Chicken Cheese Pasta with Peas

It is what it says it is: Chicken, Peas and Linguine with Cheese Sauce over the top.

The guys liked it. I tried to "lighten" it up by using asiago gratings instead of the cheddar sauce for my portion. Mine was healthier but definitely less flavorful. It was a bit bland, but a fine meal anyhow.

Chicken Cheese Pasta with Peas
2 boneless chicken breasts chopped into bite-sized pieces
1-2 T olive oil
16 oz frozen peas
2 teaspoons fresh or 1 teaspoon dry oregano
ground pepper to taste
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 c cream
1T flour
linguini - cooked al denti

Cook your chicken pieces in a skillet using the olive oil. Add the peas , oregano and pepper to the fully cooked chicken. In a separate sauce pan place your grated cheddar, cream and flour. Whisk together as you cook over low heat until smooth.
Plate your linguine, then top with the chicken and peas mixture and pour cheese sauce over the top. Enjoy!

Banana, The wonder food!

It's time for me to get back to that "perpetual diet" I like to remember I'm on from time to time. That being said, let's talk about a miracle food: Bananas!

At this moment there are five different types of bananas common on the market:
Red bananas: have a green/red peel and pink fruit flesh. They taste the same like yellow bananas. The redder a fruit, the more carotene it contains, so maybe they are healthier than their yellow colleagues;
Fruit-bananas: are the normal, yellow bananas, 15-30 cm.
Apple-bananas: are smaller, 8-10 cm., and ripen faster. They are also yellow;
The baby-banana (pisang susa): is yellow as well and measures 6-8 cm. It is the sweetest of the banana family;
Baking bananas: are 30 to 40 cm. large and are green, yellow or red-like. They cannot be eaten raw. They fulfill the role of the potato in the tropical countries.

Aside from there being lots of types of bananas to chose from , there are many wonderful nutritional benefits to eating them: they prevent cancer (http://www.nrjournal.com/article/S0271-5317(03)00090-3/abstract) , they are very close to a completely balanced meal all in one, and they are full of vitamins that help us in many ways!

So... if you are bored and want to bake, as I am RIGHT NOW, try cutting up a banana in fun shapes and then eating it. Maybe we can all get healthier together? Who knows? Or... we could bake banana bread :).

Banana Bread
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

Easter Candy Ideas

Easter is coming and I'm starting to get ready. The first order of business... CANDY! Since we eat so much citrus around here I decided to put our garden waste to some use. The easter bunny will be bringning candied citrus peel this year. I'm starting to notice a theme in my posts: citrus. The time of year solicits the vibrancy of such sunny fruits. I imagine that when fall comes around everything will be squashes and potatoes again. Until then let's enjoy my recent rash of lemons and oranges.


I candied lemons and tangerines for this batch. I'll keep up this effort for a couple of weeks until I have enough peel to satisfy friends and family.

How does one candy peel?

CANDIES PEEL:

Peel your citrus with a peeler or a knife. Use a fillet knife to cut away the pith (White meaty stuff). Once you have a bunch of peel put on a pot of water to boil. When the water is boiling Blanch all of your peel in the water for 1 minute. Remove. Dump out blanching water then in the pot add 2 cups fresh water and 2 cups of sugar. Bring to a boil. Add blanched peel and boil in sugar syrup for 30-40 minutes. Remove and place on a plate that has been dusted with granulated sugar (Prevents sticking to plate). Roll further in sugar and set to dry for 3-4 hours. Store in an airtight container for up to a month.

Are you BRAVE or CHICKEN?

Our local meat market had a chicken extraveganza that was awe-inspiring. Chicken is not the most exciting meat so I decided to raid the cupboards and get creative. I found some fresh orange juice and some not-so-fresh cabernet. A few additives and we were in business! So here is my newest concoction:

SWEET ORANGE CHICKEN:

(measurements are approximations)

3 cups fresh Orange juice

2 cups red wine

1/4 c molasses

1/4 c balsamic vinegar

4 medium boneless chicken breasts

In a large skillet reduce 2 cups of OJ, 1 1/2 c red wine, molasses and vinegar until thick and saucey, about 12-15 minutes. Remove from heat and brush onto chicken breasts. Cook chicken in oven on roaster pan at 450 degrees. After 15-17 minutes brush with sauce again and return to oven. Let finish cooking for 8-10 minutes more or until juices run clear. Meanwhile, add remaining Orange juice and wine to sauce and reduce again. Serve chicken with sauce over rice or with a rich pilaf on the side.

Candy from the heart.

Valentine's Day came and went and it was GREAT FUN! My husband, the great Brian Sendelbach, gave me some amazing flowers and an even more amazing photo collage with his art and a picture of a certain girl he is married to.... If you ever want to check out some great and fun art you should feel free to click here:

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=54690596

In return for the wonderful gifts, I gave my husband a "candy-gram". I learned of the idea from a lady in my office and thought it was just too cute to say no to! I wrote a personal message to my hubby on a large poster board and used candy bars for many of the words. It came out even cuter than I had hoped and Brian LOVED it! It was also very fun for our two year old.

Our son, Albie, also got to eat heart-shaped french toast for breakfast and heart pizza for lunch... so an all around fun day!

Dear love.. I made cookies.

It's almost Valentine's day. Valentine's day is a holiday especially made for making sweets for the sweet. In celebration Albie and I made cookies with heart themes. We had a blast looking for the recipes and found MANY possibilities on the world wide web. It seems the world loves heart shaped things. These simple sweets are at once delicate and endearing as they are both dusted with the lacey confectioners sugar. What better way to say happy Valentine's day than with a such a sugary-sweet gesture?

Pecan Linzer Cookies with raspberry filling (recipe from Martha Stewart.com

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup pecan halves, toasted
2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar, plus more for sprinkling
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup raspberry jam, strained
Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl; set aside. Pulse pecans, confectioners' sugar, salt, and cinnamon in a food processor until finely ground (but not wet); transfer to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
Add butter and granulated sugar; mix on medium speed until fluffy. Mix in vanilla and egg. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture; mix until combined. Halve dough; shape into disks. Wrap in plastic; refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/8 inch thick. Refrigerate 20 minutes. Cut out squares with a 2-inch fluted cutter. Cut out centers of half the squares with a 1/2-inch heart cutter; reroll scraps. Space 2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake squares and hearts until pale golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to racks to cool.
Meanwhile, heat jam in a small saucepan over medium heat until reduced and thickened, about 7 minutes; let cool.
Sprinkle cutout cookies with confectioners' sugar. Spread jam onto uncut squares; top with cutout ones. Store in an airtight container up to 2 days.

Heart shaped lemon bars:
For the lemon bars we used the recipe we have already posted in another blog post. I'll put it up again just in case someone wants it RIGHT NOW! After making the recipe of lemon bars I used a cookie cutter and cut out the heart-shaped treats. Yum.

lemon bars (as seen previously):

2 sticks (8 ounces) butter

2 cups flour

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

4 beaten eggs

2 cups sugar

4 tablespoons flour

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 tablespoon finely grated lemon peel

sifted confectioners' sugar

Heat oven to 325°. Blend butter, 2 cups flour and 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar. Pat into ungreased 13x9x2-inch pan. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes. For filling, blend together eggs, sugar, 4 tablespoons flour, lemon juice, and lemon peel.Pour over first layer. Return to oven and bake at 325° for 20 minutes. Loosen around edges, cut into bars and sift confectioners' sugar over the top while warm.

What a cute Valentine baker Albie is!! I believe he wears more confectioner's sugar on his clothing than on the cookies he made.

Zoo Food!

On our visit to Washington we spent some time visiting friends in Seattle, our old home town. We went to the Woodland Park Zoo with our son and saw the Animals. Gone are the fun yet inhumane days of feeding the animals fistfuls of peanuts. Also, suprisingly, gone are the days of fun human junk food at the zoo. I looked forward to elephant ears and hot sugar coated almonds. I built up the corn-dog experience to my son. When we arrived at the "food pavillion" (an open-air barn built to house those strange beasts: the humans) we found that our choices were limited and fairly healthy! Grain fed beef burgers with fresh tomatoes and lettus or low fat grilled chicken burgers and organic fries. It was yummy. I liked it... but a part of me mourns the loss of the deep fried zoo experience and the little children with cotton candy in their hair talking about the monkeys all the way home.

So... let's look back at the good stuff:

Cotton Candy

Elephant ear:


Corn Dogs:

complete with recipe (as seen in "Fair Foods"):
1 cup milk
2 medium eggs
1/4 cup oil
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/3 cups corn meal
2/3 cup flour
1 to 1-1/2 pounds hot dogs
flour for dusting (about 1/2 cup)
Hot Fat for Deep Frying
Popscicle sticks
In a large bowl combine the milk, eggs, oil, sugar and salt. Mix it very well. Sprinkle in the baking powder, corn meal and flour. Stir it all up to make a slightly thick batter.
Take your hot dogs and dry them off on paper towels. Dust the hot dogs with flour, coating them completely. The cornmeal batter won't stick to the hot dogs unless they are coated in flour. The batter just slides right off of the wieners naturally slick outsides. Shove popscicle sticks into the flour coated hot dogs. Set the hot dogs aside.
While all of this is going on, it's a good idea to get your hot fat to heating up. You want the temperature to be about 375°. Allow the fat to preheat so it is almost smoking by the time you are ready to add the corn dogs.
Now, to coat the floured hot dogs with batter you have two choices. You can swirl the hot dogs in the bowl of batter until they are coated, and then drop them into the hot fat. If this is a little difficult I know of an easier way. Scoop some of your corn meal batter into a narrow jar or cup which is as tall as your hot dogs are long. Fill the jar or cup about 3/4 of the way full. Dip your hot dog into the batter while you hold onto the stick. Swirl the hot dog to coat it evenly. Be careful or the batter will overflow. Raise the wiener above the cup and let any excess batter drip off. Quickly place the battered dog into the hot fat. The fat will bubble up and cook the outside of the batter, making the corndogs the exact same shape as the ones you buy at the store.
Only fry a few corn dogs at a time. If the corn dogs crowd each other they don't fry very well. I only fry 2 or 3 at a time. Turn the corn dogs when the bottom side is well browned. Use tongs to remove the cooked corn dogs from the fat. Allow them to drain on paper towels. Repeat the process, coating and frying a few at a time, until all of the corn dogs are cooked. Refill the narrow jar or cup with batter from your bowl as necessary. Continue until all the hot dogs are coated or until you no longer have enough batter to coat the hot dogs efficiently.
If you don't want to waste any unused batter, it can be dropped by small spoonfuls into the hot fat, and fried until brown. Serve these along side the corn dogs.
If desired, you can make small corn dogs by cutting hot dogs into thirds, or quarters. Poke a toothpick up into the end of the hot dogs. Coat and fry them as described above. Provide plenty of ketchup and mustard for dipping.
This recipe makes about 12 to 14 corn dogs

Margaret's Roast Pepper and Salmon Sandwich.

I've returned from the beautiful Northwest. My family rented an amazing house on the Olympic Peninsula, at Fort Worden. I highly recommend the location for beauty and price as well as amazing kitchens in the refurbished late 1800's homes. I walked into a kitchen three times the size of mine with countertop that stretched on for miles!

My sister, Margaret was equally inspired by this wonderful kitchen (though her home has a killer kitchen). She set to work to wow us all with a quick sandwich lunch. She roasted three bell peppers to smoky perfection and served with beautifully cooked cuts of baked salmon with fresh dill and lemon pepper. All was laid on a bed of romaine and enclosed by toasted wheat. It was fabulous to look at, fast (salmon was cooked the night before) and mouthwatering delicious! I promised the world great NW cooking and here it is.

Roasted Red Pepper and Salmon Sandwich

2 red bell peppers
fillet of pacific salmon
fresh dill
lemon pepper
Romaine lettus
wheat bread/ bread of choice
mustard* (optional)

Wash whole red peppers and lay out on their sides on roasting pan. Place pan under broiler for 4-5 minutes or until blackened and starting to let juices flow. Turn peppers to expose uncooked side to the broiler. Repeat this until much of the red pepper is blackened. Set on paper towel and allow to rest for 10-15 minutes.

Cook salmon fillet by spicing with lemon pepper then laying dill across salmon. Trickle a little olive oil on if you would like. Broil for 7-8 minutes or until pink and cooked through with no red remaining. Remove and let rest.

Cut red peper lengthwise into 2-3 inch side strips of pepper. Cut away guts and seeds from the pepper.

Toast bread and put on some mustard if you like. Add a good handfull of romaine lettus and two stips of roasted red pepper. Add a slab of salmon from the fillet. Close her up and enjoy!

Going West for Fresh Fish and Family Fun.

I am gearing up to go home. My family hails from Seattle, the home of very fresh seafood and lots of great authentic Asian cuisine. What does this trip mean for you, the bloggie? It means I won't type much at all, but that when I come back I will have a wealth of wonderful food to share with the world.

Can I recommend a Northwest cook book for experimentation while I'm gone? I love perusing the cook books at the local library. I often find many yummy secrets lurking in the dusty depths of the second floor back right-hand corner. The other day I came across a wonderful little cook book filled with NW specialties by a chef who has become a renowned culinary specialist of the region and has written many cook books. The book was called In Season: Culinary Adventures of a San Juan Island Chef by Greg Atkinson. You can pick up this great little mouth-watering treat by clicking this link:

http://www.amazon.com/Season-Culinary-Adventures-Juan-Island/dp/157061119X

In Season is not just a cook book. It's funny and moving and so much more than recipes. There are lots of great recipes, don't get me wrong! The antic dotes and vivid descriptive writing makes this book a joy to read as well as cook from. Try it! MAKE THE OYSTERS! And tell me what you think.

Read a review of this book here:

http://www.realgoodfood.com/inseason.html