Scallopy Ballopy Boo!

So... not sure what the deal is... but my FireFox is having HUGE issues loading this blog. This will be the third time I have written this blog, and no... I didn't write it in word to ensure that I didn't lose my post once again. ALAS!

:) At least it gets better and better each time.. right... right... RIGHT!?!?! :)

Ha ha... we had a GREAT time this week cooking scallops. I originally picked this recipe because I have never made scallops before, though I have had them a few times at restaurants. I love them, and am very happy to now add them to my cooking repertoire!

For our main dish we made Seared Scallops in Mint Broth with Peas and Roasted Tomatoes. I also loved the fact that I had a bunch of these fresh herbs in my patio garden. The only thing that I run into problems with is having solid mint to chop. I tend to water my herbs/plants every other day, and sometimes my mint gets a little 'soft' unless I water it a few hours in advance. When this happens I like to throw it in the sink with some ice water and it normally hardens up enough to mince or chop easily.

For my side dish I decided to grill some bell peppers and stuff them with grilled zucchini, onions and mushrooms. I love grilled peppers and it's even more fun to stuff them with other yummy ingredients because they display so beautifully!

This week Shannon paired her scallops with an avocado and orange side salad. I need to start making more salads. Hers always look so refreshing and delicious! I can't wait till she comes back to CO and I get to eat them without making them!

NOTE TO OUR FOLLOWERS: We are VERY excited to let you know that we are not cooking next week because we will be getting ready to partake in our 3rd trip to the Gorge Amphitheater in Washington State to see the Dave Matthews Band Caravan Tour, this time with 4 others in tow this time. Thursday morning I will be meeting up with Shannon, Robert and Bobert's friend Chris at DIA, where we will then fly to WA to meet Sharon and Jody, pick up our RV and drive about 3 hours East to George Washington to 'set up shop' and prepare for three days of concerts, camping and friends. We promise to take lots of pictures and cant wait to start cooking again once we get back!

Happy cooking to you all!

Lots of love,

Chef Steph

It's my turn and I'll Thai if I want to...

It's official:  It takes us just as long to make a salad as it does a full-blown entree!  Mathematically this actually makes sense... it would take us half the time making it on our own, but when you throw Shannon and Stephanie together it takes us twice as long.  1+1 = 2.  Even I know that and math has never been my friend.  If it were a race or competition it would be no problem - you'd be eating your dinner before you even realized you were hungry.  But we like to linger over these cooking sessions, catching up on everything that has happened over the past week... so you'll get your dinner when we're good and ready to serve it to ya!  (Can you tell I've had to explain this equation once or twice to my husband?)

This week's starring dish:  Fiery Thai Beef Salad  
This salad is a winner!  All you have to do is mix together your salad dressing in the bottom of a big bowl, grill your flank steak then let it sit while you assemble the rest of your salad.  Then thinly slice your steak, toss it all together, and you'll find yourself eating a really flavorful, impressive salad!  Warning: this salad has a real kick so if you don't care for spice then cut back on the serrano chiles, garlic and don't add in crushed red pepper flakes like Steph and I did.  Also, you should get your grill very hot and *only* sear your flank steak for 2-3 minutes per side.  Just trust us on this one.

The hardest part of this meal was figuring out what side dish to make!  So I decided to go with dessert instead:
Mandarin Oranges with Grand Marnier and Marscarpone
OMG was this good!  So simple to make but very fancy and was a really nice way to cool off the mouth after the fiery salad.

Steph made a side of kale and served it up beautifully!

Until next week... cheers!
Chef Shannon

Talkie with Shiitaki

Yikes, it's been forever since we blogged on here! So sorry for the slacking!

I realized today that I had neglected to post on our meal last week too, so I am SOOO fired!

I decided a few weeks ago to really bite the bullet (where does that term come from?) and join Weight Watchers to focus on and keep track of all the food I am eating. Not to worry though, the new program that they have is super flexible, so the recipes that we make won't be affected at all (unless we cook something with half a pound of lard, etc... but we never did that type of cooking anyways).

The main recipe of last week was Shiitake-Chicken Stir-Fry, and it actually turned out pretty good.   There weren't any fresh shiitake mushrooms at the grocery store I went to, so I bought dried mushrooms and let them sit in water for a few hours and compensated with extra mushrooms as well. Honestly I wasn't crazy about the 're-hydrated' mushrooms, so in the future I would substitue other mushrooms in there instead of dried ones.

My side was also a WW recipe, it was a Asparagus with Shallot Mustard Cream:

 

Shannon made a side of Kimchee to go with her stirfry:

 

Happy Cooking!


Chef Steph

Sloppy Salmon

Bourbon-Glazed Salmon

I generally don’t make a lot of fish dishes because when I cook I like to make a lot of food, and eat leftovers for a few days (till I’m bored with it). Pet peeve is when people bring in leftover fish and heat it up in the work microwaves. Not only does it smell terrible if you aren’t eating it, it REALLY stinks if you are the next person to heat up food in that microwave… ‘Why yes, I really did want fish flavored rice for lunch!’  However, fish has so many good things in it for our bodies and is so refreshing especially in the summertime, plus the flavors can be amazing. I also love cooking with good whiskey or bourbon! I think it adds a lot of dimension to the food, and just the right amount of spunk.


Note to self: when picking through recipes at midnight before a camping trip, make sure to read the actual recipe part.  That way when you are skyping with your friend and have already mixed everything you’ll see the part where it states you are supposed to marinate the fish in the sauce for an hour and a half.  We let our fish marinate for about 15 minutes, then cooked the marinade and let it simmer to be a glaze for the top of the salmon.

My side dishes were steamed white rice (Nishiki rice, because it’s the BEST), roasted corn rubbed with a honey/lime/orange butter compound, and broccoli.  They say you win some and you lose some… I lost some with this meal.   Not only did I drop my salmon on the ground (AARRGGG), I *experimented* with my broccoli, and it turned out...let’s just say gross! This recipe is awesome, but it wasn’t my night cooking.  Oh well, I now know how NOT to make broccoli, and that if you try to carry your salmon in from the grill on the aluminum foil you cooked it on because you’re lazy and don’t want to grab a plate… beware, consequences may not be to your liking! If Shannon wouldn’t have been two states away, I would have stolen her salmon. It looked delicious!  

I’ll let her comment on her sides.

On another note, I want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my co-blog host Shannon.  I get to help her celebrate her B-day by skyping and cooking a big birthday dinner together (in different states) tonight. More to come tomorrow!

Happy Cooking!
Chef Steph

Featuring Paula Deen y'all!

Hi friends,

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been so engrossed in reading Paula Deen’s “memoirs” “It Ain’t All About the Cookin’”.  I have such newfound respect and admiration for this Lady… a true example of a flawed but blessed human being who has achieved her American Dream.  I just had to honor Paula’s gumption and determination by choosing one of her recipes for this week’s S&S Cooking show!

Immediately my mind went to Paula’s recipe for Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf.  That one was a big hit with my family, especially with mashed potatoes.  But I’ve made that recipe before – which breaks the “rules” Steph and I have happily imposed on ourselves – and besides, Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf is just NOT a dish one makes two weeks before one finds oneself on a beach in the Bahamas!  Neither is Paula’s infamous deep-fried, bacon-wrapped, macaroni-and-cheese dish.  (It hurts just to type that!!)  So… after a long and discerning search through at least 50 pages of Food Network’s Paula Deen recipes I found the perfect one that I decided was relatively healthy – and still a show-stopper!

Entrée…

Sausage and Peach Stuffed Pork Chops

Fresh Herbs:  Steph used fresh chives and basil from her home garden. I’m way behind the curve on that one, so I bought fresh sage from the market when I did my week’s shopping on Sunday.  (While cooking Steph asked me to describe the smell of fresh sage to her and the best I could do was, “It smells like a fancy house in the desert in Arizona.”  What?!  Well, how would YOU describe it?  Really – I’m curious to know!)

Sausage:  I dug up a few links of sweet Italian turkey sausage from my freezer.  Steph used spicy Italian pork sausage!

Equipment:  The recipe suggests using 2 pans – one for browning the sausage and another for the pork chops.  Really?  I mean, we love cooking but nobody likes scrubbing pans – especially with a full belly.  Then Steph piped up with one of her epiphanies:  “Just use the same pan… You get more flavor and you’ll have fewer dishes!”  This is a great example of why I love cooking with this girl – thanks Steph!!  Note:  You have to use a pan you can put in a hot oven to finish cooking off the chops.  If you don’t have an oven-safe pan just cover the handle of your pan a few times with aluminum foil to keep it from melting.

Sides…

Shannon:  Wild Rice Salad - Another Paula recipe that was beautiful and delicious!  This would be perfect for a picnic because it doesn’t need to be refrigerated.  But 1 + 1/3 cup canola oil was waaay too much.  A few tablespoons of canola oil or olive oil would have done the trick.  The wild rice took about an hour but is worth the time investment to cook.  I was able to buy just the one cup that I needed at my grocery store in the bulk aisle (even in Amarillo, TX, and that is saying a lot) and when the water cooked down faster than I expected I just added more as needed and reduced the heat.  Try this recipe, it was a treat and the leftovers today are yummy!

Steph:  Grilled Tomatoes and Steamed Artichokes.  Steph’s sides looked wonderful.  She has a nifty new rice steamer that she used to cook her artichokes.  Man we love our kitchen gadgets!!  Maybe we'll get lucky and Steph will tell us more about her sides when she responds (hint hint!)... 

“The one thing I could rely on was my stove… my family ate good.”  – Paula Deen

Cheers!

Chef Shannon

The Archive

For posterity's sake here's what we've been up to over the past few months...

Episode 1 – 4/4/2011:  Ginger Lime Beef Stir Fry with Rice Noodles

Shannon:  Sweet & Sour Broccoli

Steph:  Corn with Red Bell Pepper

Episode 2 – 4/14/2011:  Pan-Roasted Chicken Cutlets with Maple-Mustard Dill Sauce

Shannon:  Orange-Scented Couscous

Steph:  Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Broccoli Rice

Episode 3 – 4/20/2011:  Stuffed Eggplant

Episode 4 – 4/27/2011:  Pad Thai with Chicken

Episode 5 – 5/12/2011:  Charred & Stuffed Chile Relleno Peppers

Shannon:  Green Rice

Steph:  Sweet Corn

Episode 6 – 5/16/2011:  Salisbury Steak with Cremini Mushroom Gravy

Shannon:  Mashed Sweet Potatoes, Wilted Spinach

Steph:  Smashed Potatoes

Episode 7 – 6/14/2011:  Artichoke Heart and Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breast

Shannon:  Lemon-Mint Pear Salad

Steph:  Fresh Avocado Salad

Episode 8 – Spicy Asian Glazed Chicken Thighs with Minted Spicy Cucumbers

Besto-Pesto

Hi ALL!

Thought we would finally start sharing some of these yummy recipes that we have been loving with everyone else. One thing that we have really enjoyed so far is being able to experience these new recipes that the other person picks and we are 'forced' to cook. It reminds me of the show Julie and Julia, there's a lot of things we have each cooked that we probably never would have tried on our own.  Hopefully you all will be able to appreciate and if you like the look of the pictures and recipes maybe you'll try them on your own!

The recipe that we made this week was from Giada on Food Network

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/grilled-chicken-with-spinach-and-pine-nut-pesto-recipe/index.html

We normally come up with our own sides or additions to the recipe so we'll try and post it here for you all.

This time I made a grilled baby bell pepper tossed with mint, feta and lemon juice side dish, and kept the main recipe.  Shannon decided to throw the pesto and chicken with some pasta... I'm trying that next time.






The other thing we were really excited to get a hint on (from the link and the recipe) was the tip to make extra pesto and pour it into ice cube trays to freeze for future use. I used these huge trays that I had from Bed Bath and Beyond that makes huge perfectly square cubes...and they are perfect.

Happy eating!!! :)
Chef Steph