Best $20 I ever spent

After lunch and shopping last week my daughter and I stopped in Teavana to get a cup of tea to go. It's a treat to get  tea to go from Teavana for the ride home after shopping. I've often watched employees make my tea in these interesting teamakers but it never dawned on me to ask if they sell them. Well it turns out they do! I bought one for each of us. Turns out the Perfect TeaMaker really does make perfect tea!
I have often bought loose leaf tea many times and am often disappointed when I brew the tea in my trusty brown betty teapot. It's often too bitter and it seems I can never get it right. With Teavana's Perfect TeaMaker I have been able to make great tea EVERYTIME! I've made green tea, Rooibos, and darjeeling. I find myself drinking tea 4 or 5 times a day. I have an electric tea kettle which allows me to bring the water to the exact temperature which makes a big difference, especially bringing out the delicate flavors of green teas or the robust flavors of rooibos tea blends. I like to add a little german rock sugar when making the flavored rooibos or herbal teas and it seems to enhance the flavors nicely.
http://www.teavana.com/tea-products/tea-makers-infusers/p/teavana-perfect-teamaker

Oh Happy day! I think I cracked the code!

I had this yummy Asian stir fry rice at a restaurant last year that I couldn't stop thinking about...it was a "special" and it's not on the menu on a  regular basis. I kept thinking about it, and decided to try to recreate it today and by jove I think I've got it! I cracked the code!

Asian Rice
Serves 2-3

Angus beef sirloin - diced - should equal to 1 cup

Hinode Calrose rice - 1 cup
1 2/3 cups water 

4 large cloves garlic peeled and chopped

Fresh ginger - 2 tablespoons peeled and chopped

1/4 cup bell pepper diced or 1/4 cup green onions sliced or  1//2 cup frozen peas (something green!)
1/2 onion diced

1 medium carrot diced

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 -2 tsp sesame oil

 2 -3 tablespoons soy sauce

Salt and Pepper
1 green onion sliced for garnish

Prepare rose rice: Add 1 cup calrose rice to 1 2/3 cup rice. Stir and bring to boil, cover and lower heat to low for 15 minutes.

Remove rice to a bowl and cool in fridge for about 30 minutes, then add 2 tablespoons soy sauce and 1 tsp sesame oil to rice. Stir together and place back in fridge for now.

Next, prep your vegetables and toss them in a bowl together: Garlic, ginger, carrot, onion, bell pepper (or peas or green onion if using) Bell pepper or green onions add a bit more of a kick, however if you don't have  those on hand frozen peas always do the trick when you want to add a bit of color.

Stir fry the diced sirloin in 1 T canola oil, when no longer pink, add  the bowl of veggies to the pan and stir- fry on med heat until the onions and  carrots are just done. (about 10 minutes). Add the rice to the pan at this point and stir fry all together for about 5 minutes. Add the very end you can drizzle a few  more drops of sesame oil or a tablespoon of sliced green onion just before serving.

Making Paella

Make a run to your local "specialty" market...you'll need a few  items that your local supermarket may not carry.  Spanish Chorizo, Smoked Pimenton (a special smoked paprika-a must for paella), arborio or bomba rice, and saffron. The remaining items you can pick up at your local supermarket or you may already have most of them in your pantry!
You'll need a large round heavy flat bottomed pan. There are Paella pans on the market but I have never used one. Here is a link to La Tienda that sells all things Paella and more: http://www.tienda.com/

There are many recipes out there for Paella. We have made Paella many times and this recipe has
evolved as our very own Paella recipe over the the years.

Paella

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1/2 lb prawns - if they are already cooked you will not need to pre-saute per recipe. I usually buy prawns uncooked.

2 links Spanish Chorizo sliced into 1/4 inch slices
(Be sure to use Spanish chorizo. It has the shape and firm texture of salami but the links are smaller and darker in color)

1 large onion - diced
1 green bell pepper - diced

1/2 cup fresh finely chopped parsley

1 cup frozen peas

Olive oil

1 teaspoon saffron threads

1 1/2 tablespoons smoked (paprika) pimenton

1 20 oz can diced tomatoes - don't drain

2 bay leaves

1/2 cup white wine

5 1/2 cups-  Swanson's chicken broth

2 cups arborio or bomba rice

1 tablespoon salt (I use Maldon sea salt for Paella.  Beware however, once you taste Maldon you'll be spoiled...and may never go back to Morton's)

1-2 lemons to serve with and or garnish

salt & pepper

I always chop and measure out all the ingredients first! It makes the process of making the paella more fun once you start adding ingredients. When everything's prepped and  ready you can focus on following the recipe, and enjoy that glass of wine as you follow the steps!

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in large pan - saute prawns over medium heat - 3 minutes per side and set
aside on a plate.

To large pan add 1 tablespoon olive oil and saute the chicken breast till brown and set aside on plate.

Into the large pan toss in the chopped onion and bell pepper and lower the heat to medium-low and saute for 8 minutes.
In a small saute pan saute the chorizo slices for a few minutes. Your going to add half the chorizo to the pan with the onions and pepper now and half later. It's not the end of the world if you add it all now-we just like to add the 2nd half of the chorizo later so the chorizo on top is still crisp and spicy when we serve it.

Next, to the large pan, add in the can of diced tomatoes, 1 tsp saffron threads, 1 1/2 tablespoons smoked pimenton and  2 bay leaves. Stir and then simmer all together for 5 minutes.

Next, add 1/2 cup white wine and simmer 2 minutes. Sometimes if I'm feeling generous to the paella I'll make that 3/4 cup. If not, more wine for me!

Next, stir in the 5 1/2 cups chicken stock and 1 tablespoon salt, and bring to a boil. .
Once the liquid reaches a boil, stir in your 2 cups rice, and then quickly lower the heat to a nice
simmer (low)

Stir in the 1 cup peas, 1/2 cup chopped parsley, and gently stir.
Cut the sauteed chicken into 1 inch pieces and add chicken to the pan. Gently stir.
Set the remaining sliced chorizo on top.
Last, carefully arrange your prawns on top. No more stirring! Taste for seasoning at this point and sprinkle in more S&P if needed.
Let this all simmer away for 30-45 minutes. (you want it gently simmering away on a low heat) When the liquid is absorbed and you hear a "crackling" at the bottom of the pan when the paella is ready. Gently lift with a spatula to see if the liquid is absorbed from time to time. You don't want to burn the rice at the bottom of the pan but you definitely want it to brown a little! The ideal paella has a toasted rice bottom called socarrat. 

When the paella is ready, remove from heat and cover for 5 minutes. This makes lifting the paella from the pan a little easier.
Serve with quartered lemons and a loaf of good bread and your favorite wine! Enjoy!

This is great the next day heated up in the pan with a little olive oil. Add a little liquid to the pan and warm it up! I find the paella "crackles" up nicely the next day when you heat it up!

Crispy Kale Chips

I found Crispy Kale Chips at Whole Foods a few weeks ago...Kale Chips? The employee at Whole Foods told me she liked them and told me her favorite flavors. I opted for Cosmic's Cheesy Pizza Kale Chips. Normally anything "cheesy flavored" in snack aisles turns me off but after looking at the ingredients I decided to give them a try and they were really good! On my next trip to Whole Foods I bought Rhythm Superfoods "Zesty Nacho" flavored kale chips.  Here is the list of  ingredients: fresh kale, fresh red bell pepper, fresh zucchini, fresh carrots, cashews, fresh onion, fresh lemon juice, vegan nutritional yeast, garlic, apple cidar vinegar, and sea salt. Everything in the ingredient list is FRESH!
Whole Foods carries several brands - and I recommend you give them a try! Kale is a nutritional powerhouse - and an excellant source of Vitamins and nutrients!
I googled Kale chip recipes and to my delight found many recipes and methods to making Crispy Kale chips at home.

Here is the link to a recipe I used when I made them at home:
http://kalynskitchen.blogspot.com/2010/03/recipe-for-roasted-kale-chips-with-sea.html
I plan to experiment when making them again and try different methods until I find one I like the best! This link will take you to Kalyn's Kitchen blog. Her kale chip recipe is very similar to the one I used, I share this link because her step by step photos and instructions ensure you'll have great tasting results.

Lemon Marmalade (Sunshine in a Jar)

My good friend, Allison gave me the most wonderful  lemon marmalade last year. She called it "sunshine in a jar". It is especially fresh and tart tasting with scarcely any bitterness. When Allison gave me a grocery bag full of meyer lemons this year I decided to try my hand at her wonderful marmalade and she was kind enough to share the recipe. She got it from an old Sunset canning book.
Lemon Marmalade

About 11 medium sized lemons
1/2 cup water
6 cups sugar
3 oz liquid fruit pectin (Ball makes a box that contains two-3 oz. pouches)

Use a small sharp knife to slice off all the thin outer yellow peel from lemons; cut the peel into slivers. (I used a zester I used to remove the peel.  The zester made lovely long thin strands of lemon peel which I sliced  into smaller sections). Then ream the juice from the lemons. You should have 1 3/4 cups peel and 2 cups lemon juice. Combine the peel, water, and 1/2 cup of the lemon juice in a 3-quart or larger saucepan. Bring to boiling; then cover and simmer until peel is tender when pierced (about 25 minutes)
Add remaining lemon juice and sugar to the pan; cook, stirring, until sugar dissolves. Then turn heat high and bring to a full rolling boil. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand at room temperature for 18-24 hours.

Here is a link to Ball's website which has wonderful easy to follow tutorials. You'll want to prepare your jars and lids etc before you start the next step.
http://www.freshpreserving.com/
Prepare 6 half pint jars and lids for canning process.
Rapidly return marmalade to boiling, stirring to prevent sticking. Stir in the pectin and boil stirring constantly for exactly 1 minute. Quickly skim off any foam that forms. Fill jars to within 1/8 inch of top. Makes 4 half pints. (I made this 3 times and always got 6 half pints each time, which made me very happy!)
I do not have a larger canner anymore-I used a round rack that fit right inside my largest pot. I also used short canning jars so I could give the jars the required water bath and keep the water level two inches above the jars during the water bath process for 10 minutes).

Summers with Nana and Poppy

My parents used to ship us kids down two at a time to visit our Nana and Poppy every summer for a few weeks. Nana always had things lined up to keep us busy. Swimming at the Clubhouse nearly every day was a given! They lived in a golfing community and the house was right on the golf course. We often entertained ourselves with binoculars watching the golfers playing and we all learned to drive Poppy's golf cart.
My great aunt was a nurse in the army so we often got to shop at the BX! The prices were great! I remember finding thee cutest faux fur mini skirt. I had to have it but Nana had her eye on the pumpkin tweed skirt for me. It was very nice, but if I was going to have to pick the faux fur mini was going to win. She tried her best to convince get me to go for the tweed, but my heart was set. She finally relented and bought me both skirts, a win-win for both of us. Sure, I wore both skirts to school that year, but on days I donned the faux fur mini I strutted around like Twiggy on the catwalk.
One year, when I was 11 or 12 Nana had me start copying family recipes down on recipe cards. This was the beginning of my life long love of collecting recipes and cooking. Many afternoons it was on "my agenda" to write recipes down for about an hour. To keep things interesting she sometimes threw me curve balls like the recipes for Elephant stew or Scripture Cake. Below is the recipe for Elephant Stew. I don't think she told me it was a joke right off, she let me figure out that part of the recipe out on my own.
Elephant Stew

Ingredients

1 elephant (medium size)
1 rabbit (optional)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Cut elephant into bite sized pieces; this takes about 2 months. Add enough brown gravy to cover. Cook over kerosene fire at 465 degrees. Serves 3800 persons. For those who dislike elephant stew, the rabbit may be added -- but only if necessary because most people don't like hare in their stew.

Dorothy's Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

All of Poppyy and Nana's grandkids had the pleasure of getting to know their neighbors and dear friends in RB, Dorothy and Leigh. Do any of you remember how Leigh parted his hair down the center and always wore a suit with a bow tie? He was such a gentleman and always interested in good conversation with young people. They were such lovely people that it's easy to understand how they quickly became Nana and Poppy's best  friends! I still think of them both fondly. Dorothy made this Chicken and Wild Rice casserole for dinner one evening and was she happy to share her recipes with me when I asked. Often a day or two later I would receive the recipe typed on one of her personalized recipe cards.

Chicken and Wildrice Casserole
Serves 8
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2 1/2 lbs chicken breasts and thighs or a 2 1/2 lb fryer cut up
3/4 cups uncooked wild rice (she used L&M white and wild combo) I use an organic Harvest Medley from Costco-a blend of four aromatic California rices (brown, wild rice,sweet brown rice and heirloom red rice)
1 - 3 oz can sliced mushrooms, undrained (or 1/2 cup sliced fresh crimini or button mushrooms)
1 tablespoon butter
Approx 1/2 cup flour to coat chicken before browning
1 tablespoon finely diced onion
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
1 tsp salt

Coat chicken pieces in flour and brown in 1 Tablespoon oil.
While chicken is browning  put rice and salt in an ungreased 9x12 casserole dish or similar sized dutch oven and strew 1 T. diced onion over. Add mushrooms.  Arrange chicken pieces on top. Pour 1 3/4 cups chicken broth over all. Dot with 1 tablespoon butter. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Note: If all the liquid is not absorbed after one hour recover and continue baking for 20-30 minutes longer.
Notes: If you are making this for two-use less chicken. I always use skinless these days. I remember that Dorothy's version used skin-on and the chicken looked very pretty sitting on top of the wild rice. So if you like skin on - go for it!
I prefer Swanson's chicken broth the best and I use that or Trader Joes's Savory Chicken broth that comes in a box with 12 little pouches in a liquid concentrate that you just add 8 oz of warm water to and stir. I love the flavor and it is reduced sodium!
Next week: A recipe from Nana's recipe collection!