Super salads

Did another weekend wedding. Here's a picture of me with 130 salads that we just plated. I made a nice lemon basil vinaigrette:

1/2 C. lemon juice
1 handful fresh basil or 4-6 cubes frozen basil
2 cloves garlic or 2 cubes frozen garlic
1/2 sliced red onion
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil

Add first 4 ingredients into a blender and when combined, slowly drizzle olive oil in until the dressing emulsifies. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

It was a beautiful sunny fall day here and we hung out, rode bikes to the beach and are planning to have leftovers from last night:
rice, green beans, carrots and coconut shrimp.

Will let you know how the kids like the "chicken"...

Roasted pulled pork

My daughter is presently sitting next to me eating black olives and watching Spongebob.

The week has been busy with work, but as promised, here is the pulled pork recipe. The exact measurements for the ingredients are not terribly important to this dish.

2 lb. boneless pork shoulder or butt
2 tsp. kosher salt
2 tsp. pepper
1 tbs. cumin
1/2 C. apricot jam
2 jalapenos sliced into rings (can also used canned)
2 sliced purple onions

flour or corn tortillas
1 lime cut into wedges
1 C. chopped cilantro for the tacos

Preheat oven to 350. Combine all ingredients in a bowl, being sure pork is mixed well with the ingredients. Wrap the pork with ALL of the seasonings, onions and jalapenos in Aluminum foil. Make sure the aluminum foil completely surrounds the pork. Put the aluminum enclosed food into a pie dish to catch any drippings that may drip out.

Bake for 4 hours. Let rest and pull pork apart with a fork. Serve over warm tortillas and add a squeeze of lime juice and a sprinking of cilantro.

Cooking up a storm

Taught my first class at Aitoro today to a fun group of women. It's always very reinforcing to know that I am actually bettering people's lives.

Came home and geared up for my weekly cooking that I have been doing for the family with the new baby. They loved last weeks offerings and I bought lots of fresh fruits and veggies to cut, hummus, crackers and tonight I'm going to make a lasagne with ground turkey meat and chicken sausage. It should be delicious and much healthier than a traditional lasagna.

I am also going to make a beef stew with red wine, potatoes, mushrooms, peas and onions. As well as a South American roasted pork with fresh jalapenos, apricot jam, purple onions, cilantro and lime.

Recipes to follow tomorrow.

I am, quite frankly, procrastinating at the moment and looking for anything else to do except go down to the kitchen to work.

We took the girls to Sakura tonight for sushi and had a nice time. The girls were thrilled to have umbrellas and monkeys in their drinks.

Ahhhh, I remember those days!

We're hungry N-O-W!!!

Tonight's meal was out of a fast food commercial.

Imagine if you will....

Mom overwhelmed with laundry, the broom has gone missing and the kids are pawing at her legs drawling, "mommmmm, I'mmmm realllllyyyy hungryyyyy...."

What's a mother to do?

Mom opens the freezer and fridge simultaneously, a bell goes off, "I know what I'll make." she says with a smile.

That was my night tonight. It was as close to "kid food" as we do. I made some homemade chicken tenders by dredging them in egg whites, seasoned flour and bread crumbs (would have used Panko, but was out).

Cooked them in a little canola oil for about 3 minutes per side.

While those cooked, I made a mixture of frozen 5 minute fries and fresh sweet potato fries that I bought peeled and sliced from trader joes. They got a drizzling of olive oil, Lawry's seasoning salt and pepper. The fries baked in the oven at 450 for about 10 minutes.

I quickly procured 2 little bowls of frozen peas (which oddly enough the girls love) and I nuked some in a bowl for me.

A little sliced watermelon and strawberries and everyone was happy for dinner.

Whew... I'm exhausted just writing about dinner tonight!

veggin' out

Saturday has turned out to be a rather rainy, lazy day. How fun!! We went for a walk at low tide where it promptly began to rain, we all ran and laughed. The girls had a bath to warm up and I made them hot chocolate. The day has slipped by and we have enjoyed it immensely. It felt like letting sand slip slowly through my hand.

We are going to a friends house for dinner tonight and I had some leftover apples, so I made an apple crisp. Super easy:

Peel as many apples as you have, core and cut into cubes. Put them in a bowl and season with cinnamon, brown sugar and a little apple pie spice if you have some. Add about 3 tablespoons of butter cut into small cubes. Put the apples into a deep sided pie plate.

In the same bowl, add equal amounts of flour and oats. Add in about 1/2 as much brown sugar and about 1 tsp. cinnamon. mi together with your hands and work in 3/4 of a stick of butter until the mixture is somewhat crumbly. Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 40 minutes or until top is golden brown.

I also have some chicken tenderloin pieces that I will make crispy panko crusted fingers from. Very easy too.

Heat vegetable oil in a pan on medium heat.

In a shallow plate combine 2 parts Panko with 1 part seasoned flour ( this is flour with either garlic salt, lawry's or my favorite Adobo) and a handful of grated Parmesan cheese. Combine and dredge chicken pieces in until coated. Cook for 2-3 minutes turning chicken once when color begins to come through on one side.

Today felt slow and lazy and I am looking forward to some cooler brisk days.

Co Op dinners

A friend of a friend recently moved in across the street from us. We have girls the same age and as luck would have it, tonight both hubbies were away for work. She kindly invited me to stay for dinner and I ran over to get the leftovers I had made at work today to add to the impromptu potluck.

I grilled shrimp that I had seasoned with Montreal Steak seasoning, a tsp. of Adobo and a small pinch of ground red pepper. I squeezed the juice from a lemon and added a little olive oil to the bowl. I turned the grill to high and quickly cooked these delicious shrimp. They can be eaten either hot or cold and have a great kick to them.

I also made couscous by sauteing 1/2 a purple onion in a little olive oil and butter. I added 2 diced celery stalks and 1/2 diced carrot. I added 4 C. of chicken stock, and when that boiled, I added in 3 1/2 C. couscous. I turned the heat off, and covered the pot so the couscous could steam. I fluffed the couscous with a fork and added a little more olive oil and a handful of chopped parsley.

Tonight, I added a little shredded lettuce to the couscous and served the shrimp atop the dish. It was light and delicious.

My friend made amazing Indian lamb "meatballs" which she cooked in an aromatic Indian tomato sauce with cumin, garlic, ginger and garbanzo beans.


It is a gift to share a meal with others.

Food delivery job...

A woman up the street recently had a baby and contacted me about preparing and delivering food to her once a week for a little while. I thought back to what I would have liked when I returned home from the hospital and brought her all of those things.

Small servings of fruits, veggies, nuts, dried fruit, a little chocolate. Mini meatloaves, roasted chicken with carrots, black bean and steak burritos and of course freshly baked cookies. She was so happy to have all of this delivered and arranged in her fridge and freezer for the week.

I left thinking, "I would have loved this, other people must want a service like this."

If anyone is reading my blog, I would love some feedback about this idea. For anyone who has just had a baby, gotten out of the hospital, or just wants homemade meals and snacks delivered- wouldn't this be a great gift???

Please let me know what you think, either leave a message here, or in my email.

Thanks.

Nicole

Wednesday recap

I've been working a lot lately and last night Kirk offered to make dinner. This is very exciting and novel for me, as I am the primary cooker in the family. I had already bought green beans and potatoes, he baked them, steamed the beans, grilled us some hamburgers and even picked some fresh cherry tomatoes from our garden.

I came home and was treated to dinner, what fun!

I worked again today and we had a friend and her daughter for dinner. The girls learned about the joys of a melon baller and balled the heck out of a honeydew last night. I sliced some cucumber and low-and-behold, Emma loved dipping lettuce into balsamic vinagrette, which she called lettuce dip. Whatever works.

We ate the last of the taco meat, some pasta and the assorted fruits and veggies from the table.

I made some delicious crab for crab cakes that we will have tomorrow. The basic recipe is:
Sautee some finely diced onion, celery and fennel in olive oil. Season with salt, pepper, and Old Bay Seasoning. Mix vegetables with lump crab meat, mayonaise ( I don't like a lot, just enough to hold the mixture together) and fresh parsley.

Make crab cakes, and dredge in Panko and seasoned flour (which is simply flour mixed with salt, pepper and Adobo or Lawry's Season Salt).

Heat canola or vegetable oil in a large nonstick pan. When the oil shimmers, add the crab cakes and brown on each side. Keep warm in a 200 degree oven on a cookie sheet while the others cook.

I am going to serve those with roasted brussel sprouts and more lettuce with "dip" tomorrow night.

evening meltdown!

Tonight was a scramble. The girls had school all day then I rushed them off to an extracurricular. They were hysterical on the car ride home-so tired!!! I made the fastest (semi-healthy) 5 minute meal I could think of.

Although most nights are filled with balanced meals, tonight wasn't optimal.

Here's our 5 minute meal.

1 Ramen soup
plate of sliced cucumber and carrots
leftover french fries, reheated in the toaster oven.

All ready in exactly 5 minutes!!

Thinking we will make Baja Fish taco's tomorrow night, or clean out the pantry, let's see how the day goes....