Super Simple Meal for a Very Busy Night

As some of you know, I'm a journalist. A journalist based in Birmingham, Alabama. Which means this week I've been "in the field" 12-14 hours a day covering the destructive tornadoes that flattened much of our region.

For international readers who haven't followed the story, this is the tornado that tore through Tuscaloosa, just 60 miles southwest of Birmingham (warning: the people who recorded this video are crazy. Seriously, people, what were you thinking?!?)



And here is video of that same twister skirting just north of downtown Birmingham (I was huddled under my desk on the southside of downtown, filing stories for NPR when the tornado passed.)



To get an idea of the destruction and hear from some of the survivors you can listen to the feature story I produced for my local station (and NPR national).

All this to say that just when I was getting back into the kitchen after two weeks of being sick, I was suddenly thrust into the field reporting a devastating story that is such a huge reminder to hold dear all we have.

And by "have" I don't mean houses, clothes, or cars. It seems obvious, but a reminder like this really drives it home. As one survivor told me, "You can replace the stuff. But your family and friends? You can't replace them. Hold them close to your heart every day and thank God they're here."

That's what I'm doing this week. I hope you'll take a moment to do the same.

And when you're done hugging, do what you can fill their bellies with something yummy. Maybe something super simple like my friend Helen Todd's Make-It-Up-As-You-Go Pasta.

Ingredients:

• Pasta (we used linguine)
• bacon
• green onions (chopped)
• mushrooms (quartered)
• spinach
• brie

Helen's version doesn't call for tomatoes, but remember -- it's "make it up as you go", and I like tomatoes, so I added some (the cherry version).

Directions:

Boil pasta according to directions

Meanwhile, cook the bacon.

When it's done, pour off the grease, add the onions and mushrooms and saute.

Once onions/mushrooms/tomatoes are tender, add the spinach.

Drain pasta, add to veggie mixture, stir in brie and serve over pasta.

Quick, simple and delicious. A way to honor your loved ones without spending all of your time in the kitchen.

What to do with ALL THIS HAM!?!

If you're like us, you've got a ton of ham left over in your fridge. Jason's mother gifted us a school fundraiser ham last week and it seems like we've been eating ham, ham and more ham! OINK!

Day One: Straight Up Ham...

Day Two: Ham Sandwiches...

Day Three: Ham Scramble...

Day Four: ay, ay, ay! What to eat on Day Four?!?

Answer: Mexican Crockpot Ham and Bean Soup

Ingredients:

1 can black beans
2 cups chopped ham
4 cups water
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon Adobo spice
1 can fire roasted tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

Dump it all in a crockpot. Cook on low for 3-4 hours.


There are more suggestions for dealing with leftover ham on our Facebook Page. Check it out and join the conversation!


(Photo Credits: Straight Up Ham, Ham Sandwich, Ham Scramble, and Crockpot.

Martha's Peanut Chicken & Michael's Tzimmis

Finally... I'm back in the land of the living, for realz this time (unlike this time and this time).

And that means back into the kitchen, full boar (or is it bore?). Tonight's menu comes to us courtesy Garden & Gun Magazine (yes, there really is such a thing... only in the south, right?!?) and my friend Michael Krall.

Martha Hall Foose's Peanut Chicken

Garden & Gun bills her as "the other Martha", but gotta tell you this one speaks to my soul a bit more than that other Martha. I mean, c'mon -- she's got a super simple yet elegant phyllo-tomato appetizer...

and who wouldn't feel right at home here?

Oh yeah, and Martha Hall Foose is also 2009 Winner of the James Beard Award for American Cooking and the Southern Independent Booksellers Award.

So. On to the chicken.


Ingredients:

• 5 tbsp. creamy peanut butter
• 3 green onions, white & green parts, chopped
• 3 tbsp. soy sauce
• 2 tbsp. rice vinegar
• 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1 3-to-4 pound chicken (we used a Springer Mountain chicken -- semi-local and humanely raised)
• 1 one-inch piece of peeled fresh ginger
• 2 garlic cloves
• handful of fresh cilantro (we used cilantro paste, since we haven't yet planted the cilantro)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Remove the necks and innards from your chicken ... yes, that instruction is for you chicken virgins ;-)

2. In a small bowl, combine the peanut butter, 1/2 of the green onions, the soy sauce, vinegar and cayenne.

3. Gently loosen the skin of the chicken and spread half of the paste between the skin and the meat.

(If you're a germ-phobe who refuses to touch raw chicken -- like I used to be -- just get over it because this step is really crucial to getting a flavorful bird.)

4. Rub the rest of the paste all over the outside of the chicken. Put the remaining green onions, ginger, garlic and cilantro into the chicken cavity.

5. Roast the chicken, breast side down, in a roasting pan for about 20 minutes. (Don't know which side is the breast? If the wing tips are facing down, you've got your chicken breast side down)

6. Reduce the temperature to 325 degrees and flip the chicken to breast side up (wings at attention) and baste with any juices that have accumulated in the pan. Roast for another 30 - 40 minutes or until meat thermometer inserted into the thigh reads 160 degrees and juices run clear.

7. Let your birdie rest for 10 minutes before carving. This step seals in the juices.


Michael's Tzimmis

How do you say it? I'm still not sure, but boy is it good!

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of carrots
• 5-6 sweet potatoes
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Directions:

1. Peel and chop carrots into small pieces.

Chop, chop, chop some more because this is the most labor-intensive part of the process.

2. Put carrots in a large pot, cover with water, bring to a boil and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, peel and dice up the sweet potatoes. Add to the boiling water and cook for 10 minutes longer, stirring occasionally.

4. Drain cooked veggies, empty into a very large mixing bowl, and mash. Put into a lightly oiled baking dish.

5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

6. Whisk together orange juice, honey, salt and cinnamon. Pour mixture over veggies in baking dish. Allow a few minutes for some liquid to absorb into the dish. (There will be some liquid on top. That's okay)

7. Drizzle no more than a tablespoon of canola oil on top of the veggies. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 10 minutes.


Reviews:

Chef Tanya -- The chicken was good. Slightly peanuty, but not too much. I don't think we let it cook long enough to crisp up. Consequently, the skin pulled off the chicken when we were cutting it. I would have liked it more were it crispier. The tzimmis is really good: flavorful, but not too sweet. A nice alternative to the marshmallow-topped sweet potatoes of Thanksgivings past.

Jason -- It was good. The chicken wasn't as peanuty as I expected, which is fine by me. The potatoes had a good flavor.

Miranda -- (ate dinner earlier with a friend, so wasn't hungry.)

Olivia -- The chicken was okay. I didn't really like the potatoes. I like them with marshmallows on top, like at Thanksgiving.

Hannah -- (no response, but basically a "meh" expression. She ate up the chicken, but didn't touch the veggies)

Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad

Crazy day?!? Little time to cook? Try this simple, customizable recipe that won't break the bank.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound chicken (we use boneless, skinless breast)
• 16 ounces pasta (try corkscrew. it's fun!)
• sliced & diced veggies (we've used green onions, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, carrots)
• 1.5 cups of Caesar Salad dressing
• croutons
• grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Cook pasta according to directions on the package. Drain and set aside.

2. Meanwhile, cut chicken into bite-size bits. Saute in olive oil over medium-high heat until cooked through.

3. Combine drained pasta, chicken, veggies in large bowl. Mix in dressing. Put in fridge to cool.

4. Top with croutons and grated parmesan cheese.

5. Enjoy!

Photo Credit

Same Kind of Different As Me

Seems appropriate that our 100th post on this blog would belong not to a recipe, but to a story that feeds the soul. I just finished reading one of the best books I've ever picked up: Same Kind of Different As Me.

I'll let this video speak for the book:



Highly, highly recommended!

Still in a Holding Pattern....

Well, turns out we were wrong. Those stuffed up heads, sore throats and runny noses weren't allergies afterall.

I got home from work Thursday completely wasted after another day of fund-raising. I passed out on the couch, woke up two hours later, felt terrible, took my temp. 103 freakin' degrees! Houston, we have a problem!

So Miranda (who was also feverish) and I loaded into the car and started looking for a Doc-in-the-Box that was open past 6 p.m. We finally found one and burst through their doors at 7:55 (five minutes before closing). They were very sweet, worked us in, and eventually diagnosed a severe sinus infection (me) and strep throat (M). Ugh!

A steroid shot and heavy duty antibiotics seemed to do the trick. Of course, getting on an airplane to Tampa on Friday delayed my recovery a bit. But all's well and we're both on the mend.

All this to say, we still don't have any new recipes to share. Can't wait to get back in the kitchen, now that I don't get all dizzy every time I stand up for more than 30 minutes!

I had some really good South Indian food last night in Tampa:

DOSA

That's not me... but this girl Sarah looks like she's enjoying it so much I couldn't resist this picture!

I've never made Dosa at home, but I found this video and think I might give it a try some time.



We followed up the Dosas with paneer palak (which I already won't go over well with Olivia, my least picky eater), aloo gobi (yum, yum!), and a couple other dishes we shared family style.

Good eats! It's got me craving more, but before we go Indian we've got to finally get to Olivia's night of Ethiopian food, which we've now put off nearly two weeks because of crazy schedules and illness. She'll be borrowing very heavily from Global Table Adventure (Sasha - you're such a great culinary guide!) and making Ethiopian Lamb Beef and Onion Stew (just can't bring ourselves to eat lamb... sorry!) and Berbere Stew (Ethiopian Lentil Stew -- it's vegan and gluten-free) served over injera (kind of a spongey pancake).

Woody over at FinerGrind Coffee Roasters set us up with some newly roasted Ethiopian Yirgacheffe coffee that he describes as "Chocolaty lemony-lavender peachy-rose out of the Chemex.

Olivia's particularly excited about this, now that she's discovered she likes coffee. Ethiopian's love their coffee and put a lot of care into its making. Check out the play-by-play of Sasha's Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony. I don't think we'll go that all-out, but props to you Sasha! (and to Mr. Picky for being such a good sport!)

Okay, all this talk of yummy food and coffee has my stomach rumbling. It's 7:30 a.m. and I'm still waiting for my flight out of Tampa. Starbucks, you're no Ethiopia ... but banana walnut bread and a caffe mocha will have to do.

Teanastellen! (I'll just have to trust about.com that this means what they say it means!)



Photo Credit: Dosa

We're Baaackkk (sorta)

Sorry we've been kinda MIA lately. After the Hacker incident and the soul searching about whether I should have posted her comments verbatim (is a direct message on Facebook really private? Am I a journalist? A blogger? A journalist who blogs? Are the rules different for each?!?), I was pretty spent.

Add in this:

which resulted in this:

No, that's not me... but it's totally how I've felt the last few days! But I couldn't just pull the covers over my head and hide because it's a really big week at work and I have to give a workshop in Florida this weekend.

All this to say, we haven't been doing much cooking or blogging or anything else this week! But, we hope to be back in commission soon.

In the meantime, please enjoy this mid-week culinary flight of photo fancy.

Over at Global Table Adventure, Sasha and her crew just "visited" the country of Gabon.

Miss Ava gives the french omelet a thumbs up.



Bunny Victorious is dreaming about an Ice Cream Parlor reception for her wedding...

And I'm starting to think about our kitchen renovation... Love the light and bright of this one...

I'll get right on that reno as soon as we've all recovered from the great Pollen Storm of 2011 (and saved a bit more $$!).




Photo Credits: Pollen and Sick Dude.