food – Page 3 – kristilynk

Culinary Bucket List 2014 ~ April

Longer days and warmer weather…summer has quickly replaced Spring! With that we need light meals that refresh our palates 😉

This months CB dish is Chicken-Pineapple Fajitas..I followed the instructions from this website (Nope…I still do not know how to make a link with just a word…sighhhh) http://www.bhg.com/recipe/beef/chicken-pineapple-fajitas/

The hardest part of this recipe was cutting the pineapple. I’ll be honest..I had never cut a pineapple before last night.

I didn’t like it..way to much work.. I will recruit a sous chef to do this task next time I make something with fresh pineapple.

You are supposed to brown the pineapple in a pan..WARNING..this takes some time..who has the patience to allow these things to brown?? I waited and waited then flipped then waited some more. Grew impatience then took those slices off the pan, threw a few more on and moved onto taking the middle out and cutting the good bits into pieces.

Remember when I asked who had time to allow these babies to brown?? Well. suggestion..find

something else to do, you’ll forget about the pineapple and VOILA…they will brown! 🙂

This batch came out much better..while I was cutting up the not so brown fruit..the others were left alone to do their job.

I started this post in the middle of the process..sorry, the pineapple fiasco was a big deal and I had to get that off my chest right away. Before the fruit drama…I grabbed a big metal bowl, tossed in some sliced up chicken breast, baby sweet peppers, Caribbean Jerk marinade and some pepper and I let that sit while I was tending to the ‘apples.

After the fruit is done and set off to the side, I used the same pan to fry up the meat and peppers:

Jason and Kiah opted out of the pineapple…they missed out.

So good. Zingy taste with a little bit of fresh sweetness and lets face it..EVERYthing is better with cilantro!

Eet smakelijk!

Spring has Sprung!

Spring has sprung! Not that we here in Arizona have any type of season other than summer and light summer but spring has sprung and its time for some springy things..

Of course there is the ever popular spring cleaning (which I really don’t think anyone ever really accomplishes but it’s a brilliant concept)

We have spring breaks but I am neither a college student nor do I have little kids in school so..no reason for me to take a week long vacation.

What else is a girl to do? AH! It is time to refreshen thyself! First thing to tackle on this wonderful Saturday..Nasty winter feet!
I am sorry, I know it’s disgusting but people lets face it we need to get the word out there.. Our feet need attention.

Starting out in fixed firm pose yesterday morning in yoga, I glanced down to make sure my hands in feet were in their proper position.

** This is not me..really? How am I supposed to take a picture of myself doing such things? 😉 I stole this from the internet…

I was appalled to find that my heels looked like the lady standing in front of me in the Walmart line (oh don’t you act like you don’t know who I’m talking about..mmhhmm).

Promptly, I sent message to a girlfriend (aka..my nut-ball friend who is currently training for a M-A-R-A-T-H-O-N) who I KNEW would benefit from a little foot and lower leg pampering..we were soon set!

We strayed a bit off the planned course of just a pedicure date and ended up starting with lunch at The Pita Jungle.
I don’t like to throw this out to the inter webs but I have to, …I have been to this Pita Jungle like four times. I think I love the Idea of the place more so than the actual place itself. They have a great menu, it’s fresh, vegan/vegetarian (not that I am either of those) friendly, they also support meat eaters..its a pretty nonjudgmental place. The only problem I have is…the acoustics of the space. Horribly loud..unbearably loud..they really should figure out how to fix this.
I was pretty excited to find they did have outdoor seating! It was a beautiful day and of course it had to be much more quiet outdoors so we scooped up the chance to dine outdoors!

And yes..it was nice and the food was great ~ I had the pesto pita pizza (so good)

Problem with the outside? It was a breezy day and our outdoor dining area was just downwind of the DUMPSTER.
No…bueno…

Sorry…three strikes..you’re out. I am done with the Pita Jungle.

Bellies full – because the only bad part of the Jungle experience was the environment – we headed off to the salon for the peak of our Saturday!

Shockingly, the wait was just long enough to allow us to select the color of the week. It took me some time by I finally chose the shimmering pinkish color on the thumb:

Yep..I left the place with all of my nail painted in this manner and I will leave them as such as long as I can 🙂

I will spare you the before picture of my walmart feet and cut straight to the pretty in pink end result.

If you have a foot aversion…keep scrolling down because I am going there..hah..

I really wanted to go home and nap afterwards, unfortunately.. my body has no idea how to do such things whilst the sun is up 😦

Some piddle “shopping” was done followed by a trip to Total Wine. Good lord..I love this store. Beth had n e v e r been to Total Wine..her words..”I have never seen this much wine in one place”. I found myself walking through the store and pointing out the highlights of each isle. I should really work here. 🙂

All in all it was really a great day..one, I think, needed on both our accounts.

Nap time?

NOPE! Plug along into the evening! Casual evening but evening non the less!

Time for dinner! Jason and I met up with our great great friends Amy and Dan and we were ready to have a Mexican dining extravaganza!

Margaritas, conversation and great food made for a fabu way to end a Saturday night~

I will leave you with my dinner choice ( Pollo Fundido — not very fun after the fact but completely fun while devouring!!)

Tell me what sorts of shenanigans you are planning for Spring 2014?

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!

Help!

I have no idea what is wrong with me! I have scheduled myself to a pretty good yoga schedule..Monday, Wednesday Saturday and Sunday. I’ve been doing pretty good with this until ohhhh yesterday..

On the way home I decided it would be brilliant to pickup some pork fried rice. Of course I needed egg rolls and crab puffs to accompany, right?

** Picture stolen from the internet but I had to give the visual…pork fried rice is delicious **

The idea was for me to go home, feed the family, change, go to yoga, come home and eat me a little bit of yum yums..

I’m sure you can guess what happens next…

It started out pretty innocently, I will just have one little teensy flavorful crab puff. I told the family, they need not wait for me to eat because I would not be home until after 20:00

I lost all self control once Jason started stirring hot mustard into the fried rice bowl… Quickly…I got my own empty dish and DUG IN!

Guilt set in after I swallowed the last bite of that SECOND egg roll and I rolled myself onto the couch with stuffed belly. Not only did I miss my ninety minutes of self torture but I ate entirely too much.

No longer guilt ridden but so confused. Today, for dinner….I want CUPCAKES.

Help!! What is wrong with me??? UGHHHHH..

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.

Not just another Valentines Day Post ;)

Social media was completely out..of..control.. yesterday with everything Valentines. Valentines day is a day to express your undying love for your significant other. It’s kind of like Thanksgiving to me. You know? The one day of the year everyone is so very thankful for everything they have been complaining about, on social media, earlier in the year. Same thing. 🙂

Don’t get me wrong, I am not a complete hater of this Hallmark celebration of love..but…why not celebrate the love of your life everyday? I could go on and on but I am bored with the topic and so glad VD 2014 is over. On that note!

The love of my life and I had sushi last night. Yep, we braved the crazy VD crowd and headed out to one of our favorite, family owned, neighborhood restaurants.

Sushi Yuki, http://www.sushiyuki.com/

I debated with myself on this post..Should I really tell all of you about my secret sushi spot? It is such a hidden gem and one of the things I love about this place is that it’s never super busy so the service is great!

Luckily…I have very few followers and even fewer followers who live in my area. 🙂

There were more patrons than what is typical but we were still able to walk in and be seated straight away. Score…no wait!

I really need to invest in a compact point and shoot camera for occasions such as this. I do not like crappy cell phone pictures of food nor do I want to bust out with the big ole DSLR camera in a restaurant. Goal number three for 2014…

Moving on…the upper left we have some absolutely delicious Yellowtail Sashimi.. I think I used the exact phrase, “Oh….this yellow-tail is like butter”

That’s actually a terrible saying because I would never eat butter straight up…gross.

In the middle is a philly roll…the salmon melts in your mouth and at the end of it you taste the zing of cream cheese ~ cream cheese and salmon..two of my favorites 🙂

The green one was good but not my favorite..it’s called a caterpillar roll. The chunky funny looking guys on the upper right..fresh water eel or Unagi…an all time favorite of both J and me..

We should have ordered more sashimi..we were finished in no time and I am pretty sure Jason was still hungry 🙂

Next time…there will be more!!!

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!! 😀

Trippin’ in Tucson ~

The worst part of each of my days is trying to get out of bed. Now that it is colder (and I live in Arizona and refuse to turn on my heater until at least January..) getting out of bed in the dark, cold morning is an even more difficult task! This Saturday it was a teeny bit easier..The Jason had brought me a cup of coffee and I was a little bit excited to get on the road.

Jason had plans on recording with a friend, Mike from the band Love Mound ~ listen and buy here: http://lovemound.com/lovemound/?page_id=119, in Tucson and Kiah and I went along for the ride so we could piddle around town. We piled into the Jetta..Poor kid barely had enough room to squish in. Jason had his drums packed in there pretty good!

BUT..where there is a will..there is a way and she slept like a champ the entire trip. It takes about two hours to get to downtown Tucson from our place.

Mike was waiting for us outside the studio..they quickly unloaded the drums and brought them into the room..Kiah and I said “See ya later!” and we were off to San Xavier Mission ~ one of, if not THE, oldest churches in the state of Arizona. It was founded in 1692! Here is the website if you want to read more.. http://www.patronatosanxavier.org/
In the meantime, this is what we see from the parking lot. Dont let the amazing blue cloudless sunny sky fool you..it was COLD.

Mike had warned us..the church is SMALL. I don’t think I realized how small until we walked into this room. The next picture was taken from just inside the entrance.

I have no idea who the lady on the right is..I did not get a disclaimer and I hope she doesn’t find my blog and sue me 🙂 OR…maybe it’s a GHOST???

Look how close the benches are to each other…people must have been A LOT smaller back in the late 1600’s ~ I could hardly walk between them and I am a small person..

The top of the door, on this shot, to give you an idea..is maybe four inches above her head. She is 5’1

Little nook for some holy water.

Amazing wood work..

All of the pictures taken above were just from the entrance. I started walking toward the front of the church and felt a little uncomfortable..I took one more picture and nudged Kiah, “Let’s get out of here”. She completely agreed..San Xavier is a functioning church. No, there was not a church service going on at the time but there were a handful of people paying respects, lighting candles, leaving flowers and sitting in the pews (I think that’s what the benches are called?) with sullen expressions and full of emotions. I was there for the history, the art, the architecture and felt like I was intruding on these peoples and their special moments.

While walking from the main place of worship to another side alter building Kiah and I both noticed an elderly Native American woman following us, pretty quickly..it kinda freaked us out so we turned around, headed straight at her, smiled and walked the other way. Turns out..she was only headed to the bathroom. We watch way too many scary movies..as I may have mentioned in the past..

To the east of the missionary is a hill with a cross on the very top. Before take the little walk up the hill…someone has to stop and be silly..

Better her than me..after all..I am the mom 😉

While walking up the hill..I spotted something really strange..

Obviously, it had been a muddy day..who is out walking up hills in the rain or mud barefoot?

While we were walking up this way..a nun was following us. Or for a few minutes anyway, we ditched her pretty quickly. It was a nice little walk around the hill and it didn’t take us too long to get to where we started.

This kid was waiting for us on the other side. Sorry for the instagram photo but it was much faster to “shoot” him with my phone 🙂 He was patiently waiting for all of the tourists to get out of his way so he could ride his bike down the hill.

He was kind enough to wait for everyone to clear the path and sped on by never to be seen by us again. Once we were at the base of the hill, Kiah spotted a cute, dusty black mutt dog. She looked like a black lab mixed with another breed, cute pup! Roaming the Missions grounds with a dirty nose and a collar. Kiah was trying to take a picture of the tag to call the owners but the spunky mutt ran down the path and into the little store selling candles before she could get the picture.

We hurried into the store and asked if the dog that ran in here belonged to the church or did we need to find her and call the owners. To which the shop worker replied, ” I didn’t see no dog come in here but if it did..she belongs to the community and might be taking a nap”.

Kiah and I both looked at each other like…”what?” but instead said, “O.K,” turned around and walked back to the car laughing the entire time. It was the statement combined with the accent that made us laugh so hard…you may have had to have been there…but I’m still laughing.

The ride back to downtown was quick. We managed to get a parking space right in front of the studio, parked and walked around downtown.

It was around 11:30 in the morning, on a Saturday and there was only one place open to grab a coffee..Brueggers Bagels. I don’t think I have ever been to a cities downtown area where nothing was open on a Saturday…have you? Hot coffee in hand we set back out to the cold streets of DT Tucson. Kiah spotted a big church down the way so we walked thataway…

Inside, we have a Jesus

And Kiah gives Jesus a LOW FIVE 😉

and a HIGH FIVE to the baby jesus in his golden fleece diapers!

That was the extent of our fun here so..we left and continued to walk the sleepy streets of downtown Tucson.

We met up with Jason and Mike and walked to a local eatery called The Hub Restaurant and Creamery : http://www.hubdowntown.com/

The website is not that great but you can download the menu and see for yourself..good selection!

Mikes wife Karen and their youngest daughter met us there, cheeseburgers all around (with the exception of the one who ordered the veggie burger), we ate, talked and had a nice visit. 🙂

So many missed opportunities at the Hub for the blog. I should have taken pictures of the restaurant, the ice cream bin display, the ginormous mug of coffee, the burgers and our friends. On the upside of that notion..I was fully enjoying myself in the moment and not thinking of my camera or phone or internet..weird 😉

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!