Brown Sugar Salami Chips

Let me just start by saying these chips are FANTASTIC. They don't make it past 20 minutes max in my house without being devoured (and its really only that long because they need to cool a bit first!). Gunnar LOVES them, and when all the chips are gone, he'll sit there,  focused, searching out every last little crumb. But heck, if it wasn't him, his daddy or I probably would be doing the same thing! No waste here, not with these bad boys.

The recipe was in Jewish Living Magazine from 2008. Here it is with my notes interjected:
Arrange one layer of thin salami slices on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 325ºF until edges are crisp, about 30 minutes (Add 5 or 10 minutes on if needed to get those edges crisping). Remove from parchment and blot dry on paper towels. Combine 3 tablespoons dark brown sugar and 1 tablespoon water in a large, microwave-safe bowl (You only need 2T if you are making just half the salami). Microwave about 30 seconds until bubbly. Add chips, stir gently, and return them to the oven on a fresh sheet of parchment to bake 3 to 4 minutes at 300ºF (My chips usually need 5-7 minutes, and I get impatient and will often up the temp to 350 or 400. Yep. Breakin' the rules..ha).

Make sure you slice the salami as thin as you can. Or if you get it from a deli, have them do it for you! My slices are thin but do vary in thickness, which is kinda nice, so some come out softer or more crispy than others. But you cant beat how thin the deli can slice them (more like regular chips!). And FYI, the slices will shrink to about half there size. I've always used Hebrew National Salami as it got the best ranking out of 5 salami's reviewed in Jewish Living Magazine, from a 2008 feature. But I'm sure any salami would work fine.

Hope you enjoy these as much as we do!

Unicorn shrimp.

Let me just say, we love, love, love Asian food. And Asian markets! We had a little free time this past weekend so we headed to check out Asian World Market to get our fix (in Plano, for those of you in Dallas). Our favorite Asian market out here is H-Mart (in Carrolton) hands down for prices, selection and the 'experience,' but it's fun to mix things up every now and again.

Anyhow, hubs offered to make dinner.  (I sure wasn't going to turn that down!) We had Summer Rolls and Scott's make-it-up-as-you-go crab and greens Asian soup. 

Doesn't it look so good?! We totally polished off that tower. Dip those rolls into the homemade peanut sauce and sweet chili sauce and mmmmmmm, mmmmm, mmmmm!
(Hey, see those soup bowls?! I threw those (aka- potter's wheel) when we were dating, and still love them! If I only still had access to a kiln, *sigh*.)

The soup was really good, too. Scott made these crab/fish balls for it (haha, fish balls. Oh, come on, fish don't have balls! get your mind right! hehe), and threw in a mixture of greens (sweet peas, baby bok choy, seaweed), and some other ingredients.. sorry, he was cooking, I just ate it happily. ;) 

And who the heck knew Shrimps were a member of the UNICORN family?!!! Dang!, he could poke your eye out! That horn thing was hecka sharp. (No, we do NOT eat the heads. No way!)

To drink, something coconut of course! We usually buy young fresh coconuts and simply pop a straw down in 'em, but we came across these bottles that claim "Taste Nirvana" and "Happiness in a bottle".. hmm, thats a hefty claim, don't you think?

Um, no, completely right on! Only wish we didn't buy just two of them.. darn!

Posting these pics, I wish we hadn't scarfed down all those summer rolls in one sitting! Must put the husband on dinner duty again real soon. ;)

Enjoying the sunshine.

We spent yesterday afternoon at one of the neighborhood ponds and were happily greeted by some feathered friends.  The ducks here are so friendly.  Gunnar was delighted to see them!

"Come on ducks, let go swimming! Over there!" 

Logan didn't care at all about the ducks, but he sure did enjoy touching and pulling and eating and laughing at the grass. I don't think he lifted his head up once after I sat him down.  He was one happy boy.

And the husband and I were quite happy too. We had just received a box of beautiful Meyer lemons my dad picked fresh from his tree (their house was built on what used to be a lemon tree grove in the valley- southern California), so I made Scott and I strawberry-mint-Meyer lemonade cocktails to enjoy.  They were so good!  There is no comparison to home grown Meyers, no way.  

For each glass, I squeezed 3 lemon and 3 strawberries, and rough chopped a small handful of mint sprigs from the backyard.  Added a few ice cubes and 1 tablespoons of sugar, gave it a quick stir, and then floated a little bit of rum atop.  You could let all the flavors merry for a bit and then strain it if you prefer, or not add the rum at all and thin out the lemonade a bit if you don't want it so concentrated.  Or add more sugar.. It's my own concoction, so make it however you like if you do.  I might even write up an official recipe, it was so tasty!

All in all, one gorgeous, lazy afternoon.

Salad week success.

(This is in reference to this post a week ago..)

We finished off the last of the orzo salad tonight, and let me just say we were so sad to see it go.  The orzo, with the hummus and tzatziki in the pitas like a pocket sandwich was really, really tasty.  That was our favorite way of eating it!  The orzo and the butternut squash salad earned both the husband and my top picks.  But honestly, every one of these salads were phenomenal.  The spinach bacon salad I think you more have to be in the mood for, but even it too was really good. For some reason I guess I didn't take a pic of that one, but I know Pioneer Woman is a much better photographer than I, so its probably lucky for you I didn't. lol.  My pics don't do them justice.

Monday: Butternut Squash and Chickpea Salad from smitten kitchen.  I only tossed probably 1/3 of the tahini dressing onto the salad initially.  I reserved the rest to drizzle a little over top, and also to do so for the leftovers for lunch the next day. I think I'll make it again this week. yuuuuuummmy!

Tuesday: Asian Noodle Salad from Pioneer Woman Cooks. This recipe made a TON, and I'd say to give yourself closer to an hour if you typically have little kids distractions around while you cook.  This salad requires a lot of chopping, but it's well worth making (and you'll have it around for days anyhow!).  I really think the cashews make the salad, and while Ree calls for them lightly toasted in a skillet, we thought they were better roasted and lightly salted without the toasting.  With the toasting, their flavors mesh really well, but we preferred the nice crunch and contrast as is.  Both husband and I tried to seek out a cashew with every bite!

Wednesday: Black Bean- Couscous Salad; Lavash crackers.  The salad recipe called for quinoa, but we had couscous on hand so I substituted it instead and it worked just fine.  I also mixed the called-for spinach with spring mix we also already had, and crumbled a little sheep feta on top for an added flavor bonus. Cheese makes everything tastier!

Here's a close-up of the lavash.  If you don't have a rolling pin, don't even attempt these, lol.  You need to roll the dough pretty thin to get the right crackery consistency.  Toppings are really versatile.  I made half the batch (not pictured) with a pinch of sea salt, grated Parmesan and garlic, and the other half (pictured) with sea salt, parsley and basil.

Thursday: Warm Bacon Spinach Salad; whole wheat boule bread
 

 (See, Pioneer Woman's pic is much pretty than mine are.)

Whole wheat boule adapted from my favorite bread book that I've raved about many times here. This boule is more like 3/4 whole wheat, rather than 100%.  I ran out of wheat while Gunnar and I were making the dough, so we finished off with unbleached white.

Friday: Greek Orzo Salad; pitas, hummus & tzatziki; Tandoori chicken

Mmm, mmm, mmmm, mmm, mm.
I forgot to take pics of the Tandoori chicken (drumsticks), roasted red pepper hummus, tzatziki and pita's, so next time I make some Ill post pics and my recipes for all.  Husband makes some mean tzatziki, let me tell you.  It'll all be worth the wait. ;)

And there you have it.  Our week of salads. Likely to happen again soon at this house.  Oh, and the husband has already dropped some pounds on his quest for the IPOD. :)

Granola Bars. Chewy, oh so yummy goodness.

A few weeks ago the husband saw Fresh! (the "sequel" to Food, Inc.) and came home with the declaration that our house should be completely pre-packaged boxed goods free from now on.  We've already gone the route of abstaining from buying any bread product (well, other than fresh tortillas, I must draw the line somewhere!), and we keep the house primarily organic and buy local where we can. Even though as it is we barely buy processed goods, making all our breads/muffins/pitas/pizza's AND everything else like practically ALL our snack foods, well, that's going to take a bit more effort and planning on my part. But, hey, I'm up to the challenge. It really does cut down on waste product for the environment, and is definitely healthier for the family, so here we go.

Anywho, all that to say, I was going a little nusto without my prior staple FiberOne Bars.  Luckily a few FB friends posted about this granola bar recipe from Smitten Kitchen.  Thank you God.  They are absolutely delicious!  Thick and chewy, hearty, and totally customizable to your taste preference.  I'm going to make ten batches and freeze a bunch.  The hardest part is waiting for the pan to cool so you can cut into them.  Then, of course, having to keep your hands off them so they last more than a day..

The best granola bar recipe I have ever tried.  Do it, make these if you haven't already! 

Here was my favorite customization:
For the 2-3 cups dried fruit and nuts I used-

• 1/4c roasted, unsalted sunflower seeds
• 1/4c pecans, unsalted (I chopped these a bit)
• 1/4c walnuts, raw (I chopped these a bit)
• 1/4c flax seeds
• 1/2c dried cranberries
• 1/2c shredded coconut, unsweetened
• 1/2c dark chocolate chips

And then for the liquids, I used-

• coconut oil instead of the butter
• 2T. honey
• 1t. vanilla

I put in the rolled oat, oat flour, salt, cinnamon, and water as specified, used only 1/2c of the sugar, and I added 1/4c of roasted almond butter.

What we do for an IPOD.

(Photo taken from the Apple site)

The hubs signed on to participate in the "biggest loser" competition among the teachers at his school. To win an IPOD.  I fattened him up the best I could over the weekend, and we made sure to add in a few DQ Blizzard runs as well to increase his chances of a high initial weigh in, lol. He is all business about this IPOD, um, I mean, lowering his BMI..  Yeah, no, truthfully, it really is all about the IPOD.  But you have to realize, we are those people who live under rocks. Dark ages here. We don't have "I"-anythings, or even knock off somewhat related to "I" things.  So this is a big deal here people.

In honor of his first week of the competition, husband has requested salads. He did not specify that it had to specifically be leaves, so here's what he getting.

The menu:

Monday: Butternut Squash and Chickpea Salad
Tuesday: Asian Noodle Salad
Wednesday: Black Bean- Couscous Salad; lavash crackers
Thursday: Warm Bacon Spinach Salad; whole wheat boule
Friday: Greek Orzo Salad; pitas, hummus & tzatziki; Tandoori chicken

Heavenly delicious pudding.

Coconut chocolate pudding, *drool*.  Oh. My. Gosh. This was really good pudding.  You must try this recipe.  As in go today to the grocery store if you don't have the ingredients on hand. It is well worth it, and really easy to make. My little nursing's tummy is still quite sensitive to lactose, so when I came across this recipe (dairy-free!) on Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen, my stomach begged me to make it. We love both coconut and chocolate over here, and who doesn't like pudding? 

I made a few changes to the original recipe. I subbed in dark chocolate chips (we are big fans of dark chocolate!), used  cornstarch instead of arrowroot, and only put in 2 tablespoons of maple syrup. (I did the recommended three on the first batch and it made the pudding was a little bit super sweet.  Still excellent, but I liked more of an intense dark chocolate taste to come through.)  I also allowed the pudding to cook a little longer than "just to the point of simmer" before stirring in the chocolate chips, which gave it an even richer, velvety, almost hot fudge sundae topping type quality once it sets up in the fridge. Completely indulgent. 

Gunnar helped cook, so he got to help clean as well.  And boy, pudding tools are a great thing to have to clean up!  lol.

The Artisan Way: Boule

(This loaf was way over-floured before slashing. Thats why it looks so white. Toddler got a 

little carried away!  He was so proud! I love how he loves to cook with me. <3)

So I decided that this year I'd make all our bread from scratch.  All of it.  Well, at least lunch breads and dinner breads.   I usually make *most* of the bread that we eat, so this isn't really a new concept for me.

I came across Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day at the library.  In short, you spend about 15 minutes prepping two weeks worth of dough that you keep in the refridgerator until you are ready to shape a loaf.  It takes all of 5 minutes (active time on your part) to go from refrigerator to table.  Refrigerator, huh?  And no kneading. Yep.  Definitely intriguing.  And the main dough recipe makes a bunch of different types of bread.  Even better!  Two weeks worth for all of 15 minutes initial work and 5 minutes per loaf, WAHOO was my thinking!                    

So off to Ace Mart I went to buy dough buckets and voila, dough in the fridge.  Easy peasy, you just dump all the ingredients in the mixer (you can do by hand as well), let the machine run for a bit, and let the dough have an initial rise before transferring to the fridge to be at your beckon call in a (40 minutes or less) moments notice.

 

Last night I made a boule. The family was definitely happy with the results!  Nice crusty crust and beautiful soft, slightly chewy crumb (that's means the interior in professional bread world.. which, why would they call the interior the crumb anyway?  Doesn't make any sense to me..).  We had just visited a local dairy farm and bought fresh butter, too.  Perfect accompaniment!

If only I had pizza peel and baking stone, *sigh*.  Someday.  Will definitely be on my birthday list! 

Oh and OH MY GOSH lookie what I found at Costco!

YES, that's ORGANIC flour!

I can't tell you how excited I was to make that discovery. Well, yes, I can, I was SUPER excited! I even sent the husband a cell phone pic of it right then and there, with a message of "Can you believe? Finally!!!!!!!" hehe.

Bourbon Sweet Potato Pie

Oh my gosh this was so good, and other than waiting for the sweet potatoes to cook up, really easy to make. I made two of these pies, one for our Easter block party, and the other for a picnic outing at the Arboretum with friends. I cheated this time and used store bought crust (the refrigerated kind), though I really should have been less lazy and made it myself- probably would do a graham crust or something with a bit more flavor than Dough Boy's. But it was fine nonetheless. And you could make this with Whiskey instead, or no alcohol if you prefer. The alcohol cooks off though and even the little ones liked it.

So here's the RECIPE (I adapted it from a similar recipe in a magazine and I don't know which one, oops!):
3-4 large sweet potatoes- peeled and cubed (the smaller the faster they cook!)
1/3 cup butter (best at room temp to combine nicely with the other ingredients)
1/3 cup sugar
2 lightly beaten eggs
2/3 cup half and half
2 oz bourbon (optional)
1.5 tsp Vanilla
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp nutmeg (optional)
1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
2 pie crusts

Cook sweet potatoes in salted water. Bring them to a simmer and then continue cooking ~ another 5 or so minutes until soft. Drain and mash them. Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl or stand mixer, cream butter and sugar together. Slowly add eggs, vanilla, salt and bourbon. Mix until well combined. Add sweet potatoes, nutmeg and cinnamon until blended. Pour into pie crusts and bake for ~45 min. I like to cover the edges of the crust with foil for the first half of baking so they don't burn. Best eaten cooled with whipped cream if you like.

Enjoy!

Alot of Pasta!

Its pasta time! Scott and I make it together (with the help of our good 'ol Kitchen Aid mixer), and by the end of the night our entire kitchen is SWIMMING in pasta. We really need to invest in hanging drying racks. Pasta covers all counter space, kitchen table, bar... EVERYTHING. I should take a pic of the kitchen next time, ha. We like to make a TON of it and dry and freeze some. This go around we made regular angel hair pasta, sausage ravioli and spinach linguine (pictured- the flour keeps it from sticking and helps it to soften when cooked). Most of what we made was for my dad for his birthday :).

Whats for dinner? Menu.

Ah, the meal plan. It's been a while since I've actually "planned" a weeks worth of meals for us. Usually i just throw something together based on what we have in the kitchen at that moment, but there's something exciting in the anticipation of knowing what's ahead to cook. Lame, yes. lol.

So here it is:

Monday: Shrimp Tacos, Guacamole, baked corn chips
Tuesday: Beef Satay, Summer Rolls, Peanut dipping sauce, white rice
Wednesday: Steamed Salmon in Banana Leaves, Roasted Beets, baked Yucca fries
Thursday: Steelhead Trout, Artichokes, Quinoa
Friday: Tossed Salad, Pizza

Lemonape, or so I call it.

Mmm this drink is so good! We love making lemonade this way! Instead of sugar, you use grapes, which makes the lemonade so much healthier for you. Basically you blend a few cups of grapes with about a half of a lemon and a cup of ice, and thats it. We have a super high speed blender so we can actually put all the ingredients in whole without having to peel or take out seeds. I made these today a little bit slushy just for variation (and so i could stick an umbrella in it, lol) but normally I make it smooth like a juice or how regular lemonade is.

A simple salad

Salads are so fun and easy to make! Tonight we had a chopped salad topped with honey-mustard soy chicken. This was my first go at honey-mustard dressing, not too bad. Scott loves mustard, I dont, so this really was for him. I'd have done a bbq-ranch, but I added enough sweet honey to dilute the sharp mustard taste. Overall, I'd make this one again.

Molcajete!

Guacamole is so much more fun when made in a molcajete, I am convinced!

Of course you still have the same amount of prep work without one, but the smashing and combining with the tejolote is much more fun. And I think it looks cool too :)

And eh, your not supposed to "clean" it with any kind of soap... woops.. These things really should come with directions..