recipe – kristilynk

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 ~ 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!

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!