More memories...
When I was a child, our family would all pile into the car with my dad at the wheel, and we'd head down to San Diego, and then on to Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. I loved Tijuana! The city thrived with colorful shops, lots of friendly, energetic people talking in a language I didn't understand but yearned to know, lively music, and the spicy aromas of steamy tacos and enchiladas. Fascinating. I was hopelessly hooked.
I've never been able to resist fresh, good Guacamole made from just-ripe Haas avacados, chopped white onion, freshly minced garlic, fresh lime juice, cilantro, salt and pepper, and sometimes chopped tomatoes. Mmmmm, so good with crunchy corn tortilla chips!
I've been eating (devouring? feasting on? gobbling up?) Chile Rellenos most of my life, and I'm no spring chicken! They are some of my all-time favorite foods that I've been trying to make just so, perfect, with the right taste I remember as a kid. So I add this, pinch here, tweak there... still working on it but getting there. I started with Poblano peppers with this recipe, although I prefer to use Anaheim peppers because the skins are softer and I like the taste better.
Okay, so far, I charred, skinned, cleaned them, and stuffed them with jack cheese. Then I made a batter with separated eggs, folding in the whipped whites, and added a little flour and salt; then carefully dipped the peppers into the batter and gently added them to a pan of hot oil and let them fry.
This is what they look like after they've been all fried up. They're so stinkin' good I could eat a hundred even without sauce! But.... here's the really good yummy sauce:
I make my own tomato-based sauce and it's very simple with crushed garlic, cumin, crushed red pepper, chile powder, and a few other seasonings, and chicken broth. Oh, these would be so good to make for a New Year's Eve dinner!
I grew up in the hot, dry climate of Kern County, California. Desert-like. Lizards, trap-door spiders, rattle snakes, and lots of tumble weeds. We used to build tumble-weed forts and decorate the entrances with elaborate stone walkways and flowers. Sometimes we'd have tumble-weed fort fights; and sometimes our dad would have to rescue us from the "mean" kids in the other neighborhood :). We used to walk the pavement on bare feet in the summertime and it'd be so hot you could actually see the heat rising off the blacktop. But still we walked barefoot. We were tough.
I don't remember calling it Santa Maria style BBQ back then, but that's what we ate. And Deep Pit BBQ ( especially at the Pyle's Boys Camp BBQ where we always went because my dad volunteered with them helping out the less fortunate boys. And this is where we'd sneak the left-over beer in the paper cups left on the picnic tables). And lots of really good Mexican food--I mean really good!
This is the Santa Maria style BBQ that I recently cooked (still grilling outside in this sub-zero weather we're having, but hey, it's worth it!) Perfectly seasoned tri-tip with just salt, cracked black pepper and garlic granules; homemade garlic bread, fresh garden salad with tomatoes and vinaigrette; homemade fresh salsa (they call it Pico-de-gallo now, but we still call it "salsa"; but I've heard Rick Bayless ,my mentor who doesn't know it, call it "Mexican Salsa." ) And no Santa Maria BBQ is complete without Pinquito Beans!
These small, pinkish-colored beans are very good, cooked with bacon, ground beef, onions, garlic, oregano, tomato juice and your favorite chili mix. Nothing better!
I make these simple but oh so tender and delicious buttery-good cookies every year because I never have been able to find a better recipe... and because we love them! (Santa does, too!)
That's all!!
Here's the recipe:
2 sticks of butter, softened
1 C. granulated sugar
2 1/4 C. all-purpose flour
1 t. baking powder
dash salt
1 T. grated lemon peel
2 large. eggs
Beat butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. At low speed, gradually beat in flour, baking powder, salt, and lemon peel until smooth and well blended. Refrigerate dough several hours or overnight. Form the dough into 2 1/2-inch ropes and place on ungreased cookie about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake 10 to 12 minutes at 350 degrees. Let cool, then ice with powdered sugar and water icing, and sprinkle with sugar crystals or nonpareil sprinkles.
The weather could be much worse at this time of year in this high Rocky Mountain state, but what a nice surprise to have mid-60's in December! I'm soaking this warm sunshine in before the snow falls, soon. Maybe it will snow on Christmas day :)
My husband David, aka Grill Master, got the Weber all fired up for some summertime in December grilling!
I made shrimp and rib-eye steak kebabs with green and red bell peppers, and onions marinated in a sherry wine, soy sauce mixture with lots of garlic. Look! They're all decked out in Christmas colors!
My mom sent us some delicious, juicy pears for Christmas, so I added them to the Romaine lettuce, pecan and blue cheese salad. I dressed it with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt and pepper. This made an excellent (and Paleo friendly, except for the cheese which I didn't pick out) side dish.
Christmas is upon us... seems like it was just here! Well, I did bake some Gingerbread People but didn't decorate them as much as I thought I would; I stopped at white piping because I liked them like that!
They were spicier this year, maybe because of the addition of cracked black pepper. Very good! And they make the house smell all cinnamony (is that a word?) and gingery. Christmas baking just wouldn't be right without Gingerbread People!
I added a new recipe this year, Christmas Caramels, from my friend, Helen. So luscious you will want more.
They look all homey wrapped up in their wax paper outfits! I thought these were easy to make except you have to stir and stir and stir... well you get the picture... for a good 15 minutes. Next time I will get a helper, at least to hold my arm up!
Welcome to our home! Please come in and enjoy the decorations, lights, and Christmas fragrances of pine, cinnamon and nutmeg. I'm getting ready to bake Gingerbread People, this year, and decorate them in festive outfits! I'll show you when they're done, and I will share the recipe. I hope you're waiting... mmmmm, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg.... ta-ta for now!
I think I must really love soup. It's so comforting, especially on those really cold evenings when I'm all snug as a bug by the fire with my best friend (the husband) by my side.
This is a sort-of Bouillabaisse I made with just mussels and shrimp for the seafood. I say "sort-of" because I didn't have any saffron and really did not want to go grocery shopping looking for it--I know, it should have been in the pantry if mine was well stocked. Sometimes it is. Anyway, the broth was delicious, flavored with garlic, white wine, clam juice (again, a poorly stocked pantry/freezer--no fish stock), bay leaf, thyme, and fire-roasted tomatoes with their juice. Substitutions are really okay, sometimes.
This is a good hearty soup to have on cold nights: Zuppa Toscana made with swiss chard, sausage and potatoes in a creamy broth. Oh yum!
Chicken Tortilla Soup!
I love this soup so I saved it for last (at least for awhile) since I'm going on to other dishes now. But first I must tell you about this spicy, rich soup with the flavors of Mexico. The broth is made from sauteing chopped onions and minced garlic in a little oil along with various chile powder combinations (use what you like; I like to experiment with different ones). Then add one or two chopped jalapenos and stir with the onions and garlic. Can you smell the goodness, yet? Next, add a can or two of chopped tomatoes in their juice and chicken broth. Let it simmer for sometime to meld all the flavors together, and to make your home smell good, too! I add the shredded cooked chicken and a can of drained, rinsed black beans at the end. Simmer some more to make sure all the ingredients are hot. I like to garnish with homemade fried corn tortilla strips, shredded sharp cheddar cheese, sour cream and a wedge of lime. Mmmm, I'm getting hungry! Good Mexican food always reminds me of when I was a child growing up in Central California where the tacos, enchiladas, chile rellenos, and tamales were the best! I can't imagine living without all that good food. And the margaritas, too!
This is a simple but classy Potato Leek Soup that I made using Alice Water's recipe. This hot soup is rich, thick, creamy and just plain delicious! Only a few ingredients, potatoes, leeks, and a creamy broth meld together to make a mouth-watering goodness! And infused with a small amount of seasonings and chopped fresh green onions on top, this soup tops my list of "simple pleasures."
Mmmm... Butternut Squash Soup topped with a fresh-cracked black pepper whipped cream. Love it!
I cooked the squash, then used my food mill (one of my favorite kitchen utensils!) to make it very creamy, yet with a lusciousness to die for!
And who can resist a steamy bowl of old-fashioned New England Clam Chowder made with potatoes, bacon, celery, and of course lots and lots of clams! Goes great with crusty buttered french bread.
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| Baby, It's Cold Outside! |
Today is the first day of above freezing temperatures in 7 whole days!! Yikes! On cold days, like these, I really just want to enjoy a good, hot, steamy bowl of delicious soup.
This is a meatball soup I made using ground beef, Italian bread crumbs, oregano, 2 eggs, finely grated Parmesan cheese, and minced fresh garlic. In the soup pot, I first sauteed chopped leeks, onion and garlic in a little olive oil until the vegetables started smelling really good. Then I added a can of chopped tomatoes with juice, a little tomato paste, and some chicken broth and beef broth; I let it simmer for awhile before I gently added the meatballs. They took about 20 to 30 minutes to cook, and after that time, I added a whole bunch of fresh spinach to the pot. Boy, was this good!
And here's a picture of the meatball soup dished up and made pretty with small salad pasta added and topped with a good sprinkling of fresh Parmesan cheese. Very satisfying!
I'm searching for the best ever Paleo pizza dough recipe now, but in the meantime, I wanted to share this one I made on the order of Chicago's deep-dish pizza king, Lou Malnati. This is not how I normally make pizza, very different, and so good! The pizza dough takes 2 days so be patient.
A few years ago, on Food Network, I actually watched as Lou Malnati told everyone how to make his pizza dough. So of course I took notes. Here's the recipe (I hope it's the real thing since now I've seen recipes that say to add dried milk and use bread flour):
3 1/2 C. flour
1 1/2 C. water
1/2 C. yellow cornmeal
1/2 C. canola oil
1 t. sugar
1 t. salt
2 1/4 t. yeast
24 hours prior:
Add water, sugar, yeast, flour, cornflour, and salt in a mixing bowl. On low speed, mix until dough comes together; then add oil and mix for 7 minutes. Dough should be smooth and somewhat moist, not sticky. Form into a ball and place in a bowl. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and then with a dish towel. Put in the fridge overnight to rise. You'll want to take it out one hour prior to baking.
Set the oven rack to the lowest position in your oven and turn the oven on to 450 degrees. Coat the pan with olive oil, and after the dough has rested for one hour, place it in the pan and press it 1/3 up the sides of the pan. (Depending on the size of your pan, you can actually make two pizza pies).
Layer thinly sliced mozzarella cheese on the bottom, then add about 1 lb. of raw bulk sausage (I used mild Italian) on top of the cheese.
Spoon a can of drained chopped tomatoes on top of the sausage along with your favorite, or homemade, pizza sauce, and sprinkle with lots of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Bake for 45 min. at 450 degrees, then let the pizza sit for 5 minutes.
Voila!
And now the search is on for the "perfect" Paleo pizza crust recipe!
But I ate anyway before knowing that I probably shouldn't have!
Well, it was Thanksgiving so I made oyster stuffing with bread, celery, onions, mushrooms and oysters. I seasoned it with fresh thyme and sage, added two eggs, chicken broth and lots of melted butter. Very yummy but not on my diet.
Now I would make stuffing with ground pork sausage, forego the bread, and add fresh thyme, sage, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper, chopped celery, chopped onion, chopped apples, and chopped mushrooms. Cook the sausage first then add the vegetables. Whisk two eggs with some chicken or turkey stock, add a little olive oil, then mix with the sausage/vegetable mixture. Bake in the oven and enjoy! I guess I don't really need all that bread to enjoy stuffing.
Oh, these rolls were so good! I took the Pioneer Woman's tip and placed frozen dough balls (Rhodes) in a buttered Pyrex pie dish, waited patiently for them to rise, then brushed them all over with lots of melted butter, and sprinkled chopped fresh rosemary on top. I think they were the best dinner rolls we ever had--well, the family thought so, too. But, alas, these are definitely out for the Paleo diet! Hope you like them.
Here's another no-no for me. Sweet delicious cooked yams with lots of butter, brown sugar and marshmallows. I cooked gold, orange and white ones first in a pot of boiling water; then when they were almost done, I put them in a buttered dish and added the rest of the butter (about a stick) and lots of dark brown sugar--yum. Topped with marshmallows at the end, they were a real kid-pleaser.
Next year, for me, I will probably just bake a whole sweet potato and maybe place just one little dollop of grass-fed butter (I know butter doesn't graze, ha, but this is really how it's labeled!) on top.
Oh this was a killer drink! The husband made it for us using Ina Garten's recipe found in her cookbook Foolproof. Here's the recipe:
4 oz. freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
4 oz. Cointreau liqueur
7 oz. cranberry juice cocktail
7 oz. good vodka, such as Grey Goose
Dash of raw egg white (optional)
Ice
In a pitcher, stir together the lemon juice, Cointreau, cranberry juice cocktail, vodka, and egg white. Fill a cocktail shaker half full with ice and pour enough of the drink mixture into the shaker to almost fill it. Shake the cocktail for a full 30 seconds and strain into martini glasses. Serve ice cold.
Since this delicious cocktail is made with vodka, hence grain, I cannot drink it. But ... I can still drink champagne and wine since they are made with grapes. Happy Happy!!
OK. I really want to feel better, and I have been cutting back on bread, flour, grains, etc., and dairy. BUT NO CHEESE!! Oh my. I love cheese, good cheese, Blue cheese, Bries of all sorts, good Parmesan and Pecorino... this is sad. So I will have to make this an adventure!
I'm going to begin by showing you all the good food and recipes I've made over several years, and then explain how to tweak them just enough to be Paleo. Some, I will have to forego altogether (boo hoo), but I suppose you can still enjoy them.
Hey! I can eat this!
Mmmmm, nothing smells better to me than a yummy, free-range chicken roasting on a spit. I salt and peppered it, and slathered it in butter. Oops, butter--hmmm, better go for the grass-fed butter. That's on my diet. So, maybe Paleo's not so bad after all.
Our local natural grocery store had this fresh, baby kale in the produce department and I just couldn't resist buying it. I'm glad I did. Baby kale is so delicate and delicious. All I did was saute it in a little olive oil, fresh garlic, and salt and pepper; then I added just a splash of balsamic vinegar at the end. So good. It went very well with the chicken and it's a Paleo dieter's delight! Now if I could only have dessert....
I'm finding that I can actually eat all kinds of foods that I really love. Pears make an excellent dessert and without all the calories. Apple slices dipped in almond butter are another choice.
So, for me, this makes a perfect Paleo meal!
The years go by so fast, now. Memories flood my mind, memories of when I was a child playing so hard outside with my cousins that we'd come in, when they called us for the big dinner, all sweaty and tired and probably not really wanting to eat turkey but would rather want to keep playing hide-and-go-seek or whatever other game it was. Always lots of relatives and lots of food. Lots of memories.
This year I decided to make Ina Garten's cinnamon-sugar doughnuts for our breakfast. Mmmm, they were sure good and paired with juicy pork sausage links they made a most scrumptious meal!
I had never made doughnuts before! Gee, they're really easy when you make and bake cake ones. The only difficulty for me was filling just the right amount of batter into the doughnut pan. My first batch looked like muffin tops! Ha. And the second batch were scorched -- too little batter for the cooking time. But, the third time around, they came out almost perfect and oh so good!
I also made one of our traditional foods, just plain cranberries cooked with one cup water and one cup sugar, in a saucepan on the stove until the berries begin to burst and you wonder why every year you forget that they splatter all over unless you pay attention. *sigh*
They are so GOOD and so darn easy to make!
I think we always had canned cranberry sauce when I was little. Canned foods were popular back then. Still, I wonder why we didn't have fresh berries; maybe because they splatter all over!
I think the small turkeys taste better, plus they are so much easier to cook, and I don't know about you, but we just don't do so well with too many leftovers. Anyway, here's the 12 lb. turkey I cooked.
This turkey was well seasoned with fresh thyme, sage, kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper after I rubbed olive oil all over him. I also smeared truffle butter under the skin and put and onion, fresh thyme and fresh sage leaves inside the cavity. And here's how it looked when ready to eat.
Well, it didn't last too long!
