Author: ajeanneinthekitchen

Janet and Bob came over to help celebrate my birthday on Monday. Been Busy Celebrating We are all wine lovers so it was only fitting that we celebrated with wine. And wine is always better with nibblies, so I made up some quick nibbly platters for us all to enjoy.

I just made a simple cheese and cracker platter and then made a quick bruschetta as well. I didn’t know Janet and Bob were bringing gourmet olives, or I would have skipped the olives, and used the gourmet olives. next time. But I did combine some Greek olives, Kalamata olives and black olives. I also bought some chicken salad to top either our crackers or our crostini with as well.

I love a good, simple bruschetta with fresh tomatoes. It just seems to go with everything.

Simple Bruschetta

1 baguette, sliced at an angle

olive oil for brushing the bread slices

3-4 tomatoes, diced fine – any kind of tomatoes will do

1 shallot, diced fine

1 TBSP garlic

salt & pepper to taste

3-4 TBSP olive oil

1-2 TBSP fresh basil chiffonade thin

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

Brush the olive oil on both sides of the bread and bake for about 20 minutes, then flip the bread over and continue to bake for another 20 minutes or so. You want the crostini to be crispy and golden brown.

Dice the tomatoes fine, and mix with all the rest of the ingredients. This dish is completely vegan, depending on the bread that you use, but it is most certainly a vegetarian dish. I like to eat it at room temperature, after it has set for awhile, so all the flavors really pop.

This quick and easy appetizer is great for any occasion and goes great with whatever you are serving. !Buon Appetito e Mangia!

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

Sunday, we had two birthdays in the house; mine and Vinnie’s. I don’t want to tell you have many turns around the sun I have seen, though many of you already have a pretty good idea. In dog years, Vinnie is quickly catching up to me, but I don’t like to count in dog years, so in my eyes he is still and always will be, my big baby.

We went out to brunch at EAT! Food and Drink; It’s Time To EAT!Again Video #16 – Eat at EAT! Food & Drink on Sunday morning with friends Jonathan, Priscilla and Laura, and then when we came home, my friend Suzanne came over to help me celebrate as well. The celebrations continued on through yesterday as well, when Janet and Bob came over for some wine and nibblies.

It’s always a celebration when getting together with loved ones, both friends and family, but it makes birthdays even better when friends and family are they to celebrate with you.

The presents. Both Priscilla and Laura decided I needed to pamper myself, and I could not agree more. Once again, great minds and great friends are thinking alike. 🙂

From Priscilla and Jonathan.

and from Laura.

Suzanne realized I have been out of my element of WATER for far too long, and it is definitely time to get reconnected and rehydrated.

Janet and Bob were appealing more to my connection with food and gave me some gourmet olives. I can’t wait to try those. They look so yummy.

Larry knows my biggest present and the best present was Juni Bug, even though she can be quite the pill. She was an early birthday present. But he also got me some fun little things as well.

Vinnie was not forgotten either. Suzanne brought him a big bag of bully sticks. And he knew these presents on the counter were for him too and was trying to help himself to them before Juneau got to them.

Larry put a bright blue bow on Juni Bug, to match her collar. She kept it on for a good portion of the day, which was pretty surprising. She did find Vinnie’s new toys and decided to help herself anyway. Vinnie is such a good big brother and he didn’t mind sharing his new toys with her.

Mommy and her birthday babies.

Life is good. Celebrate every minute of it, just like it is your birthday. Thank you all for helping to make mine and Vinnie’s day a special one.

Juni Bug loves her mommy, and she definitely knows her mommy loves her too. When she is not being a pill and torturing her big brother or destroying the house, she follows Mommy around everywhere. She loves to follow me and help out in the kitchen too. Often times she is completely under foot and sometimes she needs a little nap and rests on her kitchen pillow or underneath the table in the in the breakfast nook.

Here she is saying “drop it, drop it, drop it. I will help clean it up, just drop it, please”.

I admit, I LOVE curries; all kinds of curries. But my favorite curries are those influenced by the Thai way of cooking. I love the lime and coconut combinations, with the hot and sweet accents. When I made my Panang style fried chicken Panang Style Fried Chicken I had some coconut milk leftover that I needed to use, so I turned it into a curried sauce. Dinner was curried shrimp that I marinated in lime juice, curry and cayenne pepper, served over curried vegetables and rice. To finish it off, I served a crisp, citrusy chardonnay on the side. I don’t really have a specific recipe here, but this is traditionally how I made a lot of Thai styled curries. Diner was delicious or Xrxy in Thai.

The first thing I did was to par cook the bacon in the oven for about 20 minutes. While the bacon was cooking, I marinated the shrimp. You don’t want to marinate the shrimp for too long because the citric acid will “cook the shrimp” and make it tough. I also par cook the bacon because the bacon and the shrimp cook at different temperatures and different times, and you don’t want to eat raw bacon. NO! I had about 24 shrimp, so I used about 1/4 cup of lime juice, about 1 TBSP curry and about 1 tsp of red pepper flakes. Play with it, and make it how you like it though. I LOVE curries, as I mentioned above, so I love a good, strong curry flavor.

I cut up all my vegetables, again using Asian vegetables like red bell peppers, jalapenos, carrots, onions, baby corn and green beans, along with some ginger and garlic.

I had about 1 1/2 cups of coconut milk left over that I combined with 2 TBSP lime juice, 2 tsp curry, 1 tsp red pepper flakes, and about 1-2 TBSP of honey.

Wrap the bacon around the shrimp. I used a medium/large shrimp, and a 1/2 piece of bacon was more than enough to cover each shrimp. Once the shrimp are wrapped with the bacon, skewer them and grill until both the bacon and the shrimp are completely cooked.

Cook the rice and make the vegetable curry sauce while the shrimp and bacon are cooking up.

Saute the vegetables in hot oil. Cook at a high temperature for about 7 minutes or until the vegetables are done, yet still have a slight crispiness to them.

Add the coconut milk mixture and some fresh basil and cilantro and combine well. Cook for an addition 3-5 minutes, stirring frequently.

When it is all ready, add the curried vegetables and sauce to the rice then add the bacon wrapped shrimp. I like to add a bit of additional sauce to the shrimp as well to give some extra flavor.

This dish is very versatile. If you don’t like bacon, or shrimp, use chicken instead. If you want to make it vegetarian or vegan, use tofu or tempe instead, though you probably would not be grilling those. You could cook those with the vegetables.

I guess I have been cooking a lot of Asian dishes lately to get ready for Chinese New Year, which will start nest week, on February 12. This year it is the year of the Ox. Those born under the sign of the Ox are known for intelligence, dependability, strength and determination.

Gung Hay Fat Choi, or Happy New Year in Chinese.

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

Larry loves ribs. I am not a huge fan, but every now and then they hit the spot. Larry prefers the spare ribs, whereas if I am going to eat them, my preference is the country style ribs. I like them more meaty.

Ribs were pulled out of the freezer and it was time to cook them up. This time, it was the meatier short ribs. I have found slow cooking ribs is the best way to cook them. The longer you cook them, the more tender they become. This time I cooked them in a tomato and pepper sauce. I slow cooked them for about 6 hours and the meat literally just fell right off the bones. They were oh so good too. I served the ribs over pasta with some garlic cheese bread and a smooth red blend. YUM!

Ribs Cooked in a Tomato-Pepper Sauce

2 lbs country ribs

6 tomatoes, diced medium or 2 cans of diced tomatoes with juice

1 red bell pepper, diced medium

1 green pepper, diced medium

1-2 large jalapenos, diced fine

2 TBSP garlic

1 onion, diced medium

salt & pepper to taste

2 TBSP cornstarch

1 1/2 tsp sugar

1 TBSP fresh basil, chopped fine or 2 tsp dried basil

1 tsp hot pepper sauce, or to taste

1-2 tsp chocolate chili powder, optional

about 1/2-1 cup of water if using fresh tomatoes rather than canned tomatoes

Place the ribs in the slow cooker and add all the diced vegetables on top. Mix together all the seasonings and spices with the hot sauce and water if using, then pour over the vegetables.

Cover and crank up the heat and just leave it alone to cook, making sure to stir it every now and then.

If you want it to cook faster, crank up the heat to high and let it cook for about 4-5 hours. If you want it to cook slower, cook on low heat for 8-10 hours. I did a combination. I cooked it on high for about 4 hours and on low for about 2 hours. When you are ready to serve it up, serve it over a hearty pasta with your choice and a glass or two of a smooth red wine, and you are all set. This meat was so tender, it literally fell off right off the bones and just melted in our mouths.

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

Little Juni Bug is trying her best to keep up with her big brother Vinnie. She follows his every move and chases him all around. At the moment, he still has the upper hand, or in this case, the upper stairs, but it won’t be too much longer and she will be able to do everything he does. Vinnie is so good with her too. She plays rough and often uses Vinnie as a chew toy and his tail as a tug. As big as he is, he doesn’t put up much of a fuss and just lets her bite and tug. But when he’s had enough, he tells her, and if she persists, she had just better watch out. Juni Bug is a little pistol, that’s for sure and Vinnie is turning out to be a real gentle giant.

Juni has mastered the stairs, both up and down in the house, but this is her first attempt at the deck stairs outside.

You can see she’s just not sure of these stairs. They are different from the ones inside.

I love this picture of Vinnie. He just looks so majestic, looking out over his domain.

It won’t be too much longer and Juni will be right there at the top of the stairs with Vinnie.

At first, I thought it was going to be another peaceful, quiet walk without much to see. But as I hit the 4th lake, all that changed. There were gaggles of geese and teams or flocks or rafts of ducks just swimming about, enjoying life out on the lakes.

There were tons of Canadian Gees and a few snow geese as well.

The Snow Geese really stand apart from the Canadians. There is no way they will ever truly blend in and not be seen.

There were also plenty of ducks out and about as well. There were Mallards,

Hooded Mergansers,

and a couple of new ducks on the lakes too. One was a Common Merganser. He was shy.

And the other one was a Common Goldeneye.

I have seen so many new birds, ducks and geese lately. I love it. We definitely have a wide variety of life here on our lakes. There is always something new to see and new friends to make. 🙂

Usually when it is February I am thinking of warm comfort foods, not salads. But the weather was nice enough for a salad, and making a salad was a good way to use up the rest of my leftovers from my fried noodles and vegetables Fried Noodles with Stir-Fry Vegetables. I also got to use up the rest of my mango dressing. Curried Rice and Chicken Salad with Mango Chutney Vinaigrette. Believe it or not, I am currently almost completely out of leftovers. I get so excited when I can find new ways to use up all my leftovers. 🙂

It was really just a very simple salad that used up the rest of my leftovers. I marinated a chicken breast in lime juice, curry and cayenne pepper, then grilled it up and laid it on top of my salad once it was cooked.

This simple salad was just some romaine lettuce, a little extra sweet baby corn and the leftovers of my fried noodles and vegetables. I tossed the noodles and vegetables in the mango vinaigrette then placed it all on top of the lettuce and added the cooked, sliced chicken on top. I finished it all off with a sprinkling of the remainder of my chopped basil, green onions and cilantro and … voila! My salad was done. The only thing it needed was a glass or two of my favorite barrel aged Chenin Blanc and our simple, easy-peasy dinner was complete. We enjoyed the “summer-like” weather and a nice tasty salad as well before the colder weather came back to us once again.

Enjoy the sunshine while you can, for tomorrow, it just may snow, particularly here in Colorado. 🙂

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

Steak and potatoes. This is a pretty basic meal enjoyed by millions everywhere. If you allow it to, even steak and potatoes can get kind of boring too, particularly if you fix it the same way all the time. But it doesn’t have to be. Larry is most definitely a meat and potatoes kind of guy. And there is nothing wrong with this, I love meat and potatoes too. But I like to shake things up and liven them up a bit. With just a few simple additions, your steak and potatoes gets a whole new life and a whole new personality. Changing things up brings a new dimension to just plain old steak and potatoes.

I simply started out with creamy mashed potatoes and a grilled marinated steak. Then I added some sauteed spinach, garlic, shallots, mushrooms and tomatoes to make it more of a Tuscan or Italian style steak.

Adding the spinach mixture was the only thing I did differently, but the whole meal was transformed. It went from simple and delicious to simply WOW! The meal went from being a typical American meal to an exotic Italian delicacy with just a few simple additions.

To make the meal complete, I served it with some warmed bread and a smooth red blend, that was like liquid velvet. Perfecto!

Sometimes the best rule of thumb is the K.I.S.S. rule, and to just keep it simple. I’ve heard the second “S” stands for stupid, but I don’t like using that, so you can change it for whatever you like. 🙂 !Buon Appetito!

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

Juni Bug went in for her puppy exam yesterday. This is just something recommended for all puppies once they turn 8 weeks old. We had absolutely no doubt in our minds that Juni Bug was in excellent health, but it was more to get our vet acquainted with her and to get her used to going to the vet than anything else. The breeder we bought Juni Bug from did an amazing job with all the puppies. They were very well loved and very well cared for and all were current on their puppy shots. The vet was very happy with Juni bug and said she was doing great. She is already 16.5 lbs, and will continue to keep growing for quite some time. The vet said he is guessing she will be 100+ lbs when she is a full grown adult. We thought she would be about 90 or so, based on both her mommy and daddy’s sizes. We LOVE the big dogs, no doubt about that. The bigger the better in our book. The vet said Juneau is a “perfect pup”. Little does he know how much of a pill she can be though. If you could only see my poor carpet. It looks like a war zone. I need to steam clean the carpeting AGAIN today. Oh well, the new carpeting will come after we get Juni Bug fully house trained. We knew that already. 🙂

Here are some new pictures of my baby girl. I know you are all “bored to tears” seeing all her baby pictures. 🙂

She loves her toys. We have toys all over the house.

Juneau loves her big brother Vinnie. Vinnie tolerates her. He likes her a lot more when she is not using his tail as a tug.