A Jeanne in the Kitchen

I love all kinds of Mediterranean food. In fact, it is probably one of my absolute favorite styles of food. The other day, Larry just said he wanted something with chicken, but no other guidelines than that. It was one of those days where time was of short supply, so I knew I needed to make something easy-peasy. Also, we are most definitely in the dogs days of summer right now, so something cool and refreshing was definitely a must as well. A quick Mediterranean orzo salad seemed like just the perfect thing.

We have already had this salad a couple of ways too and then we shared it with our friends Mike and Lauren. It was a big hit all the way around.

For dinner, I served it with some chicken that I marinated in some pesto and lemon balsamic vinegar and then grilled it up. I topped it all with feta cheese (for Larry ) and some fresh lemon verbena from our backyard.

For the orzo salad, I cooked the orzo according to the directions on the box, then cooked up a few vegetables and mixed everything together with a lemony fresh citrus dressing. Usually I make my own dressings, as you very well know, but I had some store bought dressing that needed to be used and it worked just fine.

This time I used typical Mediterranean vegetables like red onions, zucchini, crookneck squash, red and green bell peppers, garlic and tomatoes, as well as some spinach, and again, more lemon verbena.

I cooked everything except the tomatoes and the lemon verbena in some olive oil, along with salt & pepper, some red pepper flakes and oregano.

Once all the vegetables and orzo were cooked, I added the tomatoes and lemon verbena and tossed everything together with the dressing. Then I let it chill in the refrigerator for about 2 hours . This is a summer salad and is best when served chilled.

Of course I served with a cool glass of or two of chardonnay and some warmed pita bread on the side.

Afterwards, I served it again by adding some artichoke hearts and sausage to make it a quick and cool lunch salad. Both ways, it was cool, refreshing and very tasty.

Stay cool and do your best to avoid the heat. Stay safe, stay well and carry on. ‘Til next time.

I thought I had seen the last of my little ducklings for the season. I thought the only babies we still had were already growing up to be teenagers. Nature Walks – Duck Teens However, I was very pleasantly surprised to see we still have little babies out and about too. They were so cute in their swimming lessons with mom.

Life is just full of surprises.

Larry is from a very large family. He is the youngest of 9. The other day, one of his sisters was in town for a business meeting and he has two brothers who live in the Denver area. Even though there are three brothers that all live fairly close, we all lead very busy lives and don’t get a chance to get together as often as we would like. So we all decided to make a dinner date while Jean was in town. We gathered at the Griffin Tavern in the DTC or Denver Tech Center.

Larry is in the rust shirt, sitting next to his brother Randy, their brother Ron and his wife Sue, two of Jean’s colleagues and Jean. We are all visiting and catching up before our dinner arrived.

We enjoyed a round of libations before our food was delivered as well.

Griffin Tavern is a cozy pub in the heart of the Denver Tech Center, featuring an eclectic selection of whiskey and craft beer, great appetizers, delicious salads, burgers, and sandwiches.

You can dine inside or out. Both were hoppin’ and happenin’ places to be.

We were a group of 8. Most of us ordered one of the many burger options. They were delicious, messy and HUGE. I ordered one with peppered bacon and pepper jack cheese. Larry helped me with my fries.

Larry went for the sliders and the mini ribs.

Jean ordered nachos, but she wanted everything on the side. They had no problem accommodating all our special requests. Our server took great care of us.

Griffin Tavern is a friendly and fun place to gather with good food and drinks to boot. They are located at 5062 Syracuse Street, Denver, CO. Their phone number is (720) 482-4038. Next time you are in the neighborhood, stop by and enjoy the local DTC pub scene.

We do our best to make the most out of every situation. Everyday is a good day, especially when celebrated with family, friends and good food.

Stay safe, stay well and carry on. ‘Til next time.

Teenagers are teenagers no matter what “skin” they are wearing. I saw the first batch of baby ducks, who are now teenagers, and they are every bit as curious and rebellious as human teenagers. They want to do their own thing while at the same time are still pretty close to mom. But they were really cute. They were off exploring the tall grasses before taking a dip in the pond, and then back to the grass.

Let’s play a little game of hide and seek.

While Mom was off with the kids, dad decided to take a little break.

Sometimes we have a whole flock of pelicans around and other times, we only have one. This is one of those times when I only had one, and he was completely enjoying having the lake all to himself.

Things here have been even more crazy and chaotic than usual these days, which means I haven been making simple things and easy-peasy things, most of which you have all seen before. We are also eating a lot more salads at the moment too. So because of this recent chaos, instead of sharing delicious recipes with you, I will share some fun food quotes. There are so many fun food quotes out there, and I love to share them with you. I hope you enjoy them like I do. It’s good to shake things up a bit. 🙂

Have a great day Everyone. Stay safe, stay well and carry on. ‘Til next time.

I saw my goslings again today. Boy, they sure are getting big, and so fast too. The whole family was catching a bit of shade, just relaxing under the tree.

Their personalities are starting to show a bit too.

It won’t be to much longer and they will be all grown up.

It’s summer, which means we are even busier than usual. I am cooking simple things and I am cooking up lighter things as well. This time it was just a simple meal with hints of citrus flavors sprinkled throughout.

I marinated some pork chops with lemon pepper, lemon olive oil and lemon balsamic vinegar and cumin for about 1 1/2-2 hours before putting it on the grill.

As the pork was marinating, I cooked up the shallots and the sweet potatoes. I just drizzled in a tiny bit of the Cara-Cara orange balsamic vinegar to help caramelize the shallots and to add a hint of orange flavor as well.

I pan fried the sweet potatoes in a separate skillet, and when they were done, I added the shallots and some fresh parsley.

As those were cooking, I put the pork and the corn on the cob on the grill.

Once everything was done, I finished it off with yet another hint of citrus by adding a lemon verbena sprig on the plate for some more color and pizzazz. It was an easy-peasy summer meal that took no time at all, but tasted oh so good. I think it was even better because we enjoyed out on our beloved deck too.

Things don’t have to be complicated to be good. Sometimes simple is best.

Stay safe, stay well and carry on. ‘Til next time.

I just love our egrets. I think they are so beautiful and graceful. We are seeing so many around our lakes these days too. And that’s OK. I always love it when they pay us a visit, and better yet when they decide to stay with us for awhile.

We had a very busy weekend, with not a lot of time for cooking. I have to admit, I got a wee bit lazy and prepared two very similar meals for two separate groups of friends over this weekend too. Both times, we had the Mediterranean Tapas, Tapas for Dinner and then on Sunday, we served that with some pesto pasta with shrimp and vegetables as well. This being said, I had a lot of leftovers. So, I did what I do best, and invited my good friend “The Queen of Leftovers” to stop by and we went to work creatively, to re-create something new from something “old”. We came up with some Mexican Mole chicken with vegetables. !Delicioso!

This whole meal was re-created from what I had leftover. I cleaned out my refrigerator. I had rice, roasted peppers, squash, mole sauce Pollo con Mole de Manzana con Pasilla and a Costco rotisserie chicken. I did add some red onion slices and a jalapeno, but other than that, everything was just re-created from what was leftover.

I needed to cook the red onion slices and jalapenos first.

Then I added the rest of the vegetables to heat them up.

I cut the chicken into leg and thigh portions and added them to the mix as well, and continued to cook it all for about 10 minutes or so to heat up the chicken.

Once everything was heated up and ready to serve, I just plated it up and topped it all with some of my mole sauce and served it with some toasted bread and a buttery chardonnay to complete the meal. Who says dinner has to be complicated? All that really matters is that it tastes good and is made from love.

Stay safe, stay well and carry on. ‘Til next time.