cronies and foodies unite

i had some visitors this weekend.
rob, my brother
and maddi, my sister.

it is her birthday next week so we wanted to make it uber fun.
[please, not like it wouldn't be anyway. look at these peeps!]

saturday night,
[whilst we fancied ourselves to the 55 inches of my cousin's QB face
in the first UCLA game of the season,]

we made some seriously yummy food

chicken tikka masala
and naan

(recipes from allrecipes.com - i love that site!)

my cousin made this for us a few weeks ago
and i admit that this is the second time i have made it already

so so good. if you are not the spicy type (i am totally the spicy type)
go easy on the seeds of the jalapeno cause the first time it was a bit spicy for my guests...

this time was perfect.
it usually makes just enough saucy stuff to live in the rice the way you want it,
but i think i will just add more to it to have more on the rice.

and please, if you have the option, use basmati rice when making indian.
it begs for it.

we make our naan on a panini maker so don't shy away if you can't get to the grill.
in fact, we like it thin and then we paint it with lots of butter, garlic, and parsley to give it a little hint of yum.

cause i have been cravin it and it is just too much work for two,
we also made

gyoza

* 1lb ground meat (traditionally it's just pork, but i have used a mix with beef, and pork sausage is my favorite to use cause it cooks up nice and has a kick to it.)
* 1/2 head of cabbage (the green kind)
* about 3/4 cup green onion finely chopped
* about 1tbs fresh minced ginger
* about 1tbs fresh minced garlic (or the minced stuff - no powder though...)
* 2-3 tsp sesame oil
* 2-3 tsp chile oil
(both of those you get in the "international section")
* 1 lbs soy sauce
* (optional) a beaten egg
* salt and pepper
* white vinegar
* won ton wrappers
(usually these are near the produce section -
you will use at lease 1 pck,
sometimes you will need more though, so get two)


my asian friend taught me how to make this years ago and it is always fun to make with rob cause he lived in japan for a while and he's kind of a purest

between the two of us, they were pretty naughty.

put the ground meat in a bowl
rinse the cabbage, pull apart, and then boil it until it is soft.
finely chop the wet cabbage, and squeeze all the water out before adding to the bowl.
give it a few minutes before making fun of the man you gave that job to, but then give it a go.

add green onion, garlic, and ginger, soy sauce, and the egg if you want to.
(the egg is to help keep it all together - i never use it, but rob does.)

add the freshly ground pepper until the surface is covered.
mix it up with your hands.
yes, your hands.

drop about 1 tsp of the mixture in the center of the wrapper,
close them by putting water on two sides (or half if they are rounds)
and pinching them together. drop em on a floured cookie sheet.

throw about 15 or so (lots can fit) in a frying pan with only about 1 tbs of oil
after the gyoza brown up a hint, drop a small amount of water in the pan and immediately cover to steam. (i like em more on the fried side so i only steam em for a minute.)
one of the reasons you boil the cabbage is so that it will cook as fast as the meat. it should only take a few minutes per batch.

the dipping sauce is about equal parts soy sauce and white vinegar.
just taste it until you like it. i like mine more vinegary than soy saucy...

hope you enjoy!

Mindy's Roasted Veggie Naughtiness

mom, you'd be so proud.
we had the sisters over for dinner and i got to actually use my dishes and serve a meal!!
first time!

we decided to make the roasted veggie naughtiness that we stole from aunt mindy:
it looked like this:

yumtown!

we just used the veggies we had- carrots, onions, red/green bell peppers, zucchini, and squash
they go in the oven at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes... then add the cherry tomatoes and they go another 15... or until the cherry tomatoes start to bust out all over

add to freshly cooked bowtie pasta
add salt and pepper to taste
add light balsalmic vinegirette to taste
crumble in some blue cheese and mix it up

so yummy.
so healthy.

ar

pasta nite - lemon herb pasta

Lemon Herb Pasta
~completely jacked and then slightly altered from cuisinenie~

coarse salt and ground pepper
1/2 pound whole wheat pasta
1 tablespoon butter (i used a little more than 2 tbs to make it a bit creamier...)
(i also added 1/4 cup of 1/2 & 1/2 to cream it up just a tad too)
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh herbs, such as parsley, tarragon, and chives
(i happened to have fresh basil too...yum.)
crumbled feta
(we also added some parmesan to serve it too and it was a good decision)

in a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta until al dente according to package instructions. drain, but leave just a hint of the pasta water (like you do to make your mac n cheese a little creamy like). return to pot.

stir in butter, lemon zest, juice, and herbs; season with salt and pepper (go to town with the salt. it brings out the other flavors). top with crumbled feta.

thanks nie nie.
way fast and easy.
and it is one i will think of next time i go,
"oh crap, i have to make something naughty in 15 minutes!!"

domesticatia

making dinner these days has been difficult, seeing as i get
mysteriously ill around dinner-making time.
but i did it.
stuck to the schedule with only 1 trip to the store.


for our first pasta nite:
bowtie lasagna

(foto and recipe originally posted by pioneer woman)
it was way yummy.

i used ground turkey instead of ground chuck,
and i sauteed up some onion with butter and garlic before i did it,
otherwise, the simple recipe stands alone.

for rice night, we did hawaiian haystacks

after talking to my pioneer cousin,
i think i will try this one using chicken stock
and beef it up some instead of using the can of cream of chicken soup...
we needed a little crunch, so we crumbled up some chex mix on top.
yumtown.

of course we had a pizza nite too...

we use my brother's fine tuned dough - makes 8 dough balls so we froze them before
we recreated the CPK BBQ chicken goodness.

Pizza Dough

3 package active dry or fresh yeast (4 ½ tsp)

3 cups warm water (110 degrees)

3 Tbs sugar

6 cups Bread flour or other high-gluten flour

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 tsp salt

Add all ingredients except salt and 3 cups of the flour to mixer. Mix for 1 minute or until all ingredients incorporate. The dough should appear wet like a pancake batter. Let stand for 20 minutes in the mixer. The dough will almost double in size. Run the mixer for another 10 minutes. This will effectively kneed the dough. Run the mixer for an additional 3 minutes, adding the remaining flour until the mix forms a ball around the hook. Let stand in mixer for another 20 minutes.

Divide the dough into 8 balls, about 6 ounces each. Work each ball by pulling down the sides and tucking under the bottom of the ball. Repeat 4 or 5 times. Roll the ball under the palm of your hand until the top of the dough is smooth and firm. Flour the finished ball and place on sheet pan (18 maximum per pan). Cover with plastic (bread) bag and store in Walk-in. (4 day shelf life)

pi

Yield: 8 (10-inch) pizzas

now that i know how to use my own wok,
i been wokin things all over the place.
we threw some fresh pineapple in with the chicken to get happy
cause that's how we do it here in farmtown.

we have kind of a method to pizza now:
-build on a hot stone,
-at halftime in the oven move to the rack.
and it takes two, so we like to do it on saturday-
then you have toaster over pizza for after...

we just dropped some sauce on the top to fill in the gaps.
looks like this on the way out
though really it should be called "on the way down"

for "somethin new" nite last night,
i wanted to try a tomato soup - always lookin for a good one.

we tried cusinenie's simple tomato basil recipe
cept i ended up adding sour cream, cheese, and more chicken broth
cause it was kind of just tomato-y for me...

the good news:

husband has been smiling at my new case of domesticatia
(pretending-to-be-domestic)

operation domestication - part two

now that i am home,
and i have my very own kitchen,

i have had time to bond with little red

who looks pretty cute in my little kitchen

but something was missing...

so with my drawer full of measuring cups,
(i thought we took back most of the extra ones!!)

the first batch of cookies were made.

and now i have canisters with food pregos eat.

then it was time to face some of the new appliances we haven't used.

peg taught me how to use my wok,

and then we tried out the pizza stone...

and after i spent some time with cousin emily-
who is crazy domestic
and sent me on my way with homemade jam
...right before she started her fresh bread,

i decided it was time to get organized her way.

this is going to be my food plan calendar:

every day is a new theme of food product
and they are kind of self-explanatory:
(but i will for you, cause i don't know how to shut up)

pasta = italian
something new = one of those things i have always wanted to try...
rice = asian
beans = mexican
date nite = not makin dinner-nu uh.
pizza = homemade naughtiness of many kinds
healthy/easy = some home-cooked sunday-style goodness

and i hope to fit in as many of my new/unused appliances as i can
and get as many new-ish recipes too...

of course i will share them with you if they are good ones.

i feel just like julie...