Stuffed Cabbage

So I know not everyone loves cabbage but I am a fan and was in the mood tonight. So I decided to make stuffed cabbage, now to some this may not seem like a big deal but i have never made it so I was not exactly sure what to do. I checked out a few recipes on-line and they looked OK but I did not want to use rice in my stuffing so I created my own little mix.

I decided to use beef which seems to be used in these things a lot. Next time I think I am going to go with a different protein. Anyway.....I used both green and red pepper, onion, asparagus, garlic and cauliflower. These ingredients may seem strange to some but this is what I was in the mood for and well they are tasty. I made a red sauce to go on top of them which was a simple but flavorful addition.

It's been awhile....

I know I have not been posting recipes but I a promise you I have been cooking. I have made so many things I am not sure where to start, I guess one place would be to talk about the super yummy spaghetti and meatballs. Usually I try to make the meatballs in the oven just to try and be healthier but not this time.....I fried them yes that is right I fried them. The house smelled just heavenly and boy that tiny crust on the balls was just wonderful. After they were cooked I placed them in some of my homemade sauce which was also great.

Then I made some pork chunks...remember those? I mentioned them the last time I posted. Well I again I was bad adn a fried them up in olive oil and served those with brown rice and black beans. Just to top it off I put some of my very special homemade hot sauce - the recipe is compliments of my dad "grandpa coconut".

I was planning a rather fancy meal this past week but I got sick on Sunday and spent most of the day in the ER with what we  thought was an appendicitis. Turns out it was not that but given the time spent away from home we had Wendy's -- which after a day of not eating was the best meal of my life.......

tonight I made some stuffed peppers, this meal is fast becoming on of my favorites. I never ate peppers before trying this meal now I love them. Boy what a difference a recipe can make. I stuffed them with lean ground meat, buffalo chicken sausage and a mix of veggies - tonight they were asparagus, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower and onion. I forgot to buy tomatoes with green chilies so I put some crushed red pepper flakes in for a little heat. I really enjoyed them...this is one I do not mind eating more than one day.

Pics and recipes to come.....

MMM... chicken

Our family is like so many others. We eat a ton of chicken and yes i get tired of cooking it. Yesterday I marinated a few breasts and thighs in a tandoori seasoning packet and let it sit for 24 hours, I grilled the chicken tonight and boy was it ever tasty. I made some brown rice and a bit of mixed veggies to go with it. Yes i know you are supposed to eat this with a simple steam rice but I did not have enough white rice and I want to get in as many servings of veggies as possible each day.

I think the true test to most meals is whether or not your kids will eat what you put in front of them.....well they did. Both of my girls and my nephew had seconds and were talking to each other about how delicious it was.
I would highly recommend this meal, even picky eaters would like it.

Cooking Freak

so I complained about my cooking being interrupted....well that is not the case today. I have made three meals today and may tackle at least more before days end. I think this new found motivation started last night. I roasted a chicken with potatoes and veggies (asparagus, zucchini and onions). It was a tasty dinner and made me want to cook more.

The bad thing...I went to the grocery store hungry which everyone knows you are never supposed to do.  The bright side...I was inspired. I bought pork tenderloin, chicken and ground beef.  When I got home I skinned the chicken and trimmed it of fat.... then made a tandoori marinade. My chicken is bathing is this yogurty goodness and we will be having the dish for dinner tomorrow night with some steamed rice.

I made some yummy looking meatballs from one pound of the beef (froze the other pound) and made a pot of homemade spaghetti sauce using a few short-ribs I had in the freezer. The meatballs have not been cooked, not sure if I am going to fry them (yum) or baked them in some sauce(also yum).

The pork I cut into bite sized pieces and made a marinade using olive oil, garlic, cumin, oregano, salt, lime zest and juice. there is two pounds of this but I going to use the same marinade for both pounds so they have been frozen together. I will make one pound by frying it and serving with steamed rice and black beans. the second pound I will use to make tacos.

I am so excited to have so many yummy meals ready and waiting for my family to enjoy. I will post the recipes and update as to what I do when each meal is eaten....maybe I will make some changes.

cooking interrrupted

I had such wonderful plans. I was going to make some great food and just eat like a piggy. I bought some ingredients and ideas together and then my kids happen....my youngest got sick and I got tired.

I did cook, I made corn beef and cabbage on St. Patrick's day which we ate for two days. I had never actually eaten corn beef but it turns out I like it, it tastes like ham. I really wish someone would have told me that. You see my husband does not eat ham (yes you read right). I will rant about his non-ham status at a later date. Now it seems that when I am craving ham I can use this as substitute.

I also made stuffed peppers which were super yummy. I make them using lots of fresh veggies and meat no starches.So if you are a low carb eater they are a must try.

Today is mom's afternoon. My wonderful hubby is giving me a day off to have some me time. I will be out relaxing and then it is home to jump into the kitchen and make a nice Sunday dinner. Coq Au Vin....stay toned for pics and reviews.

So I lied...

Yet again I did not make the dinner I wanted to. In my defense I did go the doctor today and just didn't feel like cooking so we had burgers.....good burgers but still not what I had envisioned eating tonight. Of course my hubby and kids thought burgers were just great BUT if i am ever going to start making some great food I need to get off the fat butt and get in the kitchen.

So this is it...I mean it! I am going to spend the evening thinking of a nice dinner to make, specifically something I have never made - then it is on. I fully expect to make super great things using love and tons of butter...after all butter makes everything taste better.

I think an extra day at the gym may be in order......

MMM veggies

I like veggies and put as many as I can into every meal I can. My kids will usually eat them with little argument but sometimes a little switch-a-roo gets them to eat more than they normally would. Like replacing lettuce with spinach on all of our sandwiches.

Anyway, why I am talking about veggies? Because today I will be making some wonderful stuffed peppers for dinner. The original recipe was given to me by a friend(thanks Tina) I have made some changes to make them "mine",  today I am going to change them yet again. Usually I use ground meat (lean of course) for the stuffing today I am going to flake some fish and use it along with the ground meat. I usually use whatever veggies I have available, I sauted some this morning (then used a small amount in my eggs). I will explain how it all comes together on the recipe page.

Veggies used today - asparagus, cauliflower,  broccoli, orange pepper, onion, spinach and tomato. All were cooked up with one tsp of evoo. I will be stuffing yellow, orange and red peppers(not a fan of the green ones).

Lazy

I had such grand ideas when ti came to cooking this weekend. I figured the whole family would be home, I could go to the store and be inspired and male some fantastic meal. Well none of that happened. I am hoping today will find me in the store looking for ingredients so that I can make at least one good meal for my family this weekend.

To Cheap

So I finally made it to the book store today and thought maybe I would buy Julia's book - french food is foreign to me and sounds like it would be fun to cook.Well french food is going to stay out of reach -- who in the world would pay $30 for a cook book? I will try walmart and see if they carry it, sorry Julia I am just to cheap.

tonight I am planning a wine and cheese tasting with my hubby - dinner will be a roasted chicken although I have not yet decided how I will season it or what sides I will make to go with it. I guess the only thing I do know is that I will be eating cheese drinking wine and then eating chicken.

No books today

I had great intentions but the rain kept me in the house all day which means I did not get any new cookbooks and I had to make a go to dish for dinner shrimp with angel hair pasta. I guess that is not bad considering I almost had my family eat cereal for dinner -- today is the kind of day when I would just as easily throw my stove outside than cook. Nothing I have eaten all day has been good and I am was feeling to lazy to cook.

I just did not have the heart to make Mark eat cereal for dinner after working all day so at 5 I defrosted some shrimp put some water on to boil and got things going. Everything smells good, hopefully when I get home form the gym I will actually want to eat it.

Going to the book store

I am happy that I started this and I know it has not even been a full week BUT I think I need to be focusing more on making foods I never have, like the fish I made last night only on a grander scale. While I love making up my own recipes I am not against using existing ones, so I am off to the book store today to look at a few books.

fish was the smell, rainbow trout to be exact

So after I dropped Abs off at preschool this morning I went to Earthfare to look for some fish. The only whole fish they had available was this cute little trout. I starred at him for about five minutes before I finally told they guy behind the counter what I wanted, he seemed a little annoyed that I did know exactly what i wanted as soon as I got to the counter. So to annoy him a little more I asked how he would cook the fish, of course I did not care how he would cook it because I had already decided what I wanted to do BUT that is what he gets for being an impatient turd. After the meat counter I went to the produce department and looked at fresh herbs, I made my decision and then left the store without them because I wanted to make sure i was on the right track with my herb selection (meaning: I had to check the internet). 

After a short browse of the web I discovered I was inf act on the right track and found a few other suggestions that I thought would be interesting. So off I went again to the grocery store where I picked up herbs. I washed my little guys in nice cool water patted him dry (all while talking to him letting him know I hoped he tasted good). I stuffed him with all of the herbs and a sliced lemon. I seasoned the skin with with sea salt and fresh black pepper then drizzled him with olive oil. He was wrapped lovingly in foil and placed in the oven.

The cook time was a little tricky for me, originally I cooked him for 14 minutes but he was not quite done  so an additional few minutes was needed. after all of this how did he taste is what you are asking....I mean come on get to it already......Well i will say that he was not as pretty coming out of the oven as when he went in. His bulging eye made him actually very unattractive but.......He was pretty good, no fishy flavor at all, mild, flaky and moist. He was kind of ugly with his eyes bulging BUT his ugliness had no affect on his flavor...he was not fishy at all, he had took on the mild flavor of the herbs, he was flaky and very moist.I provided a little extra lemon at the table and we all enjoyed him, yes all even my 4 and 2 year old daughters ate him up.

while I am sure those of are fish experts would say my fish was nothing special I am not inspired to have fish more often, next I am going to try my hand at fish nuggets and home made tarter sauce

What's that smell?

If all goes well the answer will be fish. This idea is going to fall under the expanding of cooking skills. We always talk about eating more fish but in eleven years together we have had fish for dinner only 3 times. I assume the fish was OK, you see I do not eat fish...I have tasted it over the years but I am always afraid of the dreaded fishy taste.

Well I saw a whole fish in the meat case last night and I got inspired. I can see it now, I pull it from the oven it is of course perfectly cooked, smelling like all of the wonderful herbs I used to stuff it. All of this happened in front of the meat case in the grocery store in a matter of 30 seconds. I resisted the urge to buy the fish on the spot and instead came home and asked Mark what he thought of fish for dinner. Luckily he is on board so today I will be going out to find a fresh fish and then try to figure out exactly how I am going to season it. 

I will admit to you that I am nervous. Here goes nothing.

MMMM Rice

I had to do it. I had to make rice and sausage using the sofrito, I could not stop thinking of it once I posted the sofrito recipe. How was it? Well it was freaking great-- that's how it was! Those of you who know that I am Spanish are probably wondering why on earth a Spanish woman is so darn excited over rice, something most Spanish families eat everyday (yes everyday). Well shame on you for buying into the stereotype......I do not eat rice everyday, mostly because we did when I was a kid (OK so maybe it is not stereotype). Because of my lack of rice eating this meal is a treat.

*disclaimer - normally I would serve this meal with a protein on the side but I got lazy and just counted the sausage as my meat for this meal.

First I made the spices (sofrito), then proceeded to make the rice, my house smelled just like grandmas used to. It was just heavenly, so wonderful in fact that I could almost completely ignore my screaming animals (my two little girls).

Anyway, back to the food. I did not burn the rice, it was moist but NOT mushy and the flavor was nicely balanced. I am listing the recipe on the recipe page of the blog. If you do not know how to make rice don't worry I will list instructions for making basic white rice as well.

Last night when Mark walked in the door I proudly announced that I had started my blog...he was positive but I think is not certain what to expect, I am sure he will be happy with the new dishes he will get to try but I do not know if he is ready to deal with Julie when a dish is a failure(yes there will be failures). His past experiences with me and an unsuccessful meal have not been pleasant. Usually I will refuse to eat(yes just like my a big baby) and then complain for the rest of the day. I guess now is the time to let you know that I must have at least one really good thing to eat each day in order to feel like the day was a good one.Yes it is a little weird but this just shows how much I love food. This love of food is not just due to flavor, texture and smell....it also rooted in the fact that we eat dinner in our home very night as a family, this may seem weird to some but this is our rule.So food is a direct link to family, a time to talk and enjoy eachothers company.

Now that this has ride has commenced I just couldn't stop thinking of foods that I want to make. So I am trying to put together a menu for the rest of the week and then I will be off the the store. Tonight I am making my grandmothers sofrito which I will use to season her rice and sausage (mmm,can't wait). I will try to share my menus with you but of course they will change based on availability of ingredients.

Oh one more thing....I will be taking pictures of the dishes (both good and bad) and posting them with the recipe so you can see what they look like).

Grandma's Sofrito

I felt that this should be one of the first things I shared with you as it was one of the first things I ever learned to make and is dear to my heart. Yes you are right in saying this is a spice not a food but hey spices are key to our food tasting wonderful.

I know everyone on the planet (at least most people I have run into) claim that their grandmothers were the best cooks around. Well sorry to disappoint but the true running champion was my grandmother. This woman could take a frozen piece of meat and turn into an amazing meal in a matter of minutes, well not literally minutes but close.

When I got married (the first time, yes the first time) I could not boil water. there I was living far from home with a husband and I had no clue what to do. All I did know was that my grandma made the best food and I knew if anyone could help me it was her.So began my cooking career. I would spend at least an hour a day on the phone with her quizzing her on my favorite foods she made, she would giggle and then try her best to give me a recipe(which she never used). You will see many of those "recipes" on this blog.

The first thing she taught me to make was sofrito, as this is what she used to season most of her dishes.....of course she gave me the ingredients and I have over the years found a combination that works for me.I hope you enjoy as much as I have.

Why am I doing this?

In December of 2009 I talked with my husband about setting a goal for the New Year. I wanted to expand my cooking abilities by trying a new recipe every  night....yes every night, no repeats and I wanted to blog about the experience mostly to share what my family was going through during my little adventure with my family and friends. I love cooking and while I think most of the things I make taste pretty good I am no expert and I sometimes struggle to come up exciting meals to prepare for my family, I was hoping this "goal" would force me to be more creative in the kitchen. Take my cooking to the next level, if I have a "next" level to go to....

As you can imagine he was a little surprised by this revelation and asked me a few times exactly what I meant by all new...because like everyone he has foods that he enjoys and did not like the idea of having them only once in an entire year. After going through my idea a few times he concluded that he could support this idea of new recipes but he had to insist on this not being a new dish everyday deal......I mean how could I expect him to eat pot roast only one time for an entire year.

So, I researched starting a blog, thought of all of the ingredients I would use and got so excited....that is where everything started and stopped.  The excitement over my idea unfortunately was not enough to make it happen.... I never made the time to go further than "research". Well sort of...I did try several new recipes, most of my own creation BUT that was only half of my goal.

Well it is now March of 2011 and I am going to do this. I am making a change, instead of a new recipe every night I want to make as many new things as possible...and hopefully become my own mini-gourmet, all while taking care of my wonderful family(which you will here about too).