Thursday, June 16, 2011

Husband + dinner duty = Delicious :-0

Working late tonight, Husband was assigned dinner duty. It was perfect for "night grilling" so we decided on burgers. Maybe it's my hormonal bloodlust for red meat, but they were tasty!

We didn't have buns so I grilled some rye bread I found in the freezer from bread day.

Husband mixed them with diced jalepenos plus the seeds, red onions, soy sauce and lime juice. I'm proud because I think my lessons in knife skills are paying off :-D.

I whipped up an aioli using:

1/4 cup olive oil mayo
Juice of 1 lime
Diced cilantro
3 cloves chopped garlic
Dash of salt and pepper

Being an expert bacon maker, he mad some of that and our collaborative burgers were born!

Monday, June 13, 2011

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.... Seriously!

The book "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" has changed my life! (dramatic? I think not!)

Put 1.5 tbsp yeast and salt in 3 cups 100 degree water, mix in 6.5 cups flour. Let rise for 2 hours and BREAD!

The prep work takes less than 5 minutes, you don't even have to knead it.
This makes 4 lbs loaves and the dough after rising can chill in the fridge up to 2 weeks.


Bread to follow! My excitement over the simplicity of the dough is a bit absurd.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Bread Day!

It sounds like a JFG library folk tale... But Bread Day is true!

An awesome coworker of mine noticed that her church was getting leftovers from the local grocery store bakery, so many that the church had far too much bread products to give out.

Being poor government employees, this is very exciting (Who I sending this to Rick Scott?)

So Bread Day was born!

I love the sense of community and outreach It builds and it's a really neat thing to see a coworker thinking of all of us and our love of free food :-)

Last nights hamburger buns? Delicious!

Thank you Bread Day!

We sing, we grill, we burn things

I must admit I am not a huge turkey burger person. I eat them because I feel obligated to. They are much healthier than burgers, and with the proper dose of seasoning, hard to distinguish.

Still...

I am a rare to medium rare person. And I take this seriously.
I have given up at restaurants and just ask for beef medium rare.... And have even gotten a problem with that a few times.
What can I say I like to live dangerously!

So the turkey burger. The dry, over cooked cousin to the hamburger.

These were pretty good though.

Mixed with:

Worsteshire (to give that meaty flavor)
And too much Montreal Steak Seasoning. Yes there is such a thing.

Topped them with muenster cheese, a chipotle mayo, and sliced avocado.

Oh yeah, served with a cucumber tomato salad and some grilled peaches drizzled with honey.

Eat your heart out Chipotle

Marinated angus chuck steaks purchased for on sale. I'm not a chuck steak kinda gal, but no meat sales, a blood lust for red meat and limited grocery money can make a woman do some crazy things.

So I sliced them into strips and marinated them for about 12 hours with:

Soy sauce
Worsteshire sauce
Lemon juice
Olive oil
Fresh garlic
Diced pepper
Onions

Honestly, in the burritos I couldn't tell the difference from the skirt steak I typically do.

Success!!!

Additional fillings include:

Avocado
Poblano pepper strips
Diced tomato
A little cheddar cheese
Salsa
Diced cilantro

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

You say frittata, I say potatoes take too long to cook

Blogging about every food happening that occurs in my kitchen seemed like a natural step for me. I love taking photos of food and trying new recipes.

But at the same time, I found myself thinking this morning "Gee, these scrambled eggs with cheese, potabellas and garlic have no color, I should add some poblano peppers!"

The same reason for last nights addition of tomatoes to the pasta. I always try to follow the "Eat a rainbow" philosophy on fruits and veggies, so if the voyeuristic aspect of blogging makes me eat better so be eat.

Perhaps I will start a new diet fad.

Ok, so the dozen bottles of wine are not included in breakfast. I work this afternoon!

We line up any unique bottles of wine we have tried across the back of the counter. Perhaps another post...

Attempts at a simplified pasta...

I have a habit of overcomplicating pasta. Tonight I tried to keep things simple with butter, tons of fresh garlic and diced tomatoes with a little salt.
Pretty good!

Seeing as we are on a tight food budget at the moment, I'm really trying hard to keep us eating healthy.
Aldi makes a mean frozen salmon filet!
I topped it with a Dijon lemon sauce, some garlic and onions and it was pretty good!

We go through a huge amount of veggies a week. 1 full big reusable grocery bag worth for 2 people.
Shopping at the grocery store this would be way out of our grocery budget. Thankfully we have an awesome farm stand about 15 minutes away.

$25 for this amount of organic produce!

Shout out to Bearss Groves :-)