Night #2- Japan

This is starting to get fun!  Another perk of staying home is that I have more time (and energy) to cook more involved meals.  Last night we fixed foods inspired by Japan (disclaimer: I am not claiming to cook 100% authentic...it's my spin on stuff).  We made gyoza (potstickers) and rice bowls...both came out really well, but I think the gyoza was a clear favorite.  

Fried Goyza (potstickers)

Ingredients for Gyoza:

1 pound ground chicken (typically it's with ground pork, but I couldn't find any at the store)

4 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

1/2 chopped Napa cabbage

1 clove minced garlic

2 green onions minced

black pepper

1 teaspoon dried ginger

Wonton wrappers

Vegetable Oil for frying

In a bowl, mix together everything (except wonton wrappers).  Let sit in the fridge for at least an hour to let the flavors come together.  To make the gyoza, fill each wonton wrapper with about a teaspoon of the chicken mixture and then brush the edges with water, fold one corner to the opposite corner and press down to make a seal (hard to explain, but they have good directions on the back of the wonton package).  Once gyoza are formed, heat the vegetable oil (enough to barely coat the bottom of the frying pan) on medium-high heat.  Add the gyoza to the heated oil, be careful not to overcrowd or else they will steam and not fry (I had to do two batches).  Fry on each side for about 2-3 minutes each, or until slightly browned.  Once fried, place on a paper towel-lined plate to get rid of any excess oil.  Serve with dipping sauce (recipe below).

Note: This will make way more filling than you need, so freeze the rest for next time!

Ready to eat!

Ingredients for Dipping Sauce/Marinade:

4 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

1 tablespoon honey

2 garlic cloves minced

1 teaspoon (or more depending on taste) of siracha sauce

1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

1 tablespoon sesame oil

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Mix together, even better if made the day before.

Ingredients for Rice Bowls:

1 pound flank steak

1 avocado sliced

1/4 cup chopped parsley

2 green onions chopped

1 bag of baby spinach sauteed in olive oil until just barely wilted

2 cups of cooked rice

Assembly line for rice bowls

For steak, marinade in recipe above for at least 5 hours (usually best overnight).  Grill on high heat for 7-8 minutes per side for medium-rare.   Assemble rice bowl with whatever toppings you like.  For a lower-carb option, serve with butter lettuce instead of rice to make a lettuce wrap. 

Olympic National Meals! Night One.

Night one featured foods inspired by the country of France.  When (not if) Ryan and I become super rich (haven't exactly figured the logistics out on that) we want to move our family to France.  We love everything about it (food, wine, culture, history, people, fashion, beauty, etc.), so it only seemed right that on the first night on our Olympics-inspired meals, we chose France.  We made something that we've never made before...coq au vin and lemon-thyme bars for dessert.  It turned out even better than I could've imagined! It did take awhile and had many steps, but it was well worth it!

Ingredients for Coq Au Vin:

1 whole cut-up chicken

6 slices of bacon, sliced into lardons

1/3 bottle of red wine (we used cote du Rhone)

1 cup chicken stock

1/4 cup marsala wine

1 pound of carrots (we used baby carrots because that was on sale at Publix)

2 large onions (1 diced and the other sliced)

2 cups sliced mushrooms

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/4 cup flour

2 cloves minced garlic

Salt & pepper

1 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme

Parsley for garnish

Pre-heat oven to 325.

To start with, cook the bacon in a dutch oven at medium heat until crispy (about 10-15 minutes); meanwhile pat chicken dry with a paper towel and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and flour.  Once bacon is cooked, remove bacon and set aside, but leave the fat behind.  Add the chicken and brown chicken on both sides (about 10 minutes per side) at medium heat (chicken will finish cooking later), remove chicken from dutch oven.  In the same dutch oven, add the diced onion and carrots and thyme and cook until onion is softened, about 10 minutes.  Add the marsala, red wine, and stock, and some more seasoning.  Cook until liquid starts to boil, add the chicken back in, making sure it is completely submerged (add more stock if needed); place dutch oven in the oven and cook for 1 hour.

In a frying pan, add butter, oil, remaining onion, and mushrooms on medium heat.   Stir until butter is melted and then turn the temperature down to low.  Continue to cook and stir about every 10 minutes, for the same time as the chicken.  

Coq Au Vin

After, an hour, take the dutch oven out and put back on  a medium-low burner.  Check that the chicken is cooked (by this time, it should be falling off the bone).  Add the remaining flour to the onion/mushroom mixture and stir to get rid of any lumps. Add that into the dutch oven (this will thicken the sauce).  Add parsley and the cooked bacon to the dutch oven.  By this time it is ready to go, but you can continue reducing the liquid to get it to the desired consistency.  Serve with a garnish of fresh parsley. 

Vive La France (except when beating the US 4x100 men's swimming relay)

Lemon-Thyme Bars:

This recipe was taken from Giada on the Food Network.  Ryan made this one, and it turned out wonderfully!  Who knew I had a talented pastry chef as a husband!

Here's a link to the recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/lemon-thyme-bars-recipe/index.html

Lemon Thyme Bars

Let the Olympics (and the cuisine) Begin!

We get really into the Olympics at our house, and have been looking forward to these summer games for quite some time now.  We've decided to celebrate the Olympics at home, we will be cooking worldly-themed meals.  Check back for updates, pictures, and recipes!  Gladly accepting any suggestions.  Countries we have in mind already are France, Greece, Japan, SE Asia, Italy, & Mexico...but looking for more ideas!

Chase v. Bon Appetit

Our version

Bon Appetit's version

Every month we get countless magazines (thanks credit cards rewards) that feature lots of recipes.  Most of the time, we'll read them and think, that looks good; but very rarely do we actually make them.  This latest issue of Bon Appetit had some really wonderful recipes using lots of summer produce.  We spent a ridiculous amount of money on organic fruits and veggies this weekend (mostly for Carter), so we made a few of the Bon Appetit recipes.  We made the cover recipe, toast with tomatoes, herbs, and feta.  We did ours on leftover hamburger buns, but it was still delicious and made a great snack.

Best Burger!

Normally we prefer to grill out burgers, but unfortunately the weather was not cooperating, so we decided to broil instead.  We used the ingredients leftover from our Greek feast and added some grass-fed ground beef and had a delicious burger.  It was a nice change from the ordinary cheeseburger.  We topped the burger with feta, sliced cucumber, oregano, and tzatziki sauce.  Along with a toasted bun with olive oil, it was really tasty!

Greek-Inspired Menu

Ryan and I really like Middle Eastern food (hummus, tzatziki, gyros, kabobs, etc.), and decided to make our own Greek food instead of going out for dinner (although Carter is a really good baby, it is still much easier to hang out at home as opposed to a restaurant).  We made a trip down to Whole Foods to get some organic produce for Carter (will post another blog with some easy baby food recipes) and got a few things for ourselves.  We also picked up some Bulgarian feta from Sahara (right by Sarasota High on 41 in Sarasota; it's seriously the best I've ever had and is definitely worth the extra stop).  On the menu for last night: Greek-marinated grilled chicken thighs, grilled naan bread, pan-fried potatoes, tzatziki sauce, feta, and bellinis to drink!

Dinner is served!

Greek-Marinated Grilled Chicken Thighs:

Ingredients-

4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (this recipe would work with any piece of chicken you prefer)

1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano

1 tablespoon lemon zest

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper

1 teaspoon red wine vinegar 

2 tablespoons olive oil

Mix all the ingredients (besides chicken) together in a bowl and then add to a Ziploc gallon bag; add the chicken and massage the marinade into the chicken.  Let marinate in fridge for 1-2 hours (any longer, the chicken will start to cook from the vinegar).  Heat grill (for some reason our grill doesn't do the whole "low and slow" thing, so we always end up grilling on high heat...works for this, a little more difficult for chicken breast) and add chicken.  Cook on first side about 7-8 minutes until there are some nice grill marks, flip and cook on the other side for another 2-3 minutes until when you push on the chicken it's nice and "springy" and the juices are clear.  Let rest for about 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Grilled Naan Bread:

Ingredients for homemade (ahh, just kidding, I don't have the time for that!!) naan:

Store-bought Naan bread (it's sold at Whole Foods and Publix I know for sure)

2 tablespoons olive oil

Sea salt

Brush olive oil on both sides and sprinkle with sea salt.  Put on the grill at the very last minute and cook for a minute (or less) on each side, or until you just start to get some grill marks.  Serve immediately. 

Pan-Fried Potatoes:

Ingredients:

2 pounds of sliced red potatoes

Olive oil for frying

Zest of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano

1 teaspoon sea salt (plus more to taste)

1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper

Pan-fried potatoes with oregano and lemon zest

Using a mandalin, slice potatoes into 1/4 inch slices (keep in an ice bath to prevent from browning, but make sure to dry before frying).  Add enough olive oil to just coat the bottom of the frying pan, turn onto medium-high heat (ever stove is different, so whatever temperature you need to make sure it won't burn, if it's smoking, it's too hot!).  Mix together the zest, oregano, salt, and pepper in a small bowl and set aside.  When oil is ready, add potatoes in a single layer (I had to do four batches) and fry on each side until golden brown (about 5 minutes per side).  When each batch is done, add to a big bowl and add a pinch of the herb/zest mixture and toss to combine.  Continue doing so until all potatoes are cooked and all the herb/zest mixture has been used.  This turned out so well, it might be my new favorite.  For a little healthier option, you could bake potatoes on high heat.  

Tzatziki Sauce:

Ingredients:

1 small container (6 or 8 oz) of 2% plain Greek yogurt

1/2 cucumber grated

Zest and juice of 1 lemon (might need more juice depending on how juicy lemon is)

1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano

1 teaspoon red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon olive oil

Tzatziki sauce

Salt and Pepper to taste

Add all the ingredients in a bowl and serve (that was hard, huh?).  The leftovers make for a great salad dressing or condiment for a sandwich or burger.

Bellinis:

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh or thawed, frozen peaches peeled

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup peach schnapps

Juice of 1 lemon

1 bottle of sparkling wine (doesn't need to be anything fancy, look for $10 range, I prefer cava)

In a small sauce pan, mix together everything except the sparkling wine.  Cook on medium-high heat, stirring frequently until sugar has dissolved.  Allow to cool and then add to a blender.  You can strain it if you prefer it to be a bit smoother, but I like the little bits of pulp.  Put in the fridge for a few hours until cooled.  Add peach puree to a chilled champagne flute about 1/4 of the way up and top with sparkling wine.  It's not quite as good as Petrossian at the Bellagio (or in NYC), but it's mighty tasty and a nice way to end a long week.

Best vegetable dish ever?!

To answer that question, I'd have to say yes! Ryan and I have made this zucchini dish several times now and each time it's better than the last.  It is so good that this past week we had it as our main course.  It is so simple, yet so tasty! Whether you are a veggie lover or not so much, you will like this.

Ingredients:

2-4 zucchini squash

1 garlic clove

2 tablespoons olive oil

Just after adding zucchini to garlic oil

1 teaspoon (or more, depending on how spicy you prefer things) red pepper flake

salt and pepper to taste

After sauteing for 20 minutes

Directions, using a mandalin (or a sharp knife) cute zucchini into very thin spheres.  Meanwhile, heat a skillet on medium heat, adding the garlic and olive oil.  Once garlic starts to sizzle, remove (don't let it burn, or the oil will taste burnt).  Add zucchini to garlic-flavored oil and season with red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper.  Cook on medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring every few minutes, until zucchini starts to brown and get crispy.  Serve hot or at room temperature.  Good as leftovers too.

Family Vacation to the Beach!

Carter enjoying himself on vacation!

This past weekend was our first attempt at a vacation since having Carter.  Our last vacation, California, was over a year ago, and if you know anything about Ryan and I, you know that we have been going a bit stir crazy not going anywhere! We love to travel.  If you can believe it, Parrish doesn't exactly offer every cultural and food experience we crave.  Actually, I believe it offers none! We originally planned on going to Savannah, GA, but with Ryan's interview schedules, we eventually had to cancel.  So we decided to go someplace close and over a weekend so that we wouldn't have to reschedule should another interview come up (and it did!).  

We stayed at the Marriott Suites Clearwater (http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/tpams-clearwater-beach-marriott-suites-on-sand-key/) in Sand Key (just south of Clearwater Beach).  It was an absolute perfect place for families.  The rooms are all-suites, so it was nice having a separate room (with plenty of space) for Carter's pack-n-play.  They also have a giant pool that was gorgeous. We didn't try anything of the food at the resort, just a frozen drink by the pool, but they were grilling hot dogs and hamburgers on Saturday that looked good.  The hotel is right next door to a shopping center of shops and restaurants too.  We didn't end up going to the beach itself (a golf-cart ride away), sticking to the pool instead.  The hotel was an easy drive to lots of restaurants and shops.  

View from front of our room

View from balcony

Pool

Day 1, Saturday: We were able to check in early, thank goodness, because it would've been a pain to try to feed and change Carter if not.  Our room was on the 6th floor and had a beautiful view of the pool and intercoastal/bay.  After getting settled we changed and went swimming.  The pool was crowded, but everyone was very friendly, so it was a lot of fun.  Carter was the star of the pool with his cool shades and hat.  After napping we decided to drive down to Indian Rocks Beach and go to Slyce Pizza Bar for dinner (http://slycepizzabar.com/).  It was an excellent choice.  We ordered garlic knots as an appetizer (no vampires would come our way!) and for dinner we each ordered a different half of pizza (great option instead of compromising).  My half was Greek with sausage, feta, kalamata olives, basil, and spinach.  Ryan's had meatballs, mushrooms, and ricotta cheese.  Just as our pizza arrived, Carter decided he had had enough and started to fuss.  Luckily we were just able to get our pizza to go and we enjoyed it back in the hotel room and watched baseball. 

Yummy garlic knots

Pizza from Slyce

Day 2, Sunday: Ryan's birthday!  We started off the day on a great note, Carter slept until 6:45!  We've been having trouble lately getting him to sleep through the night, so it was a wonderful treat that he did.  Aren't babies supposed to sleep worse on vacation? Since he was up, we decided to go for an early breakfast next door to the hotel at Maggie Mae's.  It was your basic breakfast spot.  We both had pancakes.  They were good, but didn't knock our socks off by any means.  After breakfast we went swimming for awhile and enjoyed the fact the sun wasn't at full strength and most people were still sleeping.  After Carter napped, we went to Frenchy's Original for lunch.  It was far less crowded than their sister restaurant on the beach.  I had a grilled grouper sandwich that was really good and Ryan had fried flounder.  We did have an "interesting" end to our meal, Carter decided it was a good place to go "number two," and proceeded to blow out his diaper and made a mess of himself and my clothes too.  It took an entire pack of travel wipes to get him clean.  Needless to say, we went back to the hotel room to change and clean up! We made reservations at Guppy's down on Indian Rocks Beach for Ryan's birthday dinner.  After dealing with the snotty receptionist, we enjoyed a nice meal.  The food was good, but nothing stellar, not sure if it was worth the price.  I had grouper picatta and Ryan had a filet.  By the time we left it was absolutely packed with people waiting for a table.  Carter fell asleep in the car, thus putting a kink in our plans to swim one more time.  But we decided to go anyway, so we brought him down to the pool in the stroller and sat in the lounge chairs drinking champagne and waiting for him to wake up.  When he did wake up, he had a blast in the pool.  

Mommy and Carter in the pool

Daddy and Carter

Daddy and Carter at Guppy's

Day 3, Monday: After a wonderful weekend, we had to head home.  Ryan had a 10:40 am interview with the district so we had to leave early.  Our trip was capped off by a not so pleasant car ride courtesy of our baby boy.  He cried the entire hour and 15 minute drive home.  But even still, we are encouraged to try to go out of town again.  Maybe Disney??

Happy 4th of July!

Today our two nieces are coming up for the day, so we wanted to make a fun snack for them.  We decided to make fruit kebabs (in USA colors of course) and watermelon stars.  It was easy to prepare, and hopefully they'll enjoy.  Happy 4th of July everyone!

Family Vacation to...

Okay we are going to brave the ordeal of going on vacation.  We had originally planned on going to Savannah, GA (one of our favorites), but with Ryan's unknown schedule as far as assistant principal jobs go and the thought of driving 8 hours a bit daunting; we've decided on a location a bit closer to home: Clearwater Beach (more specifically Sand Key).  We need some ideas on what to bring, where to go, etc.  We will update afterwards and let you know how traveling with a baby on a budget goes!

A Twist on the Traditional Burger

Last night we felt like cooking out and making cheeseburgers...but we had two problems, it was insanely hot out and we ran out of gas for the grill.  So we made burgers inside instead, but used ground chicken instead of beef.  They are so juicy and flavorful, we hardly missed the beef/grill flavor.

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground chicken

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

1/2 medium or 1 small onion, minced

1 large garlic clove, minced

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons canola oil

1 egg, beaten

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Salt & Pepper to taste

Chicken burger mixture

Ready to be served

In a frying pan on medium heat, saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil for about 5 minutes, or until translucent.  Take off the heat when done.  Meanwhile, mix together the chicken, breadcrumbs, egg, Worcestershire, cayenne, and salt and pepper.  Add the onion mixture to that.  You might need more breadcrumbs if mixture is too wet.  Form into four patties (or more if doing slider sized).  Heat a frying pan on medium-high and add canola oil.  When oil is hot, add patties. Turn temperature down to medium.  Cook first side for five minutes, or until golden brown.  Flip and turn temperature down to low and cover with a lid.  When burgers are done, add preferred cheese.  Serve on toasted bun (we prefer potato) along with mustard or avocado or whatever is your preference!