Cook. Craft. Enjoy.

Turkey Burgers and Salad

While I really used to look forward to making my weekly menu, lately nothing (and I mean NOTHING) sounds good and it's becoming increasingly harder and harder to figure out what I'm going to make for dinner.  Yesterday I spent about an hour searching online through recipes and still only ended up with dinners through Sunday night (sigh).  I hope my menu making skills will come back to me soon -- I'm tired of scrambling for what we're going to eat!

For last night I decided on turkey burgers and a salad.  Relatively easy and when I make grilled chicken for Liam along side of it, something everyone will eat.  I opted for this recipe from Food Network for an Asian style turkey burger though had to make some substitutions (basically didn't use their glaze and had to leave out the cilantro since my grocery store didn't have any).  I'll let you go over to get the recipe if you'd like -- it was good, but not a "oh goodness, let's have this again" type meal. 

The salad, however, was surprisingly good.  It also come from Food Network but this time from Rachael Ray.   I was worried that the salad dressing would just be, well, yuck, but I have to say I'd have it again.  Just the right amount of sweet/savory (with the addition of lots of pepper) and it worked really well with the burgers.  If you get a chance, give it a try!

Strawberry Bread

Last week I bought blueberries, strawberries and raspberries from Costco and while we've eaten most of them, yesterday the rest of the strawberries were looking a little sad and I knew I needed to do something with them before I had to throw them out.  A quick search online and I came across this recipe on All Recipes for strawberry bread.  Perfect!

I did change the recipe a bit (sub'd applesauce for the oil, cut down on the sugar, added vanilla and sub'd chocolate chips for nuts) but I'm sure without my changes it would be just as good.  Travis liked it so well yesterday he had it for a snack after school and then before bed.

BLT Pizza

Sometimes you just want to have something that doesn't take too long to make but gives a lot of flavor.  A couple of weeks ago I made some homemade pita bread and then used those to make a BLT pizza.

I'll post the pita recipe after the link, but basically for each serving you'll need 1 slice of bacon (cooked crisp), about 2 tablespoons mashed avocado (I mixed it with a little light mayo to thin it out a little), chopped tomatoes, arugula (or lettuce), and red onion (all the veggies to taste).  I think this will make a great summertime dinner along with some fruit so I'll keep in my "go to" pile!

Caramel Brownie Pie

Recently, Adrienne has taken an interest in cooking desserts so I've put her in charge of making dessert when her uncle comes over.  She enjoys it and we all get a yummy treat.  Her latest creation is Chewy Caramel-Brownie Pie from an old (like 1992) recipe booklet.

A simple brownie base with a caramel/nut/chocolate chip topping, it was so rich but very delicious.  (And easy too -- a big plus!)

Chicken and Mushrooms (Together but Separate)

My passion for cooking shows dates back to the (very) early 90s and PBS television.  I loved watching on Saturday afternoons show after show of cooking.  Some hosts were more amusing than others but they all tried their best to teach you the basics of their cuisine.

In comes Food Network in the late 90s and I thought it was the greatest thing.  A network dedicated to just cooking.  Don't worry this won't turn into a rant post, but I have to say I am disappointed that really the only cooking that goes on there now is in the afternoon.  Where I would keep Food Network on all night (even as "background"), I very rarely turn it on anymore.  Once in a great while I'll turn the tv on during the day (usually in 10 minute spurts while I'm waiting to go do something) and catch a recipe or two.

Where is this going?  Earlier this week I happened to catch the end of a Rachael Ray 30 MInute Meals episode and she created a warm mushroom and tomato "salad".  It looked so good I knew I had to make.

I served it with grilled chicken and mashed potatoes -- yum!   I really loved the flavor of the mushrooms but don't think the tomatoes added that much to the dish.  My brother was here as well and agreed that maybe with 1/4 of the tomatoes it would have been better.  My other change was the garlic "chips" she made -- I didn't have any fresh garlic (and Trader Joe's didn't have any either yesterday) so I just used some jarred garlic at the beginning of the cooking ... worked out fine.  Definitely something to make again!

Up and Running Again

Yeah!  My iMac seems to be back to working again (after replacement of its logic board and hard drive).  All I can say is thank goodness for backups.  Luckily we kept a drive specifically for backups (and it backed up daily) so I didn't lose anything.  And the best part?  I can start blogging again!

This first post back I'm going to share with you what we had for dinner oh, about a week and a half ago.  When my brother comes for dinner I try to do something a little out of the ordinary and that night I decided to tackle coconut shrimp.

There are many, many, many recipes for coconut shrimp out there.  Originally I was going to use the one in my Fried and True cookbook (written by Rick Rodgers) but finally opted to go with one from Emeril on the Food Network site:  Coconut Shrimp with Pineapple Habanero Chutney (it was the habaneros that won me over).

How was it?  Good.  Well, very good.  The chutney had just enough zing to it to spice up the shrimp and the shrimp fried up nice and crispy.  The only change I would make next time is to not mix in the coconut with the batter -- I think it would be better served by dipping it into the batter and then rolling it in the coconut before frying.  Not something I'll make again soon (not healthy at all!), but it would be great for appetizers at a party (as long as I get a bigger deep fryer).

Happy Birthday, Liam!

Today my sweet baby boy turned 7!!  We had such a busy, busy day -- started at Disneyland at 10:00am -- stayed there for about 6 hours -- came back to our friend's house and had take out Chinese for dinner -- open presents and then just played!  One of Liam's presents was the game Dragonology -- a really fun game that I can't wait to play again.

Computer Woes Again

Unfortunately my iMac has decided to die on me so it'll be probably a week before I can update the blog again.  (I can always post w/out pictures, but what fun is that?)  Anyway, I didn't want anyone to think I've given up on posting .. just we're having "issues".

PPN: Orecchiette Carbonara

Honestly I've been meaning to get this post up since Thursday.  For some reason every time I sit down to post something else comes up and it doesn't get done.   However, I'm glad to be able to share this for next week's Presto Pasta Night over at Ruth's Once Upon a Feast.  (Good thing she does this every week!)

I have such a huge stack of cooking magazines that lately I've been trying to go through them and actually mark recipes to be used (or get rid of the magazines that have nothing in them I'm interested in).  This one is for orecchiette pasta in a carbonara sauce with leeks and comes from April's issue of Bon Appetit.

What do I have to say about it?  It was delicious.  I loved the flavor of the leeks and I loved that it's healthier than our usual carbonara.   (Okay, so it's still not a healthy meal but it's not too bad.)  Unfortunately I was the only one that really liked it so I'm not sure how often I'll get to have it.  Darn.

Beef Stew

Before it gets too terribly hot here I decided to go with one last "cold weather" dish:  Beef Stew.  It's not something I make often (honestly I'm not a big fan of soups and stews almost fit into that category), but it just sounded right for last night.  This is a recipe that came through on one of my mailing lists over a year ago and I've made it several times.  I always forget that you should add more beef than the recipe calls for -- or cut down on the other ingredients.  Served with a salad and some crusty bread, though, it's a great, easy family meal.

Happy Birthday, Travis!

Hard to believe that 16 years ago today Travis was born.  He's grown up into such a wonderful young man and I'm very proud to say that he's my son.  May the future hold nothing but brightness for him.

For his "actual" birthday today we're having Subway for dinner (don't ask -- he loves sandwiches) and I'm sure he'll play Warcraft.  We still have leftover cake from Saturday so we'll do another round of singing as well.

This cake comes from AllRecipes and starts with a box mix ... it tastes great but I had a problem with the center falling (you can kind of tell from the photo).  Guess that really doesn't matter too much -- just add more frosting to the middle.  :)

Week In Review

Since I haven't posted since Tuesday I thought I'd do a quick "week in review".

We've had a pretty busy week -- Liam was sick again with his allergies so back on breathing treatments he went.  The good news is I think we caught it early enough that he won't end up with pneumonia yet again this year.  Adrienne had a big project due this week in math -- a 5 paragraph essay and accompanying charts about a stock market project they've been working on (which you know is just as big of a job for mom as it is for her).

Travis hasn't had as much homework as he usually does so he's been working on his Warcraft character and getting his tailoring level up.  As for my Warcraft "career", I'm trying to decide exactly how I should spec my Paladin -- I was holy/ret for so long then last night switched to protection/holy and really didn't like it so back this morning to holy/ret I am.  (I know most of you have NO clue what I'm talking about so you can skip this ..oops, too late.)  For those of you "in the know", here's a screenshot I took last week of one of my guildies and I after we'd cleared Stratholme.  Gotta love that instance.   :)

Tomorrow is Travis' 16th birthday so last night we celebrated a little early with my brother -- I made ribs, some yucky broccoli salad (packaged from Costco -- it wasn't good AT ALL), garlic french fries and then a coconut cake.  So I'll have something to share tomorrow on his actual birthday, I'll share the rib recipe with you now and the cake tomorrow.

This recipe was originally from a post on rec.food.recipes many years ago (like, um, 15) and I wouldn't make them any other way.

PPN: Another Kugel

It has become a weekly tradition that my brother joins us for dinner one night over the weekend (and we play Rock Band).  This past weekend he and I decided I would try a new brisket recipe from my Hadassah cookbook.  While I love, love, love Ina Garten's brisket recipe I'm always on the lookout for the possibility of "something better".

This new recipe was good but doesn't beat out Ina.  In essence, you mix 1/2 cup ketchup and 1/2 cup Concord wine (the kosher sweet wine) together, pour it over the brisket with some onion, celery and carrots and let it go for several hours.  I was afraid the liquid would evaporate and burn so I doubled the sauce and added a can of beef broth.  Good thing I did because at the end there wasn't a whole lot of liquid left.  The one thing I did really like about this one, though, is the addition of mushrooms about 1/2 hour before the meat is done cooking.  I'll be using that tip in Ina's recipe as well.

As for my PPN part of this post, I can't seem to make brisket lately without some sort of kugel.  My brother had made mention in the past that he loves ricotta cheese so when I saw this recipe I knew it was the one I had to try.  It also comes from The Hadassah Jewish Holiday Cookbook -- it was a fund raiser for the Hadassah organization and I'm glad I have a copy.

I halved the recipe to fit into a 8x8-inch pan because only serving 6 I didn't need a full 9x13 pan.  It halved beautifully and the flavor was great -- not real sweet and just enough of a fruit flavor to carry it all the way through.  I think my next kugel I'll substitute dried cranberries for the golden raisins and see how that turns out.

Friday head over to Ruth's Once Upon a Feast and check out the other entries into this week's Presto Pasta Night.  I'm so sad that I haven't participated lately and really miss hanging out with everyone.  I know I can't wait for the round-up this week.

Scrappin' Sunday: Everything's Working

I finally figured out the problem with my computer (had to do with USB hubs and a problem program loading on start-up) so everything's back to normal now.  Having the computer not working right is irritating but gave me a chance to get my projects done for stamp camp this week.

My to-do list this week?  To get my swaps finished up for the month so I don't have to scramble at the end of the month.

Go check out the round up over at Amy's Sunday Scrappin' meme and see what everyone else was up to this week!

Quick Update (kind of)

Sorry there's been no updating on the blog this week .. for some reason I've had some issues with my computer and connecting my memory card from my camera (and a couple other things) -- hopefully it'll get squared away soon and I'll be back to posting this weekend.

Hope all is well with everyone.  :)