Sometimes you just need to venture and try something new

Okay, I admit that oven baked sweet potato fries are not really adventurous, but for me, it was going out on a limb a little bit. I like sweet potatoes sweet, not savory. Still, I was looking for a side for the grilled pork chops other than my standard roasted potatoes or rice. These definitely did not disappoint. They were very easy to make, and did not require any special trips to the store. There is an undercurrent of sweetness there, but it complements the spicy flavors rather than creating a contrast. While I have seen recipes that include a sweeter spice like cinnamon, I was happy with the flavors with this recipe.

I'll take tacos for 120, Alec



Today I am cooking taco meet for 120 coaches and officials for hospitality at the Colorado State Swim Meet. Nothing gourmet, not particularly healthy, but free food for the coaches and officials who donate their time to help kids excel in swimming. Making this meal has got me thinking about what really makes a good cook. Is it someone who can whip up a great meal from scratch without ever looking at a recipe, or is it someone who cook an elegant meal and present it in a way that would make all the Food Network chefs envious? Ultimately, I think it is someone who takes the time to put together a meal for friends or family, or even volunteers.

Tasso Ham - Good idea or silly purchase

Scott and I recently returned from Hilton Head and while I was there I was reminded of how much I love Carolina Shrimp and Grits. I have found lots of recipes on line, but the ones that remind me the most of what I had in both North and South Carolina are those served with Tasso Ham Gravy. Tasso Ham, as I have learned is cured differently than other hams and is made with cajun spices. $25 for a one pound ham is ridiculously expensive, but I could only find it online. I plan to dice it once I get it and then freeze it to use in shrimp and grit recipes, gumbo and jumbalaya.

Mushy Apples still make for an awesome cake


My family seems to go through spurts with the fruit they eat; for awhile, I couldn't keep enough apples in the house. Then, as if there was some rule put into place known to all in my family but me, apples were no longer the fruit of the day. Unfortunately (or fortunately once I share this recipe), the apples I had previously bought continued to sit day after day, while peaches, grapes, and cherries were the new fruits in vogue. I have not made Cooking Light's Cinnamon-Apple Cake for quite some time, and I really don't know why. It is easy to make and is a great way to use some of those apples that have started to go soft. My only real changes are that I use 1/4 cup less sugar in the actual cake, and I don't use margarine. There is no need to chop the apples finely or evenly. The cake tastes great no matter what.

I really have been cooking, it's just that I haven't been taking as many pictures or posting

I also now have to share my kitchen with my husband who far surpasses me as a cook in many ways. That is a very good thing, it just means my opportunities for creating a meal that is worth writing about and taking pictures are not as frequent.

I have been trying to get us off our meat kick of late. I recently made Pan-seared scallops with a beurre-blanc sauce I thought the white wine vinegar was going to be a little overpowering at first, but after adding 10 tablespoons of butter *EEK*, the flavor mellowed. I think I would still prefer it with white wine, but it was on a Sunday and up until last week I couldn't buy alcohol on Sunday. I served it over angel hair pasta and oven roasted fresh asparagus seasoned with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. The sweetness of the scallops was complimented by the acidic flavors in the sauce. Scott loved it; I thought it was very good; I just need to find a lighter version. Seriously -- 10 Tablespoons of butter????!!!!

Sometimes you have to go back to your old favorites....

More than 10 years ago (yes I have been reading Cooking Light for that long), Cooking Light did a special on salmon and offered about five different recipes. While all were good, my favorite was the Grilled Salmon with Ginger-Orange Mustard Glaze. The recipe is simple and yet makes an elegant dinner when served with wild rice and haricot verts.

Unable to find a link for the recipe, I have posted it here.

1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup sherry
1/4 cup dijon mustard
2 tablespoons grated ginger
2 tablespoons honey
4 salmon fillets, 6 oz each
Cooking spray

1. Mix first six ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add salmon and marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Remove salmon from bag, reserve marinade.
2. Prepare grill or broiler. Place salmon on broiler pan or grill rack coated with cooking spray. Cook approximately 6 minutes each side or until fish flakes easily. Baste frequently with the marinade.
3. Place remaining marinade in a saucepan and bring to a boil for 2 minutes. Serve with salmon.

Looking for some quick and easy recipes

Recently, I spent the day lounging in bed (does it count that I was fighting off a cold) and was looking through my Rachel Ray 30 minutes or less cookbook. I have to say that I am not necessarily a fan, but I do appreciate the concept of the cookbook. Home-cooked meals that are quick and tasty. I first had spaghetti carbonara in Italy. Okay, this recipe does not compare to my memories of that meal. But for a nice quick meal, this one comes together in the amount of time it takes to cook your pasta. The link will take you to a recipe is called Rigatoni alla carbonara, but the original recipe called for spaghetti. In either case, you are having pasta, with garlic, parmesean cheese, and pancetta -- can you really go wrong?

I initially made the recipe by using wine instead of chicken stock. Word to the wise, using your 3 month old opened bottle of Sauvignon Blanc is not a good idea when the wine taste will figure prominently in the recipe. I trashed the wine reduction, saved the pancetta and remade the sauce. For us, the chicken broth option was the way to go.

Oh my goodness I have been busy...

The last time I entered a post was two days before I started my new job. I love my job, but I was not used to the 40 minute commute each way. To add to that, I am just busy all day. Still, I am much happier than I have been in a career for many years. What has suffered though is my cooking. At the end of the day, I want to collapse, not cook. I have been sick this week and reviewing many cookbooks and magazines to find those recipes that are 30 minutes or less. These carne asada tacos fit the bill. I will use either a flat iron steak or flank steak or skirt steak. I marinate it in chopped cilantro, onions, garlic, salt and pepper and lime juice; I will also add mexican seasoning if I have it on hand. Throw it on the grill for about 4 minutes on each side after letting it marinate for about 24 hours. I chop the steak but some people just slice it. Serve it on corn tortillas with limes, cilantro and whatever other garnishes you enjoy. It is simple, quick and honestly, just really, really good.

New Year, New Goals, New Recipes

I have a tendency to get caught in a rut with my cooking. As much as I love perusing cookbooks and cooking magazines and tabbing all the recipes, I often default to my old favorites. I new I wanted to make soup today; I was watching my beloved Chargers finally win a playoff gain, but did not really want to default to chicken noodle. I was looking for an Italian Sausage recipe and found Italian Meatball Soup Rapido on the Epicurious website. I don't know that the flavors in this soup were what I was really expecting, and I believe the key is the addition of the Parmesan cheese. No canned green stuff here, this calls for the freshest, best you can buy. The recipe calls for Parmigiano-Reggiano, but I rarely have that on hand, so I simply grated some Parmesan Cheese that I had in the fridge The pluses of this soup are that it comes together quite easily with ingredients that you might have on hand. Add a nice baguette and lighter red wine and it makes a wonderful winter meal. If you have the rind of your cheese, I would add it to the soup the last 15 minutes to give it a rich, earthy flavor. The downsides for me were that the soup was not visually appealing, and the beans, with only 15 minutes to simmer, were tougher than I would like. Still, the flavors were pleasing and it took little time to make. It has generally received favorable reviews on the website, so I hope it is something you try.

Have I mentioned that I don't really consider myself a baker? I found this recipe for Cranberry Orange Bread with a Grand Marnier Glaze on the Cooking Light website, but it originally came from Sunset Magazine in 2006. All but one person on the Cooking Light board raved about its flavor, its texture, and how incredibly moist it was. Mine was flat, crumbly, stuck to the bottom of the pan, and did not pack the flavor punch that I was expecting. Mind you I did not add the glaze at this time, but that is because I wanted my daughter to compare the flavor with a similar recipe that I have. I figure if I am going to be true to my blog, I might was well post the failures as well as the successes. Mind you, this still tastes good, it just won't be the bread I bake to give to friends who are also receiving the Cranberry Liqueur. The texture was more like a muffin than bread. I suspect some of the issues may have to do with the altitude where I live, but those issues did not prevent my other recipe from rising. I seem to be in the minority here though, so I would encourage others to try it.

The picture from Sunset Magazine:


My bread:

When does three weeks actually mean two? In my case, I hope it means that when making the Cranberry Liqueur from Cooking Light. I mean it's flavored alcohol that is going to be mixed with other ingredients. Am I really screwing it up by only waiting two weeks? Fortunately for me, I made enough to have a "tester" sample. I will see how it turns out in the end. If I had known how simple this recipe was, I would not have delayed so long in making it. It is a simple syrup made of water and sugar, that you mix with the finely diced fresh cranberries and vodka. Give it a stir, shake every other day and that is it. I found a similar recipe on Food Network by Tyler Florence that only requires the mixture to sit a week, so I am hopeful. This is what it currently looks like.

An apple a day....

Will forever remind me of my brother-in-law Al who died suddenly on October 1, 2007. Al was one of the kindest, honest, caring, and goofiest persons I have known. The day before he died he had been picking apples with my sister at his brother's home in Washington. Al had a tradition of getting boxes and boxes of just picked Washington State apples and then bringing them back to give to friends and co-workers in Jackson Hole, WY. The apples in the pictures are some of those that he and my sister had picked to bring home. While visiting my sister at Thanksgiving, her son had made some dehydrated apples. What an incredibly delicious and healthy snack. Slice the apples, sprinkle them with some cinnamon and let them sit in the food dehydrator for a few days. I hope you find a way to enjoy them too.

Sometimes, the problem with getting new cooking magazines each month, year after year, and owning too many cookbooks, is that you never go back to those favorites that you cooked once or twice before. One-Pan Whiskey Flavored Pork Chops is one of those recipes that is so good and so easy, but it gets lost in my repertoire of dishes "to try." I don't cook pork as much as I used because often it ends up being tough and dry. But cooking the pork in this whiskey flavored gravy for an hour leaves it moist and flavorful. I served it with some garlic mashed potatoes. It is a wonderful dish that goes well with a Pinot Noir. I hope you enjoy it as much we did.


Photo courtesy of Cooking Light

ACK!!!! No cooking of late as life has thrown me a number of curve balls. I have been able to recently get some beautiful pictures of God's creation from Jackson Hole, Wyoming even if I was there for tragic reasons. So while no cooking, I do have some pictures to share.

Early sunrise after a stormy night



The reason fall is my favorite season!



The calm after the storm

I love lemons. Somehow, I always try to convince myself that because they are so light and refreshing, that using them will result in some low-cal dessert. But the desserts I seem to find, generally don't fit the bill. If you can get over the fact that you need a lot of eggs for the curd, a ton of sugar, and heavy whipping cream for the mousse, Lemon Curd Mousse Cake is a wonderful lemon dessert that is relatively easy to prepare. I think, I like the fact that I can make it in stages (you really are required to as with most dishes calling for a lemon curd), because I was able to make it over a couple of days.

Seeing as I didn't not have any pastry tips, and I used all the lemons to make the curd, my decorative plating doesn't compare with the Bon Appetit picture (but then it rarely does -- sigh), but I simply drizzled some of the leftover mousse on the cake, and it looked okay.

So a few years ago I took my kids to TGIFridays for lunch at the end of the school year. For the most part, I was reminded of why I can not stand the place; too loud, bad service, oversized meals, but I did enjoy the barbeque chicken salad I had there. I never tried to replicate it at home because I did not have a corn-black bean salsa that I really enjoyed. Once I found the Southwestern Salsa with Black Beans and Corn recipe from Southern Living (note I cut the recipe in half as it makes a lot), I did my best to replicate the salad. Essentially, I line a plate with greens and alternate the salsa, tomatoes, avocado, and cheese. I drizzle the salad with ranch dressing and barbeque sauce, and lay sliced barbecue chicken across the top. The salad is hearty and delicious, yet comes together quite easily.

Well I have been diving into cooking a little bit more this past week, but pictures have been missing. I recently tried a dip by Sandra Lee that is meant to be used over roasted asparagus, but I used it with cold veggies (snow peas, zucchini and carrots - I would have made cold roasted asparagus if I could have found some - as an appetizer), and it was wonderful. Curry-Cashew Mayonnaise is very easy to make and a nice variation on dips for veggies. I upped the cashews and the curry a little, but really it is to your own tastes. (The photo is courtesy of foodnetwork.com).

The other new dish I tried was Grilled Potato and Onion Salad with Blue Cheese and Bacon. Okay - this is not a light dish, but so yummy with some grilled steaks. The presentation was somewhat lacking on mine because I used the grill as opposed to the grill rack to grill the potatoes. Mine was more like Charred potato salad. It will definitely be kept in the recipe bin, I just need to work on my grilling skills. If you are so inspired, I hope you try either of these recipes.

Um yeah...so about this blogging thing. I kind of left it behind with high school boys swim season, trying to find a new job and dealing with changes in my life. But you know what, I miss it. I hope I haven't left you all out in the cold (like my last post). So here is to a new renewed vigor in posting. Today's entry is Cooking Light's Rum Glazed Banana Cake; except I don't use a Rum-Glaze and I have taken to adding mini-chocolate chip cookies. Still, I get compliments on this cake everytime I make it! It also converts easily to two loaf pans.

On a day like today....


Soup is most definitely in order!



I know little of African cuisine, but this soup, from Cooking light 1999, is called African Chicken-Peanut Soup

Perhaps it is the mixture of sweet potato with peanut butter, or the addition of black beans, but it is hearty and filling. Please don't let any of the ingredients individually fool you, they come together really well. African Chicken-Peanut Soup

When life gives you lemons...

Make lemon-blueberry scones!!


I don't really consider myself a baker. Baking requires following directions; baking requires exact measurements; baking requires knowing if your oven temperature is correct. Yet, I yearn to be a baker. This recipe for the lemon-blueberry scones was created from two different recipes so I was free to not have to follow the directions exactly. Neither of the flavors is overpowering, and they come together beautifully. The glaze is simply lemon juice and powdered sugar. Who knows... this may be the start of something new.