The Hubs loves key lime pies and I make a really mean one (if I do say so myself), but my "go-to" recipe involves baking. And right now it's way too hot outside to even think about turning on the oven. Solution: the Lazy Girl mini key lime pies. While they don't pack quite the intense key lime punch that a regular pie does, they're a pretty darned good summer substitute.
There's something just perfect about citrus flavors in the summertime. I found the recipe via foodgawker the other day and couldn't get it out of my mind. The only cooking is on the stove top to make the lime curd (8 minutes tops), but if you were really feeling lazy you could just substitute a jarred version. Also, it looked as if she made her own tart shells, but since my whole goal was to avoid using the oven I made a Lazy Girl substitution and just used Keebler mini graham cracker crusts (6/pkg).
Basically all you do is fold lime curd into the some sweetened whipped cream, fill the crusts, garnish and let them chill a few hours. Could it be any easier?!?! I was really pleased with how the little pies turned out. I had exactly the amount of filling for my 6 shells, making this recipe perfect for a dinner party. They are super cute and make for a nice, refreshing dessert.
The only change I'll make next time is to increase the ratio of lime curd to whipping cream. She has it at 1:1 and I'm thinking 1.5:1 would provide a more key lime-y punch. I also think this would be great if you swapped lemon curd for the lime curd and garnished it with fresh berries.
Although we did not get any snow last night / early this morning, we did get a little freezing rain. Just enough to make things dangerous out there on the roads, especially bridges and overpasses... not that I have been out driving this morning, but I have been watching the news.
We bundled up to take the furry children out this morning and they weren't quite sure what to think.
...or even more if there are words on the picture. By my calculations this one is worth 1,004 words.
The Hubs has gotten a ton of new "toys" recently and as the cats have a hard time sitting still and following directions, I am the default test subject. Usually these test sessions occur some time after 10 pm... and it shows. Just sitting there smiling (or trying to keep a straight face) gets tough after awhile, so sometimes I just start making weird faces. Poor guy.
The Hubs did a fabulous job Christmas shopping this year. There were several key pieces of kitchen equipment I lacked and he made sure I received each one. One of the items I had been wanting for a while was a mandoline. And not a cheap, wimpy one. I wanted a good high-quality, yet affordable, mandoline. I did my research, got the opportunity to test one during a cooking class this past summer and eventually settled on the Benriner Mandoline.
It's cold (for the Houston area) and wet outside. We're experiencing the kind of weather that makes you want to curl up with your Kindle and a cup of coffee under a warm blanket and just shut the rest of the world out. Unfortunately that is not my reality. There are still errands to run, clothes to fold, meals to prepare and papers to grade. In short, life goes on, even when I would rather it not.
Anyone else out there wish you could just raise the white 'surrender' flag every once and awhile and take a break? That was what tonight's dinner was all about. A simple, comforting, delicious stew that took about 20 minutes to make, but tasted like it had been simmering on the stovetop all day.
(The Hubs so kindly agreed to professionally document our session this morning. All photos in this post are his work. I want to make sure to give credit where credit is due.)
Meet my friend Shannon. She's the girl on the right. That's me on the left. No, we weren't mad at each other, we were simply "divinding and conquering".
No, we weren't mad at each other, we were simply "dividing and conquering".
Shannon really likes to cook too. That makes it really easy to be friends with her. Well, that and the fact that she is one of the kindest (and funniest) people I know. This girl has a heart of gold.
The last 2 Wednesdays we have gotten together to cook and it's been a blast! Last week was biscotti, homemade nutella and nutella panna cotta. So basically, chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate.
This week Shannon wisely suggested we be a little healthier and chose this fabulous menu:
(For dessert I picked another recipe from Real Simple - Irene's Peach Surprise...but more about that tomorrow.)
Anyone picking up on a theme here?
Since we really didn't vary from the way each of the recipes were written, I won't worry with typing in detail about steps and procedures. Instead, I will let the Hubs' pictures explain it all. Enjoy!
The Prep Work:
Of course there were peaches to deal with. Lots of peaches.
There were also ingredients other than peaches to prep -
Chives
Brie
Limes and Eggs
And sauces / dressings to make -
Honey Balsamic Syrup
Honey Lime Dipping Sauce
Cooking and Assembling:
Quesadillas first -
Now for the salad -
(a sprinkle of crispy prosciutto)
(a drizzle of honey balsamic syrup)
I'm not sure if there was more laughing or cooking going on -
Lunch is Served:
My favorite Taste-Testing Neighbor joined us for lunch. (She is a professional taster, you know.)
Both dishes paired nicely with the Riesling I had chilling in the fridge. The recipe also said a Chenin Blanc would work well.
All 3 of us agreed there was not a thing we would change about the salad. To say it was delicious would be an understatement. A definite keeper.
We also all agreed that while the quesadillas were good, they fell a bit flat in the flavor department. Even with the dipping sauce (which was very good) they still lacked pizazz. Georgia suggested adding cinnamon to the peaches mix and Shannon suggested cilantro. Either (but not both at the same time!) would make a delightful addition.
Coming tomorrw: Dessert re-cap and why we re-named it Baked Georgia.
A while back I blogged about my failure learning experience with Matilda, the huge, free-range, organic chicken I bought from one of my students. While I gained a couple of valuable nuggets of wisdom from the fiasco event, this was the ultimate outcome:
I had poured my heart and soul into the girl so I was more than a little upset. The silver lining was that I had a standby in the freezer - Helga. Otherwise known as bird 12978.
If you can believe it, Helga was even bigger than Matilda. I didn't weigh the girl (1 - I don't have a food scale and 2 - I did not want to have to weigh myself in the process), but I got quite an upper body workout wrangling her today.
Since I had a bit of a tough time with the butterflying process last time I found a video tutorial to help me out. The guy is a little goofy, but it was a really helpful video.
After watching it several times I felt confident and was ready to take out the backbone...with these pathetic excuses for scissors.
They didn't work and I got frustrated. This was as far as I could get.
Enter my 'Knight in Shining Armor', R. He immediately sensed my frustration and calmly told me to give him a couple of minutes to shower and shave and that we would head out in search of a real pair of kitchen shears for me. I (heart) R.
Our search for good kitchen shears was a success and I was back in business.
Although the process did not go as smoothly for me as it did for the guy in the video, I did complete the task and did not dislocate the "hip" this time.
See what I mean about her being a big girl?
One thing Helga and I do have in common - our meaty thighs! Check these out. Hers, not mine. I do not take pictures of my meaty thighs, thankyouverymuch.
Now the question became "How am I going to cook her?"
Grilling was out for two reasons: 1) Both propane tanks are empty and need to be swapped out and 2) Do I really need to bring up what happened last time again?
After doing a little research I found a post on Chowhound about a recipe for roasting butterflied chickens that had been featured on America's Test Kitchen. It received rave reviews (and that forum is a tough crowd) so I knew it must be a good recipe/method.
Here's a quick rundown of the process with a few changes by me:
In the bottom of the broiler pan went 2 potatoes, sliced about 1/4" thick. I also threw in an onion and some sad carrots that were hanging out in my veggie drawer. Those were all seasoned and tossed in a little oil.
The butterflied and seasoned chicken is placed on the grill rack that goes over the pan.
You cook the chicken in the lower 1/3 of the oven @ 500 F for a total of about 40 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the cooking time. You want the internal temperature of the breast to reach about 160 F.
As the chicken fat, butter and olive oil drip off of the chicken, they drip on to the veggies below, bathing them in all sorts of yumminess.
After pulling it out of the oven loosely cover the pan with foil and let it rest for about 10 minutes.
She looks a little more well-done in parts, but I promise the bird wasn't burned or overcooked. The skin was delightfully crispy and the meat was tender, well-flavored and incredibly juicy. I hardly ever eat the skin on my chicken, but I devoured every bit of the skin on the breast I ate.
And the vegetables were everything I hoped they would be. The best part is that since she was such a big bird, we'll be feasting on Helga for the next few days... maybe some empanadas, bbq pizza, chicken salad, quesadillas. I could go on and on.
I've already scheduled those leftover potatoes to be part of breakfast tomorrow. Yum.
To wrap up the week dedicated to R's love of all things salty, I made Shrimp Puttanesca. It has been way too long since the last time I fixed it. It is salty, tomato-y goodness at its best!
This pasta packed quite a punch! I think it's probably better suited to a milder sauce.
And it kind of made the finished dish look like Christmas with the red sauce on green noodles...
The key to a good puttanesca sauce????
There is absolutely no substitute for these little guys.
And with that picture I say 'goodbye' to Salty Foods Week.
While I thoroughly enjoyed the delicious foods, I am looking forward to waking up without a super-puffy face and being able to easily slip on my wedding ring again.
Although I had a lot of items on my 'to-do list' today, I still managed to find a little time to spend in the kitchen. So therapeutic... I think what I love most about the kitchen and cooking is that it gives me a chance to clear my mind.
To start with I rescued some older, sad looking berries from the fridge
and trimmed and transformed them
into a fabulous Berry Coulis.
I see crepes in my future this week!
I was also able to catch up on some dish washing, make granola bars for the week and try a new burger recipe I created especially for the Hubs.
As I mentioned earlier this week, R loves salty foods, so tonight I made Mediterranean Turkey Burgers for dinner. Incredibly easy and a great way to use up some leftovers and pantry staples.
The patties were a mix of 1# ground turkey, a little chopped parsley, some crumbled feta, salt, pepper, an egg and some panko bread crumbs.
It was pretty warm today and I didn't want my cats to get out, so I just used a grill pan on the stove to cook the patties.
To carry the salty theme even further, I made a sandwich spread in the food processor that combined some olives, capers, garlic, olive oil and a tad bit of mayo. Divine.
For R it was love at first bite... and that makes me happy.
