Return of the Bean

I harvested some parsley while the girl began cooking the rotini pasta.

Used the parsley in a neat cucumber salad with diced tomatoes and olive oil, seasoned with sea salt and cracked pepper, dash red wine vinegar.

The entree was sauteed Fagioli (Spanish white beans), garlic, chicken broth & shallot fresh. Seasoned with fresh thyme, a pinch of dry thyme, salt & pepper, chevre (goat cheese), and olive oil.

The girl is very grateful and happy because she has won a 'major award', and the boy is very proud of the girl.

Libations tonight were double vodka martinis, immaculate.

Lovely Dal

So tonight I didn't get home till 8 as there was insanity at the office. I walked in the door and straight to the stove. For me, often cooking supper is my "wind down" time...Today is veggie day so we had:

Leftover Dal from freezer, whole wheat couscous, edamame and thai chile and lime cashews from Trader Joes

Dal
(not sure where I got this simple recipe as it resides on a post-it note in my food file, but it is a favorite.)
2 TB olive oil
1/2 onion chopped
1 clove garlic chopped
1 c red lentils (rinsed, but not soaked)
4 c H20
1 cube bouillion (either chicken or Rapunzel sea salt and herbs vegetarian)
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tb fresh chopped ginger (you can use powdered, but it's just not the same)
2 Roma tomatoes diced (no one will die if this is left out)

Saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil for about 2-3 min till soft in a soup pot. Throw everything else in there, bring to a boil and simmer with lid off till you are happy with consistency. At least 1/2 hour. I like to cook them down till they are almost a thick soup, then I might throw a knob of butter in right before serving...not necessary, but sometimes super good. Cool before serving. It will hurt you if too hot, but it will hurt so good!

Served with whole wheat couscous cooked in broth (either veggie or chicken). Follow direction on package (or if bulk like we buy...usually 1 c couscous to 1.5 c h20 to 1 bouillon cube.)

Edamame is just soybeans; you can have them fresh, canned or frozen. I grow them, but the frozen ones in pod or shelled are awesome. Serve them hot with sea salt or icy cold with sea salt...lukewarm not so good. Available even in conventional grocery stores these days.

Thai chili and lime cashews are from Trader Joes...we finally got one here in Atlanta...I had been eating out of the Ohio and Michigan ones ironically until now! Nuts are VERY good for you, healthy oil, satisfies your fat cravings...just don't eat 9000 of them.

Just cheap vodka and sodas with lime to drink today.

On the stereo: Sly and the Family Stone (The boy claims Sly is the Prince of the seventies.), Dance to the Music, Simon & Garfunkel, Bridge over Troubled Water and Best of the Doobie Brothers...Check out their sexy album art!

Today we are thankful for: The boy is thankful he didn't "go off" this morning went our train messed with us for like 1/2 hour switching us back and forth across the tracks on trains...um a bit stressful. (I am glad no one shot anyone it was that stressfull!) I was thankful for my cilantro in the garden, even though is bolted and refuses to quit flowering. I have accepted it and embraced the blossoms, cut them, and put them on our dining table. They smell nice, even if they refuse to provide me with my sweet, sweet cilantro.

Jalisco-Style Chicken

Kinda tired today. Lots of things going on all over. Re-read Bon Appetit from May on the train home 'cause I wasn't sure I had read it...saw the corners turned over and knew I had. I usually get home around 7 or 7:30p, so we regularly eat kinda late. I was tired, so whipped up this simple meal, with the boy's help:

Jalisco style chicken, carrots and baked fries!

Note: We try to be healthy, so our proportions might be smaller than people are used to.

Chicken
1 large breast with rib meat, split in two and pounded thin (or pork tenderloin)
Mix into a paste and rub on meat:
1 tb paprika
1 tb re wine vinegar
1 tsp fresh minced garlic (though it is okay with garlic powder as well)
1/2 tsp cumin ground
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp regular salt

Grill meat on cook sprayed grill (foreman type or real one)for a few minutes...watch it doesn't take long because it is thin. Or saute in a few tb of olive oil in a pan.

Serve with some lovely fresh carrots and baked frozen fries (try spraying these with fat free butter cook spray and sprinkling with sea salt and fresh ground pepper!).

Drizzle entire plate with lime juice and 2tb of chopped fresh cilantro.

Light, refreshing and good for you.

Today we are thankful for: The boy is thankful for his job; I am thankful for an appreciative client.

Wine and Risotto

Wine. We love it. We are lucky enough that about nine years ago we both worked at Broussards in New Orleans as a waiter team. I was a captain (the first female ever to hold this position) and the boy was my first waiter. (One of two restaurants we worked together at.). At Broussards we refined our taste in wine. I was required to attend weekly classes in wine tasting so that I could recommend appropriate wines to accompany our menu. We tasted several vintages I could never afford and still can't. My favorite wine to this day is the Super Tuscan Brunello di Montalcino; it is still too pricey for us except for on special occasions. Our everyday wines tend to be a bit more, er, budget.

Tonight we drink two five dollar bottles:

Redwood Creek, Pinot Noir, 2005
I love this because it is easy to drink. For months I had admired their advertising, vintage travel type advertisements to "Visit Redwood Creek," it wasn't till I noticed the bottle on my local Kroger shelf however, that I picked it up. It is a fave now. Easy and gently to drink from the moment you open it. As a Pinot Noir it is super mild and just fine for whatever you want to serve with it.

Alice White, Shiraz, 2006
A bit tannic at first cork, but if you open it when you start to cook dinner, it mellows by the time you pour.

We eat vegetarian usually every other night in an attempt to keep pace with out waistlines. >
Tonight we had:
"Chicken" Pita sandwiches with Mesclun and goat cheese and Lemon Thyme Orzo Risotto

Sandwiches
2 Boca Chicken patties
1 whole wheat pita
A Handful of mesclun greens from garden
Some sort of leftover soft goat cheese
1 Tb Dukes Light Mayo

Preheat Foreman type grill, panini press or saute pan, spray with cook spray.
Microwave patties in their plastic (slit for steam) for about 1.5 minutes.
Spread mayo on hot patties and slice in strips. Stuff in 1/2 pita for each person with cheese.
Grill for about 2 minutes or so. Pry open and stuff with mesclun. Serve.

Risotto
Care of Bon Appetit
The risotto takes longer, so make it first and the let it sit while you make the sandwich. It won't get cold.

Today we are grateful for: The boy is grateful for college classmates who have been responsible and communicated effectively allowing for him to relax and enjoy his meal this evening. I am grateful for the boy, whom I had edit some copy for a project, and then I got to return the favor by editing a paper for him.


On the stereo during dinner: Neil Young, Decade
Post dinner and extraneous wine: Hank Williams, Jr. Greatest Hits

Grits and Eggs

Seems pretty simple. But sometimes can just be exactly what you want. This morning we worked all the way till noon before it occurred to us that we had only coffee so far and no breakfast. We took a little break and made the following. Technique and a little extra somethin' somethin' can make it very delicious indeed.

Grits and Eggs for 2
Grits
Two packs of instant grits
1 C H20
1"x 1" nob of cream cheese or neufchatal (has less fat, tastes the same)
some fresh black pepper & salt
Put in a glass bowl and microwave for 1.5 minutes, let sit while you make the eggs. Before serving, warm for 30sec in microwave and stir gently.

Eggs
3 eggs
fresh ground pepper and salt
splash of water
A couple leaves of fresh flat leaf parsley and chives from garden

Beat all except herbs gently with a fork.
Heat a small saucepan, on med high, spray with cook spray. (Butter if you want to be bad.)
Turn heat down to med lo and add eggs. Let them sit a bit till it looks like the edges are firming. Gently pull the edges into the middle and let the uncooked eggs run out to where the edges just were. Let them sit a bit more and repeat. Try not to "scramble" or move them around too much; this way they stay light, fluffy and moist.When almost all is cooked, and maybe just a bit wet, pull everything to middle of pan and let it dry out to your liking.
Plate everything up and snip some fresh chives and parsley on top.

Yum!

Perfect Pesto

I was washing my greens from the garden today and had put them out to dry on the "vegetable towel." (A towel forbidden to the men in my household to touch. It is reserved for food prep only) When I was overcome with how pretty my salad looked. I grabbed my camera and started snapping. Then I wondered where I would put these photos. So here I am. I'm not going to screw round. Just talk about what I am eating. How it makes me feel. My salad made me happy, so I wanted to share it. Then I finished the pesto I was making; it was perfect. I don't use a recipe, just kinda put things in the chopper/shredder and whirl away on a whim. Sometimes it is good; sometimes just okay. Tonight's was fairly pedestrian ingredient wise, but perfect in the balance of flavors.

Dinner for Dos
Main course

Basil and Parsley from our garden
Garlic
Parmesan Cheese
Pine Nuts
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper!
Bow Tie Pasta (They also make me happy)
A few Krinos oil cured olives
A smidge of leftover goats milk feta

Salad
Mesclun and Nasturium leaves and flowers from our garden
Cukes

In our house we "pray" before each meal. The way we pray is we each share something we are grateful for that day. It help us remember that there is at least something not @#!-y in our lives everyday.

Today we are grateful for: The lovely date we had last night: Pirates of the Carribbean and then a late dinner at Sweet Lowdown. We had lovely cocktails for a change versus wine, fried green tomatoes that were crispy and smeared with pimento cheese, a sweet and succulant double pork chop, soft shelled crab, the best sides I have had in a while: al dente collard greens and roasted fingerling potatoes, and closed down the house with the biggest cheese plate I have ever been served at a restaurant. Our lunch today was delightful because of it's size. The food here was delish, if the service was a bit bizarre...I asked about the foie gras the restaurant was known for, and our waiter said "What's foie gras!?!?" I had an urge to assume the "older woman who would lead this young fellow to his manhood" role by offering to take him out to get foie gras, but I was enjoying my cocktail so much, I let it go. Yep, it was a good date.