Cooking – kristilynk

2022, day 1

Done, in the books! It’s officially 2022. My day started out with a casual 4.5 wog (walk/jog) on the treadmill in my garage. I didn’t want to leave my house so I opted for home “gym” time.

Afterwards, I cleaned to prepare for friends and fam time, showered and complete just in the knick of time! It was a full house minus a few people (a couple down due to Covid and one down due to work emergency).

We had everything bacon! Jason made brisket, Shannon brought her world famous potato salad (with bacon), Danny made Mac n cheese topped..with bacon, Wyatt brought field peas, green beans mixed with… you guessed it… BACON! Me think I will be trying two days meat free this upcoming week.

We listened to records, watched movies, Shannon brought tarot cards, ate and of course there were adult bevy’s.

Hence the reason my activity numbers are so low today. 😅

The 3 minutes of exercise might be when I did some dishes. 😂 All in all it was a good first day of the new year. I was happy to spend it at home, with people I love.

I cannot end this post without a picture of the most excellent meat slab. You’re welcome 😇

I’m told the red ring is called the “smoke ring”

Culinary Bucket List 2014 ~ June

It’s Friday night…I did NOT want to cook. I wanted to go out for dinner. This is an extremely rare want. I almost never want to go out to eat. It seems, to me, to be a waste of money. 98% of the time, I can’t help but think.., “Jason and/or I could have made a meal just as good..if not better than this.”

Now, I understand the whole dining out experience might be more about the social aspect — and bonus…there is no clean up. However…contrary to my drunken self..I am not that social of a being 😉

Back to point… I didn’t want to cook, ended up cooking because the mister had band rehearsal…**Oh the woes of being married to a musician ** 😉

Somehow I came across this recipe and thought it would be good to try out! I am all about eating clean and healthy these days..

I stopped by the grocers on the way home from a stupid day at work and picked up all I needed (and of course a bottle of Rose)

I really had like three projects going on here. 1st was salmon patties…2nd was parsnip fries and lastly was a fresh spinach/Parmesan side.

I started with the parsnip fries first. I’ll be honest..I’ve NEVER tasted a parsnip..ever.. in..my..entire..life..

At this moment..I still don’t even have an idea as to what they are or what they are good for. EH..well I mean obviously…they’re some sort of root?? Like a potato..but not?

Anyway..I started with those.. They suck to cut. I was not sure if I was supposed to leave the core in the mix or not..so some pieces had core and some did not..

This is the recipe I used :

Jason did not like the parsnips.. I am still thinking about them..Not so sure.. I think I needed to have baked them for longer than 12 minutes. Maybe 20. Interesting is the only word that came to mind.

After that experiment was done I moved on to the salmon patties.

For the most part, I followed the recipe..But CLEARLY..did something wrong..

I started Quinoa then moved on..

Chopped the green onions, cilantro tossed them into the blender and added some lemon zest. The recipe called for Herbamare..I didnt have any..so I googled an alternative (serisouly…what the hek did stupid people do without the internet????) I found this… I only had..sea salt, parsley, oregano, rosemary, thyme and basil (but I forgot to add the basil..nbd)

Blended then added the cooked quinoa, blended again..added salmon (Canned wild caught salmon)

Hey guess what??!! This is a public service announcement..DO NOT..STICK A KNIFE INTO A MOVING BLENDER.. I almost lost my eye.. I have NO idea why I thought it was OK but yea..I stuck a knife into the blender..while it was blending and a piece of plastic from the top busted off and ricochade off the side, came out and almost stabbed me in the eye… mmhmm..

At that point I decided it was best to just put everything in a metal bowl and just hand mix.

** This is pre-knife in blender**

After all was mixed, I made the patties –

So they didnt work out THAT well..Super hard to flip. I figured out at the end..I made them too big..easier to flip and cook when they are half the size.

Those being as done as they are going to get…I started the spinach..

Same pan…splash of avocado oil I threw in the fresh greens and cooked until wilted.. Done..tossed into a mixing bowl and sprinkled with fresh grated Parmesan.. This..I have to say…was my favorite part of this dish.

I can’t say..” You MUST try this” It’s OK..not amazing BUT..It’s healthy..clean and with some work, thought and manipulation…it could be something delish!! I just might..think on some adjustment and may try again.

Culinary Bucket List ~ May 2014

When Kim and I started this monthly culinary bucket list..I was a little worried I would have a hard time finding good, easy, fresh dishes I had never created.

It’s proving to be the case that I could, if I were motivated enough to, create new dishes like twice a week. Turns out, I forgot..I am not a professional chef, nor am I even an experienced chef. I would certainly not even make a good sous chef…Oh well..I am having a great time playing around in the kitchen and making tasty vittles. 🙂

With that said…on to tonights menu!

Caprese Stuffed Chicken Breast

That’s right folks…guess who’s never stuffed a chicken breast??? This girl!! And I’m not any kind of good at it either, but I’m jumping ahead of myself and I’ll just have to let you be the judge.

Here is the set up:

Straight off the bat I veered from the instructions. The recipe told me to start the grill. I am afraid of the grill soooo… THAT was not going to happen. Besides..I am SURE all of the stuffing would end up in the fire and I would have nothing tasty to share. It’s just best for everyone that I pre-heat the oven to 350 Fahrenheit/177 Celcius

Pull the handy dandy cast iron skillet out, lube it up with some avocado oil. I’m seriously in love with my cast iron skillet. I really use it for as many kitchen experiments as I can! And if you noted…avocado oil? Yes, we switched to avocado oil..especially in the oven because it can take much more heat than olive oil. This was a huge issue in our house because, I am not kidding you, every time I would cook in the oven with EVOO the fire alarm would blare it’s terrible tune. Now…my dogs are petrified every time they here the “beep” of the oven buttons or the microwave. Ok..Ok..if I’m honest..every time I go into the kitchen..the dogs are suspicious.

Since avocado oil…I have not set the alarm off once 😉 win ~ win !~

So anyway…dinner..

I had to get the nasty chickens out of their packages to butterfly them. I am a little leery of these chicken breasts. Seriously..what kind of chicken has a boob that weighs almost a pound? I guarantee you MY boobs don’t even weigh a pound..

and what exactly does “minimally processed” mean? Sorry get off course again..

Butterfly the chickens massive boobs.. check. Sprinkled pepper on them, thinly sliced up the cherry tomatoes to layer them, sprinkles the fresh basil I chopped up and shredded the Mozzarella Fresco on top..

Folded them up and put them in the skillet. I was supposed to put a little bit of basalmic vinagrette and some balsamic glaze but I only had balsamic vinegar so I used that instead and probably too much of it but whatever… 😉

Looks gross..I really really don’t like raw chicken skin. Good thing after they are put in the oven and this mess is cleaned up…

They turn out quite tasty!

Culinary Bucket List 2014 ~ March

Stuffed Bell Peppers!

Holy macaroni these were easy!!! 🙂 I followed the directions of good ‘ole Martha Stewart. Love her or hate her I tell you what..this woman has some really great recipes.

http://www.marthastewart.com/339288/stuffed-peppers

Pre-heat the oven to 400F

While the oven is preheating, dice your onion, grab a few garlic cloves, get out your ever so useful cast iron skillet (if you dont have one you can use any skillet but I HIGHLY recommend investing in a cast iron skillet..I LOVE mine!!) heat it up, add a tablespoon of olive oil, wait until the skillet starts smoking a teeny bit then toss in the diced onion. I use a garlic press to squish into the onion mix..cook until the onions are soft and browning a little. ** SMELLS SO GOOD!

**Add the turkey sausage ~ or whatever other meat you want to use.. I went for the lighter white meat.

Let this cook up for about five to seven minutes then add diced tomatoes and a cup of water. Here is a spot where I strayed from Marthas instructions. She calls for canned tomatoes… I don’t do canned tomato so I diced up two fresh ones. Yes, this makes me feel like I have a leg up on the queen of the kitchen Miss Martha 🙂 and look how pretty!!

Simmer for about five minutes to let the liquid thicken up ~ remove the skillet from the burner ~ then add 3/4 cup of plain cous cous (I get mine from Sprouts..it’s reasonably priced and you can load up a bag with as much as you like).

While the stuffing mixture was cooling off, I cut the bell peppers in half and emptied their guts. Then stuffed them and placed them in a baking dish ~ I had to use two baking dishes because I made eight halves. In each baking dish pour a half cup of water ( I assume this creates moisture so as not to dry out your dinner!) You’re also supposed to put tin foil over the dishes too BUT guess what….???

I did not have any sooooo out in the open they go!

Can you see how CLEAN the oven is???? I cleaned it for the first time – using the self cleaning method – in four years. It is like a brand new range!! 🙂

I baked for thirty five minutes and then grated monterey jack cheese over the top and baked for another five minutes to melt.

Luckily…the lack of tin foil was not a deal breaker and the stuffed peppers turned out pretty and tasted even better…even the finicky daughter loved them!

Culinary Bucket List 2014 ~ FEBRUARY!

I love seafood. I would eat it in a house, I would eat it with a mouse. OK, well I probably would not eat it with a mouse but..I love seafood.

If given the opportunity at home..every meal would be made with something from the sea. Oddly enough, in all of my years as a seafood lover, I had never actually made Ahi Tuna Steaks.

After perusing the internet for “the best” recipe and best ways too cook Ahi, I came to the conclusion that simple was best. I’m beginning to think I opt for simple because I just do not have the attention span for more than five steps in dinner creations.

Grocery list in hand, I headed to Sprouts to fill my basket with two Ahi Steaks, one bell pepper, broccoli crowns, scallions (which..btw..did you know are just a fancy way of saying..GREEN ONIONS???) I actually walked around the around the grocery store one time searching for scallions and had to ask the guy in the produce section, “Don’t you stock scallions here”? to which he replied, pointing to the GREEN ONIONS…”Uh, yea..right here”. Of course, I played it off well with a big smile and said “OHHHHH, I can’t believe I missed them..they were right in front of my face”!

Anyyyywaaay..back to dinner! 2 Ahi Steaks, 1 bell pepper, broccoli crowns, scallions..

Next on the list was black and white sesame seeds ~ Sprouts did not have them. They had white roasted sesame but not black. Boooo, that meant I was going to have to make a pit stop to Lee Lees (Asian market around the corner) not a huge deal but I don’t like having to go to two places for one meal..psshhht.. Thankfully, Lee Lee’s came though for me. 🙂

So..this was super easy and I am sure can be prepared a hundred and one ways more delectable BUT this worked for simple and tasty.

In a cast iron skillet: a splash of sesame oil and a splash of avocado oil. Toss in the chopped scallions, broccoli and red bell pepper. Stir fry for a bit. Oh, about fifteen minutes before I started the vegetables I started the rice steamer.

At the same time, I placed the 2 tablespoons of white and 2 tablespoons black sesame seeds in a pan to dry roast. Dont let it get too hot ~ the sesame seeds pop!

Once the vegetables were done, I dumped them into the rice that is done steaming.

In the same cast iron skillet: a splash more of sesame and avocado oil ~ In a separate bowl – big enough to hold the tuna steak – add the toasted sesame seeds and coat the steaks with them. The seeds stick.

Toss the tuna onto the hot skillet for only 45 seconds per side!

I did forget one thing..I forgot to add sea-salt to the sesame seeds BUT…I honestly think it was not needed.

The end product..not pretty because I do not know how to slice. 🙂

I added a splash of fish sauce to the rice ~ soooo good… The Ahi tasted just as it should have. Next time I may find some tasty marinades to try.

What’s for dinner?

I was tossing around the idea of using last nights dinner as part of my culinary bucket list but decided against it. Why? Well, mostly because I have made tomato soup and grill cheese before so it’s technically not anything I have never made before. PLUS…this was just a recipe I found online and not anything I “have always wanted to make” but I HAD to try it.

http://www.thelondoner.me/2014/01/pesto-grilled-cheese-with-roasted-tomato-soup.html

Whatever…this..I promise you..is oh so tasty!

Pre-heat the oven to 375 F

I placed 14 small/medium”ish” tomatoes (on the vine) onto a baking sheet.

** 14 of these tomatoes was entirely too many for just three people — we will be eating tomato soup, every day for ten days ** 🙂

Plopped them in the oven, set the timer for 45 minutes, grabbed the daughter and went for a little jog around the neighborhood. We were going to take the dogs but that is just wayyyy too much work. I do feel bad for leaving them home with the oven and the oven vent fan running..poor dogs are absolutely PETRIFIED of kitchen noises. SORRY dupper dawgs! 😉

Once the jog was out of the way, I got back to business. The tomato’s were still roasting in the oven so I started in on the pesto sauce.

I grabbed a handful and a half of pine nuts and placed them and dry roasted them in a frying pan.

I think I roasted them a little bit too long…they look burnt don’t they? This is what happens when I get sidetracked. Things burn. I did, I walked away from the stove for a little too long. Once they were chopped up though…we could not taste that they had been cooked for too long.

In the food processor, I put a batch of fresh basil, four garlic cloves, a handful of fresh grated Parmesan cheese and poured some olive oil. Sorry, I did not take any measurements, I just used my eyes as a judge….and then ma mouth 😉

WHY…have I NEVER…made this before???? I don’t usually use pesto too often so I have always just bought, either, a jar or made from a packet. Ridiculous..this is SO easy and SO delicious. I think fresh pesto might just be my new favorite thing.

By the time the pesto was done, the tomato’s were done! I took them from the oven, peeled the dried up skin from some of them and ate some of the others 🙂

Plopped the maters into the blender along with three cups of chicken broth, a handful of basil, about two teaspoons of paprika, some freshly ground pepper..blended for a bit on low and high and then low again and then dumped it all into a big ole pot and warmed it up.

While the soup was warming, I buttered one side of two pieces of bread – I used cracked wheat – next time I will use sourdough. The cracked wheat is good but it was a little too sweet in then end.

So, butter on one side and pesto spread on the other..

Slice up some yummy Gouda cheese and place on the pesto side – butter side down on the frying pan. Cook on medium for about two minutes per side.

SOOOOO GOOD!

Bon Appetit!

Culinary Bucket List 2014 ~ JANUARY!

Hey there and Happy New Year! As usual, it’s been a while since my last post..you know..holidays, family and life has kept me away BUT..one of my goals this year is to visit you all more often. 🙂

My friend, Kim, came up with a brilliant idea of Culinary Bucket list for this year. She and I will be making one or two dishes every month this year..each of these dishes has to be something we have never made before. Fun, right?? 🙂 I am excited about this and can’t believe it took me three weeks into the first month to get started!

Check Kims blog out ~ she started with Chinese ~ mmm mmm delicious!! http://tryingforbabys.wordpress.com/2014/01/21/culinary-bucket-list-january/

Me? I started with Swedish Meatballs. I have been wanting to make these bad boys since I read this blog: http://www.thelondoner.me/2013/12/swedish-meatball-recipe.html

Looking at the pictures from this blog you can see why I was so excited to start here! The color and the texture of these photos you can just TASTE how amazing those balls must be!! 🙂

On the way home from the office I stopped at a local butcher shop ( http://site.themeatshopaz.com/Home.html ) I have been meaning to try for the past few months. What better excuse to actually stop in today?? I needed 1lb of ground beef (I opted for the local grass fed beef) and 1lb ground pork (apparently they don’t grass feed the pigs because that was not an option but…it was local pig).

I was greeted and served quickly BUT I was disappointed. The meat was FROZEN! I said, “Oh..it’s frozen, you don’t have anything fresh”? “No, always frozen”.

Noted…

I got home around 17:30, unwrapped the meat, set the meat in the cast iron pan (I was told setting the meat in a metal pan helps defrost meat faster) and waited and waited and waited. While I was waiting, I set the produce and what not on the counter, washed up the potatoes, cut them up and threw them in a pan.

Here’s the meat…STILL FROZEN!

Once I had the potatoes cut up, in the pot of water and set to boil..I decided…”Kiah, do you want to go for a run?”

We went for a run, or rather WOG (walk/jog). Just a short one, we couldn’t go for too long..I was cooking! When I got home the potatoes were done and Jason had taken control of those.

I hate to admit THIS but…he also had to put the meat in the microwave to defrost. THE HORROR!!! Oh well, what’s done is done..

Back from the wog, I washed up and got to chopping up the onion, melted the butter and cooked the onion for a couple of minutes.

Back at the mixing bowl, I added nutmeg, two eggs, cooked onion and sea salt to the meat. I used an electric mixer to whip the meat (I read, using a mixer makes the balls smoother).

After it is all mixed I used my hands to make the meatballs – next time I think I will use an ice cream scooper. I forgot about that tip until just now..

In the cast iron skillet I melted 1 TBSP of real salted butter. Once I the butter was melted I placed the balls in the pan to brown.

It took about 10-12 minutes for me to feel like they were cooked ~ because I mixed pork in the meatballs ~ I felt it was NOT ok to have ANY pink..That’s just me..pork and chicken I tend to over cook in fear of getting sick. Just sayin’

OH! While the meatballs were cooking..I heated the oven to 200F

After the meatballs were done, I placed them in an oven safe (aka another cast iron skillet) pan and placed them in the oven to keep warm.

To make the gravy, I used the butter and fat that was left over from the meatball cook, added 1 tbsp of flour, 10oz of chicken broth, 2 tbsp of Worcester sauce, 1 tbsp of mustard and 1 tbsp of honey boiled and stirred for a few moments and then added a pint of heavy whipping cream.

After a few minutes I took the meatballs from the oven and added them to the gravy.

Voila!

DINNER…is served 🙂

It was good. Not the best I’ve made and will need some practice in regards to spices. My opinion..needs more salt. The meatballs were not as soft as I had expected. I will, one day, figure out how to make them smooth.

Feel free to give me advice!! 😀

Look out people…I’m not the only cook in the house!

After six LONG weeks away from the Jason and six LONG weeks of my kitchen experimentation…I came home to a night off!

A ridiculous hour and twenty minute ride home…this is what I came home too 🙂

I am not going to claim to know anything about what was going on in this pan. All I know is that the smell was amazing and all I had to do was sit my bum down, have a glass of wine and wait for the magic to unfold.

Well..of course, I did have to chase him around with my camera letting him know he has earned a highlight spot in my blog. I think he’s trying to show me up..your thoughts?

There was food, there was wine, there was whiskey and as promised…there was George Jones 😉

Happy Hump Daaaayyy my friends!

Kooking with Kristi

If the family would let me..I would eat seafood EVERY SINGLE DAY. Last night I made an amazing clam chowder soup with bread bowl and the time before that was calamari tacos. The man of house, AKA the Jason, told me that although the last few dishes have been spot on…”I need MEAT, not poultry, not fish…MEAT”.

Sometimes we just have to compromise, eh? OK, OK…tonight..it is Hamburger steak with a sweet-onion mushroom gravy concoction.

I found this simple recipe online and manipulated it to my liking. http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/hamburger-steak-with-sweet-onion-mushroom-gravy-10000001723326/

In the large mixing bowl I dropped 1lb of angus ground beef, 1/2 cup of Panko bread crumbs, 1 egg, as much salt as I wanted, as much pepper as I wanted and I think I squished up 4 large garlic cloves…I love the garlic!

I used a broiling pan and put tin foil on it ahead of time..I have been known to just start making patties and have no where to put them 🙂

Wedding rings and fashion rings off, washed the hands and dove in to mix it up!

NOTE! If you want left overs…seriously..you need to double up on the meat I only bought 1lb and it made only three burgers!

After I made the meat stuff into patties, I set them on the broil pan and left them alone while I went on to step two.

Cutting up one medium white onion and slicing of the 8oz fresh mushrooms. You can, of course, buy the pre sliced but my disappointing grocer (as of late) only had whole mushrooms.

In a frying pan, I melted as much butter as I wanted to – probably around 1/2 a stick and then I threw in the onions and mushrooms.

While those were browning, I started a sauce pan for the gravy..yep…I cheated and bought a packaged brown gravy and just followed the directions..after about five minutes I added the gravy to the mushrooms and onions and just let that simmer for a bit.

Turn the broiler on and put the patties on the top rack – cook them for 3 minutes on each side…I wondered off and let the man tend to the broil…I should have stayed..they were cooked a little bit longer than they should have been. Oh well, they were still REALLY good and moist!

and here is the end result! I will NEVER admit to what the side dish is, by the way. 🙂

Just imagine it to be something yummy that goes well with the patties!

Friday Food Frenzy…

Two posts in one day? Sorry but I couldn’t help myself. I tried to wait a few days but I have no self control..so enjoy anyway. 🙂

Last night, I was home alone on a stormy Friday and found myself perusing through Pinterest, like I normally do, to find my next meal to try.

I stumbled upon this little delight ( http://hotcookinmama1.blogspot.com/2013/08/baked-chicken-and-spinach-flautas.html) and decided to give it a whirl. I followed the instructions but instead of 16oz of chicken broth I used 14oz..it seems my grocer does not stock the 16oz sizes. It was either 14 or 32..14 won! Instead of garlic powder, I used five cloves of fresh garlic and instead of paprika, I opted for Cayenne pepper 😉 For the grated cheese option I used La Chona Quesadilla..PERFECT CHOICE, I might add.

I boiled three chicken breast, in the chicken broth and 2 cups of water, for about 10 minutes.

Shredded the chicken and placed it in a mixing bowl, added the cayenne pepper, salt and chili powder then set off to the side.

Using the same pot I used to boil the chicken, I took out the broth – all but 1/4 cup as instructed – and added four cups of freshly chopped spinach, fresh diced jalapeno and the five cloves of garlic.

Then I preheated the oven to 450 – my opinion – 450 may have been a bit too high – try 425 🙂

It took about 3 minutes for the spinach to wilt. Once complete I transferred the spinach mixture into the spiced up chicken.

How pretty is that?? 🙂

After I mixed it up nice mixed like…I took the burrito tortillas and cut them in 1/2 — I’m not sure why they are cut in half. I can see that a burrito tortilla is a little big for a flauta but couldn’t we have just used maybe a taco tortilla? Oh well, I did what I was told. 🙂

So tortillas cut in half and I was ready to start spooning the bowl contents onto the tortilla.

Take note: Notice I put the mixture on the rounded side..don’t do that..place the mixture on the long straight side. This was the only one I messed up but by this time my fingers were greasy and I didn’t want to get any of it on the camera and I didn’t want to wash my hands.

Bake for 10 minutes each side. That’s it!

This picture is before they were baked.

Now…who’s going to come over and clean my kitchen?? 🙂