With the weather in full blown rain mode, it is officially soup WEATHER! (cue the trumpets). It took me a while to get used to several months of rain, but now that I have discovered vitamin D capsules, and got an incredibly, unfashionable rain coat, I relish it! Soup is one of my favorite ways to receive nutrition, and I can’t think of a more comforting food when it’s blustery and wet. Continue reading “Lighter Corn chowder”
Funeral potatoes…modernized.
I grew up in a quirky place, it’s of a particularly high altitude, it was once a booming train stop across the great plains, and it has a high demographic of LDS (Latter Day Saints). Yes, I grew up in Ogden, UT. If you know or have any LDS kinfolk, you will recognize the subject of this post quite well. “Funeral potatoes” are often served potluck style…at well, funerals, usually afterwards in the Stake center with the ward members of the loved one’s life that is being honored. Served with ham, salad, and those sweet, yeasty, homemade dinner roles, and if you’re lucky.. Jell0! This meal is one of my childhood, nostalgia favorites. Not all funeral potatoes are created equal, and it is always interesting to taste the variations, today I will give you mine, and feel free to eat these whenever you feel inclined, Easter, Wednesday, Christmas. I took out all the “cream of ….” soups and made a Mornay (Cheese Bechamel) sauce, par boiled, peeled, and shredded Yukon gold potatoes, and added a few more tricks. So next time you need to bring a side dish or want a delicious casserole, test out this version and let me know what you think. Continue reading “Funeral potatoes…modernized.”
Chop Suey!
So this dish is quite the cultural phenomenon, one of the first dishes of Chinese descent eaten by Americans its roots are in the Canton region of China and translates to basically mean “leftovers”. Continue reading “Chop Suey!”
Garlic +Saffron roasted Salmon
My birthday is New Year’s eve, and every year we would have my party at the restaurant, as my mom was usually cooking prime rib as the special, somewhere in between cooking prime rib for 100 she would make me whatever I wanted to have….I always picked fish. Continue reading “Garlic +Saffron roasted Salmon”
Budget bourbon and the quest for the perfect Kentucky mule
I really do like bourbon, straight up, on the rocks, or in a cocktail, it’s refined and complex. With those types of characteristics I used to think that unless I spent $30 on a bottle (usually bulliet) it wouldn’t be any good. Continue reading “Budget bourbon and the quest for the perfect Kentucky mule”
Mapo Tofu
New adventures are a part of life, and so many people stay at jobs they don’t like, doing things they don’t believe in (I’m guilty of this) in order to have “security”, don’t do it, take the chance…you got one shot here on this Earth do as much as you can to find your bliss.Today’s recipe is my adaptation of my favorite Chinese dish. Lucky Peach did a great post about it Continue reading “Mapo Tofu”
Broccoli chicken alfredo skillet
Weeknight meals, can be repetitive or sometimes a little boring….especially when you are trying to please everyone with one dish. I think this one does the trick. Most everyone loves alfredo pasta with chicken and broccoli, it is probably one of the most ordered dishes in Italian American restaurants. Continue reading “Broccoli chicken alfredo skillet”
Pork Souvlaki
One of my very first memories of cooking is when I was about three and I was sitting on the large butcher block in my parents Greek food lounge on 27th St. in downtown Ogden, Utah. My mother would let me grab toddler-sized handfuls of dried Greek oregano and let me “make it rain” all over the cubed pork over the massive tubs my mom would use to make souvlaki for the restaurant. Salt,granulated garlic, pepper, lemon juice, I would watch as she would eye the amount needed for each 20 or so pounds she would season at a time. Continue reading “Pork Souvlaki”
Soy Ginger Ramen with greens
I know whenever I go visit my family back in my hometown, there will usually be two events I can count on….first we will at some point eat my childhood comfort food of packaged ramen and we go to a Japanese Teppanyaki steakhouse with the whole gang and watch the cook/entertainer make volcanoes out of onions and throw shrimp in our mouths to catch like zoo animals. If you have ever been to one of these types of joints, you may have encountered the ginger dressing they serve on usually plain old iceberg. I love the stuff! Continue reading “Soy Ginger Ramen with greens”
Marie’s Green Beans Almondine
Over the weekend I got some sad news. My husbands’ step grandmother Marie had passed away, she lived a long and beautiful life. I met her fifteen years or so ago, she was always kind, made me feel included, and not judgemental. Marie was well into her eighties at our wedding clad in leopard print. Marie had style, an old school glamour that I think, only a lucky few are born with. When I inquired what her secret for staying youthful was she smiled slyly and told me “vodka and vitamins!”, she was a cool lady that made me think that maybe getting older meant getting better. She made living into her nineties look chic, and did her own thing. I admire her. Continue reading “Marie’s Green Beans Almondine”