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Tonight’s dinner was inspired by a recipe from Eating Well magazine. I don’t cook out of Eating Well nearly enough, and I tell myself that every time I make a recipe that I consider a repeater from them. I say dinner was inspired, because I didn’t follow the recipe 100% and I do think it needs a tiny bit of tweaking. Namely, some seasoning.
Have you seen the show Masterchef at all? Meh, it’s okay. It’s something to watch while we’re rather impatiently waiting for the return of House in the fall, and I’ve been putting it on the DVR to watch when I feel like vegging. One of the running themes in the critiques of a lot of the dishes is a lack of seasoning. That’s one area I’ve been paying a little more attention to when I cook- and you really can tell when you don’t use enough salt or pepper in a dish. The dish just tastes flat, and not quite balanced. A little touch of salt goes a long way- and this chicken needed some salt.
The biggest change I made to the recipe was that I used bone-in, skin-on chicken, as that’s what I had thawing for dinner. The second biggest change was that I didn’t grill the chicken, I baked it. The third change was that I used pineapple chunks instead of rings. Hey- I said this dish was “inspired by” didn’t I? Maybe I should link to the original recipe for those who are so inclined.
Eating Well’s Pineapple-Teriyaki Chicken
The kids gobbled this one up, and Andy seemed to enjoy it as well. My piece of chicken was good- but it needed more salt and pepper for my tastes. The pineapples that cooked with the chicken didn’t do anything for me taste-wise. They weren’t particularly tasty cooked up with the chicken, in my humble opinion. However. Next time I make this, I really want to use fresh pineapple instead of canned- and that, I suspect, will make me sing a completely different tune.
Teriyaki-Pineapple Chicken
1 whole cut up chicken
1 20-ounce can pineapple chunks in juice- juice drained and reserved
1/3 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 teaspoons water
Place the cut up chicken pieces in a zipper bag or a bowl with a lid.
Combine the reserved pineapple juice, soy sauce, chicken broth and brown sugar in a small bowl. Whisk together, and add salt and pepper as desired. Pour the marinade over the chicken pieces. Place in the refrigerator and marinate for at least 2 hours- turning at least once.
(Note: I strongly suspect this could be frozen at this point to be thawed and cooked at a later date.)
Preheat oven to 375ºF. Drain the marinade into a small saucepan and place the chicken parts in a 9×13 baking dish. Scatter the pineapple chunks amongst the chicken pieces. Place in the oven and bake for 40 minutes.
Meanwhile. Bring the marinade to a full boil and boil for about five minutes. Combine the water and the cornstarch, mix until smooth, and add to the marinade. Cook until slightly thickened, and remove from heat.
After 40 minutes, baste the chicken pieces with the cooked and thickened marinade. Bake for another 5 minutes. Check the chicken for doneness by poking a thick breast or thigh with a skewer. When the juices run clear, the chicken is done. If the juices are not clear, baste again with the marinade and bake for another five minutes. Continue repeating until the juices run clear.
Serve immediately.
It started innocently enough.
We were going to spend an evening with friends, and I needed to bring along a salad and dessert. I had every intention of hitting the farmer’s market for salad things, but the day got away from me, and I ended up at the grocery store. The one element of our diet that I really prefer to purchase organically is greens- so I spent some time looking over the rather impressive selection of salad greens.
Then I saw it. Fresh Herb Salad. Huh. I picked up the box and looked it over. The greens looked fresh and delicious, and the box indicated that there could be an assortment of parsley, cilantro and dill included in the salad. I thought the dill was strange, but I love parsley and cilantro, and knew our friends did too, so the salad went home with me.
As I assembled the salad, I opened up the greens to add them in. I kind of picked through a little to see what was there, and didn’t actually see any parsley or cilantro. But I did see dill. I actually picked out the pieces of dill at first, because they were rather large and had stems, and I knew we wouldn’t want to be eating dill stems. So I picked off the light and feathery dill fronds and threw them in the salad, leaving the tough stems to the compost bin.
I really didn’t expect much from this salad, but later on, one bite in, lightly coated with ranch dressing, I realized this dill addition was a revelation. Our friend said as much as well. That fresh dill completely elevated this salad to something really, really special. Where I had thought that perhaps the salad was going to end up tasting like pickles had been added, it really didn’t. That dill just added a completely new and unexpected flavor that kept me going back to the salad bowl for more.
And in fact, ever since I bought that first box of greens, I’ve been a little obsessed with it. I’m addicted to the stuff. It doesn’t seem to matter what salad dressings I use, it doesn’t matter what the other veg in the salad is, I could sit down with the box of salad and a bit of dressing and be completely content and happy.
I didn’t plant any dill this year in the garden. My herbs are the one area of the garden doing fairly well, but I didn’t plant dill because I didn’t expect that I’d be making pickles this year- and that’s one of the few things I knew to do with dill. I’ve added a small touch of fresh dill to fish dishes before, and to homemade salad dressings- but adding handfuls of the actual fronds to a bowl of lettuce? It never occurred to me.
Dill might just be the new parsley. As I’m planning the herb garden for next year, you can be assured that there will be plenty of dill. And I’m also looking forward to seeing what else this exceptional herb can do.
Could my girl really be ten years old today? Why yes, yes she is.
Once again, she requested a Star Wars cake for her birthday. I thought I could go the easy route that I took for Zander’s birthday, but unfortunately the only Star Wars Lego sets available were the same ones I used on his cake in January. So we compromised. I had to explain to Abigail that cartoons were much easier to make cakes out of than real people, spaceships with hard lines, and droids. So she permitted me to make a cupcake tower. We frosted half with vanilla frosting and half with dark chocolate frosting, so our birthday guests will have to choose the light side or the dark side. We also found some pretty opalescent sprinkles that reminded Abigail of little lightsabers.
All’s well that ends well. And maybe for the next birthday I can convince my kid to choose something a little easier to make a cake out of. 
The cake this year is a doctored cake mix. My original suggestion had been a chocolate cake with cookies and cream frosting and filling. Abigail liked the idea, but wanted it flopped around, so I made a cookies and cream cake. The cake turned out really well- it tastes like cookies and cream, and since it started with a mix in a box, it was really easy to make.
Cookies And Cream Cupcakes
1 box white cake mix with pudding in the mix
1/2 cup oil
3 whole eggs
1 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups crushed Oreos. (Take the frosting out of about 8 of the Oreos)
Preheat oven to 350ºF and line two pans of cupcake pans with liners.
In a mixing bowl, beat together the cake mix, oil, eggs, water and vanilla. Beat for about 2 minutes, or until nice and creamy. Add the Oreo crumbs and beat until well combined.
Divide the batter amongst 24 cupcake liners.
Bake for about 20 minutes, or until lightly browned, and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Allow to cool for 5 minutes in the pan before removing to racks to cool completely before frosting.
To make a layer cake, divide the batter between two pans and adjust the cooking time to 25-30 minutes.
I’ve been wanting to share this website with everyone ever since our camping trip this year. I love talking to people about what we eat when we go camping, because no one ever believes it. When the average person thinks of camping food they think of things like hot dogs, burgers, brats- things that are easy to cook, and easy to cook over a campfire. Well, we may do those things for lunch, or on the one evening we have less time for a meal, but when we camp with the family, we go all out.
In the past, we’ve cooked things like leg of lamb, baby back ribs, pork and veggie kebabs, pizza, BBQ chicken, and pork or chicken fajitas as an example. Since we camp with a few other families, we each take turns with dinner, so we can afford the time and the money to make dinner a little extra special. Let me tell you, not a night goes by where we don’t say to each other that dinner was excellent.
This year, Andy and I put together some pulled pork tacos- complete with guacamole and toasted tortillas. This was kind of average food for us, so we decided to up the ante on this particular camping trip, and make a dessert over the campfire. Not just the s’mores and marshmallows that usually grace our campfire, but a bonafide dessert- complete with whipped cream. I’ve had dutch oven for years that every year we say we’re going to make dessert in it, and we never do. This was the year, but I needed to know exactly how to cook something in it. Google to the rescue, because I found this wonderful website chock full of dutch oven recipes.
My only problem with it? I wish we had more opportunities to cook with the dutch oven, because I would love to try out so many of the recipes on this website.
Byron’s Dutch Oven Recipes website has all kinds of creations to tuck away in your dutch oven. He even includes the directions that tell you how much charcoal to surround your pot with over the open fire. After many people contacted him asking how to convert the recipe to the oven, he’s also added that information right at the top of his page. As for us, we made the Cherry Crisp Cobbler in our oven, only I added one large can of peach slices to it, simply because that sounded really good to me. We need to work on our timing a bit, because the top of the cobbler was blacker than black. But once we scraped off the scorched stuff, the dessert underneath was delicious, and truly a treat out there in the woods.
Trust me when I say that you should bookmark that site. You never know when you’re going to need an old-fashioned recipe to cook in a dutch oven.
One of the few things that is growing nicely in my garden is my lemon thyme plant. I brought this plant home with me in June from the Minneapolis Farmer’s Market, along with five other herb plants. For the most part, the herbs are doing okay. (Except the sage which I think was sat on by a rabbit or something- it just suddenly died. )The other day it occurred to me that I had a lovely lemon thyme plant, but I didn’t really know what to do with it. In fact, I was kind of regretting not planting regular thyme this year, which I do use quite a bit of when I have it. So I sampled the lemon thyme, and was surprised to find that the thyme flavor itself is really, really subtle. You really have to hunt for it in order to find it. Otherwise, I found the herb to just be a very nice punch of citrus, and knew it would be great with a chicken or pork dish.
Boneless pork chops it was. I picked them up and then set to work making a very simple marinade to get as much flavor out of the lemon thyme as I could. I took three large sprigs of the lemon thyme and pulled the leaves off the branches. Then I added a few pinches from my parsley plant- once chopped, that amounted to about 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley. The juice of one lemon was added, along with two small cloves of garlic, minced. Half a teaspoon each of salt and pepper, and my marinade was ready. I whisked it all together, and then set my two-inch thick chops in the marinade. After 20 minutes, I flipped the chops over.
45 minutes later, I fired up the grill, and then drizzled the chops very lightly with peanut oil- just to keep them from sticking terribly to the grill. I have four burners on the grill, so I set the four chops over the middle two. I turned those two burners down to low and left the outside ones on high. I put the cover back on and cooked for ten minutes. Then I flipped them over and gave them another ten minutes. At that point, it felt to me like the chops were firming up, and were close to being done. They looked great on the outside, but since they were so thick, I wanted to be sure they were cooked through. So I took the two burners on the right and turned them off completely, and then set the chops over those to cook indirectly. The two burners on the left I turned to high. They were cooked five minutes per side, and then they rested, covered with foil for ten minutes.
These were pork chop perfection. The lemon thyme came through loud and clear, and we all enjoyed them very much. Even the kids nearly cleaned their plates- which is seldom heard of when it comes to meat. I definitely recommend the lemon thyme. Next year, I will be planting regular thyme as well, but I’m glad I now have this hardy lemon herb growing in my garden. As I understand it, it should winter over very nicely here in the north, and I’ll be enjoying it for years to come.
I suspect this marinade would be equally delightful on chicken breasts as well. Or swordfish? You might need to marinate for less time, but this would work great with a nice meaty fish. When I bought the pork chops, I hesitated for a minute, because the meat counter I was at also had pre-marinated meats available. They are always tasty there, but I never know what they put in their marinades. The meats that come pre-flavored are also more expensive, so why pay the extra money when I can make a marinade using ingredients I already have on hand?
Up next, a surprisingly delicious use for dill.
Lemon Thyme Marinade
3 sprigs lemon thyme (about 1 tablespoon leaves when removed)
1 tablespoon freshly chopped parsley
2 cloves garlic, minced
juice of 1 lemon (about 1/4 cup)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons peanut oil
Combine all the ingredients in a container for marinating. Marinate your meat for 30 minutes to an hour- flipping at least once to get both sides.
Cook your meat using your preferred method.
We had a rainy day yesterday, which meant that our last day of swimming lessons was cancelled, and as such, I promised the kids we would do something fun together in the afternoon- like play a board game or some Wii. Well, Zander jumped right on that and he and I played some Mariokart, but Abigail had other plans. She had pulled out the play food yesterday, and was trying to assemble it in some “gourmet” situations, but plastic food only goes so far. She decided to start looking through my cookbooks- at first, looking for a cookie or something that she might like to make sometime. Pausing for a moment from beating Zander at Rainbow Road, I casually mentioned to her that if she wanted, she could find something to cook for dinner. (My plan was pancakes, easy, fuss-free, and simple.)
She started flipping through a book, and came to ask me if I had the ingredients for a few things. We were short on a few, so I suggested she start a shopping list for me, so that the next time we went shopping, I would get the ingredients, and they would be on hand for her to prepare. She had a few recipes in mind, when she found one where the only ingredients missing were chicken legs and orange juice, she asked if we could run to the store for just those things. So we did.
And then Abigail proceeded to make dinner completely by herself. I was around for guidance purposes, and to reach ingredients that were too high for her, but otherwise, she prepared a full dinner for the family all by herself. Ladies and gentlemen, we are entering a new era, and I am looking forward to it.
The first step for her recipe was to take the chicken legs, season them, and then get them in the oven to start cooking. She got that done rather quickly, although she did decide to leave the skin on the drumsticks. The recipe told us to take them off, but since she is a fan of chicken skin, the skins remained. As the legs started to cook, she started assembling the ingredients for her sauce. She needed barbecue sauce, ketchup, orange juice, brown sugar, and molasses.
Wet ingredients measured and waiting at the side, she then proceeded to chop up some garlic. She did very, very well managing the large knife and getting the garlic ready to cook.
Once the garlic was ready, she measured oil into a pot, and then began cooking the oil, where I was informed that she loves the smell of cooking garlic. Once the garlic began to soften, she added the rest of her sauce ingredients, and then brought that to a simmer before turning it off to wait for the chicken.
The chicken was done with it’s first stage of cooking, so it was time for them to be sauced. Working very carefully with hot pans, Abigail expertly brushed sauce on both sides of the chicken before it went back into the oven.
While the chicken finished up, My Girl also got a pot of rice cooking, followed by a pan of green peas. Timing-wise, she couldn’t have done better. The twenty minutes the rice needed to cook was the same time the chicken needed to cook. While we waited for everything to finish cooking (teasing us all with a tantalizing aroma) I peeled some fruit for her to chop up for a quick fruit salad to go with as well.
Dinner was wonderful. The sauce for the chicken was very tasty, and the whole family enjoyed it. Zander even turned to Abigail and told her that when she was grown up, and had babies, she would cook really good food for her family. Aw, what a little brother.
Can I just say, that as a mom of a kid who really is interested in cooking, I’m delighted that she chose to cook real food. This was no simple assembly of a boxed something-or-other, and it was a nice challenge for her. She handled everything herself- from the chopping to the measuring, and the maneuvering of the hot pan in and out of the oven. She made real white rice from scratch, and actually chose the side dishes she wanted to go with the chicken in the first place. The entire meal was her baby, and she did such an awesome job. We were all very proud of her accomplishments yesterday, and I can’t wait to see what she decides to make next!
Kickin’ Chicken
from BHG Kids Favorites Made Healthy
Nonstick cooking spray
8 Chicken Drumsticks
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 cloves garlic, mined, or 1 teaspoon bottled minced garlic
2 teaspoons cooking oil
3/4 cup bottle barbecue sauce
1/4 cup catsup
1/4 cup orange juice or water
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons light molasses or maple-flavored syrup
Several dashes hot sauce (optional) (We skipped)
Lightly coat a 15x10x1-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Skin chicken. Arrange chicken in prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake in a 375ºF oven for 25 minutes.
Meanwhile, for sauce, in a medium saucepan cook garlic in hot oil over medium heat for 30 seconds. Stir in barbecue sauce, catsup, juice, brown sugar, molasses, and, if desired, hot sauce. Heat through.
Carefully brush chicken with sauce. Turn chicken and brush with additional sauce. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes more or until chicken is no longer pink (180º). Reheat any remaining sauce; drizzle some of the sauce over the chicken; pass remaining sauce.
For salad season, that is. Here we were, having a cooler than normal, mild summer, and now that we’re in the last few weeks of it, it’s letting loose like you wouldn’t believe. Hot and exceptionally sticky makes for a really cranky me when it comes to cooking. And not just the actual cooking, but the planning. I must have stared at that piece of paper this morning for two hours, trying to simply come up with three days worth of dinner ideas so I could pick up a few things at the store.
A few cups of coffee later, my brain woke up and I jotted down a few notes, and then headed off to the store. I had a spinach salad in mind for dinner tonight, and when I saw that the cucumbers at the grocery store were actually homegrown (and only 39 cents a piece!) I finally got excited and assembled a rather perfect salad, if I say so myself.
I started with several handfuls of baby spinach, followed by a grated carrot. Across the way from those beautiful cucumbers were also homegrown green peppers, so one of those went into the salad along with one rather large specimen of a cucumber. One carton of grape tomatoes went in, and then one can of drained and rinsed chickpeas. Next, I took half a block of mozzarella and cubed that up, and then I took a package of hard salami and cut the slices into fourths. The piece de resistance though was the package of frozen tortellini that I quickly boiled up. A little Italian salad dressing and some homemade croutons and I had an amazing spinach salad that not only tickled the taste-buds, but also satisfied.
I’ve had tortellini as the base for a pasta salad before, but as an addition to a basic spinach salad? Oh, it was so, so good. I can’t wait for leftovers for lunch tomorrow. The only thing that would have been better would have been if the salad contents themselves came from my own garden. Alas, the tomatoes are not ready yet, and, well, everything else… I’ve already shared my sad story over in the Garden Notes, if you’re curious, make your way over there.
But definitely make this salad. Or a variation of it. And add whatever vegetables you would like- I was wishing I had a fresh bulb of fennel to add. Easy, quick, and delicious. It doesn’t get any better than that.
This salad doesn’t need much of an introduction, or a long tale about how it came about being made in my kitchen. It’s been hot and muggy out this week, and cooking anything has been far from appealing. Unable to come up with any ideas for a cold supper, I spent some time trolling the ‘net, looking for a delicious sounding salad idea for supper- preferably one with no cooked components, as that oven was not going to be turned on.
Well, I found one, although it sort of had a cooked component in the form of toasted almonds. Those babies were worth turning on the burner for. This salad is delightfully crunchy and is 100% adaptable to what vegetables you have on hand. In addition to what’s listed, I also added sliced celery, cucumbers, and water chestnuts. When it came time to serve, I served it with sliced napa cabbage and spinach.
It was so perfect for a hot summer day- and really delicious. The only suggestion I have is that if you decide to mix it with a green as I did, use the green as a bed if you plan to have leftovers. The next day, the spinach was very unappealing and wilted, and I ended up having to pick it out in order to eat the rest of it.
Almond Chicken Salad
4 green onions, thinly sliced
1 large carrot, shredded
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 pound sugar snap peas, halved
2 cups chopped, cooked chicken breast meat
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves
1/2 cup blanched slivered almonds, toasted
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon teriyaki sauce
1/4 teaspoon ground dry mustard
In a large bowl, mix together the onions, carrot, red pepper, peas, chicken, cilantro and almonds. Set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar, vinegar, sesame oil, teriyaki sauce and dry mustard until smooth. Pour over salad mixture and toss until coated. Serve in pita pockets or on a bed of lettuce.
Do you have one of these? If not, and you have a grill, then you need one. You really, really do. I had no idea how much we needed one until we had one! We were given one not too long ago, and have made much use of it ever since. The first thing we used it for this grill season was asparagus- oh, my, goodness. Does that make grilling asparagus a piece of cake! No more tender spears falling through the grill grates into charcoal oblivion! Last week while we were camping, Andy used it to lightly cook some green beans over the fire even. While he did lose a few beans to the tiny holes in the basket, the basket itself has proven to be a winner kitchen tool that any casual griller must have.
My favorite thing to use it for though is potatoes on the grill. Especially now with the tender fresh-from-the-ground potatoes flooding the farmer’s markets. I take the potatoes, clean them, and cut them a bit if there are some larger potatoes. Then I put them on the stove to boil gently for about 10 minutes or so- till they are just barely cooked through. Then, you can toss the lightly cooked potatoes with oil, butter, and your choice of seasonings, and THEN they go into the grill basket to be finished over the fire outside.
Potatoes cooked in this manner are absolutely delightful. For the adventurous, you can add some mushrooms or chopped zucchini as well. If you are anything like me, and have been eyeing up these baskets at the store for years, wondering if they are worth it, let me assure you that they are. We have used it dozens of times- including over a campfire and high flames- and the basket still looks brand new. I can’t even say what brand we have, since ours was given to us without any labels on it, but let me assure you, if you do any sort of grilling of vegetables- this is the tool you want to keep your precious veg out of the coals (or grill bars) down below.
Every Saturday morning through mid-October, we have a super fabulous local farmer’s market in downtown Appleton. The whole market is local vendors- local producers and farmers and artisans, and I just love it. There are no wholesalers, no out-of-area produce, and every single vendor is so friendly and excited to talk about what they have to offer.
This past week I woke up with a hankering for some fresh vegetables, and I had it in my mind that I wanted to go to the market. I’d also recently been made aware of a local farmer who I wanted to learn more about specifically, so I determined that I would seek out their stand in particular. Well, upon my arrival downtown, I had to drive around a little to find a parking spot, but then I found one, and went to plunk my change into the parking meter. I plunked my change in a little too fast, and was horrified to see that the 40 cents I put in (which should have given me forty minutes) only gave me ten minutes. Ten minutes! To find one particular vendor over a three block space? Yikes.
I made a beeline to the market area, and took a gamble with the direction I turned, and lo and behold I was spot on! The farmer I was interested in was right there! It turns out that Oakridge Farms has everything they promise. Their produce was vibrant and colorful, the ladies working the stand were delightful and cheerful, and I walked away with an armful of delicious looking produce. Unfortunately I couldn’t hang around and chat, as my time was ticking, and the parking enforcement here is very strict. On my way out of the market, I stopped at the stand next door to Oakridge and bought a pound of fresh Cremini mushrooms, and then I stopped at one more stand while I zipped out, because their red onions were just stunning to look at and wanted to come home with me.
I found my farmer. If they had a CSA, I would be a member, but I will be happy to regularly frequent them anyway, as they are nearby, and have everything I could possibly want. They have berries, fresh produce, and it’s family owned and operated. Their produce was exactly as advertised- delicious. The sweet corn was sweet and tasty, and I appreciated that it actually wasn’t the supersweet corn that many people have. You could taste corn, not just sugar. Their prices are very reasonable as well, and I don’t have to wait for the Saturday market to frequent them, as they have a stand just down the road a bit, or I could go straight to their farm. I may do that tomorrow.
Many, many years ago, I stumbled across a recipe for Fettuccine and Tofu In Finger-Licking Peanut Sauce. I loved thinking about the idea of a peanut sauce for a stir fry, but at the time, I was a non-tofu person and completely discarded the recipe as something I could use. As time ticked by though, I would see that very recipe brought up in different places and by different people. I would think about how it’s a shame the recipe called for tofu, since so many people obviously enjoyed it. And then one day it clicked.
I didn’ t need to use the tofu. I didn’t even need to use the fettuccine. I looked more closely at the recipe and found that the sauce is a recipe all by itself, and so I decided to try it. I instantly became smitten with the peanut sauce. This time when I made it, I had planned a chicken stir-fry for dinner, but after a rummage through the pantry found that I was out of cornstarch, out of black bean sauce, and dangerously low on soy sauce. I had not shopped correctly for a stir-fry. A quick look at the recipe for peanut sauce confirmed for me, that I could definitely make this as a substitute for the black bean sauce I’d been hankering.
I will say, that I find that peanut sauce goes much better with noodles and stir fry than rice. Just something about it that to me screams noodles- so this time I used some Spaghetti Rigate- a spaghetti noodle with ridges that holds even more sauce. For the stir fry itself, I used two chicken breasts, thinly sliced, some broccoli, red peppers, onions, mushrooms, and carrots. Let me say for the record too, that if you have your game together, this is a fast meal to throw together. The peanut sauce ingredients get combined and brought to a simmer in about five minutes. The stir fried chicken and veggies take about 15 minutes total, and then the noodles take about ten minutes. This can all be done simultaneously, resulting in a quick, delicious dinner. Both my kids like peanut sauce, in fact, Abigail cleaned her plate- which is unheard of with a stir fry night. I also happened to have some salted peanuts on hand, so I coarsely chopped them and sprinkled them on top- this made Zander extremely happy, and I thought it added the perfect amount of crunch and flavor to make this a great dinner instead of just a good one.
So here is the recipe for the Finger-Licking Peanut Sauce. Do what you want with it, really. It’s delicious and very versatile.
Finger-Licking Peanut Sauce
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup chunky peanut butter
1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 teaspoons grated peeled fresh ginger
2 teaspoons chile paste with garlic
4 garlic cloves, minced
Combine the ingredients in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat 5 minutes or until smooth, stirring frequently. Remove from heat.
Lately, Abigail has been picking up the different magazines I bring in to the house and reading through them. Or at least, flipping through them and finding pictures of food that looks good. Last week I picked up a copy of the newest Everyday Food because it had a headline for grill desserts. We’re always on the look-out for those, so I put the magazine in my basket and brought it home.
As it turns out the grill desserts are nothing to write home about. I was expecting something cool and new, not pound cakes, sliced and toasted on the grill or S’mores, made on a grill. Come on, I know this magazine can do better. Abigail, on the other hand, was smitten by the Firecracker Ice Pops, so I told her she could make them once I picked up some yogurt.
And make them, she did. There are quite a few steps for such a simple treat, but she persevered, and then waited overnight before sampling her handiwork. Both kids really enjoyed the pops. Zander thought the blueberry parts were still too tart for his taste, but he still ate his entire pop. The recipe says it makes 10 pops, but obviously, that depends on the size of the pop-maker you use. We used a mold that makes 4 and then put the extra ingredients in the fridge. Later today, the kids will have the two remaining pops and we’ll use the leftovers to make four more for another day. I think that will use up what we have.
One note about these. I thought the other day that it was odd that these called for sugar with the fruit and yogurt. They do need the sweetness, but I guess I was a little surprised that it didn’t call for honey. I wouldn’t hesitate to use honey if that is your preference, and in fact, I think for the yogurt layer at least, honey would be a really tasty addition.
from Everyday Food, July/August 2010
1/2 pound strawberries, hulled and quartered (1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup sugar, divided
1/2 pound blueberries (1 1/2 cups)
1 1/4 cups low-fat plain yogurt (we used full fat)
Directions:
In a food processor, puree strawberries with 1 tablespoon sugar. Transfer to a small bowl.
In processor, puree blueberries with 1 tablespoon sugar.
In another small bowl, whisk together yogurt and 2 tablespoons sugar.
Pour the three mixtures, alternating, into ten 3-ounce ice-pop molds, making 3 to 5 layers each. With a skewer or thin bladed knife, swirl mixtures together in an up-and-down motion. Insert ice-pop sticks and freeze until solid, 2 1/2 to 3 hours.
Makes 10.
*For tropical pops use 4 kiwis and 1 large mango instead of the berries.
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Recently on Tummy Treasure
Coming Soon… Strawberry Shortcake
Oatmeal Bread
Root Beer Baked Beans
Quinoa And Chickpea Salad
Kentucky Cornmeal Bread
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