the flavors meld. Add fresh thyme, diced or sliced salami, and beans. Cook on low for another 5 minutes, or until everything is heated through.

*This recipe made enough for 7 servings of about 1 cup each.

Posted By: Kelly |  Filed Under: Beans, The Brown Bag Lunch  |  No Comments  |  Permalink

April 21st, 2009

Favorite Food Blog Finds

Over the years, I’ve accumulated several large files of recipes I’ve printed off of food blogs. The files (actually they are notebooks and scrapbooks) are almost overwhelming to go through, and yet I do it every week as I’m creating my grocery shopping list. What do I want to make? What haven’t I tried? What goes with the season, the weather? I haven’t tried all of the recipes I’ve gathered, and maybe I haven’t even tried the majority of them, but I have tried a lot. At least once a week I cook something that comes from a fellow food blogger, and I’ve been delighted by a lot of what I’ve found. Today, I want to highlight five of my favorite food blog recipes of all-time. I think they deserve the attention… Look for another set of five Favorite Food Blog Finds in the weeks ahead, and then another set, and another set…

Chicken Fajitas
I thought I had chicken fajitas down, but the cooking method in this recipe from Sea Salt with Food—on a cast iron grill—is so great, I’ll never make fajitas another way! And I love the marinade, too. In the past, I’d make homemade fajita seasoning with dried spices, but the freshness of this recipe is really good. Next time I will modify one thing, however—I need the guacamole, please!

Chile Verde
As seen on Simply Recipes, this recipe for Chile Verde comes from Arturo Vargas. I cut it in half, as I’m only feeding two people, but the flavors are wonderful, rich, and spicy, but not too spicy.

Hazelnut & Chard Ravioli Salad
This recipe by Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks, is packed with healthful ingredients, such as Swiss Chard and butternut squash. It’s a great recipe for fall, as it has those fall colors, flavors, and warming tones, but it definitely tastes yummy whenever!

Perfect Popcorn
Seriously. The title is true. This IS perfect popcorn. I haven’t bought those nasty bags of microwave popcorn since I discovered this easy and exceptionally tasty way to make it in a large saucepan. Thanks Elise at Simply Recipes!

Pizza Dough
I love, love, love, love, love this pizza dough! Whenever I make it, everyone asks me for the recipe. I wish it were mine, but it belongs to Julie Jams, who actually got it from someone else. So thank you way on down the line…

Posted By: Kelly |  Filed Under: Favorite Finds  |  2 Comments  |  Permalink

April 10th, 2009

Super Handy Herb Scissors from UsefulThings.com

Herb Scissors

I recently came into possession of these Herb Scissors from UsefulThings.com, and boy are they handy! I love using fresh herbs—they pack so much flavor and color into a dish–but fresh herbs are delicate. They easily bruise, especially when washed and then chopped. The Herb Scissors solve the bruising problem even if your herbs aren’t completely dry when you go to use them. Plus, they ensure that all of your herbs are evenly chopped, so you don’t end up with some large pieces and some mush. Come on, you know what I’m talking about. It’s not exactly easy to finely (forget evenly!) chop fresh herbs without turning some of them into an herb paste! And I hate cleaning up my island butcher block after I’ve made an herb mess of it. The maple looks like its growing algae! But no more of that. With the Herb Scissors, I can snip my herbs directly onto my plate or dish.

At first, I was afraid I’d catch my fingers in the Herb Scissors’ five blades, but after using them several times, I’ve found them easy enough to avoid. I’m now wondering if I can use my knife sharpener to sharpen the blades, but so far, I haven’t had any dulling problems. I’m also wondering if I could use the Herb Scissors to cut pasta. Think of the linguine one could make! I know most people use a pasta maker, but I don’t have one, and don’t plan to get one, so…

Getting back to the point… These Herb Scissors are extremely useful and easy to use and clean. If you’ve got $10.95 to spare, I suggest you try them.

Herb Scissors from Useful Things.

Posted By: Kelly |  Filed Under: Products  |  2 Comments  |  Permalink

April 6th, 2009

POM Wonderful Breakfast: Strawberry Pomegranate Smoothies and Pomegranate Glazed Bacon

pomsmoothie

A couple weeks ago the wonderful people at POM Wonderful sent me a case of POM Wonderful Pomegranate juice. Mmmm. If you’ve never had pomegranate juice from POM, you’re missing out. It’s packed with flavor reminiscent of cherry, and it’s zingy and tart (but not too tart). Plus, I love the fact that there is no added sugar in their pomegranate juice. My husband was an instant convert, insisting that I ask the POM rep if we could purchase cases from their company. I asked, but nope. You can only buy POM in retail stores, so he will have to live with getting special POM treats here and there, as it’s not exactly inexpensive. It is, however, much healthier for you than most other fruit juices. Besides the no added sugar, pomegranate juice is good for cardiovascular health, the prostate, and other age-related conditions. Find out more about the health benefits here.

Before I could make many recipes with the POM juice, my husband drank most of the bottles. The daily conversations went something like this:

Husband gets home from work and opens the fridge, even though I have dinner in the oven, on the stove, or halfway to the table.

Husband: “Mmmm. Pomegranate juice.”

Me: No response.

Husband: “Mmmmmmmm. Pomegranate juice.”

Me: “We’re eating dinner in 5 minutes.”

Husband: Long pause. Shuts fridge. Sits down. Gets up. Opens fridge.

Me: “Seriously. Five minutes.”

Husband: “But I want Pomegranate juice.”

Me: Sigh.

By the time I’m down to three bottles, I finally grab a couple bottles and make something for breakfast, because I know they will disappear that very weekend in some form or another. First up, I make smoothies. Next, because I can’t figure out a way to incorporate the juice into pancakes, I make a glaze for the bacon. And since I didn’t get much of the other bottles of juice, I steal sips here and there. I have one more bottle hidden in the fridge, which I hope to use for salad dressing if Husband doesn’t find it first…

Strawberry Pomegranate Smoothies

(Husband gave these a Best Smoothie Ever award.)

½ lb. strawberries (fresh or frozen)
½ cup vanilla yogurt
6-8 oz. POM Wonderful Pomegranate juice (depending on how thick you like your smoothies)

Add all ingredients to blender and blend until smooth. Pour into tall glasses and serve.

Serves 2.

Note: This glass is from POM tea. Isn’t it cool?! Unfortunately, I think they quit making them. I can only find the teas in plastic now. :(

pomglazedbaconPomegranate Glazed Bacon

In a small bowl, combine 4 oz. pomegranate juice with 1 tsp. brown sugar.

Cook your bacon just shy of how you prefer it done. Remove from skillet (I used a cast iron flat grill) and clean as much grease off the pan as possible.

Pour half the pomegranate brown sugar mixture in your pan. Lay the bacon slices on top of the pomegranate juice. Pour the remaining pomegranate brown sugar mixture over the top of the bacon and cook until done.

Posted By: Kelly |  Filed Under: Breakfast  |  2 Comments  |  Permalink

April 1st, 2009

Chicken Taco Salad with Cumin Lime Vinaigrette

chicken-taco-salad

I really hate mayonnaise. Just the thought of the congealed, white goo makes me gag. What is the appeal? How can people stomach it? I don’t understand. Even anything made with mayo gives me the willies. But what’s my point? The traditional salad dressing for taco salads is Ranch, or Ranch style. Is Ranch made with mayo? I honestly haven’t a clue, but it reminds me enough of the icky stuff that I can only eat it if I’m exceptionally hungry. Which is why I opted to make a vinaigrette style dressing for my taco salad. Not only is it more healthful, it looks better, and the flavors of the dish aren’t overwhelmed by the dressing. Plus, it’s just my style.

I realize I make a lot of salads, but this one is by far one of my favorites. (I don’t say that about every one, do I?!) The taco reigns supreme in my household, and this salad is really just an inverted version of the taco. Sans cheese. Really, you don’t need it. There are plenty of flavors and textures without it. But if you’re a huge cheese fan… Another optional ingredient is avocado. The most important part of this recipe is the chicken. It really needs a good coating of red chile sauce. If you don’t want to make your own tortilla strips, you could use store-bought chips, but they tend to pack a lot of oils and salt. I prefer the baked version below, myself.

Ingredients:

*Note: This salad will easily fill two people. Also note: The measurements aren’t precise. Adjust as necessary.

½ lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
enough romaine lettuce to fill a large salad bowl (6 cups? I use two small heads…)
½ red pepper, diced
½ cup corn kernels
¼ cup black beans
jalapeno, seeded and diced
4 corn tortillas, cut into strips
½- 1 cup chicken stock
¼ cup, plus 1 tbsp. red chile powder, divided
2 tbsp, plus 1 tbsp. cumin, divided
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. Mexican oregano

Dressing Ingredients:

juice of 1 lime
equal parts canola oil to lime juice
1 heaping tsp. cumin
a pinch of brown sugar

Baked Tortilla Strips:

Cut your tortillas into strips, about ½ wide. Season with salt, 1 tbsp. red chile powder, and 1 tbsp. cumin. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 10-12 minutes, or until they reach desired crispness. Check them around 8 minutes, to make sure they’re not burning.

Guidelines:

Simmer chicken breasts in plenty of water seasoned with salt and pepper for 30-40 minutes, or until they easily shred. Let cool briefly, then shred.

In a large bowl, combine ¼ cup red chile powder, 2 tbsp. cumin, the garlic powder, and oregano. Add ¼ cup chicken stock and mix well. Add the shredded chicken and toss until well combined. At this point, you may need to add more chicken stock to achieve a uniform spice coating. Add enough until you’re satisfied, but don’t add enough that the chicken is watery. Let sit while you prepare the rest of the salad.

Mix your dressing ingredients.

Make the baked tortilla strips.

Wash and chop the romaine. In a large salad bowl, combine romaine with vinaigrette.

Add corn, red pepper, black beans and jalapeno, and give the salad another toss.

Top individual plates with the salad. Top with spiced chicken and tortilla strips.

Posted By: Kelly |  Filed Under: Mexican, Salads, Main Dish, With Meat  |  7 Comments  |  Permalink