I Love Colorful Food

On a regular basis, I feel extremely fortunate. Not only do I have a wonderful husband and 10 year old son, I have a great mom and dad. I can talk to my dad on the phone for an hour straight about running and I can talk to my mom for an hour straight about cooking and decorating.  In fact, we do this quite often. I will admit, however, that the content of the conversation with one parent rarely crosses over to the other parent!

My mom spent the first 10 years of life in South America (Peru and Venezuela). She loves Latin food. She has been making "Yellow Rice with Peas and More" for many years and it's a favorite of mine. One of the ingredients, achiote seed, is widely used in Latin America. It's readily available in the Latin America section of the supermarket and very inexpensive. My mother told me that in South America, cooks make a batch of achiote oil with the seeds and use as needed.


I added shrimp to my mom's recipe and it turned out quite well. If you need a "meat" in your meal and don't care for shrimp,  grilled chicken on the side or even in the rice, would be tasty too. 


Yellow Rice with Peas and More


3 tbs olive oil
1 tbs achiote seed
1 medium onion, minced
3 garlic cloves
2 cups basmati or other long grain rice (I used brown basmati but allow for more time to cook)
3 1/4 cups of vegetable or chicken stock
2 cans Rotele chopped tomatoes with peppers
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 cup frozen peas
1/2 to 3/4 cup ripe olives, sliced
1/2 to 3/4 cup stuffed Spanish olives, sliced
2-3 tbs capers
2 carrots, peeled and sliced.

In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium-low heat. Add achiote seeds and cook until seeds are sizzling and oil is a rich gold color, about a minute. Remove from the heat. With a spoon, scoop up and discard seeds, leaving oil in pan.

Return pan to medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and carrots. Cook until softened, about 8 minutes. Add rice and cook, stirring, 1 minute, or until grains begin to look a little opaque. Stir in Rotele and cook 1 minute. Stir in broth, salt and pepper. Bring rice to a vigorous boil, then turn heat to low, cover pan, and cook about 15-18 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Gently add peas, olives, and capers. Cover and let stand for 5 minutes.

*For adding shrimp: When rice is nearly cooked through and the liquid not completely absorbed, add the peas, olives, capers, and the shrimp. I placed the pot covered in a 400 degree preheated oven to continue to cook for about 5-10 minutes (until the shrimp is cooked through and the rice cooked) or you could do the same thing on the stove.

 Mango, Red Pepper, and Black Bean Salad

2 red peppers, chopped

2 mangos, chopped

handful of cilantro, chopped

1 stalk of green onions (scallions) chopped

1 jalapeno, finely chopped (2 jalapenos are okay, too)

the juice of 2 limes

1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained well

1 medium onion, chopped

salt to taste

Combine in a bowl and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Mango, Red Pepper and Black Bean Salad

The ultimate Chick Food-Chicken Salad

Like most people who are not vegetarians, I love chicken salad sammies. But sometimes I want it and it just can't be made quick enough. I keep a very large bag of chicken tenderloins (from Costco) in my freezer. I do prefer organic chicken as a general rule but these are so quick and I think the chicken is decent quality (I hope).  

Pop about a dozen of the chicken tenders with some water or chicken stock (about 2 cups) into the oven on 400 degrees until the chicken tenders are cooked through. They take no time at all.  Pull them out and cut them up. I made this particular recipe using my food processor so they were easily thrown in with the herbs, celery, onion, and light mayo.

*The pate method is not how I would have made this when including grapes, but my son is ULTRA PICKY and processing it up pate-style made it so that the veggies were unspotted. Hey, do whatever you got to do to get those veggies in the little one's tummies. 

Once combined, whether chopped by hand or with the food processor, the worst part is waiting for the chicken to chill. My super fast method of chilling is sticking the chicken salad in the freezer. It is likely that it will be pretty nicely chilled and good to go within 15-20 minutes. 

My close friend Dena Cyr (and running buddy) loves to make chicken salad with mandarine oranges and pineapple chunks. My friend Michelle slow cooked a cornish hen for her chicken salad. Whatever you decide upon, please don't be like me and use whole wheat bread. Right Dena?

Polenta with Chicken Sausage and Peppers

I'm not going to post the recipe for this dish. It was mediocre. I added a few ingredients that I didn't care for and the flavor wasn't all that great. In fact, it gave me a little bit of heartburn.

 I'm practicing taking higher quality photos and still have a lot to learn.

On the back of the box of the polenta, there is a recipe for an appetizer of polenta, sausage and peppers. For a quick dish, brown some sliced chicken sausage, remove from the pan. Then, saute up some onions and peppers. Add herbs, tomatoes, or anything else that sounds good to you. Serve over a bowl of polenta.

You can add a variety of things to the actual polenta, such as fresh basil, parsley, spinach, parmesan cheese or even pretty much any other type of cheese that you like. Polenta is so versatile.

Ravioli Soup

This is a variation of my mom's tortellini soup. Feel free to use tortellini or ravioli. The ravioli is kind of fun because when you cut a ravioli before taking a bite,  some of the cheese seeps out into the soup. 


I made this soup after running two back to back marathons, training for Hinson Lake 24 hour Race. From start to finish, the soup takes 30 minutes to make and clean up is minimal. My husband said that he was surprised that I wanted to cook after running two marathons but I didn't mind because it was so easy. I always keep carrots, celery, onion, and garlic on hand. And I "stock up" on chicken stock when it's on sale or I buy it in bulk at Costco.  I bought the frozen ravioli from Costco and used about half the bag. When I realized that I had some fresh spinach in the fridge, I was good to go to make this quick and tasty soup.

1 tablespoon olive oil 

pinch of red pepper flakes

1medium onion, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2-3 carrots, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

2 1/2 cartons of vegetable stock or chicken stock

 fresh or frozen tortellini or ravioli-eyeball the amount, can use mushroom or spinach filled but I prefer cheese filled

Salt and pepper to taste

2 cups fresh spinach, roughly chopped

Fresh basil and oregano, to taste (optional-I used fresh basil because I had some in the herb garden)

Chopped fresh tomato

Italian parsley, minced

Freshly grated Romano or Parmesan cheese

In a stock pot, heat oil and saute onion, garlic, carrots and celery until translucent, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add broth. Turn heat up to high, and bring to a boil. Add the ravioli and cook according to package directions. When tortellini is almost done add spinach,  herbs, and fresh tomato. Taste and adjust seasonings with salt and pepper. Serve immediately. Garnish with sprinklings of parsley and cheese.

Garlic bread: minced garlic (the microplane grater is ideal for really mushing up the garlic-learned this trick from Rachael Ray), dried basil, olive oil, and romano or parm cheese (again using the grater). Stick it in the broiler for 5-10 minutes. Watch it carefully!

Shrimp with Tomatoey Cream Sauce

 An unexpected improv night occurred last night and this one resulted in a tasty dish that the whole family really enjoyed-yes that includes my picky 10 year old son Grant. When he took his first bite, he initially faked a grimace that quickly turned into a big smile, big eyes, and a "Yummmm!"

I had to use half and half in this dish but at least it wasn't heavy cream. I don't think fat-free half and half would have made it as tasty and a little fat isn't going to hurt. Sometimes I think that we should worry less about how many fat grams goes into a dish and more on staying away from processed foods. 

I'll make this dish again and measure more precisely next time, but since this was improv night, my measurements will be approximate. I also chose to make a large amount for the purposes of leftovers so feel free to cut the recipe in half if you are only serving this for two people.

1 and a half-2 pounds of shrimp (peeled, deveined, and remove tails-I like Costco frozen shrimp)
1 and a half pounds of asparagus (cut three times-stems removed)
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1/8th tsp (or less) pepper flakes
1 large onion, roughly sliced
6 cloves of garlic, minced
a dash of dried basil
1/2 cup of dry white wine
the juice of 2 lemons
1 tbs of balsamic vinegar
a handful of fresh parsley, chopped
1 cup of half and half
4 large tomatoes, roughly chopped
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Start a pot of water on the stove to get ready to boil before you start cooking. I always do this so that I don't have to worry about the pasta not being ready at the same time as the sauce.

In a large nonstick skillet on low heat, add olive oil and onion and garlic. Gently saute until it starts to get soft. Add tomatoes, red pepper flakes, basil. Cook for about 5-8 minutes. You may need to increase the heat to medium or a little above to get it to start bubbling. Add lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, and wine. Bring heat down and let it simmer. It can simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Place pasta in boiling water and make sure it's on it's way while you start the next step.

To finish, add shrimp, asparagus and parsley. Keep the heat on low and cover until shrimp is cooked through and the asparagus is soft but not mushy (if you are using especially thick asparagus, you may need to peel it and/or place it in the skillet a few minutes ahead of the shrimp). Then, add the half and half. The dish will turn a pretty pinkish peach color. Salt and pepper to taste.

Served with angel hair pasta but any pasta will work

Tell me what you think! 

Food Pics! Recipes will be added soon.

Add caption

Add caption

Steelhead Trout with Herbed Cream Sauce
Served with roasted yellow squash

Recipes for the week

I've been terrible about not posting recipes lately. The problem with not posting is that if I really liked the dish, I will forget how to make it. I was able to make it out to Trader Joe's and Whole Foods on Monday (40 minute drive) which is one of my favorite things to do. I have to be careful not to waste too much time looking at everything! I feel like a kid in a candy store.

When I go on a big shopping trip, I will buy necessities and unique items that look interesting. I love to read about the item and create something with it.  As always, I try to buy mostly healthy things and stay away from processed items but I'm human, LOL. And, restricting my diet is really no fun-everything in moderation when it comes to food. I'd rather save any extreme behavior or compulsivity in my life to ultra distance running. No joke.

All three of these recipes are my own based on experience and trial and error. Unfortunately, I did not care for part of Tuesday's night dish but we will get to that.

Monday


Wild Caught Salmon, arugula salad with toasted pine nuts and goat cheese, roasted fingerling potatoes with rosemary and sliced shallots, and roasted purple asparagus with sliced shallots.

Arugula Salad
Easy recipe of 1tsp of blue agave sweetener (or sugar), 1 tsp of honey, 1 finely chopped shallot, 2 tbs of red wine vinegar, the juice of one lemon, 1 tbs of Dijon mustard, and 1/4 cup of Extra Virgin Olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste. After whisking, pour the contents into a bottle (I like to recycle red wine vinegar bottles for this purpose. The label comes off really easily. I got this idea from mom). Refrigerate while you are cooking everyone else and shake it up when ready to use.

Toasting pine nuts is simple and quick (and worth it). I freeze pine nuts and use a small nonstick skillet to toast them. I keep the heat on fairly high but watch carefully. They will burn in like two seconds if you are not careful. Flip them over and turn off the heat. They will continue to toast even with the heat off.

I used a small log of goat cheese, lots of pine nuts, a minimal amount of dressing (I don't like my greens to swim) and the arugula. Put the whole thing together to your own liking. The tangy goat cheese, lemony and sweet dressing, and pine nuts, off set the somewhat bitter arugula.

Roasting veggies is my favorite way to eat them. In order to save on washing pans, I was able to use a cookie sheet (sheet pan) for both the potatoes and the asparagus. After taking the stems off of the asparagus, I tossed them with the fingering potatoes in a little extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, and sliced shallots (two, I think). I separated them in the pan and then added fresh rosemary from my garden to the potatoes. After about 20 minutes (oven set at 450), they both came out evenly cooked.

Salmon is a favorite fish and grilling it after marinating in some terriyaki marinade (purchased at Trader Joes), usually makes it perfect. Served with some lemon wedges.

Tuesday


Calzones with ricotta cheese, pecorino romano cheese, chopped mint, sun-dried tomatoes, and lemon juice. Served with a a quick marinade dipping sauce and braised rapini.

Calzones

I love store bought fresh pizza dough! Trader Joe's sells it for only 99 cents. I was trying to figure out what I wanted to put in the calzones this time that would be a little different than usual. Unfortunately, I didn't like the combination of the filling with the standard marinara sauce that I make. The marinara was too strong for the filling and it took away from the interesting flavors of the filling.

Filling: 1 large container of ricotta cheese (part skim), one cup of freshly grated pecorino romano cheese (parm would work, too) a large handful of dried julienned sun-dried tomatoes, 1/2 cup of chopped mint, the juice of one lemon. Mix and store in the refrigerator until it is time to use it.

On a large cutting board with a generous amount of flour, quarter the pizza dough (you may need to let it sit out of the refrigerator for a half an hour before working with it). Take one quarter and roll it out. place about a cup of filling on the dough and roll it up, making sure that none of the filling can seep out. I'm not very patient about doing this well so my calzones never look very good. Spray the sheet pan with oil and place the calzones on the pan. Make two slits on top of each calzone and brush with an egg wash (one egg and a few tbs of water-whisked together). Place in the oven (400) until golden brown.

Marinara Sauce


Several cloves of garlic, minced
extra virgin olive oil
One large can of crushed tomatoes
2 small cans of tomato sauce
pinch of red pepper flakes
fresh basil and oregano
(sometimes I will add some dried basil, as well)

Saute the garlic and red pepper flakes in a tbs of oil for just a few minutes in a large pot. Add the cans of tomatoes. Bring to a boil and down to a simmer. Add fresh basil and oregano. Salt and pepper to taste. Let the sauce simmer for awhile (half an hour).

Braised Rapini

3 minced tbs of garlic and one small sliced vidalia onion in a large pot with a tbs pof olive oil. Saute until soft and add rapini (take off the stems-about 3 or 4 inches off). Pour a cup or so of chicken or vegetable stock to the pot. Bring to a boil. Then, simmer for 20 minutes. This will help pull out the bitterness of the rapini. Salt and pepper to taste.

Wednesday


Peach Salsa with Beth's Chicken Mexi Cassarole

Peach Salsa

3 or 4 peaches, diced (or 2  diced mangos-but then it would be called Mango Salsa. LOL)

5-7 diced tomatoes

1 finely diced jalapeno (two if you like it spicy)

big handful of chopped cilantro

the juice of one lime

either a cup of chopped onion or chopped green onion

salt to taste

Refrigerate until ready to use. Serve with tortilla chips or just eat on a bed of greens.

Beth's Chicken Mexi Casserole

I'm not a big casserole fan but this one is truly comfort food. After researching recipes a while back, I came up with a combination of ingredients that I like. 

1 tbs oil

1 red pepper, diced

1 onion, diced

1 jalapeno, diced

1 can of black beans, rinsed

1 cup of frozen or fresh corn

4 boneless, skinless breasts of chicken

1 big handful of cilantro

1 cup of fat free or reduced fat sour cream

1/2 cup of 1/3 Fat cream cheese

2 tbs of dried cumin

cheddar cheese

green onions (optional)

I had some frozen chicken that I pouched in a pan to defrost. I did not bother to cook the chicken all the way through.

Preheat oven to 375. Add 1 tbs of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (or Canola oil) to a very large skillet. Saute the red pepper, jalapeno, and onion until fairly soft on medium to high heat. Dice the chicken into bite sized pieces and add to the skillet. Add the cumin. After about 5 minutes or so, when the chicken appears cooked through, add the corn and rinsed black beans. Then, add the cilantro, sour cream, and cream cheese. Mix thoroughly and turn the stove off after about 5 minutes. Don't cook for too long or it will dry out.

Spray a casserole dish (lasagna pan size) with cooking spray and place small corn tortillas in it. Layer the chicken mixture in, then add a good bit of cheddar cheese (feel free to use reduced fat cheese). Place another layer of tortillas over the cheese and repeat. The top layer should be the mixture and cheese.

If you don't like corn tortillas, feel free to use flour or even whole wheat tortillas. 

Garnish with green onions or scallions.

Thursday

Whew! I'm eating out! Off to get some sushi.

Let me know what you think to my recipes this week. It's been fun, as always.