Cook. Craft. Enjoy.

PPN: Crunchy Noodle Salad

What's been happening around here this week?  Well, Liam sprained his ankle on Memorial Day (running around in circles on the trampoline he tripped and fell -- we originally thought it was broken but thankfully just sprained) and Adrienne's been sick the last 2 days (stomach bug).  I also had too many swap spots that had to be done by the end of the month (which I packaged up so quickly I'll have to scan them when they make their way back to me).  Oh, and don't forget about stamp camp that I haven't posted the cards for yet (hopefully tomorrow).  I did want to get a post sent to Ruth (over at her wonderful blog Once Upon a Feast) for Friday's Presto Pasta night so it's lucky I have had this photo on my computer for a couple of weeks waiting for a post.

At this point I'm not even sure what I served with it, but it's Ina Garten's recipe for an oriental noodle salad.  I loved the flavor but it was way too oily.  (I even had cut the oil back to 1/2 cup.)  The flavor was spot on, however, and I think with a little playing around I can get it to where I want it.  (One of the things I'll do next time is use soba noodles instead of spaghetti -- I think they work out better.)  All in all I'd say give it a try -- you'll enjoy it too I'm sure!

PPN: Pasta Puttanesca

So what's been happening in your neck of the woods this week?  We've had strange weather (it was 113 when I picked up Travis on Monday from school and today the high is supposed to be 83 - tomorrow 71), Liam's been struggling with his cough again (back on breathing treatments), and my schedule seems to be busier than normal.

My brother came for dinner Saturday and Sunday this past week and we had some great meals -- Sunday was his favorite, Black Pepper Chicken Tacos (one of the few things I actually make again) and Saturday was this dish, a Penne Puttanesca from Mario Batali.

This is definitely not your average run of the mill Puttanesca -- most of the Puttanesca I've had has been a thick tomato sauce (served hot) but this one was a nice change.  It reminded me of a tossed pasta salad -- served room temperature it was full of garlic and basil flavor and the addition of the zucchini was wonderful.  Just for this recipe I'm going to search out some salt packed capers -- I used the brine ones the grocery store sells (and honestly they were fine) but would love to see what the real deal is.

This also marks my submission to this week's Presto Pasta Night over at Ruth's wonderful blog, Once Upon a Feast.  Getting into warmer (hot!) weather here in the US, I'm hoping they'll be plenty of warm weather pasta dishes to choose from.  Head over there on Friday to check out the round up.

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.