Beets Slaw

Beets...Beets... Beets!!! I was never a big fan of beets. I just though of those canned things that you put on salads and are a strange purple color that made the whole salad a scary brown/reddish color. At the beginning of this blog I made beets. I had broiled them and they turned out awesome and sweet but very messy. I am pretty sure my hands were purple for 2 days after that. I was excited to try them again. Its just not an ingredient that I pick up often. Not sure why. They are really good for you. Full of antioxidants, anti-inflammatory and detoxification support with in this little round root jewel. This is something we all need at this time of year. We are all starting to take better care of ourself. (Or you better be!)

I have found that the more I try new things, the more I am opt to eat healthy foods in general. For a while I joined a co-op of fruits and veggies every week and our family tried all sorts of things such as jicama and different types of squash. If you have the opportunity to do one of these I strongly suggest it. It is fun and exciting to see what you get each week. It is also great to try to be creative in what you use it for. Ok, now that I have gone on a tangent, lets get back to the beets.

This recipe called for yellow beets. (It said you could use red/purple beets but then the whole salad would be purple which just, to be honest, freaks me out for some reason.) I looked at my regular grocery store without luck so I went to my favorite food store, A.J.'s. I can always count on them having what I need. As you recall, I have also bought duck, tuna, and the prior beets there. Here are the beets with the stems cut off. Now I am sure that the beet greens are just as tasty but I don't have any idea how to use them. Do you?

Since this topic is about roasting, we placed the beets in the foil pouch and placed them in the oven. Easy!!! Yes, I did say we. I was luck enough to have my mom, dad, and grandma lorraine here at that time so we all got to enjoy the benefits of this blog entry.
We roasted the beets at 425 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. I admit that having the oven on for that long is a pain but on this particular day it was fine because it was freezing outside and I wasn't looking forward to "salad" for dinner. Soup was sounded better.
The beets were taken out of the oven and the skins were removed. The were easy to peel off.
I then used my box grater on the large holes and graded it up. Easier said than done by the way because it basically turned into mush.
The next ingredient was broccoli. I love broccoli. It might be one of my favorite veggies and especially in a salad. I was interested to make this one because you use the stems of the broccoli and not the florets. I simply pealed the outer layer of the stem with a paring knife and then graded it as well in the box grater.
Next came the "salad/slaw" ingredients including thinly sliced red onion, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, salt, sugar and white pepper. (I'm sure you can use regular pepper. I just happen to have white pepper) I mixed this all together and then placed into the fridge overnight to "marry" the flavors. Cole slaw is aways better the second day right? Honestly I don't know because I DO NOT like traditional cole slaw. I have to trust the experts on this one.
This made about 4 side servings of slaw. Because there was 5 of us, we each got a couple of bites for tasting.
We all relatively liked it. The red onions were still pretty big and it seemed like there were ALOT of them. Symon of course liked it. (I am so grateful that he will eat anything) I felt that alone it was pretty strong but to my grandma's suggestion, it would be nice with a piece of chicken or beef that could stand up to the strong flavor. Of course my dad didn't say a word. Just took a bite and moved on. :) I have to be honest though. There was some leftover in the fridge and nobody ate it. So overall I would say it was good but not memorable. We all chose to eat sweets instead. :)

I want to keep trying beets so if you have a good beet recipe let me know. Next up, tomatoes!!!

Not MY mother's meatloaf

Mom... I miss you!!! (and your meatloaf too)

I am not a great fan of meatloaf. Of course my mom made meatloaf and of course I ate it. (I was a really good kid) But lets be honest, I would not ask for meatloaf if I had a choice. Right? I was really excited to make this recipe. I want to LOVE meatloaf. I am not a big protein eater so I thought this would work out great. Secondly, I was hoping to learn how to hide veggies in the meatloaf to get some in for me and my kiddos. This started out like mosts meatloaf do.

Preheat to 350 degrees. Beat eggs.

Add raw onion, minced garlic, paprika, salt and pepper.

Add 2 slices of white sandwich bread sliced. (For the record, I do NOT eat white sandwich bread. It actually grosses me out and took everything not to buy whole wheat bread) I also did not eat another piece of the leftover loaf of white bread.

Then add parsley, ketchup, red wine vinegar, and worcestershire sauce.

Then add two pounds of ground beef chuck. (I just bought regular ground beef because I had my two kids with me and was not about to wait for the butcher to grind it for me) This also seemed like A LOT of meat to me.

Mix with hands lightly!!! Do not over mix!!!!!

At this point it suggests to create a small patty and cook it on the stove to adjust seasoning. My feeling at this point was...." Seriously? I payed for this book so I wouldn't have to do this and get ANOTHER pan dirty! " I therefore refused to do this part. LOL

I placed the mixture into a loaf pan and then placed the pan over a cookie sheet and then into the oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

At this point I was thinking, I should have make the baked potatoes at the same time so I could could kill two birds with one stone. Of course I didn't. :)

After 1 hour and 15 minutes I took it out and it was really watery with lots of grease on the top. I just kept cooking it for about 20 minutes more but it was still watery? And it did NOT look like my mom's meatloaf at this point. I took it out because I was starving and let it rest in the pan for an additional 10-15 minutes. It wasn't even that yummy brown color. Gross!!!!

I then removed the meatloaf from the pan and then got rid of the rendered fat. When I took it out of the pan and placed it onto the cutting board to slice and it fell apart. After the panic passed, I cut and served with sweet potato fries and roasted broccoli.

Doesn't it look sad? I was not even looking forward to eating it.

After making this, I really missed my mom's meatloaf. Still not my favorite thing to eat but I am planning on making her recipe tonight instead of Alton Brown's. Stick to your mom's meatloaf. I think it may be the comfort factor that heightens the flavor. Of course ketchup does too. :)

Hot Potato

Hot Potato!!!!

I love baked potatoes. Yummy. This will be a short one which is pretty self explanatory. It was so easy, Symon did this one for me while I was at work. I always buy potatoes and then I ended up making mashed potatoes every time. I am not sure why I forget to make baked potato. It is quiet simple. Turn on oven to 350 degrees.

Wash the potatoes.

Poke with fork.

Get other ingredients including oil and kosher salt.

Place ingredients in the bowl and mix potatoes in the ingredients.

Put in the oven directly onto rack in oven.

Remove potatoes after tender to touch which takes about 1- 1 1/2 hours.

Cut open and dress with butter, salt and pepper, green onions, sour cream or whatever you like. We only had butter and sour cream this time.

This actually turned out really well. The only thing that I never though of before what seasoning the potato before I cook it. I usually don't eat the skin but this one was super good with the crispy skin and salt. I really enjoyed it. Tell you hubbies to whip you up a potato. If Symon can do it, so can they. Enjoy!!!

BTW: Sorry for it being so boring!!!! In my opinion, potatoes are boring. Its the toppings that are important. :)

The Cost for Prime Rib is WHAT?

I know, I know, I have been MIA. I have been trying some other recipes along with being on a diet. (Although it's not suppose to be called that) If you have ever had prime rib you know that it is not the most leanest meat. But oh is it good. OK so when starting this recipe I was a little nervous because I know if would feed a lot of people and was afraid to make it and not like it. :) This recipe is called "Dry-Aged Standing Rib Roast". I did not know at first that this was what a prime rib was. After talking to my mom she told me what it was. I thought of buffets where the carver guy is cutting off slice by slice with that bloody looking juices running out. I was never a fan of it. It has a lot of fat on it and is usually served rare to medium rare. Two things that sort of gross me out. But on we went to the store to buy the meat!

I started at Fry's and looked for a "4 rib bone in standing rib roast". Of course there isn't anything that says those exact words in the prepackaged sections so off to the butcher I go. I kindly asked for the exact description, she smiled and went to the "cold room" to ask if they had any. The butcher say they did, it would be ready if 5 minutes and when dinner was. That's a good sign right? Reagan and I went to look for the other ingredients. When I got back she showed me a hunk a meat and told me it would be $95.00. Holy Cow!!!!! (Literally) I opted for 1/2 (which would be 2 bone) and went to pay $45 dollars for one meal of meat! (That is a lot!!!! Especially the way my kids eat)

The first step was to "age" the meat. My mom told me that most meat is already aged but I must follow the directions. I placed the chunk of meat on several pieces of paper towels and placed it into the fridge on the bottom and left it alone for 3-4 days.

You can do this stage for up to 5 days but Sunday was football day, a perfect day for prime rib. :)

Good Morning Sunday!!! or in our house... sit on our butt and watch football from the time our eyes open until our eyes close! LOL. At about lunch time I took the prime rib out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature which took about 1 hour. While coming to room temperature I set the oven to 250 degrees. I then liberally coated the roast with canola oil, salt and pepper. That is it!!! I know you have those ingredients in your pantry. You can save your money for the roast. :) The roast goes into the oven for 4 hours or until the internal temperature reaches 118 degrees. Beware to put the roast in bone side down to prevent soggy meat.

After the internal temperature is 118 degrees, I removed the roast and cranked the oven temperature up to 500 degrees. (I found this interesting because if you remember with the turkey we did the opposite) I then placed the roast back in the oven to get that yummy crispy crust. Lets be honest. That is why I eat meat!!!

After the beautiful crust is created I removed the roast, placed it on the cutting board and covered with foil to let the meat rest and the juices stay in the meat. (I left it about 30 minutes)

On to the juices. There was a lot of yummy "bits" on the bottom of the pan.

I have to be honest, I have never made homemade gravy of any type. I am the kind of person that opens a package of dry mix, adds water and whisks it. I have always been intimidated by pan sauces of any type but on we went. I placed the roasting pan right on the stove top and de-glazed the pan with 1 cup of water. ( I used a little bit less because I had a smaller roast) I then let it come to a boil and scraped the bits off, added the wine and then removed the liquid to a gravy separator. Honestly, I don't have a gravy separator and just spent the bank on the meat so I wasn't able to go get another tool. I did some searching on google and found other ways to separate gravy. I placed the liquid in a bowl and then let it cool for 15 minutes in the refrigerator. After this the fat comes to the top and then I just used a spoon to slowly and gently remove the grease, oil or whatever it was off the top. This took forever.

After that I placed the liquid back on the stove, added butter and the chopped leek and returned it to a simmer. DONE!!! Lets eat.

Now to cut. I wasn't sure how to start but I can tell you I was already picking off the crust which was yummy! I honestly just starting cutting large slices. I needed to cut them a little thicker than I usually liked because it was hard with my dull knives to cut nice thin slices. I will be honest, some juices ran out and I freaked out but it was still very juicy.

I served with rolls, the pan sauce and roasted cauliflower. Yummy.

Results:

AMAZING!!!! OMG it was like butter. The pan sauce was not that good. It had a raw wine taste which I was not a big fan of. But I could not stop eating the meat. I seriously had like 3 slices and that doesn't count all of the picking of crust I did at the beginning.

I did find it interesting that the turkey was cooked at a high temperature first to create the crispy skin and then at a low heat for the rest of the cooking time but for the roast it was the opposite. Not sure why but all I know is that both turned out some yummy eats. If you know why this is the way it is let me know. In the mean time I will just enjoy the eats. Next up.... baked potatoes. And I promise I won't be gone this long again. :)

It's FOOTBALL Season!!!!

It is September and in our house that means two things, the start of the fall season (yes even if it is 100 degrees outside) and FOOTBALL!!!! Now 10 years ago I would say that I was a sports lover. But now I have married into the BEARS cult. Just kidding. I am most definitely a Bears fan. Sorry dad. Its not just the sports but the cheering together as a family for a team and seeing the kids get excited is a great thing. Because this last Sunday was the official start of football season, I felt it was a perfect day to make my next meal. TURKEY! Now if you know my husband, you know his favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. It's weird right? Not to him. Since I met him 13 years ago he has always loved Thanksgiving. He says there is not stress about gifts and it has his 3 favorite Fs. Family, Food, and Football!!! :) He obviously has never made a turkey because the first couple of times I made a turkey, it was STRESSFUL!!!!! To date I think I have mad 3-4 turkeys and I feel like I am getting better every time. This leads us to our new cooking technique. Roasting!!!! Roasting is basically anything in you do in the oven. The oven gives you so many options with regards to food. It uses both air and radiant heat to cook the food but it usually is a slow transmission which means it usually takes longer to cook something as compared to searing, grilling and broiling. As said earlier, not all types of cooking are for everything. Roasting is good for something that is thick or irregular shape such as a baked potato or a turkey. There are two major difficulties and problems that people face with cooking in the oven or roasting. #1 How long to leave it in the oven and #2 at what temperature. The difficulty allies in getting a nice crust for flavor on the outside while making sure the inside of the item in question is cooked through. Of course without overdoing the outside layers. This is a huge problem with turkeys. Everyone has had a dry piece of turkey or a soggy piece of skin atop of a turkey. These are the two most common reasons for not wanting turkey right? Well Alton Brown as come up with a wonderful way to get crispy skin and nice juicy meat. Follow this and you will have turkey success. I have done this technique multiple times and it always turns out yummy!!!

Start with a turkey. Now you would be surprised how hard it was to find a turkey in August. That is why it took me so long to do this post. Once finding one, of course they only had HUGE 20lb ones. Great. I am going to be eating turkey forever right???? So once I got a turkey, I washed it, took out the "parts" (don't forget this. I did this once and was mortified) and dried it with a paper towel. I then took chicken stock, brown sugar, orange juice concentrate and 1 1/2 cups of Kosher salt and dissolved it over the stove. Once this cooled I placed the turkey in a cooler. (I have also used a really big paint bucket) I then poured the liquid over the turkey and then put a bunch of ice over the top. Put the top back on and went to bed!!!!! This is called a brine. The point of this salty liquid in to move more liquid into the meat proteins so after the cooking you will end up with juicier meat. Which is one of the biggest problems with turkey right. Yucky dry meat.

This is the inside of my ice chest. I promise there is a 20 lb turkey brining away in there. ;)

The next afternoon, after a day of rock climbing (honestly) I came home, removed the turkey and then rinsed and dried it with paper towels. Now I lightly oiled the turkey and then salted and peppered the skin. We all like the crispy skin right? In the past I have then placed some "aromatics" such as lemons, onions, apples, cinnamon sticks, and sage leaves but this recipe called for nothing. In the past I have also topped the skin with cayenne pepper which makes for a yummy and spicy skin.

While working on the turkey I cranked up the oven to 500 degrees!!!!! I then placed the whole turkey into the oven and closed the door. DON'T OPEN THE DOOR NO MATTER WHAT!!! We want that high heat so we can get that crispy skin right? You will hear sizzling, cracking and popping which are all awesome sounds but don't be afraid. DONT OPEN THE DOOR FOR 30 minutes!!!!!! After 30 minutes remove the turkey and turn the oven down to 350 degrees. Look at the skin after just 30 minutes.

Now doesn't that skin look yummy and crispy. DON'T TOUCH IT!!! It is not cooked in the inside. Now we move to the low and slow portion of this turkey party. I created a triangle shaped tin foil cover for the breast of the turkey. I do not like dry turkey and this protects if from getting dried out and the skin becoming burnt. Don't forget the temperature probe in the deepest part of the breast and back in the oven until the temp reaches 161 degrees.

It took my 20lb tukey about 3 hours. :) After the turkey was at reached 161 degrees I removed the bird and placed more foil over the turkey at let it sit for 30 minutes. I wanted to ensure that the turkey stays moist and that when I cut the turkey, all the flavor and moistness (not sure if that is a word) stays in the meat and doesn't run all over the board. :)

And here is the finished product!!! Isn't it make you want it to be Thanksgiving today!!!!

Now for the carving. At my house, I carve the turkey. Thats right, I worked my butt of the make this thing, I want the job of carving it. Not only do I do it because I worked for it but I truly believe that if you don't carve the turkey properly, all of the brining is pointless. Now I know most people start at the breast and just start shaving small pieces of the side. NO NO NO!!! Take the whole breast off of one side. Then slice it the opposite way that our fathers did it when we were kids. (Sorry dad) I am not sure why, (I am sure there is some science to it but I have already had 2 drinks tonight so I am a little tired) but trust me. It is soooooo much better. Here is what it looks like.

And the finished plate with of course.... mash potatoes. I know, no veggies but it is the first day of football which at our house is basically another holiday!!!!

So here are the keys to "roasting" a perfect bird...

1. Brine!!!!!!

2. High heat first to make the skin crispy

3. Low and slow WITH a temp probe.

4. Let sit for at least 30 minutes prior to touching. (this includes taking a little bit of skin off Symon)

5. Carve correctly.

Have you ever made a turkey not during thanksgiving? After this experience and the amount of yummy turkey sandwich leftovers I have had I am planning on doing it again soon. I want to hear about your horror turkey stories so we all can learn from them!!!!

More Shrimp Please!!!

So its Monday afternoon, you are exhausted from a long weekend of working/playing or whatever you did. You don't want to just snack for dinner but don't feel like "making dinner". This is the perfect meal for you. Shrimp. Ok so shrimp doesn't sound easy but in this case it is soooo easy. I love shrimp and grew up eating it. Usually covered in butter. This is a great lower calorie alternative. I have to be honest that I have never broiled shrimp but it usually only takes a couple of minutes. I couldn't believe it. I started with defrosting 1 lb of frozen large pealed and deveined shrimp. I usually buy fresh but in this case I had some in the fridge. Yeah!!!!! I made my makeshift broiling pan and placed the shrimp onto to pan making sure they are not touching.

Then you simply drizzle oil (I used canola) over them and then top with salt, pepper and Old Bay seasoning. Have you ever used Old Bay seasoning. This was a first time for me. I knew it was common to use in fish. I was interested to know what the seasonings were so I could see if I could make my own. It says, "various seasonings". Great?! I thought. :) I then sprinkled 4 minced cloves of garlic on top. Here the shrimp are seasoned. In the mean time I cranked up my oven to 500 degrees (broil) and placed the rack 5 inches from the heat.

Into the oven for 2 and then remove. At this point they were slightly pink and starting to curl. While cooking, mix panko bread crumbs, parsley, and lemon juice. Of course I didn't have enough lemon juice so mine was lemon and lime juice. :) After the two minutes, remove shrimp and toss in the bread crumb mixture. I placed them back onto the broil pan and then back into the "broiler" for 5 minutes. That's right. Done in 7 minutes!!!! Aren't they pretty and "fancy" looking.

Since I was in this exact busy weekend situation, I served with left over couscous (with bell peppers and green onions) and frozen peas. I was done in 15 minutes. And that was with Reagan and Ryan hanging on me the entire time!!! Not bad!!! Here is the finished product.

The shrimp were really flavorful. They tasted full of flavor just like they had been cooked in butter and garlic but in fact it was only garlic and a little oil. A much healthier alternative. I ate 11 shrimp for only 75 calories!!! WOW. That equals more desert right? Actually I was full so I didn't even need desert. :) Symon and I loved the taste. I felt they may have been cooked a little long because they were slightly tough. Symon said they were awesome! Reagan ate most of them and Ryan ate his "4 bites" as always. :) Overall, I would make these again and maybe with a big plate of pasta. YUMMY!!!

So this is the last of the broiling applications. Next up Roasting. Yummy!!!! What do you broil that I didn't. Let me know. I love the broiling application and am planning on using it a lot more.

Chicken on a Stick Round Two!!!

Chicken on a stick round two. Ok, so if you remember my earlier chicken on a stick blog, you will remember how horrible and inedible the chicken was that time. I was bound to make this better!!! This was a two day process again so to start I created a peanut flavored paste to marinate my chicken. The first thing was to toast some coriander seeds. I LOVE CILANTRO!!! I could put it on everything. Coriander seed is what cilantro comes from. The goal was to toast the coriander seed and cumin seed in a dry pan on high heat until smoking. I could not find cumin seed whole anywhere so I opted for just ground cumin. I placed the coriander seed in the dry pan on high heat. I was really afraid of burning so I constantly moved the seeds around in the pan. The toasting only took 1-2 minutes. That seems so silly to heat a pan for 1-2 minutes so hopefully it really makes a difference.

I then added these toasted seeds to the other spices which included grounded cumin seed, cinnamon, salt, sugar and placed them into the mortar and pestle. Do you know what this is? This is a little bowl and a stick in which you grind up spices and other things. Here is Reagan helping me make the spice mix while Ryan was at school. I needed lots of encouragement because I was so worried it was going to be gross like last time. :)

I then placed a 1/2 cup of peanuts into the food processor and then added the spices and ground it into a bread crumbs consistency and then while pulsing I added canola oil and sesame seed oil. This created a paste. It smelled good and there was no gross factor yet. :)

2 lbs of chicken breast, cubed into 1 inch cubes and then I placed the paste onto the chicken. I was grateful that I didn't have to pound flat the chicken like last time which resulted in mushy chicken. I said a quick prayer, covered and then placed it into the fridge for 24 hours.

The next day I got the chicken out and skewed them onto bamboo skewers. Now there is a big debate if you should use metal or bamboo skewers. If you use bamboo skewers you are suppose to soak them in water first so prevent burning. I guess this only matters if you care what they look like. I never soak the skewers because I just don't care if they are burnt. It is important to remember that if you soak them, and they place them in the fridge it will still burn. FYI. I always use bamboo skewers so I don't have to do more dishes and my children most likely would use the metal ones as weapons and I probably could get in trouble for that. Here are my skewers ready for the upside down grilling. (remember that is what I call broiling) :) Alton Brown does state that you can grill them but I thought this was in the broiling section!! Seriously please don't confuse me.

I cranked up the broiler to 500 degrees (while its 110 outside) and placed the chicken about 4 inches from the heat. The recipe did not give me a certain amount of minutes so I just turned after about 6-7 minutes and then broiled on the other side. I then removed. They were smelling really good. I was getting hopeful that they were going to be awesome. Reagan really enjoyed "helping" me turn them in the oven by watching me. Here are the chicken pieces after broiling and then letting them sit. My hubby was running late. :)

I served with white rice and green balls (peas) which was Ryan's choice for veggies. I thought since Reagan helped me cook this one, I would take the finished product picture on her Elmo plate. I took it off the skewer for obvious danger issues.

Results: The rice and peas were good. :) Ok so that is not a good way to start. The chicken had good flavor but I felt that the chicken was slightly over cooked. It did have a great crust on it. I really liked the peanut flavor. Because this was a paste and not a marinate I think it had less moisture. I was very VERY happy that these were not mushy peanut chicken like last time. Funny enough Ryan ate his 4 bites, since he is four and that was it. He did not complain but said, "he was full". Reagan refused to eat the chicken unless it was on the stick and then ate the whole thing like corn on the cob. I would have taken a picture but we are currently potty training which has led to Reagan not wanting to wear any clothes at all. I did not want anyone seeing my naked baby. Ok, I don't care but Symon wants her to have some modesty. :) Next up is our last broiling application... Shrimp!!! Have you tried any of my techniques or recipes that I have shared on here? Let me know and how they turned out. Please respond!!! I want to know what you think.