First of all...
Showing posts with label easy recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label easy recipes. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

I burn my hands twice in one week.

The first time I burn my hands, it was definitely a 'shame on me' moment. I was attempting to create a scrumptious dish from Frank Stitt's Southern Table Cookbook in my own kitchen.

The recipe is called Lowcountry Red Rice.  I was very excited to try it and I was extra excited because The Man said he thought he would really enjoy it--if I made it with shrimp.  So I dove right in and made it as directed.  One thing I didn't do was put gloves on to chop up the jalapeno peppers...

So for two days after I made the dish, my hands felt like they had a sunburn.  I gave myself a first degree jalapeno burn! 

Icing on the cake was that I accidentally purchased and used jasmine rice instead of basmati rice and The Man didn't like the dish because he doesn't like jasmine rice and I know that.  My dish was doomed to fail from the moment I left the grocery store.

So here are my tips for making Lowcountry Red Rice.  Which was very good and is one of those dishes that tastes fabulous fresh or leftover the next day.

1. wear gloves when chopping the jalapeno peppers.
2. don't get the wrong rice.
3. I don't have a third tip, but to hear how I burnt myself again just a few days later, scroll down past the recipe.

LOWCOUNTRY RED RICE

Directions:

  1. 1
    If using fresh tomatoes, drain them in a sieve or colander set over a bowl to catch their juices; set juices aside.
  2. 2
    In a large Dutch oven, cook the bacon over medium heat until it is beginning to crisp; with a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to paper towels to drain.
  3. 3
    Return Dutch oven of drippings to the stove; add the onion, bell pepper, and celery; saute until softened, about 10 minutes (add a little oil if the bacon fat seems insufficient).
  4. 4
    Add the jalapeno, poblano, tomatoes, bay leaves, and thyme to the pot; season with salt and pepper to taste; simmer for about 10 minutes, until the peppers have softened.
  5. 5
    Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, combine the broth with a scant 1/4 cup of the reserved tomato juices (discard any remaining juice) and add salt to taste.
  6. 6
    Bring to a simmer; add the rice, return to a simmer, and stir a few times.
  7. 7
    Decrease heat to the lowest setting, cover, and cook until the rice is tender, about 16 minutes.
  8. 8
    Add the rice to the vegetable mixture, along with the bacon; taste for seasonings.


Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/lowcountry-red-rice-417289#ixzz1yHygjNVP


**********
Then just 48 hours after my hands stopped tingling with pain, I was again in the kitchen , preparing a lovely repast.  There I was taking out the perfectly roasted potatoes wearing my dollar store oven mitt and suddenly, my right hand was a mass of pain.

 Did I drop the potatoes?  No Ma'am, I got those on the stovetop, whipped off my mitt and plunged my hand into cold water.

Lesson here, if your hubby buys a set of oven mitts from the dollar store, don't actually USE them.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Really Small Piece of Yellow Plastic

Remember how I was talking last post about getting rid of stuff in anticipation of our moving later this month?  How I enjoy the reducing of  'stuff'?  Well this morning, The Man was pretty bent out of shape. 

Turns out I threw out a piece of yellow plastic that was part of  his table saw.  Woopsie. As fate would have it, The Man realized it was missing after the garbage man had come and gone. Now I have to check with The Man before I clean out a drawer/cabinet or box.  *Sigh*

Wait, I just had an Oprah-worthy A-ha moment. I'm going to empower The Man to clean out and pack his own assorted stuff. This way I won't run the risk of throwing out other stuff that looks like junk to me that he likes, or is actually useful.
So after that debacle, which occured prior to my first cup of coffee...
I took my bowl of potato salad which I made with our new Garden Veggie Dip and headed over to Anna and the B-mans school for the Teacher Appreciation Luncheon.

Here is my Garden Veggie Potato Salad Recipe. I prepped the individual components last night and then mixed it all together this morning.

3 lbs washed and quartered yellow potatoes (skin on) boiled until they are fork tender
4 slices of Turkey Bacon cooked and crumbled. I made the turkey in the oven, that way the turkey bacon doesn't burn.
4 stalks of celery, chopped
1 bunch of green onions white and about 3 inches of green chopped
2 tablespoons of Garden Veggie Dip Mix mixed with 1 cup light mayo.

Super Easy, Super Good and 1000 times better than store-bought tater salad.


Thursday, April 26, 2012

Recipe and Free Tea from Klout.com

Trying not to complain about the weather, am going to anyway. I'd like it to stop being cold and windy and go back to being 20 degrees above normal.  Like it was in June, I mean March.

Being all cold I thought it would be a good day to try out a recipe I saw recently in the Chicago Tribune . As far as I can tell it isn't available online. It was in the "How to Pair Wine" section and was a vegetable stew. One of the suggestions to go with it was Savingnon Blanc. 

Much to my dismay, now I can't find the recipe.  So for what is worth here is what I remember being in it:
Can of  Crushed Tomatoes
10oz frozen artichoke hearts
Can of small beans, I was going with Great Northern Beans
1 chopped shallot
5 cut up green onions, white and green parts
some tarragon
some chicken broth.
And a few things I don't remember.

No Vegetable Stew tonight for me. *sigh*


FREEBIE FOR TEA!  I have a link via Klout.com that you can use to get free samples of the new Lipton Honey & Tea instant drink mix.  It comes in those little packs you can use to flavor bottles of water. Click here to get your freebie!


Tuesday, January 31, 2012

It's Tuesday, let's talk about food.

Since we are in the throws of reduced income due to The Man's current unemployment, there is no eating out. Now if I could eat out tonight, I'd love to grab some lemongrass chicken. I'd go over to Chi-Tung in Evergreen Park, IL and get that along with a tossed salad with their amazing ginger dressing and big Mai-Tai.  I hope your mouth is watering!  I know mine is now! 

Clearly I don't get out much because when I went to their website to grab the link above, I see that they have built a Hibachi Steakhouse since I've been there last.

All is not lost however, I can start a "Going Out To Eat" fund with money I earn from reorders and make plans to go to Chi-Tung in February.  In the meantime, I found a relatively easy recipe at Food & Wine Magazine for Lemongrass Chicken that I will share below Wish me luck, I think I will attempt to pull it off on Saturday this week, or maybe even on Superbowl Sunday.  We don't have plans for the Superbowl.  We'll just stay home.



Turns out Americans take in an average of 2700 calories (which includes an average of 6 beers consumed) at a Superbowl  Party. I'll just take a pass on that and save those calories for another day or two. 

And in the world of Stuff-Kids- Like-To-Eat, I got a great email from Psst..from General Mills. It is something I signed up for and they send out newsletters and coupons for General Mills products. In today's email it said:

"Moms know that "Trix are for kids," but now she can give them a snack that she'll feel good about too. Yoplait Trix yogurt has been reformulated and now has no artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners, or high fructose corn syrup. "

Great news for me. The kids love the Trix yogurt and I don't like buying food chock full of artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners, and HFCS. Plus I think there was a link to print a coupon!  Wahoo! Yogurt is on the top five favorite snacks at this house.

LEMONGRASS CHICKEN FROM FOOD AND WINE MAGAZINE

Ingredients
  1. 2 tablespoons Asian fish sauce
  2. 3 garlic cloves, crushed
  3. 1 tablespoon mild curry powder
  4. 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  5. 2 tablespoons plus 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
  6. 1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
  7. 3 tablespoons water
  8. 3 tablespoons canola oil
  9. 2 fresh lemongrass stalks, tender inner white bulbs only, minced
  10. 1 large shallot, thinly sliced
  11. 3 serrano chiles, seeded and minced
  12. 5 cilantro sprigs
  13. Steamed rice, for serving
  1. In a bowl, combine the fish sauce, garlic, curry powder, salt and 1 1/2 teaspoons of the sugar. Add the chicken to coat.
  2. In a small skillet, mix the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar with 1 tablespoon of the water and cook over high heat, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved. Cook without stirring until a deep amber caramel forms, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons of water. Transfer to a very small heatproof bowl.
  3. Heat a wok over high heat. Add the oil and heat until shimmering. Add the lemon­grass, shallot and chiles and stir-fry until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the chicken and caramel and stir-fry over moderate heat until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce is slightly thickened, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and top with the cilantro. Serve with rice.