Food & Wine – Page 24

One Local Summer 2009

Posted on May 14, 2009 by Carol — 2 Comments ↓

onelocalsummer

Many of you might remember my Tuesday CSA (community supported agriculture) photos and posts from last summer. I loved participating in a program that allowed me to feed my family high-quality, organic produce that was grown at Sisters Hill Farm, less than 8 miles from my home. So we are participating again this year, and I am really looking forward to our first farm share, the Tuesday after Memorial Day. We also are lucky to live within short drives of some great Hudson Valley Wineries, as well as very close to small farms and farm stands that sell their own eggs and chickens, cheeses, jams, breads, and jerkies.

There are many benefits to eating local foods, so I was really excited to read about the One Local Summer Challenge. From Farm to Philly:

We’re pleased to announce that for the second year, Farm to Philly will host the One Local Summer challenge (June 1, 2009 through August 30, 2009)! The registration period is open now – the last day to register will be May 30, 2009. The rules are simple: cook up one meal each week during the challenge using locally grown ingredients (exceptions: oil, salt and pepper, and spices). Post about your meal on the blog, or email it to your regional coordinator – we’ll detail your meal here every Tuesday!

I will count myself as an unofficial participant this summer because of the birth of Baby Girl on June 3rd. I hate to be incomplete when I sign up for these kinds of things and I know I’ll miss the first week or two. But once I’m up and around after my C-section, I plan to take part in this. After all, it takes very little in the way of employee screening to get to know your local farmers. Just talk to them about the stuff they’re growing! And you know that they are dedicated to providing you with nutritious food. I just thought I’d pass this info on in case anyone else is interested (I’m looking at you, Dara!)

Sonic Fever

Posted on May 6, 2009 by Carol — 4 Comments ↓

So apparently I was not the only one looking forward to checking out New York’s first Sonic restaurant. Today was the grand opening over in Kingston and since they broke ground in February, I’ve been counting down the days until I could get my diet cherry limeade and see what all the fuss is about. After all, we’ve been tortured by their tantalizing commercials for several years, with no Sonic within reasonable driving distance. Drew went to one down south earlier this year on one of his trips to Virgina and thought it was pretty good, so he was looking forward to this too.

Um… and so was everyone else in the area, I think. The grand opening started at 2 PM. We got over there around 4 for an early dinner and as we pulled around to the restaurant (which is in a corner of a big shopping plaza), we saw that not only was every single car stall (or whatever you call it) filled, but there were at least 25 cars just waiting to get into the general Sonic restaurant area! I’ve never in my life seen such a line for a fast-food restaurant. Needless to say we decided to go somewhere else tonight instead of wait for what surely would have been quite a long time.

We’ll check it out again sometime next week. I don’t need my diet cherry limeade quite that bad.

chicken fajitas

Posted on April 29, 2009 by Carol — 3 Comments ↓

Ironically, all this talk about Mexico on the news has me craving Mexican food in a big way. So yesterday I decided to make chicken fajitas and fresh pico de gallo for dinner. Now, I know that there are plenty of fajita seasonings that you can buy at the grocery store, but let’s face it — they can be loaded with God-knows-what and it’s cheaper to make your own. Plus, I prefer to make a fajita marinade instead of just throwing the spices and some water in the frying pan with the chicken, onions, and peppers. The flavor really penetrates the chicken and the result (at least in my experience) has always been delicious. Here is the marinade I use:

Easy Fajita Marinade

1 c. vegetable oil
1 c. red wine vinegar
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper

Mix all ingredients together and use as a marinade for chicken, beef, or vegetables. Marinade for at least 1 hour.

What I like to do is slice my onions and peppers and put them in one bowl with about one cup of the marinate, and the put my sliced chicken in another bowl with the rest of the marinade. I usually do about 3 breast halves, but I think this marinade would easily cover 4 breast halves – use your own judgement on that. I prefer to marinade my chicken for about three hours. I would not recommend using this marinade overnight because the vinegar will “cook” the chicken. Then I just dump the veggies and the chicken into a frying pan with some of the marinade, cook it down, and then pour out the marinade to brown it all up.

I usually just eyeball my pico de gallo. Last night I used one tomato, one jalepeño (with the seeds because I like it spicy), a small chunk of onion, some cilantro, salt, and the juice of half a lime. It’s so much better than the jarred stuff, and ridiculously easy!

I think today I might put together a “fajita kit” for the freezer and slice up onions, peppers, boneless chicken and put them in a bag, and then in another snack-sized bag measure out all the spices for the marinade. That will be a big time-saver once the baby is here and make for an easy dinner!

Under the Sea Jell-O Mold

Posted on April 13, 2009 by Carol — 3 Comments ↓

I hope you all had a lovely Easter (if you celebrate it, of course). We had a great time at Drew’s mom’s. I did make the Jell-O mold as I’d planned. According to my mom’s vintage Jell-O cookbook, it’s called “Under the Sea Jell-O Mold” though I imagine today the name would be something more like “Creamy Lime and Pear Jell-O Mold.” I used an old aluminum (I think) mold pan that belonged to my MIL’s Aunt Millicent and it came out perfect! It was enjoyed by everyone (except Jake, who doesn’t like Jell-O). I think I’m going to try the same basic recipe but using strawberry Jell-O and raspberries, or raspberry Jell-O and canned peaches. In case you want the recipe, here you go:

Under the Sea Jell-O Mold

16 oz. can pear halves in syrup, undrained
1 four-serving size package of lime Jello
1 cup boiling water
1/4 cup cold water
1 tbsp. lemon juice
8-oz. package cream cheese, softened
1/8 tsp. groud ginger (do NOT use fresh ginger)
Optional: salad greens, seedless red grapes

Drain pears, reserving 1/2 cup syrup. Dice pears; set aside. Dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Add reserved syrup, cold water and lemon juice. Measure 1-1/4 cups gelatin into Jell-O mold. Chill until set but not firm. Place cream cheese in blender; cover. Blend at low speed until smooth and creamy. Very slowly add remaining gelatin and ginger. Blend at low speed until smooth, about 15 seconds. Chill until thickened. Fold in pears. Spoon over gleatin in pan. Chill until firm, at least 2 hours (overnight is better if you can plan ahead). Unmold. Garrnish with crisp salad greens, additional pears, and grapes if desired.

Easter Bunny’s on the Way

Posted on April 10, 2009 by Carol — 1 Comment ↓

We dyed eggs the other day and they took significantly less time to do than the sewn eggs I’d been working on! We kept it simple this year. In previous years we’d gone for the swirly eggs or the glittery eggs, but this time around I bought the basic Paas kit (of course the fact that it was free after ECBs at CVS helped influence my decision). The colors came out great! After they dried the boys put some stickers on them and that was that. Today the eggs became devilled eggs and an egg salad sandwich, LOL!

As I mentioned earlier, we’ll be having Easter dinner at my mother-in-law’s. She and her sister absolutely love lamb, so I am always worried that roast lamb is what’s going to show up on the table (I don’t care for lamb unless it is in the form of a gyro), but thankfully they’re just making a ham. The great thing about Easter dinner is that usually it’s not filled with my favorite foods like at Thanksgiving and Christmas, so I don’t have to rush to the computer after waking up from my food coma and try to figure out what is the strongest diet pill. As long as I control myself around the Cadbury Eggs, I should be OK 😉

I wasn’t asked to bring anything, but I might make an Under the Sea Jell-O mold, which tastes a lot better than it sounds. It’s a delicious concoction of canned pears, cream cheese, and lime Jell-O. Trust me when I tell you how good it is! My mom has made it for years. I just need to decide whether to use my trusty trifle dish (which eliminates the stressful unmolding aspect of the recipe), or use a vintage copper mold that would look very pretty. Decisions, decisions!

There’s Always Room For Jell-O 1-2-3

Posted on April 2, 2009 by Carol — 4 Comments ↓

Lately I’ve really been into Jell-O. More specifically, a creamy concoction of Jell-O and Cool Whip called Jell-O 1-2-3. One of my favorite cooking magazines happens to be Kraft Food & Family, which is free (yay!) and mailed quarterly. I save all of my issues so that I can look through them on lazy weekend afternoons. A couple Sundays ago I was doing just this and saw this recipe for Jell-O 1-2-3 appear in a couple different issues. It sounded so fruity and creamy — I just had to make it. Noah thought it looked good too so the first time we made it, he chose strawberry. Today, he chose orange, and the result reminds me of a creamsicle. So easy and so yummy! Plus, I think the two layers look so pretty 🙂 Here’s the recipe:

Jell-O 1-2-3 Dessert

1 pkg. (4-serving size) Jell-O Gelatin,
3/4 cup boiling water
ice cubes
1/2 cup cold water
1/2 cup thawed Cool Whip

Dissolve dry gelatin mix in boiling water in bowl. Add enough ice cubes to cold water to measure 1-1/4 cups; add to gelatin mixture. Add to blender; cover and blend 30 sec. Add whipped topping; cover. Blend until smooth. Pour evenly into 4 dessert dishes. Refrigerate at least 20 min. or until set. Store leftover dessert in refrigerator.

I usually make it in this mini trifle bowl. You could get the margarita-flavored Jell-O and make it in margarita glasses for a fun Cinco de Mayo dessert (without the tequila, though — I’m not sure how well it would set up with the alcohol and Cool Whip). Anyway, it’s nothing crazy exciting, but I really like it!

Week’s Eats

Posted on March 30, 2009 by Carol — 1 Comment ↓

This month has not been an easy one so far, as far as cooking goes. It seems that since the beginning of the month, the entire family has had some form of stomach flu, cold, cough, you name it. I’m really getting tired of it! So while I was shopping yesterday I tried to be thoughtful and plan out my menu since I had the luxury of time and solitude. Here’s my plan:

Sunday
B: Oatmeal or cheesy toast
L: Hot dogs
S: Taste-test of sugar cookie cake
D: Homemade pizza (chicken and veggie for us, pepperoni pizza for the boys), salad, sugar cookie cake for dessert

Monday:
B: Bagels with cream cheese
L: Chicken quesadillas
S: Slice of ham or turkey wrapped around string cheese
D: Cube steak with mustard sauce, baked potato, broccoli

Tuesday:
B: Cereal & fruit or yogurt/granola
L: Turkey-bagel sandwich, fruit salad
S: Veggies & ranch dip
D: Tacos

Wednesday:
B: Scrambled eggs or frozen waffle & sausage, fruit
L: Grilled cheese sandwich, tomato soup
S: Yogurt/cereal
D: Meatballs & sausage (Crock Pot) with spaghetti, salad

Thursday:
B: Cereal & fruit or Yogurt/Granola
L: Leftovers
S: Cheese & crackers, grapes
D: Turkey chili, cornbread, cole slaw

Friday:
B: Eggs & toast or cheesy toast
L: Tuna melts, soup
S: Yogurt & fruit
D: Baked macaroni & cheese, salad

Saturday:
B: Pumpkin waffles, bacon, fruit
L: Leftovers
S: Cheese & crackers, veggies
D: Date night (???)

These are all family favorites. I’m feeling worn out and can’t handle anyone complaining about what’s for supper. For more menu ideas, head over to Organizing Junkie.

seriously?

Posted on March 26, 2009 by Carol — 4 Comments ↓

How big does a strawberry really need to be? I am almost afraid to eat this! I try to buy in-season fruit, but strawberries are the exception since Noah loves them so much. I look forward to normal-sized, local strawberries in a few months, that’s for sure.

In other grocery news, it looks like my Stop & Shop is going to be trying out a new self-scanning program. Dara wrote about her experience shopping this way and I’m eager to give it a go, myself. First there were the credit card machines where you scan your card yourself. Then, self-service aisles. Now this. I usually only pick up a few things while I’m there, so this new method might work for me. Have any of you tried something similar?

Freezer Cooking

Posted on March 19, 2009 by Carol — 2 Comments ↓

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have a goal of having at least two weeks’ worth of dinners in the freezer, ready-to-go, as well as some breads and muffins. I’d rather prepare the stuff myself rather than rely on convenience foods because, well, it’s a lot cheaper and healthier! Some of the things I plan on making and freezing are:

– London Broil in marinade (just defrost & grill)
– chicken breasts in Italian marinade (again, just defrost & grill)
– chili
– stuffed pepper soup
– brown a couple pounds of ground turkey to save time when making tacos
– baked oatmeal
– banana bread
– raspberry muffins
– cook & freeze a couple pounds of bacon for sandwiches, salads, etc.
– beef & bean enchiladas
– Swiss chicken
– meatloaf
– twice-baked potatoes
– homemade pre-made pizza (maybe 1 pepperoni and 1 BBQ chicken)

Those ideas are just off the top of my head, but they’re tried & true recipes and things I’ve successfully frozen before so I know they’ll be eaten. I think I’m also going to steal Jess’s idea of freezing some calzones (she mentioned it in the comments section of my last entry). That’s an awesome idea! Naturally I’ll be focussing on my nutrition and trying to eat healthfully since I’ll be nursing and trying to lose the baby weight at the same time. I can guarantee I’m not going to feel like heading to the gym and jumping on any ellipticals for a while, so I need to stay away from the junk food and make sure I have plenty of nutritious, easy to prepare, yet tasty food on hand. I think that’s going to be the challenge! At least it will be summer and grilling season, so it should be easy enough to at least throw a steak or some chicken breasts on the grill and have that with a salad. (Oh, I can’t wait for our CSA to start back up!) I figure that it can’t be too bad — after all I made it through the last two times and everything worked out just fine!