In the Kitchen

[PK]

If only your teacher could see you now!

[thartley]

Well, I didn't start doing this kind of stuff in the kitchen until my daughter left home.  Which I guess means I spent all her life eating what she wanted.  hahaha!!!!

[KitKat]

  Which I guess means I spent all her life eating what she wanted.  hahaha!!!!

Maybe that's the way it works, we get caught up in our kids comfort foods to keep them happy.    

[Ginafish]

Maybe that's the way it works, we get caught up in our kids comfort foods to keep them happy.    

I think we also inadvertently teach our kids what our own comfort foods are but then later, they don't let us 'stray'. I remember balking the year my mother wanted to cook game hens at Thanksgiving instead of Turkey...and I was 24! 

My kids have learned this "you have to try a food ten times before mommy won't make you at least taste it." Good for me, they have no clue how many times they've tried things.

Now if I could only get hubby to do the same thing with casseroles.

[thartley]

If I can manage it, I would love to make a big batch of lime marinated chicken fajitas tomorrow.  I have quite a lot to do, but I am dying for some of those!  I have not made them in a very long time.  They are packed with sodium, but I will try to manage. 

[M3R1IN]

MMM.. my sister in law makes really good mexican food.. dont make me drool, Thartley.  I learned to cook early because my mom always cooked different things that I didnt like and once I started complaining, she said, "fine, I'll teach you to cook and if  you dont like what I'm cooking you can make something you like."

[thartley]

Okay, here's my lunch.  Chicken fajita wraps with chips and strawberry salsa and an orange, peach, mango slushy in the pretty glass.   









Will add a link to the recipe when I am done eating. 

[Ginafish]

You can send the leftovers to:
Starving in Arkansas
Green Envy Road,
Quickly, Hungary, 55481

[thartley]

Ginafish, you are hilarious!      I think I am trying to get all the really good cooking done while I can since I will be so far out of my element when I get to the ILC!  LOL!

For the chicken base in the fajitas, I bought almost 2 lbs of chicken breast tenderloins and let them marinate in a bowl with one of those plastic limes filled with the lime juice.  I used the whole thing of juice for the chicken and let it marinate while I was busy doing other things (like making the salsa).  About 30-45 minutes later, I dumped all the chicken plus the marinade liquid into a skillet with just a little olive oil and cooked the chicken.  When my chicken is cooked, I like to use my hard edged spatula to cut it up into little pieces in the pan.  Alot of the liquid had cooked down but the lime still gave it quite a punch.  To this, I added two packs of fajita seasoning mix by McCormick's.  I also used a liberal amount of paprika and chili powder until I got it to the color I liked.  Then I sliced up three of the roma tomatoes and dumped those in the skillet and finished letting the liquid cook down and thicken.  After that, you build your shell however you want.  I used tomato basil fajita wraps, put it in a hot pan and sprinkled it with mozzarella cheese.  When the cheese melted good, I moved the wrap to a plate and added my chicken, shredded lettuce, sour cream, and sliced black olives, and then rolled it all up.

The strawberry salsa was good enough to make a meal out of for me.  I have never had anything like it before and I wish the recipe had made a gallon!  This is definitely something worth bookmarking or printing out to add to your recipe files!  I found it on the recipe index at the Fresh Market site:

http://www.thefreshmarket..._review.aspx?RecipeID=308

I will also be making this one this weekend, so I can stretch out the fajita leftovers.  (sorry Ginafish...leftovers are staying right here in my fridge)

http://www.thefreshmarket..._review.aspx?RecipeID=280

[Ginafish]

That green chili rice looks yummy! I really like mild green chilis and Josh has resolved to eat more rice in 2008. 4 cups is a lot of rice! Are you going to make it with white or brown rice?

[thartley]

I actually DID make it today.  I used arborio rice because the recipe almost sounded like a risotto.  But silly me....I used 4 cups uncooked rice.  And it could not possibly have cooked in 45 minutes at 350F.  And there was not nearly enough liquid in the cheeses and sour cream to possibly provide for enough absorption by the rice.  So, I decided that the recipe must have meant 4 cups of COOKED rice.

I have to go back to the store and get more ingredients, but I can tell you, this is one super delicious dish!  There were spots of cooked areas in this gigantic 9x13 pan of crunchy stuff I ended up with.  And it was magnifique!

I will use white rice to start.  I need to get it to turn out right one time before I go doing something crazy.  haha!!!

[M3R1IN]

Thartley, do you like to bake?
I should give you my recipe for Cinnamon Buns and Butterscotch squares.

[thartley]

Thartley, do you like to bake?
I should give you my recipe for Cinnamon Buns and Butterscotch squares.

Bring it on!    Now is when I want to bake because its cooler outside and I can open the windows.  The kitchen can get hot!

[thartley]

Okay, so I woke up 2:00a, couldn't sleep.  I had been trying to think of a good pb&j dish to make and came up with this idea yesterday, so I just got up and made it.  I call it the PK Special.

Its a grilled peanut butter sandwich on texas toast, topped with fried banana slices and light brown sugar.  I also put some peach preserves on the side because the bananas I had available to me were not quite ripe enough to be really sweet, though I think the brown sugar will help with that also.

The peanut butter sandwich is because he eats alot of them (I hear), and also because squirrels like peanuts, texas toast because that's where he's from, and bananas to satisfy the monkey in him.

Don't worry PK, I won't expect you to eat fried bananas when I'm there! LOL!!! 

I have not tasted it yet, but it looks good on the plate.

[KitKat]

Okay, Yummmm....that's just want I want for breakfast. Gwiz and I love peanut butter just like PK.  I received a Panni Press for Xmas this year, I think I'll try it. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Did you saute the bananas in butter and when did you add the brown sugar?


I loved your quote "bananas to satisfy the monkey in him." 

[Ginafish]

I'll be glad when T gets back to work tomorrow and she can stop posting pictures. I might be having some PK special with wheat toast this morning. Now, Kitkat, if you make some with your panni press, take pictures! We'll work on how to post them later this year.

[thartley]

I think you are all safe from my cooking now.  I have enough leftovers to go the whole week, so no more cooking this weekend! 

[thartley]

Did you saute the bananas in butter and when did you add the brown sugar?

Yes, I sauteed the bananas in unsalted real cream butter, but you have to make sure you have good sweet bananas.  Mine were no way ripe enough so they tasted weird. The brown sugar was added after I had it plated, but mainly because I forgot to add it while the bananas were in the pan.  I dont know if mixing the brown sugar in with the butter would create any kind of decent syrup, or if simply melting the brown sugar would do that job, but my bananas would have been sooooo much better if they were just sliced raw and added to the plate.  Even if I melted the sugar for a syrupy topping (or opted for the caramel sauce I also have).

Anyway, it was very tasty. 
 

[PK]

thartley - Congratulations! You successfully passed the entrance exam to volunteer at the ILC.



Thank you for the peanut butter and banana sandwich. It looks great!

[KitKat]

Now, Kitkat, if you make some with your panni press, take pictures! We'll work on how to post them later this year.

I wanted to make it this morning, but Jim wasn't feeling well, so I've put it on hold for now.  I'll take photos for sure!! 

T. thanks for giving us an update of your Original PK Special. Your new version is a lot less work.

[Sean]

Oh wow, that PK special looks amazing!

[Ginafish]

Sean, hurry and tell T what sort of food you like so she can practice making it without an oven and only using two burners and a microwave.

[thartley]

Yeah, I'm still waiting to hear what Sean likes to eat....   

But I have just gotten back from the grocery store and I am starving.  I did good though, for shopping while hungry.  I got some fresh mango slices, strawberries, raspberries, apples, a peach, some boiled shrimp on sale, single serving size of salmon fillet, sweet potatoes, idaho potatoes, some fresh stir fry vegetables and for the NEW item on the list...KIMCHI. 

Anyone ever had it before?  I dont know what to do with it, but I figure I'll throw it on the rice pasta with some of the stir-fry and shrimp to test it out.

[thartley]

Okay, the kimchi did something I was not prepared for.  I read the lid of the jar that says to open it slowly over a sink with a napkin over the lid to prevent spillage due to the natural fermentation process.  So I did just what the lid told me.  What it did NOT tell me, is that the contents would sizzle, fizzle, bubble, and roil up over the lip of the jar, ever so slowly.

If there is a haunted house special, this is it.  A blood red layer of fizzling foam frothed over, so I grabbed a bowl and dumped it in it, except the cabbage stuff was so jam-packed in the jar, it wouldn't come out.  I had to stab it and dig it out with a fork.  I totally expected it to squeal.   

On a brighter note, it tasted pretty good, I just still dont know what to do with it.  For the moment, I'm letting it breathe.  I dont know if I should eat it or keep it for a pet.

[Ginafish]

It's a pet. It's name is Kim. Last name Chi. Like the tea

Most people I know just eat it straight and don't really 'do' anything with it.