Hey, what do you know! I'm actually managing to do another post!
Tonight's dinner is adapted from Cooking Light March 2004. We didn't find any chorizo when went to the store this weekend, and I wasn't interested in doing a separate trip just to get it, so we chose some spicy Italian sausage instead. Yes, I realize that sort of deminishes the "southwesternness" of the dish, but as a native New Mexican, I don't care. Chili is a Tex-Mex dish to begin with, and I will mess with Texas if I want to.
It's on the stove now. Overall prep time was not bad, maybe 20 minutes until cooking time.
First impressions are good. It includes plenty of garlic, red and green peppers, corn, black beans and onions, as well as tomatoes, so the color is lovely. Colorful food always makes me think I'm doing something right (unless it's blue or pink. No food should be blue or pink.)
I just did something crazy with my keyboard on my Ipad. I hope I will be forgiven if I miss some spelling errors. OK, I fixed it. The Ipad has all kinds of gesture shortcuts that you find by accident.
Anyway... I was thinking the chili might not be spicy enough, but a test has proven that there is just enough chili powder in there to kick my butt. Maybe a little more cumin (always need more cumin than they recommend). Will return to post about the final product once it is done. Now I have some lessons to plan.
You know what, that was really quite good! Spicy enough to leave a tingle on the lips and make me sweat a bit, but not so hot I want to cough up a lung. You add a bit of semi-sweet chocolate at the end of the cooking time, which gives a nice depth to the dish, and serving it with a dollop of sour cream adds a necessary creaminess.
Overall grade: A (I will definitely make this again, particularly if I need something for a large group).
Monday, September 10, 2012
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Bourbon and Brown Sugar Flank Steak
First recipe - first day of school!
Despite the fact that I am technically working half-time, I was at school from 7-4:30 today and probably will be all week as I get to know the students and the schedules. It was just as chaotic as always as we try to figure out who will need support at what times and arrange our schedules and assistance as necessary. I was thrilled to see so many of our 4th graders back as 5th graders, and most of them seemed really happy to see me! When I left last year I didn't yet have a contract and wasn't sure where I would wind up this year, so the students didn't expect to have me back.
Anyway- so much to do and I'm running on adrenaline, but still got home and took care of business. Homerun for my team, as far as I'm concerned. Got the cats fed, grass watered, dishes washed, bills paid and dinner made all before 6pm.
Tonight's Menu:
Bourbon and Brown Sugar Flank Steak with Garlic-Chive Mashed Potatoes
(Modified from September 2003 Cooking Light)
We started marinating the flank steak last night in a bourbon/brown sugar/soy/Worchestershire/soy sauce. I didn't feel like making the mashed potatoes, especially because I had a bunch of mixed heirloom potatoes, so instead I chopped them up, tossed with garlic, olive oil and Penzey's Forward spice mix and baked them.
The beef was grilled, and my husband thinks it wasn't his best ever. The potatoes were good, but could have used a bit more depth. I think the beef was a little too sweet-soy for me - I prefer a slightly heavier sauce.
Prep time- about 20 minutes (including making the marinade yesterday)
Overall grade: B
Despite the fact that I am technically working half-time, I was at school from 7-4:30 today and probably will be all week as I get to know the students and the schedules. It was just as chaotic as always as we try to figure out who will need support at what times and arrange our schedules and assistance as necessary. I was thrilled to see so many of our 4th graders back as 5th graders, and most of them seemed really happy to see me! When I left last year I didn't yet have a contract and wasn't sure where I would wind up this year, so the students didn't expect to have me back.
Anyway- so much to do and I'm running on adrenaline, but still got home and took care of business. Homerun for my team, as far as I'm concerned. Got the cats fed, grass watered, dishes washed, bills paid and dinner made all before 6pm.
Tonight's Menu:
Bourbon and Brown Sugar Flank Steak with Garlic-Chive Mashed Potatoes
(Modified from September 2003 Cooking Light)
We started marinating the flank steak last night in a bourbon/brown sugar/soy/Worchestershire/soy sauce. I didn't feel like making the mashed potatoes, especially because I had a bunch of mixed heirloom potatoes, so instead I chopped them up, tossed with garlic, olive oil and Penzey's Forward spice mix and baked them.
The beef was grilled, and my husband thinks it wasn't his best ever. The potatoes were good, but could have used a bit more depth. I think the beef was a little too sweet-soy for me - I prefer a slightly heavier sauce.
Prep time- about 20 minutes (including making the marinade yesterday)
Overall grade: B
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Oops
I can tell that getting myself to do my cooking is going to be a real challenge, not to mention blogging about it! Getting in the habit of writing as a daily activity is going to take some time. I was reading an article on Slate recently about how the author had to start treating cooking as a daily chore rather than as something that you do for fun. I do like to cook when I have a lot of time and energy and people to entertain. When it comes to the daily duty of cooking (and then dishes that accompany it), I have a hard time forcing myself to do it.
Part of the problem is that my family rarely wants to eat and is available at the same time. In the past I have often worked late or had classes and my husband fences a couple times a week in addition to working later than the time that I want to eat. My son doesn't eat the same things we do, so he doesn't count. Many days we just eat what happens to be around- fruit, cheese, crackers, maybe some carrot sticks - convenience food. We eat pizza way more often than we should and eat out a lot on weekends. It's overall not very healthy (as anyone can see by looking at my round shape) and not great for the family, either.
This year, I hope that circumstances will permit a greater emphasis on cooking real, healthy, tasty food. For one thing, I am only teaching part time this year. In actuality, I will be at school from 9:30 to 2:30. I plan to go do my workouts and errands and get home by 4. That gives me enough time to spend with my son on homework and not feel rushed because I'm starving. Then I can have easy to prepare meals that we can all eat at about 6:30.
That takes care of the time problem, but doesn't solve the motivation problem. Often, I just don't want to cook. As the writer of the Slate article put it, suck it up, Buttercup. Just do it. I need one more chore like I need a hole in the head, but that's the way it has to be. I hope that once the habit is developed and I see the rewards of being healthier and more connected to my family that it will be easier. I think I should put together a playlist of "making dinner music", which will get me turned on enough to do it. Also, I should not sit down in front of the TV until it's done, because once I'm there I have a hard time getting anything else done.
Planning will also be critical. I have tons of recipies that are good and easy to make, but I have to plan ahead well enough so that we have fresh groceries available.
Finally, this is my opportunity to finally get my son to eat real, adult food. He has sensory issues and doesn't like most foods that are cooked or mixed. He eats raw carrots, but not cooked ones. He will also eat celery, but that is the limit on vegetables (other than potatoes in the form of french fries, but those don't count). He likes meat, as long at there is no sauce on it. He likes plain pasta and rice. He eats apples, strawberries and sometimes bananas. It's a very limited diet considering he's 12! We always joke about him being on the "pop" diet: popsicles, popcorn and poptarts. It's long past time to educate his taste buds a bit. It just hasn't been worth the battle before, but now if our last opportunity to do something about his nutritional deficits.
So... School starts Tuesday. I have this long weekend to do some planning and get groceries, then away we go!
Part of the problem is that my family rarely wants to eat and is available at the same time. In the past I have often worked late or had classes and my husband fences a couple times a week in addition to working later than the time that I want to eat. My son doesn't eat the same things we do, so he doesn't count. Many days we just eat what happens to be around- fruit, cheese, crackers, maybe some carrot sticks - convenience food. We eat pizza way more often than we should and eat out a lot on weekends. It's overall not very healthy (as anyone can see by looking at my round shape) and not great for the family, either.
This year, I hope that circumstances will permit a greater emphasis on cooking real, healthy, tasty food. For one thing, I am only teaching part time this year. In actuality, I will be at school from 9:30 to 2:30. I plan to go do my workouts and errands and get home by 4. That gives me enough time to spend with my son on homework and not feel rushed because I'm starving. Then I can have easy to prepare meals that we can all eat at about 6:30.
That takes care of the time problem, but doesn't solve the motivation problem. Often, I just don't want to cook. As the writer of the Slate article put it, suck it up, Buttercup. Just do it. I need one more chore like I need a hole in the head, but that's the way it has to be. I hope that once the habit is developed and I see the rewards of being healthier and more connected to my family that it will be easier. I think I should put together a playlist of "making dinner music", which will get me turned on enough to do it. Also, I should not sit down in front of the TV until it's done, because once I'm there I have a hard time getting anything else done.
Planning will also be critical. I have tons of recipies that are good and easy to make, but I have to plan ahead well enough so that we have fresh groceries available.
Finally, this is my opportunity to finally get my son to eat real, adult food. He has sensory issues and doesn't like most foods that are cooked or mixed. He eats raw carrots, but not cooked ones. He will also eat celery, but that is the limit on vegetables (other than potatoes in the form of french fries, but those don't count). He likes meat, as long at there is no sauce on it. He likes plain pasta and rice. He eats apples, strawberries and sometimes bananas. It's a very limited diet considering he's 12! We always joke about him being on the "pop" diet: popsicles, popcorn and poptarts. It's long past time to educate his taste buds a bit. It just hasn't been worth the battle before, but now if our last opportunity to do something about his nutritional deficits.
So... School starts Tuesday. I have this long weekend to do some planning and get groceries, then away we go!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)