twins...

sometimes, when you are cooking, things happen that you couldn't plan or make happen if you wanted to. this is one of those times. as i was making my breakfast this morning (a grilled egg and cheese sandwich for those of you who don't already know that this is my current addiction), i cracked the egg into the pan and was greeted with a neat surprise...TWINS!!! yep, i got a double yolk egg.
it looked cooler before i broke the yolks, but, hey, it's my breakfast and i really couldn't call a timeout on the whole cooking thing while i ran to get the camera so i could take a picture. so i just kind of broke it. but you can tell there are two.

being me, i just HAD to google to see if this was good luck or bad luck. i didn't want to. really, i didn't. what if it told me something i didn't want to know? but like the proverbial train wreck, i just had to. well, the result is that i am just as unsatisfied as i was before i looked. some say it's unlucky, some say it means you will come into money, some say a birth...of twins (and this could be lucky or unlucky, depending on your perspective). so all in all, the only part of me that is satisfied is my belly. that sandwich was good because i do, after all, make a mean grilled cheese sandwich. combined with my excellent egg making skills and, well, it is pretty much breakfast perfection.

delish.com, i love you!!!

I must confess, the majority of the foods I make start out as a recipe I find somewhere and then completely bastardize. I recently bought Light & Delish: 400 Calories or Less! because when I looked through it, there were some good sounding recipes. If you want some good recipes, I recommend picking this magazine up (the label says "display until April 30, 2010, so there is still time to get one if you want). Well worth every penny. But then again, you can also find the recipes on www.delish.com so you could always find them there...for free...

Last night was Chicken Bolognese. I wasn't planning to make it, but I found the perciatelli pasta that hubby wanted and decided to pick up the rest of the ingredients. He was a very happy guy when he got home yesterday and saw what I made. Unlike my usual manner of cooking, I followed the recipe pretty closely (except for the fact that I did cook the sauce a little longer than the recipe calls for since I was waiting for hubby to get home before I put on the finishing touches). SInce I followed the recipe, I will save myself some typing time (also, since I didn't take pictures, there are photos of it here). Here is a link to the recipe: http://www.delish.com/recipefinder/chicken-bolognese-pasta-recipes?click=recipe_sr The only change I made is that I used perciatelli instead of linguine (it looks like really big spaghetti). And I didn't use freshly grated parmesan because I was feeling lazy...and because hubby is strange and likes the stuff in the jar better anyways (yeah, he's weird like that).

Tonight, I made Poblano Corn Chowder with Grilled Shellfish: http://www.delish.com/recipefinder/poblano-corn-chowder-grilled-shellfish-rbk0208?click=recipe_sr but this time, I did make some changes.

If you compare the image on the recipe page with this one, you will notice that my shellfish (shrimp & scallops) are not grilled. This is because 1) I did not want to deal with the grill and 2) I have yet to really figure out how to work the broiler on my stove. Because of this. I changed how I added the seasoning. Instead of brushing it on, I put the shellfish in a pan and poured the mixture over it. I stirred it around to get all the meat covered and then stirred it around every few minutes while I was preparing the chowder. When it came time to cook the shellfish, I cooked it in a cast iron skillet. The recipe says grill for 2 min each side, but it definitely took longer than 4 mins in the pan. The shrimp were already cooked, so they were quick. The scallops were a different story since I am not so good with scallops. I just cooked them till they looked done and then relied on my meat thermometer to tell me that they were plenty hot enough. I took the shellfish out of the marinade when I put it in the pan so I had marinade left over and didn't want it to go to waste. When I was done with the shellfish, there was a little browned marinade in the pan, so I decided to experiment with deglazing the pan to make a roux with the rest of the marinade. I poured it into the pan, scraped up the brown bits (see, I DO learn from watching Rachael Ray) and reduced the sauce. When it was thickened to my liking, I poured in over the shellfish (which, I should have mentioned, were in a bowl at this point) and mixed it up. I think this was a very good addition to the dish.

I made the chowder pretty much according to the recipe, so there is nothing to tell on this.

My only real "addition" to the meal was fat free refried beans and this is only because I love refried beans so I will have them any chance I get.

I completely intended to make something for dessert too, but I didn't get around to it. It's a good thing too, since we were so stuffed after dinner that there was no room for dessert...

I make a mean grilled cheese

and i am modest too...

The grilled cheese sandwich, a favorite of kids and currently maligned by the new Carl's Jr. ad. Apparently, the ad people for Carl's Jr. think that grilled cheese sandwiches are just for kids and adults will be made fun of if they order it, unless they order the new Grilled Cheese Bacon Six Dollar Burger...with 990 calories, 610 of which are fat calories (69 fat, 28 saturated fat!!!). Seriously! If you don't believe me, here is the link: http://www.carlsjr.com/menu, you can check it out for yourself. No thank you Carl's Jr. people. I will stick with my old fashioned grilled cheese. Maybe it's just me, but when I see the ad, I don't start craving the burger, I actually start craving a grilled cheese. Maybe it's just because this is one of my favorite sandwiches (right up there with PB&B - peanut butter and banana). If I want to add something, it will be tomato, ketchup (yes! don't knock it til you try it) or egg (as I did this morning).

And while the grilled cheese seems easy (which, relatively, it is) and something to be made fun of, it really does take some work to get it right. It's not a cold cut sandwich. You can't just slap some cheese on bread and throw it in the pan. It takes some work if you want a really good grilled cheese. One that looks like this one:

Hint #1: Whatever you do, do not, and I mean DO NOT, use fat free cheese. it does NOT melt well - trust me on this. All you will get is a big old mess in the pan and very little cheese on your bread.

Hint #2: Someone taught me one time that the key to a good grilled cheese is to get the butter on every bit of the bread before you put it in the pan. And this is true. I made a whole lot of mediocre grilled cheese sandwiches before I learned this.

Hint #3: Temperature matters too. You don't want it too high so that you burn the outside of the bread while the cheese doesn't even melt. You can't rush good food and a grilled cheese is no different. I cook on a gas stove, which REALLY takes a lot of getting used to. But you want to get the pan heated up before you put the food in it. I cook on medium or just a little lower. And, since I had egg on the sandwich, the pan was nice and warm. Have all your supplies ready before you put the 1st thing in the pan. This will ensure you don't have any delays that cause your sandwich to overcook.

A little spray of Pam spray and you are ready. The rest is pretty easy - layer it in the pan like so: bread, butter side down, cheese, egg or whatever else you are putting on there (cook the egg 1st), more cheese, bread, butter side up. LEAVE THE SANDWICH ALONE TO COOK! let the bread toast for about a minute or so. then very gingerly lift up the corner to see if the color is what you want. if not, let it go a little longer. then flip and repeat the toasty/melty part. i have found that the best guide of when the bread is ready to my liking is when the cheese is just melted. But this is something that is personal preference, so you will have to find your guide. Who knows, maybe you really like a blackened grilled cheese and the sign it is done is smoke and, perhaps, flames coming out of the pan. But since I have probably never made you a grilled cheese, or seen how you like them, I don't know. It's up to you.

Onion Rings

Occasionally, I get the harebrained idea to make the messiest foods I can possibly make. You other cooks know what I mean - the foods that are not messy to eat but leave your kitchen covered in flour and the floor crunchy. That was me yesterday. When I made the menu for this week, I was trying to keep it interesting and, since we have been eating SOOOO healthy lately, one of the meals I decided to make was Shake & Bake chicken (surprisingly, one of hubby's favorites) and onion rings with remoulade sauce. I should probably blame this event on Rachael Ray , since last week, she had a segment on making restaurant-tasting foods at home and onion rings were included.

Anyhow, as many of you know, I started Weight Watchers in January 2007. Along the journey to lose my weight (50 lbs in all), I decided that, as a foodie, I needed to keep my mouth happy if I was going to be successful and I set out to recreate my favorite foods in a way that they would fit in the program (or at least be a little healthier) AND satisfy my cravings. All I can say is thank God for the internet. There are a lot of recipes out there so I did my research then took that knowledge into my kitchen and experimented and came up with what works for me and my taste buds (not too worried about my husband. you remember the "mikey likes it" kid? yeah, i am pretty much married to that guy - even the name is right!). We love appetizers so occasionally we crave fried zucchini and onion rings. In our house, thanks to our lifestyle, just ground beef actually means veggie crumbles and fried actually means baked in the oven. It works - mouth is happy, weight stays down, pants still fit :-)

I have tried many many different ways to get the bread crumbs to stick to the onion rings - water, egg, milk. Last week, I watched Rachael and her segment had a new trick to try, so I did. I think her recipe called for frying the onion rings since the recipe called for vegetable shortening. But I don't really know since I stopped reading after the part I was looking for - the breading part. Any how, it seems this recipe is pretty much a batter-dipped onion ring - or at least it gets to be that way at the end when the milk turns into a milk-and-flour gloop. OK, enough chatter, you're bored with me, I know. Here is the recipe (Rachael's inspiration and my changes):

ONION RINGS
Ingredients:

• White or sweet onions (# depends on how many people you need to serve)
• Milk
• Flour
• Breadcrumbs
• Pam spray

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  
• Put milk, flour & breadcrumbs into 3 different bowls (one thing in each bowl people, they will get mixed up enough on their own during the process)
• cover a cookie sheet or baking pan with aluminum foil & spray with Pam spray
  
• Slice onion into 1/2 slices and separate the rings
• dip each ring in the following order: milk, flour, milk, flour, milk, breadcrumbs and then place in a single layer on the baking sheet
• When the baking sheet is full or all your onion rings are breaded and on said sheet, whichever comes first, place sheet in oven and bake until crunchy on the outside & soft inside (you should be able to squeeze them and they will give. be careful if you try my technique of testing by eating - they are HOT!)

I think the key here is the double flouring. At least that's what the guy on the Rachael Ray show who did it says. And I know that they definitely were crunchier than when I only did 1 dip or when I didn't use the flour at all.

REMOULADE SAUCE (for those who like it)
Ingredients:

• Mayo or Miracle Whip
• Mustard (i used horseradish mustard)
• Ketchup
• Horseradish (just a dash - that stuff is strong!! omit if you don't like this or if you use horseradish mustard)

Directions:
Unfortunately, since I don't measure anything, all of the ingredients are "to taste" except the mayo, which is the base of the sauce. Use as much of this as you think you will need sauce. Actually, use a little less since the other stuff will fill it in.

• Mix all ingredients in a bowl until you get the color and flavor you like (since I am trying to recreate Outback's remoulade sauce, this is my guide and I try to make it taste like that).
• Chill for at least 1 hour to let flavors mingle
  

getting in the way back machine

Since I have been delinquent in my postings, we will now have to take a trip in the way back machine to Thanksgiving. One of the traditions in our house (mainly because I am such a dork) is taking a picture of our Thanksgiving table once all the food is on it. This started our 2nd Thanksgiving together because it was the 1st time either of us had ever made a turkey. Since we didn't really know what we were doing or what to expect, we were VERY pleasantly surprised that it came out so good (trust me folks, the turkey bag is the way to go!!). I have never liked turkey in the past but I LOVE our turkey. Seriously, it is the only turkey I have ever really gotten excited about. Must be the fact that we make something that is relatively healthy a lot less healthy once we add all the "extras" to season it (you'll see what I mean if you keep reading) Anyhow, here is Thanksgiving 2009:

Here are the details of the menu:

• Turkey seasoned with olive oil, oregano and garlic and stuffed with garlic, lemon, asiago cheese, romano cheese & parmesan cheese
• Mashed sweet potatoes
• Caesar salad
• Whole berry cranberry sauce (yes, I use the canned one. maybe one year I will be brave enough to try making it from scratch. maybe this will be the year...)
• Gravy (again, jarred - from Williams-Sonoma. I have made gravy in the past but there is just never enough juice to make enough gravy so I rely on the jar)
• Crescent rolls

It was super yummy and the 18lb turkey barely made it through the weekend (and there were only 3 of us for dinner and 2 of us for the leftovers).

Cake!!!

Always a popular choice and this is a favorite in our house. I cannot take any credit whatsoever for this recipe - it is a weight watchers recipe. i do enjoy making it though because i get to play and be creative. every time i plate a piece, i do the decoration a little differently. i did make some changes to the recipe as i made more of the strawberry sauce so that i can use it as a garnish. next time, i think i will try making individual cakes in muffin pans (perhaps i will try the silicon ones for easy removal and cleaning).

Gina's soon-to-be-famous couscous salad

I can't take any of the credit for this one since it is all gina's creation (that's her on the left in the photo, i am on the right). i can say that this is a wonderful summer dish - very light and refreshing. easy too.

• cook couscous according to the package directions (plain couscous) (i made a double batch - 2c ea of water & couscous), set aside & let cool
• cut a zucchini into 4ths and slice it, put it on a baking sheet, spray w/ olive oil pam and fresh ground pepper, cook at 350 degrees just until it is soft (don't cook it all the way, maybe 5-10 mins), set aside and let cool (you can completely forego this step and substitute diced cucumbers - i haven't tried this yet but gina & i think it will be yummy. i will be able to report on this edit after my nexct try as i will use the cucumber next time, just so that i know)
  
• dice 1/4 of each of the following: red, green, yellow & orange peppers; red onion; sweet (vidalia) onion
• slice 1 scallion (the whole thing, white and green parts)
• put all the above ingredients in a big bowl with 1/2 cup crumbled feta; 3-4 tablespoons of good olive oil (please, for the sake of all things good and holy, please do not use spanish oil - greek is preferred, at least by me, but i might be biased :-P ); juice of 1/2 lemon
• mix well and chill for at least 2 hrs
• options prior to serving: mix in freshly sliced tomatoes and greek olives
  
• serve cold in smaller bowls and enjoy!
  

my pride & joy

hubby comes home one day after a meal out with people (maybe after a conference?) and says that he had some orange-bourbon salmon & it was really good...hint, hint. so i set myself to figuring out how to make this meal he loves so much. i looked online but wasn't very happy with the recipes i found, so i came up with this one pretty much on my own. i didn't take a photo of the 1st attempt, which looked a little better since i was more successful at reducing the sauce but i will redo this one and try to get the sauce right so that i can use my new squeeze bottle to drizzle the reduction rather than just pouring it all over the plate. this is a surprisingly easy sauce too - zest of 2 oranges (reserve zest from one for the end), 1/4 c each of orange juice (fresh squeezed), brown sugar (1/8 if you are using the splenda/brown sugar blend), soy sauce and bourbon (since it is getting cooked not drunk, i use the cheapest swill they have at the store - you just need it for the flavour). marinade the salmon for about 30 mins then put the whole conconction in a pan (sauce and all) and place some slices of orange on top of the salmon and cover the pan with foil. cook at 350 for about 20 mins (this will also depend on the thickness of the salmon). take off the foil and cook a few more mins to get it browned on the top and remove from the oven. if you are adventurous, you can turn the marinade into a reduction - cook on the stovetop over med heat until it reduces to your thickness preference - if need be, you can always add some cornstarch (don't worry about lumps, i learned on GMA that you can just run it through a strainer to get them out and noone will ever know). plate the salmon with a slice or 2 of orange and the reserved zest and either spoon or drizzle the sauce over the top...

just because

This isn't anything special, just a little appetizer hubby & i put together. i am lucky to have a guy who both appreciates my efforts and tries to do the same. i am just including this because it is pretty (we like coulourful dishes) - i think there are anchovies on here, which will tell me that it was most likely plated by hubby since he is the only one around here who eats those stinky little buggers. can you tell we like cheese in our house though? i think cheese is its own food group :-P

spinach & cheese fritatta

I can't take too much responsibility for this recipe as it is a weight watchers one. for the most part, unless something is just really obvious, i tend to follow recipes closely the 1st time and decide from there what needs to be changed. since i have been delinquent in my postings and this is an older dish, i can't remember if it is turkey bacon or fakin' bacon (since we do both around here) but, judging by the curls in it, i think it must be turkey bacon. i wish i had made potatoes this morning since the plate was a little empty (note the grapes - just as in my art, i apparently dislike negative space on my plating as well). anyhow, this dish is not too terribly interesting, but i was pretty proud of how nicely it came out on my 1st try at fritatta so i figured i would post it. although i think my next one will be better because one of the highlights of being without electricity for 7 days is that i am now the proud owner of a cast iron pan so i can properly melt the cheese on the fritatta in the oven.

Aphro Chicken (Koutopoulo tis Aphroditis)

this is one of my famous "adaptations" of a rachael ray recipe. at this point, i have made it my way for so long that i don't even remember what the original was supposed to be like. all i know is that my husband LOVES this dish. note the plating as we believe that presentation is key and if it looks prettier on the plate, it will taste better (this hypothesis has not been scientifically tested or proven, but, whatever)