Author: ajeanneinthekitchen

The summer flowers are out in full bloom and full color. I love the progression of colors. When the flowers first started blooming, the yellows and purples were the dominant colors. Then the pinks started coming out. Now there are all colors, with lots of vibrant oranges and reds. I just love the colors of summer.

And even though this is yellow, not orange or red, it is my first sunflower of the season in my backyard. I know there will soon be many more, but this first one is just picture perfect.

Color your world beautiful.

I was telling Larry just last night that I must have been Spanish in another life. I am just completely enamored with Spain and everything Spanish, especially the food and the music. Their lust for life and passion comes out in everything they do.

I was trying to come up with something for dinner, and looking through my culinary library, when I came upon an interesting recipe that just jumped out at me. I wasn’t planning on making something Spanish. This recipe is just the one that spoke to me and I had to make it. And I am glad I did too. I made roasted Spanish chicken that I served with spicy patatas bravas and sauteed vegetables, with brad and dipping sauce on the side.

Roasted Spanish Chicken

4-5 lbs chicken

1 1 2/tsp cumin

salt & pepper to taste

1 1 /2 TBSP garlic

2-3 TBSP olive oil

1/2 cup brandy or sherry

3/4 cup orange juice

3/4 cup orange marmalade

2 tsp Tabasco or hot sauce, optional

Combine the salt, pepper, 1/2 of the orange juice, cumin, garlic and 1/4 cup of the brandy or sherry and 1 tsp of Tabasco sauce together and pour over the chicken to marinate for at least an hour before cooking. The longer you let it marinate, the more flavorful and tender the chicken will become.

Once you are ready to cook it, preheat the oven to 400* F or 200*C. Place the chicken in the oven and cook for about 30 minutes, basting about every 10 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 325* F or about 150* C and continue to cook for an additional 20-30 minutes, or until the juices run clear. Still baste the chicken with its juices about every 10 minutes. It was actually a cool and very pleasant day , so I didn’t mind having the oven on. We had a nice break from the soaring temperatures and rising mercury.

While the chicken is cooking at the lower temperature, combine the orange marmalade, the rest of the brandy, the rest of the orange juice and 1 tsp of Tabasco sauce in a saucepan and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and continue to cook for about 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly. Brush the glaze over the chicken during the last 10-15 minutes of cooking. When everything is done, serve it up over rice or potatoes or pasta and enjoy. You will have a delicious roasted Spanish chicken in about an hour. !Desfruitas! It was so tender and flavorful. It literally just melted in out mouths. It went very well with the spicy patatas bravas too. Dinner was a little sweet and a little spicy, just the way I like it.

Spice up your life and add lots of flavors. The spice and flavors are what make it interesting.

Stay cool, stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.

We have a few different types of doves here in Colorado, but our most popular native dove is the Mourning Dove. We hear them cooing in the trees all the time, but this one was down at the water’s edge, enjoying a cool little dip.

Have a great day Everyone. 🙂

Peru, or Piru, is known as the land of abundance. It has a rich culture from many different worldly influences, but the population is a mix of Mestizo or European and Native American, the indigenous people or the Incas, Europeans, African-Peruvians, as well as Chinese. All of these cultures have blended together and have helped create the Peruvian culture we know today and the foods of Peru as well. The people of Peru eat everything, and like most of the South American countries, their diet is very meat and seafood oriented. Ceviche is the country’s national dish and most popular food. The whole west coast of Peru borders the Pacific Ocean, so seafood is a staple of the Peruvian diet.

The other day, I wasn’t intentionally trying to make a Peruvian dish, but it just kind of happened that way. I was doing what just comes naturally to me, and throwing in bits of this and that while cooking dinner. The next thing I knew, I had a created a very tasty Peruvian dish with shrimp, or at least that’s my story and I’m sticking with it. 🙂

I am calling it a Peruvian shrimp dinner because I used my favorite little Peruvian sweet peppers, some Peruvian lime olive oil and a Peruvian lime sauce that I had in my pantry. So, with three of the ingredients having Peruvian in the name, in my books, that qualifies the whole meal as being a Peruvian inspired meal.

Peruvian Shrimp

1 1/2-2 lbs large shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/4 red onion, sliced very thin

1 jalapeno, diced fine

1/2 orange bell pepper, cut into matchsticks

1/2 yellow bell pepper, cut into matchsticks

1 TBSP garlic

1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes, cut in 1/2

1/4 cup Peruvian peppers

3 TBSP lime olive oil for cooking

1-2 tsp red pepper flakes, or to taste

1 bottle of Peruvian lime sauce

1 cup corn

1/3 cup green beans, cut into 1 inch pieces

salt & pepper to taste

Cooked noodles or pasta

In a very hot skillet, add the lime olive oil, shrimp, garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook for about 3-5 minutes, or until the shrimp is cooked and the garlic and red pepper flakes are softened and fragrant.

Once the shrimp is cooked, remove and set aside. Add the peppers and onions and cook for about 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently.

Re-add the shrimp and the corn and cooked green beans, as well as the tomatoes, Peruvian peppers and sauce. Combine everything together well and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and continue to cook for about 7-10 minutes, stirring frequently.

When everything is cooked and the vegetables are tender, serve over cooked noodles or pasta and enjoy with a cool, refreshing white wine of your choice. I also added some warmed bread on the side to complete the meal. This dish is loaded with colorful vegetables and is full of flavor. You could also used chicken too, if you prefer it, either with or with out the shrimp.

! Desfruitas! Enjoy the flavors and colors of summer.

Stay cool, stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.

It has been a scorcher this weekend, and though it may be to hot to be in the kitchen cooking, it is never to hot to be outside, listening to the hot local music that’s all around. On Friday evening, our friends Linda and Fran invited us to go see a local band perform at the Thornton library. A lot of cities host an outdoor summer fun series that is free for everyone and anyone to go to to help beat the heat. Of course we went. The band playing was a Cajun blues band called King Cake. They were really good and we all had a fantastic evening. Larry and I took a little picnic dinner and Fran and Linda bought food from the local vendors.

King Cake was rocking for about 2 hours, in the twilight hours of the evening.

On Saturday night, our friend Bill was playing at a little bar in Wheat Ridge. So we went to support him and visited with my friend Suzanne while Bill was performing. I didn’t get any pictures of Bill this time, but we have seen him perform at other small, local venues in the past too. Bill’s music is more folksy, with a little rock ‘n roll and blues thrown in. He too is very good.

These pictures of him are from last year at another venue Bill was performing at.

Of course, there is always music and singing at church that is very good too. Mike and Lauren sing and perform with the church band, as does our friend Warren, and this week, Jonathan was up there performing too. So as you can see, we had a very good, very full musical weekend with friends. I just love music of all kinds, and in the summer, the hot music helps with those days when the temperatures just keep rising. Life is definitely very good indeed.

Stay cool, stay safe and stay well, and just keep rockin’ on. ‘Til next time.

We have so many little lakes and ponds literally right in our backyard. We are so lucky too. We are always discovering new things. The other day, when we went on a longer walk, out in the open space, we found a lone cormorant and his turtle buddy out on a little island in the middle of one of these lakes. I think these two have the right idea. It’s my island, and only those whom I invite can join me. They looked like they were thoroughly enjoying themselves on their own little private island – Cormorant Island.

Cormorant Island is in the center of the lake.

After awhile, the turtle left and it was just the cormorant on his own private island. He was loving every minute of it.

We had never noticed this before, but the little island actually was rotating too.

Sometimes we all need our own little private islands, either to share with friends or just to keep for ourselves. It helps keep the crazies out.

I start making all my goodies for the church coffee cart at the end of the week. I am always trying to come up with new and different ideas to add a lot of variety each week. This gives my a full week to plan ahead, or if need be, to purchase what I cannot or do not have time to make. Earlier this week, I came across a recipe for a margarita cake, non-alcoholic, and thought that sounds just perfect. Of course I made it. It looks just like you would expect – a delicious margarita you can eat with a fork. It is even more festive on my colorful fiesta plate too 🙂

This cake starts with a lemon cake mix and some instant lemon pudding, and then is built up from there.

Lemon-Lime Margarita Cake

This cake couldn’t be any easier to make and it is so moist and delicious.

Preheat the oven to 350* F.

Spray a bundt pan with cooking spray and dust a little flour around the sides.

1 lemon cake mix

1 package of instant lemon pudding mix

10 oz margarita mix, non-alcoholic, thawed if frozen

4 eggs at room temperature

1/2 cup softened butter

2 TBSP lime juice

3 tsp lemon zest

Mix everything together at a low speed for about 30 seconds and then at a medium-high speed for about 2 minutes. Evenly spoon it into the prepared bundt pan and bake for about 45-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool completely before removing it from the pan and adding the lime glaze.

Lime Glaze

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3 TBSP lime juice

colored sprinkles

Mix the powdered sugar and lime juice together then drizzle over the cake. Add the colored sprinkles on top. Slice and enjoy.

Now, if you want to pack a punch, by all means, add some tequila to the cake and really make it like a margarita. The recipe I found said to use the non-alcoholic stuff, and since I was making it for the church, I thought that was probably best, however, what I should have done, was make 2 versions – one for the adults and one for the kids. Next time, bring on the tequila. 🙂

Stay cool, stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.

Larry and I decided to take a sunset stroll after dinner. It was so much cooler than walking in the middle of the day and the middle of the heat. Apparently, a lot of our friendly, feathered friends decided it was a better time to be out and about as well. Once again, my camera was a busy camera and I took quite a few pictures.

We see egrets all the time, and I have oodles and oodles of great pictures of them to prove it too. I just love the egrets. As many pictures as I have of them though, up until now, I had never taken any of them actually fishing for their dinner.

Here he is scouting out the waters.

The water is moving. Dinner might just be closer than he thinks.

He’s has found what he is looking for and he’s going after it.

And he gets it! Nailed it on the first try.

Persistence prevails!

I love all kinds of tomatoes, and I use all different varieties in so many different ways all the time. But I have to say, my favorite tomatoes are the heirlooms. I often hear people say they don’t want to try them because they look funny. They may not be perfectly shaped or colored like so many of the other types of tomatoes, but their taste is to die for. And that, makes them absolutely gorgeous. Believe me, these were every bit as delicious as they look too.

I bought a few of these beauties, of all colors, but I chose to use these rich plum colored ones to make vinaigrette with garlic and fresh herbs.

Heirloom Tomato, Garlic and Herb Vinaigrette

3 large heirloom tomatoes

1-1 1/2 TBSP garlic

2/3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar

salt & pepper to taste

about 1-2 TBSP mixed fresh herbs – this time I used rosemary, basil, oregano and thyme – the basics for so many Italian recipes

Place everything in a food processor and blend until it is all blended together and is liquid.

Use on your favorite salads or as part of a sauce for something else. I used it top a deliciously cool summer steak salad with homemade croutons.

Both the salad and the dressing were cool and refreshing and a great, healthy way to beat the heat. I topped Larry’s salad with feta cheese, and mine was sans cheese. We like a lot of stuff in our salads – I know, you are absolutely stunned at this. So I started with a Romaine lettuce base, then added some shredded carrots, grape tomatoes, red onion slices, cucumber slices, cooked green beans, and hard boiled eggs. I grilled the steak and sliced that up and then added the tomato-cheese parsley croutons I cooked up in some butter and olive oil. With a glass or two of some cooled chardonnay, it was a perfect dinner for summer.

Stay cool, stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.

We have been seeing so many different finches around lately. Most of them are all so colorful. I have to admit, the House Finch and the Cassin’s Finch look pretty similar, so I have to really check my books to see their differences. I am never completely sure which one is which; it is only an estimated guess on my part. But I am pretty sure, according to my Colorado bird book, this is a male House Finch. Either way, I think he is gorgeous and I love his colors.

People are always asking me how I know whether the birds are male or female. The answer is simply in their colors. Here is a picture of a female. The females don’t have nearly as much color as the males do.

Have a great day Everyone. Color your world beautiful.