Fajitas!

This recipe is from Cooking Light magazine. I picked up an old copy from the local library off their sale table. You never know what bargains you'll find locally. I added extra red pepper to my version. Adjust spices to your personal taste.

1 pound flank steak
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/8 t. salt
1/8 t. garlic powder
1/8 black pepper
1/8 red pepper
Use whatever size tortillas you prefer. 10 inch or 6 inch.
2 cups sliced onion
1/3 cup of green pepper, red pepper and yellow pepper EACH, sliced thin
1 tablespoon lime juice
sour cream

Slice the steak into roughly 3/4 inch pieces going against the grain
Toss the steak into a freezer bag with all the seasonings.
Shake it and knead it lightly so the spice covers the steak.


Slice the vegetables - you can use any combo that suits your taste, more or less of a particular item. Same with the spices. Add more red pepper if you like it spicy.<

Heat some vegetable oil in a grill pan or fry pan. Add steak and veggies, saute for about 8 minutes or until it's all soft.

Stir lime juice in, toss.

Heat tortillas if you like them warm. Serve the steak mixture with tortillas and sour cream to top off. I also served cheese quesadillas.

Goes well with beer. It's a very hands on meal that gets messy as the juice runs from the tortilla.

Saturday - Part Two

The results of running around on Saturday afternoon resulted in a very nice dinner of crab cakes, remoulade sauce, cheese grits, tossed salad, French baguette and an albarino wine.

This was followed up with taleggio cheese which went very well as an ender.



To start, chop 4 tablespoons of red pepper, 4 tablespoons minced green onion (the green part only).




Add this to a bowl with 4 tablespoons mayonnaise, 1 egg, 2 teaspoons parsley, 2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning, and 1 teaspoon yellow mustard.


Whisk until well mixed.


Use roughly 6 tablespoons of breadcrumbs from the grocery store or make your own. I used a stale baguette and tossed it in the mini food processor.

Now carefully add a pound of crab meat with the bread crumbs to the mayo-veggie mixture; gently mix it.
If you are careful about mixing the crab meat in them you will have large pieces in the crab cake.

Gently oil a cupcake or muffin pan and use a spoon or your hands to fill the cups.

Be careful not to press too hard or it will be difficult to get the crab out.
Cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge for at least one hour.


Now make the remoulade sauce. You'll mix in one bowl:
1 cup mayonnaise
4 teaspoons capers
4 teaspoons chopped dill pickle
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon minced parsley
1 teaspoon each paprika and chili powder
1/4 teaspoon each cayenne pepper and ground cumin
pinch of salt.
Put this whisked mixture in a small bowl in the fridge.


Ok, let's fry some crab cakes!

Get a plate and put a coating of Japanese Panko breadcrumbs. Gently remove the crab cakes with a small spatula and dust with Panko.

I am a happy woman...finally...crab cakes and cheese grits for dinner!



















Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan.

Turn the cakes after 2 or 3 minutes. Fry the other side for roughly the same amount of time. Gently pat the oil off and serve.

The remoulade sauce is a good accompaniment...just a taste of it on the side works well.

We followed up with taleggio cheese and a few hours later - cheesecake and chocolate. We'll have to walk several extra laps with the shibas tonight.

Saturday in Pictures - Part One

A day in pictures. We wanted to take a ride to Bristol or St Marks or anywhere....just to get out on the bike. But it was rainy. So, since I have been wanting crab cakes very much ...that became the focus of errands today.

We went to Momo's Pizza for lunch. They have pizza slices the size of your head. Really - that is how they advertise themselves. Behold Momo's Pizza. I thought I had a closer shot so you'll have to click on photo to see it.

The Lord of Squirrel Head Manor waiting for a beverage and pizza to be delivered.

Some of the beer taps.

I forgot to take a photo before eating. These are huge slices. You can get traditional toppings or more unusual ones like feta cheese, grilled eggplant, sun dried tomatoes, etc. Across the street are many shops, one of which I like as a treat called Joie de Vivre.




This is a shop that sells the most amazing soaps. Among many other things such as books, calendars, aprons, music.....but the soap is a treat.



Next it's off to Fresh Market.


This is a small grocery store that sells the freshest veggies and fruits you'll find in the area. Maybe with the exception of the farmer's market. It's a bit expensive but if you want good produce and a wide selection of cheeses...this is the place.
Here is my son Tristan. Annoyed that the camera came along I'm sure.
Wow, the Scion looks clean in this picture.


I don't know why I didn't take a picture of the wines and cheeses.
Ok, we have to go to the seafood market now.

Southern Seafood. Bought crab meat.


Market Square Liquors - they have a very nice wine and beer selection.



Last stop - Au Peche Mignon Patisserie. Gooey, buttery desserts, breads, cookies and chocolates.

Now it's home to prepare dinner and walk the shibas.

Saturday night photos

LASAGNA

Last night was a relaxing Saturday evening. Lasagna, wine, bread......the tempertures`are still a bit low for our taste but otherwise...


This is a good sauce from a recipe I saw in Will Clower's book - "Why the French Don't Diet" and it's very tasty. All fresh ingredients.


Careful layering of ricotta and sauce.........
Before it went into the oven.....
Finished product..all cheesy and gooey.





I was watched the entire time I cooked.

Tristan, Katie and Doug after dinner.

Navarin d'Agneau

You know you live in a rural setting when wellies are lined up haphazardly near the front door, clods of dried dirt, which slide off the drying wellies, greet you as you arrive home nine hours later. Get the broom......
This morning, walking the shibas in 34 degrees (1 Celsius), I brilliantly chose to slip on said wellies (without socks)so I wouldn't get my sneakers wet. Cold rubber in 34 degrees against bare feet will transform your feet into blocks of ice after a 20 minute walk. Brilliant.

The leftover lamb stew has now become one of our favorite meals. We don't want to overdo it though. Even though we have champagne taste but a beer budget, this one is quite manageable.

Now, living where we do it is entirely possible for us to keep sheep, lambs and know exactly where our meats were coming form. No guessing at the market....alas....I would name every. bloody. one. of these creatures. I know it. It's good to recognize your own limitations and goodness knows, I would tear up knowing little Jenny or Bailey was on the plate.

That being said, here is a wonderful recipe entitled Navarin d'Agneau (French Lamb Stew) from the old cookbook At Home with the French Classics by Richard Grausman. I used this beautiful dutch oven to cook the stew.


4 TB vegetable oil
2 1/1 pounds lamb shoulder, cut in roughly 1 and half inch cubes
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups beef stock
1 cup white wine
1 TB tomato paste
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped (I used double this amount)
Bouquet Garni
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
4 large carrots, cut in 1 inch pieces
18 pearl onions, peeled, root end trimmed
3 small white turnips, peeled and quartered
12 - 18 small new potatoes, peeled

1) In large pot or dutch oven, heat 3 TB oil and add lamb, browning on all sides.

2) Sprinkle flour over meat and brown for 3 to 5 minutes.

3) Add stock, wine, tomato paste, garlic and bouquet garni.

4) Meanwhile, in a skillet heat the remaining 1 TB oil. Add carrots and brown, shaking the skillet frequently. Remove carrots and set aside. Add onions and turnips to skillet now.

5) After lamb has simmered 30 minutes, add browned carrots. After 15 more minutes add onions and turnips. Check meat and vegetables fro tenderness. Cooking time will be roughly 1 and half hours.

6) Boil or steam potatoes until they are tender. Add to stew and cook another five minutes.

This was served with a crusty loaf of French bread and one of our favorite and inexpensive wines - Le Vieille Ferme. Next time we want to add double the carrots and maybe a few more turnips. It was perfect for a cold evening.

Oh, and The Mom Song was deleted from my site because the link is now broken. So, it can be found on YouTube but the quality wasn't great so I didn't add it again.

Horseradish Roast Beef

I just posted this recipe on Foodbuzz and thought I'd add it to this site as well.
Seeing as we are getting back to cold temperatures again this may be just the thing for this coming weekend. By tomorrow evening and through the weekend it is expected to get down to 22 degrees ( -5 celsius )bbbbrrrrrrrrr

Horseradish Pot Roast
(in the crockpot)


3 – 4 lb. boneless chuck roast
salt & pepper
3 TBS vegetable oil
3 carrots sliced ¾ inch thick
3 celery stalks sliced ¾ inch thick
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 cup red wine
½ tsp fresh thyme
8 – 12 cloves garlic
12 or 16 oz. Horseradish

Sprinkle both sides of roast with salt and pepper
Heat skillet with 3 Tbs oil, brown meat.

Place carrots, celery and onions in bottom of the slow cooker.
Lay roast on top of veggies.
Add wine, salt & pepper. Sprinkle with garlic and thyme.
Spoon horseradish over the top of the roast.
Cover and cook on high for 4 to 5 hours.

If you like it very rare like my family, cook a 3 pound roast for three and half to four hours only.

Whoa - it's January already!

Happy New Year and lets hope it turns out great. I have set some goals and am already on the road to to one of them, no wait, two of them. It was actually "positive collateral damage" from hanging around a busy hospital emergency room...but nonetheless.

The most important thing is that Doug is now out of the hospital and it doesn't look like a stroke at all. Something we feared very much. One of the technicians told him he had nice brain waves which was, I'm sure, a great thing to hear. He told the nurse/tech that the EEG would confirm to his wife that he is retarded, which I really don't think at all, nor did I express as much.

Nurse/tech said "You tell your wife I said you had pretty brain waves." Keeping good humor is one way of staying positive and that's really important. And we have always kept a good if not odd sense of humor over all the years we've been together. Odd by some standards...not mine. Haha

So right now, it's good to have things almost back to normal after three days at the hospital. The heart healthy diet wasn't terribly awful and we'll adopt some of the more healthier options in our diets.

Now, see the dinner we prepared last night which is good from the standpoint of roasted root vegetables and a little bit of red wine. The roast is a sirloin tip roast so not so much fat there. And just the way we like it....bleeding out. The veggies are really very good and I must give credit for getting the recipe from my in-laws. I'll post the recipe tomorrow. Please try it and I know it will become one of your favorites.

Since we had to return to work today I started making a huge batch of minestrone soup to haul along. When will I ever learn to read the recipe all the way through before I start chopping and cooking. Probably never learn.

Turns out it was meant for a crock pot so I improvised and tossed it in the crock and cooked at a warm setting instead of low - all night long. Turned out great and I'll get that recipe up as well. Oh, it's heart healthy too. Doesn't look it because it looks like fatty sausage but it's turkey sausage. It was surprisingly good - I never had much hope for really good taste from the turkey, in spite of me loving roasted turkey, but this was good sausage and all melded very well.

Ah, the positive collateral damage I mentioned earlier. Two things.
I am life long nail biter with only one, maybe two, time spans in my life where I had lovely nails to be proud of. Just can't help it - I'm a nibbler. Being in the emergency room cured me (so far) of sticking my fingers in my mouth. No sirree....I washed my hands like fiend and now I realized I have small nails growing out. So that's a good thing.
Secondly, I had already planned to lose ten pounds and hoped to take it to fifteen by late Spring. Evidently being worried, eating less, healthier when I did eat and then, getting a nasty common cold on the LAST DAY of the YEAR (damn!) took three pounds off. So, there you have it. Whilst being totally unaware of more finger nail and less weight (not much but still.........) there is the aforementioned positive collateral damage.

I only received three votes for my poll (the major project) and the recipe book won two to one. So there you have it.

Thanks for the good thoughts from everyone. Be back tomorrow.