Salubrious Sunday of a Different Color - Lucky #7

Do any of you wives (or girlfriends) know what happens when the other half goes shopping with you? Not only do you have to "speed things up", but your cart fills up a lot faster and your receipt is a lot longer and your bill a lot higher.

Lately my husband, lets call him...I dunno....Sir Sportsalot due to his unending knowledge and interest in sports. Well lately Sir Sportsalot has been talking to his co-workers about grilling ideas, seasoning, and technique. I should've known something was up when he wanted to go grocery shopping with me on Saturday.

He had a plan that I was not aware of...yet.

Sir Sportsalot wanted to grill chicken on Sunday and was really excited about using this highly recommended Pollo Seasoning. (I don't have as much faith in his co-workers as he does). Of course I had other ideas for Sunday dinner and wanted to stick to my Salubrious theme and I almost protested. A LOT! Especially after finding out that MSG was the 3rd....yes THIRD ingredient in the coveted seasoning.

But...I shut my mouth (he tossed the seasoning in the cart) and thought about it for a while (a very rare occurrence, let me assure you). I did tell him about the MSG and a few of the awful things about it once we got home. And left it alone again before things heated up. Don't worry gals, I'm not trying to start a new trend here...we're all safe and can continue educating our men in the ways of life and all things important to us. I seriously doubt this will become a habit of mine. The only time my mouth is ever shut is when I'm sleeping (I think).

What I did do was decide that I'd let Sir Sportsalot make his chicken how he wanted. I didn't want to discourage him from helping with the meals and squish his newly budding interest and crumb too much on his co-workers.

And because of that, this week the intended meaning of Salubrious Sunday took a slight twist....I opted for a healthy home life rather than exerting my rights as the mom and head of the kitchen and getting my way. Even though the meal contained some MSG, and a bit more butter than usual....it was excellent and everyone enjoyed it. No stress, no worries.

Salubriousness was achieved.

We had:

Chicken Quesadillas

Green Chili Cream Corn

Sliced avocado and tomato garnished with queso fresco

We started off with 2 chicken breasts that I butterflied for quick and even cooking. Sir Sportsalot sprinkled the MSG ridden...errr, I mean Pollo Seasoning liberally on both sides of the chicken

While the coals were heating and he was grilling I cut the corn off the cob.....

I didn't cut all the way to the cob. I left a lot of the corn on there so I could then scrape the cob with my knife...

thus extracting all that milky corn juiciness which makes cream corn what it is. Nope, I have never added cream or milk to my cream corn. This is how my grandmother makes it in the south and I figure she knows best.

Just know in advance that it makes a bit of a mess.....corn stuff gets splattered everywhere. Its worth it though, so its all good, right?

For every ear of corn you "cream", melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a pan. Add the corn and a bit of sugar (teaspoon maybe?)

I like to add a little minced garlic to my corn. And if its a little chunkier than you prefer....dont hesitate to grab that potato masher and smooth it out a little.

Cover and cook over low heat until tender, about 15 minutes

Cream corn didn't really seem to go with the theme of our dinner so I grabbed a small can of diced green peppers and threw those in. So glad I did. It really helped to bring it all together.

I then sauteed some red onions and mushrooms

Got out my favorite tortillas and prepared the avocado and cheeses

And tomatoes (I'll have you know that the sliced tomato came fresh from my neighbors garden

Sir Sportsalot brought in his pride and joy....

At this point I don't know what happened. I think his buddy came over, we all got distracted and I just did the rest of dinner without my camera.....what was I thinking??

I spose I'll just have to tell you about it. I took a tortilla, sprinkled cheese on one half. Sliced the chicken and put some over the cheese, then added the mushrooms and onions and more cheese...folded.....grilled! The best quesadilla ever!

A little green chili cream corn on the side with a couple slices of tomatoes and avocado with some queso fresco sprinkled on top....heaven!!

Blueberry Muffins - Procrastination at its finest

Once upon a time, in a land far far away.....

Well, it was over 25 yrs ago and about 1200 miles away from home. But still.

I lived in Spokane, Washington (North Eastern part of the state) for a few months with my aunt and uncle. My aunt was and still is a fabulous baker. It is because of her that I am a HUGE fan of cheese cake!!!! Oh and she use to make the best ever home made Kahlua....(I use to sneak sips of it from the cupboard when I was a teen...ssshhhh...don't tell mom)

Anywaaaays....before I left for my return home, I copied several of my aunts recipes and Blueberry Muffins was one of them. I did add it to my recipe book on BakeSpace but had never actually made them. No particular reason....just didn't. Don't tell Auntie Sha...I mean, we spent all that time.... she told me the recipes and I wrote...and asked again and made her slow down so I could keep up....and then I never used them? I'm soooo embarrassed

Well, recently the Blueberry muffin recipe was discovered by one of my BakeSpace buddies, Michele (she blogged about them also....check it out she has a great blog dedicated to her grandmother). She was looking for something to do with her blueberries and was brave enough to try my recipe. Then another BakeSpace bud, Cara, tried them and they both said the muffins were good and that I should try them. After all, it was "my" recipe.....and....I guess it was time...well, more like waaaaaay over due, to make my Auntie Sha's Blueberry Muffins.

So I did.

I was on the phone with Michele earlier in the week and we were talking about the muffins. She was telling me how she had sprinkled sugar on top to give them that nice crispy, sweet topping (awesome idea!!!) and that they tasted better the next morning. I wasn't sure what that meant, until I made them. She was right.

While I had her on the phone, I asked her what the ingredients were (LOL...ya, my aunts recipe and I didn't even know what I needed to make it....bad niece!! tsk tsk).

You know what? It was like a BakeSpace dream come true. We've always joked around about how cool it would be to have access to BakeSpace while at the store so you could ask questions!! And I got to do that with Michele!! It was sooooo fun!! It was almost like shopping with a fellow foodie

Oh boy, am I chatty today. Lets get started with this and end my 25+ years of procrastination...

Only a few ingredients needed and sooo easy to make!! I have to admit, I made one very slight change in the recipe. Not cuz it needed it, but cuz well....it was a last minute thing as I was pulling out the ingredients... I swapped the milk for buttermilk because it seemed like a good idea. And I did sprinkle the tops with sugar like Michele did. And...I made my muffins bigger. That was out of necessity, not choice...I'll explain in a minute. Hmm...that was more than one change wasn't it? Well, who's counting hahaha

2 cups unbleached flour

1/2 cup sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg, slightly beaten

2/3 cup milk (or buttermilk like I did)

1/3 cup oil (or melted shortening)

1 cup fresh blueberries, or 3/4 cup thawed and drained frozen blueberries. (I used fresh)

Preheat your oven to 400'

Line or grease 12 muffin cups.

Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup (you have to remember that Auntie Sha, which by the way is short for Sharon, was speaking to a teenager at the time and needed to be very specific in her instructions).

In a bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir in egg, milk and oil just until dry ingredients are moistened (batter will be lumpy)

Gently fold in the berries.....

Spoon batter into cups (2/3 full)

Sprinkle some sugar on top of each muffin, if desired (highly recommended)

....um. Here's where I had a slight issue. Not with the recipe but with my muffin pan. The pan is OLD...I mean, really old. It belonged to my mother in-law before I even met my husband. Who knows how long she'd had it. Sheeeit....the muffin pan is very likely to be older than the paper this recipe is written on, and it shows....

With that said, you will understand why I will only use this muffin pan with cupcake liners and well, I only had 8 liners. Which meant instead of making 12 muffins, I could only make 8.

So I divided the batter amongst 8 muffins....which made them bigger and fuller.... and I was kinda excited about that.

If you make the recommended 12 muffins, bake for 20 - 25 minutes.

If you want the big ones....bake them for about 30 minutes or until the tops are a nice golden brown.

Loosen and remove immediately. If you must, eat one right away. Then save the rest for tomorrow. For some reason they really do taste better the next day. I'll bet you that by tomorrow night you won't have any left :-)

Now, how easy is that? And why didn't I ever make these before? duh!

Pasta Salad The Way I like it

Back in May I was looking for something to take to our monthly potluck at work and I remembered my friend Michele over in BakeSpace had posted a recipe on her blog for Pasta Salad that looked great. (If you'd like to take a look at her post click here) I highly recommend her blog. She has some great recipes over there and some fun Italian music to listen to.

Well, I made the Pasta Salad....not realizing how much it would make. I ended up only taking half to work and left the rest at home, which was plenty to last us for a few days. The original recipe makes enough to feed an army (which is probably great when you have a large Italian family :) ).

The salad was a total hit! I've even given the recipe to fellow employees. Thank you Michele for sharing such a wonderful recipe.

Fast forward to July 4th....

We had several friends over to celebrate with us and I decided to make the Pasta Salad again. (only this time I learned my lesson and cut the recipe in half. It still made a ton! LOL)

Before I continue, I just want to show you this cute, old platter that my friend brought, filled with veggies....

Look in the center? Recognize that little gal? How many of you got to eat crudite from a Strawberry Shortcake Platter on the 4th of July?

I did make a few very minor, slight changes to Michele's recipe, and I'm sure if you try my version, you'll add or subtract or change a few things yourself. I'm just going to list what I used here.

Do any of you remember that game on Sesame Street? 'One of these things doesn't belong here....one of these things just isn't the same'. Well, there is an item that doesn't really belong...do you know which one it is? I mean, I used it....but its not really a "member"...its sort of an outcast.

1 lb of cooked medium sized pasta (such as faralle, rotelle, cavatappi...or those fun corkscrew ones)

1 large jar of marinated artichoke hearts, drained and cut (I've thought of using artichoke bottoms instead but I couldn't find them)

1/2 can garbanzo beans

1/2 jar roasted red peppers, drained and chopped

1/2 each red and yellow bell pepper, diced

1/2 medium red onion, diced

1/2 cup sliced black olives

1 small bunch of broccoli, cut into bite sized pieces

1 basket of grape tomatoes, cut in half

1 round of Queso Fresco cheese, crumbled

a few leaves of fresh basil, chopped

Parmesan cheese to taste

Salt and Pepper to taste

Your favorite Italian Dressing

For the pasta, I used corkscrew (riccioli) pasta the first time, and this time I used cappelletti. I think I prefer the corkscrew. But look how cool this stuff is....

Toss the cooked pasta with your Italian Dressing...adding a bit at a time until you're happy. Add the remaining ingredients and toss together. You might find that you need a bit more dressing at this point.

And you know what? It's even better if you make it the night before, giving the pasta a chance to soak up all that dressing. YUM!!!

Salubrious Sunday #6 - It was a HIT!

Finally! I salubrious meal I have no complaints about, whatsoever. Great flavor, simple...and everyone loved it. (in this household, thats saying an awful lot). Wooo Hooooo

What did I make you wonder? Well, have a seat, help yourself to the margaritas and I'll tell ya all about it.

I'll start at the beginning. It was late, I was tired and hungry and shopping for frozen dinners on Friday night after work. I wasn't real happy about it either. So when I found myself in the magazine and book section, my eyes wandered to the few cookbooks that Ralphs so grudgingly displays (how many months has it been since The FoodNetwork Magazine was published? ya, well, they STILL don't carry it). And what does my tiny little eye spy? Something green.....

And the keywords...Fast & Healthy Cookbook. It was a weak moment and I was irritated and therefore decided I deserved this book.

I needed this book.

I wanted this book.

A quick thumb through, a flick of the wrist...and I was committed.

That Pillsbury cookbook was in my shopping cart.

Nothing could stop me now.

When I got home, I handed the book to my youngest daughter and asked her to pick out Sunday's meal. For a 17 year old, she has a great eye for ingredients. One of the dishes she chose didn't even have a photo. Photos are often the first thing that catches my eye when looking for a recipe. (Shit! No wonder I've gained so much weight. I'm eating twice. Once with my eyes...and then again from my plate!)

She chose.........

Santa Fe Grilled Chicken

&

Honey-Lime Berries and Greens

I added grilled corn on the cob

If someone could please refill my margarita glass, I think its time to cook....

8 boneless skinless chicken thighs (the recipe called for breasts but I prefer thighs)

1 tablespoon canola oil

2 tablespoons taco seasoning mix (I used my own...recipe to follow)

3 oz mozzarella cheese sliced into 8 pieces

1 cup of your favorite chunky-style salsa

When I can, I prefer to use homemade stuff. I'm referring to the taco seasoning in this case. My handy-dandy, trusty Betty Crocker cookbook has a great recipe for seasoning taco meat.

Look at how ooold this book is....

and what a mess it has become over the years.

Anyways...you only need 4 common ingredients for taco seasoning

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon garlic powder

Combine.

Thats it and its really good. Much better than that packaged crap.

(I think its little accidents like this that have made my book such a mess.

Such a waste of good smokey cumin )

Heat up your grill.

Brush both sides of the chicken with the oil and sprinkle with taco seasoning.

Hold your horses!!! What a pain that is. That chicken went into a bowl along with the oil. Then I added the taco seasoning and tossed everything around until the chicken was evenly coated....

oh ya...and I didn't measure the amount of taco seasoning I used...I just threw it all it.

Place chicken over medium heat. Cover grill and cook until done, turning once. During the last minute of cooking, top each piece of chicken with a slice of cheese, to melt.

While thats going on, lets get started on the salad.

6 cups of mixed salad greens

3/4 cup fresh strawberries, sliced (raspberries were also a suggestion but they're too damned expensive!)

4 thin red onion slices, separated into rings

2 tablespoons sliced almonds (I only had whole)

Combine in a bowl and gently toss (duh)

And the star in this little recipe is the fabulous dressing!!!

1/4 cup lime juice (FRESH...trust me, it makes a huge difference)

3 tablespoons canola oil

3 tablespoons honey

1/4 teaspoon poppy seed

1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard (one of the few things I don't mind having mustard in)

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and whisk together...

By now your chicken is probably just about done. The corn is grilled and everything is ready to serve.

Here's the conversation that went on as my husband was bringing the plate in from the grill:

him: "Why did we put the cheese on this?"

me: "umm...because I thought it would be good?" (how do I answer that?)

him: "But the chicken was fine without it"

me: "hm" (hoping my indifference will shut him up, but noooOOOooo)

him: "It has good flavor without the cheese". (I think he tried not to look perplexed and chance possibly offending me)

me: "well, it will be good with the cheese too."

him: "I just don't understand why." (as he snags a small cheese-less morsel from the plate and pops it into his mouth)

me: "If you don't want the cheese, just take it off yours!" (good lord, leave it alone already!)

him: "No, I'll leave the cheese on it." (omg! then what was this all about? )

Well, in the end he ate his chicken with the cheese, and the salsa (which was deemed unnecessary as well prior to serving.) without a single complaint and he even went back for seconds.

The chicken was tender. The cheese and the salsa were a great balance to the taco seasoning.

The salad was tangy and sweet. The citrus flavor from the dressing complimented the chicken. If you could have a green salad as a dessert, this one could almost do it. It would also be great with sliced oranges and avocados.

Oh ya...I almost forgot. You wanna know the dietary info?

Santa Fe Chicken:

Calories: 210 (Calories from fat 80)

Total Fat: 9g (Saturated Fat 3g, Trans Fat 0g)

Cholesterol: 80mg

Sodium: 430mg

Total Carbs: 4g

Honey-Lime Berries and Greens:

Calories: 120 (Calories from fat 60)

Total Fat: 7g (Saturated Fat 0.5g, Trans Fat 0g)

Cholesterol: 0mg

Sodium: 25mg

Total Carbs: 13g

Happy Birthday Lemon Cupcakes

One of the gals at work was having a special birthday and I was informed that the birthday gal wanted me to make her a lemon cake.

Cake? I really don't do cakes very well. I mean, the baking part is fine but when it comes to frosting.....it's a mess. And I was thinking...what kind of icing do you put on a lemon cake?

I did some research. Browsed some blogs and look what I found on Kahakai Kitchen Blog.....Lemon Cupcakes!! She adapted the recipe from Ina Garten's Lemon Cakes by making them lighter. Well heck...this was for a special birthday...why would I want them lighter?

So off to Ina's recipe I went...and looky at what I made for Emily's umm..."the new 40th" Birthday!

Lemon Cupcakes!!!

Look at all these goodies that you'll need (lots and lots of lemons)....

Preheat the over to 350 degrees F.

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature

2 1/2 cups granulated sugar, divided

4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature

1/3 cup grated lemon zest lightly packed (and a little extra for garnishing)

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

3/4 cup buttermilk, at room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

First of all...I didnt have 2 sticks of unsalted butter (my daughter used it by accident) so I used 1 stick of unsalted butter and 1 stick of salted butter. It was fine.

Now... I zested a bunch of lemons (probably 8)

Then I sifted together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt...just to make sure there weren't any lumps (especially that powder and soda....they always seem to be lumpy)

I think I ended up sifting this twice. I really wanted to get a cool photo of the flour mixture floating into the bowl (kinda reminds me of when it snows) but after 2 tries I was convinced that it would be impossible for me to take the picture, hold the sifter in one hand and crank the turn handle with the other. Ya, it should've been a no brainer to realize that in the first place but it was like 10pm and I was just a wee bit tired.

Now the fun begins!

In a separate bowl, cream the butter and 2 cups of granulated sugar for about 5 minutes. (all I heard while I was doing this was..."MOM!! When are you going be done with that? I can't hear the teeee veeeeeeeeeeeee!"

There are more important things going on here child! I'm making cupcakes...from SCRATCH! And I'm under pressure cuz they're special birthday cupcakes and I've never made these before and what if they dont taste good? What if I don't make them right? What if...what if....

Ok...take a deeep breath...and lets continue...

This step of mixing the butter and sugar is very important (I know this cuz Ina told me so). You need to beat the crap out of that butter and sugar until its light and fluffy.

See?

Now...with the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs one at a time to your fluffy cloud-like butter mixture

Most of you should know this but just in case, please break the eggs into a dish before adding them to your recipe. Not only does this prevent you from adding a spoiled egg, but it also gives you the opportunity to remove any shells without having to dig through the batter...cuz remember, the mixer is running and that little piece of shell will be gone in a split second.

Then add the lemon zest.

It's turning yellow (they call me mellow yelloooow)

I just screwed myself cuz I know I'm going to go to bed with that song stuck in my head!

In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup lemon juice, the buttermilk and vanilla.

Beginning and ending with the flour mixture, add the flour then the buttermilk mixture, alternately.

I didn't know it was going to make so much! It almost overflowed....yikes

Pour into the cupcake pan (this made about 30 cupcakes) and bake for about 22 - 25 minutes, or until the toothpick comes out clean. (Ina said that it would be done when the cake tester comes out clean. Is there such a thing or is that just a fancy name for toothpicks?).

While they're baking, combine 1/2 cup of granulated sugar and 1/2 cup of lemon juice in a small saucepan. Cook over low heat until the sugar dissolves. (this is what we call lemon simple syrup).

hmm....I wonder what happened to my simple syrup picture. Did I take one? Did I delete it? hmmm. Well, it kinda looked like thick water in a pan. You're not missing much.

While the cupcakes were still warm, I poked holes in the tops with my fancy cake tester toothpick and drizzled the simple syrup over the top of each one.

Let the cupcakes cool complete (as I hoped and prayed that this would happen before midnight )

For the glaze you will need:

2 cups powdered sugar

3 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Combine the powdered sugar and lemon juice in a bowl, mixing with a wire whisk until smooth.

Pour over the tops of each cupcakes and sprinkle with a little lemon zest....

Don't those just look so pretty? They're cupcakes but they look sooo adult, don't they? And I didn't have to "frost" them and put party sprinkles on them either.

How did they taste you ask? Well take a look at this....

They were the lightest, fluffiest cupcakes I've ever had. Reminded me of Angel Food cake (not quite that airy but for a cupcake, they came pretty damn close.

And the flavor! You gotta love lemon! It's intense. You almost want to pucker but just when you think you're gonna, the sweetness takes over. And it leaves your mouth refreshed. No lingering overly sweet icing stuff to deal with. You know? I just hate that icing on those store made cupcakes. Leaves a film in your mouth.

Anyways...Emily enjoyed her cupcakes and so did the rest of the staff. I think they were all gone by lunch time. I'm glad I had the opportunity to make them and I was very flattered that my baking was requested

And I finished right around midnight....just in time to pass out in bed!

Happy Birthday Emily!