Cooking vs. following recipes

   There are entirely too many leftovers in my icebox that I refuse to put back into my mouth.
I should've known better. I gave her a shot years ago, and although she is spirited and fun to watch, she really just cooks the same things over and over and over.
You guessed it.
   Rachael Ray.
   I've already slapped myself on the wrist, or on the tongue rather, so don't bother.
I should've known. All the warning signs were there.
"A Box of frozen spinach, a package of cream cheese and a can of something or other.."
   This food Vixen gets me almost every time. She uses buzz words like "Buffalo" and I am tempted to give her another chance every time.
   The lesson learned this week is not to trust anyone who Buffalo-styles, BLT-styles and Ranch-styles everything they cook. This is not cooking. This is heating up processed foods. And this is not the mission I started back when Jamie and I first met.

   However, I do feel that we all learn from our negative experiences, so here we go:
   We began with Ranch-Style Chicken Succotash. (no link- not going there.)
Chicken thighs go into the pot and brown for a bit. We add some veggies-potatoes, lima beans, corn, etc... and it all looks like it's going to be a decent meal. Then we add in a package of ranch and an 8 oz. block of cream cheese. This takes the mostly healthy meal and makes it the overly-creamiest, harsh tasting concoction I have ever seen in a stew pot. The worst part? Her instructions for cooking the chicken left it completely undercooked. We had blood running amongst the vegetables.
   My instincts while cooking it were to completely cook the chicken before setting it aside, but Miss Ray is a professional, no? I also had this conversation with myself later on before adding that cream cheese mess. The veggies looked so good, but then I relied on someone's "expertise" as a television personality instead of my own wisdom as a cook.
   Thank God we had some leftovers in the fridge, or I'd have gone to bed hungry.
Lesson #1: Don't ruin a perfectly good meal with processed foods. Don't overdo it. Keep it simple. Too many ingredients can be too much for the taste buds.

The next meal took over two hours to prepare and it was perfectly tolerable, but not tasteful enough to tempt me. (I'm reading Pride and Prejudice for the umpteenth time, forgive the wording.) Ha ha.
 Manicotti on Valentine's Day.
I've never made it, but had it growing up, so I gave it a go.
It was basically a turkey/frozen spinach stuffed manicotti with a tomato sauce on bottom and topped with a cream sauce.
   I should have used a tomato sauce for the entire thing... And how sad that I wasted the last of my delicious home made tomato base on This. I should've used a can of tomato as she suggested. The cream sauce had no flavor with the exception of the, yes, Nutmeg she said to add in.
   A little backstory: I have used her suggestion to add a bit of cinnamon to my enchiladas in the past. "It gives it a little something extra." Yes, it does. A little something too much, Rachael.
   So I add in this nutmeg, and if the bland frozen spinach, ground turkey and cream sauce isn't bad enough. Now the only flavor of the entire dish is Nutmeg.
We each ate one or two before giving up the idea that we'd grow to like it and ended up dining on the chocolate covered strawberries Brandon brought home.
   Lesson #2: Taste your food, even if you're following a recipe. And also, never add cinnamon to enchiladas or nutmeg to manicotti.

Now- to rise from the ashes of Saturday morning, easy, ranch-style-this-and-that- cooking shows.

Not Overly Easy

Got a bit lazy this week with the challenge and didn't include any new recipes... I know, I know... shame on me. I didn't feel well when we made out the grocery list and there were lots of things buzzing around my mind at the time.
   Apologies.
   This week I present to you all a new experience. One that most people have tried, loved or hated. I was skimming through the web the other day searching for fellow "foodie" blogs and came across a rather brilliant one, Circle B Kitchen. She has all sorts of food on there and beautiful photos that make you want to lick the screen frankly.
   There were quite a few recipes that included eggs, and after a bit of reading, I came to find this blogger loves eggs. She even had a recipe for Fried Panko Crusted Soft Boiled Eggs. A bit hard to imagine, so I've included a photograph. All this egg talk got me to thinking about my own food challenge for the year and I remembered that I had vowed to try an egg
*gulp*
over easy.
I was a bit excited by the idea as it came back to me. This was my lazy week and I found a legitimate thing to try in the kitchen without making a trip to the grocer. But along with that excitement came all the yucky feelings I had and preconceived notions of slimy eggs and running yolks.
   I needed encouragement.
I made my way around the office and asked a few fellow employees "How do you like your eggs?". Luckily we have some pretty enthusiastic egg eaters in the office. I was instructed to try one "over hard" which I remembered from back in my café-working days. There's also over medium and sunny side up and (my favorite) scrambled... but before we get into an exhaustive list of egg preparations, I'll get on with it.
   Over hard.
  Didn't sound too bad.. and I knew this involved sticking a fork in the yolk and cooking it. I resolved to do it and ended up leaving work early that day to account for "Q-time" (which is a fancy way of saying, "we don't want to pay you for 40 hours a week, so leave the building an additional 3 hours.")
I made it home and grabbed the eggs from the ice box, and tossed a package of bacon on the counter as well. It would be a while before dinner.
What the heck! I made a pot of coffee too. Turned on the heater, threw a blanket on the couch and pretended it was Saturday morning.
I got my bacon grease ready in my old cast iron skillet and prepared to make fried eggs for the first time in my life. I almost copped out, but I told myself I could try one over hard, but only if I made an over easy one as well.

   The egg sizzled in the skillet and ran every which way in the salty grease. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to flip the entire egg pancake mess with my little spatula, but Jamie's vocabulary came to mind.
  "rustic."
  I made a mess of it and flipped it over, but it looked divine. Crispy brown edges and a yellow center. I poked the center of one and sunny goo began to sizzle.
  Moment of truth.
Sat on the couch. Sprinkled a bit of salt and pepper on top. (That's how the old men in the cafe always treated their breakfast, so mine shouldn't be any different.) I started with the whites and worked my way in, the over hard egg first.
Crispy, soft, salty and fresh... it was quite good. I actually enjoyed a fried egg!
But then again, that runny yolk stood waiting on my powder blue plate to be broken into. I started with the whites again. It was entirely too underdone for my taste... I just couldn't.
I decided to plop it back in the skillet; however, I did stick my fork in the center and grab a nice taste before it started cooking. It tasted like aioli. It was rich and dense and needed salt!! Bleck! Maybe I will try something dipped in it in the future, but I gave just eating it on its own a try.... and I can say it's not my cup of tea.
I did discover that I enjoy fried eggs though! They just need to be cooked thoroughly. So there it is. I enjoyed the experience and I learned something: trying new experiences is scary, exciting and enlightening. So get out there and try new foods! You may be surprised by what you find!




Valentine's Day is soon approaching. We always enjoy an evening at home with a nice meal. I've been looking to Jamie for inspiration, so we'll see what kind of delicacies we can acquire here in the middle of Texas.

Apparently Jalapeños Can Burn on the Outside.

This week's accomplishment was not too difficult, but it was a memorable one.
   I have recently become a sales ad and coupon addict. Well, not an addict exactly, but I have been planning my meals around the sales on meats and produce. (No different than my grandmother used to do, with the exception that I don't own a deep freeze.) This results in cunning meal plans that utilize every grocery I buy in multiple ways. If I purchase something not on the pantry list (carrots for example), it will most certainly be used in more than one dish.
   Pork Loin.

   That was on sale last week and Brandon had been requesting it for a while, so that is what we purchased. Now, I have an arsenal of pork loin recipes in my huge recipe notebook, but I rarely get the chance to cook it, so I pulled out one of my favorite books, The Bride & Groom First and Forever Cookbook. (My mom bought it for me at a school book fair in the teacher's lounge.) It has become one of my favorite go-to's for classic recipes. It embraces just about everything that Jamie does in cooking. It uses simple ingredients from the earth and prepares meals in a simple and delicious way. Anywho, so I chose:
Pork Loin with Mango Salsa and an Apricot Glaze
(Pssst! It was originally a Blackberry glaze, but I am a confident cook now in my kitchen and I knew I could skip on buying blackberry vinegar and preserves if I just substituted with an apricot glaze recipe I already knew.)

   Here we go. Something new. I have always wanted to try mango salsa and had never just buckled down and bought the ingredients to make it. The only ingredient not usually in my pantry was the mango, so this wasn't even a huge investment!
   I began with searing my pork loin in a pan with some S&P and some oil. Searing is supposed to seal in the juices and whatnot, but Alton Brown did an experiment one time to see if it made a difference and he said it really didn't. I went ahead and seared it anyway because I thought the pork gods might strike me down if I didn't, and I really wanted to stick around and try that salsa. Popped the loin into a hot oven with a meat thermometer in it, thank you, Megan! (One of the best gifts I've ever received.)
  
Then I started on my salsa.
Mango, Jalapeño, red onion, lime zest and juice and some salt. I began with the stuff I already knew how to cut up. I decided not to seed the entire pepper, because it seems like there's not enough heat in them if you do. (This would prove problematic later on.)
   Now, if it hasn't been brought to your attention already, Mangos have a sort of horizontal core to them. I haven't done much research, but that's what I found out. I peeled the entire thing with a knife like an apple and attempted to cut through it with no success. There were two sides that simply were not permeable. So my mango bits were uneven by the end of the slaughter. But Jamie says that it makes it looks rustic and I agree with him. I tossed my salsa together and had a taste. It was very hot. I added a bit more lime juice, removed some bits of pepper and added more salt, but it didn't help. Rationality told me that the pork and the sweet apricot sauce would even out that heat level, so I covered it up and continued making my sauce in a pan. I started with chicken stock, some honey and some apricot preserves, which is not exactly how I'm supposed to make it, but it tasted good and had a nice syrupy texture, so... good enough.
   On to the part where we taste it. I set the table and poured some tea into the glasses and left the pitcher on the table, as I knew we'd probably need it with all that spicy salsa.
   I was right.
   Whew! That was soo hot and the only thing I can account for is that the jalapeños sat in the bottom of the bowl with the lime juice while I was fussing with that foreign mango and this juice proceeded to coat everything else in that bowl with what can only be described as "Liquid Heat." The glaze did even it out a bit and the pork was really yummy. The baked potatoes served as a palate cleanser. There were so many flavors! We had sweet and spicy and sour and savory and the bite of the onion and tang of lime all in one bite. The best part was I had it for lunch a day later and it was not nearly as hot the second time!
  The entire time we're eating dinner and watching Sons of Anarchy my top lip is burning like crazy and I'm under the impression it's just the salsa.... I was wrong. I hopped in the shower later and my fingers and knuckles on my right hand were burning too. The heat from the water just intensified what I hadn't noticed earlier. The natural oils from the peppers had literally burned my skin. I had to bandage my entire hand in huge band aids in order to even sleep! And as I'm laying in bed, I'm thinking about my kitchen adventures....
   'This was supposed to be fun. This shouldn't have resulted in this stinging pain in my hand.... I mean, I have some pretty sweet knife skills and haven't cut myself in a while, and so long as Brandon doesn't "goose" me when I've got my hands in the oven, I usually don't burn myself... he should've known better than that anyway... oh well, he apologized. Man that burns! What other injuries await me the coming year as I experiment in the kitchen?' -  Then it hit me. That's what this is all about. It's about learning. The trick is taking negative experiences and turning them into wisdom and positive experiences into memories to look back on.
 
   A Quick Sidenote: For the first time in my life I believe I am weight conscious. Not that I think I'm overweight, I'm not one of those. But hopefully we will be having children soon, and my body will be changing when we do get pregnant. I want my body to be healthy, and just when I start considering my caloric intake and such, Jamie tells me exactly what I need to hear: 
   "My philosophy to food and healthy eating has always been about enjoying everything in a balanced, and sane way. Food is one of life's greatest joys yet we've reached this really sad point where we're turning food into the enemy, and something to be afraid of. I believe that when you use good ingredients to make [meals] they all have a place in our diets."
God Bless that man.
   And here's a shot of my very own *thinspiration* and inspiration for the joy of cooking and eating. Apologies, Jamie, for not featuring you more prominently in this post. More of your recipes to follow!

Country Mouse in the Big City

What a week of culinary adventures. I believe I have tasted more new things in the last week than I have all year. We recently went out for a fun weekend with friends. Dancing, drinking... and oh, all the eating. I'm still stuffed. We sampled all sorts of tids and bits here and there.

   The journey began with Texas De Brazil. I had heard tales of the fabled salad bar, but did not believe until my taste buds were brought to life with all sorts of cheeses and tasty treats. There were green olives, which, quite frankly, looked like they had ridden in on a bed of marijuana... simply covered in flakes of green mulch, which I soon discovered to be all sorts of delicious herbs.
   Heavenly.
   Jamie is always in the kitchen cooking away and mostly with game or meats that are difficult to find here in my local market, so I finally got to try my first leg of lamb, as well as lamb chops- tender, flavorful... a bit gamey, but I rather enjoyed the change.
   A carousel of meats made their way from table to table. The most flavorful prime rib... mmmm... and now I'm hungry. I also had my very first bite of lobster, which is quite surprising, as I love seafood. One of our friends even had a go at calf fries. It took a few minutes of bargaining, but she ended up getting her husband to take her dancing later that evening in exchange for her bravery. I, on the other hand, have tried calf fries previously and declined.
   Yesterday was spent at home. We went out for breakfast at the little station up the road, spent a few hours looking for our calves in the back pasture (managed to find them where we started), and did the week's shopping in the afternoon. A new experience, although we did this as children, we had never shopped at the deli counter. I needed sliced roast beef for our french dip sandwhiches and decided to grab some from the deli rather than making a whole roast.

   What an odd place the deli counter is. The men behind the counter were all business. No small talk, just let me know what you need so I can get to the next customer... "no ma'am, pick a number and I'll slice it that thick." (He gave me a crash course in making selections from the deli.) They were not like the market people Jamie shops with. "Ask your butcher for special cuts, he won't mind a bit. Deli employees are cheery blokes that like to have a laugh as you select your cheeses." Okay... not exactly a direct quote, but he does paint a nice picture. (I'm beginning to think the people overseas are a bit more pleasant to be around than our local Walmart employees.)
   We secured a half pound of roast beef at a 2, thank you very much, and decided to grab 8 slices of pepperjack. Upon inspection of our receipt, we found that deli meats and cheeses are surprisingly cheaper than the prepackaged, flavorless sandwhich fixings we had been buying for years. We had a go at that pepperjack as we took the backroad home. Yum! It was fresh and smoky and we could really taste the flakes of peppers in it. I'll bet Brandon has it all gone by the time I'm back from work Monday.
   The French Dip Sandwhiches were amazing! I combined a few ideas from different recipes online. Threw some onions in a skillet with some butter and a bit of flour. Then added in some beef stock and worchestershire, a little bit of steak seasoning and some S&P. (That's salt and pepper, by the way.) Dipped my roast beef in the juices and stacked it along with the onions and pepperjack cheese on toasted torpedo rolls. We dipped them in the leftover juices and they were devine. I believe Brandon was satisfied with dinner, seeing as he finished the rest of my second sandwhich!



   Our dessert, or late night snack, was a favorite of Jamie's.
Rosemary Raisin Bread.
   Yeah... it's savory and sounds a bit odd, but just imagine it... the robust flavor of the rosemary and the sweet and sour of the raisins... all mixed in with fresh bread. Mmmmm. I bought my first batch of Bread Flour for this project and searched my cupboards for the last packets of yeast. I figured out what "tepid" water is and added honey and yeast to it.
   This is the fun part- Jamie is always just throwing things together on a board or cooking things outdoors on a  makeshift grill. It's this low-maintenance way of cooking that is so appealing. Jamie doesn't pop bread or pasta into a mixer or a bread machine. He mixes it with his hands, feeling it and adding amounts of flour or water until it's just right.... and (can I tell you a secret?) I think I'm mastering that special "feel" for pasta and bread and crusts.... my grandmas would be proud.
   We start with a big pile of flour on the counter (yeah it's messy, so what?) and then we make a well in the center for our water/yeast mixture. Then, taking four fingers we work the flour into the center. I feel like an Italian or a French person... I feel like I'm part of history when I cook using my hands. My body language is different and I almost kiss the fingers on my other hand as if to say "La Dolce Vita!"- The sweet life of making my own bread! I incorporate all the ingredients and mash the raisins and rosemary into the mix. Then comes the kneading, which I remember from being a little girl. It was hard at first, but gradually became easier. Jamie said "It is important to knead the bread to develope the gluten." Ah-ha! So I'm pounding through this dough for a reason!
   I let the dough rise a few times and dusted it with flour. I scored it down the middle and popped it in the oven to bake. I was so pleased with my bread! I had never made it using this process before. It was beautiful. The score had opened up a bit and it was a golden brown with flecks of rosemary popping up along the surface. I tapped on the bottom to see if it was finished, as instructed, and yup! - Hollow. It was savory and sweet and earthy and I can't wait for another piece... what a pleasant experience!
   I am simply loving trying new things in the kitchen!
  
  

10 dishes, 1 cutting board & a food processor later...

   "Baby, I need you to come help me!"
   And so goes my culinary battle-cry. I was deep in the weeds and needed backup, so I called Brandon in from the livingroom to finish the tea.
   What possesses us to take on such extravagant measures when preparing a meal for two people? We stood in the supermarket bargaining over what fish we would be making during the week, (a conversation I never dreamed he would have with me a year ago.) I so wanted to be the pleasing wife, and he wanted to be the pleasing husband. So when we realized they were out of the fresh salmon steaks I had been so excited about, he dashed in with "Well you could make that stuff you made that one time- I liked that." So, recalling the only fish I remember cooking (and him eating), I tossed some tilapia into the buggie and off we went to find sugar snap peas and a bag of oranges.
   Come to find out, he was talking about Tilapia Milanese- Which means a dish that requires 6 different vessels to make. (One for milk and ice, one for flour, one for eggwash, one for breadcrumb mixture, one for frying and one for baking.)



   Here I am rambling on when I need to get to my "new" thing for the week. The whole idea of fish for dinner began when I was rifling through one of Jamie's books and came across "Aioli." Hadn't a clue what it was, but what a beautifully sounding word. "Eye-oh-Lee." Checked the list of ingredients- yup! (Had all the ingredients! Isn't that what we all look at when considering new recipes?) So my mind was made up.
   Aioli is a sort of tartar sauce I guess. It's basically oil and eggs with a few other things dashed in. Although, to be honest, I thought it would call for egg whites, so when it called for egg yolk, I began second guessing myself. I have never been one for eating egg yolks. I started with the yolk and dijon mustard in a small bowl and began whisking it together. I gradually added in the olive oil, little by little, but couldn't help getting that bright yellow yolk out of my mind.
   "Jamie, my boy, you are a Britt and surely you don't understand that I grew up detesting slimey things. Couldn't I just bash out a quick tartar sauce instead? Mmmmm onions and dill..." It was there that he stopped me. "Have a go at it, tuck in, and you'll love it!" *sigh* "Alright Mr. Oliver, I'm going out on an uncomfortable limb here!"

   I kept at the whisking and added in some garlic, salt, lemon juice and a little basil (as suggested.) When the time came, I gently touched the sauce with the tip of my middle finger, closed my eyes and had a taste. It was.... oily. Really...just- yolk and oil flavor. And I'm supposed to put this on my fish?! I continued on in the recipe looking for an escape hatch from this oily, egg-yolky concoction-  'Add a bit more salt and lemon juice to taste.' Did as I was told, and was pleasantly surprised. It was quite tasty! I had a bit of it with every bite of fish at dinner! And so now I know how to make, and enjoy, Aioli. Thanks Mate!
 


   And now to my small accomplishment for the week. I've always been under this grand illusion that breadcrumbs had to be made from stale bread. Not so, my friend, not so. I pulled out the new food processor my sweet husband got me for Christmas, tore up a few pieces of bread, threw in some lemon zest, parsley and salt.. Put it on full whack, gave it a whizz and, before my eyes, there were breadcrumbs!
   I squealed with delight in the kitchen in awe of my new toy and the magic breadcrumbs that had appeared from 3 simple pieces of bread. Brandon, in the livingroom and almost afraid to ask, replied "What?" Beeming with pride, and wanting to show appreciation for my Christmas gift, I skipped in behind him and presented him with the magic breadcrumbs. "Oh." "Good job, Baby." (Which is a total understatement, but he knows that I'm a kitchen nerd and easily amazed.) I applied the crumbs to the tilapia after a dunk in some milk and eggwash, lighted toasted the crust and baked the fish off in the oven. They were divine! Crispy, light, just... fresh. Totally worth the trouble of getting out the food processor!

New Year in the Kitchen

   I'm afraid I'm developing a reliance on wine. There is just something about a rustic meal on the stove... potatoes boiling, chicken browning in the iron skillet and a marinade of olive oil & oregano waiting on the counter... it says to me, "vino." So I pour myself a glass, tune out my husband's television program and hone in on the lovely crackling of the chicken skin against the skillet.
   That being said, one could understand the love affair that has begun between my heart and my taste buds. I think the origin of this romance could be summed up with one word, or name rather -    'Jamie.'
   Jamie's Italy, Jamie's Kitchen & Jamie at Home. After learning his simple approach to easy, fresh, comforting meals via the television, I went out to the bookstore in search of a good read. I skimmed through the cooking section until my fingers landed on the spine of something beautiful. The yellow ochres, the blues, the rustic elegance of the cover turned me on to Jamie's Italy. (I always was more of a visual creature.)  I leafed through the pages and my combined love of the care-free Italian lifestyle and food had me convinced to purchase this text. It was on sale for goodness sake... previously used without hardly a clue that it had been home with someone else... (sorry Jamie, other cooks don't appreciate you as I do.)
   I went straight home, opened all the windows, propped my feet up on the couch and began reading as Brandon mowed the yard, occasionally getting on to Pumpkin for getting in the way of the mower as she played. I read, yes, READ that cookbook cover to cover like an eager child reading a fairytale, only this story was about the wonderful food of Italy. I learned about Italian street food and homemade pasta and this intimidating treat known as "bruschetta" (which, as it turns out, is simply toasted bread with any number of toppings or treatments.) (My favorite later became bruschetta with garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper.)
   Something changed in my perception on food that day. I developed a can-do attitude, grew my own garden, invested in foreign ingredients & tried things that, previously, seemed unappealing to me.
   This Christmas I received another love letter from my Jamie, "Jamie at Home" & the passion is back in my kitchen. My 2012 resolution was upon me and I announced it to the world via Facebook. (I was committed.) I am going to mindfully try new things throughout the year and challenge myself in the kitchen.


   This week's new experience began with *gulp* WHOLE WHEAT pasta.
   I have recently become aware of our dietary needs and the benefits of a high-fiber diet. I thought this pasta would be an easy transition. We began with Emeril's Spicy Shrimp Scampi, which is a wonderful combination of cream, tomatoes, oregano, cayenne, jalapeno and paprika (to die for.) I think the spice masked the overall flavor of the pasta, so I really couldn't taste the difference. It had a bit more bite to it, but we rather enjoyed the change. Happy tummies, happy tongues, happy digestive tract.

   Last night I calmed a fear I didn't realize I had. I was making Jamie's crispy sticky chicken thighs. (He has a way with words, doesn't he?) Jamie instructed me to cut the chicken thighs into 3 pieces and I thought "But aren't there BONES in chicken thighs?" I don't even know where or how many bones there are in a chicken thigh! I haven't ever just examined one. But I knew my Jamie, it couldn't be too difficult. I grabbed the cutting board and a knife and examined my little science experiment.... duh... one bone... 2 simple cuts down either side of it, a toss in some olive oil, salt and pepper and they were frying in the skillet. Easy. Now, on to the next part of the recipe! (The chicken thighs were delicious, by the way.) You know it's good when you sop up the drippings in the pan with every bite.