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!
One of my favorite things about our little church is how everyone gets very involved with helping others in need, whether it is our community at large, or within our own little “family”. One of our young couples just had their second child, little Maddie, born the day before my birthday, on Feb. 6 (though just barely), and we made a food chain to help them out. A different person has been busy making food for them everyday for the past two weeks. Yesterday was my day, though I gave them some of our breakfast burritos from our Super Bowl service too. The Burrito Factory
I made them a batch of Mediterranean steak with roasted vegetables and cannellini beans. Roasted Strip Steak and Vegetables I also included a bag of salad and some bread with a little plate of sweet goodies and treats leftover from Sunday’s service.
I just made a double batch, one for them and one for us. After all, it’s just as easy to make two batches as it is to make one batch. 🙂 The text I received was that they thought it was all delicious. SWEET! Mission accomplished.
This dish is an easy one-pan dish that is all roasted in the oven at 450* F or about 235 *C. Start by roasting the broccolini, mushrooms, garlic, and onions tossed with olive oil, lemon balsamic vinegar and red pepper flakes (for ours only, and optional) for 15 minutes, then add the seasoned skirt steak and continue roasting for about 5-7 minutes per side, for a nice medium rare steak.
After the steak was cooked, I let it rest for about five or so minutes before slicing it, but added the tomatoes and cannellini beans to the vegetable mix and let them roast for about 5-7 minutes.
Once everything is done, all that is left to do is to enjoy the roasted good flavors, with a glass or two of medium bodied red wine. Simply delicious!
Have a great day and help make someone else’s day great too. It doesn’t take much to help make someone else’s day great. Most often, it is the little things that mean the most.
Brownies are some of America’s favorite treats. They are a category all unto themselves. They are not a cookie and they are not a cake, but are something in between. Technically, they are referred to as a bar cookie though, since they are eaten with your fingers and not a fork.
The first-known printed use of the word “brownie” to describe a dessert appeared in the 1896 version of the Boston Cooking-School Cook Book by Fannie Farmer, in reference to molasses cakes baked individually in tin molds. Another idea is that Bertha Potter Palmer asked her chef at The Palmer House Hotel in Chicago to create a dessert that could be tucked into a box lunch for ladies to eat while attending the Columbian Exposition. The result was a super-rich, fudgy-chocolate confection, called a cake that could be eaten without a fork. It was known as the Palmer House brownie. Though with anything, there are always lots of rumors, theories and speculations on how things were really first created.
There are thousands of recipes for brownies, both “cake” types and “fudge” types. Either is perfectly correct—and delicious. It’s easy to see that the brownie got its name from its dark brown color. Here’s more about the style of brownies. There are numerous legends surrounding the origin of the brownie. The legend is told variously: a chef mistakenly added melted chocolate to a batch of biscuits…a cook was making a cake but didn’t have enough flour. The favorite myth, cited in Betty Crocker’s Baking Classics and John Mariani’s The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, tells of a housewife in Bangor, Maine, who was making a chocolate cake but forgot to add baking powder. When her cake didn’t rise properly, instead of tossing it out, she cut and served the flat pieces, and there are many more ideas as well. No one really knows how the brownies we all know and love came to be, but it is always fun to hear all the wild ideas that float about. Like many other things, this may be a mystery that we may never know the truth about. 🙂
I, like most other Americans, love brownies too. I make them from scratch a lot and I also enhance the ones from a box a lot too. If I am making them from a box, my favorite tried and true recipe is the Ghirardelli brand. So often times I start with the mix, then build upon them from there. And that’s exactly what I did this time too. I transformed them from really good brownies into really terrific brownies and added all kinds of goodies.
I had marshmallows that I wanted to use, so I added those on top, but that wasn’t enough. Next I added some Heath Bar Crumbles then popped the pan into the oven.
But they still didn’t look finished yet. They still needed something else. I had a few of my caramels left over The Caramels Are Done! I melted them down and then drizzled them on top of everything. Perfect! That is just what they needed.
Larry was really hoping against hope that some would be left after church, but to his disappointment, and my delight, they were gobbled up in an instant.
There is never any need to reinvent the wheel. You can always start with the basics and then dress them up from there. It’s a creative way of using up little bits and pieces of things that need to be used, and more so than not, they will will wow over your fans with your creativity. Always a win/win situation, in my book. 🙂 Make It Pretty
Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.
Today’s post is a little different than my normal posts. Believe it or not, there is NO food involved at all. Instead, we had a fun night of Karaoke with our friends Mike and Lauren. One of Lauren’s co-workers was hosting a fundraising event to help aid the City of Boston, in conjunction with The Boston Marathon. He held the event at Pitch Karaoke, in Louisville CO.
Lauren’s co-worker Joel rented the whole facility for this event. There were about 40 people in attendance all singing and having fun for a good cause. Joel is the one in the middle, wearing the big smile and the hat.
Joel and his wife Felicia.
Pitch is a brand new karaoke place, but instead of being in a bar, with one single karaoke machine, it is a bunch of individual rooms. Each room is equipped with comfortable couches, a wide screen TV that plays the songs you choose from their extensive list, 2 microphones attached to the TV system, and all kinds of other fun goodies, like tambourines that light up. I had never heard of anything like this before, but apparently, this is a trend in Asian countries. The walls were adorned with posters of famous singers and all kinds of fun memorabilia attached to music and radio stations.
Pitch has only been open for about 7 months. The proud owners, Rebecca and Jason.
Whether we could sing or not, everyone seemed to have a really good time, and all our efforts were going to a good cause. The proceeds were going to Boston Community, to help give aid in many areas where they need it, through The Boston Bruins Foundation.
Lauren actually has a beautiful voice. The rest of us …. not so much, but it was all in good fun.
My new friend, and fellow back-up singer, and tambourine girl, Jess. We were rockin’ those tambourines!
So, the next time you find yourself in Louisville, CO, and you are looking for something fun to do, go check out Pitch Karaoke, located at 640 Main Street. Call or go online to make your reservations.
This post will probably get me into even more trouble than I already am in, but at this point … Who cares? I am always in trouble for something, so I might as well go out with a bang, right?!
The other day I told you about the troubles I was having with FB. This is Weird!!!!! Needless to say, that got my blood boiling. So I sent out a FB post telling everyone I was leaving FB once and for all. I still had to clean some things up though, so I still had my account, or so I thought, until this morning. This morning I was greeted with this message from FB, with NO explanation at all as to what was so offensive, to whom or why, and of course NO recourse!
I write a food blog for goodness sake! What is offensive about that? But since FB has already deactivated my account for me, I guess I don’t have to. They spared me the trouble. If this gets me in even more trouble, or in trouble from WP, then so be it. I will NEVER back down from the good fight, and will always fight for what is right, and for my own rights. Censorship is NOT right, no mater what, and this is censorship, plain and simple.
We all have heard the word “casserole”, but who really knows what a casserole is? Well, one official definition, from a dictionary, I know, one of those old, outdated reference books many of us used to use, defines a casserole as ” a mixture of food baked in either a pottery, glass or metal baking dish”. Sounds simple enough, right?! These dishes are usually layered with potatoes, pasta or rice, often with cheese, proteins and vegetables, that all add depth and richness to the dish. The result is a delicious one-pot dish that can be spooned or cut into individual portions. Changing the layering order changes the structure, dynamics and even the taste of these dishes. Like with many other layered dishes, casseroles often taste best when made ahead of time and eaten later, so their flavors can blossom and really stand out.
The etymology of “casserole” likely dates back to the Greek “kuathion,” meaning “little cup.” The word eventually morphed into the Medieval Latin “cattia” and settled on “cassole” or “casserole,” the French diminutive of “casse”. Early casserole recipes consisted of rice that was pounded, pressed, and filled with a savoury mixture of meats such as chicken or sweetbread. Sometime around the 1870s this sense of casserole seems to have taken its current sense.
American-style casseroles, as we know them today, became popular in the 1950’s. But do you know what the first recorded casserole was? It is something that is probably even more popular today than it was when first created. Believe it or not, the first recorded recipe for a casserole was …. Macaroni and cheese, back in 1250.
Needless to say, casseroles are found in all parts of the world, in many different forms and variations. I came across a recipe for a Puerto Rican casserole, that of course I “Jeannified” to make my own. This recipe can be made with ground beef, pork or chicken or a combination of any of the three. I made mine with both shredded pork and chicken, in between layers of cilantro mashed potatoes.
Puerto Rican Casserole
Preheat the oven to 350* F or 190* C.
Spray a 89×13 baking dish with cooking spray.
4 cups cooked meat, whether pork, ground beef, chicken or any combination thereof
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 onion, diced
1 jalapeno, diced fine
1 TBSP garlic
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp cumin
salt & pepper to taste
1-2 tsp chili powder of your choice – I used chili lime
1 cup broth, chicken or beef – I used beef
2 TBSP apple cider vinegar – I used boiled cider
2 TBSP capers, drained
1/2 cup sliced green olives
olive oil and/or lime olive oil
paprika
The cilantro mashed potatoes were first. I made them them real creamy, then added both chopped cilantro and green onions, with a dash of paprika as well.
After the potatoes were made, evenly spread the first layer into the baking dish.
Cook the vegetables until tender, or about 5-7 minutes in the olive oil. I used a combination of both regular and lime olive oil.
Add the cooked meats, broth, cider, seasonings and tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and continue to cook, stirring frequently for about 20 minutes, or until most of the liquid has evaporated. If you are cooking your meats increase the cooking time considerably to make sure the meats are fully cooked.
Add the sliced olives and capers in the last few minutes of cooking. Adjust the seasonings as needed.
Once most of the liquid has evaporated, evenly spread the meat mixture on top of the potato layer, then add the rest of the potatoes on top and once again, evenly spread out to cover the whole pan. Top with paprika and bake for about 1 hour, or until the top is golden brown. Remove from the oven and let stand for about 10 minutes, then slice and serve.
You can serve it as or with some of your favorites side dishes. I had some couscous salad that needed to be used, and then of course some bread and wine. A simple, yet delicious, peasant’s dish. YUM!
Stay safe, stay well, and stay out of trouble as best as you can. If you are anything like me though, that is much easier said than done. Trouble seems to find me no matter what. 🙂 ‘Til next time.
I love cherries and anything cherry flavored. As I was thinking up things to make for the coffee cart this week, I thought it’s been a while since I’ve done something with cherries, and it was time to bring out the cherries once again.
I made a cherry pound cake with both dried cherries and cherry flavored chips, and cherry extract to boot. This cake is most definitely a loving tribute to cherries. 🙂
The cherry flavored chips seem to only be available during the holiday season, so I stocked up on them and bought a few packages. I also just purchased some cherry extract my my favorite local spice shop Savory Spice Savory Spices of Denver, along with some other fun items, that I wanted to use as well. Both were my inspiration for this cake.
Most people think pound cakes only come in loaf form, but not true. You can make a pound cake in any kind of pan or shape you like really. As you can see, I made mine in a bundt pan. It gets its name “pound cake” from the old days when the recipe called for a pound of each of these ingredients – butter, sugar, flour and eggs. With all these pounds of ingredients, you are going to make a lot of pounds of cakes. Fortunately, we don’t bake this way any more, unless we are purposely trying to make a lot of cakes.
Cherry Chip Pound Cake
Preheat the oven to 350* F or about 190* C
Spray you pan with cooking spray, then lightly coat with flour
2 cups cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup or 2 sticks of softened butter
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 tsp cherry extract or vanilla
1-1 1/2 cups dried cherries, reconstituted in warm water or cherry liqueur
1-1 1/2 cups cherry flavored chips
white chocolate ganache for topping, optional
As with any cake, combine the dry ingredients together well and set aside. Then cream the butter and sugar together until soft and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing in between each addition. Add the cherry or vanilla extract, then add the flour mixture 1/2 at a time, mixing in between each addition.
Once the batter is done, drain the cherries and add to the mix along with the cherry flavored chips and gently fold in until everything is well incorporated.
Bake for a bout an hour or until a toothpick that is inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Allow the cake to cool completely before removing from the pan and topping. I used my left over white chocolate ganache from when I made my truffles Making Truffles but you can also use just a simple glaze as well if you choose. Or you can serve it naked too if you like. It is your cake, make it how you like it.
I also decided to top it with some of my cherries as well. You know, you taste with your eyes long before you taste with your taste buds. Things that look pretty seem to automatically taste better too.
Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.
Well, after an interesting week, I am back in the kitchen, back where I belong. I am back to doing what I do best, cooking up delicious foods.
I read something really interesting the other day that I want to share. Because our world seems to be getting smaller, and everyone is interested in all kinds of foods and cooking, the term “ethnic cooking” is becoming a thing of the past. Instead, we need to think of “Cooking as an opportunity to learn, rather than appropriate. Ethnic cooking is dead. We are all simply making dinner”, Christopher Kimball, author of Milk Street, The New Home Cooking. Mr. Kimball went on to say that “food is imbued with cultural intimacy, defined by the unique nature of local ingredients, and experienced by different societies in a thousand unique ways”. I love this new way of thinking. With this new way of thinking, I take you to the land of Burma for my next meal, Chicken Burma.
Burma, now known as Myanmar, is a country in Southeast Asia. It is a country comprised of over 100 ethnic groups, bordering India, Bangladesh, China, Laos and Thailand. The British colony of Burma was part of the British run-state in India, the Empire of India, from 1824 to 1937. Burma was separated from the rest of the Indian Empire in 1937, just ten years before India became an independent country, in 1947.
Since Burma, or Myanmar, is a country in Southeast Asia, the foods are very similar to other Southeastern Asian countries, but as stated above, they all have their own local personality and flare, based on their own local ingredients. As you would expect, with Myanmar being so close to Thailand, the food is very similar to Thai food, which I love.
I made my own version of Chicken Burma the other day. We are both very adventurous eaters, and are always open to trying new things, though most times Larry only has two choices. He can eat what I make, and I am really the adventurous eater, or he can make his own dinner. He very rarely complains, and eats what I prepare. 🙂
Of course, just like with everything I cook, I always add my own personality and flare to all the dishes I make, and I did for this dish too.
Chicken Burma
2- 3 tomatoes, quatered
4 TBSP olive oil and/or flavored olive oil, divided – I used both regular olive oil and lime olive oil
3 tsp salt
2 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes or to taste
2 stalks lemon grass
2 shallots, quartered
1 TBSP ginger
1 TBSP garlic
2 lbs chicken – I used boneless breasts, but you can use other parts as well
2 TBSP lime juice
1 TBSP lemon zest
1 cup peas, optional
1-1 1/2 cups sliced carrots
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup green onions
Pat the chicken pieces dry with a paper towel, then coat on both sides with the salt, red pepper flakes and turmeric. Let rest for at least 1/2 hour at room temperature before cooking.
While the chicken is resting, place everything else, except for the peas, carrots, green onions and cilantro and only 1/2 the oil, into a food processor and process until it is a thick paste.
Get a large skillet very hot, then add the remainder of the oil. Sear the chicken on both sides until it is golden brown, about 3 minutes per side, depending on the size of the pieces. Remove from the skillet and set aside.
Cook the peas and carrots for about 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently, or until the carrots are tender.
Add the pureed sauce and combine well. Then re-add the chicken to continue cooking. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and continue to cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the chopped cilantro and green onions towards the end of the cooking process, and mix together well.
Add the lime juice right at the very end and mix together well. Then serve over cooked rice.
I sliced my chicken to make a nicer presentation. I topped the rice with a bit of sauce, then the chicken slices and added more sauce on top. The chicken was so tender. It was like butter. The sauce is divine. It has a little heat, but mostly you get the subtle hints of lime. Delicious!
I served this with a cool, crisp chardonnay and some warmed Naan bread. Because this dish has a little heat, a white wine, and even a sweeter white wine is a good pairing. I prefer chardonnay, but a delicious Riesling or a Gewurztraminer would also go very well with this dish. Sweeter wines help to balance out any heat in the dish.
Stay safe, stay well, and stay alert. ‘Til next time.
Yesterday just kept going from bad to worse. Needless to say, it was NOT the Valentine’s Day I had hoped for.
Yesterday morning I told you all about my Facebook experience. I was finally reinstated, after not having any idea as to why I was taken down in the first place. This is Weird!!!!! The funny thing is, I have NO desire to return. I’ve had more than enough of social media and its censoring crap! But my day just kept getting much worse from there on out.
I was scammed for $6200 by a pretty sophisticated scammer. I won’t go into all the details on the how’s right now. But It was a very scary and traumatic experience to say the least. The worst part, is I feel so stupid for being so duped. The good thing, however, is that once we figured everything out, we were able to stop it immediately. We changed the particular bank accounts that were hacked and filed a fraud report. The bank says we should get a full refund. I went to the police this morning, and unfortunately, there is NOTHING they can do. The person at the front desk told me she hears about this about 20x per week. I still filed a police report. I am hoping that if this happens so often, and enough people report it, then the police reports and the information will be turned over to Federal Cyber Security, and then the Feds will have to act. I am hopeful for this, at least. Our world is fast becoming a very scary place, where the criminals are in charge. It is all very Orwellian. All I can say is God Help Us All!
I was busy running all around trying to get everything sorted out with this fraud incident, so we ate leftovers for dinner. How romantic right?! I tell you what though, eating leftovers for Valentine’s Day is a lot more “romantic” than losing a lot of $$$ to criminals. I believe in Karma. I have to believe they will get theirs, and hopefully it will come sooner rather than later.
I will be back cooking in the kitchen again tomorrow. I have done all I can for now regarding the fraud. I let my guard down for just a little bit and BOOM! I was preyed upon and they got me. I will NOT let it down again. Be careful out there. We live in a sick, sick world these days.
Usually when I post something on my blog, I also post it to FB and to LinkedIn as well. When I tried to do that this morning, my WHOLE FB page was gone. EVERYTHING! POOF! Just gone. Like I was never there. I have never been happy with FB anyway, and I think it is evil and cruel and extremely corrupt, but I never thought they would just take down my whole page, especially with NO warning or anything. Just gone! Has anyone else had problems like this? Maybe it’s a sign to get off of it once and for all. the only reason I stayed on it for as long as I have was for my blog anyway.
Today is Valentine’s Day. It is celebrated every February 14, here in the United States, as well as many other parts of the world. It is celebrated as a day of love, and is often associated with chocolates and flowers for your loved one.
This is the only box of chocolates I need though. 🙂
But what are the real origins of Valentine’s day? February has long been celebrated as a month of romance, and that St. Valentine’s Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition. But who was Saint Valentine, and how did he become associated with this ancient rite?
The Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine’s actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death. Still others insist that it was Saint Valentine of Terni, a bishop, who was the true namesake of the holiday. He, too, was beheaded by Claudius II outside Rome.
Other stories suggest that Valentine may have been killed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons, where they were often beaten and tortured. According to one legend, an imprisoned Valentine actually sent the first “valentine” greeting himself after he fell in love with a young girl—possibly his jailor’s daughter—who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter signed “From your Valentine,” an expression that is still in use today. Although the truth behind the Valentine legends is murky, the stories all emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic and—most importantly—romantic figure. By the Middle Ages, perhaps thanks to this reputation, Valentine would become one of the most popular saints in England and France.
While some believe that Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial—which probably occurred around A.D. 270—others claim that the Christian church may have decided to place St. Valentine’s feast day in the middle of February in an effort to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia. Celebrated at the ides of February, or February 15, Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.
To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, would gather at a sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. The priests would sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. They would then strip the goat’s hide into strips, dip them into the sacrificial blood and take to the streets, gently slapping both women and crop fields with the goat hide. Far from being fearful, Roman women welcomed the touch of the hides because it was believed to make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the day, according to legend, all the young women in the city would place their names in a big urn. The city’s bachelors would each choose a name and become paired for the year with his chosen woman. These matches often ended in marriage.
Lupercalia survived the initial rise of Christianity but was outlawed—as it was deemed “un-Christian”—at the end of the 5th century, when Pope Gelasius declared February 14 St. Valentine’s Day. It was not until much later, however, that the day became definitively associated with love. During the Middle Ages, it was commonly believed in France and England that February 14 was the beginning of birds’ mating season, which added to the idea that the middle of Valentine’s Day should be a day for romance. The English poet Geoffrey Chaucer was the first to record St. Valentine’s Day as a day of romantic celebration in his 1375 poem “Parliament of Foules,” writing, ““For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day / Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.”
Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages, though written Valentine’s didn’t begin to appear until after 1400. The oldest known valentine still in existence today was a poem written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt. (The greeting is now part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in London, England.) Several years later, it is believed that King Henry V hired a writer named John Lydgate to compose a valentine note to Catherine of Valois.
By the middle of the 18th, it was common for friends and lovers of all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes, and by 1900 printed cards began to replace written letters due to improvements in printing technology. Ready-made cards were an easy way for people to express their emotions in a time when direct expression of one’s feelings was discouraged. Cheaper postage rates also contributed to an increase in the popularity of sending Valentine’s Day greetings.
Americans probably began exchanging hand-made valentines in the early 1700s. In the 1840s, Esther A. Howland began selling the first mass-produced valentines in America. Howland, known as the “Mother of the Valentine,” made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as “scrap.” Today, according to Hallmark, an estimated 145 million Valentine’s Day cards are sent each year, making Valentine’s Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year (more cards are sent at Christmas).Â
Samples of vintage Valentine message. I love the old vintage styles.
I will be making a special Valentine’s Day dinner, most probably one of Larry’s favorites, Steak Oscar, for dinner tonight. Steak Oscar However you choose to celebrate this day of love though, make it a happy day and celebrate it with the one(s) you love. Happy Valentine’s Day.
A Jeanne in the Kitchen 