Chicken Tacos with Jicama Slaw

I recently discovered jicama and I'm completely hooked. So to my non Hispanic influenced friends what is jicama? Jicama, j pronounced like an h, is a root vegetable that is papery on the outside and white and creamy on the inside. It is normally eaten raw and it's texture is kind of like a raw potato or pear with the sweetness of an apple. Fabulous little vegetable! Just peel it, slice it, and cut into strips and you are good to go!! It is available in almost every store out here....in fact I am not sure of any off the top of my head that do not carry this in their store.

Although I am not sure if you can find it back home. When we move I am in serious trouble!! I will be in a jicama drought, a pepper drought, a spice drought....Im in trouble!! No mexican cheeses?! And who wants to mail order this stuff when I can buy it locally right now. Maybe I will just have to set up my own veggie garden with stuff the South doesn't know about!! Of course that only helps me with fresh stuff. Where would I get cheese? I suppose I could get a sheep or goat or cow and milk it and make my own cheese. But damn thats just a lot of work!! Besides, then I would be the weird person living on base who had a sheep for the purposes of milking it!! Can you imagine?? But I digress.....

So tonights menu is chicken tacos with jicama slaw. I have made this in the past and can actually get Anthony to eat to eat a version of it. There can just be no meat on his tacos. I do not know how we produced and are raising a vegetarian!! I just love meat too much! But that's Anthony for you! And well Vinnie......bless his heart....he eats virtually nothing. So don't worry about asking if Vinnie eats meals I cook....he in fact does not.

Chicken Tacos:
chicken tenders
taco seasoning mix
flour tortillas
queso fresco or cotija, crumbled

Jicama Slaw:
1/2 small jicama, cut into thin strips
1/2 red pepper, cut into thin strips
1/2 yellow pepper, cut into thin strips
1/2 poblano pepper, cut into thin stirps
2 1/2T fresh lime juice
1t sugar
1/4t pepper
1/3c olive oil
1/3c chopped cilantro

Place all vegetables into a large bowl. In a small bowl mix together lime juice, sugar, pepper, oil, and cilantro. Pour over veggies. I let mine sit in the fridge for a little while to absorb flavors. But you could serve immediately. And you can also add thin strips of red onion....I do not eat red onion so I do not add it.

Saute your chicken tenders until cooked through. Pull off the heat and shred. I find it is easier to shred chicken using two forks. Add back to your skillet with some taco seasoning mix and the alloted amount of water. While that is heating, put your tortillas in the oven to heat through. And if you do not have crumbled queso fresco or cotija crumbled in the fridge, crumble some.

I touched on the subject of Mexican cheese before, but I will do it again. Queso fresco and cotija are Mexican crumbly cheeses. Queso fresco is milder in flavor while the cotija is saltier and has a little more flavor and taste. Both crumble easily like blue cheese or feta. And these ae the the authentic types of cheeses Mexicans eat on their food. And it is lovely. It is good crumbled in tacos or sprinkled on top of latin flavored soups. I know at least out here it is widely common, even in the WalMart. So you should be able to find it....maybe....

Get everything together on your table and get ready to eat your heart out! Place some chicken mixture in the middle of your tortilla, sprinkle some cheese on top and spoon on some jicama slaw. Roll up and eat.

Beware of any juices that might come out and get you. But I think its a sign of a bad taco is you do not get some juice spilled on you while trying to eat a good taco. I mean you want the reminders of how well you enjoyed it right?? Kinda like a spaghetti stain on your shirt after a particularly tasty dish. So it is here. We were able to get Anthony to eat one taco. He tried to tell us it tasted "real bad", but I know he was okay. He ate it anyways. Me and Alex cleaned our plates clean. I definitely recommend trying this. Super easy and quite tasty for a weeknight meal!!

Chicken and Waffles

So it probably comes as no suprise, but I am a HUGE Top Chef fan. In fact every season they have on DVD, I own. That is how much I love this show. Alex even enjoys it. What's not to love?? Professional chefs compete to make specific themed or ingredient dishes....but they are completely complex. Sometimes they baffle my brains! But I still adore the show. Well this is a recipe from a dish I saw on the DC season of Top Chef. The challenge was to make a gourmet bite of food that would fit onto a toothpick. They all had some good and interesting looking things, but the one that caught my eye was the chicken and waffles take.

Let me take this moment to interject that I have made chicken and waffles in the past and absolutely love it! And don't knock it until you have tried it. Its fabulous!! You get the mild neutral waffle with your crispy fried chicken, sweet syrup with the salty gravy. It has just about everything you need. And now you've gone and gotten scared on me!! Dont be! People eat sweet with salty and soft with crunchy all the time. They even eat it all together too, not always in this form. Ever had sweet and sour chicken from an Asian restaurant? Ever had peanut butter and jelly with crunchy peanut butter? Ever put fruit in your savory salads and your tangy dressings? See! It's not such a foreign concept is it? So do not be afraid. I will not lead you astray on purpose. But normally I use frozen waffles, chicken tenders fried, regular syrup and a simple white gravy. Tonight is different!!

So back to Top Chef real quick. The recipe I saw was a homemade cheddar waffle, buttermilk fried chicken, and a maple white gravy. So that is kind of what mine is going to be. I have different types of cheddar, because I couldn't decide in the store on white or yellow, sharp or mild. Then I am going to take chicken tenders and dip in a hot sauce egg mixture and flour and fry til crispy. Then I am going to make the white gravy but use real maple syrup in the gravy instead of having 2 sauce to drizzle over your final plate. And you know what?? I am so excited I can barely contain myself!! I woke up craving it and have eaten just enough to get by today because I knew I was gonna pig out on dinner!!

White Cheddar Waffle:
2 eggs, beaten
2c all-purpose flour
1 3/4c milk (I used buttemilk)
1/2c vegetable oil
1T sugar
4t baking powder
1/4t salt
1c cheese (I used white cheddar)

Beat eggs in a large bowl. Add remaining ingredients and mix until blended. You can put in the fridge at this point and keep for several hours or for a day or two. Just make sure to stir before using. Ladle onto waffle iron and cook until iron instructions advise to take off.

For the chicken, just season with salt and pepper. In a small bowl mix 2 eggs and hot sauce until mixed. In a seperate bowl place some all-purpose flour. Heat a large skillet on medium. Add about an inch of canola or vegetable oil. Dip chicken into egg mixture, then into flour. Place immediatetly into hot oil and fry until golden brown.

For the sauce:

3T butter

1 scallion, sliced

3T flour

1-2c milk (I generally eyeball here until its thick enough)

2T maple syrup

Heat butter in skillet over medium until melted. Add flour and cook a minute to get rid of raw flour taste. Add scallions and cook another minute. Add milk and whisk until it comes together. Bring to a boil and simmer gently. If it is too thick, add some milk. Add syrup and mix. Once the right consistency turn off heat. If you have some flour glumpies, pass through a sieve to get the sauce smooth.

To assmeble, place waffle on plate. Add 2-3 pieces of chicken. Drizzle sauce over chicken and waffle. If it is not sweet enough and you cannot add syrup to sauce, drizzle over chicken and waffle. Top with some sliced scallions.

This turned out terrific!! The waffle wasn't as cheesy as I would have liked. So I might use a stronger cheese next time. But it was still wonderful. The chicken was perfectly cooked and flavorful. The sauce was sweet and salty perfection. Beautiful.....just beautiful! Don't knock it until you try it is all I gotta say!! Wonderful things come when you least expect it!! And if you do try it....make sure and let me know if it was good or not!!

Peppercorn Crusted Steaks

Well today we had some really huge inch thick rib eye steaks to grill. Rib eyes?? On a military salary?? Yep, that's right because I can find those deals!! Albertsons had them on sale one day and I snatched them up. Sometimes you just have to! So we decided this was the weekend. We thought about rubs or marinades and couldn't really decide.Alex isn't a marinade kind of guy. Although I always tell him that marinades inject a lot of flavor into the meat. He says he prefers rubs. But oh well. On this occassion we decided on simplicity....peppercorn crusted. Although this is me we are talking about and anyone who knows me knows I cannot keep things too simple. So instead of salt and black pepper I used black Hawaiian lava salt and my 4 whole peppercorn blend. I stuck it all in my spice grinder to just barely crush my peppercorns. Then I generously applied to our steaks. And when I say generous, I mean it. It looked black beofre it even hit the grill. But I knew we had a thick piece of meat and I wanted the center to still have flavor. Then I handed it over to Alex and he grilled them up.

Our other dishes is where the dinner got messed up. My Dad told me of a recipe for baked stuffed potatoes. He had never done them, but they sounded good. So I cut the ends off some small potatoes and peeled them. Then using a small knife I hollowed out the center of the potato. I wrapped a slice of bacon around it and secured with a toothpick. 

We also decided to grill some portabellos. I found these lovely portabellos at the 99cent store. Can you believe that?? I love that store. I am going to miss it immensely when we move away from here. Dad told me to marinate in some balsamic vinegar and grill.

The potatoes had a hard time on the grill and in the 30 minutes they spent on the grill, they were still not done. The bacon kept falling off and scorching.....even in non direct heat. By the time everything else was done we decided to pull off the potatoes. I then stuffed them with some sharp cheddar. I even nuked them for 40 seconds to melt the cheese.....also hoping the potato would cook a little more. Sadly....they were terribly undercooked. They had a pretty good flavor though. We both agreed next time we will place them in the oven. I am more comfotable with things not on a grill anyway.

Although...I am not allowed to use the grill. That is Alex's one place to "be a man" so to speak. But even so, I feel more comfortable with temperatures inside the house. So I shall try them again.....only in the oven. 

We finally sat down to dinner with out peppercorn crusted steaks, undercooked potatoes, and mushrooms. The potatoes were inedible and the mushrooms were too vinegary for us. Go figure. But the steaks.....oh man the steaks.....were fabulous!! The pepper was wonderful! It almost tasted like the peppered beef jerky....only without the tough jerkiness. Not that I mind jerky...in fact I LOVE jerky. I believe that was the only part of the meal we ate. It's sad when that happens really. All that time and energy and now you are only batting 33%. Thats not a pretty number. But it happens. So we had bananas foster again to make up for it!!!! Heres to hoping all your grilling endeavors are betters than ours have been this weekend!! 

Spicy Corn Soup

It was a cold, blustery day in Las Vegas. Windy?? Vegas?? Shocker!! But it was slightly windier than normal and that always makes me want soup. I love soups! Alex loves soups! And usually soup season starts about October and runs through March. Other months it just seems too hot to eat soup. And with Alex being gone for most of soup season, he's lucky it was cold today because I think he has only had 2 soups since being home. And maybe you are of the mindset that anytime is a good time for soup...but I am not! I mean if you eat it all the time it isn't special when you do make it. What would there be to look forward to if I made soup all the time?? It's like Thanksgiving...if you make roasted turkey once a month or more, you wouldn't want turket for Thanksgiving and then you would just be the bum who didn't eat turkey on Thanksgiving....kinda like that episode of Everybody Loves Raymond. And you know I make sense here!

But I digress....back to soup. Tonight was a mostly vegetarian meal. Mostly vegetarian?? Yep, it's a new food phenomenon I'm trying to start! Ok, maybe not....it just means I cooked a couple of slices of bacon, rendered out the fat and used that to saute my vegetables in and then sprinkled on top of finished soup. But I will warn you, this soup packs a nice heat punch. And BE CAREFUL! If you get too much chipotle in your soup, it will be inedible. If you are unfamiliar with chipotles less is more!! You can always add more.

3-4 ears of corn, kernels stripped off*

4 slices of bacon

2 ribs of celery, diced

1 russet potato, peeled and diced

1/4-1/2 chipotle pepper, pureed or finely diced**

1 onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 bay leaf

1-2t thyme

salt and pepper

3-4c chicken or vegetable broth

1-2c heavy cream or mexican crema

Garnishes: sliced scallions, chopped parsley, lime wedges, queso fresco or cotija***

*The best way to strip kernels off the cob is to get out a bundt pan and a baking dish. Place the bundt pan on the baking dish. Place a whole ear of corn, stalk end down, into the hole on bundt pan. Using a sharp knife cut down to remove kernels, letting the bundt pan catch  most of the kernels.

**If you are like me and do not use chipotles a whole lot here is a great tip to keep your chipotles instead of wasting a whole can. Line a baking dish with parchment or wax paper. Place chipotles, one at a time on the paper leaving space in between. Spoon remaining adobo sauce evenly over each pepper. Place in your freezer until completely frozen. Take frozen peppers and place in a ziploc bag for individual uses later. One warning: your ice will taste like chipotles, so throw out! Anything your freezer bags sits near in other freezer bags might taste like chipotles over time....so caution!!

***queso fresco or cotija?? OH YEAH!! It is fabulous! Me and Alex love this stuff. The cheddars we Americans put on our tacos is an abomination the Hispanics. This is what they use. It comes in a thick round disk and crumbles easily. Queso fresco is milder while Cotija is saltier with slightly more flavor. Both equally delicious though! Highly recommend trying it if you can find it. It is all over the place out here, but theres a lot of Hispanics in the area.....

I accidentally ripped open before taking a picture...whoops!

Nicely crumbled

Take your bacon and cut in half width wise. Then cut into strips length-wise. After this you can dice your bacon. This allows your bacon to cook evenly and crisp up nicely. You also don't have to try and crumble hot greasy bacon. Add diced bacon to large pot over medium heat. Once nice and cripsy, remove from pan and drain. If there is too much bacon fat, pour some out. Saute onion, garlic, celery, and potato until they start to soften, about 5 minutes. Add bay, thyme, salt and pepper. Saute another minute. Add chipotle and cook for anouther couple of minutes. Add chicken stock and bring up to a boil. Lower heat and simmer until veggies are cooked through. Once veggies are cooked, add corn. For thicker soup puree 1/3 of the corn mixture. Cook another 5 minutes.

Turn off heat and add your heavy cream or crema. Mix into soup and you are ready to serve! Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with cooked bacon, sliced scallions, crumbled cheese, and chopped parsley.

At the last minute I decided to add the lime wedge. I had some in the fridge so why not?? Alex was very nervous and didn't try it. He opted to put his lime in his beer instead! But I decided to be adventurous!

I tried the soup without the lime first to see if the acid would be good in it. I deemed it would be good, so I squeezed my llime slowly into my bowl of soup. So if you like this kind of stuff and are willing....try the lime!! This is in Alex's top 5 soups I make. I believe he even had me make it for his birthday one year. Needless to say we enjoyed dinner tonight. Hope you enjoy it too!!

Bananas Foster

I absolutely live for dessert!! I mean who doesn't love dessert?? So I was flipping through my recipes looking for something to make that 1) went with dinner and 2) I had the ingredients for on hand. And when I landed on this, I knew immediately it was the winner. Bananas, rum, ice cream, caramel, and coconut.....yes please!! So after dinner, Alex did homework with Anthony and I started on dessert. I was a little worried the kids would want it and I wouldn't get a bite!! But I should've known they wouldn't eat anything different, even if its super tasty. But more for me and Alex!!

1/2c butter

1/2c dark brown sugar

2T dark rum (I used brandy)

2T fresh lime juice

1/4t allspice

1/8t salt

1/2c coconut

2 bananas, sliced

1/2c chunked pineapple

vanilla ice cream

In large skillet melt butter and add brown sugar, rum, lime juice, and seasonings. Bring to a boil and simmer for a couple of minutes. Add bananas and pineapple to caramel and cook until the bananas get soft, about 2 minutes.

Meanwhile in small skillet toast the coconut until golden brown.

Place scoops of ice cream in a bowl. Spoon bananas, pineapple, and caramel sauce over ice cream. Top with toasted coconut.

It was like heaven in your mouth!! I was pleasantly happy with the flavor of the caramel. I was afraid the lime juice would be overpowering, and it wasn't. It was so awesome!! Family....BEWARE...you will be eating bananas foster in your near future!! Yes...even you Dad will be eating dessert!! So I absolutely, positively recommend making this. And it was quick and easy as well. So go out and get some bananas and make yourself something you won't forget any time soon!!!

Sausage Meatballs with Pineapple Chutney

So today was another favorite in our house....sausage meatballs with a pineapple chutney. Chutney?? Yeah, chutney. Basically cooked down fruit, in this case pineapple. I do not do this often because of all the fat in the sausage. But it just sounded good today. So heres what you need:

1lb Italian Sausage (I prefer mild)

2 scallions, sliced

1 can pineapple slices or crushed (if slices, chop), reserving juice

1/4-1/2 chipotle pepper, finely chopped

1t cumin

salt and pepper

 rice (cook according to package for amount of rice desired)

Remove casings from sausage and place into a large bowl. Mix in sliced scallions and salt and pepper and roll into bite sized balls. In a large skillet heat a small amount of olive oil, add 1/2 the rolled meatballs. Do not overcrowd the pan. Once browned and cooked through drain on a paper towel. Cook other half of the meatballs.

Meanwhile add pineapple, juice, chipotles, cumin, and salt in skillet. Bring to a low simmer and add meatballs to pineapple chutney. Once coated remove from heat. Place rice on serving plate and top with meatballs, chutney, and some juice. Top with a few sliced scallions.

I adore this recipe. There's a fair amount of heat from the chipotles and the nice sweetness from the pineapple was perfect for the weather Vegas experienced this afternoon. Now I did have pineapple I had broken down from the end of last year and I think that heightened my dish....but Im slightly biased! Im always biased when it comes to cooking!! But the star was not dinner....it was dessert!! Posting to come!! Hahahaha!

Famous Dave's

So every girl deserves a night off from cooking dontcha think? I certainly do! And for us, tonight was that night. Eating healthy and watching carbs is fine....most of the time. But sometimes you just want something to stick to your ribs. And that means one thing to this Southern girl....BBQ!! And what better time to do it than the day Alex passes his PT test? I mean he has 6 months until his next one and the perfect time to sneak something in thats loaded with fat and carbs and calories is the day he passes. So that is what we did. We decided on Famous Dave's BBQ. Now...normally we stick with Memphis BBQ right across the street. I mean it is voted the best BBQ in Las Vegas. But we decided to think outside the box today and try Famous Dave's. And their menu looks a lot like Memphis with relatively the same prices on the food. So we found the number and called ahead to pick up. We ordered the Nachos for Two as an appetizer. They are basically colored chips topped with their bakes beans, cheese, sauce, jalapenos, and a barbequed meat (chicken, pork, or beef...we chose chicken).

I ordered the Georgia chopped pork with red mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese. Alex got the burnt ends and the chopped pork with cole slaw and mashed potatoes. And we got chicken tenders and french fries for the kids.

So I drove the supposed 15 minute drive across the interstate to Famous Dave's. But you know what I failed to remember?? It was 4:45 and the base had just changed shifts. So the road outside our house that leads to the restaurant was PACKED! I was so aggravated. I mean you expect this on the Strip or the I-15 or the beltways....but Craig Rd?? Man! So I sat in my car listening to my radio stations alternating between the rock stations and the country stations....singing Five Finger Death Punch and then switching it up to Billy Currington.....yes...I know...Im weird. But I have to good enough sense to know it! So I finally made it over the bridge and back again to my hungry family.

So whats my verdict? Not bad. But I think Memphis is better in the all around category. The pork was nice and flavorful and you had individual sauce packets whereas Memphis has a flavorful and slightly more juicy pork with sauce cups. The bread wasn't toasted and sat underneath the meat to get all soggy...Memphis puts theirs on top to get all soggy. The mashed potatoes were not great. "It'll eat" as Alex would say. And the macaroni has too many jalapenos in it for my taste. Now dont get me wrong....I thoroughly enjoy spicy food. In fact a lot of my food has a fair amount of heat in it...but when you're eating Southern BBQ jalapenos in your macaroni and cheese don't really mix. Its fine if you're making other food with Southwestern influences in it and make it. But with "Georgia chopped pork"....I'm not feeling it. I do not like cole slaw but Alex preferred Dave's to Memphis on this one. But overall we both agreed that Memphis was better. We both still enjoyed our dinner and were happy with it....but next time we want BBQ in Vegas we will chose Memphis BBQ.

Macadamia Nut Crusted Fish with Beet Salad

Well tonight was something different. With Alex's PT test in the morning I tried to keep it super healthy. So I asked him what kind of fish, hoki or tilapia. He chose tilapia. The interesting thing was when I pulled it out of the freezer I realized we had not bought tilapia at the Mexican market...we bought Sea Bass! Score! I wasn't exactly sure what I was gonna do with it. I looked online and thought about something Cuban style. But I couldn't figure out what I would eat with it that would be healthy enough for tonight. I even had the misfortune of finding a Gordan Ramsey youtube video of him cooking it with some gadget to grind the spices.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAg5szr3spA

But I do't like star anise or fennel, so that recipe went right out of the window! I finally decided on macadamia nut crusted. So while I was perusing the wide and vast selection of produce at the Neighborhood Market Wal-Mart....yeah you guessed from my sarcasm there isn't much there at all...I noticed a lovely bunch of beets. That's right....beets. Now go ahead and pick your jaw up off the floor. Xandrea willingly and with purpose bought beets!! Now if you know me at all, you know 5 years ago I would've run in the other direction screaming at the mention of beets. And if you had told me then that a 5 years older version of myself would be making them I would've made a bet and be licking your bare toes today. So I guess it's a good thing I made no such bet.....toe jam isn't exactly my favorite!

But back to beets. So I finally decided to roast them and make a warm beet salad. And let me tell you it was a huge risk.

4 beets, tops and bottoms cut off

2-4T blue cheese, goat cheese, or other strong cheese

2-4T toasted pecans or walnuts

2T olive oil

2T balsamic vinegar

Wrap beets in foil and bake at 400 degrees for about an hour until soft. Unwrap and let cool slightly. Gently rub the outer skins off. Cut into wedges and place on serving dish. Sprinkle cheese and nuts over beet wedges. Drizzle olive oil and vinegar over salad. Serve immediately.

As for the fish...super simple.
2 fish filets
salt and pepper
1/4c crushed macadamia nuts
1/8c panko or regular bread crumbs
2 cloves garlic, minced

Season the fish with salt and pepper. Mix together in a small bowl nuts, panko, and garlic. Heat a large oven safe skiller on medium with olive oil. Lightly sear one side of fish about 5 minutes. After flipping the fish over, top with 1/2 the nut mixture and place whole skillet into a oven at 425 degrees. Cook for another 5 minutes and remove from oven.

Dinner trned out to be fabulous!! Who knew beets could be so dadgum tasty!! The fish was slightly oversalted...my fault there, but the beets were really good. Alex said the only way he had ever had beets was raw, so this was completely new for him. But he really liked them. We both agree that you need a small bite of blue cheese with evry bite. And if it gets too cold it is not quite as good. I believe it eclipsed the fish! Then again maybe it was because the fish was oversalted....hmmm......I'm gonna go with beets were just that good!

I did take a little plate next door to my columbian neighbor. She answered and started laughing. She said the last two things I brought to her house to try were two things she didn't like: eggplant and now beets. But she was up for trying it. She loved it! She couldn't believe how sweet they were and how well they went with the pecans. She did not like blue cheese to begin with so she wasn't crazy about the blue cheese in the dish. It was nice to get a second opinion on a new dish.

I think I will make this again...maybe even for some family members who haven't tried beets or don't want to try beets.....maybe my unsuspecting mother!! HAHA!! So I absolutely recommend trying the beet salad...packed full of vitamins and minerals and tasty to boot!!

Grilled Turkey Salad

This dinner has got to be my absolute favorite salad ever. And it's super easy too. I get tired of the same old salads. And I have reached a point where a veggie salad just doesn't fill me up. I need more substance to make me full. Sure you can eat something with your salad to get you full, but this way is healthy and very low on carbs. I use lots of protein. I normally use chicken breasts or chicken tenders. Tenders are easier and quicker to cook on my George Forman. But today I used some turkey cutlets I found hidden in my freezer. So what do you need??

spring green mixture or any green leafy salad mix you like, butter lettuce also works nicely
dried cranberries
1/2 apple or 1/2 pear, sliced and diced
blue cheese ( I prefer gorgonzola)
toasted pecans or walnuts
chicken tenders or breasts
salt and pepper (if you have a 4-pepper blend its awesome here)
Apricot Vinaigrette (recipe to follow)

In a large bowl place your leafy greens, handful or two of dried cranberries, diced fruit, toasted nuts, and 2 spoonfuls or so of blue cheese. Season your chicken with salt and pepper. I use a George Forman to grill my chicken, but you can use a real grill, bake, or saute in a medium skillet with 1T olive oil until golden. Let your chicken rest and make your dressing.

Apricot Vinaigrette:
2T apricot jam/preserves (more if you like it sweeter)
1T dijon mustard
1/2t black pepper
4T red wine vinegar
dash of salt
4T-1/4c olive oil

In a small bowl whisk apricot, mustard, pepper, vinegar, and salt. Start adding olive oil a couple of drops at a time while whisking. Add a few more drops of olive oil and continue whisking. Once you get about 1/3 of your olive oil whisked in you can add more olive oil while whisking until you get all of the oil completely emulsified into the vinegar mixture. For a more tart tasting dressing use equal or less oil in your dressing. For a milder dressing using equal to double parts oil in your dressing.

Now that you've made the dressing, slice your meat and place on top of your salad. Top with apricot vinaigrette. It is fabulous...I promise you. And you can make it sweeter by using more jam or more tart with more vinegar. But the main thing is how great it tastes and how good for you it is.

What is amusing about this dish is that while Alex was in Afghanistan this made his top 10 dinner list for when he returned home. I was shocked! I thought it would be ribs or soup or asian food. But I was not expecting grilled chicken salad. So I feel really honored this made his list. It also goes to show everyone that I do not eat very unhealthy meals on a weekly basis. You make one Paula Dean gooey butter cake for a party and people label you as the butter girl. Well to be honest, this is more my weekly food style than my known dishes. Those are my special dishes. So I hope this peaks your interest!!

Strawberry-Basil Scones

This morning rolled around a little too early for my taste. We awoke to the glorious sounds of Vinnie banging on his door to get out. Thats a wonderful way to jump start your morning by the way. So after getting up and getting downstairs I started making four different breakfasts. Yeah, thats right, you heard me right...four different breakfasts. Vinnie needed his Special K bars with chocolate milk. Anthony wanted toast with Nutella and juice. Alex wanted a vegetable egg scramble and I wanted none of the above. So I decided to go ahead and make the strawberry scones I have been eyeing for a couple of days now. Everything started off well. I got all of my ingredients together, including my now clumped together strawberry powder. After pulsing it through my spice grinder, all was well. Then I picked some basil from my windowsill. Which got me and Alex involved in a discussion about how many houses on our block or road for that matter had even one ingredient that could be found in our house. Of 25 items located in our house, maybe one per house would have it....we have eclectic tastes. But one item of note here, when slicing your basil make sure you do not bruise it. You want to sort of roll the leaves together long ways and then take a very sharp knife and slice gently but quickly through the leaves so you are slicing and not tearing them. When you tear the leaves they become bruised and lose some of the pretty green color. And who wants to eat basil thats an ugly greenish brown color??

I did use a pre-mixed scone box. Sometimes it is just easier that way. And Fresh and Easy has a good one. Perhaps this was my greatest downfall....oh well. So after following the directions on the box I added some strawberry powder, fresh sliced strawberries, and some chiffonaded basil. Then I spooned into my scone pan. If you ever wanted to make scones and you didnt want to buy the scone pan, just take your dough and form into squares and then cut diagonally into triangles and lay on a baking sheet. I happen to have a scone pan my mother-in-law gave me last year. Then I took some regular sugar and sprinkled on top of the scones.

Then you bake these at 400 degrees until golden brown and cooked through.

I let these cool some and then transferred to a plate....voila! Breakfast is served. Heres where the morning fell to pieces. The strawberries ended up soggy inside the scones. There also was not a lot of sugar in the scone and I think it desperately needed it. When I told you my greatest downfall was using the scone mix it may have been the original recipe called for more sugar than the box had. But while that was an issue, Alex's biggest issue with the scones was the basil taste. He said it reminded him of eating a meatball from the basil and yet the taste of strawberry. It was an obstacle he could not overcome. And when you dont notice something and someone brings it to your attention what happens?? That is all you see or in this case taste. So my next bite tasted like strawberry meatballs!!

Well at this point I had dreamed of these suckers and put enough energy into them I was not giving up!! So I decided the biggest hurdle for me to get over was the lack of sugar. So I made up a quick confectioners sugar glaze (just powdered sugar and milk) and drizzled over the top.

It improved the taste some. Alex didnt like it any better. He said he still tasted the basil and it was still a turnoff for him. I ate them. I mean I had'nt had any breakfast yet so I was eating these suckers!! But the mushy strawberry was still not pleasant. So I assume the remainder of the scones will end up in the trash. It's awful really. I thought this would be a great recipe, spent all morning making them and then they flop. So why am I posting this then?? It is because a lot of people ask me if I ever make anything that doesn't taste good and I can only ever come up with one real answer. I know there have been lots and lots of others but none I know off the top of my head. Well this is one! And I want to show people that I do not always make good food. I am subject to error in judgement and cooking just like the next person. Now I do not like to admit it. But then again who does? So heres to my big fat strawberry-basil scone flop!!

Chicken Lettuce Cups

So you probably read the title and are thinking they cannot be that good. But you know what, my neighbor ate some and she loved it. So I guess it cannot be all that bad. And its really good for you too. Thats a plus in our house right now with Alex's fit test only a week away. I am looking for tasty food that isnt loaded with carbs and fat. And this has no breading or rice or potato which is highly discouraged right now. So whats in this delicious lettuce cup?

1 packet stir fry seasoning powder*
1/4c water
2T soy sauce
2T fresh lime juice
1t sugar
1T canola oil
1lb ground chicken breast**
1 red bell pepper, diced
2T green onions, sliced
pinch of red pepper flakes
1 head of romaine or 2 heads of butter lettuce
minced mint, cilantro, bean sprouts and/or chopped peanuts

*So I did not have stir fry seasoning in my pantry so I made my own. I did a generic google search and mixed and matched and finally came up with that I used! Now it did make more than I needed. I believe I only used 1/2 of the mixture. And it was slightly too salty so I will cut down on some of the soy sauce or chicken bouillon next time. And I had never even heard of dried red bell pepper. Alex told me I ought to just take some red bell pepper and dry it and grind it and then make the recipe. Theres only one problem with that...it was already 4:00 and it would take hours for me to get it all ready. And now y'all think Im crazy for even contemplating drying my own red bell pepper. Alex's response? "Well we will just eat at 10:00p which is when trendy people like to eat". Sure Alex....2 people who like to be in bed by 10:00 will eat at 10:00 and then be miserable and go to sleep later than we like and be grumpy the entire next day. Lovely idea! So I opted out with the red bell pepper. But you are more than welcome to do it yourself. 
1/4c chicken bouillon
3T cornstarch
2T sugar
2T onion powder or minced dried onions
2T garlic powder
2t dried parsley
1/2t ground ginger
1/4t dried red bell pepper (I did not have this nor did I know where to find this, so I omitted)

**While I did use ground chicken, you could easily use ground turkey. I normally always have ground turkey lying around in my freezer. And until I went to Fresh and Easy and found their ground chicken on sale, I would have used the ground turkey instead. So just use your own improvisational skills to determine what you want to use or not.

Directions

In a small bowl, combine stir-fry seasoning, water, soy sauce, lime juice and sugar. Set aside.

Heat oil in a skiller over medium heat. Add chicken meat and use a wooden spoon to break up the meat. Cook until browned, about 10 minutes. Add red bell pepper, green onions, and red pepper flakes and cook 5 minutes. Stir in stir-fry mix and cook until the mixture evaporates.

I like to make things my own, so I added some stuff from here. I added some toasted sesame seeds once the chicken mixture was ready to eat. I also did not use all of the condiments suggested and added some others. But now you have got this lovely chicken mixture and you may or may not know how to assemble your cup. Well the easy answer...any way you want pretty much. Its your food, your life, your perogative. But perhaps you want me to tell you how to do it. Thats fine. No biggie. Take a piece of lettuce and put a spoonful of chicken mixture on top. I topped with some crushed peanuts, sliced chives (I didnt have scallions and wanted some kind of onion flavor), and bean sprouts. I wish I had some fresh mint to roughly chop and eat with it. But oh well, maybe next time. But we did find that adding a couple squirts of the Asian hot sauce Sriracha made a huge taste difference. But get too much and you can't taste anything but hot sauce. So squirt at your own risk.

Then you want to try and fold it together like you would an overstuffed burrito. Its easier to eat if you can get an end tucked together. Otherwise you will end up with a chicken lettuce lap. In fact at one point during the meal I think I did end up with chicken lettuce lap. I looked almost as clean as Anthony eating his veggie taco. We could not persuade him to try the lettuce cup, even without the chicken mixture. So he had sour cream from ear to ear. And I had lettuce and sriracha all over my face. We made a striking pair!

The verdict? It was a success. Xandrea Scale of 1-10? 7.5-8.0. Xandrea scale?? Yeah thats right, I have my own rating scale. We have found that when I ask Alex to rate my food they always end up on the higher end of the scale. So we revised the scale to my food. I have some good but average, middle of the road dishes and those are my 5-6 range. Dishes that are more tasty and worthy of eating again and again get a higher rating. Crazy? Sure, but it works for us!! There are some adjustments that need to be made to make a better chicken cup. First, less chicken bouillon or soy sauce...way too salty. Second, scallions and herbs added to make a more balanced set of flavors. Will I make it again? Sure, I have got more ground chicken in my freezer, why not!

Strawberry

I was combing through some recipes and found one for strawberry-basil scones. And I am a sucker for scone anything. So I was looking at the recipe and it needs freeze dried strawberries in addition to the regular juicy ones. At first I looked in the grocery stores and couldnt find any. Then I got this really brilliant idea to use the dehydrated powder I made several months ago. I mean how could I not think of that first??? It has been sitting in my pantry, taunting me, "You won't ever use me Xandrea" "I was a spur of the moment idea you had with no real intentions of using me". Well you know what? No more taunting! I am pulling that sucker out and finally using it!! But before I do I thought I would share my 5 hour process with y'all. But be warned, this is not for the faint of heart or people who traditionally don't finish things. It is an all day process where you may not even reap the rewards immediately. Look at me, I made these months ago and this will be the first time I am using it!!

First thing you need to do is slice your strawberries as thin as you can possibly get them. And you can see that in some case I didnt get a full slice, but thats okay because they are gonna end up as powder. And you really need the parchment or a silicon mat because these suckers will stick as they dry. You wanna put them in a 200 degree oven.

Now that youve got them in the oven you want to let them hang out and slowly dry out. I like to turn them over every hour to hour and a half. This way both sides dry out evenly. I did find with the strawberries that the more they dry out the more brittle they become when turning them, so just be careful. I cannot give you an exact time they will be dried out since my slices may be thinner or thicker than yours, but mine took about 5 hours in the oven. Once they are dry completely pull them off the parchment and into a bowl or other container to cool off.

So at this point you have everything dried out and you may be quite proud and excited with yourself, but be warned your ego will be deflated shortly. Why? Because you are going to pull out your trusty small food processor and the large amount to your eyes now will instantly disappear into a smooth powder of absolutely nothing. It's heartbreaking really. I had my very large spice bottle all ready thinking it would be about half full. I mean afterall I dehydrated at least half of the carton of strawberries if not the whole thing. Surely the yield would be significant. WRONG!

No need to adjust your monitors, that is really the yield I got! I ended up with a little more because I did the rest of the carton of strawberries, but really...if you are doing this you probably don't plan on using this every day. So the yield will be plenty for you. I know it was for me. But you will have the privilege of saying you used your own form of molecular gastronomy and won! You are now well versed in making food powders and nothing can take that away from you....even if you do not use it at all or for some time. You can add one more thing to your "resume"!!

Happy St. Patty's Day

Well today is St Patricks Day and despite my husbands reservations we are all in green. This is a difficult day to deal with because my husband is Italian and the Italians traditionally do not like the Irish. But the kids enjoy the holiday and want to wear green and talk about leprechauns. So I did what any good mother would do, dressed the kids in green and even let my oldest wear his leprechaun hat to school today! But I decided to take it a step farther today. I am venturing into the world of Irish cooking today. So what is the one thing you are suppose to eat today?? Corned beef and cabbage. So thats what I am making. Albertsons had their entire stock of corned beef briskets on sale 50% off. I mean really...how can you pass that up? So I bought 2! But now I am faced with the challenge of making something tasty from this hunk of meat sitting in my fridge. Not to mention the cabbage that I absolutely hate. So I have done some research and thinking and decided on a nice spice rub concoction.

1/2c salt
1/8c pink salt
2T brown sugar
1T whole black peppercorns
1T mustard seeds
1T corriander seeds
1t allspice or 1T allspice berries
1/2T ground ginger
3 bay leaves
3lb corned beef brisket
water
1 yellow onion, sliced
5-10 carrots, thick sliced
1/2-1 head cabbage cut into wedges
baby white potatoes
parsley
1-3T butter

I ran all of this through my very handy coffee/spice grinder (dont worry I only use it for spices) and get a nice smooth consistency. I have rubbed it all over my beef and am letting it hang out in the fridge. After getting the kids from school I will place it in my lovely dutch oven and cook it for a couple of hours in the oven on a low heat. The cabbage is still giving me hives though. I really do not like cabbage. I do not want to eat cabbage today, but Alex likes it so I guess I will suck it up. I do know that I have some small white potatoes I am going to roast and eat with this. So I guess Alex's Grandpa Joe will just have to roll over in his grave because tonights dinner is all Irish on an Irish holiday and you know what? I don't feel bad about doing it!!

Directions:
Mix first 10 ingredients in a coffee or spice grinder. Rub generously over brisket and keep in the coldest part of the fridge for a couple of days.


Using a dutch oven or slow cooker place brisket and cover with water. Cook slowly for 8-10 hours. During the last hour add onions and carrots. Continue to cook for 45 minutes. Add cabbage and cook for 15 minutes.


Meanwhile place baby potatoes in a pot of salty boiling water. Cook til tender, about 10-15 minutes. Drain and toss with parsley and butter.


Pull the brisket out and slice thinly. Serve with cabbage mixture and potatoes.

So here we are several hours later and this is the final result. The corned beef cooked for about 5 hours in the slow cooker. In the last hour I added the onions and carrots. And then with 15 minutes left I added in the wedged cabbage. I did not want soggy cabbage. That is the last thing I wanted to eat, soggy gym sock smelling cabbage. And it was slightly al dente. I even ate some of it! Go figure. The beef was slightly tough, and while Alex tried to tell me that corned beef isn't always tender, I want to try it again with the other corned beef in the freezer and make it more tender. But the flaovrs.....spot on! The cabbage soaked in just enough flavor and water to give it a masked cabbage taste and yet still be toothsome. The carrots....severely underdone. But oh well. Cant win them all right? So heres the verdict: We like it. For an Italian family we thoroughly enjoyed our St Patricks Day. So much so that I think Alex is ready for me to do it again. There was only enough leftover for one sandwich!!

Veggie Curry

So I finally got it into my little head that I should try tofu and do it right. I talked with Alex last night....didn't go so well! LOL! But after some discussion he finally caved and said he would try it. Little does he know that the Veggie Curry he thinks we are having will have some tofu in it too! It will be interesting to see if he can tell or notice if there is anything different with it. I thought curry would be a good medium for this adventure since curry has a lot of flavor to mask the taste and texture of tofu. I love curry and Middle Eastern flavors and what is funny is that I have no problem taking my very white Southern-speaking self downtown to the Mediterranean Market and buying all kinds of stuff from curry and spices to specialty grape leaves and meat. But you take me right down the street to the Mexican markets....completely terrified! I always think they are looking at me saying, "What is this white girl doing here?" I have to bring Alex with me when I go. And I do really love to go. All the great produce and meat at such wonderful prices. And all the unbelievable Spanish olive oil. I am sure that the Mexican market is far less likely to judge me and talk about me since there are hundreds of those markets and well money is money than the Middle Eastern market. There is only one in town that I know of at this quality and it is very tiny. Guess I am just a little backwards. Guess its time to grab an apron and start making the house smell like wet dogs butt! But oh how tasty!!

So my post was a little premature. I got distracted and busy with the kids that I completely forgot to make the tofu in the curry. Whoops. But I do intend to use the tofu in a very sneaky manner sometime in the future. As for the curry? It was not spectacular. What you see in the pan is cauliflower, chickpeas, onions, and sweet potatoes doused in curry powder and vegetable broth. I do not advise using striaght curry powder. I wish I had made my own curry blend or used one of the prepackaged mixes from the Middle Eastern market. I also do not think I had enough yogurt for the quantity of veggies used. But the sweet potatoes were truly wonderful. They were sweet and spicy. And thats always a great combination. Next time I will use a better curry spice blend and some more yogurt and definitely use more sweet potatoes. But it was a good place to start on a new recipe. You may be asking yourself...did the kids eat it? HAHAHA! Not even close! My self-proclaimed vegetarian wouldn't come within 5 feet of it. And well Vinnie is Vinnie so I do not really need to explain further. But then again it is curry and what 4 and 6 year old would eat curry willingly without being exposed to it every day?