My Favorite Things

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens... These are a few of my favorite things. Tonight I made my favorite recipe, Creamy Chicken with Mushrooms.While cooking dinner, I snacked on my favorite part of the meal, the mushrooms! Yum! Way too good. If I had a choice between chocolate cake and mushrooms, well...that would be tough, but you get the point.

Question: In my cookbook, it says not to wash mushrooms, but to brush any debris off of them. As you can see, there certainly was debris. I brushed it off, but I'll admit, there was still some residue. Should I be concerned by this? I'm not really opposed to eating dirt (that sounds weird) as I am kind of a nature freak and worship anything from nature. Dirt is from nature, ergo it is fine...right?

Love.

I may need to work on my knife skills a bit.

It's a sin how much butter and cream was used in the making of this dish. (I used two tablespoons here, not five)  : )

I can't handle how good.

I took the browned chicken out and used 3 tablespoons of rice vinegar to loosen the browned bits from the pan. Then I added 1.5 cups of whipping cream and brought it to a boil. Then it simmered for 2-3 minutes uncovered.

3 tablespoons of capers were added with the cream. I use about 2 tbsps because Greg doesn't love them, and I think they can be a little overbearing.

Then I added the mushrooms back in to re-warm. I added peas, for a veggie. I've also used asparagus which goes great with this dish as well.

This is definitely a favorite in our house. I make it once or twice a month. I made it for some of my favorite friends,  Jade and Melanie, a few weeks ago for a friends dinner.


Some things that might be my favorites one day:
For now I'll just drool.

 I want to make Madeleines in the worst way since my post about my sisters trip to France.


I am still thinking about the Turkey Roulade that I can't wait to make for Thanksgiving, but I'll need some kitchen twine. Look at this cute acorn holder.



I think I would cook much better wearing this or this.


Even the name of this birdie bungalow dishtowel sounds like an instant favorite.


Enjoy! Thanks for reading my thoughts about food and some of my favorite things!

Easy Like Sunday Morning

Today was a typical Sunday. I slept in rather late and when Greg came in the bedroom to wake me up I said oh so cheerfully, "I'm not getting up today. At all." After waking up at 5:15 every weekday morning, the last thing I wanted to do was drag my body out of bed this morning. But, Rylee and Camden jumped in bed and nuzzled my face and barked until I finally pulled myself up.

Rylee

Camden

Today was grocery shopping day so the routine began shortly after waking up. I spent the first year that Greg and I were living together rebelling against his structure and planning. But I have finally given in, reluctantly. I still like spontaneity, but I've realized that things really do work much better when you plan ahead. I'm still not as much of a saver, planner, and scheduler, but I'm getting there.


So nowadays, I first look in the freezer and cupboards to see what leftover ingredients we have from the week before. If we haven't used  all of them, I try to incorporate those into a meal the following week. Then I look through all of my cookbooks to find a recipe that uses anything  that we already have.

After I pick out the recipes, I make a list. This week I'm making:

Pineapple Chicken Fried Rice- Sunday
Thai Beef Basil- Monday
Fettuccine Bolognese- Tuesday
Chicken Cacciatore- Wednesday
Creamy Chicken with Mushrooms- Thursday
Meatballs, Cheese Dip and Chips (and pizza delivery) -Friday ( fantasy football draft...)

Our List

This week we went to Whole Foods to get some organic ingredients.

Milk

For my Bolognese Sauce. 

For my Beef Basil

Have you tried grass-fed beef? I think it's more tender. Maybe it's just in my head, but I think organic, free-range, and/or grass-fed meat tastes better too. Do you agree?

For Me.

 Have you bought sun chips in this compostable bag? The bad is so loud. No sneaking chips in this house!

Some of the produce From Whole Foods.

Bring a bag, save .05 cents

After shopping, Greg and I went to play golf with some of my Glen Burnie High friends,  John and Judd. It was a lot of fun, but by the end we were tired and HUNGRY!

Camden doesn't want us to leave her to play golf!

Luckily, fried rice is quick to whip up when you have pre-made rice in the fridge. I'm catching on to this whole planing-ahead thing.

I love my wok and my new wooden stir-fry utensils from Greg's parents. 

I added pineapple, which adds the best flavor kick to salty fried rice. Isn't sweet and salty the best combination?

The recipe:

(Actually, it's not a real recipe, just a conglomeration of recipes that I've used over the past 3 years that have stuck in my head.)

• About 3 cups of pre-made rice that's been refrigerated for at least a day. 
• A wok on med-high heat with high temp. cooking oil. Wait for the wok to get hot.
• Whisk two eggs with about a teaspoon of soy sauce in a small bowl. 
• Add to wok and scramble. Then remove from wok and set aside.
• Add more oil if needed as well as chopped onion and garlic. I put about a teaspoon of minced garlic and however much onion I have around. Maybe about 1/2 a medium onion. 
• Then add the chicken and saute until it is cooked on all sides. 
• Then add defrosted frozen peas and pineapple, if desired. Saute.
•   Then add cold rice. Saute on medium/high until it is hot and then add soy sauce over everything. It will sizzle delightfully. : )
• Then, I add the chopped green onion and eggs as well as bean sprouts, or any other fun stuff you want to put in for the last 2-3 minutes. 
• Taste it and add more soy sauce if needed. (Not too much. It can get overbearing.)

I hope you can use this REALLY easy and quick dinner idea. I use this for leftover meat from the week. Just cook some extra rice next time you make it and put it in the fridge until you want to use it again. Even if you only have veggies left, all you really need is rice, soy sauce, and a pan to make fried rice. You can add pretty much anything that can be stir-fried. If you want real recipes, they are all over the Internet, as well as in many cookbooks.

Well, the weekend is over, back to the grind tomorrow. I hope you all have a great week and eat well! Thanks for reading my thoughts about food!

Fall is in the Air

The first week of school: Kids are already forgetting homework, lessons are waiting to be created, copiers have already crashed, and I'm halfway through my new teaching clothes after one week. But with all of the stress that the new school year brings, it also brings my most favorite season, autumn. If life could be lived as a revolving cycle of August through November, I would seriously consider it. There is nothing like warm sunny afternoons leading into cool, brisk evenings. The colors become more earthy and rust-colored and the food becomes more hearty and aromatic. I could go on and on and on... Needless to say, tonight I was inspired to make my first fall meal of the season. The house smelled like apple cider and cloves. Greg walked in the door and said "yumm!"

First I browned the pork chops on both sides.

I added onions, butter, and salt and pepper.

Then, I added apple cider and brought it to a boil. I turned the heat to low, covered the pot,  and set the time for two hours! While the pork chops were simmering, Camden and I went for a walk around the neighborhood. Pee-wee football was in full swing at the park next to our community and Camden and I both watched with interest as the tiny boys drowning in football pads, helmets, and maroon jerseys were tackling each other and having such a great time just being kids. It only added to my contentedness. What a perfect night.

Then, I started sauteing some mushrooms in butter. (One of my favorite things in the world)

Whoops! Almost forgot the shallots!

Then I added my fresh steamed green beans.

I boiled the orzo for 9 minutes.

After two hours, my pork chops are falling apart, literally! Note the big chunk in the middle.

After plating the pork chops, I dumped about a tablespoon of cornstarch in the leftover apple cider, turned it to high heat, let it boil, and whisked the hell out of it. It basically turned into apple gravy. Then I poured this over the meat and the Orzo. If you want to try this out, make sure you add salt to the pasta to balance out the super sweetness of the apple gravy. The combination is insanely good.





Dinner is served!

 

The green beans with mushrooms and shallots are from The Food You Crave. The rest was just kinda made up as I went, but all in all it was a satisfying dinner. Greg said he could taste the work I put into the food tonight, which is his sweetest comment about my food as of late. The only thing that could have made the night better was some pumpkin pie to finish it off...but I'm getting a little ahead of myself. So I just lit a spiced pumpkin candle instead. 

Thanks for reading my comments about food and fall tonight. I can't wait to post some more autumn recipes and meals in the coming months. I'm already thinking about the Turkey Roulade that I'm going to try out for Thanksgiving. It's like a cinnamon swirl, but made out of Thanksgiving food. You'll see... 

I'm going to try out this video thing, so we'll see what happens. The lens kept fogging up because of all of the hot food!

 

 I think this one is of mushrooms sauteing.  

  

And the green beans

And here's the pork simmering.