Good Food Reads? Fiction and Non-Fiction Wanted

Hey all my food blog friends! I love all things food; FOOD (duh!), TV shows, movies, etc. I just had the thought that other than cookbooks, I haven’t read any good food related books or novels.

Any suggestions???

No Wifi This Week

Tags

Cooking, Food, Lake Tahoe, vacation

  
I’m on vacation this week with no wifi readily available. I love you all, but I’m not spending vacation lurking around Starbucks so I can blog. Be back soon with lots of fantastic Lake Tahoe dining recommendations and some quick vacation cooking ideas!

Roasted Chicken with Meyer Lemon-Shallot Sauce: Pass on That Passion for Cooking!!!

Tags

Chicken, Cooking, family cooking, Food, lemon, lemons, meyer lemons, Roast chicken, Roasted chicken, shallot, shallots, teen cooking, Whole chicken

   

That first picture is me last night. I was enjoying Halle Barry’s show Extant (which is pretty good, even though there is never any food involved!). My dog in the background was watching my youngest daughter cooking dinner. She is 16 and enjoys cooking. I have never “made” my girls cook, but I have always encouraged them to. I mean the way to a guy’s heart is through his stomach, right??? Married my older daughter off at age 20 to a great guy, so I must be doing something right! That one makes a mean strogonoff!

My younger daughter definitely has more passion for cooking. I coach her through things, but she started with Rachel Ray’s 30 Minute Meals for Kids cookbook (Available from Amazon.com – Makes a great gift! That’s how we got our copy). She started sniffing around the kitchen when she was 9 and has progressed from there. So when my 16 year old asked if she could cook dinner last night, I told her “Go for it!” She has graduated from the kiddie cookbook to using any that I have available. Last night she took a look at what meats we had available and then perused my MANY cookbooks. She came up with what looked like a delicious recipe for Roasted Chicken with Meyer Lemon-Shallot Sauce, from my Sunset Essential Western Cookbook (Also available through Amazon.com, and also a gift I received from my wonderful sister and her husband).

We’re California natives in this house, so what better dinner than chicken doused with fresh lemon from my neighbors tree (Thanks Jamie!!!) served with fresh local corn on the cob. Oh yeah, we had mashed potatoes too, because they’re my daughter’s favorite side dish! This dinner rocked!!!! Kudos to the chef!!!

Roasted Chicken with Meyer Lemon-Shallot Sauce

Warning: This recipe takes a bit of time! 2 hours too cook, At least 3 hours to cure chicken

1 whole chicken (4-5 pounds)

1 tbsp salt

2 medium Meyer or regular lemons

2 1/2 tbsp olive oil, divided

1 1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 lb shallots, unpeeled

1 cup reduced chicken broth

1/3 cup dry white wine (It was cute! My daughter was puzzled at the idea that dried wine existed!)

1. Remove giblets, pull off and discard lumps of fat, and pat chicken dry. Loosen skin of breast and thights and work some salt under the skin. Rub remaining salt all over chicken and in cavity. Chill, uncovered at least 3 houurs and up to overnight. This makes it more flavorful!
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Finely shred zest of lemons. Slice 1 lemon; juice half the other and reserve.
3. Pat chicken dry inside and out. Rub zest under skin and inside cavity. Rub chicken all over with 1 tbsp olive oil and the thyme. Put the lemon slices in the cavity.
4. Put chicken in a roasting pan breast side up. Add unpeeled shallots around chicken and drizzle with remaining 1 1/2 tsp olive oil, turning them to coat.
5. Roast chicken, basting with pan juices every 30 minutes, cooking until 170 degrees when thermometer is inserted in thickest part of breast or 180 through thickest part of thigh, 1 – 2 hours (remove shallots aftter 1 hour and allow to cool). When done cooking, tip chicken so juices from cavity pour into roasting pan. Remove chicken to cutting board, cover with foil an allow to rest.
6. Meanwhile, time for the sauce! Pour pan drippings into food processor or blender. Trim tops from shallots and squeeze soft insides into processor/blender. Add chicken broth and wine. Pulse until smooth.
7. Pour sauce back into roasting pan. Cook over medium-high heat scraping any browned bit of bottom of the pan.Cook about 10 minutes. 
8. Carve chicken and serve with sauce. Delishousness!!!!

Balsamic Vinaigrette Recipe – An Easy to Make Low-fat Dressing/Marinade

Tags

Balasamic Vinegar, Balsamic Vinaigrette, Cooking, Dressing, Easy, Food, healthy, low-fat, marinade, Olive Oil, Quick, salad, Salad Dressing

  
The great thing about making your own foods, rather than buying them, is you know EXACTLY what is in the food. You get fresher, healthier foods with less chemicals. You can also more accurately track the nutritional values of the food.

Today I thought I would share my super-easy to make Balsamic Vinaigrette recipe. It’s so tasty and versatile. In addition to using it on green salads, I’ve used it on my Southwestern Layered Salad (see previous post for recipe) and as a meat marinade on both chicken and beef.

Another great thing about this recipe, is that you can adjust the oil to vinegar ratio to fit your taste or fat content desires. I usually go 50/50, but at times I do use more vinegar to lower the fat content. Balsamic vinegar is such a mild vinegar, you can get away with doing this and still get good flavor.

Balsamic Vinaigrette

Note: My recipe is based on the size of my salad dressing container. Adjust quantities to suit your needs.

3/4 cup olive oil

3/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1 crushed and chopped garlic clove (I use my garlic press)

1 tbsp fresh basil, finely chopped (can substitute 1 tsp dried basil, but fresh is best!)

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

Put all ingredients in your container, shake or whisk vigorously and enjoy!

Tip: When dining out, don’t be afraid to bring your own salad dressing. Dressings can be a diet killer! I do this all the time. I just order my salad with no dressing or dressing on the side. I take a little teasing, but hey! They don’t have to wrestle my bod into jeans!!!

What’s Cooking for Father’s Day?

Tags

barbecue, bobby flay, brine, Cooking, family, father's day, Food, grill, oyster, porkloin, shrip, southwestern layered salad

So I’m going to give myself a blogging break today and make this one pretty brief. I’m going to put it out there to all of you to see what are you cooking up for Father’s Day?

Personally, I have recently watched a couple of episodes of Bobby Flay’s Barbecue Addiction, on the Food Network, and so he has inspired our menu for tomorrow’s lunch. We will be having Sicilian grilled pork loin. You can see my pork loin soaking in the brine in the picture above. We will also be having Bobby Flay inspired pinto beans and my Southwestern layered salad that I covered in a previous blog. I also have Hawaiian sweet bread cooking in the breadmaker. Of course, we have lots of family coming and they will all be bringing various dishes too. Oh! I almost forgot! We’re also going to throw some tequila lime shrimp and oysters on the barbecue. That should be yummy!

So to all the dads, grand dads, and all-around father figures, I hope you have a wonderful Father’s Day tomorrow! And please share with us here all the great foods you enjoyed on your special day!