A jumping little joint

As the scent of cooking tomatoes filled my apartment I came to a realization. Some people eat macaroni and cheese or chocolate brownies to comfort themselves. I decided that from now on I'm going to make marinara sauce. It makes me SO happy! Much happier than even eating it - although I must admit I do love eating this sauce. I love it on the spaghetti and I love soaking up the leftovers with some crusty bread.

As soon as the marinara starts bubbling on the stove the scent is overwhelming. It always smells so good to me. No matter what I'm making, as soon as I start sauteeing onions and garlic, Thatboy yells out "something smells good." And that's exactly how I feel about a good marinara.

And this is a good marinara. FAR better than what Thatboy's mom passes off as a spaghetti sauce. This makes enough for Thatboy and I to drown our pasta and extra to stick in the freezer for a cold day...which doesn't seem to be appearing any time soon.

Basic Marinara Sauce

• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1 Tbsp canola oil
• 1 28 oz can whole tomatoes with basil
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 1 can tomato paste
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1 Tbsp Italian Seasoning
• 1 Tbsp salt

1. Heat oil in saucepan over medium high heat. Add garlic and onion and cook until onion is lightly browned.
2. Stir in remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil.
3. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook 30-45 minutes.
4. Remove cover and cook 15 more minutes.

Often enough

Some nights we have fancy, schnazzy dinners. But more often than not we have something that's fly by the seat of my pants, give in to cravings, quick dinners thrown together in a matter of moments.

This dinner was spurred by my desire to have stir fried green beans. Why? I have no idea. But I woke up in the morning and decided I wanted stir fried green beans. So then I worked backwards and started thinking about what I would serve with it. My go to meal of choice would be chicken, but I forgot to pull some breasts from the freezer. In fact, I didn't have any meat in the fridge and the hour was getting later and later and I showed no signs of finishing up at work any time soon. Luckily from my years of 90 minute commutes, Thatboy became an expert at making baked potatoes. We started out slowly with me walking him through each step over the phone. By now all it takes is a little prompting. "How do you make a potato? And then? And then?" He can give me each step with confidence. And it's easy enough. I swear by the Alton Brown recipe that yields crisp outsides and soft, fluffy insides. All it takes is time.


Stir Fried Green Beans

• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 cups green beans, washed and trimmed

1. Combine soy sauce, chicken broth, and corn starch in bowl and set aside.
2. Heat oil in skillet over high heat. Add green beans and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
3. Add sauce mixture and cook for another minute or two until sauce thickens.

Serves 2.
Each serving has:

Calories		149.2
Total Fat		7.8 g
Total Carbohydrate		13.2 g
Protein		8.8 g

Baked Potatoes (from Alton Brown)

• 2 large russet potatoes
• Canola oil to coat
• Kosher salt

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees and position racks in top and bottom thirds.
   
2. Wash potatoes thoroughly with a stiff brush and cold running water.
   
3. Dry, then using a standard fork poke 8 to 12 deep holes all over the spud so that moisture can escape during cooking.
   
4. Place in a bowl and coat lightly with oil. Sprinkle with kosher salt and place potato directly on rack in middle of oven. Place a baking sheet on the lower rack to catch any drippings.
5. Bake 1 hour or until skin feels crisp but flesh beneath feels soft. Serve by creating a dotted line from end to end with your fork, then crack the spud open by squeezing the ends towards one another. It will pop right open. But watch out, there will be some steam.

Serves 2.
Nutritional information will vary based on what you stuff your potatoes with. I used turkey bacon and a fantastic English cheddar from my local cheese shop.

I'll bet you

that just as putting something on a stick makes it automatically better, putting something in a tortilla works the same magic.

I was never very much into tortillas growing up until I moved across the country. And then I met her:

Okay, so maybe I didn't meet her exactly, but I did get to experience tortillas hot off the press. It's kind of a gimmick at some restaurants around here. Little did I know as I bit into my first hot tortilla dripping with salsa and butter that it wouldn't be too long until I would be that woman. Years on that hot press with burn marks up and down my arms have made me into a tortilla snob. It's also made me a lot more careful with the numbers of tortillas I eat - the ones I used to eat EACH had 10g of fat. And no more butter on them!

Luckily I live close to my favorite Mexican restaurant of all times. It's a dive, but the line is always out the door and the tortillas are phenomenal. And as I said before - they are great for wrapping things in. Especially snacks! Joelen is hosting a Fall Snack Adventure and has asked for submissions of fun fall snacks. Well these are both one handed snacks that use my favorite tortillas! Two snacks in one blog post? I must really love you!

Barbeque Burrito
2 Tbsp butter
4 eggs
1/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup barbeque sauce
2 flour tortillas

1. Melt butter in skillet over medium heat. Beat eggs with fork and pour into skillet. Cook until almost done.
2. Add cheese and onions and cook one minute more.
3. Heat tortillas - if you have a gas range you can do what I do and heat them directly over the flame. Otherwise use a clean, dry skillet.
4. Divide egg mixture between two tortillas.
5. Equally divide barbeque sauce between two tortillas.
6. Roll up the tortilla to create a burrito.

Serves 2.

Tortilla Dog
2 tortillas
2 hot dogs
barbeque sauce
ketchup
cheddar cheese, shredded
mustard

1. Spread tortillas with barbeque, ketchup, cheddar, and mustard to your liking. Thatboy likes his heavy on the ketchup and mustard. I prefer the barbeque.
2. Place hotdog on one side of tortilla and roll that bad boy up. Wrap in paper towel.
3. Microwave 1.5 minutes. Let hot dog sit for 1 minute before unwrapping and shoving in your face.

Serves 2.

Ya Ya

If you've seen Anchorman you know a little bit about San Diego news. Even though the movie is fiction, it's depiction of the fluff pieces that make up the news is dead accurate. For instance, this morning the news spent 15 minutes filming one of the reporters attempting to touch a rooster in a cage. I can't begin to tell you the anxiety and high tension that arose as he continued to reach and flinch...reach and flinch.

Don't believe me? Check out this 5 minute video:
Reporter and Rooster


It's been a while since I had a fluff piece on my blog, so today seems like as good a day as any. I thought I would share some of my cheater cheater breakfast tips with you. These are quick breakfasts that can fool even the pickiest eater.

Almost 2 minute eggs - How GORGEOUS are these? I for one, have to admit that I am NOT a fan of microwave cooking. I am especially not a fan of microwave eggs. For some reason they taste funny to me and they never fully cook right. Except these. These worked out perfectly. And the shape is just great for homemade mcmuffins, benedicts, or on their own.

Crack and egg into a glass cup (I use a measuring cup).
Beat well with a fork.
Cover the cup with plastic wrap tightly.
Microwave at 70% for 1 minute.

Cheater Quiche - I think we all know how much I love quiches, and most of you are familiar with my recent quiche crust disaster. So the solution? A quiche with the crust cooked into it. This is a great way to use up bisquick that your husband makes you keep in the pantry. Oh, your husband doesn't make you keep bisquick in the pantry? I bet he doesn't make you keep Nestle Quik in your pantry either.

• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup bisquick
• 2 eggs
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 3/4 cup cheddar, shredded
• 1/2 cup frozen broccoli, thawed
  

1. Preheat oven to 350. Combine milk, bisquick, eggs, butter, and cheddar in a blender for 1 minute.
2. Butter pie pan and place broccoli in pie plate.
3. Pour egg mixture over broccoli. Bake 40 minutes.

Wait

As long as it's still summer weather that means it's still time for frozen desserts! In general I'm not a huge fan of the kraft website (I know a million people swear by it) because it's just so full of processed foods that I don't really use as ingredients. But this recipe is pretty much fresh strawberries and condensed milk. Yum! And lately the strawberries have been smelling so unbelievably good I can smell them as soon as I walk into the supermarket. One of the many perks of the area I live in. So I'm using them strawberries on a daily basis - breakfast, fruit salads, and if you haven't tried burrata and strawberries on toast then you just haven't lived.

I have an ice cream maker, but if you don't then this is a great way to make your own ice cream. No stirring, no shaking, just a little mixing to combine the ingredients. And using fat free cool whip kinda makes up for the fact that you're using condensed milk which has no redeeming qualities.

It's the perfect dessert for these fall days that seem like summer. For as long as it lasts.

Strawberry Whipped Sensation (from Kraft)

• 4 cups fresh strawberries, divided

• 1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk

• 1/4 cup lemon juice

• 1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed, divided

• 8 OREO Cookies, finely chopped

• 1 Tbsp. butter, melted

LINE 9x5-inch loaf pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides of pan. Mash 2 cups of the strawberries in large bowl. Add condensed milk, juice and 2 cups of the whipped topping; mix well. Pour into prepared pan.

MIX chopped cookies and butter. Spoon over whipped topping mixture. Cover with ends of foil and gently press cookie mixture into whipped topping mixture. Freeze 6 hours or until firm.

INVERT dessert onto serving plate when ready to serve; remove pan and foil. Spread remaining whipped topping onto top and sides of dessert. Slice remaining 2 cups strawberries; arrange over dessert. Store leftovers in freezer.

Serves 12.
Each serving has:

Calories

220

Total fat

9 g

Saturated fat

6 g

Cholesterol

15 mg

Sodium

95 mg

Carbohydrate

32 g

Dietary fiber

1 g

Sugars

26 g

Protein

3 g

I'm submitting this to Ruth's Bookmarked Recipes since it's SO good!

You just can't lose me

Do you see those glorious grill marks? The chicken was just so good I had to do it again with steak. If I ate fish you could probably make a fair assumption that tomorrow would have some sort of grilled fish. But in any case, I'm just showing off the grill marks here because there's no real recipe for the steak. It's marinated in Worcestershire sauce and then thrown on the grill. Instead I ask you to focus your attention on that unphotogenic yellow blob behind the steak. Okay now someone guess what it is. Don't scroll ahead and peak - that would be cheating. Instead I'll give you a hint. Steak and ______. (And keep your mind out of the gutter).

The three of you that were able to keep your mind out of the gutter probably figured this is some kind of potato dish. And you're right! Yay you! Goldstars all around. This is one of the terrible terrible bad for you kind of potato recipes. I'm attracted to them precisely because they are a far cry from potatoes we had growing up which were either baked, roasted, or in very rare occassions, dumped from a box in flake form and stirred with milk until they became the only form of mashed potatoes I knew until I was married.

So recently I have become addicted to various forms of scalloped potatoes. Potatoes that are sliced insanely thin and combined with cream. In this case they're also combined with cheese. Because what good is super fatty potatoes if they don't also have cheese?

Gruyere Potatoes

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
• 6 large russet potatoes, peeled and sliced
• 4 oz. Gruyère cheese, shredded
• 1 Tbs. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1. Preheat oven to 350. Butter an 8 inch baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the cream, eggs, salt, pepper and nutmeg.
   
3. Add the potatoes and toss gently until evenly mixed. Transfer to the prepared baking dish.
4. Spread the potatoes in an even layer, pressing them lightly so they absorb the liquid.
   
5. Sprinkle the cheese and then the parsley evenly over the top.
6. Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking 15 to 20 minutes more.
   
7. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Serves 8 to 10.
Each serving has:

Calories		396.4
Total Fat		22.5 g
Total Carbohydrate		40.2 g
Protein		10.1 g

The sun begin to shine

It is HOT here in Southern California. It's like someone forgot to mention that it is now fall. Time for cooler weather, breezes, changing leaves. Instead it is hot and sticky. At least it is still grill season! Or in my case, grill pan season. I love the fabulous grill marks on chicken, even when you're just making chicken tenders. And chicken tenders just cook so darn fast! This entire meal was made in the time it took Thatboy to call me on his way home from surfing with a warning that he was very hungry. With a call like that I know I have to toss any lasagna plans out the window and focus on something very quick. Not that I was going to make lasagna. Seriously it is too hot for lasagna! As with most of my quick dishes, I put up the rice first in our rice cooker so that in 20 minutes dinner is basically done.

Grilled Terriyaki Chicken Tenders

• 1/2 cup Terriyaki sauce
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 1/2 Tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp crushed ginger
• 1 chicken breast, thinly sliced

1. Combine terriyaki sauce, green onions, sesame oil, and ginger.
2. Set aside 1/4 cup marinade and pour remaining marinade in ziplock bag with chicken. Marinated 20 minutes while rice cooks.
3. Grill chicken over grill pan until done.
4. Top with reserved marinade.

Serves 2.
Each serving has:

Calories		222.3
Total Fat		6.6 g
	Saturated Fat	1.0 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	2.6 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	2.2 g
Cholesterol		68.4 mg
Sodium		554.8 mg
Potassium		324.9 mg
Total Carbohydrate		11.2 g
	Dietary Fiber	0.0 g
	Sugars	8.4 g
Protein		27.7 g

It's just a state of mind

It's hard for me to believe I used to be afraid of roasting a whole bird. Now I do it in my sleep. Well not quite in my sleep, but it's my go to easy dinner. It's one of those things I can make in advance and leave for Thatboy to carve up on my way home from work. It's actually one of the very few meals that can be ready and waiting for me when I get home (well, if I've done the necessary prep work of making the chicken.)

It's just so easy and endlessly variable. Different veggies/aromatics/herbs stuck in the cavity, different rubs on the outside, do I want oil or butter? My only thought process revolves around timing. See, me and my oven act civilized to each other, but secretly we are each plotting the other's demise. My oven is dead set on turning out undercooked meats and overcooked veggies, requiring far too much "let me just check again" time. With this chicken I finally FINALLY came upon just the right time and temperature to have a perfectly cooked chicken without having to stick in a thermometer every 5 minutes. I give part of the credit to the quasi-rotisserie style of cooking which also self bastes the chicken and gives it the lovely golden color.

Turn Turn Turn Chicken

• whole chicken
• 2 Tbsp butter
• small onion, chopped
• 2 rosemary sprigs

1. Preheat oven to 400. Rub outside of chicken with butter and season with salt and pepper.
2. Place onion and rosemary inside the cavity.
3. Place chicken on its side in a roasting pan. Roast for 30 minutes.
4. Turn the chicken on it's other side and roast for 30 minutes.
5. Turn the chicken on its back and roast for 45 minutes.

Serves 4-6.
Each serving has:

Calories		277.1
Total Fat		9.0 g
Cholesterol		155.2 mg
Sodium		170.5 mg
Potassium		540.6 mg
Total Carbohydrate		0.0 g
Protein		46.1 g

Send my love to you

When I went into work on Monday I looked at the week ahead of me. There was a lot of work, but I had a day off and only one activity planned for the weekend. By lunchtime on Monday I had events planned for almost every night of the week and multiple activities lined up for the weekend. When I commiserated with my mom she filled me in on the fact that that's the way life works. It happens. It just fills up.

My shopping plans were pretty much shot, since there was no way I'd have time to run to the Farmer's Market, cheese shop, butcher and supermarket during the week. I called Thatboy on my way home from work and told him I was doing a quick stop at the liquor store and grocery on my way home so he'd have dinner this week when I wasn't home.

I actually stopped at the liquor store to pick up a bottle of champagne for this weekend, but as long as I was there I decided to check for the elusive white Thatboy and I had been looking for. A year or so ago Thatboy and I discovered Pillar Box Red. It was written up in Food and Wine or some other magazine as one of the best inexpensive red wines. Highly rated and inexpensive are high on our list of wine qualities so we picked up a bottle and fell in love. We began introducing our friends to this wine and they also fell in love. It's a constant staple in Thathouse, and actually we usually have a couple bottles to ensure we never arrive emptyhanded. So naturally when I read that they were coming out with a Pillar Box White we just had to pick up a bottle. The problem is, we couldn't find it anywhere (although various restaurant managers and sommeliers were intrigued and vowed to get more information for us). But tonight someone was looking down on me and I was able to pick up a bottle.

I went home with wings on my heels and dinner formed itself around this light mix of whites. I presented it like a present to Thatboy, sneaking it into the fridge when I got home, and then serving it nice and cool along with our simple dinner. A dinner that let the mix shine. Thatboy tried to place the taste - since I wouldn't tell him what he was drinking. His first guess was actually champagne, and even after the reveal he murmered about the bubbles in the wine. It was kind of cute. And for a non-white drinker, Thatboy was pretty impressed, so I scored some bonus points tonight. Dinner helped with those bonus points because it's so hot that a light supper is all we really needed.

Open Faced Ham and Cheese

• 1 Tbs. unsalted butter
• 2 Tbs. all-purpose flour
• 1 cups hot milk
• 4 slices of bread
  
• 4 slices of ham
  
• 1/4 lb grated Gruyère cheese

1. Preheat to 450°F.
2. In a small pan over low heat, melt the butter.
3. Whisk in the flour until smooth and cook, whisking constantly, about 1 minute.
4. Slowly add the hot milk, whisking constantly until the mixture is smooth and lump-free. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
5. Increase the heat to medium, bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thickened, about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and keep warm.
6. Lightly butter a baking sheet. Place the bread slices on the sheet and layer the ham evenly on the bread.
7. Spread 1 to 2 Tbs. of the sauce over the ham.
8. Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the sauce and bake until the cheese melts and evenly browns, and the bread is golden and crisp on the bottom, 12 to 15 minutes.

Serves 2.

Each serving has:

Calories		452.1
Total Fat		27.5 g
Total Carbohydrate		16.5 g
Protein		33.6 g