Final Friday Five, BOO!

perfect halloween treat? (from bon appetite)

It’s time for the Final Friday Five again, and in honor of Halloween, I want to know your Favorite Halloween Candies! My favorites are, in no particular order, of course:

1. Almond Joy
2. Kit Kats
3. Butterfinger
4. Peanut M&Ms
5. York Peppermint Patties

Now it’s your turn. Leave a comment and list your top five favorites. I’ll also send a candy bar to anyone who can guess what my Daughter will be dressing up as for Halloween. If I’ve already told you, you’re disqualified.

(And yes, Jill, this time Red Vines is an appropriate answer).

Be Safe and have a Happy Halloween!

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Halloween Idea: Pizza Mummies

Half a bagel, pizza sauce, string cheese and a couple olives. Delicious AND spooky!

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Happy Birthday, Have a Great Weekend

It’s my Brother-in-Law’s birthday today, so Adam, Happy Birthday!

Since you live in Denver, and I’m in Minneapolis, I’m not baking for you. Instead I’ll just post a recipe for this amazing Chocolate Cream Pie and you can go ahead and make it! It’s from Food & Wine, and looks like it would go well with red wine, perhaps a Port. Enjoy, and have a great birthday. The rest of you? Enjoy the long weekend!

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The Homegrown Experience

There’s a cool event coming up here in Minneapolis in a couple weeks. I don’t know much about it, but hope to stop by. From what I can figure out there will be food and wine and speakers. And it’s all local. Good enough!

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Perfect

Husband gave me this chocolate bar for my birthday. Can you say perfect? He also gave me this new camera that I took this shot with. Again, say perfect. He knows me too well. I have a thick manual to read and much to learn, but I’m having fun. And looking forward to better photos of food, aren’t you?

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Lazy Woman’s S’mores

Don’t forget to visit my new blog, paper&clouds, here.

I’ve been craving S’mores ever since I saw a recipe for S’mores cookies in Martha Stewart Magazine while getting a pedicure last week. The recipe was simple. Take a homemade marshmellow, sandwich it between two chocolate dipped graham crackers and then dip the whole darn thing back in the chocolate. Simple enough, except for the homemade marshmellows. I tried making them once, and it didn’t go well. I certainly didn’t want to try it again. And after hitting two co-ops, I finally found a package of vegan marshmellows that I thought would work.

Here comes the lazy part. It was 9pm on teh 4th of July and I really wanted a S’more. Daughter was asleep, Husband and I were hanging out, and while he offered to start a fire in teh fire pit, I didn’t feel it was worth it for just one S’more, right? I was right. Instead I stuck two marshmellow’s in the microwave for about 45 seconds and Poof! Perfect!

I added a couple graham crackers and some dark chocolate from my Ikea runs, and Poof! Yum. A S’more. A very lazy S’more.

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Easy Rice Cooker Dinner

We love our Rice Cooker. We bought int on a whim about five years ago because we were sick of scrubbing our pans, and we haven’t regretted it once. We even talked my sister into registering for one when she got married. They use it as much as we use ours. So when I found this recipe for a full meal cooked in a rice cooker in Food and Wine Magazine, I knew we had to try it. With fingers crossed. I was worried that the chicken wouldn’t be cooked through, or that the rice would be tough. No need to worry. The dish turned out perfectly. The chicken was tender, the rice was fluffy and it was really delicious. Next time I would add some crushed red pepper. We served it with soy sauce and hot sauce. And then we washed the rice cooker insert. And dinner was done!

After we realized the recipe worked, I started thinking about other combinations that could be done in the rice cooker. I bet I could use pork tenderloin or chicken breast, as well as hearty vegetables and other substantial greens. Maybe some red peppers and onions, with a bit of curry past. The options are endless. I’ll let you know how it turns out!

Rice Cooker Ginger Chicken and Rice

Ingredients

1. 1 large chicken bouillon cube, preferably all-natural
2. 3/4 cup hot water
3. 1 cup jasmine rice
4. 1 1/4 pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch cubes
5. One 2-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and cut into matchsticks
6. 3 packed cups baby spinach
7. 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
8. Kosher salt

Directions

1. In a small bowl, dissolve the bouillon cube in the hot water. In a rice cooker, combine the rice with the chicken and ginger. Arrange the spinach on top. Pour the coconut milk and bouillon broth into the cooker and season lightly with salt. Turn the cooker on; the dish should be done in about 40 minutes (when the cooker turns itself off). Let stand for 5 minutes. Fluff the rice with a fork, spoon into bowls and serve.

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St. Paul Farmer’s Market

We made it over to the St. Paul Farmer’s Market this weekend along with nearly every other person who lives in the Twin Cities. It was so crowded, we could barely get our little tiny stroller through the crowds. (We had considereing bringing the backpack carrier, but figured it wouldn’t be THAT crowded. It was.) Maybe it was all of the wagons being dragged through the crowd, really? You need that huge wagon for a three aisle wide market? I love seeing the community support our local farmers, but it’s frustrating when we’re trying to actually buy some groceries!

Anyway, enough ranting. We loaded up on fresh and local rhubarb, asparagus, broccoli, eggs and chicken. I can’t wait to try to make the asparagus we had in New York, and to make some rhubarb muffins. If you have a recipe I should try please let me know, I’m having a hard time finding a reliable one online.

If you’ve never been to the St. Paul Farmer’s Market you really should go. All the vendors and products are local. And there is so much more than just produce! There’s Bison, Cave-aged cheese, Handmade Soap, Fresh Egg Rolls, Plants, Herbs, Handmade Sweaters, Bags, Fresh Bread, I could go on. Just make sure you don’t bring your big, huge wagon.

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Steak Mole with Cilantro, etc

I found this recipe for Steak Mole with Cilantro in the latest Bon Appetit. I’ve never made a Mole sauce before, but have always wanted to try it. And this one sounded pretty simple with ingredients that I mostly had on hand. (Husband had to take the scooter to the store to pick up chipotle’s, but on a beautiful April Sunday it wasn’t too hard to talk him into it.)

I followed the recipe fairly closely, except we grilled the steaks and I didn’t puree the sauce. And it was great. A perfect compliment to the steak. We served roasted, sliced potatoes and fresh asparagus with it. Yum.

And the next night, we grilled a couple chicken breasts and finished off the sauce. I had hoped to use it on chicken tacos with avocados and cheese, but we were out of tortillas. Next time. Either way, we have a go-to sauce next time we’re out of ideas. Remind me, okay?

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Quick Dinner with Leftovers

The problem? Three containers from leftovers from a Memorial Service lunch buffet. One was full of strawberries and grapes. Easy, we’ll eat them and feed them to daughter. The second one was full of cheese. Yes, slices of cheese. The whole box, but we’ll come back to that. And the third box was full of broccoli and peeled cucumber slices. Okay – I can work with that.

I broiled a Salmon fillet, put some rice in the rice cooker and let the broccoli steam in the enclosed tray. I diced up the cucumber, added some red onion, rice wine vinegar, a splash of sake, a bit of salt, a pinch of sugar and Dinner was served.

The cucumber salsa was light and the perfect complement to the fish. So easy, so quick.

Now, who want’s a grilled cheese?

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