Shake It Up

Lately, my drink of choice has been the milkshake. I think for the last month (at least), I've had one milkshake fix a day. It's a wonderful comfort "food" and makes me happy. Let's see, so far I've tried milkshakes from Wendy's, Burger King, Del Taco, Carl's Jr., and of course McDonald's! My favorite has to be the vanilla shake from McD's--so simple yet so thick, rich, and delicious. Yesterday I decided to finally break in my Kitchen Aid hand held blender by making my boyfriend a vanilla shake. Since he's lactose intolerant though, I used soy vanilla ice cream and lactose-free milk. I added a tablespoon of caramel sauce and topped it off with whipped cream. The verdict? He loved it and drank the whole thing up.

Soy Vanilla Shake:

1 cup soy vanilla ice cream

1/4 to 1/2 cup milk

Blend the ingredients together for about 15 seconds. If you like, drizzle with caramel sauce and finish it off with some whipped cream.

How About Some Chicken?

This evening I felt like cooking something for my boyfriend and me. Yes, it's been awhile since I've actually done any home cooking...seems like we've been doing more takeout than anything else these last few months. Since I had some lovely chicken thighs and legs in the freezer, I opted for this simple yet very tasty dish from Mark Bittman's cookbook, "How To Cook Everything". Keep in mind that your kitchen may get very hot during the cooking process but luckily for us, it was a cool, breezy day here in Southern California, and our smoke detector only went off once. Enjoy!

Roast Chicken Parts With Herbs and Butter

4 tablespoons of butter

1 whole chicken (3-4 pounds), cut up (I used 4 legs, and 4 thighs)

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Combination of herbs (I used dried herbs--thyme and basil)

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. When hot, put 1 tablespoon of butter in a roasting pan and place it in the oven--leave it there until the butter is melted.

2. Add the chicken, skin side up, season with salt and pepper, and return the pan to the oven. Combine the herb and the remaining butter in a bowl and mix until blended.

3. After the chicken has cooked 15 minutes, spread about 1/4 of the herb/butter mixture over it, turn, add another quarter of the mixture and roast another 10 minutes. Turn the chicken over again (now skin side up) and add another quarter of the herb mixture.

4. Cook until the chicken is done (you'll see clear juices if you make a small cut in the meat near the bone), a total of 30-40 minutes (mine took about 25 minutes to cook).

5. When serving, drizzle the melted butter/herb sauce over the chicken and serve with Japanese udon noodles also drizzled with the butter. Hope you like!

Something To Brighten Your Day

These days, I cannot pass up any opportunity to make my day a little brighter, a little happier even. So, when my dear friend T from Chicago shared this recipe for Key Lime Pie With Blueberry Compote, found in the Chicago Tribune and fervently (but sweetly) asked me to bake and blog about it, I could not say no.

Life has been a little tough for me lately and baking and cooking have not been on my regular repertoire, but because I knew this would actually be good for me to do and because I love T, I went out today to get all the ingredients and baked the pie today. As I was putting the recipe together, I discovered that I missed baking and being in the kitchen. I missed that sense of accomplishment and pride that comes with throwing eggs and butter and blueberries together and then coming up with something delicious to nourish our bodies and our souls with. This evening I treated myself to two slices of this creamy, tangy, yummy pie and made sure to add extra whipped cream for myself. Yes, this day was a little brighter. Thank-you, T.

Recipe for Key Lime Pie With Blueberry Compote (adapted from Chicago Tribune):

Crust: - You can purchase a graham cracker crust, or make this one:
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (I used cinnamon graham crackers)
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2teaspoon salt
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Filling:
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
3/4 cup fresh lime juice (I used bottle Key Lime Juice)
2 teaspoons finely grated lime zest
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup blueberries

Compote:
1 pint fresh blueberries
1/2 cup sugar – I cut this down to 1/4 cup for less sugar

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Crust: Mix the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and salt in a medium bowl; stir in the melted butter. Press the crumb mixture evenly over the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch, buttered pie pan, just even with the rim. Bake until crust just begins to brown, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven; set aside to cool, about 5 minutes.

Filling: Combine the condensed milk, lime juice and zest in a large bowl until blended; whisk in the eggs. Pour the filling into the baked crust. Return to oven; bake until set, about 20 minutes. Cool completely on a rack; scatter the 1/4 cup blueberries evenly over top. Cover; refrigerate until chilled, about 2 hours. (Pie may be refrigerated up to 3 days.)

Compote: Combine the blueberries and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat; cook until reduced to 1 1/4 cups, about 15 minutes. Set aside to cool. (Compote may be refrigerated, covered, up to 3 days.) Cut the pie into wedges; serve with compote and whipped cream

(this post is dedicated to my late father, who would have celebrated his 79th birthday today. Happy birthday, Pop).

Brotherly Love

Hi guys. Some of you may be wondering what's happened to me lately with my lack of fabulous recipes and posts this summer. Well, let's just say, sometimes life can be challenging and tricky. But, at the same time, life can be beautiful and wonderful too. Like tonight, when my little brother drove over 40 miles to see his big sis and cook her some delicious spaghetti. Yep, am I lucky or what? He cooked up a big plate of pasta and added his own touches like chicken Italian sausage and a luscious marinara sauce. Pretty soon I'll be cooking up a storm again but in the meantime, I sure don't mind having my brother spoil me with his own culinary talents.

Spaghetti with Italian Chicken Sausage

Ingredients

1 package (1 pound) Spaghetti, your favorite brand

1 package (about 5 links) Italian Chicken Sausage (You can use any type of sausage you like, I thought chicken would be a little healthier)

1 jar Trader Joe's Rustic Southern Italian pasta sauce

Parmesan Cheese for garnish

Directions:

In a large saute pan, brown the sausage and cook until cooked through. Add the pasta sauce and cook until heated through. Set aside.

In a large pot, boil 2 quarts of water (don't forget to season the water with salt!) and cook the spaghetti until al dente, about 7 to 10 minutes.

When the pasta is done, you can either pile it up on a plate and put the sauce on top, or mix the pasta and the sauce together and then put it on the plate. Sprinkle with parmesean cheese to taste. Buon appetito!

Feeling Like Flan

For the next few weeks the theme of my food blog will be all about "soft foods". Think puddings, soups, tofu...you get the idea. Maybe you're wondering why. Well, just last week I endured two hours in the dental chair to have two new crowns placed. Right now, I've got a couple temporary crowns which are not the most comfortable things to have in one's mouth. Those of you with crowns can relate to this, I'm sure. Yet, I'm determined to make the "best" of this situation and more than that, determined to not have these temporaries fall out until my next dental visit during the first week of August. This of course means the less chewing and chomping I do, the better, and hence, the "soft food" diet is upon me. So, today I made flan. I have never been a big flan fan until a coworker brought some in for our last Cinco De Mayo potluck. It was light, creamy and not overly sweet. In fact, that was the recipe I was hoping to make today but I discovered I left the notes at work. I opted for this Vanilla Flan recipe from Epicurious instead. It's a little lighter than other flans in the fat department--you can actually use skim milk if you'd like but I chose low fat. It was deliciously smooth and yummy and the best part was, my teeth didn't have to do a lot of work to enjoy it.

Ina's Lamb Kebobs

We enjoy a good lamb dish every once in awhile and this particular recipe is so quick and easy, I just had to share it. It comes from one of Ina Garten's recipes so you know it must be good, right? All you need is a large mixing bowl, salt, pepper, and a few other ingredients that you probably have in your kitchen and you're good to go. You do need to marinate the lamb for at least an hour though so make sure you plan on that when you make this dish. After that, the cooking is a cinch--only 10 minutes under the broiler and you have juicy, tasty lamb that is perfect for a summer meal. Enjoy!

Lamb Kebabs (adapted from Ina Garten)
1.5 lbs boneless lamb sirloin
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons red win vinegar
1 teaspoonful dried basil
1/2 teaspoonful thyme
2 garlic cloves (minced)
Coarse salt, pepper
Metal or wooden skewers

Cut the lamb meat into large chunks and place in a large bowl. Add salt and pepper, olive oil, vinegar, basil, thyme, and garlic. Mix using your hands. Cover with plastic wrap and set in the fridge from 1 to 3 hours to marinate.

Preheat oven broiler; place the lamb meat onto skewers.
Broil the lamb for a total of 10 minutes, flipping the meat half-way through.

BYOB

It feels so good to be baking and blogging again. These last several weeks, I have been a bit under the weather and had to take a little break from the kitchen. The good news is, I am on the mend and thought I'd "celebrate" my first post for July with a beautifully rich and moist Beer Cake from today's Los Angeles Times Food section. This cake made my whole house smell so good while it was baking and I really couldn't wait to take a bite of it as soon as it was done. Since I didn't want to burn my tongue though, I managed to wait for the cake to cool before giving it a taste this evening. Wow, this cake is delicious! It reminded me of a luscious spice cake but with a lot more rich flavor to it. The beer truly adds to this flavor but believe me, there's definitely no "beer-taste" anywhere to be found. Hope you will give it a try. Happy baking! (click here for the recipe)