Ravioli and Alfredo sauce

Today is day two of a migraine, so dinner was simple. Actually to be perfectly honest it was not even dinner it was a late lunch. I digress.

I made ravioli. How hard is that too make? Most would answer HARD. Especially given the fact that I have a migraine. Well I am here to tell you I CHEATED. I boiled water with a bit of salt. Added pre-made ravioli, turned heat to low. Cooked at soft boil for 3 min. Took them out.

Made an easy alfredo sauce that I have perfected over the course of four months. It is basic, sour cream, heavy cream, garlic, basil and milk. I boil it while stiring constantly. Then I add some corn starch to thicken it up and it is good to go. This whole proccess takes about 8 min. VERY easy.

Plop that all onto a plate and there was dinner/lunch.

And off to bed I went.

Woke up today feeling better. Only to my suprise Migraine came back.....

Grilled foods

I did not take pictures today. So let me start with that. Today's meal was charcoal grilled foods. It included rib eye steak. I made a yogurt peppercorn rub for it. The rub had vanilla yogurt, instead of plain. It also had whole and crushed peppercorns. It also had chili peppers and Cheyenne pepper. I also added rock salt and fresh herbs. I was unsure how the yogurt would taste, but the outcome was good. The steak was very moist and so yummy.

We also grilled all kinds of veggies. They included squash, shallots, onions, green peppers, bell peppers and a lemon for good measure.

Along with all of that we grilled some chicken that was lightly seasoned. When the chicken was almost cooked we squeezed lemon over it. Really good also.

For dessert, Grilled pineapple. This was lightly grilled then sprinkled cinnamon over it.

Tangy sweet Mahi Mahi

My last blog was over two months ago. It has been SO long sorry for my laziness. I am back now though. I started two days ago. First day back to cooking was making cornish hens, grilled finger potatoes and salad.

They were all so good. I was happy with the outcome.

Yesterday I cooked Mahi Mahi. I was craving fish. Mahi Mahi was what we had in our freezer so that I what I started with. I found a recipe that I did not need to go to the store to get more items. Basically I was going for the easiest recipe I could find. 

I started by making the sauce. It was lime peel, honey, seasonings, and cooking sherry. I boiled and boiled, then added flour to thicken it up. Then boiled some more. Here is a picture of the sauce.

Once the sauce was done I placed the Mahi Mahi in a pan to bake it. Baking fish seemed weird to me, but I was up for the challenge. I baked it for about 15 min plain. NO seasonings, no oils, nothing. After 15 min. I added about half the sauce and baked it for another 5 min with the sauce. 

That was it. The fish was done.

While the fish was cooking I made some rice. By the way, I have gotten really good at making rice. I finished the rice and the fish at almost the same time. Plated it and sprinkled with fresh cilantro. 

Outcome...

Another WONDERFUL meal. I was so happy. Two days of cooking and two days of success. YAHHH. Now what to make today....

Chicken Wanton Soup

So today's meal was based on a need. I have a sick little girl and a little boy who says he feels "weird". Out of need I made chicken soup. But added to my typical recipe chicken wantons. To make my chicken soup I start with lots of water. I add chicken breasts to that. I let the breasts boil whole for about four hours. Then I add onions, garlic, salt and pepper. I then taste the outcome. At times I need to add a bit of chicken broth to finish off the flavors. I add the wantons just before serving. I also add alphabet noodles just for fun for the kids. I have to admit I cheated on wantons today. I used store bought ones. Forgive me for that. But with two kids who are not feeling well what can you expect.

I also made an  apple pie from scratch today. I did not top it with crust. I instead made a crumble topping. And just because Jasmine is sick I made some raspberry jello for her.

SO I have not been totally lazy today, even though I cheated on one part of dinner, the wantons.

Arabic food

 

Steamed Veggies need I say more. They are a mixture of mix vegetables that have cracked pepper and garlic salt on them.

 

Mushroom garlic couscous. This is basic couscous with cut up mini white mushrooms and fresh minced garlic. I made the couscous first then added the mushrooms and garlic that I had cooked separately.

 

Falafel. This is a vegetable based, deep fried patties. Basically it is chick peas boiled, mashed, and add lots of things to this. Let it sit for the flavors to marinate. Then shape them into patties and deep fry them. Flipping once after just one minute. Take them out and drain them. I let them cool just a bit before I served them.

 

Lastly, Tambouli or wheat salad. This is wheat that is not boiled to soften, instead I added warm water to it then let it sit for two hours covered. I added crushed mint to this and diced tomatoes. I also added a few other seasonings, lemon juice and olive oil.

Ok so this was my first attempt at all of these items. The vegetables were the best thing on the menu today. The falafel was crunchy, but not that good. I was hungry and ate three of them, but not great all the same. I did not like the couscous. Adding the mushrooms and garlic made for a weird tasting dish. Normally I like mushrooms and garlic, not this time though. The tambouli was plain gross. The wheat came out chewy. The seasonings, were off, VERY off. The tomatoes made for a very weird texture, mixed with the chewy wheat. Not good mixture. 

Before I try any of these again I need to get someone who has made them before show me how. Following a recipe with this did not work at all.  The flavors were all off. The textures were off. The consistencies were off. 

Actually, there was nothing in today's meal that was right. I even managed to mess up making the juice. It was strawberry cranberry juice from a mix. I just had to add water and that came out bad. Ugh It was not my day

Ribs

 

Ribs were a tasty treat. Boiled with seasonings until they were ready to fall off the bone. Then, drenched in home made barbecue sauce. Sweet but a bit of a spice. I used a white wine vinegar instead of basic vinegar. I also used a bit extra molasses. The recipe did not call for cayenne pepper, but I chose to add that also. I wanted it to have a little kick. It was a good choice. The outcome was very good sauce.

 

I made some long grain rice also. I used olive oil and Vegeta I also used chicken broth instead of water while steaming it. End result Very good choice in changes.

 

Green beans is a vegetable of choice here in our house. I changed it up a bit this time also. I added grilled garlic to them as I was blanching. I blanched much faster and at a higher temp than normal. I wanted the garlic to infuse with the beans, thus the changes in blanching.

 

I made emulsified heavy cream for a topping on the beans. I cooked it while mixing continuously. I added just a bit of butter then beat it as butter started to melt. I then whipped it until it was a smooth consistency and began to thicken and change color. I then added just a bit of pepper and salt.

End result of all this work. A wonderful Meal. We all really enjoyed this meal. I had my sister in law and brother in law over for this meal. It was really good. Glad I put in the work for this. I will be making this again.

beef stroganoff

Picture did not get taken today. I was too hungry and food smelled too good.

Now that we got that out of the way. I made beef stroganoff. I began by looking online for a recipe. I thought many sounded good, but none perfect. So as I have been  doing lately, I made my own recipe. I began with ground beef instead of shredded beef. I browned it with no seasoning, I know I am hearing gasps all over the cyber world right now. After the beef was browned I drained the drippings off. Drippings I have learned is just a nice word for fat. Well, with the drippings gone, I added half and half. Brought that to a boil, added lots of seasonings, until I liked the flavor. Then I added some sour cream and just a touch of heavy cream. Again boiled it and and added angel hair pasta. I covered it and cooked it for about three minutes.

The beef has sucked up much of the cream and flavors. The pasta is now infused with the flavor also.

Stroganoff always looks a little iffy to me. It never looks tasty, but based just on looks I would have been SO very wrong. It was delicious. Both kids took seconds and Rougeh did also. We loved this meal and it was so easy.

Another thing I will make again.

Yah for successes.

Beer boiled chicken, onion rings, green beans and cheesy potatoes.

I started by marinating the chicken in beer. Then added to that ginger that was coarsely chopped and some seasonings. After an hour and a half I poured the whole mixture into a deep skillet and cooked it on low, covered for ten minutes. The beer was boiling by this point and the chicken boiled in the beer and cooked. I uncovered it and flipped the chicken. The beer boiled away and all that was left was a thick sauce with ginger. Finish cooking the chicken and server with the sauce poured over it.

The onion rings are thinly sliced onions then pulled apart. Dipped in bread crumbs and baked.

The potatoes were boiled, mashed. I added cream and cheese until it was a creamy texture. The whipped it some more until it is all very smooth.

The green beans were blanched in chicken broth and just a bit of white wine. Then they were topped with Hollindase sauce. I can never spell that word right, and depending on where you look it up online it is spelled differently also. So various entries will have it spelled various ways until I find one I stick with, sorry.

All in all very good meal, chicken was very moist. Potatoes were tasty, green beans a fling success. For dessert there was peach jello.

Meatballs and sauce

Yesterday was my attempt at home made meatballs. I started with ground beef, added spices and marinated it for two hours. I then rolled them into balls. I think I made the balls too big. They were about 2 inch balls. I boiled them then once they floated, I grilled them.

While I was doing that I made mushroom garlic tomato sauce. I cut up mushrooms into small pieces. Added cilantro, garlic, tomato paste, and chicken bullion. I let that marinate for about two hours also, before I cooked it. Well I guess I should give credit where credit is due. Rougeh cooked it. He cooked it on simmer for an hour and a half stirring every 15 minutes. The sauce thickened and mushrooms softened. The sauce was really, really good.

I added the cooked meatballs to the cooked sauce. I served this over spaghetti. It was all very good. Rougeh took the leftovers to work. Score.

This is what I get for cooking while I am sick

Today's meal, grilled sesame chicken, pan fried noodles, and grilled vegetables. I marinated chicken breasts in a sauce made from sesame oil and just about every seasoning I could find in my cupboard. Let that stand for about two hours. Then grilled it with the marinade, and covered. I only flipped it once.

While this was cooking I made spaghetti. Once this was cooked I fried it in a rounded skillet with some sesame oil, pepper, cayenne pepper, and just a very small amount of salt.

To finish off this meal I made some grilled mixed vegetables and made dinner rolls. The vegetables were grilled with a bit of olive oil and lemon pepper. It was just a very quick grill. I wanted them hot, but not soggy. The rolls were my basic bread recipe, but I was restless so I only let them raise once.

Out come from cooking sick. Great chicken, bland noodles, and mushy vegetables. The rolls were good, but a bit thick. They really needed the second rising. Funny note on this meal, the kids loved it, they both ate their full plates. I needed to add seasoning to my plate and so did Rougeh. It is possible that I just needed more flavor because, my nose is so plugged up I cannot taste anything, but that does not account for Rougeh needing more flavor. Oh well, I tried. Hopefully tomorrow I am feeling better and the meal is better also.

My own recipe

Today's meal was my own making. I knew that I wanted to make pork loins. I looked online and in my cookbook and could not find a recipe that sounded good. So I took the knowledge that I have gained so far and attempted to make it on my own.

I started by looking in my refrigerator to see what I had. I knew that citrus works well with pork. We had ruby red grapefruits. So I took two and squeezed them in to a marinade bowl. I added to that crushed pepper, garlic, sea salt and grated ginger root. I mixed it all together and let it sit for about 30 minutes to let the flavors set. Then I added the pork, that I had cubed, into the marinade. There was plenty of marinade to completely cover the pork. I let it marinade for about two hours.

I added just a little bit of olive oil to a grill pan. Then I poured the WHOLE marinade mixture into the heated pan. There was lots of liquid in the pan, so the pork almost boiled in the grapefruit juice. Then it cooked away and the pork glazed in the reduced marinade.

The outcome? Wonderful! It was so good. I was so proud of myself. Rougeh said it was the best meal that I have made so far. He loved it. The kids loved it also. I gave them each a full pork loin and they wanted more. The pork was moist, flavorful, and perfection.

As a side I also made southwestern mashed potatoes. The potatoes had salt, pepper, sweet bell peppers, garlic, and cilantro. They also were so good. I am really happy with the outcome of these also.

Finally, I made sweet corn.

All in all, very good meal. It was all so good. It was a success! Score one for me and my own recipe.

Thai Curry Chicken

 This is the chicken as it is grilling on the stove. Stephanie you wanted pictures so I am adding some. The marinade is made out of thickened curry paste and cayenne pepper.

The chicken marinaded for about two hours, then I grilled it with tons of marinade in the pan. I caramelized the glaze in the pan then turned the pan down to simmer and covered it. The outcome was really moist chicken.

I made rice on the side with butter and seasonings.

The peas were a pea casserole. It had Parmesan cheese and grilled onions. I personally think these were the best part of the meal. The chicken was good, but I am not a fan of curry, so I guess I knew this would not be great, but was willing to try it anyway. The rice as always, since Riham taught me how to make it well, was wonderful. The peas were so good with the unexpectedness of the onions and the sweetness of the cheese. As far as the kids were concerned they ate the chicken and said it was just good. They Loved the rice and liked the peas. Rougeh said it all was really good, but he was really hungry. I will still mark this as a good recipe. More goods than bad, make for a good overall.

Ravioli

I do not know if yesterdays dinner counted as a new recipe or not. Technically I bought ravioli from Costco. I am going to take credit for it though, because I made my own sauce for the topping. I made a mushroom sauce. Basic recipe that I have made many times before. Tomatoes, garlic mushrooms, and chicken broth. I added to that Parmesan cheese. It was a good meal. Rougeh loved it.

Soy Sesame Cumin Chicken

This was another meal that was a success. The problem that I had with it was the time that it took to make. Three hours from start to finish. The longest part of the recipe was cooking down the marinade. It is a mixture of soy, sesame oil, cumin, sugar, garlic, sherry extra dry, and pepper. I had to cook that for 45 minutes stirring non-stop. Once it was thickened I add some garlic paste that I made by blending garlic and butter to creamy constancy. 

Once that was all made and remixed with the garlic butter I add the chicken to the sauce. This all goes into a ziploc bag and marinates for 2 hours. Mix and turn the bag over every 20 min to make sure the marinade really soaks into the chicken well.

Then the chicken goes into the oven for a broil sauna. Just the chicken and just a little of the marinade. 12 minutes, flip 5 minutes, baste and flip again 2 minutes and done. Remove from oven and cover. Easy right.  UGHHH long.

While the chicken is cooking, like there is nothing else to do, wash potatoes, slice them, place in oven safe dish. Add pepper, chicken stock and salt, cover. When the chicken is done place the potatoes in the oven for 10 minutes.

Again as if there is nothing else to do, take the rest of the marinade and boil for 30 minutes. It got really thick now. I had to mix it constantly. I did not want the garlic to burn, but needed to burn off the rest of the sherry.

With the potatoes cooked, I add the potatoes to the twice cooked marinade and cook them on the stove for about two minutes. They are fully coated now and ready to eat.

I made corn on the side and enjoyed the meal. Let me say this meal was very enjoyable. I do not like the idea of having to make this again, just based on the time it took, but the end result was very worth it! The kids loved it and so did Rougeh. I ate a second helping of it so I guess that means that I liked it too.

LAZY

Today's meal was one born from laziness. Fried Rice, green beans, rice flour shrimp and hollandaise sauce.  All of these are some of my typical dishes. The only dish that is new to me is the Hollandaise sauce. It is the same recipe from a few days back. Here I need to make a note to myself, DO NOT MESS WITH PERFECTION. The sauce was good with pepper added, but it took away from the simplistic splendor of the original sauce. I will not be doing that again. Good Night. I am worn out.

Long day made for simple dinner, made for ok eating, but not my new typical.

Cream chicken cordon bleu

Let me start that this was one that I was almost scared to try. It is not a traditional cordon bleu. There is no ham in this recipe.

I started by marinating/soaking the chicken in a bowl of milk for 18 hours. The chicken had to be completely covered in the milk. It was so gross looking. I put them each in a ziplock bag so I would not have to smell it. I could not think that raw chicken and milk would smell good mixed together.

Well while this was soaking, I made bread crumbs. I had to first make bread, then dry it, blend it and add the required seasonings. I added to this also Parmesan cheese.

I cut the chicken breasts in half and stuffed them with fresh mozzarella. Closed the chicken. Rolled it in bread crumbs. Put it in the oven and baked it. When there was only 10 minutes left I placed a slice of swiss cheese on top and finished the baking. By this point my mouth was watering it smelled so good

As a side to the chicken I made pasta with an alfredo sauce. This was really good also. I have made this sauce a total of three times now. Mind you, prior to this cooking experiment I had NEVER made an alfredo sauce.

As my husband so kindly put it, "You have perfected this sauce." Tear.

As a side note here. I think I have mentioned that my husband DOES NOT EVER eat left overs. He does not like them on principle. 10 years of marriage and he has never asked for me to keep any dish. He just does not like left overs. His mom had told me that before we got married and it is true he does not eat them. Tonight he told me, "Honey, since you have started the blog your cooking is really good, I would not mind you making a little extra and packing me some leftovers for lunch at work." I wanted to cry. Coming from him, that was the sweetest and most wonderful testament to my cooking. Thank you honey I love you too.

Back to tonight's dish. The chicken I cooked down to the minute that the recipe asked for. It was more juicy and tender than any chicken I have ever eaten. The pasta and alfredo sauce were both great. Excellent dishes tonight.

I ended the meal with a batch of EVERYTHING cookies. The kids gave them this name because they have a bit of just about everything in them. They have oatmeal, brown sugar, white sugar, white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, peanut butter chips, milk chocolate chips, coconut and grated cinnamon. They are so good and chewy. A perfect end to what turned out to be a wonderful meal.

Taught me not to be afraid to cook something just because it sounds gross. I will try more often.

Cowboy Steak

So I am blogging about this two days late. I made something called cowboy steak. I marinated the steak with pepper (whole, uncracked), thyme, oregano, paprika and coarse salt. This marinated for 5 hours. Then grilled it on a grill pan on the stove.

Grilled on high for 4 min a side then low and covered for 8 min a side.

I also made mashed potatoes out of finger potatoes that were boiled in "scented water". This is just the recipes fancy word for water that has seasonings in it. But sounds better to say scented water. Just like one would not say my kids bath water is dirty, it is scented. Linguistics is the only difference. Same thing, but one sounds nicer. So my finger potatoes has a boil in scented water.  

Once the steaks were cooked I removed them and covered them. I then cooked onions and mini mushrooms. I used the drippings from the steaks as a saute sauce for the steaks. The whole thing was good. Not great but good and my family is HUGE meat eaters so it would have to be pretty bad for the kids not to finish this dish. They did not let me down and ate all that I gave them.

Pulled Pork, Hollandaise sauce and blanched green beans

Rougeh's mom and niece were having dinner with us today so there was an extra level of worry that the food would turn out well. As those who have been following this blog, there have been just about as many misses as hits.

Today's dinner was a two day process. Step one slow cooked pork. This was not typical slow cooked pork as there was not bar-b-q sauce in this dish. It is all fresh products. Cilantro, basil, onions, garlic and seasonings, plus LOTS of water. Cook it on low for 18 hours. It falls apart in 18 hours and is perfection.

Next on to the Hollandaise sauce. Typically this is made of whipped egg, butter and cream. Only issue with that is Jasmine and her allergy. So my version was a ton harder to find, but find it I did. The work of searching and whipping and cooking was worth it. It is my new favorite sauce. I do not think there are many dishes that this would not taste WONDERFUL on.

Blanched green beans, easy and great.

I put all of these parts together with long grain white rice. The Hollandaise started by being plated on the green beans with rice and the pulled pork on the side. Seconds consisted of rice with Hollandaise on top of it. Rougeh loved all of it. He especially loved the sauce. Though he did take seconds of everything. The kids both ate all of their food and Rougeh's niece ate all of hers also. I loved this meal. I have liked many of my dishes, but I have not taken seconds of many, so wanting seconds of this means either I was really hungry or it was just really good. Happy days for me.

Mushroom garlic Pasta

Ok so I know that my goal was not to do pasta anymore, but in all fairness this was not my typical pasta. I followed a recipe. It was mini mushrooms cubed, garlic whole and crushed. The tomatoes needed to be boiled then peeled, boiled some more. Add to that my favorite ingredient, cracked pepper.

Boil and cook that for 45 more minutes. Once that was done I added some garlic infused olive oil ( I made that too) and season with basil. The whole thing was great. I actually made two versions of this. One spicy for Rougeh and I, the other was blander for the kids. The family liked their respective versions.

Jasmine is one who normally wants her pasta with nothing on it, she liked the sauce so that is good. I just need to figure out how to make it thicker. The recipe said that the sauce would thinken up, it did, but not much.

Ideas?

Potatoes Au Gratin

Today's dish was potatoes Au Gratin. This is a basic potato casserole. You have to start with fresh ingredients for this dish. The thinner they are sliced the better they taste. I also used heavy cream instead of low fat milk. I think it was a great choice for this dish. I used four different cheeses and fresh cilantro.

The whole thing was fantastic. As with most of my dishes these days I also used fresh cracked pepper. The whole thing is baked for a while. It bubbles really nicely then soaks into the potatoes. Over all Loved this dish. I think next time I will need to make more of it.

Not only did the kids like it, Benjamin needed seconds. Jasmine who has been a very finicky eater lately ate all that I gave her. She did not take seconds, but her finishing her dish was great. I was happy. Rougeh liked it and gave it a 9. Another dish that will be repeated.

Any Ideas for tomorrow?

mac and cheese

Today was a bit different. My meal was not for dinner, but for lunch. The kids wanted mac and cheese. I decieded that I could make it on my own with out a box.

It was not hard to do at all and the outcome was very good. The kids in general LOVE mac and cheese. This mac and cheese was not different in their eyes. For me it was another story. I made it as healthy as I could while still being mac and cheese. I added broccoli, cilantro, mushrooms, asparagus spears and used low fat cheese. The kids could tell that it was different from the normal mac and cheese from a box.

They loved it though. Jasmine ate more then normal and Benjamin ate seconds. I really liked my creation. I did well on this one and it was my own creation not a recipe! Yahhh me.

Shrimp alfredo with Pici noodles

With our sea food feasting is quickly coming to an end, officially ends on January 6th 12am, some will call that January 7th not the 6th, but what ever. I am working through my last few sea food dishes. I did have to go to the store and re stock up on sea foods. I am happy to announce that I have not eaten beans even once during this fast. Which is saying quite a bit, because it is a staple during these times. This fast has gone by so quickly and I do not think that my family has missed not eating land animals at all.

With that being said, today I made Shrimp Alfredo. The recipe that I had made for a very plain dish. I decided to veer off my original quest and add to a dish that I had never made before. I added fresh garlic, sliced mini portobello mushrooms and of course shrimp. I also added fresh ground pepper. I think most dishes are better with a bit of fresh pepper. It always adds to the dish.

The noodles I chose were Pici noodles. They are similar to spaghetti noodles, but a bit thicker and should be cooked al dente. The whole dish came together really well. I loved this dish. The kids both really liked it too. A change in thought for Rougeh also, he asked me to put the leftovers in a dish so he can eat it again for lunch tomorrow. For those of you who do not know my husband, He NEVER eats leftovers. He does not like them. He enjoys his food fresh not a day old.

This dish we both think will be even better the next day. Time will tell. Another success though as far as my sea food goes.

Fish Tacos #2

Today was fish tacos again. This time I used Tilapia. I breaded it, added garlic, salt and onions. I used corn tortillas, green onions, cilantro, tomatoes, lettuce, and green bean sprouts. It was good, not great but good. The kids were not so thrilled with them. Jasmine just wanted the breaded fish. Benjamin just wanted the tortilla. Rougeh ate it all with Hot salsa and lime. He said it was good but only ate one. I myself ate two and enjoyed every bite.

This is one of those meals that I could give or take. Was it bad? No. Was it good? No But was it a solid meal? Yes. Not one I think will be repeated, but not a failure all the same, because we were at least able to eat it.