I have created this site to help people have fun in the kitchen. I write about enjoying life both in and out of my kitchen. Life is short! Make the most of it and enjoy!
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.
We haven’t been doing our walking nearly as much as we used to because it has been just so darn hot. But now the temperatures are beginning to cool off again, making it more comfortable and enjoyable to do our walks again. I miss them. I also NEED them. And so does Vinnie. I guess all our furried, feathered and amphibian friends decided it was too hot as well, because they have not been out and about as much either. But with the cooler weather, they are coming out more too. On our latest walk, we saw a lot more of our animal friends again.
The prairie dogs are out again,
as well as some of the ducks and turtles. I knew I saw one turtle on the rocks with the ducks, but once I looked at my pictures, there were actually three.
Even though the weather is cooler, it was still a bit warm. Vinnie said he needed to take a break and needed a drink of water before going any further.
We decided on something easy-peasy for dinner so we picked up a rotisserie chicken from Costco. All I needed were some delicious side dishes to go with it and dinner would be done. The Costco rotisserie chicken is so versatile and tasty and everything goes well with it. We love them, and they make for a great quick and easy meal. I had just a tiny bit of the curried cream sauce left over from when I used it with my crab cakes, so I thought I would use that for the chicken. http://Video #9 – Crab Cakes By deciding to use the rest of my curried cream sauce, it was a clear choice that the rest of the meal would be Indian as well. So for side dishes, I made my lemon rice http://Leftovers Indian Style and some Indian flavored broccoli with some naan bread on the side. Though broccoli is not a typical vegetable found in India, it has become a very popular Indian dish. Broccoli adapts itself very well to the use of Indian spices and seasonings. My wine choice was a cool, crisp chardonnay which made for a very nice pairing.
Once again, this delicious recipe only requires a few simple, basic everyday ingredients. It doesn’t take much to transform regular broccoli into something exotic.
Indian Style Broccoli
1 medium head of broccoli or about 5 cups, cut into small florets
1 tsp cumin
1 TBSP garlic
1/4 onion, diced fine
1 jalapeno, diced fine
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste
salt & pepper tot taste
1 cup of either grape or sweet 100 tomatoes.
2 TBSP olive oil and/or butter
Get the oil and/or butter very hot, then add the cumin, coriander seeds and cayenne pepper. Cook for about 1-2 minutes.
Add the onions, garlic and jalapeno and continue to cook for an additional 3-5 minutes, or until the onions are translucent.
Once the peppers and onions are cooked, add the broccoli florets, the tomatoes, the salt and pepper and a dash of water. Mix everything together well, and cover to steam for about 5 minutes.
It is now ready to serve up along side your favorite Indian dishes and time to sit back and enjoy.
Most people don’t realize the chef of a restaurant wears many hats, or should I say toques. The higher the toque, the higher the rank. A tall toque is the sign of the boss. To be a successful chef, you have to be a master of all trades.
The word chef is way overused today. So many people think that anyone that works in a kitchen is a chef. NOT so. I have come into contact with way too many people who call themselves “chef” but really can’t cook at all, and have no clue on how to actually run a kitchen. The Chef is the boss! In a large restaurant, or casino, or cruise ship, or other large facility, the Executive Chef is the main boss and completely controls everything that takes place in his or her kitchen. What the chef says goes. Period! They control the menu, the staff, the tableware, and everything in between. The Sous Chef (sous means under) is the next in line. The sous chef is responsible for all the food preparations and is in charge of all the kitchen staff, making sure they are doing their jobs and preparing the food according to Chef’s desires and expectations.
But a chef is so much more than just the boss. A chef is creative and is a visionary. A chef is a true creative genius who follows his or her own heart and isn’t afraid to break or change a few rules along the way on to their path to success.
A chef is an artist whose medium is the food. It takes good quality products and utensils to create great quality foods.
Being a chef also means you like to please and give pleasure to others. Sharing our food is one of the best ways to connect with those we love. Yes, we want to make foods in our own ways, and to be free to create whatever we like and to leave our mark. And you can certainly do that, but in order to gain a following, you also have to know how to make others happy too. It is a win/win situation when the chef is able to do both.
Being a chef also requires the art of diplomacy. We never stop learning, or experimenting with new ideas. We are always on a quest to learn and to be the best.
Yesterday was one of the hardest days I’ve had to endure for quite awhile. We had to say good-bye to our beautiful big girl, Lucie. Old age and broken parts got the best of her. She was in a lot of pain and agony this past weekend, and was unable to walk or move. We had no choice but to call the vet and let her go. The vet came about 11:30 and by noon, our beautiful Lucie had crossed over the rainbow bridge. Lucie was almost 9, which for a big dog, is pretty darn old. She lived a very good life, and she knows she was very well loved. As many times as we have had to do this, it NEVER gets easier. Needless to say, I was not in the kitchen at all yesterday. I was barely able to function. So today, is a tribute to my big beautiful girl, Lucie.
We have so many good pictures of her. She and her brother Vinnie were very close, so many of my favorite pictures are of them together. Vinnie is hurting just like we are. He misses her just as much as we do. We all need to heal.
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We love you so much Lucie Lu. You gave us nothing but love. RIP big girl. Mommy and Daddy love you very much. Luzerne, aka Lucie, 12/10/2011-9/14/2020
We are celebrating Priscilla’s birthday today. Her husband Jonathan and I are making her a special birthday dinner to celebrate her day. Even Priscilla’s mother flew in from California.
Jonathan made some delicious lamb steaks that he marinated in a Dijon mustard sauce that he grilled up, Argentine style. Priscilla and her family are originally from Argentina.
After the lamb steaks were grilled to perfection we topped them with some toasted pine nuts mixed with parsley and Parmigiano cheese. We served it atop mashed cauliflower and served a Caprese salad, a green salad, some toasted garlic bread and of course, my crab cakes with the creamy curried sauce.
The birthday girl presenting her special birthday dinner.
We brought a BIG magnum of Italian Proseco for everyone to celebrate with. We opened that and enjoyed it with our dessert of little bundtinis or mini bundt cakes and my cherry custard tart that I brought along. http://Cherry Custard Tart
Here is the video of me making the crab cakes for the big celebration as well as the link for the curried sauce. http://Colorado Curry Fusion
Have a wonderful, happy birthday my dear friend. Thank you for allowing us to help you celebrate your special day. !Te amo mucho, mi Amiga!
We love Indian foods, and curries are my favorite of all Indian foods. Traditionally curries in Indian cooking just mean foods cooked in a sauce, usually a spicy sauce, and the varieties and possibilities are endless. Because I am such a big curry fan, I am always excited when I come with some new curried twists to try. Chances are, if curry is in the name, I am going to love it, no matter what kind of curried dish it is.
We have been eating a lot of beef lately, and it was time for something a bit different. It was time for some pork. As usual, I am always looking for new ways to cook everything, along with new combinations of serving my foods. Colorado, in general, is always on the edge of new things, new flavors and new adventures. So coming across a new curried dish with a Colorado attitude was just perfect. Maybe this is why I consider Colorado home. 🙂
This meal was a hodge-podge of all kinds of flavors that wouldn’t necessarily be combined with each other, but really worked well together. I made curried pork chops that I topped with a spring/summer vegetable medley and served it alongside my spinach artichoke bread pudding. http://A Cold, Snowy Easter
Colorado Curried Pork Chops
2 lbs pork chops
1 tsp coriander seeds or ground coriander
1 tsp cumin
1/2 cup olive oil
1 TBSP garlic
1 tsp salt
2-3 TBSP red curry paste
Combine all the ingredients together and coat the pork chops with the sauce. Let marinate for at least 1 hour before cooking the pork.
The longer your marinate the pork, the juicier and more flavorful it will be. It will also be nice and tender too. You can grill it or pan fry it. We started it off on the grill, but our grill wasn’t cooperating properly, so I ended up cooking it in the pan instead. Reserve some of the sauce to use as a topping after the pork is cooked.
Once the pork is cooked to perfection and all the juices are clear, serve it up with your favorite side dishes. Or, be experimental like I usually am and come up with something new and different. It is much more fun to “play” with my food than to fall into a rut or the same old routine. Who knows what I am going to come up with. 🙂 I have some leftover sauce, that I have yet another fun adventurous use for. Stay tuned. Don’t touch that button. This sauce is too good to let it go to waste. I just had to come up with something to use up the rest of it. You will soon find out what I have in store for the remainder this delicious red curry sauce. 🙂
When we were in Hays, KS, the German capital of Kansas, we ate nothing but German-style foods the whole time we were there, especially since Larry and his family are all German. http://Nature Walks – A Walking Tour Of hays – Part 1 – the Early Days of Hays Once we got home, I guess we were still in a German frame of mind, because I was still cooking German-style foods. My friend Janet had made some red cabbage with apples or Rotkobl und Apfel, and she ended up making too much, so she gave us some. She had just made a German-style dinner herself, so I just had to continue with that theme. I cooked a German-style cubed steak with mushrooms, onions and bacon, along with some roasted potatoes to go with the red cabbage and served it all with a delicious, light red malbec.
German-Style Cubed Steak with Mushrooms, Onions and Bacon
1 1/2-2 lbs cubed stead
2-3 TBSP flour
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 onion, diced medium
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
4-5 pieces bacon
1 TBSP garlic
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup chicken broth
2 TBSP olive oil
3 TBSP butter
Mix the salt, pepper and flour together and coat the cubed steak. In a hot skillet with the olive oil and some of the butter, cook the cubed steak until it is browned and crusted on both sides, about 5-7 minutes per side.
Cook the bacon in a separate pan until it is cooked. Remove the bacon and add the onions, garlic and mushrooms and cook in the bacon grease for about 5 minutes. Add the wine and cook down for about 1-2 minutes, then add the chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and continue to cook for about 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. If you like a thicker sauce, add some of the remaining flour to the mixture. Adjust the seasonings as needed. Add in the rest of the butter and combine well.
Mix everything together thoroughly, then re-add the bacon and mix in.
When the sauce is complete, serve it over your cubed steak, along with your favorite German sidedishes. Potatoes of any kind are always a good pairing with any kind of German foods. Potatoes have been a staple in German cooking since the mid 18th century, when many other grain crops failed in Germany, and potatoes were one of the few crops that would grow. Today, potatoes are used in every kind of German food and meal, and are prepared in countless ways.
Enjoy, or as they would say in German, gutes Essen, especially with a glass or two of red wine.
I’m in the money now!!! WHOOOOOOO HOOOOOO!!!!! I just received my first paycheck as a blogger! It took me quite a while, but I finally did it! It’s not much, but it’s a start. We’ve all got to start somewhere right?!
Our weather forecasters here in Colorado have definitely been in for a wild ride lately. Last week, and all through Labor Day weekend, the temeperatures were soaring in the high 90’s. Then the day after Labor Day – BOOM! Winter hit and we had snow. We literally had over a 60* temperature drop in less than 48 hours. We went from salad weather to soup weather overnight. Now all the snow is once again melted and it is supposed to get back into the 70’s today.
With our short, early burst of winter, I made a ham, bean and vegetable soup to help warm us up from the inside out. I used some leftover ham I had, lots of vegetables and butter beans. I served it with hot cheese bread and and a dry white wine and all was good.
Ham, Vegetable and Butter Bean Soup
1 1/2-2 lbs cooked ham, cubed
1 onion, medium dice
2 jalapeno peppers, diced fine
1 1/2-2 TBSP garlic
1 1/2 lbs tomatoes, diced
4 cups spinach, stems removed and chopped
1 1/2 cups diced squash, I mixed mine
8 cups chicken broth
2 cans butter beans, or cannellini beans, or other white beans of your choice
salt & pepper to taste
1 TBSP cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cumin
olive oil for cooking
Cook the peppers, squash, onions and garlic in the olive oil for about 5-7 minutes. Add the ham and the chicken broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer.
Add the tomatoes, beans and seasonings. Continue to cook for about 15 minutes. Then add the spinach. Continue to cook for about another 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
The soup is now ready to enjoy. It is a simple, hearty, healthy soup that will help take the chill out of any day.
We had yet another successful cooking class with Jeanne & The Kids. This time Emma and Beckett had their friend Sophia join us too. Last time, we made some fun, healthy snacks http://Teaching My First Cooking Class and Emma and Beckett had mentioned they really like pesto and wanted to learn how to make it, but because of nut allergies, we had to come up with a good alternative to pesto. Chimichurri sauce is the Argentine cousin to the Italian pesto. So class today was learning how to make chimichurri sauce, that we used for both the steak and as a dipping sauce, just like how it is done in Argentina. http://Steak Chimichurri We also made some vegetable kebabs to go with the steak chimichurri.
We started by cutting our vegetables and marinating them in some Italian dressing. We used zucchini, yellow crookneck, onions, and red and green bell peppers. Once we had all the vegetables cut and were marinating, we focused on making the chimichurri sauce.
Chopping the parsley. I showed them how to do it both with a knife and in the food processor.
Emma is adding the balsamic vinegar to the sauce. She is carefully measuring it out and adding it to the mix. Sophia is helping by adding the olive oil.
Once the chimichurri sauce was made, and the steaks were marinating, I let the kids dip some bread into the sauce and enjoy it Argentine style. At first they were a little surprised by the vinegary taste, but it was a pleasant surprise that was thoroughly enjoyed by all.
When the steak was done, we put it in the refrigerator for Mom and Dad to cook up later. Now it was time to skewer the vegetables.
Mom and Dad loved that the kids cooked dinner for them AND cleaned up the kitchen too. It was a double treat for them. “They made our dinner for tonight. Homemade chimichurri sauce for the steak and veggie kebobs. It was delicious and the best part was the kids did all the work.”
Ta Da!!!!!! Dinner is served.
We sent some vegetable skewers and chimichurri sauce home with Sophia too, so she could share it with her family as well.
All three of the kids did such a great job. We had a lot of fun, made a lot of messes that we all cleaned up afterwards, and hopefully, we all learned something new as well. I’d say we have some very happy and excited junior chefs.
*** I did NOT show any pictures of Sophia because I have not yet been given permission to share her photos by her parents. But rest assured, Sophia was a big help too and she also had a great time in the kitchen. ***
This is the flyer we are putting out there for anyone who is interested in cooking classes. Mine is not saved as a jpeg, so I copied this picture from Toni. A little bit of the top got cut off, but our real flyers have all the information on them.
I am not sure who is having more fun with these cooking classes. Is it me or is it the kids? Either way, we are all having a great time and cooking up a storm. I love to share my culinary skills with anyone who wants to learn, and Emma and Beckett love to learn. 🙂
A Jeanne in the Kitchen 