Author: ajeanneinthekitchen

I have worked in the restaurant and catering industry for over 35 years. I attended 2 culinary schools in Southern California, and have a degree in culinary arts from the Southern California School of Culinary Arts, as well as a few other degrees in other areas. I love to cook and I love to feed people.

Another Cooking Class

Chef Jeanne has been busy with a new cooking class once again. I put on my professional gear once more and taught another cooking class to a new student, Noah.

Noah wanted to learn how to make steak burritos, with salsa and guacamole. OK. Easy-peasy. That’s exactly what we did too. I brought all the ingredients over to Noah’s parents’ house, and we went down to his little studio apartment and made some steak fajita burritos.

We marinated the steak, peppers and onions in lime juice, salt, pepper and cumin first. While the steak was marinating, we then made out pico de gallo.

Noah is a very quick study. I showed how how to properly use his knife and how to cut all the ingredients, and off he went.

We did a quick and easy version for everything. We were on the clock and time was limited. Noah had a piano lesson directly after our cooking class, and he wanted to taste his creations before his next lesson.

Once the pico de gallo was made, we used some of that in our guacamole as well. I do that all the time. We just added it to our smashed avocados and mixed it all together. After all, they are the same basic ingredients. We also added some more lime juice and green onions to the guacamole. You can use either lime or lemon juice, but I prefer lime juice.

When the pico do gallo and the guacamole were finished, it was time to grill our meat and peppers. We had to grill them in small batches because we were cooking everything on a tiny George Forman grill. This was a new concept for me, but everything turned out great and Noah was very happy with the end results. And that is really all that matters. It is all about “customer satisfaction”. 🙂

Noah did a great job. He was having a lot of fun. He also had enough leftovers to enjoy the fruits of his labors for a least a couple more burritos later on too.

I found out later that Noah was wearing his Karate outfit to look more like a chef. I love his enthusiasm and his sense of humor.

It doesn’t take much to put a smile on someone’s face, and once you do, it is a priceless gift. Enjoy your days and help others to enjoy their days too. Stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.

Nature Walks – It’s Finally Fall

I never want to inundate you all with post after post after post, but it is so hard for me not to share things with you all, especially when I have so many good things I want to present.

I love Fall. It is my favorite season of the year. I love the changing of the colors and the cool crisp air. And now, it is here. It is finally Fall! Our trees are beginning to change their colors, but so far this year, our colors are more subtle and are not as vibrant as they usually are. That’s OK. Everything is still beautiful. We have a lot of golds and yellows, but not so much of the oranges and reds this year.

Not only are the colors of the trees changing, but I have noticed a changing of the birds as well, though, so far, they have been rather elusive and hard to capture with my camera. The geese are out in droves again, as they usually are.

I even saw another slippery little fellow, that I would have much preferred NOT to see. It is late in the season for snakes, yet this is the second one I have seen in just a week’s time. The first one was a tiny baby snake, most probably a bull snake, though it had a rectangular head and could have very easily have been a rattler too. We do have plenty of them in our open space. I did not get a picture of him. I did however get a picture of this garter snake slithering across the pavement. I quickly changed directions, and headed the other way. I DO NOT like snakes of any kind!!!!!!

Lots and Lots of Grapes

The other day, Julia, from https://retirementrvdream.com/ dropped off a TON of grapes from her garden. We estimated there were about 13 lbs of grapes, and that was only 1 portion of them. What am going to do with all these grapes??????

I am actually putting them to very good use. I made some grape jelly with a whole bunch of them, but more on that later. I also made a grape and olive oil cake that I took with me to my Thursday night meeting. It was a huge hit, and the plate came home empty. That’s just the way I like it too.

I didn’t realize the grapes had seeds in them, and just put them into the cake batter, seeds and all. When I realized it, I told everyone to watch out for them, but we all decided they weren’t so bad, and they added a bit of texture to the cake, just like chopped nuts would do. Live and learn I guess.

Olive oil is the one thing in my kitchen I could NEVER be without. I use it for everything, including cakes and desserts. The olive oil cake is a typical dessert of the Spanish confectionery. The origin of the olive oil cakes is unknown but the pastry studies point to Arab, Jewish or Mozarabic recipes from the southern half of the Iberian peninsula, and from there it traveled into the rest of the Mediterranean countries as well. This particular cake I made was an Italian recipe. Like most of my favorite recipes, it is made from simple, everyday items that we all keep on hand at all times.

Italian Grape and Olive Oil Cake

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

2 eggs

2/3 cup + 1 TPSP sugar

1/3 cup milk

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

4 TBSP melted butter

2 tsp orange or lemon zest

1 tsp orange or lemon extract

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups seeded grapes

powdered sugar for dusting

The technique for making this cake is just how you would make any other cake. Mix all the dry ingredients together first and set aside, them mix in the eggs, sugar, butter and oil, then combine it all together and mix just until everything is incorporated together. You do not want to over mix or the cake will be tough.

Mix the eggs with the sugar and blend until light and fluffy. Then add the milk, olive oil, butter and lemon or orange extracts and zest. I used orange this time around. You can also use both if your prefer, to give your cake a real citrusy flavor.

Spray a 9 inch cake pan with cooking spray and lightly flour the sides.

Preheat the oven to 350* F or 180* C.

Once your batter is made, gently fold in the grapes, then evenly spread the batter into the prepared cake pan.

Bake for about 50-60 minutes, or until the cake is lightly golden in color and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle.

Allow the cake to cool completely before dusting it with powdered sugar, and then it is time to enjoy! !Buon Appetito! This is a great light dessert or just something to serve with a gathering of friends or family. It is not overly sweet, but just sweet enough to satisfy that sweet tooth and those sweet cravings. Because it has so many grapes and olive oil, it is also a healthier version of cake to eat as well.

Always make room for dessert, especially when you are with friends or family.

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

Art At the Airport

This is the last of my 2021 tribute to our beloved Isla de Cozumel. There will be more, as we travel and dive there again, which we all know will happen, just not soon enough. But for now, I say adios to Cozumel. !Te amo mucho!

Local art is prominently featured all over the island, and the airport was no exception. It is so colorful and beautiful and leaves a lasting impression, whether greeting you as you fly in or inviting you back again as you leave.

Of course we saw lots and lots of beautiful fish of all sizes and all colors.

We saw turtles, though not nearly as many as we usually do. Although, on one of our last dives, we did see one HUGE lagerhead turtle.

We saw two very tiny little black seahorses, something we don’t usually see in Cozumel.

No raccoons this time, other than the big statue of one eating a piece of watermelon down at Punta Sur.

Cozumel is my happy place, and is always a little bit like Heaven to me.

Las Mariposas.

Love was both in the air and on the walls.

We flew home on 9/12, the day after 9/11. When we arrived back in Denver, there was a loving tribute to the men and women and heroes we lost on that tragic day 20 years ago. One of the pilots lost during those vicious attacks was from Denver.

Live life to the fullest, with no regrets. Tomorrow is never promised. Take it all in and always do your best to make the most of what you have been given. Appreciate all the gifts in life and make your life as colorful and as beautiful as you can.

Another Hatch Batch

Here in the Southwestern part of the United States, Hatch chilies are a big thing. A Bushel of Roasted Hatch Chilies They are very popular and we use them quite often in many different ways. AND …. They are currently in season again.

There is a little roadside stand not to far from us that is busy roasting bushels and bushels of Hatch chilies, in any combination of medium hot, hot and EXTRA hot. We had just finished out last batch of Hatch not that long ago, so it was time to by them again. We love hot and spicy, but we have learned the hard way, that a combination of medium hot and hot is perfect for us. Because they have a deal buy 1 bushel get 1 for free, of course we bought the two bushels.

While the chilies were roasting I walked around and captured some of the local street art on the walls too. It only takes about 5-10 minutes for the chilies to roast in the big roaster.

There is nothing better than fresh, fire roasted green chilies. We use them for so many different dishes and recipes too.

Once we got home, the fun really started. Again, through trial and error, we have learned to clean and seed them and then to separate them into smaller portions before freezing them. They freeze well too.

This is the big bag of chilies we had to process.

We had quite the production line going too. I first split them and peeled off all the skins, then we rinsed them and removed all the seeds before putting them in plastic freezer bags. We both were wearing gloves, otherwise all the heat would have left our hands with a terrible burning sensation. We also would have had very green hands for awhile too.

Just in case you are wondering, after the chilies were all processed, we ended up with 13 bags, each weighing about 2 lbs or 26 lbs of processed chilies. We have plenty if anyone wants some. 🙂

Enjoy your days and stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.

Meet Some of the Locals

My Cozumel coverage is quickly coming to an end, though I still have a couple of stories yet to share with you before my 2021 trip is done.

Because Isla de Cozumel is a tropical island, there is all kinds of wildlife found all over the island. There is a wide variety of birds and wild animals. We did not see the boars or any of the other mammals this time around, because we were not walking around as much as usual. However, we did see a lot of birds and a few iguanas and geckos. You will find these everywhere you go, all over the island.

We saw quite a few pelicans, mostly from our hotel, though they were flying all around us everywhere too.

We also saw these little black birds all around. They were actually kind of pesky, especially when they were begging for food.

As we went further south, towards Punta Sur, we came across a lot of buzzards flying all around us.

There were also some frigates and other birds too, though we did not see as many of those this time around.

And of course, there were a lot of sea gulls too.

Besides the birds, we also saw some iguanas and geckos.

It’s always fun to see how the locals live, especially the animal kinds. 🙂