More Pizza on the Grill

This is one of my all-time grill favorites. I use Trader Joe’s whole wheat pizza dough, and try to come up with as many different topping options as I can. This time, I used marinated tomato slices (marinated in extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, mined garlic, thyme, salt and pepper), freshly shredded mozzarella cheese, basil leaves, and ricotta cheese (to which I added some garlic powder and Italian seasonings).

Mother's Day Brunch

For Mother’s Day, since I am not one, I hosted a wonderful brunch for many of the moms in my life, my mom, my mother in law, and my two sisters in law. The menu included:

Cinnamon Raisin French Toast
Homefries with Onions and Rosemary
Egg Casserole with Sausage, Peppers, and Onions
Fruit Salad
Apple and Blueberry Muffins
Steak (brought by the in laws)
Bacon
Banana Bread
Mimosas
Bloody Marys
Coffee and Tea

Alice Springs Chicken

Matt and I go to The Outback occasionally (I know, GASP – a chain)…and he loves this dish. Not sure why he even ordered it, since he is quite the meat and potatoes kind of guy, but he did, and he fell in love.

I have to admit that the idea to recreate this did not come 100% from me. I knew I wanted to make him a special meal as a surprise, something he would enjoy, and not think I was doing for purely selfish reasons (to try a new recipe or ingredient, or to create my own version of a dish, etc. – which is my usual motive)…but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to make, until I came across Lani’s blog, Pleasure Cooker, and saw her post for Alice Springs Chicken. I used this as inspiration, but sort of did my own thing, mainly to cut fat and calories. I cut out some of the oil, used fat free olive oil spray to sauté the onions and mushrooms and the chicken, used turkey bacon (Matt never noticed!), and used low fat cheese.

Matt was quite surprised, and very pleased. We both enjoyed this meal, but I mostly enjoyed the fact that he loved it so much!

Poetry Café

At the beginning of May, to close our poetry unit, I held a Poetry Café in my classroom, where my students could share their poems with family and friends. We invited parents, guardians, and friends, and everyone enjoyed some truly amazing works of art as well as some delicious treats, created by me!

I served:
Raspberry Bars
Lemon Ricotta Cookies
Brownies
Chocolate Chip Cookies (some homemade, some purchased)
Mini lemon poppy seed muffins (store bought – I needed to get some sleep!!)
Lemonade

Matt Makes Chili

This was a meal we on the last chilly, rainy Sunday of the spring. Matt makes chili frequently, and he is so good at it. I’ve never made it – his is so good, why bother? I won’t list his “secret” recipe here (he doesn’t really use a recipe, just throws together whatever hits him at the moment), but I did want to share pictures. He took care of the cooking, I took care of the presentation and serving. What a team!

New Orleans Feast for 12!

**Disclaimer: If you are not interested in reading this novel, just scroll looking for the pictures, and read the blurbs (recipes) under each picture.

For those of you that do not know, Matt’s family started a neat Christmas gift tradition in 2006. Instead of exchanging gifts, the adults all select themed dinners out of a hat. We have 4 couples, so each couple selects three themes and we get together once a month for dinner, roating hosts and themes. We get together much more often than that, but we all do look forward to our “monthly meals” and we all get into creating an authentic, flavorful dinner.

Since I am the resident foodie in the family, it was my job to come up with the themes for Christmas ’07. I thought long and hard about it, and tried to offer a variety of themes for a variety of palates and also considered meals that would be best served during specific times of the year. The three themes Matt and I ended up with this year were Soup and Salad, Takeout Choice (where you recreate something that is typically takeout) and New Orleans. I can’t for the life of me remember what the remaining themes were that everyone else selected?

Anyway, I decided to go with the New Orleans theme for our April dinner, which we hosted last night. This was quite a challenge to me as I have never made anything of the sort, never visited the great city, and really had no clue what I was in for! After much deliberation and revising, I settled on the following menu...

Appetizers:
Creole shrimp

For the shrimp, I gathered my inspiration from this recipe, but didn’t like the butter aspect of, and reviews said it tended to be a bit oily, though quite delicious. So, I used many of the same ingredients, but did this my own way. I took large shrimp (they were on sale, in retrospect – I should have gotten jumbo), put them in a bowl, squeezed the juice of one lemon, added a little bit of lemon zest, and a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce. I tossed to coat evenly. I then took the spices suggested in the epicurious recipe, combined in a prep bowl, and added to the shrimp, again tossing to coat. I had Matt grill these little guys up and served with lemon wedges.

Cajun Sweet Potato "Chips"

For the sweet potato chips, I started by thinly slicing the potatoes using a mandolin. I sprayed two baking sheets with olive oil spray and then lined with the slices. I then drizzled with a bit of extra virgin olive oil, and sprinkled with Cajun seasoning and flake salt. I baked for about 20 minutes at 400 (some didn’t need quite that long)…and once out, sprinkled with more salt and some fresh thyme. These “chips” had a nice bite, everyone really enjoyed them…even Matt’s sister, Deb, who is a self-proclaimed picky eater.

I also served a cheese and fruit selection, and some munchies for the kids, popcorn, etc.

Entrée:
Jambalaya


I decided on jambalaya, and after reading through countless recipes, went with this recipe from the Food Network. I figured that Emeril, the king of New Orleans cuisine, couldn’t disappoint. And boy did this recipe deliver! It was fairly easy, and packed such a nice, but not overpowering KICK!
I had prepped all of the veggies and meat the night before, because having this meal on a Friday and trying to race home after work to prepare everything would have been impossible. I diced the peppers, onions, sausage, chicken, ham, and garlic ahead of time, which made a world of difference in terms of ease of preparation and clean up.

I only made a few small changes to the recipe.
• We could not find andouille sausage, so we used chorizo.
• I also had a few people who do not like shrimp (Matt – gasp, and one of his sisters) and one person who is allergic to shellfish (my mom, poor thing!), so I omitted the shrimp, but did leave the rest of the Creole shrimp out for people to add to the jambalaya if they wished.
• The recipe calls for 6 cups of water. I cut that down to 3 cups, and added 3 cups of chicken stock as well.
• I felt it needed a little longer than the 30-35 minutes for all the liquid to absorb. I think once the rice was in and liquid had been added, I had it cooking for closer to 45 minutes.
• I omitted the green onions, but only because I forgot about them . No one seemed to miss them, but I think they would have been a great addition to the dish.

Mixed Green Salad with Creole Mustard Dressing
I combined romaine and red leaf lettuce with orange bell peppers, red onion, cherry tomatoes for the salad, and topped with a mustard vinaigrette. For the dressing, I combined a few spoonfuls of Dijon mustard, about 1 teaspoon minced garlic, salt, pepper, a *small* pinch of cayenne pepper, fresh parsley and red wine vinegar in my mini prep food processor. Once blended, I streamed in extra virgin olive oil. Once salad was dressed, I topped with some grated Parm-Reg. cheese.

Dessert:
Bread Pudding with Spiced Rum Sauce
Two famous New Orleans desserts are bread pudding and banana’s foster. I would have preferred bananas foster, since the flavors seemed more appealing to me, but since the banana dish was more labor intensive, I went with the bread pudding. I love entertaining and having people over, but I don’t like spending every minute in the kitchen. Since the bread pudding allowed me to stick it in the over and forger about it, it was my winner.

I read through multiple recipes and settled on this one from epicurious. It was simple and the end result was fantastic! I had never made bread pudding before, and actually had never eaten it, so I was a little nervous as I didn’t know what it was “supposed to” look and taste like.

I followed the recipe nearly exactly. The only addition I made was to add a few dashes of cinnamon and a few dashes of nutmeg to the custard mixture.

I baked according to the directions and my end result was a beautiful, puffy masterpiece. We were all so busy admitting the puffy goodness that I forgot to snap a picture! I am SO upset about this, it was truly a site to see! The pudding falls within a few minutes, so by the time I remembered, it was too late.

I used the accompanying recipe for the spiced rum sauce, and aside from adding a dash of vanilla extract and a dash of ground cloves, I followed it closely.

I served the pudding with vanilla ice cream and then spooned the sauce over the pudding and ice cream. Delish!

Giada's Banana Muffins

I had four over-ripe bananas in my kitchen, and was looking for an alternative to banana bread. I use my mom's banana bread recipe and LOVE it, but I was in the mood for a change. I remembered Giada's muffin recipe, and decided to give it a whirl.

I followed the recipe nearly exactly, although I did add in cinnamon and nutmeg to the batter, which I think was a nice (and needed) addition.

I didn’t make the frosting to go along with the muffins, so I topped each muffin with chopped walnuts before baking. If you are a real nut-lover, I think adding walnuts to the batter would be excellent as well.


The muffins were really easy to make and baked perfectly. I was very happy with the results. Both Matt and I brought these into work to share with our coworkers, and everyone agreed that this recipe was a keeper.

Grilled Chicken Salad with Cilantro-Lime Vinaigrette

Tonight I decided to use up some cilantro that I had in my fridge, so I made a quick salad consisting of grilled chicken, romaine lettuce, radicchio, cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion, and served with a cilantro-lime vinaigrette.

For the chicken, I marinated it in a mixture of:
extra virgin olive oil
red pepper flakes
juice of 2 limes (mine were NOT juicy at all)
lime zest
minced garlic
paprika
salt
pepper

For the dressing, I combined the following ingredients in my mini-prep food processor:
white wine vinegar
a touch of honey
lime juice
lime zest
handful of fresh cilantro
minced garlic (maybe 1 teaspoon)
salt
pepper
red pepper flakes

Once mixed, I streamed in extra virgin olive oil to taste.

This salad was a light, refreshing meal. The spices on the chicken worked well with the freshness of the cilantro vinaigrette.

Grilled Quesadillas

I am obsessed with the grill. So now that it is nice outside, I use the grill nearly every night. Tonight I made a variation of my chicken quesadilla recipe. I changed it up a bit, marinating the chicken in extra virgin olive oil, lime juice, lime zest, garlic powder, salt, pepper, a pinch of cayenne pepper, and cumin.

I grilled the chicken breast and then assembled the quesadillas right on the grill. I used low carb wheat and flax tortillas. In the quesadillas, I used light pepper jack cheese, a little shredded Mexican, the sliced chicken, cilantro, peppers, mushroom, and onions (which I had sautéed with garlic and salt and pepper) and green onions. Once cheese started to melt, I topped with the other tortilla, flipped and grilled for a few more minutes.

I mixed together some sour cream, lime juice, zest, cilantro and green onions together as a dip for my quesadillas. Yum!

Spicy Tilapia with Pineapple-Pepper Relish

We haven’t had fish in a while, so I was eager to make something light and healthy with the tilapia I picked up at the fish market. I decided on a Cooking Light recipe, and although I didn’t follow it exactly, it was the same idea.

I didn’t use exact measurements for the relish, but kept the ingredients the same. I added salt and pepper to the mix as well, and squeezed in some lime juice, which the recipe did not suggest.

I cooked the tilapia on the grill instead of in a pan with canola oil. I sprayed the grill surface with grilling non-stick spray, sprinkled the fish with the Cajun seasoning and red cayenne pepper as the recipe suggested, and also added salt, pepper, and a little garlic powder. I grilled the tilapia for about 3-4 minutes per side.



I served the relish over the tilapia, with a side of long grain wild rice. The fish was pretty fiery, and I think that is because I added a little too much cayenne pepper. But, it was good nonetheless. Overall, this was a healthful, tasty meal that Matt and I both enjoyed. It is a difficult job convincing Matt that white fish other than swordfish can fill him up, but I managed to please tonight.