Cinco de mayo

The holidays we or others celebrate often gives us a idea for a change in the household menu.

looks similar to a build it yourself pizza party

Now I’m standing by the television as instructed…

back in the kitchen…..start with some fresh cooked corn tortillas and lettuce

add a bit of sausage

layer on other choices

a few chips on top and a side of sour cream

didn’t add any beverage options at this time, could have run it under the broiler also

 

Chili Bean Wrap

A simple chili bean mix , made a few flour tortillas to wrap it up.

Saute some diced green peppers, in this case 1, add some diced onion and saute till translucent. Add some seasonings. Now some boneless pork ribs thin sliced are added in, the pork cooks quickly and then add can of Rotel tomatoes with chili peppers. The seasonings can be your choice, a bit of ground cumin, cumin seeds, dried cilantro, etc. Perhaps some garlic or garlic powder. The red chili beans were cooked in the microwave to hurry them along, in water to cover and then at low power for about 20-30 minutes. As the beans cook, let the tomato mixture simmer and reduce and add liquid like some broth or wine and continue to simmer. When the beans were finished, add to the tomato mixture and simmer to incorporate.

A quick mix of water, bacon fat, salt and flour to a dough, rolled and browned in a hot cast iron skillet for the wraps. A bit of yogurt for topping, nothing fancy. (but a few diced green onions would look nice for the picture and a sprig of cilantro)

An interesting salad

This recipe was a re definition of a salad.

Close  to the original recipe,  very filling for a salad that I had about 1/2 of the total amount.

Nuts are said to be a superfood, but I won’t profess about what you (should) eat,  the decision is up to you.

Quinoa salad  from Mrs. Twinkle a WordPress blog .

Now I’m open to a lot of grains, bread, couscous, barley, so this looked like an interesting combination. Now those of you either that have a nut allergy or turned off by a meal with no meat, yes this recipe could be modified from the original but I think that would lose something in the translation.

Being used to the usual greens and tomato type salad, with an oil and vinegar type dressing,  this is a pleasant diversion. Little if any modification to the recipe. Other than sesame oil double and skip the olive oil in the dressing, and some chopped ginger added to the main mix, ( I would taste and bring up the level of ginger in the dressing). The crunch of the red cabbage and the nuttiness of the dressing, on a bed of grains is satifiying. 

 I use double black soy sauce for the dressing. Melt the peanut butter and honey in a microwave safe bowl for about 30 seconds. Stir and finish the dressing and adjust to taste.

Assembled

I resisted to add any heat to this recipe!

Curry chicken

Adapted from Chatelaine.com

The original recipe calls for chicken thighs , I have some small chicken breast pieces available.

As I have accumulated some canned coconut milk, I found a recipe that used ingredients that I had on hand.

Sauté onions in skillet with oil and a good amount of curry powder.

Add the chicken and stir to coat. Salt as necessary.

Add coconut milk, potatoes, carrots. Cover and simmer a while. Uncover and finish cooking till the sauce reduces to your liking, add the peas and seasonings.

Warm through.

Serve over rice.

A good technic for cooking ,utilizing coconut milk , a tasty dish.

Roasted Chicken Thigh with Thai Salad

Time on the grille this weekend, soy sauce based several hour marinade* chicken thighs, slow roasted.

Parsnips, elephant garlic, cauliflower, not  shown, leeks which was the best with the crispy outer leaves and tender center.

*soy sauce, ginger, vinegar, sugar, 5 spice powder, oil etc.

 some of the grilled veggies from above were an appetizer..

a few grilled orange slices added

now a weeknight meal , some of the sliced chicken on bread, along with greens and salad.

The baking of bread continues of course.

The salad was made by one of my daughters, a lot of dicing involved.

from:

http://hostthetoast.com/thai-cashew-coconut-rice-ginger-peanut-sauce/

I made some additional peanut sauce with some substitutions and an addition, that is hot red pepper flakes !

It made it on the thick side and can be used as a dipping sauce.

It’s a change to incorporate nuts and coconut into my daily diet, IMO nuts, (peanuts, walnuts, etc. including peanut butter) is a super food.

 You can tell by the price of walnuts , cashews etc.

Other kitchen outtakes…

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Sort of a working night to get posting done , one of the freak occurrence of connection and device  problems, possibly modem, router, or cable problems intermittently. Plus another screen replacement for the mobile device, when these are cracked, almost impossible to use and a botched Imessage implementation. Thanks in advance for stopping by.

 

 

 

 

 

Salsa

Skip the store bought version , get creative with ingredients on hand.

   
 

Sweet and Spicy Chicken with Red Beans

Adapted from the pampered chef recipe cards packed with the Chef’s silicone Basting Brush

Sweet and spicy glazed chicken with red beans

About one and one half nectarines , chopped fine
About one half banana
Simple sugar to sweeten
Heat the above till a jam like consistency. Mash if necessary.

Add lime juice , lemon juice in small amounts
One finely chopped hot pepper of your choice
Chilli powder , your choice and amount
Salt
Garlic , pressed 1 clove
Black pepper if desired
Place in a sauce pan, along with a piece of cooked chicken, braised thigh etc.
Heat through. add some pan drippings from the braised chicken pan .
Plate with a side of red beans.
Snipped fresh cilantro , if available for garnish.

Not too appetitizing a picture , but turned out to be a mild, delayed heat.

Noodles and veggies

Cruising some of the food blogs, email newsletters and tweets gives some some direction as to what to cook. A simple recipe of pasta noodles, with ground pepper, grated cheese and parsley would be doable and bloggable. But with the availability of brocolli and grated Romano the recipe was soon modified.
A meal for one serving of pasta doesn’t really take too much time to whip up some fresh noodles.
.

Enter the pasta roller, A simple mix of an egg and flour with a touch of oil and water produces the dough, with a tad of salt, let it rest briefly while the other ingredients are prepped.

</a , ingredients prepped.

Roll it…..

on to the noodle attachment and into the boiling water.

a 2 or 3 on the thickness setting gives a semi thick chewy noodle.

dress’em up.

add the toppings, and toss with olive oil, but I could resist this time to coat with melted butter. Aha !

now toss and serve!!

White or Red ????