Excuses are like....

Well I think we all know what excuses are like. But just in case you don't, they are like assholes. I'm not going to get into why they are like that. If you really don't know, you can google it. 

I've got a really good one tonight. Now that I'm apparently not trying very hard to filter my curse words (you'd be surprised) I'll tell you right off the bat that the excuse has nothing to do with wine drinking. There hasn't been any of that tonight. I was supposed to be cooking Roasted Chicken Thighs with Mustard-Thyme Sauce and was actually very excited about it. I might have even done the funky chicken in my kitchen while S watched in awe of my slick moves. Maybe.

That day is not today.

 I pulled the chicken thighs out of the freezer to defrost this morning and was removing them from the packaging this evening when it hit me. The savory smell of "I should not eat raw chicken that has this smell." And while I really do enjoy taking one for the team from time to time, I didn't think it would do any of us any good to have me spend tonight and tomorrow sleeping on the bathroom floor while Landon sat in an empty bathtub eating stale cheerios and watching Sesame Street on the iPad. It would have gone down just like that. I like to be dramatic sometimes always. 

Get the F out of here, now.

You see, it's quite simple. Bad Chicken = Good Excuse. No one wants food poisoning and no one wants to deal with my sickness drama. I especially don't want to deal with that. We had the potatoes and green beans for the side, but the bad chicken smell just kind of took all of the cooking magic out of my life. Turns out we had some El Salvador style tamales in the fridge so S hijacked half of a Landy Avocado, I finished off the sour cream, we pulled out the tomatillo salsa, and we went to town. 

Tamales are messy, so this photo never had a chance of being pretty. Apologies all around. 

Ok, fine... The photographic evidence caught me. There was a little wine involved, but it was really only that one glass. A surprising show of restraint for me on a Thirsty Thursday, but I wasn't that into the bottle S opened. 

Now I have another confession to make. Yes, ANOTHER one. Shut up about it and relax. It also involves a rant. I am one of the 10 people in the world who still watch Grey's Anatomy. I almost quit when Izzy was having sex with her dead fiance because her terminal brain tumor that she actually lived through was causing her to have really accurate and precise hallucinations. I didn't leave though, I stuck with it. And I'm super angry about it now. SPOILER ALERT... THEY KILLED OFF MARK SLOAN! I mean as if it wasn't annoying enough that they end EVERY season with some sort of major traumatic shooting, bombing, ferry accident, or (in this case) private plane crash cliff hanger, they then didn't even continue from that cliff hanging point with this episode, they just used it to KILL OFF MCSTEAMY. 

I'm not into facial hair, or Eric Dane, really. I'm just annoyed with Grey's Anatomy. 

Shonda, you are on thin ice. I was glad when Katherine Heigel left, and I didn't really care about George although I'm sure George is regretting ever leaving because I don't even know what his real name is. He must not be doing too much. Then you go and kill off Lexie Grey AND Mark Sloan who had the only semi interesting love triangle. You would really think that after all of the absolutely horrific things that have happened to the doctors at Seattle Grace they might be like "eff this." But apparently they just have a little PTSD, do some O.R. meltdown time, and move on. I'm mostly angry because I can't stop watching now, even though I don't really like where this is going. I've already invested this much time. I'm sure they will just make Meredith and Derek have ANOTHER relationship crisis. Regardless, I'm going to need to see it through. 

Ugh. I'm so dedicated. It's a blessing and a curse. 

I'm going to the store tomorrow to get some non smelly chicken thighs. I have a feeling the recipe is a good one that I don't want to miss as it involves more scraping of cooked bits and the making of sauces. You'll find out how it goes very soon!

-RT

Winner Winner, Pork for Dinner!

The fancy people at Cooking Light have redeemed themselves! You really can't go wrong when you cook whatever is on the cover of a cooking magazine. The thing is, usually what is on the cover is not quick, inexpensive, or easy. This time it was all of the above, and delicious!

I dogear pages.

Last night we made Pork Chops with Roasted Apples and Pearl Onions and a side of Green Beans with Mustard Vinaigrette.  The recipe was from our newest Cooking Light. To recap, chosen because it was fast, easy, and inexpensive. 

Assembled Ingredients

For the mustard vinegarette we just needed EV Olive Oil, Fresh Pepper, Kosher Salt, Cider Vinegar, and Mustard Powder. I couldn't find frozen Haricots Verts so I just went with some extra fine whole green beans.

Part of the speed of this recipe that I really enjoyed was that it used frozen pearl onions and frozen green beans. It saved time in washing and prepping and often times frozen vegetables taste better than what is in the produce section. The things you buy fresh at grocery stores are picked before they are ripe to make up for the travel time. Frozen vegetables are picked at the peak of their ripeness and then frozen right away to preserve their state. A great time saver all around and I use them ALL of the time with Landon.

I preheated the oven to 400 degrees, took out the pork chops to come to room temperature, chopped the apples, thawed the onions, and measured out the flour and oils. I put a pan on the stove to warm up with the olive oil. Then added the onions. It's important to only stir them once while they cook so that they get nice and brown bringing out a bit of carmelization. You use canola oil in this pan because it is going in the oven and unlike olive oil, and some others, will not go rancid at very high temperatures.

Then we added the apples and stirred before putting the pan in the oven for ten minutes. 

While the apples and onions cooked, I chopped the thyme and put a pan on the stove to warm up for the pork chops.

Pork Chop pan. Sprinkled with Salt and Pepper and the pan is coated with Olive Oil.

The thyme mixture ready to stir in the onions and apples.

The apples and onions came out perfectly and I stirred in the thyme mixture while S finished the pork chops. 

With everything mixed in together. Smelling fabulous!

Pork chops ready to come off.

Here's a handy tip... try not to forget that the pan that is currently on the stove with the apples and onions was formerly in the oven. I grabbed the handle. Smart girl. It hurt. So if you can remember, my advice is to put one of those handy little oven mitt sleeves on the handle. Then when you grab it you won't burn your hand off. I don't have one of those, so I used this:

Hard to tell, but it's just a giant regular valentine's day oven mitt. Not a gift from S, don't worry.

I had already mixed up the chicken broth and flour so when Seth pulled off the pork chops, we were ready to make the gravy/sauce in the pan. 

Boom. Gravy.

Gravy is best when you are supposed to "scrape up the bits" from the bottom of the pan. YUMMMMM! 

Then we got to the green beans. I had already thawed them in the microwave and patted them dry. I eyeballed the vinaigrette and probably shouldn't have. They were too "mustardy" for S and the flavors weren't exactly subtle. I think it was just fine though and would have been better if I would have used the correct measurements. 

Vinaigrette

Coated Green Beans

Finally we assembled the plates. Prior to the gravy:

 And with added gravy deliciousness:

This was fantastic. The onions and apples were so sweet and flavorful with the thyme. The gravy on the pork chops was so savory. The green beans were a nice added crunch and vegetable. It was also very fast and very easy. Also, again THE GRAVY... OMG. Fantastic. When is gravy not fantastic?

There are lots of different ways you could do this. Possibly with a pork loin all baked at once. While eating I was thinking mostly yum yum yum, and nom nom nom, and how can we cook fast, easy and gravy every night. It was really a wonderful flavor combination and something that would taste delicious year round.

Here is an update on the Orzo from Monday: Even Landon won't eat it. She tried it and cleaned off her tongue with her hands. I have decided to give it up. No use trying to reinvent the plain, boring, orzo pasta that had no flavor. 

So go ahead and cook this. NOW or next week. But soon. It was delicious. If you cook as a couple it will only take you 30 minutes from start to finish. If cooking as a couple makes you want to murder each other, then it will take you 40 minutes and tell your second chef to leave you alone. 

We had the leftovers today. Then I had a skinny cow cookies and cream ice cream sandwich. Sorry. Just needed to get that off of my chest. 

- RT

PS Shameless self promotion: Have you "liked" the Raising Texas facebook page yet? You should!

Pork Chops with Roasted Apples and Pearl Onions

Ingredients:

    2 1/2 teaspoons canola oil, divided
    1 1/2 cups frozen pearl onions, thawed
    2 cups Gala apple wedges
    1 tablespoon butter, divided
    2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
    1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
    1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
    4 (6-ounce) bone-in center-cut pork loin chops (about 1/2 inch thick)
    1/2 cup fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth
    1/2 teaspoon all-purpose flour
    1 teaspoon cider vinegar

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 400°.

2. Heat a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 teaspoon oil to pan; swirl to coat. Pat onions dry with a paper towel. Add onions to pan; cook 2 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring once. Add apple to pan; place in oven. Bake at 400° for 10 minutes or until onions and apple are tender. Stir in 2 teaspoons butter, thyme, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

3. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle pork with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Add remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add pork to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Remove pork from pan; keep warm. Combine broth and flour in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add broth mixture to pan; bring to a boil, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Cook 1 minute or until reduced to 1/4 cup. Stir in vinegar and remaining 1 teaspoon butter. Serve sauce with pork and apple mixture.

Recipe Review: Chicken and Orzo Skillet Dinner

Making a surprise appearance in this photo.... me. Not an ingredient.

I'm following menus this week in case you haven't heard. Tonight we made a Chicken and Orzo Skillet Dinner from Cooking Light magazine. While I was flipping through the magazines I was looking for things to cook that seemed easy (not time consuming) and had reasonably priced ingredients. The picture of this looked delicious and the photo with the name led me to believe this was a one skillet dish. This photo is misleading:

So obviously it turns out this was not a one skillet meal. I'm sure if you had more time you could make it a one skillet meal, but we were going for speed, not dish use. First we put the water on to boil while we chopped the tomato and cut the chicken breasts. I put a pan on the stove to warm up for cooking the chicken and coated it with EV Olive Oil. 

Chicken and Orzo

The actual recipe

We removed the chicken and put a pot on for the final "one skillet", added some pasta water from the orzo, tomato paste, and chopped tomatoes.

 As I continued to read the recipe (full recipe linked above) I noticed a few things... 1. I forgot to get Feta Cheese 2. This was going to be bland. I started to think of some ways that I could add some flavor. Cooking Light by my experience tries very hard to cut sodium, and sometimes flavors are affected. S suggested that we add some basil so I grabbed some off of our plant. 

I added the Orzo and the Chicken to the tomato mixture. 

Then came the spinach

After the spinach had wilted and cooked in

I rolled a few basil leaves to then snip over the prepared mixture

In place of the missing Feta Cheese I used some Mexican Cojita cheese. It has a salty flavor and crumbles similarly to feta. I added it liberally for the additional flavor. The end result:

Not so fancy, but from our kitchen

Overall I think this is a good base recipe to add more to. It was very subtle. In the words of S "It tastes pretty good as long as you get some cheese in each bite." Not a raving review, but still. I think this is a good recipe to play around with. You could cook the chicken in the same pot that you combine everything into in the end and you could even cook the orzo ahead of time. It might add some flavor to do some finely chopped red or green peppers. There are lots of possibilities for this and the recipe in it's original form was not that bad. I just found it somewhat bland. If it wasn't for the basil and the cheese it would have not been a very enjoyable meal. Knowing that, I would cook it again and maybe marinate the chicken in a cumin rub or some other fashion. S suggested some chopped olives which might be nice if you were going for more of a Meditteranean flavor. You would want to use feta for sure when doing that.

So here we are. Oh, I steam cleaned some of our rugs today and wanted to share some good news: when you remove the reservoir, a steam vac turns into toddler chair. 

Where's the steering wheel?

Maybe leftovers tomorrow, maybe more new recipes. What there is no maybe about is that I am heading to BED. Toddler Tantrum days wear me OUT. More on that later or never. Call me maybe. 

-RT

What's for Dinner?

Lately I have felt like I'm letting my Cooking Light subscription go to waste. It is easier for me most times to not follow a recipe, or maybe just less time consuming. I also feel like when I am following a recipe I end up spending more at the grocery store. I tried to challenge all of that and looked for recipes that were inexpensive (or that I had most of the ingredients for) and that took an hour or less to cook. Cook along with me and compare experiences, or wait and see how it goes before you try these out. I picked three recipes knowing that they would provide leftovers for at least one to two nights. 

Here is what we are up to this week:

Chicken and Orzo Skillet Dinner

Photo from Cooking Light

Pork Chops with Roasted Apples and Onions 
served with Haricots Verts and a Mustard Vinaigrette

Photo from Cooking Light

Roasted Chicken Thighs with Mustard-Thyme Sauce
with Roasted Potatoes and Green Beans

Photo from Cooking Light

In sickness updates, after a quick dr visit this morning, Landy is on the mend and it has been officially confirmed that there is still not a cure for Tantrums. If you discover one, let me know. I'm just going to keep working with general lack of attention even though it gets difficult when a small person is clinging to your legs. Motherhood. So glamorous (flossy, flossy.)

Time to mentally prepare for cooking through a tantrum. Nap time is a survival gift from God. And a BIG Happy Birthday to L!

-RT

Fattening Friday: Graduate Degrees & Strawberry Pudding

Hey there! Tomorrow is Friday. Wow. So before I get to the part where I talk about food and ingredients and cooking, I would like to tell you a personal tidbit. Get food out of your head for a second. 

Education is really important to our family, so I'm going to brag a little bit and tell you about a few new degrees I have been awarded. You see, Landon had reflux, so back in 2011 I received my graduate degree in spit up. I mastered the 8 outfit change day, the midday bath, the four loads of baby laundry in one day, and aced my final in how to remove spit up stains. Being the overachiever that I am, I am now on day three of my doctorate in vomit. That's right... VOMIT. Is this too personal? Because I'm not good at vomit and Landon has a stomach bug. I need to talk about it with you. I NEED to put it out there in the internet world. Here Internet, have this. I don't want it back. 

"Sorry for Vomiting (SFV)" Love, Landon

I can count on one hand the amount of times that I have thrown up in my living memory. I try to avoid it at all costs. Now I have a tiny person not eating anything, but if she happens to eat a bite, she voms. And not on the tile floor either... she hits a rug EVERY time. Watch out sports world, this kid has aim. And can anyone tell me how to make a baby drink pedialite? Why do they make something for  babies that babies won't drink? I can already tell, this degree is going to be tough. And it's only just beginning. Ok, I'm done with vomit talk and throw up stuff. Take a deep breath, cleanse your mind and clear your head. We need to talk about food.

Strange enough to make you forget all of the above?

Earlier this week my Uncle passed away. I've been thinking about him and it brought back a lot of great memories of growing up and visiting my dad's side of the family in East Texas. Everyone in the family cooked. I would wake up to the smell of my Grandpa frying breakfast pork chops while my Grandma started mixing dough for biscuits. They had a beautiful garden full of fresh vegetables, peas, and beans. There were at least two pies, strawberry pudding, and sometimes a cobbler every time we came for a visit. My Grandma whipped her pie meringue by hand using a dinner fork. I didn't associate my Uncle with food until after my Grandparents had passed and I got to see him cooking more often. He would mix up dirty rice for a family gathering and made chicken and dumplings just like my Grandma. People who like to cook for others are people who like to put people at ease. He was that kind of guy to me. Someone who always wanted everyone to be having a good time. He will be missed, but I have some pretty wonderful memories including one of my 200+ pound Uncle doing a flip off the diving board into the pool in blue jeans. He had a lot of fun and was well loved.

Uncle R with my cousin V

I wanted to take this occasion to share a family recipe. "Family Recipe" is code for "not healthy." I was thinking about all of the great things that my grandparents introduced me to, that my Uncle loved to cook, and that my mother has perfected for when I crave them. The truth is, I have never personally cooked them. When I make collard greens I chop them and do a saute steam in a measured amount of EV Olive Oil with garlic. That is not the way it is done in East Texas. My regular diet doesn't allow room for Hot Water Cornbread, fried until it is nice and crispy on the outside, but soft and warm in the middle. If I put up a pot of beans I usually do black beans with brown rice. I don't put up peas with bacon fat in a cast iron pot that has been flavored for 20 years. Maybe Fattening Fridays will become a thing and you can all sit back while I learn how to cook all of that and put on 10 lbs. There is always a place for comfort food. 

Grandma J

What I do know is my Grandma's strawberry pudding recipe. It is completely not good for you with the exception of the strawberries. It is so sweet you might get a cavity when you eat it. I actually cut the sugar in half from the original recipe. My Grandma didn't keep recipes, she cooked from memory, so in order to get this I had to sit her down in my parent's kitchen and have her supervise me. I'm glad I did. She passed away shortly after. If there is one thing that reminds me of my East Texas family, it is good Southern comfort food, fudge pie, and strawberry pudding. 

This is one I made in May about to go in the refrigerator to set. 

Ingredients: 

4 eggs

1 C Sugar
1/2 stick of butter
2T Flour

1C Milk (I use whole milk, this is not the time for health )
1T Vanilla
2 boxes of Nilla Wafers (I always get two just in case the first box runs out) 

2 plastic crates of strawberries, thinly sliced

I use a 9 X 13 inch rectangular pan but you can use any size. Grease your pan with butter and begin by placing a layer of nilla wafers on the bottom of the pan. Then you will line wafers or sliced strawberries along the walls of the pan so the entire pan is covered. 

Layer strawberries and wafers back and forth until you reach the top of the pan or your desired layer level. Layer liberally, but not so tightly that the pudding won't be able to get through the layers. 

In the same pot you will use on the stove (these are exact instructions), mix the flour and the sugar together. Add the eggs and stir well. I use three whole eggs but just the yolk of the fourth egg. I think it really adds to the custard. Place the pot on the stove over medium low heat. Add Milk. In a separate dish melt the butter and then add it to the pot. Add Vanilla. 

Stir mixture constantly as it cooks and thickens. It takes some patience to get it just right. Make sure the fire isn't too hot as it will burn the bottom of the pudding. Continue to stir scraping the thicker pudding from the bottom of the pan. 

Once the mixture has gained some thickness, but is still runny, pour half of the pudding over the pan of nilla wafers and strawberries. You do this so "it will run through the bottom and make the wafers soft and soupy." Don't skip this step. Trust me. Continue to cook the remainder of the pudding until it has reached standard pudding consistency. Pour the remainder over the pan. Refrigerate (I prefer to leave it overnight) until it is set and enjoy!

Tastes amazing with a cold glass of milk and even better during the summer when strawberries are in season. 

Do you have a food that reminds you of your grandparents or relatives? Just spending time thinking about my family made me realize how many of our good memories have to do with the smells of food cooking, the delivery of frozen greens and peas from the garden, the taste of meringue pinched from the top of a pie in the refrigerator, or taking a bite of leftover Hot Water Cornbread on my Grandparents back porch while a George Strait cassette played. Those are the kind of moments we all need to slow down and remember more often. 

Have an amazing weekend!

-RT

Kitchen Sink Salad

Get ready to make friends with your fridge

You only need to buy two ingredients for Kitchen Sink Salad, that's why I love it so much. Everything else you need is hopefully in your pantry or in a fridge that might need to be cleaned out. You can handle all of that, right? Start with your choice of salad green. For this one I used fresh spinach. I know the ready to eat triple washed spinach is really easy, but when I am having a fresh salad, I love fresh spinach. It has a flavor and texture that you can't get from the packaged stuff. But moving on....

The next thing you need is a protein. You don't really NEED a protein, but with Kitchen Sink Salad, I think it's important to have two things as your salad base. What else is in your salad? Whatever you want. Basically everything but the kitchen sink... get it? Whatever, you try and come up with a more amazing name. Not possible. 

Here we go....

Here is my base: Spinach and Chicken Breasts

 Now I get another chance to tell you how much I love my salad spinner. I chopped off the stems of the spinach and tore the leaves, then put them in the salad spinner.

Next I put the entire bowl in the sink and filled it with water to wash the spinach. Once the bowl is filled just put your hands in and wash it as if it was a delicate clothing item.

Then you lift out the colander and throw out the liquid. Next you spin and you spin and you spin and you spin, dump the water that is spun off and spin once more. Magically washed and dried spinach leaves. 

I prefer to pound my chicken breasts before cooking them. I use a zip lock bag to keep the splatter of raw chicken juice off of things. Leave a corner of the zipper undone so the air has a space to escape when you are pounding.

Prepounded

Post Pounded

 I did a simple marinade with EV Olive Oil, Kosher Sea Salt, and fresh cracked pepper. 

Then we went outside. The weather is gorgeous right now. Lots of grilling to come...

Step One

Step Two

Ready to go

Since we were already grilling chicken we added two additional for lunches or leftovers. Now it's time to raid the pantry and the fridge... Here are some things that I found: Cherry Craisins, Organic Apple Slices, Cherry Tomatoes, Sliced Mushrooms, Queso Fresco, Avocado, Strawberries, Blueberries, Parmesan Cheese, Walnuts, and then I stopped. I grabbed a few of the items to contemplate my next move.

Things that make you go HMMMMMM

 I used the apples, mushrooms, and craisins initially. I chopped all of it into bite sized pieces. Then I made the dressing. I did my standard dressing with EV Olive Oil, White Wine Vinegar, Rooster Sauce, Honey, and a crushed garlic clove. 

Dressing Ingredients

 I made the dressing in the salad bowl and then covered it with the spinach. I added the chopped apples and mushrooms on top. 

We chopped the chicken breasts and the craisins and put it in the bowl. Small sprinkle of salt and pepper, then tossed it all in the dressing. 

After it was tossed I crumbled the queso fresco on top. It has a bit of a salty taste so it went nicely with the sweet of the apples and cranberries. 

The big reveal: Kitchen Sink Chicken and Spinach Salad for Two

Kitchen Sink Salad can be whatever you want it to be. What it has always been for me is an opportunity to get creative with my ingredients and try new flavor combinations in the kitchen. It also comes in handy when I need to clean some things out of the refrigerator. 

Hey guys... I just wrote a focused post about food and cooking with no side remarks on reality tv, or pervs, or making the "drop the bomb" sound effect. Someone owes me some cash $$!!

Not really. I just like to rub it in when I win a bet.

Do you have a standby meal that you can always count on to be in your fridge? Something like breakfast for dinner (love a good scrambled egg sandwich) or a favorite marinade you always have on hand? 

Today's post featured what we actually ate for dinner tonight. That might be a first. I'm on a roll.

-RT