The Best Thing I Ever Ate

The best thing I ever ate was a bowl of sweet potato soup at Red Fish on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.  It was so good I wanted to lick the bowl... but I decided not to, being out in public and all.  I still attempted to scrape every drop out with my spoon.  This soup was so good, I can't even describe it, I can only describe how I felt when I was eating it: I never wanted to stop!  I have tried a few times to make sweet potato soup, but mine may never be as good as the soup at Red Fish.  I'm ok with that, it sounds to me like a good reason to go back to New Orleans some day!

So I've kind of been addicted to making soup lately; carrot soup (not bad), cauliflower soup (nuff said), sweet potato soup (mmmmm).  Last night I made some vegetable soup that actually turned out to be very delicious.  When I sat down to eat it, I added a little bit of chicken, which I guess made it no longer vegetable soup, but it was still good.  Chunky soup is all about the broth.  The broth has to be delicious.  Having been absorbed by the Mexican culture, of course I squeezed some lime juice over the top before eating it, and added some condiments, this time queso fresco.

VEGETABLE SOUP

1 medium onion
4 cloves of garlc
10 baby carrots
1 zucchini
1/2 of a large sweet potato (about 1 cup diced)
2 roma tomatoes
1 can of chicken broth
2 tablespoons of butter
Boiling water
Seasonings: salt, pepper, chile powder, granulated garlic, cumin, curry powder, chile con limon
Queso Fresco (crumbled or chopped) and lime for garnish

Chop all the veggies to a similar size: about 1/2 inch cubes.  Then melt the butter in a pan and add the onions and garlic.  Sprinkle the seasonings and saute for a few minutes until the onions almost start to brown.  You can tell by the way it smells, since the chile powder makes everything red.  Before it burns, add some water to the pan, about an inch.  Then you can add the chicken broth and the rest of the veggies.  Add more water so the veggies are covered, and add more of the seasonings.

Now let the veggies cook until they are soft, stir it once in a while.  You might have to add water sometimes so the veggies stay in the water.  When the veggies are soft, taste the soup, and add more seasonings!  You want this soup to have a lot of flavor!  The curry powder added a really special flavor!

Now it's ready to eat.  Garnish the soup with queso fresco and squeeze a little bit of lime juice into the soup.  Yummy!!!!  You'll be very pleased with yourself for making such a delicious soup!

Texas BBQ at Houston International

Back in the day, the airlines used to include a meal when you flew from one city to another.  If it was a really long flight, you might get a meal and a snack.  Those days are long gone!*  Now you have to pack your own lunch if you don't want to go hungry.  I usually bring a large ziplock bag filled with snacks like gummy bears, apples, mixed nuts or pistachios, energy bars, maybe some fried chicken, and a bottle of water.  You can usually buy a snack box on board, but those don't look too appetizing to me, and they're pretty over priced.

So imagine my delight when I saw a Texas BBQ stand during a layover in Houston last week on my way back from Miami!  It wasn't much of a layover, I had about 20 minutes to get from one gate to the other before they started boarding my next flight.  I was determined to find my gate, so I didn't stop at the BBQ stand when I first saw it, I just kept looking for the gate I needed to be at.  When I got there, I saw that I still had 7 minutes before they started boarding.  So, I quickly made my way back to the Texas BBQ so I could get some food to eat on the plane.  They were fast, I got some ribs and made it back to the gate just as they started boarding my flight!

I waited until we were in the air before I broke out the ribs.  Wow, what flavor!  They tasted like they had been coated in a dry rub before being cooked, and they were drenched in yummy BBQ sauce... truly finger-licking good!  The rest of the passengers just melted away as I enjoyed one rib after another, licking my fingers, sucking the bones, and everything!  Mmmm, mmmm, mmmmm!!!  I would have offered my neighbors some, but they were asleep.  That's more for me!!

So don't worry!  You don't have to go hungry while you're traveling!  Pack your snacks, grab a bottle of water after going through security, and if you're passing through Houston, by all means get some BBQ ribs; you'll be more than satisfied with your lunch!


* I believe they still include a couple meals on the 12-hour overseas flights, like to Japan.  :-)

ULTIMATE!!!!!!! (and carne asada tacos...)

So, yesterday my Phoenix Spitfire ladies and I descended to The Old Pueblo (a.k.a. Tucson) to play in the Desert Sectionals Tournament, which is the first step on the road to Nationals.  Since the ladies' tournament didn't start until 4:00 p.m., Ranger and I decided to go down early and watch some of the men's tournament, since they had an earlier start time.  After watching the Phoenix men steamroll Tucson, Ranger and I made our way over to the Mexican American neighborhood of Menlo Park, where the ladies were scheduled to play.

Menlo Park itself is located adjacent to Menlo Park Elementary School and surrounded by apartments.  Our team arrived to the park and staked out a shady spot under some big trees so we could get ready to warm up for the tournament.  The Spitfire ladies were VERY excited to play!!!  Our roster was filled from top to bottom with athleticism and experience, and included a returning Joanne A., a savvy veteran with quick footspeed and solid, solid throws.

As always, our regular warmup routine was to run a lap together, and then proceed through a series of 25-yard plyometric exercises.  Only this day, we were joined by 3 neighborhood girls: 7-year-old Princess and her 9-year-old sister Jasmine, and their cousin Yesenia who turns 8 today.  They were there in the park with their family, and decided to join us for some high knees, butt kicks, lunges, skips, shuffles, and sprints.  These girls were muy adorable.  Little did we know that they would stay on our sideline for the entire tournament, cheering us on, keeping score, high-fiving the other team after each game, and playing frisbee with the Phoenix boys, who came to watch us play after their games were done.  The girls even ran home to get Erin some band-aids after she made a spectacular diving catch in the endzone for a touchdown, and scraped her knees (actually her entire front side) in the process.

When the tournament was over and it was time to go home, they hugged us and hugged us, and told us they didn't want us to leave.  Yesenia told me she was so sad she was about to cry.  I was sad to leave them too, they were really special and sweet.  I'll never forget Jasmine, Yesenia, and Princess.  They really added something special to our tournament experience!  Oh yeah, we almost won the tournament... so close!!!

Before heading back to Phoenix, we decided to have dinner at Viva Burrito around the corner at 1372 W. St. Mary's Road (http://www.vivaburritoco.net/).  This place was awesome, and very affordable.  They have a full menu of burritos, tacos, tortas, etc.  I ate 3 carne asada tacos and they were delicious!  My teammates enjoyed a variety of burritos, fish tacos, horchata, and everything was muy delicioso!  I highly recommend Viva Burrito the next time you visit The Old Pueblo.

Yesterday was a great day.

(Thank you for the pic, Lisa!)

Oh wow! Raspberries in my salad!

I didn't grow up with raspberries.  We don't have raspberry bushes in Miami, we have things like mangoes, oranges, grapefruits, bananas, stuff like that.  So it's not something that I look for when I go food shopping every week.  But it's berry season now, so you can get them for pretty cheap.  Last week they were $1 a box at Fry's, so I bought a few boxes of raspberries.  And guess what!  They're really good!  They're sweet and juicy!  I made some smoothies and ate some of them, then after a few days I decided to try some raspberries in my salad.  Oh wow, that was SO GOOD!!!  I just added them to the everyday salad that we eat here, and it was really special.

SALAD WITH RASPBERRIES


Salad - spring mix, spinach, baby lettuce, or a combination thereof, chopped slightly
Pepper jack cheese - shredded
Raspberries - about a handful per person (around 10 fat juicy berries)
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Salt and Pepper

Chop your salad greens up a little so they're not big pieces.  Put them in your salad bowl, or in individual salad bowls or plates.  Now place the raspberries on top of the salad greens.  Cover them with a layer of shredded pepper jack cheese.  Pour olive oil and balsamic vinegar over the top, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Voila!  You'll really like this tasty salad.  The raspberries are like delicious little surprises!

Life and Pie

Americans are busy.  So busy.  Everyone works so hard, then we have to make sure our people are straight, cooking dinner, cleaning the kitchen, doing laundry, getting ready for the next day.  If we want to go to the gym, play sports, take a class, walk the dog, learn a language, or just meditate, good luck finding the time to squeeze these activities in!

So, what about keeping in touch with our friends?  If someone is not in our everyday life, it's hard to keep in touch with them.  I don't have the answer to this dilemma.  Facebook is great, but it's not the same as having lunch together, or meeting for drinks once in a while.  And what about those dear friends that move away.  Given our everyday demands, and the high cost of maintaining a household, not many of us have the time or the money to travel long distances to visit each other, especially when we have family far away that we must also keep in touch with.  Thank God I recently had the chance to attend my dear friend Jessica's wedding in Oregon.  The trip was sublime, the wedding was so full of love, Jessica was beautiful and so happy!

Taking turns hosting regular get-togethers is a good idea, although it still requires preparation, time and money (and may still be difficult to include our dear friends who live out of town).  A couple months ago, we had pie day at my house.  Everybody loves pie!  Alexx's key lime pie was king, so delicious!  And we did get to see some long time friends that we don't often get to talk to!  Here is the original Key Lime Pie recipe from a kitchen magnet:

KEY LIME PIE


Blend 3 egg yolks & 1 can sweetened condensed milk.  Slowly add 1/2 cup lime juice.  Pour into prepared pie shell.  Beat egg whites until stiff.  Add 4 T. sugar, 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar, & 1/2 t. vanilla.  Bake at 375 degrees until brown.  Serve chilled.

Alexx opted for the whipped cream topping instead of the meringue, so he cooked the pie without the topping, then spread the cool whip over the top later.  Very yummy.

Jennifer's chocolate silk and peach raspberry pies were also amazing!

I decided to try a recipe out of Essence Magazine, Butternut Cheesecake (from Pritikin Longevity Center & Spa in Miami, Florida, Chef Anthony Stewart).  This pie was really smooth!  If I make it again, I would do the pie crust a little differently because it was kind of chewy, although tasty.  I would maybe try a regular graham cracker crust, or just add butter instead of the apple juice to make the corn chip crust little more crispier.  Anyways, here is another yummy pie recipe:

BUTTERNUT CHEESECAKE


2 cups corn flakes
1/4 cup frozen apple juice concentrate, thawed
1 pound cream cheese*
4 ounces cottage cheese
1 package silken tofu or 1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 cup egg whites
1/2 cup sugar*
1/2 cup roasted butternut squash, pureed
2 tablespoons vanilla

*(the original recipe says fat-free cream cheese and Splenda)

To roast butternut squash, cut in half lengthwise, scoop out seeds and membranes, and halve again.  Place wedges cut sides up in a large baking dish.  Cover with foil and bake at 400 degrees until tender, about 45 minutes.  Peel and puree.

To make crust, preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grind corn flakes in a food processor until fine.  Combine flakes with apple juice concentrate.  Layer in bottom of 8-inch round cake pan and bake for 3 minutes to set crust.  Let cool.

To make the filling, mix cream cheese, cottage cheese and tofu in a food processor until smooth.  In a large bowl, use a spoon to combine egg whites, sugar, butternut squash and vanilla.  Combine egg white and cream cheese mixtures until smooth and pour onto crust.  Put cake pan in a larger pan.  Add enough boiling hot water to the larger pan to reach halfway up the side of the cake pan.  Bake in water bath for 30 minutes, then remove from water bath and let it cool for a little while.  Decorate with the kiwi and blackberries!

Now is a great time to make pies!  Berries are in season and very affordable right now.  Lisa M. recently shared a pie with us that she made out of blackberries she picked herself!!!  In Oregon the berry bushes were full of fruit you could just go pick and eat!  Wow!  And remember, it's not just dessert, it's also a serving of fruit.   :-)

Oregon and the best omelet ever!

So, we just got back from spending a few days in Oregon, and it was spectacular!  If you ever get a chance to go to Mt. Hood and Hood River, you should go, it is incredibly beautiful.  It's breathtaking.

We stayed in Hood River at the Vineyard View Bed and Breakfast on Post Canyon Road.  Hanging out in Hood River is like working out.  Everywhere you go, you have to hike up a hill to get to the next block!  Going to the bar was like a warmup for the next day when we hiked on Mt. Hood.

There are quite a few wineries in the Hood River area, including right next door to the bed and breakfast.  Our host and owner, Dave, grows grapes for the winery next door.  So there really is a view of the vineyards right outside your window!

And let me tell you, this guy can cook!  He definitely takes the "breakfast" part of bed and breakfast seriously.  Actually, everything about Vineyard View Bed and Breakfast was on point.  It is beautiful and well-maintained.  The home is set in the middle of the vineyards, with gardens and beautiful flowers surrounding the house.  They also have a large vegetable garden right next to the grape vines.

Dave has the hook up for fresh fish.  One of his buddies had gone fishing near a snow glacier and caught several VERY LARGE rainbow trout.  They were packed in snow from the glacier!  Dave cooked them on the grill with just butter and onions and little lemon and WOW!!!

He also has a connection with some of the local Native Americans who have fishing rights on the Columbia River.  They catch salmon and smoke them the traditional way, then they come around and sell the smoked salmon to Dave.  It was delicious!!

Dave makes a smoked salmon omelet that is probably one of the greatest omelets I've ever had.  He sauteed some zucchini, yellow squash, and onion in butter.  Then he diced up the salmon into little cubes.  The sauteed veggies and salmon go inside the omelet along with some cream cheese and a little bit of cheddar cheese.  The egg was cooked perfectly, not brown at all!  This omelet was awesome!

This is also the season for fresh berries to grow in Oregon.  It's a good time to visit if you like fruit!

So, wine, food, spectacular scenery, hiking, and really freindly people... Oregon is pretty amazing!  I've heard that in another part of the year it gets pretty cold.  So you should probably go visit Oregon NOW!!!

For Chocolate Lovers Only

Ganache is the super smooth, super chocolaty glaze that is sometimes used to cover cakes, ice brownies, or even as the filling for chocolate truffles. Chocolate eclairs are also generally topped with ganache.  A staple of the pastry world, ganache is actually really easy to make.

Ganache is made by boiling heavy cream and adding it to semisweet chocolate.  The cream melts the chocolate into creamy chocolaty goodness.  It will be warm when you first make it, because the cream was boiling hot.  It will also be pourable and spreadable.  As the ganache cools, it also thickens up, so that you can't pour it or spread it on a cake (but you can, however, form it into truffles when it's cool).  Simple warm it up again like in a double boiler or even the microwave briefly, it will regain it's pourable quality.

GANACHE

12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips (1 bag)
12 oz. heavy cream (1 and 1/2 cups)
honey - optional

Put the chocolate chips in a bowl.  Boil the heavy cream and add it to the chocolate chips.  Slowly stir the cream and chocolate together until the chocolate melts and the mixture becomes very smooth.  That's basically it.  You can probably make a thicker ganache by using a little less of the cream, like 1 or 1 and 1/4 cup, but this recipe will make it very pourable.  You can add a little bit of honey to make it shiny, that is optional.

TO FROST A CAKE:

Get the cake ready for the frosting.  Make sure the top layer is smooth and flat.  Pour the ganache over the cake, then use an offset spatula to spread the ganache towards the edges of the cake.  It will drip over the sides, and that's how the sides get frosted.  Don't overwork the ganache.  If it is still warm when you stop spreading it, it will smooth itself out.

TO MAKE CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES:

Wait until the ganache is fully cooled.  If you know you want to make truffles, maybe you can use the lesser of the heavy cream to make it thicker.  Use a little scoop or a small spoon to scoop the ganache, and form round balls of ganache about 3/4 inch in size.  Make sure they stay cool after they are formed.  (We made truffles last summer in Miami, and it was so warm that day, the truffles started to lose their round shape... they were still delicious).  Now melt some chocolate in a double boiler, either milk chocolate or semi-sweet.  When the chocolate is melted, dip the round balls of ganache into the chocolate to coat them, and set them on a parchment or wax paper to cool.  You can decorate the truffles with cocoa powder, melted white chocolate that you drip across to form white lines, or you can decorate the dark chocolate with milk chocolate stripes, and the milk chocolate with dark chocolate stripes.  Use your imagination!

To make the chocolate lines, put the melted white or brown chocolate in a plastic baggie, then make a tiny hole in the corner of the bag.  Squeeze the melted chocolate out through that little hole, and you can either use the tip of the baggie like a pen to draw chocolaty designs, or you can hold the baggie up higher, and squeeze lines of chocolate across the truffles.   Enjoy!!!!!

Chilorio

I was watching tv yesterday, and I started watching Pati's Mexican Table on PBS.  She made a dish called Chilorio, which is shredded pork in ancho chile sauce, that you can roll into a burrito.  Somehow I got it in my head that I just had to try making chilorio, even though I hardly ever cook pork, it seemed pretty easy.  If it tasted as good as it looked, that would be a big payoff.

Ancho chiles are the big ones.  I believe they are the dried version of the Pasilla chile, which are almost as big around as green peppers, and longer.  Ancho chiles are about 4-5 inches long, and kind of triangular in shape.  They are mild in their spicyness.  I knew I could find these at Food City for not too much.  Since most of the ingredients I already had on hand, I only really needed to buy the chiles, pork, and tortillas.  That's a short and easy shopping list!

CHILORIO


3 lbs. boneless pork, cut into 1 to 2 inch cubes
1 and 1/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice (use the oranges in your yard!)
1 and 1/4 cup water
salt
Ancho Chile Sauce

Put the pork in a pan with the water, orange juice, and salt.  Bring it up to a boil and then lower the heat and simmer for about 45 minutes until it shreds apart easily.  When it cools enough to handle, shred the pork and put it in a bowl.

While the meat is cooking, make the Ancho Chile Sauce.

ANCHO CHILE SAUCE


5 ancho chiles - remove the stem and seeds and break them into large pieces
1 and 1/2 cups boiling water (or just enough to cover the chiles)
1/2 cup onion
4 cloves garlic
1/2 cup parsley
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
Salt
Pepper
Oregano
Cumin (tiny bit)

Put the chiles in a bowl and pour the boiling water over them.  Let the chiles sit in the boiling water for about 10 minutes to soften.  When they are soft, put them in a blender with the onions, garlic, parsley, vinegar, salt, pepper, oregano, and cumin.  Add some of the chile soaking water to help the ingredients blend together.

After the meat is shredded, heat a couple tablespoons of oil in a pan.  Add the ancho chile sauce to the pan and let it cook for a few minutes.  Then add the shredded meat to the sauce along with any remaining cooking juices.  Simmer the meat and sauce together for 20-30 minutes, to let the meat absorb the sauce, and the flavors to come together.

When you are ready to eat the chilorio, heat your tortillas on a comal or frying pan with no oil.  I had chilorio tacos on soft corn tortillas and they were pretty good!  Actually they were delicious.  I put pepper jack cheese in the tortilla, then a couple spoonfuls of chilorio, then shredded cabbage, cilantro, and salsa (salsa roja molcajete).  I have to admit they were good!

If you prefer burritos, heat your flour tortilla, and roll the chilorio up inside it.

Ms. Pati said you can make chilorio with beef or chicken if you want.  I decided to try making it with pork the first time, since that is the original recipe.  Maybe next time I will try chicken....  Enjoy!!!

Butternut squash soup

I decided to try making soup tonight.  I had bought a butternut sqaush last week .. just because .. I'm not sure why, it's not on the usual weekly shopping list, nor is it in rotation.  It's still such a yummy food that I just bought one on an impulse.

So, tonight was the night that squash was destined to be cooked.  This recipe came from the food network website, and it's super easy.  The hardest part is peeling and chopping the squash, but I have noticed you can buy butternut squash already peeled and cubed, ready to go.  There you go!

This soup was good.  I did not have nutmeg, so that ingredient didn't go into it.  Also, I only had 4 cups of chicken stock (a quart), so I used 4 cups instead of 6 cups, and it was perfect.  I used a stick blender instead of a regular blender, so pureeing the soup was super easy and fast.  Enjoy!

BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP:

Ingredients:

1 (2 to 3 pound) butternut squash, peeled and seeded
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion, chopped
6 cups chicken stock
Nutmeg
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Cut squash into 1-inch chunks.  In large pot melt butter.  Add onion and cook until translucent, about 8 minutes.  Add squash and stock.  Bring to a simmer and cook until squash is tender, about 15 to 20 minutes.  Remove squash chunks with slotted spoon and place in a blender and puree.  Return blended squash to pot.  Stir and season with nutmeg, salt, and pepper.  Serve.


http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/butternut-squash-soup-recipe/index.html

China Star, AAABA and BWLAA banquets...

I've had a few really great eating experiences outside of the home in the last week and a half.  First of all, let me tell you about China Star.  It is a Chinese buffet in Tucson at the corner of Swan and Grant.  It was really good!  We were very hungry, having played 4 games that day without a true lunch break.  The restaurant staff gave us our own room which was maybe a good idea, since we came straight from the fields to the restaurant, and there was a whole bunch of us, like maybe 25-30 (dirty) ultimate players!  The highlight of the buffet, for me, was the ribs.  They were really tasty!! They had that red glaze to them, and just sweet enough.  And at around $9.50 for the dinner buffet, that was a pretty good deal too!

Later on, (after we washed up :D) we went to the party which was ok.  My girl Lexi and I decided to explore the neighborhood for other options, and we ended up at The Buffet (http://www.thebuffetbar.com/), a Tucson landmark down on 9th Street, near 2nd Avenue.  It was kind of a dive, but it was packed, and the vodka cranberry hit the spot.

A couple nights before our China Star experience was the annual installation and scholarship banquet for the Arizona Asian American Bar Association.  Mostly, Asian American lawyers and judges belong to this group, but EVERYONE looks forward to the annual banquet!  Each year it gets bigger and bigger!  This year we filled up the entire C-Fu Gourmet restaurant; there must have been at least 500 guests that night, including judges, state senators and representatives, law school deans and other dignitaries.  I've been going to this banquet every year for the last 14 years or so, since I was in law school -- the food has always been an amazing 10-course Chinese buffet -- and this event has really grown; I remember about 40 people attending the first one that I went to back then.  I've only missed the AAABA banquet one time, about 4 years ago.  I had trial that day, and Judge Cohen really wanted to finish the trial, so he kept us in court until we finally finished around 8:30 that night!  I was so sad!  I couldn't exactly tell the judge that I had to go because I had a banquet to attend...

Anyways, the food this year was as great as it always is!  for appetizers we had shrimp dumplings (har gow), pork and shrimp dumplings (shu mai), and BBQ pork buns (cha shu bao).  So yummy!  The seafood soup came next, and then the entrees started arriving at the table, plate after plate, including everyone's favorite Honey Walnut Shrimp!  Wow!!!  We also had 2 kinds of Chinese greens, black mushrooms (Mmmmmm!), whole steamed fish, beef and broccoli, fried rice, chow fun noodles... soooo much food!!!  Finally, it was time for dessert, and we were all excited to see the fried sesame balls - crispy, chewy, and sweet - and the miniature custard pies which were still warm in their flaky crusts!  So satisfying!  Such a great banquet!

Last Friday was the Black Women Lawyers Association of Arizona awards banquet.  This was a really beautiful event that was held at the University Club in downtown Phoenix.  Some really great women were honored that night, including Commissioner Phemonia Miller, County Attorney Frankie Jones, Attorney Ben Thomas (he's not a woman!), Dean of Students Dr. Willie Jordan Curtis, and Honorable Glenda Edmonds.  Dr. Shirley Mays, Dean of the Phoenix School of Law, delivered a very inspiring keynote speech.  The steak and salmon dinner was very good, but the dessert was OMG!!!  It was like a chocolate mousse oreo pie.  Oh my goodness that was tasty!  It had a layer of chocolate mousse, then a layer of miniature oreos, then another layer of chocolate mousse.  Soooo chocolatey!!!  Congratulations to the BWLAA, this was truly a memorable and beautiful evening!

So, get out there once in a while, put on a fabulous outfit, and enjoy some food and company outside the house now and then!  It's almost as good as home-cooked, and sometimes it's a tiny bit better  :-)

Baked Chicken El Pato

In America we eat a lot of chicken -- fried chicken, baked chicken, roast chicken, rotisserie chicken, teriyaki chicken, chicken cordon bleu*, chicken kabobs.... it's all so good!  But if you're cooking chicken a couple times a week, you need some variety into your chicken rotation so that your loved ones will get excited about Winner Winner Chicken Dinner every time!

This dish is cooked in the oven!  That is rare for me since almost everything I cook is made on top of the stove.  So I decided to try something different!  El Pato Tomato Sauce comes in small cans and large cans.  It is Mexican tomato sauce that has some chile added to it so that it's a little bit spicy (picante).  This dish has a LOT of juice after it's cooked, so it will be great with rice or something that can soak up all the juice!

EL PATO BAKED CHICKEN:

3 lbs. of chicken pieces - I used thighs.
4 onions - sliced
3 tomatoes - cut into 1-inch pieces
Holy trinity of spices - salt, pepper, granulated garlic, red chile powder
Butter - 2 or 3 tablespoons
Olive Oil
El Pato - small can

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Coat the chicken generously with the Holy Trinity of spices.  Melt some butter in a large frying pan and brown the chicken for a few minutes on each side, till they are about 1/2 cooked.  This serves 2 purposes: browning the chicken before baking it adds flavor to the dish, and it also gets a lot of the chicken fat cooked out of it.

Meanwhile in another large frying pan or wok, saute' the onions in olive oil until they get soft, stirring often.  Add the Holy Trinity of spices to the onions as well, as they are cooking.  When the onions are cooked, add the tomatoes and stir them in.  No need to cook the tomatoes at this time.

Get a large baking pan, like 13x9 inches.  Oil it very lightly.  Spread the onions and tomatoes across the bottom of the pan.  Then nestle the chicken pieces into the onions/tomatoes with the skin side up.  Finally, pour the El Pato over the top of everything.  Sprinkle with a little more seasonings and cover the pan with aluminum foil.

Put the pan in the oven.  After a couple minutes lower the heat to 350 degrees.  Bake it for about 45 minutes until the chicken is very tender.   Mmmmmmmm!!!  El Pato Chicken is yummy!!!

* (whatever that is...)

10 Minute Meal: Salad with Pan Fried Fish

If you like fish, you'll like this one.  It's delicious, and bonus - very fast to make.  These days, you can get tilapia filets for about $1.  It's nice because they are each individually packaged, so you can buy them one at a time, or a whole bag of them for $8-$10.  That way, you can take as many as you want out of the freezer, and they thaw pretty quick.

PAN FRIED FISH WITH SALAD:

Fish filets (the fish in the picture is tilapia)
Holy trinity of spices: salt, pepper, granulated garlic, red chile powder (mild)
Butter

Put the raw fish on a plate or prep pan.  Dust the filets generously with the Holy Trinity of spices.  Melt some butter in the pan, 1 or 2 tablespoon per filet.  When the butter is melted, place the filets in the butter, spice side down.  Now season the other side.  Cook the fish in the butter for a couple minutes on each side, till it's done.  It won't take long.

While the fish is cooking, get your salad ready.  Use spring greens or herb salad.  I like to chop them up a little so I don't have giant pieces of salad on my plate.  It's hard to eat giant pieces of salad politely.  You'll have to cut them up eventually, so I just start out that way.  Put a nice pile of salad greens on your plate, then chop up some pepper jack cheese to put on top.  On top of that put salt and pepper, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

When the fish is done, put it on the plate with the salad.  It could be on top or off to the side.  Put a little hot sauce for a finishing touch!

Eating Southern Food in Georgia

So, I just got back from a week in Georgia... southeastern rural Georgia that is: Statesboro, with a couple stops in Savannah and Tybee Island.  Although I flew into the "A", I actually only spent a couple hours there -- just long enough to see the Georgia Aquarium which is AWESOME!!!  But I ain't gon' lie, that place made me kind of hungry!  All those giant fat groupers, red snappers, and shrimp swimming around, I kept thinking, "that's good eatin' right there."  They kept telling me that people in Georgia are serious about their food.  That's probably true.  I definitely ate some great food there, and it did seem to be everywhere....  a breakfast buffet at the gas station, a meat smoker at the grocery store, lunch and dinner buffets with all our Southern favorites... nice!

The first night we had a cookout with yummy chicken that had been covered in cajun spices.  Mmmmm!  One of the side dishes was grilled whole onions which were delicious.  Maybe they were Vidalia onions!  I mean, we were pretty close to Vidalia, Georgia!  The grill masters prepared the onions by peeling them, splitting the onion into 4 pieces, putting butter in the middle, then wrapping the whole onion in foil before grilling them until they were soft and fragrant.  They were good!

In Savannah, we had lunch at Paula Deen's restaurant, The Lady and Sons.  This restaurant is 3 stories tall!  It's very popular, and reasonably priced too.  The lunch buffet is $13, and includes fried chicken, greens, candy sweet potatoes, green beans, lima beans, cream corn, mac and cheese, biscuits, etc.  Everything was really good, especially the fried chicken, greens and sweet potatoes.  Next door to the restaurant is Paula Deen's store where you can buy aprons, t-shirts, pots and pans, utensils, condiments, and other food related items.  She also sells lip gloss in flavors like pecan pie, peach cobbler, banana pudding, and pumpkin pie.  I should have bought lip gloss for everyone because you just can't find those anywhere else!

At the grocery store in Brooklet, Georgia, you could buy freshly smoked meats like rib tips, smoked pork chops, pulled pork, and whole smoked chickens.  That's a little more choices than the standard rotisserie chickens that you see in all the grocery stores here.  The rib tips were yummy!  The Statesboro Walmart also sold collard greens just the way I like them: cut into 1/2 to 1-inch pieces, washed and ready to cook.  I don't have any secrets to cooking them, just make sure you throw a smoked ham hock into the pan with the greens, and boil them as long as you can, like at least for a couple hours.  They should turn out ok if you do that.

On our last night in Georgia, we ate dinner at Ryan's Buffet in Statesboro.  This buffet is HUGE, and it includes EVERYTHING!!  Fried catfish, fried chicken, okra, soups, greens, cabbage, black eye peas, red beans and rice, mac and cheese, and about 100 other items.  The chicken was just as good as Paula Deen's, and the steamed cabbage was soooo good!  One of my catfish was fried a little too crispy, but the other one was really good, just crispy enough.  Ryan's also has a dessert buffet that includes pumpkin pie, pecan pie, german chocolate cake, banana pudding, about 4 kinds of cobblers, and ice cream.  I had to try a tiny bit of dessert, so I chose the pecan pie which was just right, sweet and delicious.  This dinner buffet was also reasonably priced for around $11, that's a pretty good deal!

So, Georgia was pretty cool.  I'll probably go back.

Baked Chicken

Chicken is so yummy but sometimes it's hard to make yourself cook it because it's slimy to handle when it's raw.  Yuck!  So get some tongs and use those to handle them.

This baked chicken is good because it's juicy and flavorful when it's fresh, and you can also eat the leftovers straight out of the refrigerator, like fried chicken.  I like thighs but you can use any parts that you love the best.

EASY BAKED CHICKEN:

Chicken parts - 2 or 3 lbs.

Holy Trinity of Seasonings (salt, pepper, granulated garlic, chile powder)

Boiling Water - 1/2 cup at a time

Heat up the oven to like 400 degrees and boil some water.

If the chicken has tons of fat and skin on it, trim some of that off with a knife.  Don't take all the skin off because that's what gets crispy when you cook it.  Then get a roasting pan with a rack in it.  This can be a 13x9 inch pan with metal cooling racks placed inside it.  You just want the chicken to be up off the bottom of the pan.

Season the chicken by coating it with the seasonings on both sides.  Place the chicken on the rack skin side up and put the pan in the oven.  Before you close the oven door, pour about 1/2 cup of boiling water into the bottom of the pan.  Now close the oven!

Baste the chicken about every 15-20 minutes.  You can probably turn the oven down to 350 if you want.  It should be done in about an hour, more if you're cooking giant pieces, maybe less if you're cooking wings.  You will have to add more boiling water to the pan from time to time, make sure the pan doesn't go dry cause then the chicken will too!  You'll know it's done because the pieces will get a lot smaller when they're done and they won't be as squishy.  That's it!!!

My favorite restaurants in Phoenix

This list is not going to be very long, probably because I'm always cooking and not eating at restaurants!  Maybe this post will have to be a work in progress as I try new restaurants now and then.

CHINESE RESTAURANTS:

1. Wong's Place on Baseline and McClintock in Tempe, across the street from Target.
2. Peter Wong's on Camelback just west of 15th Avenue in Phoenix.
3. The dim sum place I went to with Christie, it was in Chandler.

Both of these restaurants make really good Crystal shrimp with walnuts.  And try the Szechuan eggplant, hot and spicy with a little pork added.  For a good vegetarian choice, try Wong's Place Hunan Tofu, very yummy!  Wong's Place also has the most amazing Sea Bass with brown sauce.

DIM SUM:

1. Phoenix Palace at Dobson and Warner in Chandler.  The carts go by your table with huge piles of food on them.... Mmmmmmmmm!!
2. C-Fu Gourmet at Dobson and Warner in Chandler (across the street from Phoenix Palace!)
3. Golden Buddha at the Chinese Cultural Center in Phoenix at 44th St. and the 101.  It's acceptable!

Ok, maybe you won't find dim sum equivalent to what you can eat in Chinatown in San Francisco... but you can still have fun eating tasty dim sum!

MIDDLE EASTERN RESTAURANTS:

1. Haji Baba on Apache in Tempe.
2. Princess on Broadway in Tempe a block east of the 101.

INDIAN FOOD RESTAURANTS:

1. Delhi Palace at the corner of Rural and University in Tempe
2. Delhi Palace on McDowell at 51st St. in Phoenix, just west of the Papago mountain pass.

Both of these restaurants have buffet at lunch, with the most popular dishes; spinach with cheese, chicken tikka masala, tandoori chicken, rice.... sooo fragrant!  Or you can go for a very elegant dinner, everything on the menu is delish!

KOSHER STYLE DELI FOOD RESTAURANT:

1. Chompie's on University in Tempe, between Rural and McClintock

There's really only one.

MEXICAN FOOD RESTAURANTS:

1. Adrian's #2 on Main St. just east of Alma School Rd. in Mesa.  Do not blink or you will miss it!
2. Filiberto's..... they really do have great carne asada burritos.
3. America's Tacos on 7th St. just north of McDowell in Phoenix.  Great tacos!  I haven't tried the newer location at Rural and University in Tempe, hopefully they're just as good.

GREEK RESTAURANTS:

1. My Big Fat Greek Restaurant on Mill in downtown Tempe.
2. Posidon Greek Restaurant and Deli on Main St. in Mesa, between Alma School and Extension

Try the Greek fries at either place.  Posidon also has a little market where you can get your feta, olives, grape leaves, and all your other Greek food ingredients.   :-)

cloudy with a chance of meatballs

Well, it turns out meatballs aren't the most photogenic food... but they're tasty!  And not really that hard to make.  In the debate between meatballs and meat sauce, the meat sauce is definitely faster to make than meatballs.  But there's something special about meatballs.  These are tasty, for a nice surprise, think about putting a mini fresh mozzarella ball in the middle of each one (I learned that from watching food network!) I think they're called bocaccini or something.

TASTY MEATBALLS:

1 lb. ground meat (beef)
1 lb. Italian sausage, cut them out of the casing
1/2 onion, chopped very fine
1/2 green pepper, chopped very fine
6 cloves of garlic, chopped very fine or squished through a garlic press
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
salt, pepper, granulated garlic, oregano, basil - a generous sprinkle of each

Put all of the above in a big bowl.  You'll probably have to use your hands to mix the ingredients together.  When it's well mixed, start forming balls as big as you want.  2 inches is a good size, and this recipe will make 20 of them.  Put the meatballs in a baking pan, like a 13x9 pan or maybe a little bigger.  You can add a little olive oil in the bottom.  Bake them at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes until they turn the color of meatballs, brown!  Then add them to your spaghetti sauce.  mmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!

Making Croutons at Home

So these are super easy to make.  I usually don't buy croutons, but I've heard they're pretty expensive, much more expensive than 6 slices of bread, which is all you really need to make these.  So if you like croutons on your salad or floating on your soup, or just to snack on... try these out:

CROUTONS:

6 slices of bread, with the crusts cut off and cut into cubes
3 tablespoon of melted butter or olive oil, or a combination of the 2
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of chopped herb, like thyme or parsley
1/2 teaspoon of granulated garlic

Heat the oven to 300 degrees.  Put the bread cubes in a large bowl.  Mix the rest of the ingredients together, and drizzle them over the bread cubes, stirring them to get them evenly coated.  Put the bread cubes on a sheet pan in a single layer.  Try not to let them touch each other too much.  Put them in the 300 degree oven for 15 minutes.  Then stir them up and put them back in the oven for 15 more minutes.  That's all!!!

Vegetarian Side Dishes

I've been trying to write this post for a couple weeks now.. what's wrong with me????  I mean I'm busy like crazy but folks even busier than me are blogging!!

So, without further ado, let me just say that side dishes are the best!  Remember Livingston's at Thomas and Scottsdale Road?  They shut down a few years ago, but they used to have the best side dishes.  You could even skip the entree and just get a whole plate of side dishes if you wanted.... candy yams, okra, greens, mac and cheese.... mmmmmmm!!!!  I love the variety of having several side dishes, and besides, they're really good for you!  Eat your vegetables!!!!!

I'll start out with 3 good ones.  Sauteed spinach, grilled veggies, and puree of turnips.  "Turnips???" you might ask... they're the round white things with purple on one side, and they are DELICIOUS!!!

SAUTEED SPINACH (super easy):

Spinach - 2 bags

Garlic - 4 or 5 cloves, chopped

Olive oil - a couple tablespoons

Salt and Pepper

In a large frying pan (or wok), heat the oil and add the chopped garlic.  Then start adding the spinach.  It will shrink like crazy, so just keep adding spinach while stirring it once in a while with "tongs" (the grabbers with a spring).  Add salt and pepper, and cook it until the whole thing is cooked.  It only takes about 5 minutes, and you'll see: a whole bag of spinach makes like a handful of sauteed spinach!  Yummy!

GRILLED VEGGIES:

Lemon juice - 1/2 lemon (or whole lemon if it's not very juicy)

Salt, Pepper, Herb (like oregano or basil or thyme)

Olive oil - 3 or 4 tablespoon

Sliced veggies: zucchini, yellow squash, onion, bell peppers, green onions (whole), asparagus (whole)

In a large bowl, combine the lemon juice, salt, pepper, and herb.  Add the olive oil in a thin stream while mixing the lemon juice with a wire whip (also called a whisk).  Add the veggies which have been sliced about 1/4 inch thick.  Stir them around to coat them with the lemon juice mixture (also called mojo - that's a "j" that sounds like an "h").  You'll probably have to use your hands to do that!   :-)

Get your grill pan on medium heat, or you can cook them on the outdoor grill.  Put the veggies on the grill or grill pan and turn them over once in a while, cooking both sides until they get soft.

MASHED TURNIPS (super easy!):

3 turnips, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes

Water to boil them in

Butter - about 1 tablespoon

Salt - just a little bit

Put the turnip cubes in a pan and cover them with water; boil them until they are soft.  Drain the water out, and add a little butter and salt.  Puree the turnips using a stick (immersion, hand-held) blender.

Enjoy your veggies!!!!