Grilled Chicken with Caprese Salsa

This was a fabulous, simple dish. I should make it a Summer Supper, but I hesitate to relegate it to "summer only." If you grill at all during the other three months, this dish would be wonderful to have all year long. Cherry, or grape, tomatoes are available at the grocer all year, so why not? All of my children enjoyed it and it was super simple to make. I found the recipe here, but only (roughly) used the salsa recipe. I marinated the chicken in balsamic and olive oil, with a little salt and pepper -- just for a short while.

Grilled Chicken with Caprese Salsa

serves 6

printer version

6 medium boneless, skinless chicken breasts (if you have large chicken breasts, slice them in half lengthwise for two better proportioned pieces)

1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar (regular can be used but it will color the chicken dark)

1/4 cup light tasting olive oil

salt and pepper

2 cups halved cherry tomatoes (or quartered if using large grape tomatoes) 

2 cups fresh mozzarella cubes (I used one large ball and diced it in 1/2 inch cubes) 

1/2 cup roughly chopped fresh basil leaves 

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 cup white balsamic vinegar (I used regular for the salsa because I think it has a richer flavor) 

1-2 garlic cloves, minced (to taste -- I like less)

1 t. kosher salt 

1/2 t. pepper

Mix together the first measures of vinegar and oil. Place chicken in a glass or ceramic dish (or disposable zipper bag) and pour mixture over chicken. Salt and pepper each side. Let sit for 30 minutes or so to marinate.

When ready to grill, preheat grill.

Meanwhile, mix together all salsa ingredients. Let sit at room temperature for a short while (if you make ahead, chill until 30 minutes before serving). 

Grill chicken until done throughout and remove from grill. Serve hot chicken with salsa on top.

Serving suggestions: Roasted corn, sliced watermelon or bing cherries

Bonefish Grill Salad

.

For my birthday this year my mom took me out to dinner. What a treat -- just the two of us with no children or husband to interrupt our conversation. ;-)

But besides having uninterrupted time together we also had a wonderful meal. She took me to the Bonefish Grill, which, as you can imagine, specializes in fish. In our area, the Bonefish Grill is a rather quiet and darkened restaurant, conducive to adult conversation. It was a pleasant experience. But even though my mother and I both ordered fish from the menu (and both dishes were very good) what I remember most is the delicious house salad my mom ordered. I actually did not order salad, but I had a few bites of hers, and nibbled some of the blue cheese crumbles from the edge of her plate, and it was delicious. I was still thinking of that salad several weeks later and decided to try my hand at home. It was a wonderful copy, even though I actually did not even use the same salad ingredients. The Bonefish house salad is a plate of greens topped with hearts of palm and tomatoes, and sprinkled generously with kalamata olives and blue cheese crumbles. It's dressed with a light and yummy citrus herb vinaigrette. I did not go hunting for fresh hearts of palm (I can't even imagine I would have found them) but I tossed my greens with some red cabbage, red onion, pumpkin seeds and blue cheese squares, and a version of the Bonefish dressing that was awesome. I would eat this salad any day as it was light and refreshing and would go well with any meal.

My version is below. The dressing is really the only thing that is truly authentic. If you want to copy the salad exactly, see the above content for the ingredients as it is served in the restaurant.

My Own House Salad with Bonefish House Dressing

serves 4

Printer version

4 cups mixed greens, washed and cut

1/2 cup finely sliced red cabbage

3 thin slices red onion, quartered

1/4 cup roasted hulled pumpkins seeds (pepitas) -- sliced and roasted or candied almonds, pecans or walnuts would also be good

1/4 cup blue cheese crumbles (I buy jars of small squares of blue cheese in olive oil and spices -- delicious)

Dressing:
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup sugar
3 T. water
2 T. white wine vinegar
1 t. minced garlic
1 T. Dijon mustard
2 t. lime juice
2 t. orange juice
2 t. minced fresh parsley
1/2 t. dried basil
1/4 t. dried oregano
1/4 t. salt
Fresh ground black pepper to taste

Place ingredients in a glass jar (mason style -- or other glass container that has a lid) and cover. Shake jar vigorously for a minute.
Remove lid and heat mixture in microwave on high for about 30-45 seconds (so that sugar will dissolve).Remove from microwave and let cool a minute or two. Replace lid and shake until mixture is well-combined.

Cover and chill for 1 hour before serving.

Place all salad ingredients in a bowl (do not add pepitas or blue cheese until ready to serve). Toss with chilled dressing and serve.

Instant Simple Syrup

.

I like to have simple syrup on-hand, especially during the summer when we drink a lot of iced tea, but I don't always remember to start it before I need it. It takes about 5 to 10 minutes to make it on the stove, and if you are almost ready to serve dinner, that's too long.


I tried using the microwave recently and found it makes a perfect simple syrup in just over a minute.

Instant Simple Syrup

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

Place sugar and water in a canning jar or other microwave safe container (not plastic) -- no lid. Microwave on high for one minute. Stir gently and carefully -- just stir it in the micro so you don't have to handle it twice. Microwave for another 20 to 30 seconds, until it starts to boil. Stop the microwave as soon as it starts to boil and rise, or you'll have a big mess. Carefully remove with a hot pad. Store leftovers in the refrigerator -- they last quite a while.

.

Today's treat...

.

Faith saw this picture of this yummy cinnamony bread this morning and decided we had to make it.

It's rising now.

Just wanted to share. ;-)


UPDATE: The verdict is -- it was pretty crunchy on the outside, and I don't like crunchy bread. The kids ate it, but the middle was definitely the favorite part (and even though it was well-cooked on the outside, there were a couple of spots inside that were still just a tad doughy). I think I would just make cinnamon rolls for the trouble.

.

Frozen Key Lime Pie

.

I stepped out the back door this morning to let the dog out, and the air felt cool, light, and oh-so-slightly fall-like. I could breathe. Oh my goodness, I think my lethargy this past summer might have something to do with lower oxygen levels in my blood -- for the humidity all summer long I felt like I could hardly breathe.

Anyway, when I got that breath of fresh, cool air this morning, I realized there were some yummy summer recipes that I had not yet shared with you, one of which being this wonderful Frozen Key Lime Pie. I, myself, am not big on Key Lime Pie, but I tell you, I could have eaten this entire pie by myself, it was that good. The recipes comes from my new, favorite ice cream cookbook, A Passion for Ice Cream.

One thing I like about this cookbook is it not only offers great ice cream recipes, but it offers recipes using those great ice creams. This recipe, however, does not use ice cream -- it's made to be just this pie. The crust is made with sugar cone crumbs (yum!), and it is topped with a macadamia nut whipped cream, which we unfortunately had to do without because of my son's tree nut/peanut allergy (I'm sure it's wonderful, however and I have included the measure of nuts in the ingredients in case you want to use them). If you don't use the nut cream you could top the pie with some grated lime peel, or just leave is clean like I did.

Note: I used Rose's lime juice instead of key lime juice as neither key limes nor their juice are available at any of my local grocers.

Frozen Key Lime Pie

serves 8-10

printer version

12 sugar cones, broken up

6 T. butter, melted

6 large egg yolks

2 large eggs

1 1/4 cup sugar

1 cup Key Lime juice (I substituted Rose's lime juice available either in the juice aisle or with bar mixers)

1/8 t. salt

1 cup heavy whipping cream

Whipped topping

3/4 c. whipping cream

1 T. sugar

1/4 t. vanilla

2/3 cup macadamia nuts, toasted and roughly chopped (optional)

Place sugar cones in processor and grind them to fine crumbs. Add butter and pulse until combined. Press the crumbs in the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie pan. Place in the freezer.

In a medium saucepan, whisk together egg yolks, eggs and sugar. Whisk in lime juice and salt. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a heat-resistant spatula or wooden spoon, until thick, about 8 minutes. (The curd is done when you can briefly see the bottom of the pan as you stir.) Pour curd into a bowl set inside an ice bath and cool. 

When curd is cool, whip the 1 cup whipping cream until soft peaks form. Fold cream into curd. Pour into shell and freeze for at least four hours or until firm.

To serve: whip cream with sugar and vanilla until soft peaks form. Fold in nuts if using. Spread over pie and serve.

To make ahead: cover pie tightly and freeze for up to 2 days. Whipped cream can be made up to three hours ahead and placed on pie at serving time. (I found that the cream tasted just as good on the leftover pie after it had frozen, so this is your choice -- frozen cream or soft cream).

Modified from A Passion for Ice Cream

Steak Seasoning

.
I can not explain my lack of posting here lately, except I feel pretty yucky and I have no energy. No particular reason except maybe the summer doldrums. I'm also worried about my kids (yeah, who isn't?) and I'm not up to coping well with life. I'm sure it's just a phase and I'm holding out hope that when the first brisk fall wind comes a blowing, I'll perk right up. In the meantime, I'm lying low, doing everything that needs to get done, with a little less oomph.

I will tell you that this steak seasoning perked me up the other night. My third son requested steak for his birthday dinner on Monday -- Filet Mignon, no less. While normally I allow Filet Mignon to stand on its own, I just wanted to jazz it up a smidge. I found this recipe online -- supposedly the seasoning Outback Steakhouse uses. I have never been to Outback, so I have no idea if it is authentic, but it tasted really, really good and jazzed up those filets just right. I altered the recipe I found for less salt and less cayenne and omitted both coriander (which I can't stand) and tumeric (which I didn't have) and doubled it for seven small filets. They were cooked to perfection -- medium -- and very, very tasty. I imagine this seasoning would be tasty even on hamburgers, however. You could mix up a nice big jar and use it on everything you grill.

Steak Seasoning

1 1/2 t. salt
2 t. paprika
1 t. freshly ground black pepper (it's important that it be freshly ground)
1/2 t. onion powder
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/4 t. cayenne pepper
 

Mix all ingredients in a small glass jar or shaker. Sprinkle over both sides of steak before grilling and grill to desired doneness.

.

Feeding Fido

.'

If you really knew me you would know how extremely ironic it is that I have chosen to start cooking for our dog, Maggie. The dog and I have a love/hate relationship in some ways. I like her, I love that she is great with the kids, I like having a dog. I hate the dog's fur. Hate it. Of the three dogs we have had since we were married, they have all been major shedders -- two were the same breed, Australian Shepherd. I don't learn.

I also almost got rid of a dog once because I was practically cooking for her due to pickiness. She was a Corgi and she was incredibly picky, resulting in me mixing up a bunch of dog food to suit her. I refused to cook for the dog. Now I voluntarily do it. That's very much like me.

Now, for the disclaimer:

I have absolutely no knowledge of canine nutrition. I only know what I know and that is based mostly on common sense and reading dog food labels.

I believe the verdict is out on whether or not domesticated dogs are carnivores or omnivores. Wild canines -- wolves -- are probably carnivores, at least if given the choice to eat meat. Domesticated dogs, however, will voluntarily eat anything (ever see them get into a garbage can?) and commercial dog food has grains, vegetables as well as meat, and even sometimes dairy.

I contacted my vet before I started cooking for Maggie and they told me to feed her commercial dog food. They were completely unsupportive of my venture, but mostly because they also have no knowledge of canine nutrition, other than commercial. Kind of disheartening to me.

So, why would I cook for the dog? First, and primary, because the dog is overweight (aren't we all?). She has big brown eyes and she loves to beg and my family loves to make her happy. Isn't that the story of most canine obesity? Well, I thought that by cooking for her I could, one, control what is in her food, and, two, she would be happier with homemade food and thus beg less.

Well, number one might work but I learned that Maggie is a dog and dogs are never happy with enough, they always want more. I guess it is instinctive to eat as much as you can possibly get irregardless of whether or not it is "enough." So, that leaves me as in charge of portion control, and hopefully getting a nutritious low-fat diet will help enough with her weight.

The vet tech told me that we should stick with a commercial food because it has all of the vitamins and minerals she needs. Well, that may be true, but it also has a bunch of junk in it (and possible contaminants), and no matter how many vitamins and minerals she gets, the junk is still junk. I could spend a small fortune and buy the top of the line Science Diet for her, but believe it or not, cooking for her costs a lot less and I refuse to believe that the dog will be malnourished with a home-cooked diet. I have read what is in the commercial dog food and I firmly believe that if the dog food has processed meat by-product, processed vegetable by-product and processed grain, I can do better than that at home.

The reason that I even started thinking about cooking for the dog was a post written by my friend Charlotte about her little dog. I was curious, really, just out of nosiness. But then I started think about Maggie's weight and decided maybe cooking for her would be more than a culinary favor.

I read around a little bit, but by no means did much research. I decided that her food should primarily be protein, followed by grain and vegetables. It's really very simple, and takes less time than it does to prepare dinner (and it lasts for two weeks). The great thing about dogs is they don't care if you peel the carrots, use frozen veggies, or season to their taste. It's just food to them and so I kept it pretty simple. I have made her food twice now, first by using ground turkey, and the second time by using fish. The only change from the first time to the second time was subbing fish for turkey, and I used primarily carrots the second time because I have noticed that she does not digest the corn from the mixed vegetables (yuck!). You would think that using fish would be expensive, but I had several cans of salmon in the pantry, and some fish filets in the freezer that were left from various recipes and none of it would have ended up being used for use. Essentially then, it was all free (in my mind).

I did not use dairy because first of all, cheese is fattening, and dairy is expensive. If I have whey I will add it.Stick with me on this project -- I intend to continue to learn and I'll share with you what I find out.

Another note: there are some things dogs should absolutely not have and of the things that I know, a few are: grapes, onions, garlic, avocado, alcohol, macadamia nuts, and chocolate,

Homemade Dog Food

5 pounds meat (ground turkey, ground beef, shredded chicken or fish)*

5 cups cooked grain (brown or long grain rice, bulgar, barley)**

2 pounds frozen vegetables

8 eggs

2 cups oatmeal

2 cups meat or vegetable broth

In a large pot over medium high heat, cook the meat until done. Add vegetables and cook until they are tender (if using raw vegetables, such as carrots or sweet potatoes, cook them first and then add to the meat -- they will take longer to get tender). Add eggs and cook until done. Add rice, oats, and broth and mix until combined.

Freeze food in portions appropriate for your dog -- I used jumbo muffin tins, as well as 9 x 9 pans, cutting the food into appropriate portions before freezing.

Thaw overnight in the fridge, or defrost in the microwave.

* Because I intend to switch the meats I use each time, I feel that Maggie will be getting an overall well-rounded diet. She happens to love fish, but if your dog will not eat fish, you might want to consider adding some fish oil. 

** There is some controversy about whether dogs should really have grains at all because of their inability to truly digest them (they don't chew so the nutrients must be completely digested in the intestines and dogs don't have the necessary make-up to really digest them in the intestines). I have started with a rather high ratio of grain to meat and will probably play with this a little possible reducing the grain quite a bit. I would probably increase the eggs because they are cheap and more nutritious.

.

.

Subpar Peaches

.

 You pick up a large peach and sniff it. Mmmm, smells sweet and peachy, just like it should. Feel soft, just gives a little under your thumb. Looks absolutely perfect.

One bite, however, reveals a mealy, dry, albeit soft and sweet peach. Completely inedible in my opinion, relegated to cooked dishes or the compost (or the dog).

Today I discovered that subpar peaches, diced up in a bowl of granola with cold milk (and any other fruit you might have around) are completely and totally delicious.


.

Arnold Palmer Ice

.

The summer is getting mightily long in the tooth isn't it? I don't know if that phrase applies to anything other than people and farm animals, but I think it does here. This summer has gotten very old. No rain and extended heat and humidity makes for very grumpy people, and we're all pretty grumpy. Each morning I wake up with less and less energy. Hence my absence here -- I don't even have the energy to blog.

This recipe, however, requires very little energy, and it's cold and sweet and very tasty. I personally can not enjoy it because of all that lemon juice, but I have it on good authority (my husband and all the kids) that it's really very good. I've made it several times this summer. The recipe comes from A Passion for Ice Cream. which we have really enjoyed this year, and is based on Arnold Palmer, the beverage. The author, Luchetti, includes some blueberries and raspberries in the recipe for serving on top, but my guys like it straight up -- it's just like lemon ice, but with a little tea mixed in. Yum. I modified the recipe just a bit because I thought it would be too tart and my guys said it was perfect.

Arnold Palmer Ice

serves 6

Printer version

3 cups water, divided

1 T. English Breakfast tea leaves or other black tea (I use two Barry's Gold tea bags)

1/2 cup plus 1 T. sugar

1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (alternately I used Italian Volcano Lemon Juice once, but used less of it because it's pretty strong)

pinch kosher salt

fresh blueberries and rasperries, if desired

In a medium saucepan, bring 1 1/2 cups water to boil. Turn off heat, add tea, cover and steep for five minutes. Strain tea (or remove tea bags), stir in sugar and let cool to room temp.

Stir in lemon juice and remaining water and salt. Refrigerate until cold.

Churn in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions. If desired, freeze until scoopable, about 2 hours. If you freeze for longer than two hours, you'll get a harder, icier product which you can scrape with a fork to serve.

If desired, serve with berries spooned over the top.

.