Steel Skills

On Thursday night I took a knife-skills workshop.  I've always wanted to take one, since my husband likes to poke fun at me because I used to only chop with a steak knife.  I'll be honest, I was pretty apprehensive of anything bigger!  As time went on Brian helped me get more comfortable with chef's knives but I still could use some more skills.

The workshop was 90 minutes long and was part demonstration, part hands-on.  I learned how to hold a knife so that it is an extension of your arm and isn't has hard on your hands.  I learned the proper way to dice  peppers and onions, and how to cut an onion with a little less crying.  (NO crying isn't an option for me.)  I also learned the correct way to cut up avocados and mangoes, two foods that I love but avoid because of the messy prep.  No more!

There were six people in the workshop including me, and together we chopped and made a tomato salsa and a guacamole with mangoes.  Delicious!  I came home with a big grin and a little leftover guac, and was thrilled to tell Brian how much I loved it!  He's taken a class there before, and now we want to do a Couples Night sometime.

Tomorrow night I'm making soup.  And I can't wait to chop all the veggies....by hand!

Mac N Cheese Success!

5.  perfect macaroni and cheese from scratch

Finally, a success story!  Years of separating sauces, general gloppiness and all-around YUCK, I've finally made a decent baked macaroni and cheese.  The recipe was from Cooking Light, part of their 25th anniversary issue.  I know I know, light mac n cheese sounds like a drag.  But it wasn't!  It had parmesan, sharp cheddar, fontina and yep, Velveeta cheese product in it.  I think the secret is making sure the cheese is shredded fine, and the continuous whisking.  The garlic cracker crumbs baked on top weren't bad either.  This was so good, I had a second helping and was thrilled to have tons of leftovers.

Sadly, the kiddos wouldn't touch it.  So next time I make this (and there WILL be a next time) I'm going to trick them by leaving an empty box of Kraft on the counter. 

Taste of Morocco

Last Sunday's Dinner:  Moroccan chicken.  In a tagine.

What's a tagine?  Glad you asked.  It's a ceramic slow-cooker.  Or maybe it's not ceramic, maybe it's clay.  One thing I can tell you is that it needed to be soaked for 24 hours before cooking.  The only thing we had in the house big enough to soak it was a cooler.  But hey, it worked!  You put it directly on your stove top and let it do its thing.  It was actually quite cool.

I've never really given Middle Eastern food a chance.  It feels good to try something just a little bit different.  Some of the spices were familiar, some not.  Turmeric, for one, I don't know if I'd ever eaten turmeric before.  But everything was delicious:  chicken, quinoa and carrots.  I'd definitely like to try other variations.

Chicken n' Shrooms

Meal #2 this week featuring pasta ( no red sauce or meatballs all week!). Chicken with mushrooms and garlic wine sauce.  Brian's been using a lot of mushrooms in his cooking lately, and I love it.  Served atop egg noodles....with more of that yummy shaved parmesan.  And this is a Cooking Light recipe??  i find that hard to believe, but it's true.

Hurricane Shrimp

Menu for last night (courtesy of Pinterest):  Spicy Parmesan Shrimp Skillet.  We write the house menu up to two weeks in advance, so obviously it wasn't written with "Sandy" in mind.  The power in our house went out at 4:45 pm, so it was looking like pb+j.  The kids were thrilled with sandwiches by flashlight.  I munched on half a nutella and banana sandwich, hoping the power came back on in time to cook something a little better.
Wish granted!  Around 7pm, we were able to put together this recipe.  It was delicious...with soy sauce and green onion, but also some shaved Parmesan and red pepper flakes.  A fusion dish, if you will.

Orange You Glad

Last night's dinner was my way of emulating Chinese takeout....orange crispy chicken.  It tasted ok but definitely didn't come close to what I was shooting for.  First of all, it was a crockpot recipe.  That's perfect for a busy Saturday!
The first step was to dredge the chicken in flour and fry slightly to give it some crispiness.  Nope....the hot oil just seemed to rinse the flour right off the chicken!  I added some broccoli to the final dish just to get in some veggies. 
To sum up, this wasn't bad.  But it wasn't good, either.  I might be better off just ordering takeout next time!

Soup#2: Bacon Corn Chowder

With the arrival of fall comes the cool air that makes me want to have soup.  So last weekend seemed like a good time ti to make a second soup in order to work on my Day Zero list.

This recipe came from Taste of Home online, but I found it on Pinterest.  It's a very simple recipe, and doesn't have a ton of leftovers.  The ingredients include celery, bacon, potatoes, cream style corn, onion, milk and salt/pepper. The first step, sauteeing the bacon, onions and celery on the stove made the house smell incredible. It came together quickly and made a nice lunch for a cool Sunday.  I did add a sprinkle of smoked paprika before serving to give it that extra oomph.