onions and other tear-jerkers.

i've got some pork in the crockpot for fajitas tonight and i can smell the onion and garlic simmering.  love that smell. while dicing away, i was reminded that learning to chop onions "correctly" has definitely been one of the small skills that makes cooking faster and easier.  here's a how-to video i just found:



the hardest part for me to remember has always been where to cut it in half.  so here's my dorky mnemonic device of remembering:  cut the onion pole-to-pole...like the North Pole...like "Santa Clause loves onions".  there i admitted it. i use a mnemonic device to cut onions. say we can still be friends, ok? :)

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saw this video today and it literally made me a little teary-eyed:

not because i care about the Red Sox or baseball or even the Miracle on Ice. it would be hard for me to be less interested in sports than i already am. no. this clip is compelling because that little boy is so earnest and adorable, i can barely stand it. someday i hope to have a little boy, and i will dress him in tiny suits and i might just die from cuteness overload.

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how's that for a random post? :)

mmm...salad.

i'm not a big salad eater, but the one i tossed up yesterday just might reform me. i've been uber-impressed with every Briannas dressing i've tried. this one called "The New American Dressing" is no exception.  it's like a creamy, slightly sweet, perfectly balanced balsamic. um, YUM.

my new american lunch.

i tossed together the following:

fresh express spring mix
source

a few chopped pecans

source



one Dole diced pear cup
source

    

Brianna's New American Dressing
source


love salads with fruit and nuts, don't you?  i felt like some sort of culinary genius. doubly so because there was absolutely no prep work.  two points for me. let me know if you try it and like it as much as i did!

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just read about the earthquake in Japan.  praying...

maple-pecan cutlets.

another food post. after last night's dinner, it just has to be done.

if you have not discovered the many advantages of a good cutlet, let me tell you, these things are awesome.  basically, it's taking piece of chicken breast or pork or even beef and beating the pulp out of it until it's thin.  why is this great?  two reasons:

1. smacking meat with a rolling pin is a major stress reliever
2. thin meat cooks a heck of a lot faster than thick meat...so dinner is ready in about half the time

my husband has never met a pork product that he didn't like.  but what exactly am i supposed to DO with pork chops? or pork tenderloins for that matter?  they don't have much fat, so they're not very flavorful and quickly turn into jerky.  that's where the cutlet comes in.  take the meat and pound it into a cutlet...then flour, dredge in egg, then in breadcrumbs.  from there you can either bake or fry.  that's the classic cutlet, and i've used it about a million times around here.

last night, i found a slightly different version on the side of the panko box and decided to try it. here's the link to the recipe and i've mentioned the adjustments i made below.  trust that i wouldn't be sharing this if it wasn't seriously tasty and seriously EASY. happy cooking!



Maple-Pecan Cutlet



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adjustments to original recipe and a few thoughts:

• i used pork instead of chicken
• i used miracle whip instead of mayonnaise (we're classy like that)
• i don't use cooking spray, so i drizzled them with oil instead. and i didn't grease the foil.
• since you bake these, you could easily double the recipe for a bigger crowd
• i used panko, but you could use any type of plain breadcrumb
• the whole process probably took 15 minutes, and then they baked for about 20 minutes. not bad!

breakfast bits.

wanted to share three breakfast things that i'm really into right now...

the peaches obviously aren't as good as summer fresh (what is?!), but they are definitely the best i've found at a grocery store. plus, no syrup. 100% juice for those tasty little slices to swim in. i'm dying for the farmers market to start up again this summer, but this will hold us over until then.

the cereal isn't too sweet or too plain. it's crunchy but not hard to chew. tons of fiber, so it's really filling...we're really loving this stuff.

who knew that i would love carrot juice!?   i add it to my morning orange juice and honestly prefer it now to straight up OJ.  it dulls the sweetness just a bit and adds lots of vitamins.  the mix i like best is 1/4th carrot juice, 1/4th water, and 1/2 orange juice.  i've also frozen some carrot juice cubes to throw into smoothies (i'm obsessed!) to the same desired effect.  you should give it a shot.

what are you eating these mornings?

snow day.

so remember how i said i was looking forward to the snow, because then i could take sadie outside and we'd have a grand old time??  well, that's not exactly what happened. it happened more like this:

 

"stop trying to murder me with this white fluffy stuff!!"

we were outside for approximately five minutes, which was a particular shame because her cute boyfriend was there.  you could tell that he was watching her, wondering if he really wanted to sign up for this high maintenance chick. it took a juice sippy and her puppy blanket to repair the apparent psychological damage.

oh man. you just never know how they're going to react, do you?

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speaking of snow days, it looks like we're about to have a few more. let me humbly suggest something that makes cold weather bearable:  great coffee.

my brother and sister-in-law gave lucas some coffee beans for christmas that are just completely out of this world.  they got the coffee from Ten Thousand Villages, so it should satisfy even the hippie Mennonites among us. i wouldn't usually recommend coffee, but it's so smooth and so delicious, you should definitely get some. you can buy it here for less than Peets! 



this is the stuff.



what's your favorite coffee??

mini goodness.

am i the only one that just realized Dairy Queen now has a mini blizzard??  don't look now, but DQ just got dangerous. it's half the size of a small (about 6 oz.), which is PERFECT.

suddenly thankful that the closest one is about 30 minutes away, because even though i'm avoiding "obvious dairy" nowadays (who KNEW digestion could be so easy!?), i couldn't help myself last night and had a mini heath.

sometimes the stomach ache is just worth it.

recipe: blended mocha.

on a scale of one to delicious, this one is a twenty. (what?)

my good friend Amanda has my vote for Domestic Engineer of the Year 2010. she's the sort girl who can make you homemade organic bread from wheat that she ground herself, spread it with delicious jam that she canned, and serve it to you on an impeccably set table while looking fantastic.....without blinking an eye. she makes it look easy, and this is just one of the many tasty treats that we have enjoyed at her place. Adapted, of course, because i've made it so often now that i've misplaced the recipe she once gave me.

Blended Mocha

5 coffee cubes

5 ice cubes

2 Tbsp. chocolate syrup

milk

Dump your cubes into the blender. Drown in chocolate syrup. Pour milk to cover about 2/3rds of the cubes. Blend. Enjoy.

Notes: 

• "how do i make coffee cubes?" brew some really STRONG coffee (or use any you have leftover from breakfast), put into the fridge until cold, then pour into ice trays and freeze.
• again, this is a starting point. obviously, if you want it to be sweeter, add more syrup. stronger, more coffee cubes. lighter, replace some of the coffee with regular ice cubes.
• i can attest to the fact that pretty much any kind of milk (cow, soy, rice, almond, etc) tastes good in this, but if you're going non-dairy, i'd recommend almond. yummy.
• in my opinion, this recipe is superior to other blended coffee recipes i've seen online, because most of those use iced coffee instead of coffee cubes.  the problem is that it takes too long to get iced coffee (cooling down regular coffee). using cubes means that you have a ready supply of cold coffee for anytime the Blended Mocha mood strikes you. cheers to that!

recipe: citrus sunrise.

so, awhile back, luke and i went to Cold Stone Creamery for a little treat.  i decided to keep it fat free and ordered the Citrus Sunsation. holy smokes. it was so good that it was gone before we sat down.  that's embarrassing, but true. i chugged it like some sort of citrus-loving frat boy. anyway, i decided to adapt it, name included. hope you like it as much as i do!

Citrus Sunrise

     4 pineapple juice cubes

     2 lemon juice cubes

     orange juice

Dump your juice cubes into the blender. Pour orange juice to cover about 2/3rds of the cubes. Blend. Chug.

Notes:

• "do i have to buy pineapple juice?"  no. just freeze the juice from canned pineapple. eat the pineapple, freeze the juice, done.
• this is a starting point. obviously, if you want it to be sweeter, add more pineapple. tarter, more lemon.  lighter, replace some of the juice cubes with regular ice cubes.
• and if you what a creamer drink, add a frozen banana. it's good, i promise.
• **Update** just had a call-in question about this....by "lemon juice cube" i am referring to pure lemon juice. however, i'm sure that anything anything tart (strong lemonade, lime juice, etc) would work fine here. you just need something to cut the sweetness of the pineapple goodness.

lemon water to-go.

i've been on a freezing binge this summer.
freezing meals, a la my sister Kelsey? 

nope, nothing that awesome. 

basically i've been making ice cubes out of all kinds of juices to go in smoothies and such.  yep, ice cubes. currently i have lemon, lime, pineapple, chai tea, and coffee cubes in my freezer. we drink a lot of blended beverages in our household (in fact, we've been through THREE blenders in our five years of marriage...another topic for another post).

anyway, i recently bought one of these:

Copco Cold Beverage To Go Cup

total life changer.
that's being a little dramatic, but not by much.

usually, while running errands with the tot i'll get thirsty....especially when i glance in my rear view mirror and see her slurping on her sippy to her little heart's content. this would, more often then i'd like to admit, result in me stopping at McDonalds for a sweet tea (yum!). the losers in this equation? my wallet and my thighs. enter Copco Cup O'Wonder and now i just fill it with ice water before i leave.  and yesterday, it occurred to me that sticking a lemon cube in there might be refreshing. i'm here to tell you that i was right. i love lemon or lime water!  and i'm kinda excited that now i have a ready and easy supply.

easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy, if you know that i'm saying. :)

so, what are you freezing nowadays? anyone want my Citrus Sunrise or Blended Mocha recipes?

produe list to the RESCUE!

you all are brilliant!

thanks for the suggestions....i will certainly be asking for more of your wise advice. for now, points taken and i'm on the hunt for online tips and examples.  as my husband likes to say, "there is no rest for the homeowner" :)

and after using my handy little produce list for the millionth time yesterday, i thought maybe i'd share it. basically, if you'd like to keep your (healthy! tasty! expensive!) produce as fresh as possible for as long as possible, store it where this list says to.  just do it, don't ask questions or say "that's not where my mom stores it". your mom is wrong. and maybe you'll find that suddenly your tomatoes aren't mushy and your onions have a ton more flavor.

or maybe that was just me and you've known this stuff since you were a toddler.  

either way, just thought i'd pass it on. :)

happy wednesday!

Cooks Illustrated Magazine (July/August 2008)