You guys are awesome! Thank you for visiting and commenting. The owl jammies for me are in the works- when I get them done I’ll have Moondoggie take a mom/daughter matchy pic.
While I wasn’t doing much crafting for the past few months, I did spend some time in the kitchen. My only guaranteed grown up time is when the wee goes to bed for the night, which means that dinner has to be yummy and healthy (hello baby weight, I see you) but super quick, so I can cook, eat and get to crafting (or reading or sleeping or hanging out with the sweetie). I think I’ve told you guys this before, but the best appliance in my kitchen, hands down, is the Cuisinart Griddler. Moondoggie sees it and says “Yay! Cuisinart grill-thingy!” because it has brought about a nice change in the regularity of dinner around here.
My usual quick, healthy menu involves a marinated or rubbed meat (chicken or pork usually), brown rice and a roasted veggie. I am incredibly indebted to Amy for sharing her rice cooking method, which means I have a week’s worth of rice in the freezer after 30 minutes of cooking one day a week.
For the marinades and rubs, my bible is The Weber’s Big Book of Grilling. Here are my favorites for chicken (if you are not a meat-eater, I am pretty sure these would be yummy on tofu too!):
Tandoori Marinade
1 cup yogurt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
2 teaspoons paprika
Mango marinade
1 cup mango juice (Kearn’s makes mango nectar in cans)
¼ cup rice vinegar
3 T extra-virgin olive oil
2 T soy sauce
2 T minced shallots
2 t minced garlic
2 t sriracha (hot chili-garlic sauce)
1 t kosher salt
½ t ground cumin
½ t freshly ground black pepper
North African marinade
½ c italian parsley
¼ c mint leaves
¼ c olive oil
2 T sherry vinegar
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 t paprika
½ t kosher salt
¼ t freshly ground pepper
1 dash tabasco sauce (optional)
Combine ingredients in a food processor or blender and process until smooth
I buy packages of chicken tenders, cut them up into chunks and marinate them in a ziplock bag in the fridge. I usually mix up the marinade and pop the chicken in it during the afternoon nap (even if it is super short I usually have enough time). For dinner I pre-heat my griddler and grill the chicken for 5 minutes so it turns out cooked through but still juicy. You could easily bake or saute your marinated chicken too! Just make sure to pat it dry a bit so the marinade doesn’t burn in your skillet.
If you’ve read this blog you know I’m a huge fan of roasting, and I’ve found that I can do it a bit lower-cal than I did before and it tastes just as good.
Preheat oven to 400
spray a rimmed baking sheet with olive oil spray (this tastes best)
cut zucchini and squash into round slices, about 1/4″ thick and place on baking sheet
spray top of pieces, then generously salt and pepper them
stick them in the oven when you plug in your grill to pre-heat (just make sure they’re in the oven for 20 minutes or so).
And of course summertime is my favorite for fruit- stone fruits and berries make the best desserts.
I know it isn’t pretty but it is delicious- my favorite Deep Dish Peach Pie from Fannie Farmer. I would share the recipe but you know, copyright and everything- and even if you have a ton of cookbooks, you need this one. It truly has the quintessential recipe for every American food (including my favorite muffin and cookie recipes).
My grandma’s yummy almond-blueberry loaf. I posted this recipe in the older incarnation of my blog, but it is worth doing again here so it is searchable if you ever have blueberries to put to use!
Blueberry Almond Cottage Pudding
2 cups all purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup sugar
2 medium or large eggs
1 cup milk
¼ cup melted butter –cooled
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 ½ cups fresh blueberries well-drained
Stir flour, baking powder, salt & sugar together.
In small bowl beat eggs, milk, butter and almond extract until blended.
Make a well in center of flour mix, add egg mix, stir until dry ingredients are moistened/ fold in blueberries. Turn into greased and floured 9X5X3 inch loaf pan.
Bake in pre heated oven 350’ until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean—55 minutes to 1 ½ hours.
Cool 10 minutes, turn out on rack.
And because I don’t mind doing things backward, my favorite breakfast these days (I find if I eat a good proteiny one with some fruit, I don’t get all hungry and graze on random stuff before lunch)
I use a cookie cutter to make a hole in the center of the bread, then put a little bit of butter on both sides of the bread. I heat up a nonstick skillet over medium heat with some canola oil spray in it (if you don’t use nonstick, make sure you oil it well), then pop the bread in there. I break an egg into the hole and let it cook until the white sets pretty well on the underside. I turn it very carefully and let it cook some more until the underside is also brown and the egg is pretty much cooked through (a little bit of runny yolk is yummy). Voila! Cute toast and egg thing with just the right amount of toast.
Oh! I also recently made Alicia’s Swedish Pancakes, which are so easy and *just divine*– they are another case in which you are best off using a nonstick skillet AND cooking spray (I trusted in the nonstick of the skillet and ended up scraping my first pancake off and wiping out the skillet to start over).
Phew, that is a lot of blather about food, but I do love to eat and wanted to share in case you do too! Hope you have a lovely weekend.