Bring a little Summer to your food

If I squeeze my eyes shut and take a hearty bite of these tacos, I feel like I am sitting in a little Cabana ....sipping a margarita...digging my toes in to the hot sand...enjoying the pure bliss of summer. "Mom, Mom, Mommy!!".....My mirage is broken, I am transported back to my kitchen table in my little home with wet yucky snow on the ground. Aww, life. Make these tacos and see if you can brighten up your gray winter month.

For this delicious concoction pop over to: http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2009/04/turkey-lettuce-wrap-tacos-with-chiles.html
The only thing I changed was I used ground chicken vs turkey, even though I am sure turkey would be just as yummy. 

Delightful Curries

The first day I ever tasted a homemade curry dish I knew it was rapidly going to become an addiction. I am not sure who made the first dish me, mom or dad (most likely dad), whoever it may be, I must once again say thank you for enhancing and delighting my taste buds.

As we get older, finding gifts that a person will really enjoy seems to become tougher with the years. Curries have made this difficult task a cinch. I have full confident that my dad and mom will use every single curry paste that I make and will enjoy them for months on end. This year I even expanded my curry gift giving to a friend who I knew would find pleasure in them as much as we have.

5 different curries, 5 different dishes, millions of possibilities. This blog needs a scratch and sniff feature. <smile> The spicy exotic aroma that fills my kitchen is OOOOHHH SOOOOO heavenly!!!. This Christmas I made 4 batches of each curry. Two batches for my folks, a batch for my friend and of course I could not leave myself out. Now that I have your mouth watering, who whats to be on next years Christmas list? That reminds me ---Korma Chicken for tomorrows dinner!

Korma, Tikka Masala, Jalfrezi, Rogan Josh and Vindaloo

Falling Behind

Blogging seems to have taken a back seat to the endless Christmas activities and crafts. I know I told you all that I would be documenting my endeavors through Jamie's book and I must be honest, I have made quite a few of the recipes since my last post. The fastest way for me to do as I promised and to get back to my next project/s, is for me to dump them all in this one post and give you a quick review. To cute down on time I am also borrowing all the enticing pictures from JO's site. (actually I just never got around to taking the pictures)

Steak Sarnie...Crispy Baby Potatoes

Cheese Mushrooms...Beet Salad

Hearty, Delicious, Crowed Pleaser

Yes they taste just as good as the picture looks. 

Beet Salad

Lets break it down

Time: 23.47 minutes ***I did not make the potatoes, the bread to me is enough starches***

Cost: $2.15 roughly per serving. This is hard to figure due to the fact that you could use many different cuts of meat, creating a price jump. We bought a whole cow and I am not sure what each steak cost us. 

Rating: Tom ***, Brandi ***, Haylie :-( (she ate the steak but nothing else)

Side notes:  Cut your meat really thin. It was a little hard to eat with the bigger chunks I cut. 

You may not like beets, but do not count them out until you have tried them made this way. I used fresh beets instead of the vacuum packed beets. I am not pulling your leg, this salad is amazing. A dear friend can contest to the flavor of this salad, I packed it along on one of our hiking adventures. 

The mushrooms....what can I say....I am in love. Even though, I did not actually make them with this meal. I have had these before and they are worth every single flavor loaded bite. 

Chicken Pie, French-s Style Peas 

Sweet Carrot Smash

Break Down

Time: 20 minutes

Cost: $1.15 This includes even the sides.  Two bonuses, I got 3 meals out of my one whole chicken. If you really want to be frugal then I suggest buying a whole chicken vs just the chicken breast. My one chicken made; chicken pie, chicken & dumpling soup, enchiladas, and 5 quarts of chicken stock. A whole chicken was $9 for 5 lbs. Two chicken breast normally run $5. Another frugal idea, use 1 sheet of puff pastry for this meal and then the other sheet to make beef wellington.

Rating: Tom**, Brandi *, Haylie **

Side Notes: I felt that this pie was lacking a little more substance. It seemed to be just a lot of the puff pastry, and nothing else. It was very flavorful but not quite the same as a good pot pie. When I make this again I will will add more veggies, maybe even some parsnips to "beef it up". 

Carrots- yummy, yummy, yummy. Tom loved the carrots, so simple so fast. Haylie loves carrots and she enjoyed them prepared this way. 

Peas- ummm yeah, I still don't like peas. (sorry dad) My dad would very much enjoy this side dish. 

Sloppy Joes

I have to say my sloppy joes look WAY WAY different then these.

Break Down

Cost: $1.15 CHEAP!!!!!!!   Splurge and get organic, pasture grazed ground beef. 

Time: 15 minutes

Rating: Tom *****, Brandi ****, Haylie *

Side Note: I don't know anyone that has ever made sloppy joe's and then wrapped them in a tortilla. I must admit I have not tried it wrapped in a shell. I just top a burger bun with the meat and cheese, like the traditional way. This sloppy joe mix has to be the best I have ever had. I am not a huge fan of hamburger but I definitely enjoy it in this mix. Its spicy and sweet. We have a favorite "go to" restaurant here in town called "The Porch" and one of my parents favorite meal, are their sloppy joe's. However they put a spin on the standard sloppy joes and instead of serving them on hamburger buns they top cornbread with the mix. Next time, I think I will try this method. That should drop the price even more if you make your own cornbread.  One last thing, this is not in his 30 minute meal book, but I had to throw it in as Tom absolutely loved it.

That is all I have for now. Let me know if I can improve these post in any way? Maybe I need pictures of Haylie preparing them.?.? I am just hoping to encourage you to try your hand at cooking. Reading a recipe is easy and the end result is so satisfying. Once you get comfortable with the adding ingredients together venture out and try preparing a meal with no recipe.  Creating a meal to me nourishes the mind, body and soul. 

Dinner is served

Since Tom is working swing shifts this week, I have to cook dinner in the middle of the day. I like to try to keep his eating schedule as regular as possible. It seems to help him switch between the 3 shifts a lot easier.

For these early dinner preparations I like something that is quick easy, packed full of nutrients, and something that will reheat easy. So I dubbed today as the official start of my cooking with Jamie Oliver. Tonight's dinner is "Pregnant Jools's Pasta"....not to sure where he comes up with the names for his meals. He suggest serving it with a "Crunchy Red Endive & Watercress salad" and "Little Frangipane Tarts".  There is no way I can possible justify eating dessert with every dinner meal. My budget nor thighs could handle it. 

Here is a look at the end result:

YUMMY!!!!! When I first made it, I was thinking he was crazy to put the sausage and veggies in the food processor together. My way of thinking, was it was going to create a gritty, minced texture. Oh but I am so wrong. On the contrary it produced a velvety light sauce. This is also a great way to get kids to eat more veggies. The sauce has carrots, celery, onions and peppers all blended together. Haylie seemed to be pleased with the dinner choice. A quick suggestion, if you don't care for the taste of fennel (those little seeds in Italian sausage) then grind your seeds before putting them in the food processor. They are still very much whole in the end. The salad was also a nice accompaniment, however it didn't photograph well. Speaking of photo's I am trying out the food setting on my camera.What do you think of my pasta picture?

Since my mouth can't enjoy the dessert, I can at least savory it with my eyes. Plus it may entice you to try it out. Looks delicious doesn't it? This picture was borrowed from Jamie's Site.

Here are the facts:

I completed the salad and pasta in 23.46 minutes. (I set my timer) If you don't have a food processor, you wouldn't be able to complete it in that time frame. (keep in mind I only made the pasta and salad) 

Pasta: $2.79 per serving.  (total servings - 6)  *** I bought organic italian sausage form the local butcher. I also used the Heart Harvest whole grain Penne pasta. My celery is also organic. I did have a hard time figuring the price of this dish as I used my homemade canned tomatoes and I am not sure what the cost per jar is. I just added in the cost of an organic canned tomatoes from the store. Other then that all the other ingredients were just regular supermarket brands. 

Salad: $1.93  per serving. *** I will never make a salad with endive again, unless the price drops. It is ridiculously over priced. I didn't even buy the organic kind. I think just substituting it with romaine or spinach would be just as good. Its a salad for goodness sake's. Its just there to make you eat your greens. 

Star Rating:

Tom - 3 stars

Me - 2 stars (mainly because I am not a pasta fan)

Haylie - she ate it, that is all that counts.

On a side note: If your want to try and eat more organic foods, try just switching your meats. I have found that your local butcher will have a better price on organic meats. Also buying all your spices and grains at a bulk store will cut way down on the cost. You don't have to buy a pound of chili powder, you can buy just a teaspoon if you wish. The savings comes from not having it pre-packaged in a fancy shaker jar. The flip side is that you need storage containers at home. Or you can save your empty spice containers and refill them. 

Cooking Adventure

Some of you that know that I am a HUGE Jamie Oliver fan. I might even be borderline neurotic. Whatever you want to call it....there is no disagreement that he is a food genius. He can take simple ingredients and turn them into a taste bud explosion.

He recently released his new Meals in Minutes cookbook.

I was a little skeptical that you could really cook these masterpieces in minutes, being that I have cooked numerous recipes of his. Of course this book is a "must add" to my collection. The populations seems to agree that there was no way you can cook them in 30 minutes. No surprise to me! If you really want to cook 30 minute meals then check out Rachel Ray. (not a dis on Rachel, shes an excellent cook)

My new book arrived 4 days ago. I couldn't even wait to get out of the post office before ripping the packaging open and inhaling the scent of a new book.....told you I was neurotic..... One thing that I love, love, love about JO's books are all the pictures. Honestly how many people open a cookbook and never cook a single thing out of it because it has no pictures of what the end result will be? First there is site, then smell, then taste. Just flipping though makes my mouth water.

Here's my plan.....I want to cook every meal in this new book, document how long it takes me to cook them (I am an average cook, not fast, not slow) and the cost of each meal. My friends and I are always debating how much it really cost to cook on a "healthy" level. I'm not talking pure organic, I just mean adding more veggies and less processed oils. The question is; Can you cook a meal with superb flavor for around $2.00 a plate? Is it possible to cook at JO's culinary level, in a 30 minute time frame? Can I entice you to spread your roots in the cooking world?

I hope you will follow my cooking adventure over the next few months. If anything it should be entertaining.