A Jeanne in the Kitchen

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). 

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.

After back to back weeks of doing full on catering events for our church, first our Ladies’ Tea Party, The Tea Party an then the Super Bowl Burrito Party The Burrito Factory, I am taking a wee bit of a break and just taking in some nature for today. I LOVE doing all our parties and events, don’t get me wrong, and I love catering in general, however, sometimes it’s also good to step back a bit and just be, to commune with nature and to take it all in.

After we got all our burritos done, Mike, Lauren, Larry and I took the dogs out for a stroll around our lakes. It was a beautiful afternoon, the sun was shining and the ducks and geese were out playing on the lakes, as they normally are. I focused on our Ringnecks this time. I see the males quite often, but seeing the females is pretty rare. Sometimes, it’s the little things that matter most.

The female Ringneck

Both the male and the female.

And just the males.

Have a great day Everyone and make every day great. ‘Til next time.

Super Bowl Sunday. It’s a big deal for football fans all across America. No one else gets it, unless they are big sports fans in their parts of the world. Super Bowl Sunday is the biggest sporting event around and is truly a unique American tradition. It has been going on since 1960. Even if you are not a sports fan, there is no escaping this sports phenomenon. It is everywhere. It was even in church this morning.

Most of the congregation were supporting their favorite teams and had their teams’ jerseys on, or at least something representative of their teams. Kids and adults alike were all playing football in the lobby. We even had a football kickoff in the sanctuary. Then we listened to football stars talk about their faith in God.

But like any Super Bowl party, food is almost as important as the football game itself. Super Bowl parties are everywhere, all across the nation, from big cities to small rural areas. And food was definitely a big part of what we had at church today too.

Larry and I, with the help of our friends Mike and Lauren, made about 120 breakfast burritos for the event. We transformed our kitchen into a burrito factory for the day, and had a big production/assembly line going until they were all stuffed, rolled and wrapped. We had vegetarian, bacon and sausage versions, and marked them all accordingly.

But there was a lot of big behind-the scenes productions that took place before we could get to this point. I started doing all the prep work on Friday. I peeled and cubed 15 lbs of potatoes, that we soaked overnight, then seasoned and smoked in the smoker on Saturday morning.

I also made a huge pot of green chili for the burritos on Friday as well. Video #22 – Green Chili, Green Chili Day

Saturday morning meant more prep work. Cooking up and crumbling the bacon, cooking the sausage and scrambling a whole lot of eggs was the morning plan. We used almost 10 doz eggs, and with the price of eggs today, that was a big deal.

Larry had a plan on just how to portion all the fixin’s out so we didn’t run out. We were feeding a lot of people and making a lot of burritos.

Once all the fixin’s were made, Mike and Lauren came over and helped with the assembly. We all thought it was going to take us a lot longer than it actually did, but we were operating like a fine-tuned, well-oiled machine. It took us less than 2 hours to get them all rolled and wrapped in foil.

After we had them all finished, we all thought we needed to celebrate a bit, so we popped open a bottle of bubbly and toasted each other on a job well done. We used my new Christmas champagne flutes from my friend Andrea.

Then it was time to relax and enjoy the rest of the evening with a simple dinner and fun and games.

The burritos were a HUGE hit today. Everyone raved about them. Along with the burritos, we also had some fruit, cookies, chips, salsa and guacamole, avocado jalapeno cheese bread, and soda. It was quite a spread for our own little version of Super Bowl Sunday. It didn’t take long before ALL the burritos, as well as most everything else, disappeared. The burritos were gone in minutes. We couldn’t keep them stocked fast enough. It was indeed a fun time enjoyed by all.

Thanks Mike, Lauren, Wendy, Su and Jim for all your help. It was definitely a team effort. We make a great team!

Have a great day and make every day great. Stay safe and stay well Everyone, and may the best team win! ‘Til next time.

We will be busy in the kitchen making breakfast burritos for our church Super Bowl service later on today. You will hear all about it tomorrow. But before we go prepping and rolling, I though I would share some more fun food facts with you. They are all things I bet you didn’t know. I didn’t know them either. The things we learn. 🙂

1. Did you know that water makes different sounds when it is at different temperatures? If you’ve listened to boiled water being poured, you’ll discover it makes a different sound to cold water as its energy molecules are moving around at a much faster rate. Cold water has a lower pitched tone and sounds heavier for some reason.

2. In an effort to try to get people to eat more vegetables, McDonald’s created a sweet-tasting broccoli. It didn’t take off, and it was not popular at all. Broccoli lovers already know that broccoli is good all on its own and doesn’t need any help.

3. We have all heard the phrase “as American as apple pie”, but did you know apple pie really isn’t an American invention? It was actually first created by the British.

4. When we think of oranges, we naturally assume they are … well, orange. Not so. They are naturally green, or at least when they are first starting out. When they turn orange it means they are ripe and are ready to eat.

5. Pineapples are pretty common today, and are loved by people from all over the world. But they were thought of as luxury items about 200 years ago. They were so rare and amazing that they became status symbols. Rich people would display pineapples on their mantelpieces until they went rotten, and even build houses shaped like pineapples! 

Hopefully we all learned something new today and had a few chuckles along the way. Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.

For those of you who have been following me for a while, you know I love good Cajun/Creole food. I was raised on it. Originally, both were poor man’s food in the bayous of Louisiana, with Creole being slightly more “upscale” because of the addition of fresh herbs. Every time a dish was made, it might be slightly different than the last time it was made, since every time is was based on foods you had on hand at the time of making. Then everything was just thrown together to create a delicious meal.

Today, most of our kitchens are more well stocked, so Cajun/Creole meals are planned out a bit more. Though, I still cook like my Aunt Gloria did, and I throw in whatever I have at the time. Last night I made a Cajun/Creole pasta with beef kielbasa and a ton of vegetables with a tomato cream sauce.

I am not going to give you an actual recipe, because true Cajun/Creole food is always made up of bits and pieces of whatever is available. But I will give you the “how’s” . Mix it, match it and change it how you like. That is the beauty of cooking this type of cuisine. 🙂

All Cajun/Creole food starts with the Holy Trinity, which is green peppers, onions, and celery. I also add garlic and almost always use some kind of hot peppers as well. Sometimes I use jalapenos and sometimes I use roasted Hatch chilies, like I did this time. This time I used red bell peppers instead of green bell peppers too. I like red peppers better, though I use green peppers all the time for many recipes as well. This time I also added mushrooms, corn, green beans and tomatoes.

Dice and cut all the vegetables. Slice the kielbasa.

Cook the sausage in olive oil and/or butter until it is browned, then remove it from the heat and set aside.

Carefully add the vegetables, except for the tomatoes, and cook for about 5-7 minutes, or until they are tender and the onions are translucent.

Add the tomatoes, seasonings and about 1 cup of a dry white wine and combine well. Cook for about 2-3 minutes, or until the wine is reduced by at least half.

Re-add the sausage and about 1-1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and continue to cook for about 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently. Re-adjust the seasonings as needed. For seasonings, I added salt & pepper to taste, about 1 tsp of cayenne pepper, and about 1 TBSP of Cajun/Creole seasoning, 1 tsp dried thyme, 1 tsp dried marjoram, and 1 tsp dried oregano.

Towards the very end of the cooking process, add a little lemon juice and stir in. The lemon juice helps awaken all the flavors, especially the tomato, and really brings the dish to life. If you like your sauce a little thicker, add about 1-2 TBSP of flour and mix in thoroughly, while the sauce is still cooking. Make sure the flour cooks completely. The taste of raw flour is not appealing at all.

This is a heavy cream sauce that needs to be with a heavier pasta, so fettuccine is perfect. Once the pasta is cooked and the sauce is ready, serve the sauce over the pasta alongside a good hearty bread. I served it with chardonnay, but a lighter red, like a pinot noir, would go nicely as well. Enjoy! I thought this would be a perfect dish for Fat Tuesday, that is coming up right around the corner. Laissez le bontemps roulez!

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

At first, my walk was pretty quiet and tame. I could hear a bunch of birds chirping, but couldn’t see them. But as I continued walking, I noticed a bunch of different ducks out on the lakes today. There were two kinds of Mergansers, both the Common Merganser and the Hooded Meganser.

Today I just saw the male Common Mergansers. The other day I only say the femals.

I saw both the male and the female Hooded Mergansers though.

There were some Ringnecks, both male and female.

There was a Common Goldeneye.

And of course, plenty of Canadians and mallards too.

It was definitely a good, ducky kind of day. 🙂

Couscous is a grain-based product that is made from semolina, and while many people often confuse it with grain itself, it’s actually a type of pasta. Made into a dough that’s tossed together until little balls are formed, couscous is a staple food in households worldwide and especially popular in African, Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisian cuisine. A versatile ingredient, couscous can be mixed with nearly anything to create a tasty dish. Fruits, vegetables and meats can be used to create an excellent side or flavorful main dish that will satisfy all types of taste buds. Though it is similar in texture to rice, couscous cooks much quicker, making it the ideal option for nights when you want to create a quick and delicious meal.

Couscous is a very popular dish served all throughout the Arabic countries and the Mediterranean countries. Couscous is their version of rice and is eaten all the time. It’s been around since at least the 13th century, if not even earlier than that. Some people say it dates back to the 11th century.

Most couscous is made from durum wheat; the same grain used to make semolina flour. Durum wheat is most commonly cultivated in a region known as the Maghreb region, which contains countries like Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Libya, Egypt and much of the Middle East. The invention of couscous is widely credited to the Berbers, an ethnic group indigenous to Northwest Africa. However, instead of “couscous,” it’s commonly referred to as sekrou or seksu. In the eastern Mediterranean, another unique name for this pasta-like dish is used, called maftūl or maghribiyya. 

Since couscous is popular in several different cultures, there are many kinds. However, the three most common types of couscous include Moroccan, Lebanese and Israeli, with Moroccan being the most common and often purchased. Moroccan couscous is made up of much smaller granules than other types. Its small size means that it cooks quickly and can be prepared in just minutes. Israeli couscous granules are much larger than Moroccan ones, and the tiny orbs of pasta produced have garnered it the nickname “pearl couscous.” This type of couscous features a nuttier flavor and chewy texture and takes about 10 minutes to cook thoroughly. Lastly, Lebanese couscous, the least common of the three, is the largest, and its size earns it a longer cooking time.

I don’t know if I have ever eaten the Lebanese version of couscous, but I eat both the Moroccan and the Israeli versions all the time. My latest couscous dish used the smaller, Moroccan version. I turned it into a delicious Moroccan styled salad that I served with my Spanish pork chops. Still In A Spanish Mode

Of course I changed it some, and “Jeannified it”, but then, that’s just what I do. 🙂

Spinach- Pistachio Couscous Salad

1 cup couscous

1/2 tsp cumin

salt & pepper to taste

3/4 cup boiling water

6 TBSP olive oil

2-3 TBSP lemon olive oil

2-3 cups fresh spinach, stemmed and chopped

1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped fine

1 cup fresh parsley, choppd fine

1/2 cup shelled pistachios, chopped

1/2 cup Peruvian peppers, optional

2-3 green onions, sliced thin

2 TBSP chopped chilies or roasted Hatch chilies

Combine the cumin, salt, pepper and about 1 TBSP of the olive oil and/or the lemon olive oil and bring to a full, rapid boil. Then add the couscous and mix thoroughly. Cover and let steep for at least about 10 minutes.

Gently mix together all the chopped herbs, spinach, peppers and pistachios. Add the cooked couscous, the remaining olive oil and lemon olive oil with more fresh ground black pepper and gently toss together.

Serve along side your main part of the meal, or add chicken and enjoy as a main salad on its own, that is healthy, light and very tasty.

Couscous is very versatile, like both pasta and rice. It goes well with whatever you want to serve it with. I love couscous, and could easily eat it all the time too.

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

Yesterday, February 7, was my actual birthday. I flat out refused to cook for my birthday, so Larry and I went out. We went to a fabulous seafood place real close to our house. We had seen it many times, but had never been, until last night. It’s Called Bic Mac and Little Lu’s.

I will let the owners of the restaurant tell you a bit about them and how they named the restaurant Bic Mac and Little Lu’s, in their own words.

It was a fun restaurant with a very distinct beach front feel, even though it is landlocked here in Westminster. The walls were decorated with replicas of all kinds of fish and sharks, and dive and fishing gear. We felt right at home.

You can order things to go, or you can dine in, or just pick up fresh fish from their fish market.

As I said earlier, I flat out refused to cook my own birthday dinner, so we ate in. The food was DELICIOUS! Very fresh, full of flavor and cooked to perfection. We ordered clam chowder, calamari, the almond crusted hogfish and a side order of scallops to split between us. Even though we split everything, it was still a lot of food.

The clam chowder and calamari came first. Both were excellent. I also ordered a house specialty drink called a blackberry diablo. That was very tasty and refreshing too.

Then our entree came. The hogfish was so light and tender, with just enough of a crust and sauce to really enhance the flavor of the fish. And the scallops were like butter. They just melted in our mouths.

We found out that I was not the only one celerating my birthday that night. There was a very friendly gentleman who was befriending all the other diners, and through him, we found out there were two other ladies who shared a birthday with me and were in celebrating as well. We all expressed birthday wishes to one another and celebrated together. Bic Mac and Little Lu’s gives the birthday diner a free dessert for their special day, so I chose the creme brulee cake, that we shared as well.

The dinner was a very pleasant and delicious surprise. We had no idea that there was a fresh seafood restaurant that is so tasty, literally just down the street from us. It has become my new favorite local seafood place. We will most definitely be back again and again. Good, fresh seafood is not easy to find here in the mountain state of Colorado.

Bic Mac and Little Lu’s is located at 2851 West 120th Ave, Westminster, CO. You can call them at (303) 404-2722.

It was also our big boy, Vinnie’s birthday. So we took a picture of the birthday twins. Our handsome big boy just turned 9.

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

Even though it is still winter according to both the weather and to the calendar, the geese are beginning to pair up, and are walking together side by side. It won’t be too long before we have a few gaggles of goslings. 🙂

I love this one. He is squawking to her and she just can’t be bothered.

Sometimes, it’s OK to be a little goosy. Have a great day.

On Sunday evening we gathered with friends and had a fabulous dinner at Barcelona, a Spanish tapas restaurant It’s Birthday Time Once Again. In case you hadn’t noticed, I love all Spanish foods. I think I must have been a Spanish chef in another life. 🙂

I knew I was cooking pork chops for dinner, but I had no idea how I wanted to prepare them. So of course, I hit my culinary library and searched until the perfect recipe just popped out to me. And wouldn’t you know, it was a a recipe for Spanish pork chops. Surprise, surprise! So I guess I am still in a Spanish mode and a Spanish frame of mind.

These pork chops are from Southern Spain, where there are large Basque and Moorish influences, so the spices used were both Basque and Moorish. I made my dish as the whole pork chops, but you can also make them into little pork bites, or as they are known in Spain, pinchos morunos. I seared my pork chops, but if you are making them in smaller pieces or small bites, you can also skewer them and grill them too. At the moment, it is still a bit chilly to be outside grilling, though it won’t be too much longer and we can comfortably be out grilling again. You can use these same flavorings for chicken as well.

Spanish Pork Chops

1- 2 lbs of pork

1 1/2 tsp ground coriander

1 1/2 tsp cumin

1 1/2 tsp paprika

salt & pepper to taste

1 TBSP lemon juice

1 TBSP honey

1 TBSP garlic

olive oil

butter

chopped fresh oregano

Combine all the dry spices together. Pat the pork dry with a paper towel. Coat the pork chops, or pieces, in the spice mixture, cover and let set at room temperature for at least 1/2 hour before cooking. As I mentioned above, I seared my pork in a very hot skillet with a combination of olive oil and butter. But you can also grill these too. Depending on the thickness of the pork, it is usually about 3 minutes per side on average, and then another 2-3 minutes per side again. Flip the meat in between though so it doesn’t burn and to ensure it cooks evenly and more thoroughly.

Combine the lemon juice, garlic, honey and chopped oregano. Pour over the cooked pork and top with another sprig or two of the oregano and serve.

Though we ate most of everything while at Barcelona, after many rounds of fabulous dishes that kept coming our way, we were pretty full, so there was still a little leftover that we brought home with us. One of the leftovers we brought home was some of the roasted parsnips. There wasn’t enough for the both of us, so I just added some pan roasted carrots to the mix and served them with the pork, along with a new, delicious couscous salad and warmed pita bread and hummus.

Any kind of wine would go well with this dish; red, or white, and preferably un delicioso vino espanol. Had I thought of it ahead of time, either my favorite Spanish Albarino or my new bottle of Tempranillo that I got as a birthday present would have been very good choices for wine pairings. Oh well, next time. 🙂

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