Tomatoes and Avocados

My sister Debbie delivered some homegrown tomatoes from Indiana and I used a couple to make a delicious salad for our dinner - sorry there are no pictures since we gobbled this down too quickly.

Layer sliced tomatoes and sliced avocados on a platter. Sprinkle with some Italian dressing and then scatter fresh basil on top.

Cool Asian Chicken Salad

This is a great make ahead dish for warm summer days. I found the recipe years ago in Sunset magazine (I don't know the year since I cut out the recipe). This is a double recipe.

It is pretty easy to make, can be done ahead and always gets rave reviews.

Cool Asian Chicken Salad (serves 4)

2 stalks fresh lemon grass, ends and coarse leaves trimmed; or 2 strips lemon peel (yellow part only, each about 3 in. long)

6 quarter size slices peeled fresh ginger (peel ginger with back of spoon)

1 lb Chinese pea pods, ends and strings removed

4 boned, skinned chicken breast halves (about 1- 1/4 lb total)

Asian dressing (see below)

Romaine lettuce leaves rinsed and crisped

Rice triangles (see below)
1/2 cup roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped

In a 4 to 5 quart pan over high heat, bring about 1 1/2 inclues water, lemon grass and ginger to a boil. Add Chinese peas; cook just until brighter green (1 - 1 1/2 minutes). Quickly skin peas from water with a slotted spoon and at once immerse them in ice water. Add chicken to boiling water, cover and remove from heat. Let stand until breasts are white in center. Cut ot test at 20 minutes. If pink, return to water until white, about 5 minutes longer. Immediately immerse chicken in ice water with peas. Pour cooking liquid through a srainer; seave seasonings for dressing.

When chicken is cold, in about 30 minutes, drain off ice water. Cut chicken into 1 inch diagonal slices. Line a platter with lettuce, top with chicken, peas and rice. If making ahead, chill airtight up to 3 hours. Add dressing and peanut (I pour on some dressing and peanuts and serve the rest on the side)

Asian Dressing

Mince reserved lemon grass and ginger. Mix with 1/2 cup rice vinegar, 2 T. each soy sauce and salad oil and 2 t. sugar. (I minced them in a little food processor -- adding some of the liquid ingredients to make it easier to blend)

Rice Triangles

In a 2 to 3 quart pan over high heat, bring 1 cup medium or short grain white (pearl) rice (DO NOT USE LONG GRAIN RICE -- I used medium grain/shushi rice from the Asian food aisle) and 1 3/4 cups water to a boil. Cover and simmer until liquid is absorbed, about 20 minutes.

Firmly pack hot rice in an even layer in an 8 inch square pan; cool. (If making ahead, cover and let stand up to 4 hours). Run a knife between rice and pan rim. Invert pan, easing rice from pan bottom onto a counter. Cut into 2 inch triangles; rince knife often with water.

BBQ Tri-Tip Burritos

We spent Saturday in Ojai visiting some family friends. Before we went to their house, we stopped at a local Mexican restaurant called Jim & Rob's Fresh Grill. While eating our tacos, we noticed a peculiar menu item--the bbq tri-tip burrito. Intrigued but stuffed, we decided we'd have to try it next time.

Instead, Jerry (Joey's dad for those of you who don't know names) decided to make it tonight! The recipe called for tri-tip (a type of beef that seems to be available only in California), pinto beans, salsa, cheese and of course, tortillas.

This is pretty much the easiest recipe ever--I hardly qualify it as a recipe at all. Surprisingly, the burritos were good. The barbecue sauce added a whole new level of flavor to the burritos. If I were to change anything, I'd just make them tacos and use corn tortillas OR homemade tortillas instead.

BBQ Tri-Tip Burritos

Tri-tip (2 pounds for 4 people)
Pinto Beans
Tortillas
Salsa - don't let the flavors overpower the bbq sauce
BBQ Seasoning
BBQ Sauce
Cheese

Directions

1. Sprinkle BBQ seasoning over tri-tip
2. BBQ tri-tip until medium rare
3. Meanwhile, heat canned pinto beans on the stove
4. Slice meat into bite-sized strips

Assembly:

1. Heat tortilla in the microwave or on the grill
2. Fill with meat
3. Add beans
4. Add Salsa and Cheese
5. Drizzle with bbq sauce on top (I recommend heating the sauce a little)
6. Fold the sides in and enjoy

Crock Pot Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

After reading Liz's post about making chicken in the crock pot, I decided that I ought to try making a whole chicken for once in the crock pot. I absolutely love the crock pot because it allows me to make dinner when I am at work. I come home and my house smells just like home is supposed to smell. The best part is that you can make pretty much the whole dinner in there and just round it out with a little fruit or salad or a steamed vegetable or maybe some bread or pasta.

I scoured the web for a roasted chicken recipe for the crock pot and came up short. Everything I found was for just unflavored chicken. I was concerned because a lot of times I make a recipe for the crock pot it comes out lacking flavor. So, I decided to make it up instead.

Last night, I cut up some parsnips, carrots, and onions into bite sized pieces. I put them in a gallon size ziploc bag with some Lawry's seasoning salt, Thyme and garlic as well as a sprig of rosemary and set them in the refrigerator overnight.

I also dressed the chicken (just like Amelia Bedelia) with some salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary and garlic. I put the garlic in the cavity and removed the other stuff that was in there. However, I was pretty grossed out dealing with the whole chicken. It was a little close to real life animal for me. I had this same problem once when I needed boneless pork shoulder but was distracted by the low price of boned pork shoulder (called Pork Arm Picnic--which should have stopped me immediately)--the thing that was worse about that was that you could feel the joints. Disgusting. So, I had a lot of trouble with the chicken, but I manged to dress it and then put it on a plate in the fridge overnight covered with foil.

I have to leave for work before 7 in order to get there with the shortest possible commute in minutes. I leave myself 30 minutes to get ready and leave in the morning. Because I did most of the preperation last night, I was able to prepare the pot in just 7 minutes, set it to cook, and still leave before 7. Impressive, I know.

I used the probe feature on my crock pot for the first time and I was a little worried about it. I read the Betty Crocker cookbook basics about cooking a whole chicken in the oven. I learned that it has to be 180 degrees to be fully cooked in the thickest part of the thigh. This is where they lost me. I know what a chicken thigh is, but when I looked at the bird sitting there, I couldn't really determine where the thigh was. I guessed, and apparently I got it right. Phew. The probe switches the crock to Warm after it reaches the tempurtare inputed in the morning.

The chicken turned out to be flavorful and delicious except the breast part was a tad dry (but I don't usually like the breast part in general, it was pretty much as dry as any chicken breast is usually). The vegetables, while fully cooked were tasteless, I don't know how to fix that though, so we just salted them.


Crock Pot Roasted Chicken and Vegetables - Served 3 with 1/2 chicken leftover
Ingredients:
1 Whole 5+ pound chicken
1 bag parsnips
4 red potatoes
3 large carrots
1 brown or yellow onion (I made a recipe with a red onion and it didn't hold up at all in the crock)
6 cloves of garlic, papery skins removed
3 sprigs rosemary
salt or lawrys seasoning salt
pepper
dried Thyme

Directions:
1. The night before, remove giblets from chicken and replace with garlic and 2 rosemary sprigs. 2. Sprinkle salt, pepper and thyme on both sides of the chicken, rub in
3. Cut up carrots, onion and parsnips into bite sized chunks--don't cut them too small or they will turn to mush
4. Sprinkle vegetables with salt, pepper, thyme and rosemary and store in a ziploc bag overnight
5. In the morning, spread vegetables on the bottom of the crockpot
6. Place the chicken backside up on top of the vegetables. Shift veggies to be sure that chicken fits in.
7. Insert the probe into the thickest part of the thigh avoiding the bone
8. Set the crockpot to stop cooking once it hits 180 degrees (I can't tell you in hours, but I know I left at 7 and it was at 32 degrees and I arrived home at 6:30 and it was on warm)
9. Serve chicken with vegetables straight from the pot

The Devil Made Me Do It

Deviled Eggs
It is a dish for which everyone seems to have their own recipe. I even found a website dedicated to the subject (Deviled egg website). I thought it might be interesting to discuss on the blog . . . assuming it is not too old fashioned for all you modern cooks.
Boiling the eggs . . .

For a long time I used to put the eggs in cold water, bring it to a boil, cover the pot, take the pot off the heat and then let it sit for 17 minutes. Now, I use this nifty egg timer device that changes color as the eggs cook.

Cool down the eggs in cold water (to prevent the ugly green ring around the yolks).

Using older eggs makes them easier to peel, but I recently read that adding salt (liberally) to the water makes even really fresh eggs peel easier. I tried it and it does seem to work.

Probably a good idea to make a few extras . . . they don't always peel no matter what you do

Making the filling . . . I don’t really have a ‘recipe’ for the eggs – it is really to taste. I mash the yolks with a fork and then add mayonnaise and dry mustard to taste – add a little at a time given the adage that you can always add more but can’t take it out once added. I add salt to taste (sometimes it doesn’t need any). This is how Mom made them and I don’t feel the need to change.

Now, people I know add pickle juice (and cut up pickle) and a lot of the recipes call for a little vinegar but I am not tempted. The website indicated a huge variety of ingredients that people use.

Serving them . . .
Well, what else to use but a deviled egg dish (I own two plus a Tupperware holder if transport is needed) but if you don’t have one, a plate will do.

Now, do you top them or not? Mom always sprinkled with paprika to add color – sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t. I know Jake likes them with a little paprika on top.

So, do any of you make deviled eggs? If so, what is your recipe?

Mexican Pita Appetizer

They may call it an appetizer, but, it was my dinner tonight. The only good thing about Jake missing dinner is that I can make something for myself that he wouldn't consider a dinner! One day last week we had Gyros & I noticed a recipe on the back of the Kronos Pita container that looked simple & good. I make a small adjustment to the recipe & added in some chicken. If I didn't already know that the dough was a pita, I wouldn't have been able to tell. It got crispy in the right places & was very tasty. I would definitely make this again. Next time maybe I will do a BBQ chicken pita/pizza! Oh... & I used my previous salsa post for my salsa.

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Meatballs

This is one of those recipes that I make when I need an easy fast dinner. However, it is a recipe that Jake always loves (and Julia too see below:). I never measure anything out when I make these & they always taste good. Sometimes I will throw different spices in if I am in the mood...you can adjust to your likeness. This recipe always make a lot a meatballs & we always have leftovers to make Meatball sandwiches in the sandwich maker with a piece of mozzarella cheese inside.

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