A Jeanne in the Kitchen

More so than not, when I am cooking for just the two of us, simple meals are what’s on the menu. This happens for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it is because of limited time. Sometimes, it is because I am just trying to use up leftovers. And sometimes it is simply because that’s what we want at the time.

Rustic cooking is one of my favorite ways to cook, especially when it is just for the two of us. Rustic cooking simply means the cooking methods and/or foods prepared are unrefined and simple, but also warm and inviting. It is typically based on old-fashioned preparation techniques, ingredient availability and a unique set of cultural influences. Most of the rustic foods are also full of bold, strong and hearty flavors. Flavors that warm you up from the inside out. In other words, rustic foods are good comfort foods.

I took us to rustic France with our simple dinner of quiche and Lyonnaise potatoes last night. Served with wine and a simple bread just completed the meal and us feel even more like we were in rural France, even if only for a short time, via our own kitchen at home.

Quiche can be made with anything. The main ingredients are eggs, cream and cheese. The fillings can be anything you like. Ham, Spinach and Mushroom Quiche I always make a crust for my quiche, but it has also become quite popular to make crustless quiches too. Once again, I made a ham, spinach and mushroom quiche. It’s not that this is my favorite kinds of quiche, but it just kind of works out that way, especially when I only have little bits of this and that left.

Potatoes of some sort just some to be a natural partner for quiche. Keeping with a rustic French theme, I chose to make Lyonnaise potatoes this time. The term Lyonnaise is a French term, as many terms in cooking are, and simply means something made with onions. The main components of this recipe are …. you guessed it, potatoes and onions, and of course butter. Cooking potatoes in the Lyonnaise style is just a fancy way of cooking buttery onions and sliced potatoes together.

Lyonnaise Potatoes

Of course I added garlic to my potatoes. I think garlic goes with everything; everything savory that is. 🙂 I also had a few bacon crumbles left that I decided to add at the last minute as well. Waste not want not, after all. I also used a large shallot instead of a white or yellow onion. I often substitute shallots for onions. It just depends on the dish and what I am looking for. Do I want more something subtle or more bold?

You can cook these either completely on the stove op or in the oven as well. I cooked them on the stove top.

5 TBSP butter, divided

olive oil

1-2 large shallots, sliced very thin

salt & pepper to taste

2 TBSp water

1 1/2 lbs small potatoes, rinsed and sliced into thin rounds, about 1/4 inch thick

1 TBSP garlic, optional

1-2 TBSP cooked bacon crumbles, optional

1-2 TBSP chopped or dried parsley

Slice the potatoes into thin rounds and slice the shallots or onions very thin.

Get two skillets very hot, then add 1/2 the oil and 1/2 the butter to each skillet. In one skillet, Cook the shallots or onions with about 1/2 tsp of salt for about 3 minutes at a high heat, or until they start to soften.

Reduce the heat to a medium high, cover and continue to cook for about 12 additional minutes, making sure to stir occasionally. You want the onions to be caramelized and brown in color.

In a separate skillet, add the remaining oil and butter and start cooking the potato rounds. Stir often and cook for about 5-7 minutes, or until the potatoes start to brown around the edges and get a little crispy. Add about 2 TBSP water to deglaze the pan. Add the garlic and the salt and pepper and continue to cook. If you are using bacon crumbles, you can add them at this time too.

Once the shallots have caramelized, add them to the potatoes. Add the parsley and mix everything together and mix thoroughly. The potatoes are ready when they are tender yet slightly crispy around the edges. Serve next to your favorite main dish, et voila! Bon appetit!

I LOVE potatoes and could easily eat them everyday. Because I can eat them everyday, I like to prepare them in as many different ways as possible, so there is more variety. 🙂 Change things up. Make them different and add variety. Variety, after all, is the spice of life.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

We have lived in our house for 16 years, and there is still always something new to see. The other day, we were walking Juneau and I discovered yet another new bird, or at least new for me. He was pretty far away and was hidden in a tree branch, so he wasn’t easy to see, but I zoomed in with my lens and lo and behold, I discovered we had a new heron in the tree. Larry didn’t see him, and thought I was seeing things until I showed him the pictures. Our new heron is called a Black Crowned Night Heron. He is smaller than our normal blue or grey herons, but just as handsome. The name comes from the fact that they are usually quiet during the day and are more active at night. Black Crowned Night Herons are carnivores, just like other herons. They like to eat frogs, fish, small mammals and even other smaller birds.

He is definitely on the lookout for something good.

I just love nature, and all the nature that I literally find right in my own back yard. Mother Nature has given us some beautiful gifts.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

I don’t what it is about Barn Swallows, but I am just fascinated by them. I think they are beautiful little birds. But don’t be fooled by their tiny size. They can be quite fierce and aggressive too.

I am seeing quite a few of these tiny little fighters all over the place. They are out and about. They come to Colorado in April and stay throughout the summer, though some stay a bit longer and don’t leave until October.

They really seem to like this particular light post.

Every now and then, I see them on a different light post too. We used to have a nest in our rafters, but once we painted our house, the nest was taken down and they never returned.

I got lucky on this one. He was just about to take off and fly away, but I got one more good shot of him first.

Have a great day and make everyday great. ‘Til next time.

If you are anything like me, you are a fair weathered salad eater. I love salads, and I eat a lot of them too, but usually only in the warmer weather. In the winter, I live in snow country, and a salad just doesn’t do it for me. Or as my dad would say, “it doesn’t warm the cockles of my heart”. But in the warmer weather, there is nothing better than a cool, crisp salad to help beat the heat.

Because we eat so many salads in the warmer weather, I am always looking for something different. I like a lot of variety, both in my salads and my dressings. I also like a lot of color and different textures. This new summer salad is a definite winner, and meets all my salad requirements. It’s very colorful. It has a lot of different flavors and textures, and most importantly, it tastes really good too. I call it my summer sunburst salad. I served it with a vegan creamy cashew and orange dressing too. As is, this whole salad is vegan, but if you want to make it more of a main meal, all you need to do is add either shrimp, salmon or chicken, and you’ve gone from a vegan side salad to a main meal.

Summer Sunburst Salad

This salad is all about presentation. You want people to say “WOW” when they see it. The sunburst is in the presentation.

Mixed baby salad greens

1/4 red onion, sliced very thin

1/2 avocado, sliced

1/4 red bell pepper, cut into thin matchsticks

1-2 small oranges, sliced into segments

cooked asparagus spears

1/2-1 cup blackberries

1/3 cup chopped cashews

Start with a layer of the mixed baby greens then arrange all the rest of the ingredients on top to make a bright, colorful sunburst. Start with the avocado slices, then add the orange segments. Add a few blackberries in the center, and then sprinkle the rest of the ingredients around to really make the salad pop. You can use any kind of dressing you like, but I served it with a creamy orange and cashew dressing, also vegan. I actually made the dressing first, then created the salad around the dressing.

Creamy Orange and Cashew Dressing

This dressing can be used as a dipping sauce as well.

This can be a thick sauce or a more liquidy sauce or dressing, depending on how you use it and what you like.

3/4 cup cashews

1/4 red onion

1 TBSP garlic

1 cup orange juice

1 TBSP lemon juice

1-2 TBSP lemon olive oil, optional

1-2 TBSP lemon balsamic vinegar, optional

1/3 cup fresh parsley

1/3 cup fresh cilantro

1 tsp maple syrup

salt & pepper to taste

red pepper flakes to taste

2 cups + 1/4 cup water, or more as needed or desired

Bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Once it starts to boil, turn the heat off and add the cashews. Let them soak for at least an hour.

Once the cashews have soaked for at least an hour, drain them and place them in a food processor. Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse away until you have a liquid sauce. If you want the sauce thicker, 1/4 cup of water is fine. If you like it thinner, add more water until you reach the desired consistency.

I like bolder dressings, so I added more lemon olive oil, lemon balsamic vinegar and red pepper flakes. Once the dressing is ready, place it in the refrigerator to chill until you are ready to use it.

Let the summer salad season begin. I’m sure you will be seeing a lot more delicious salads and dressings coming your way since the season has officially started. Enjoy!

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

As much as I love to cook, it is NOT all I love to do. I LOVE living life and all that it has to offer, even outside of the kitchen. 🙂 The other day it was a beautiful day. It was way to nice to spend indoors. Mike and Larry played a round of golf while Lauren and I enjoyed ourselves at the zoo. Both were perfect ways to enjoy the beautiful weather and to spend some quality time with Mother Nature.

There were a lot of animals I would have liked to have seen, but they were not available to see. I loved seeing all the animals we did see though, with one major exception. You all know how much I HATE snakes. I do my best to avoid them at all costs. However, when we were leaving the lion’s den, they had an exhibit of a HUGE python, all curled up. I definitely could have done with seeing him. Needless to say, I DID NOT take a picture of him. But I did take a lot of other pictures of the other animals we saw.

I love this picture of the lioness watching over the lay of the land.

Some of the animals were active, but most of them were just lazing around.

We were hoping this hippo would turn around and give us a big smile, but nope. She was shy, and kept her back to us the whole time.

Catch me if you can.

This lion was just as impressive as the real king of the jungle. It was created all out of Legos – 56, 408 to be exact. Whoever made it did a fantastic job. So creative.

Lauren and I had a very fun day at the zoo. It’s been years since I’ve been to the zoo, but it is always something fun to do. The Denver Zoo features an 84-acre campus in an enchanting urban field station, where 3,000+ wonderful wild animals serve as ambassadors for their wild counterparts all over the world. The Denver Zoo is ranked the 10th best zoo in the nation. Who knew?

As you can see, I love to live life both inside AND outside the kitchen. I make the most out of everyday.

Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

We saw our first goslings today. They are still very little and need mom’s help and guidance, but they are so darn cute. Hopefully we will start seeing a lot more very soon too.

I love Spanish foods, especially Spain’s national dish of paella. Paella Con Camarones, Jamon y Chorizo; Paella vs Jambalaya; Chicken Paella Casserole; Paella Made Simple As you can see by how many posts I have posted about paella, it a most definitely a favorite of mine.

It was another paella night again last night. I had little bits of this and that, and turned them all into a delicious meal for four. Our friends Mike and Lauren joined us, and as always, we had yet another great evening. The boys had been playing gold earlier and Lauren and I went to the zoo. So a nice paella with a cool crisp chardonnay and some warmed ciabatta enjoyed out on the deck was a perfect way to end a beautiful day.

This paella was similar to many other paellas I make. It was loaded with all kinds of good things; Andouille sausage, chicken, shrimp and ham, along with lots of vegetables and, of course, rice.

All my meats except the shrimp were already cooked, which made this dish even easier to make. So, first thing to cook was the shrimp. I cooked it in a combination of olive oil and lemon olive oil.

Once the shrimp was cooked, I removed it from the heat and cooked the vegetables. Then I added red and green bell peppers, onions, corn, garlic and a very large yellow heirloom tomato. MMMMMM! I love heirlooms. They are my FAVORITE tomatoes, but I digress. 🙂

I added the rice and the seasonings after about five minutes and sauteed it in with the vegetables.

Next came all the meat, about 1 cup of chicken broth and 1 cup of dry white wine.

I brought it all to a boil, then covered it and reduced the heat to a simmer and cooked it until most of the liquid had evaporated and the rice was cooked. Of course, I stirred it along the way and scraped up the rice from the bottom, to get the flavors of the socarrat or the crispy fried rice at the bottom of the pan.

One of the key components to paella is the crispy rice that forms on the bottom of the pan. This crispy rice is called socarrat and it is one of the things that makes paella so special. When the rice is cooked just right, it will form a crispy, golden brown crust on the bottom of the pan. This crust is packed with flavor and is one of the best parts of the dish. The key to getting the perfect socarrat is to use a good quality rice and to cook it over a high heat. Once the rice is cooked, it is important to let it sit for a few minutes so that the socarrat can form.

It was yet another dinner that was simply delicioso! I like simple rustic dishes that come from the heart. And when they are shared with good friends, there is nothing better. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and satay well. ’til next time.

I’ve learned to take a camera of some kind with me everywhere I go. I don’t always carry my good camera with me, especially if I am only running errands or am just out and about, but I getting better about having my cell phone with me (better, not great). I am glad I had it with me yesterday though. The tulips were in full bloom and it looked like a sea of brightly colored tulips. So beautiful.

There were also some bright and beautiful hyacinths popping up for a little variety too.

Beauty is all around. We just have to open our eyes to see it. Have a great day. make everyday bright and colorful.

Every spring and summer our lakes are filled with these beautiful red-winged blackbirds. I just love them. I fell in love with these colorful little birds when I first moved to Colorado. I love seeing them all around our lakes. They love lakes and marshes and wetlands.

This one is a female. The females are never as colorful as the males.

Have a beautiful, brightly colored day.

Chefs cook because we are called to cook and we are called to feed the hungry and to feed the masses. It is not something we necessarily choose, but more something that has been chosen for, us by the higher powers that be. I will share some culinary truths from the kitchen with you today. These are things that go on in the back of the house that most people don’t see. We have learned how to cover these up so you will never know. And we hold these truths to be self evident. 🙂

Passion for what we do is the driving force behind every recipe.

I think most of us in kitchens can agree to this one. This was certainly true for Julia Child. 🙂

We can also agree with this statement. We can always find something to make that will satisfy our hunger.

And this is most definitely true. Real kitchens get very messy, and quite often. I cannot tell how many times I have worn half a recipe.

Also very true.

NEVER trust a skinny chef! We taste everything, many times. That’s how we perfect our dishes. They say it takes roughly 10,000 hours to master a skill. So does that mean it takes 10,000 tastes to perfect a recipe?

We can fix everything, especially with enough butter or garlic!

I have made this mistake many times. Have I forgotten ALL the long hours I spent in training, perfecting my craft? I will never call myself an ex-chef again!

I hope you enjoy all these kitchen insights.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.