French toast

frenchtoast2, originally uploaded by JeanC38.

Normally I make french toast with regular sliced sandwich bread since that is the way my mom made it while I was growing up, but this weekend I decided to fancy it up a bit.

I sliced a day old baguette and popped them into my egg mixture. For the egg, I keep it simple. I don't use milk, just add a quick splash of cold water while beating them and then a splash of vanilla and if I am in the mood, some cinnamon, cardamon or pumpkin pie spice.

I cooked some bacon on the non-sick griddle, so had some nice bacon grease to spread over it to cook the french toast on and served it up with bacon and butter from New Zealand.

YUM!!!!!

Quick and easy orange sauce

So the hubby had a craving the other day for chicken with orange sauce. Now Winco sells a pretty nice chicken with orange sauce, but it is WAY spicier then the hubby cares for. I find it just right, which means it is definitely too spicy for the hubby.

We checked the freezer section, most of the frozen varieties were pretty pricey and the one bottled orange sauce we found on the Asian section shelves was VERY pricey. So I decided to wing it.

We picked up a can of orange juice concentrate and some chicken nuggets and headed home.

I put the concentrate and a half cup of water into a sauce pan on medium heat. I added some rice wine vinegar and soy sauce to taste. I would guess about 2 tablespoons vinegar and 1/8 or a bit of soy sauce. As I said to taste, you'll need to experiment. Start with a little and add just a bit at a time until you get the flavor you like. I let this simmer for a while.

Hubby found the sauce to be a bit too tart, so I added about a teaspoon of sugar and continued to simmer. Once it cooked to the flavor he liked, I made a slurry of corn starch and water (a good heaping teaspoon of cornstarch) and added it to the sauce. I turned the heat up to medium high and let it thicken.

I heated up the chicken nuggets and served them with the orange sauce in bowl for dipping. Very yummy and I popped the leftover sauce into the freezer to have on hand the next time hubby gets a craving.

Now I like a bit of heat in my orange sauce as I have mentioned, so if I were making it just for me I would sprinkle in some red pepper flakes and let them simmer in the sauce.

Gorcery outlet find

Tang Horchata, originally uploaded by JeanC38.

Found this Tang product at the Grocery Outlet and had to get it. Each packet makes a quart and is quite yummy. Pity is contains aspartame, even tho the first ingredient is sugar. The hubby can't do aspartame, so he can't enjoy it, but then again, it does mean it is MINE! MINE! ALL MINE!!!!! BWAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!

:D

I am hoping they still have it the next time I go back (the one problem with grocery outlets, is you find something you really like and it probably won't be there the next time you go in.). If they do, I am seriously stocking up unless I can find it elsewhere where it is stocked on a regular basis.

In the meantime I will be checking out some recipes online for making horchata at home and I can see about sweetening it with Splenda so the hubby can try it.

In praise of the 'shroom

Growing up I would not eat mushrooms. I have amazed people with my ability to pick the teeny, tiny slivers of mushroom out of Campbell's cream of mushroom soup. My dad would claim I could pick powdered mushroom out of a dish. I did not like the texture of mushroom as they were too rubbery and icky.

Several years ago I finally relented and allowed mushrooms on my pizza, as long as they were thinly sliced and well cooked. They were tolerable then.

Fast forward a couple years and a friend convinced me to try a grilled cheese stuffed portobello mushroom.

YUM!!!!!!

Meaty flavor and not hint of rubbery, slimy texture. I was hooked. I buy portobellos when I can, but mostly I buy crimini mushrooms. Criminis are simply baby portobellos so they have the same meaty flavor. Luckily Winco sells the criminis for the same price as the white mushroom, so I can get them when ever they have them.

I don't care for the white mushroom, no real flavor, tho they season up nicely in various dishes.

But the one thing I like about portobellos/criminis is I can vary some recipes and use them in it instead of meat. Case in point, last night I made spaghetti and used criminis instead of ground beef.

YUM!!!!!!!

I had about 1.5 lbs of criminis I diced up and sauteed in olive oil. Added some garlic seasoning, tomato sauce, a bit of balsamic vinegar and Italian seasoning and I had a very yummy sauce for my spaghetti and it satisfied my veggie craving. I had enough sauce left over I popped it in the freezer for next time. Having lots in the freezer makes week night dinners so much easier.

Eventually I will work on adding more mushroom varieties into to my repertoire. Costco sells a good sized package of dried mixed 'shrooms that would be handy to have on hand for making various dishes a bit more special.

Chicken with chickpeas

For a quick and easy dinner I came up with this recipe after googling for recipes I could use that had chicken and chickpeas. Most recipes called for more ingredients then I had on hand, so i decided to just be inspired by them and came up with my own.

I started by heating some olive oil in the skillet on medium heat and then adding some sliced onions. I let them sautee until they softened and then added a good heaping tablespoon of minced garlic. After the onnions and garlic had a chance cook for a while I sprinkled in some turmeric I just happened to have. As I wasn't sure how long it had been sitting in my pantry, I was very generous in the sprinkling.

Once the turmeric had a chance to bloom over the heat, I added 10 boneless, skinless chicken thighs and a good pinch of kosher salt and let them simmer over the onions and garlic with the the lid on.

Once they cooked for about 20 minutes, I turned the chicken so all sides were coated with the sauce that had formed. In the meantime I opened a can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans) and drained them.

Once the chicken had a chance to cook for a few more minutes, I added the chickpeas and moved the chicken around to coat the beans. I let the chicken and chickpeas simmer for another 15 minutes on medium low.

Once everything was done, I served the chicken and chickpeas over some jasmine rice I had cooked while I was cooking the main dish.

This came out very yummy and I have ideas of what I am going to do with it the next time (I am thinking greens such as fresh spinach tossed in at the end would make it even better).

A delicious Sunday breakfast

I love potato patties and like to keep a package or two in the freezer so as to have them on hand. Yesterday I decided I wanted something a little bit different for breakfast, so decided on Potatoes Benedict. A friend told me a local restaurant has them on their menu and I filed it away for future reference.

My take on this leaves off the cheese, simply because it is rich enough as is, but I may try it with cheese next time.

I pulled out my non-stick griddle and heated it up. I melted a little bacon grease on it and popped on some of the frozen potato patties and cooked them until they were crispy brown.

In the meantime I took some thin sliced deli ham and popped those on the griddle to cook up some and then when the patties were done, transferred them to plates and topped them with the ham. I then fried the eggs on the griddle, sunny side up for me and over easy for the hubby.

Onto the ham and potatoes they went and I topped them with some packet hollandaise sauce I had handy in the pantry. I imagine it would be killer with some homemade hollandaise.

MMMMMMM!

Picked up some broccoli and cauliflower the other day and simply HAD to get a picture of them:



I tried growing broccoli one year. I'd gotten it in a bit too late and didn't have much to show for it, but the little I did was totally to die for. I am going to try growing again, this year I am in better shape to work in the garden (now that my knee is much better after the surgery last summer) and have plans on getting in spinach, lettuce, broccoli and cauliflower as soon as I possibly can. There is nothing like veggies you've grown yourself for cooking.