What I've Been Eating Lately

As I mentioned last week, I've been traveling fair bit for work and such.  It's hard when it's for work and I have to be away from The Hubs & Lil' Man, but I make up for it by trying new foods and new brews.

But first...EASTER!  Yes...that feels so long ago, but it really wasn't.  We did our whirlwind tour of the Lake to visit the grand-folks, and my mom made us her famous chicken & noodles.  Which always makes my belly happy.

THEN--the Hubs & I went on a KID-FREE VAYCAY, to beautiful PUNTA CANA! (*read in your best Rod Roddy "Price is Right" mental voice*)

Our resort was super nice, and we had LOTS of delicious food. I can't even start to share it all here, but here's a few highlights:

Breakfast: croissant, pastry, ham & pineapple, sausage, bacon wrapped sweet potato, churro, ham fritter, egg crepe, fruit, & watermelon juice

Another breakfast, with a fresh-made omelette from the beach-side omelette station.  Also, churro with chocolate sauce and chocolate filled croissant, because I love carbs. Note: I ate this exact same meal at least 3 times.

Beach-side lunch: roasted chicken, fried fish, potatoes, pineapple, cucumber, and cabbage slaw.

Note: There were also many, many drinks.

Then, we had an authentic shrimp & crawfish boil at my office, to celebrate one of my coworker's 20th anniversary with the company.  Shrimp & Bayou Classics supplied all the seafood, direct from Louisiana, and boiled up everything onsite.  It was AMAZING. (Note: brussel sprouts in a boil = GENIUS.)

I even brought The Hubs a go-cup.

Then, I had to head out of town for work for a week.  We stayed at a lovely little hotel in Farmington, MO called The Tradition Inn.  Anything it lacks in frills and fanciness, it makes up for in the attached restaurant, Spokes Pub & Grill, which sports about 40 craft brew taps.  The property is owned by the great folks who also own Crown Valley Brewing, and so you can find nearly all of the Crown beers and ciders on tap, along with a wide and ever-changing variety of local craft brews (Farmington is just south of St. Louis, so no shortage of great breweries.) 

Their food is also excellent, even down to the pepper bacon BLT.

For Mother's Day, the Hubs made me "Cloud Eggs";

How gorgeous is that?  The texture is a little weird, but still tastes like a normal over easy egg.

Then, I had to hop a flight down to Louisiana for work.  Yes...on Mother's Day.  So I treated myself in the DFW Airport to some Red Mango:

And picked up some boudin balls from Hebert's Specialty Meats:

In New Orleans, I hit up Frey's Smoke Meats with my cousin Primeaux. The meal was awesome, but a ton of food, so I had some leftover brisket.  So the next day for lunch, I swung by Martin Wine Cellar to pick up a few things to accompany it...

(Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog goat cheese, rosemary crackers, and cornichons)

...and then went down to the Pontchartrain Lakefront to enjoy a bit of sun before hopping on the plane back home.

And of course, as discussed last week, I've been eating a lot of breakfast, and sharing them on Instagram.  Not all of those breakfasts are interesting, but I try to remember to capture them all.  But the ones I didn't?  Probably look a lot like this. :)

(cereal, yogurt, & soft boiled egg.)

What I've Been Cooking Lately

While I haven't had a ton of time to blog lately (the posts you've seen have been compiled over several weeks, pieced together here & there), I have still been cooking.  When I went back to work we quickly realized we needed to do some meal planning so we didn't starve to death or end up eating pizza every night.  Having a meal plan written down for the week helps us to figure out who's cooking what, which nights we won't need to cook anything and can just eat leftovers, and helps us to make sure we have enough leftovers for lunches.  

I've been ever-so-slowly working my way through my Recipes to Try on Pinterest. I try to keep a running list of what recipes I want to try next alongside my menu plan for the week, so I can cross things off as we use them and then add new recipes based on what's on sale or what we need to use up in the fridge. So, here's what I've tried recently, and my thoughts/tweaks to those recipes:

Easy Weeknight Chicken Parmesan - This was the recipe found inside a can of Progresso  Fire Roasted Tomato Recipe Starters in our pantry.  I've used a few of these Recipe Starters and have thus far been underwhelmed.  They all have a pretty "prepackaged" flavor.  I added a ton of garlic and basil to this sauce, which helped.  We used the excess sauce to make a pasta side dish.

"Chicken parm you taste so good..."  Thanks, Manning.

Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup:  This one was practically perfect as-is. I made it for my church small group and everyone requested that I send them the recipe. I did use more cumin (probably closer to 2-3 teaspoons) and used smoked salt instead of regular--what can I say, I like my Mexican dishes a little smoky!

Crockpot Spaghetti Squash & Meatballs:  This is possibly the easiest meal I've ever made, and it was really tasty.  You literally cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds, plop the two halves into the crock, then pour in a jar of sauce and toss in some frozen meatballs, set to high for 3 hours, then go back to playing with your kid.  Perfect.

Crockpot Mashed Potatoes:  This one ended up being a flop for me, but I think I accidentally used too much milk--I also think it would have worked better with russets instead of red potatoes.  Reds have a tendency to not be as fluffy, and when I OD'd on milk the end result was a gluey mess.

Crock Pot Beef & Broccoli:  This one was also a flop.  The meat completely fell apart after having been cooked for 8 hours on low, so we essentially had shredded beef & broccoli over rice.  The sauce also didn't really ever thicken up, and was sweeter than I would have liked, so we added extra soy and sriracha. 

Baked Crispy Sweet Potato Wedges:  While not as crispy as I had hoped, these were still delicious.  Great as a side with burgers or brats.

All grilling best when completed by The Hubs with his young apprentice.

Hummus Crusted Chicken:  The hummus "crust" never really got crunchy, but it DID keep the chicken nice and moist and even my father-in-law, who doesn't like hummus, said this was a really tasty dish. I used Sundried Tomato Basil Sabra hummus, and seasoned both sides of the chicken with Cajun seasoning before adding the hummus.

Baked Garlic Paprika Chicken:  This was tasty. I recommend using smoked paprika.  Also--I was lazy and didn't heat the oil & spices together--I just tossed them in a gallon Ziploc and then added the chicken to the bag, tossing to coat.  Still a delicious result.

Biscuit Waffles 'n Gravy:  Technically only "pinspired" by Pinterest, and the trend of waffling everything these days.  We stuck some Grands biscuits in the waffle iron, and my Hubs made his famous sawmill gravy.  The biscuits were a little tough, but tasty--and no fork required, you could just pick them up & eat them.  Good schtuff.

Cajun Black Bean Soup:  My soup did not end up as creamy as I would have liked--I could never get the puree to be thin enough, so it just had some bean chunks in it. I did use Camellia brand black beans. However, flavor-wise this was delicious.  Also--before you start this recipe, note the long cook time.  I didn't and we ended up eating dinner at about 8pm that night. :)

Mushroom & Kale Ramen:  This was a nice spin on regular ramen.  I used baby portabellas instead of shiitake, but it was still a yummy bite. I also added a bit of fish sauce because...well, because it's in our fridge, and it makes me feel fancy.

Ravioli Lasagna:  We didn't really follow any recipe exactly, but the recipe under the link is close to what we made.  I used frozen cheese raviolis from Aldi, 1 lb of sliced smoked sausage links, 1 jar Italian sausage pasta sauce, and tons of mozzarella & Italian cheese blend.  Just layered the ingredients and baked for 40 minutes at 350F.

PF Chang's Style Lettuce Wraps:  These were super-tasty & really easy to throw together. I will definitely be making again.

Herbed Chicken & Pasta:  This dish had great flavor but ended up being WAY too salty for our taste. I think if you could find a low-sodium version of the soup mixes it might help, or just eliminate one of the mixes (either the garlic mix or the onion soup mix).

There's a few other things I've made recently but they were tinkered with enough (or are Cajun enough) to warrant their own post, so I'll save those for later.  You know...when I have time. :)

Spicy Salmon Sushi!

Okay…there’s nothing inherently Cajun about sushi.  At all.  Granted, most Louisiana sushi spots have crawfish and/or oyster rolls on their menu, but other than that… not much.
However, for me, sushi and Louisiana are intrinsically linked, because I didn’t LIKE sushi until I moved to New Orleans.  But that’s part of starting a new chapter in your life.  You move to a new place, you try new things.  Sometimes, you’re coerced into trying those new things by friends.
And let me tell you, if there’s a place to try sushi for the first time in the U.S., it’s New Orleans. Or really, anywhere that’s close to a coast.  Because you’re going to get delightfully fresh seafood. No need to play it safe with those Krabmeat cali-rolls.  Just gorge yourself on Gulf-caught lemonfish, oysters, tuna, eel…okay, and throw a crawfish roll or two in there as well.  They’re delish.
It’s safe to say now that I’m a total sushi addict.  The weirder the better.  Throw fruit on it, light it on fire…sure, I’ll try it.

The “Green Monster” roll at Tsunami in Lafayette:  coconut shrimp, snowcrab, cucumber, cream cheese, kiwi, strawberry and avocado. It’s like dessert sushi.

So, being the food-nerd that I am, I decided I wanted to tackle homemade-sushi.  The Hubs (who is amazing, FYI—just in case I haven’t mentioned that before) bought me this loverly lil’ contraption called a Sushezi:

Yes, I know it looks like a lightsaber.  That’s part of the appeal.

It eliminates the need for the bamboo mat/saran wrap ordeal.  It flips open, you pack rice into each half, use the plunger part to make a hollow in the center, put in your fillings, then close it up, tighten it down (to compress the rice & make everything nice & tight), then you use the plunger to push it out onto a piece of nori, roll it up, slice, and voila, you’re done.

Wait…I’ll just show you.

INGREDIENTS: (makes two 8-piece rolls)

1 piece of salmon (3-4 oz)

2 tbsp teriyaki sauce

1 cup sushi rice

1-2 tsp rice vinegar (I use apple cider vinegar & it works fine)

Approx 2 oz fat free cream cheese or neufchatel

green onions

1 tsp siracha sauce

2 tbsp mayo

2 sheets of full size nori (or 4 sheets of hand-roll nori)

DIRECTIONS:

Start with your rice.  This takes the longest, so just remember—if you think you’re going to want sushi around 7:30pm, start working with your rice around 5:30pm.   You have to rinse the rice several times to remove the excess starch then let it drain in a strainer for about 30 minutes before steaming it…and then once it’s cooked it steams in the pot for another 30 minutes or so.  Your box o’ sushi rice will have good instructions.

Most important part?  Use a good pot with a tight fitting lid.  If you let a lot of steam escape, your rice WILL burn.  Just FYI.

While your rice is prepping, marinate the salmon filet in the teriyaki sauce.  Once you start cooking your  rice, you can also do your salmon.  You can opt to bake your salmon in the oven, but we didn’t want to heat up the house, so I just pan-seared instead for a few minutes on each side (use a lid to help hold in the moisture so it doesn’t dry out).  Once it’s cooked, cut it into about 4 long strips.

In this waiting time, you can also make your spicy mayo.  Just mix the mayo & the siracha together in a small bowl and transfer into a baggie for easy squeezing onto the sushi.

Once your rice is steamed, transfer it into a bowl and add the vinegar, and then mix with a spatula or wet hands.  I hear there’s fanning involved in some recipes, but we didn’t go that far.

Lightly oil the Sushezi, and then transfer about 1/2 cup of rice into it, filling each side.  Use the center plunger to press a cavity into the middle of each side and then add your ingredients.  For us, that’s two strips of salmon + spicy mayo on one side, and then strips of cream cheese + green onions on the other side.

Then, fold the two sides together, put the cap on the far end, and then use the plunger to compress the sushi.  This makes the rice on the two sides really bind together nicely.

Another shot, showing the plunger.  It snaps shut, and then you turn the plunger to compress.  This one ended up a little short, so I had to compress a little further than normal.

Then, lay out your nori on a dry surface, remove the cap end of the Sushezi, and press the plunger to push the sushi roll out onto nori.  And yes, before you ask, the nori is QUITE imporant.  Since this sushi isn’t made in the normal way, it has a natural weak point at the place where the two halves were pressed together.  If you start to cut this with an inferior knife WITHOUT the nori, it’s going to start to break or flatten out.  The nori helps keep it all nice & tight.  (NOTE: The first time I tried using the Sushezi we didn’t have nori OR a very good knife, so I found this out the hard way. It was next to impossible to cut.  In a moment of panic Kitchen Improv, I used an egg-roll wrapper….but we’ll go into that some other time.)

Ta-Daaaa!!!

Then, with dry fingers, roll it up.  When you get to the end, wet the nori so that it sticks to itself.

Let the roll sit for about 10 minutes and the nori will soften & bind to the roll.  Then cut it into slices with a very sharp knife that's been wetted down.
Decorate with more spicy mayo, and you’re done!
 

Product Review: Blue Runner Jambalaya Base

 

During my last excursion down to Louisiana, I noticed that Blue Runner (creator of the oh-so-yummy “this can’t possibly be from a can” canned ready-to-serve Red Beans & Navy Beans) now offer sauce bases for making jambalaya, shrimp creole, gumbo, & etouffee.

It’s a rather large can & was at Dorignac’s in Metairie for $3, so I said “why not” and snagged it along with my other Louisiana contraband (seriously, I hope there’s no law against smuggling foods across state lines.  I weigh my bags before I leave my house to make sure I’m at least 10-15 lbs under the bag weight limit, since I always know I’m coming back with a stockpile of my favorites):

(Ignore that Pumpkin Dunkin Donuts coffee—I could probably get that in Missouri, but I saw it on the shelf while I was picking up my Community Coffee & couldn’t resist.  Oh, and for the record, I CAN get CC’s coffee in Missouri, but it’s about $2 cheaper in Louisiana.)

So when my husband & I offered to host our weekly church group meeting at our house a couple weekends ago, I figured that would be as good a time as any to test out the jambalaya base on my guinea pigs err…friends!

The instructions were simple: Open can, pour into large pot, add 1 lb pre-cooked chicken & 1 package smoked sausage, along with 2.5 cups of uncooked rice.  Stir, bring to boil, then let simmer for 20-30 minutes.

And so we did.  I used spicy smoked sausage, and cooked up some chicken breasts (I seasoned the chicken with cajun seasoning prior to cooking), cut them up into bite size pieces, and then tossed everything in.  I was a little skeptical of the sauce base, as it had a slight vinegar-y odor and just seemed so…canned.  You know how canned soup just has a very “canned” look & taste to it?  That made me a little nervous, but fortune favors the bold, so I strode on. 

All the trinity veggies and garlic are already included in the can.  So all you have to add is the meat & rice.  (though, I had some dried green pepper I needed to use up, so I threw that in there as well—but that was more out of “spring cleaning” than necessity. There’s a good bit of veggies in the sauce.)

Then I hit another road block—brown rice.  I threw 2.5 cups of uncooked brown rice into the pot, not white rice.  I started cooking about an hour before people were scheduled to arrive, so I figured that was plenty of time to allow for the additional cook time that brown rice requires…man, was I wrong.  When people started showing up, the rice was still totally crunchy.  Thankfully, our friends are very understanding (and had brought munchies) so we hung out & snacked in the kitchen while I hovered over my stockpot, using all my kitchen wiles to force the rice to cook faster.  I turned up the heat & periodically added a little extra water, stirring every few minutes. 

After a total cook time of about 1.5 hrs, the rice was finally fully cooked & we started serving.  We had 10 people eating total, and everyone got at least one moderately sized serving.  And it was delicious.  The flavors were fantastic.  I think I added a little bit of hot sauce and some extra cajun seasoning, but aside from that, all the seasoning in the sauce was perfect on its own.  Our guests really loved it too (though only two of them aside from me had ever had authentic jambalaya—but they both said it definitely tasted like Louisianan).

(Stock photo—I was so busy entertaining guests that I forgot to take a pic.)

So there you go.  If you happen to stumble upon a large blue can of jambalaya base from Blue Runner, it’s worth a try.  And if I would have used instant or parboiled brown rice, I’m sure it would have cooked up in the regular 20-30 minute time frame that the can recommends.

 

For the record, my first 2012 work trip to Louisiana is next week!  And this time, my hubby actually gets to come with me!!! (We had a free companion ticket that had to be used before May, and my boss OK’d it so long as there wasn’t any additional costs to the company.)  My hubs has only been to Louisiana once (for spring break about 10 years ago) so I’m really looking forward to him meeting my friends and trying all the fantastic food with me!

We’ll be posting restaurant reviews & photos, so keep your eyes peeled!  (Not literally.  That’s gross.)