Chicken Pho-- Winter Version

Today I began to take a more active role in the kitchen once agian. Not much more, because not being able to put weight on my foot and using crutches seriously impedes my progress, but little bits here and there-- drying and putting away non-breakable things like flatware and pans, wiping down the counters and cleaning the stove since I can grab the edges and hop as I clean, clustering all of the necessary refrigerator items onto one shelf (to avoid pre-meal scenes with Jack similar to “no, not that bottle, the one on the next shelf, on the left, no your other left, yeah, there, the one with the green cap, the bottle that says soy sauce”...).

For lunch, since it was a whopping 9 degrees out, we made pho. I have only 2 quarts of chicken stock remaining in the freezer, and parted with one of them for the broth. Adding flavorings of chili, fish sauce, and lime turned the stock into a fragrant base for the soup. Chicken breast was poached in the broth, then carrot, spinach, and red bell pepper was added. Soft vermicelli-style rice noodles were divided between two large bowls and the broth was poured over. It smelled delicious and tasted even better. Perfect for a cold winter day!

I had to omit a few ingredients from the recipe that I will post below because they were not on hand. Unfortunately, these are quite essential, but I wasn’t sending Jack to the grocery store in this weather! First, bean sprouts. Absolutely necessary for a textural crunch. Then fresh cilantro, mint, and Thai basil, which are vital for the complex blend of exotic flavors that makes this dish so delicious.

I shall call the version which I made today “Winter Pho”.

The fresh herbs are why I am in a conundrum about pho. The fact that it is a warming soup indicates that it should be eaten in the colder months. But the fresh herbs, all of which grow lushly in my garden in the summer, suggest that it should be a summer dish. It’s rather easy to buy fresh cilantro and mint at a grocery store in the winter, but difficult to find Thai basil and that is a taste for which there is no substitution.

To review, the pho without the bean sprouts and fresh herbs was still very good. An exotic, spicy version of chicken noodle soup, but it wasn’t really pho. I suppose that when I’m able to grocery shop again, I will take a trip to the Strip District and buy those fresh herbs at one of the Oriental markets to make real pho. By then it will be early spring, but still damp and cold here in southwestern Pennsylvania, and so very worthy of a hot, fortifying, delicious soup.

After the broth was ladled over the noodles, I realized that I had forgotten to add some fresh baby spinach which would have really helped in the photo. Oh well...

Chicken Pho

Prepare garnishes and place in small bowls:

fresh mint leaves, chopped if large

fresh Thai basil leaves, chopped if large

fresh cilantro leaves, chopped if large

fresh lime, quartered

In a 2-quart saucepan mix:

4 cups chicken broth

1” cinnamon stick

½” slice fresh gingerroot

½ teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

½ teaspoon minced garlic

Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer together for 10 minutes.

Place a pot of water on to boil for the noodles while the broth is cooking.

Add to the broth:

6 ounces chicken breast, thinly sliced

Simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes.

*While the chicken is cooking, after the pot of water comes to a boil, add

4 ounces of rice vermicelli (thin) noodles

Stir, turn off heat, cover. Set timer to check noodles in 8-9 minutes. When soft, drain, then place in a large bowl of cool water to prevent sticking together.*

Add to the chicken and broth:

½ small red bell pepper, thinly sliced

1 small carrot, coarsely shredded

¼ cup chopped sweet onion

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

½ teaspoon brown sugar

Cover and simmer for 5 minutes.

Remove cinnamon stick; add:

1 cup fresh bean sprouts

Stir well, turn off heat.

Drain noodles. Rinse with hot water. Shake off excess water. Divide among 4 shallow bowls. Ladle broth and chicken over each serving.

Serve with additional hot sauce, if desired.

Garnishes should be added to taste for each serving.

African Chicken

A few weeks ago my friend Jenni made a bunch o’ food and brought it down to us for some easy meals as I sit around and wait for my bones to mend (and to give Jack a break from cooking duties every now and then). One of the dishes she brought was one that we were both familiar with, a Cooking Light recipe from a year or so ago. African Chicken in Red Sauce is one of those valuable recipes that can be easily doubled and the extras frozen, then reheated, with very little loss of it’s delicious flavor.

Pieces of chicken are simmered in a tomato-y, spicy sauce. What sets this recipe apart is the spice blend called Berbere. It originated in Ethiopia and is a mix of ground red and black peppers, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. Also in the sauce is fresh ginger, nutmeg, and cardamom, and all of these wonderful flavors dance together and create a wonderfully exotic flavor. There is plenty of sauce, so the chicken is perfect to serve over basmati rice or couscous.

Jenni used all bone-in, skinless chicken breasts and, after the mixture was cooked and cooled, pulled the meat from the bones and tossed it back into the sauce. I’ve made this recipe using boneless, skinless chicken breasts and have to admit that using the bone-in, although an extra couple of steps, proved to be better since the meat was more tender and flavorful.

I have served this with a side of lemon broccoli and also with garlic sautéed spinach and the flavors of both went well with the chicken and sauce.

One more thought. At the end of the recipe are instructions to serve this dish with lemon wedges for adding fresh lemon juice to each portion. Lemons are expensive here, especially in fall and winter (75¢ each, and they are none too big either), so I usually skip this. However, I just happened to have a lemon in the refrigerator, left over from the holidays, which had seen better days so we used a couple of wedges. This added a bright, tangy note to the chicken and I think that I will always buy a lemon whenever I plan to make this in the future because it just shouldn’t be served without.

African Chicken in Spicy Red Sauce

2 chicken breast halves, skinned (about 1/2 pound)
2 chicken drumsticks, skinned (about 1/2 pound)
2 chicken thighs, skinned (about 3/4 pound)
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (1 lemon)
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
Cooking spray
1 1/2 cups chopped onion (2 medium)
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 teaspoons Berbere
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 (14-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 (6-ounce) can no-salt-added tomato paste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
4 lemon wedges

Place chicken in a shallow dish; drizzle with juice, and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cover and marinate in refrigerator 30 minutes.

Heat a Dutch oven over medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion and garlic; cook 5 minutes (do not brown), stirring frequently. Add 2 teaspoons Berbere, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, butter, ginger, nutmeg, and cardamom; cook 1 minute. Add wine, broth, and tomato paste; stir until well blended. Add chicken mixture; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 50 minutes or until chicken is tender, turning chicken occasionally. Stir in cilantro. Serve with lemon wedges.

Note: Nutritional analysis includes 1 teaspoon Berbere per serving.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 3 ounces chicken, about 1 cup sauce, and 1 lemon wedge)

CALORIES 373 (24% from fat); FAT 9.8g (sat 3.6g,mono 2.7g,poly 1.8g); PROTEIN 53.2g; CHOLESTEROL 175mg; CALCIUM 72mg; SODIUM 848mg; FIBER 3.6g; IRON 4mg; CARBOHYDRATE 17.3g
Cooking Light, OCTOBER 2006

Berbere

2 tablespoons ground red pepper
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl.

Yield: 1/4 cup (serving size: 1 teaspoon)

Shrimp, Peppers, and Spinach over Fried Rice

The search for easy and quick, yet healthy and delicious, dinners continues. A recipe in this month’s Real Simple sounded like a good candidate but needed some adjusting. The final result, definitely worthy of posting here, was adjusted enough to make it completely unnoticeable from the published recipe. So I shall call it my own creation!

This was a perfect fast dinner. The only advance prep that must be done is to make the rice earlier in the day (or a few days earlier) and chill it in the refrigerator. Rice, used for fried rice, absolutely must be cold or it will absorb oil and also be mushy. I usually keep cooked rice in the freezer for quick meals but had depleted my stock. And I opted for white basmati rice this time but will try it next with a half-and-half mix of white and brown basmati.

Another plus for this recipe is the use of only one skillet to cook both the shrimp mixture and the fried rice.

In the final analysis, the shrimp was tender, the vegetables cooked with it spiced with hot pepper and fragranced with garlic; served over the ginger-y fried rice, the resulting combination was delicious and heart-healthy with only 2g saturated fat.

* Exported from MasterCook *

Shrimp, Peppers, and Spinach over Fried Rice

Servings : 2

Preparation Time :0:30

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

---------- ---------- ----------------------------------------

1 tablespoon canola oil -- divided

1/2 large red bell pepper -- 1" x 1/2" strips

1 small sweet onion -- halved lengthwise then sliced 1/2" thick

1 large garlic clove -- minced

6 ounces fresh spinach -- chop coarsely

1/8 – 1/4 teaspoon hot pepper flakes, to taste

10 ounces cooked shrimp -- peeled, deveined

1 large egg

1 large egg white

1 tablespoon soy sauce

3/4 teaspoon sesame oil

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon minced ginger

3/4 cup basmati rice – (precooked measurement); cooked, chilled

1 large green onion -- chopped (both white and green parts)

Drizzle one-half tablespoon of canola oil in a large nonstick skillet. Heat over a medium-high flame and add bell pepper. Sauté for one minute. Add the onion slices and garlic and continue to sauté for two minutes. Add the fresh spinach and hot pepper and stir for another minute or until spinach is almost wilted. Add shrimp, cook for 2-3 minutes until heated through. Place mixture in a large plate and cover to keep warm.

Beat the eggs well, and then mix in the soy sauce, ginger, sesame oil, and black pepper. Set aside. Drizzle the remaining oil into the skillet and place over medium-high heat. When hot, add the cold rice. Cook and stir for 4 minutes, then add the chopped green onion. Continue to cook, stirring, until rice is starting to brown (about 3 more minutes). Push the rice to the edge of the skillet, making a clear area in the center. Pour egg mixture in the middle of the skillet and scramble. When egg is done, mix in the rice from the perimeter.

Spoon fried rice onto plate and top with shrimp mixture.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Per serving: 551 Calories (kcal); 14g Total Fat (2g saturated); (23% calories from fat); 44g Protein; 60g Carbohydrate; 370mg Cholesterol; 1003mg Sodium

NOTES :

A wonderfully quick, one-skillet dinner.

Be certain to cook the rice at least two hours to a couple of days in advance-- it must be cold!

Skinny Meatloaf!

I have officially turned into a blob. I spent the entire day yesterday working on a jigsaw puzzle! Granted, it’s a difficult one (1,000 pieces, and they are all about the size of my thumbnail for heavens’ sake) but this is better than watching Brady Bunch reruns on television, although I’m not accomplishing much.

Jack is continuing to become proficient in the kitchen. One thing which he does which I never could quite get the hang of is to wash dishes and stack the dishwasher as he goes along with the meal preparations. Of course, his cleaning comes at the expense of efficiency. It takes much longer to make the meal. I watched in frustration last night as the potatoes were boiling over and the carrots were cooking into mush as he insisted on scrubbing a black mark on the counter made by a pan a few minutes earlier. I didn’t bring this up, though, because I found it is very easy to overwhelm him in the kitchen. A lot of things to do, and to keep your eye on, and he’s not accustomed to this. So we ate over-cooked carrots and he had to clean the burner (after it cooled), but the counter sparkled!

I am into Day 17 and cannot wait to be using both legs again.

On Sunday, for dinner, we have pizza. With the exception of when holidays fall on this day, we have had pizza on Sunday for years. I can throw together a double recipe of pizza crust in the Kitchen Aid rather easily and freeze half for the following week. I have tried premade crusts and frozen crusts and making crusts out of frozen bread dough but we haven’t yet located an easier alternative which meets our standards. Last Sunday, I thought that it would be easier to put the crust together in the food processor (the Kitchen Aid is stored under-counter, the food processor is always on the counter) and found, on an internet search, a food-processor pizza crust marked at “the best”. Obviously, the author hasn’t made many because it wasn’t good at all. Very yeasty, but otherwise tasteless.

This past Sunday I suggested ordering a pizza, but that was met with the usual (“it won’t be as good as yours” and “it will be loaded with fat”) protests. So the late afternoon found us in the kitchen, me sitting with my leg propped on pillows on an adjacent chair, Jack learning how to use the Kitchen Aid. Since the oven would be on already, I also chose this as a time to also bake a loaf of bread (dough which I had frozen a few weeks ago and had been thawing and slow-rising in the refrigerator) and make a couple of meatloaves from two pounds of ground turkey which needed to be used.

As he remarked later—“I can’t believe we spent 3 hours in the kitchen!”. Yes, dear, it takes time…

The bread baked without a hitch, the meatloaves turned out great (they smelled great, we didn’t have the opportunity to try any until Monday night), we had a good pizza and another crust is in the freezer for next week, and my “neatnik” husband showed me that it is possible to make dough in the KA without getting a floury haze all over the kitchen! Of course, I’ll never be able to duplicate that unless he helps by doing all of the prep work. It’s much too difficult to do it all and be neat at the same time. That’s my opinion and I’m sticking with it…

Here is the meatloaf recipe. It was reviewed by Jean on the Cuisine at Home website forum and I agree that it is delicious. The meatloaf recipe itself was altered from its original in that I used all ground turkey (instead of a combo of ground sirloin, pork, and turkey), added some canola oil to keep the meat moist, played around with the seasonings, etc. However, the sweet and sour ketchup topping which was baked into the meatloaf made it outstanding. A mixture of ketchup, mustard, and brown sugar added a sweet tangy flavor to the meat. I baked it on a rack, which allowed the excess fat to drip away. After removing the meat from the rack, I added some chicken stock to the pan drippings and cooked them, then strained the mixture into a jar. The next evening, when we reheated the meatloaf, I skimmed the fat from the top of the drippings, added a little more stock, and thickened it with flour for a tasty gravy.

Skinny Meatloaf with Sweet & Sour Ketchup

Serving Size : 8

Amt Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

----- ---------- -------------------------------------

1 large egg

1 large egg white

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1/3 cup grated onion

1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram -- crumbled

20 ounces lean ground turkey

1 cup whole wheat bread crumbs -- (fresh- whirl slices of bread in food processor)

1/3 cup ketchup

1 tablespoon prepared yellow mustard

2 teaspoons brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350F. With cooking spray, coat a baking pan and a rack which fits into it. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk the egg and egg white until well combined. Add the remaining ingredients through the marjoram, add salt and pepper if desired, and mix well. Add the ground turkey and the bread crumbs and mix lightly until just combined. Shape the mixture into an oval loaf (about 2 to 2-1/2" high) and place on the rack.

Combine the ketchup, mustard, and brown sugar and coat the top of the meatloaf with the entire mixture.

Place the meatloaf into the oven and bake for 50 minutes to an hour, until the interior temperature reaches 160F. Let rest for at least 5 minutes after removing from oven.

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Per serving: 199 Calories (kcal); 8g Total Fat (2g saturated); (36% calories from fat); 18g Protein; 15g Carbohydrate; 69mg Cholesterol; 314mg Sodium

Food Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 2 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 5 1/2 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates

NOTES : Next time try adding grated carrot, chopped mushrooms

Jack loves meatloaf and I only make it once or twice a year (it's not something that I normally even think of making and, besides, there are so many other recipes in my file). We had last night's meatloaf with mashed garlic potatoes and buttered (soft!) carrots. He sighed and said that it was “the perfect meal”. Silly man! I’m glad that he likes it, though, since there are 3 more dinners and another lunch-sized portion or two left in the freezer.

Anzac Biscuits

Day 11 of immobility. I am not getting used to it! The recipes in my laptop are organized and arranged into categories and subcategories, I have deleted all junk e-mails since 2004 (why was I keeping these things?), other e-mails have been sorted and saved (in files) or deleted. I feel incredibly organized. So why am I so frustrated about this down-time? Because I can’t move! Crutches are evil. I am not a very coordinated person, and these things are not easily maneuverable. I want to walk up the stairs on my feet. I want to go outside into this sunny, yet cold, day and run. I love Christmas, and the tree in the living room is beautiful, but I want it and the other decorations to be packed up and back in the attic. As Jack says, it will be Christmas until March.

Cooking with my husband is a continuing adventure. He is so much better at it than I had anticipated, but it takes so long. And there are a few reasons why which I simply cannot break him of. First, measuring. I’ve told him that, unless we’re baking, exact measurements aren’t really necessary. Still, I ask him to pour 1½ cups of water into the glass measuring cup and, 2 minutes later, he is still at it. Dribbling water in from a spoon and staring at the red line at eye-level until the water level is precisely at the mark. Spoonfuls of spices are carefully leveled off. Measuring cups of sugar are exactly to the top rim. I realize that he is still a beginner at this, but he isn’t paying attention when I say that this kind of preciseness is not necessary when making meatloaf!

When we were kids my brother loved Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, as we all did. He is now a good cook but this was the only thing he made for the longest time. I remember being in the kitchen once, he was about 14 years old, and watched as he would measure exactly 4 cups of water into the saucepot in which to cook the macaroni. I told him that he just had to fill the pot about 2/3 full since it wasn’t necessary to have the exact amount of water in there; the macaroni just needed to be able to cook in enough water so they could dance around as they boiled. He looked at me and said “then why don’t they tell you that? The directions say 4 cups of water for a reason, and that’s what I’m doing.” He wasn’t about to screw up his lunch just because his older sister told him to use the wrong amount of water!

Back to the present.

Yesterday, Jack cleaned the house very nicely and my friend Jenni arrived with food. Lots of food! Turkey meatballs, turkey chili, African chicken, frozen multigrain waffles, frozen challah French toast—all things which she made for us. We will have the chicken tonight over whole wheat couscous. I can hardly thank her enough. Yes, Jack and I are doing well enough in the kitchen on our own, but it takes so long to put together meals (with exact measurements!) and these wonderful food-gifts are so appreciated. She also picked up a couple of Trader Joe’s quick bread/ muffin mixes for convenient baking. How can I thank her enough???

My friends are so very good. :) Four days after I broke my leg, I received a box of comforting Godiva hot chocolate mixes from Jan, a friend who lives in California. I have been drinking this stuff steadily since I need the calcium in the milk to repair and strengthen my bones…

And then, after Jenni left, I opened a large box from my parents which arrived earlier that afternoon. Anzac biscuits, peanut butter chocolate brownies, cranberry-orange scones, granola, chocolate, coffee, a puzzle, magazines, and a pair of nice stretchy wide-leg pants to fit over this aircast I am forced to wear. And a beautiful card which my niece Arianna made and enclosed.

I am so lucky! Yes, I’m in pain (still! when does it stop???) and I have to get upstairs by pulling myself backward up the steps on my butt and I can’t run and I can’t do most of the things which I enjoy but to have such wonderful parents and great friends just takes my breath away.

Okay, I’m not going to be posting a new recipe today, but I am going to share this Cooking Light recipe for Anzac Biscuits, which is the one which Mom used and I have made several times. It’s is Australian in origin, and “biscuits” in Australia are “cookies” to us here in the States. Chewy with oats, moist with coconut (Mom also added mini-semisweet chips and chopped walnuts), these are perfect with ice cold (calcium rich) milk and they are also great to mail because they are not delicate and will travel well.

ANZAC BISCUITS

1 cup regular oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons water
1/4 cup stick margarine or butter, melted
2 tablespoons golden cane syrup (such as Lyle's) or light-colored corn syrup
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 325°.

Combine first 5 ingredients in a bowl. Add water, margarine, and syrup; stir well. Drop by level tablespoons 2 inches apart onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 325° for 12 minutes or until almost set. Remove from oven; let stand 2 to 3 minutes or until firm. Remove from pans; cool completely on wire racks.

Note: We found these cookies were much better when made with golden cane syrup. Cane syrup is thicker and sweeter than corn syrup and can be found in supermarkets, in cans, next to the jellies and syrups or in stores specializing in Caribbean and Creole cookery.

Yield: 2 dozen (serving size: 1 cookie)

CALORIES 98 (27% from fat); FAT 2.9g (sat 1g,mono 0.9g,poly 0.7g); PROTEIN 1.2g; CHOLESTEROL 0.0mg; CALCIUM 11mg; SODIUM 59mg; FIBER 0.6g; IRON 0.6mg; CARBOHYDRATE 17.3g

Cooking Light, OCTOBER 1998

By the way, the above nutritional informatioin indicates "serving size: 1 cookie".

Yeah, right. :)

I've Returned-- with Garlic Lime Shrimp

I has been three months since I last posted here and I’ve had to jog my memory a bit by returning to my digital photos file. It’s odd to be able to scroll through so many days in a few minutes. Still-green leaves on the trees, the first snowfall, a party where most guests are in short-sleeves, another where most are wearing sweaters, and so on. My parents had an 8mm movie camera for many years as I was growing up and it wasn’t used very often, so as a result each reel contained several months’ worth of occasions all bumped against one another. The labels read something like:

”xmas67/snowdays68/easter68/girlsbirhdays68/camp68/thanksgiving68/xmas68/easter69/gregsfirstcommunion69…”

Each event or occasion rated a minute or so in length and each reel, when we watch them now, gives me the sense of being pulled through my past at a very brisk pace. And why on earth didn’t someone tell me how geeky those eyeglasses looked in third grade?

Anyway, there really was so much worth noting during those three months that I just cannot do it all.

So I begin with today, Sunday 20 January 2008.

A week ago I missed a step and, because it was the middle of the night and I was very sleepy, I fell like a brick onto my foot. This is my first broken bone and I certainly hope that it will be my last. It was, according to the orthopedic surgeon, a clean break with no complications. Then how the he** much more does a “complicated break” hurt? I can’t imagine anything being more painful.

To be honest, I’m very disappointed in myself. I thought I was made of much stronger stuff. I should have immediately assessed the situation, crawled to the laundry room where I reached up and got a roll of packing tape and scissors from a shelf, a wad of newspapers from the recyclable bin, and fashioned myself a leg/ankle support of rolled newspaper. Then I would gently wake Jack who, after he had a nice, hot cup of tea (yes, I would have made myself one as well), would drive me to the ER.

Instead, I screamed and cried like a baby. And then broke out in a cold sweat and shook uncontrollably. Now really, how brave was that? So much for the Red Cross classes and the Girl Scout first-aid badges…

This past week has been very interesting. I broke a bone in the lower part of my fibula, in the ankle area, and one on the side of my foot. As a result, from below my knee to my toes, I am now wearing something called an “aircast”. This looks like a boot which astronauts wear, plastic and foam and straps and a little pump that inflates each side to provide support. So for the next week, until I see the doctor, I have to use crutches and not use the foot.

Jack is now taking care of cooking and cleaning. I was talking to my nephew yesterday and mentioned that his Uncle was learning how to do everything. Steve, in his late 20’s and a newlywed, was amused. “You mean Uncle Jack can’t cook anything?,” he asked. In defense of my husband, I had to explain that, while Steve grew up with 2 working parents and his father did a lot of the cooking, and now Steve makes dinner when his wife works later than he does, that was not something which Jack has ever done. His father’s foray into cooking was flipping burgers and steaks on the charcoal grill. Jack did make his own meals before we met, but that was 25 years ago. Cooking has since been my job. I not only enjoy it but, more often than not, I have the time to spend preparing 3 meals a day. As a result, I am woefully unprepared for this.

Our first couple of days after the fall featured leftovers from a chicken I roasted earlier in the week, and soup which I made the previous day from the chicken carcass. Then rigatoni with mini meatballs which I had made in November and frozen the leftovers. Unfortunately, after that we were on our own. One friend suggested a garlic-lime shrimp recipe which we served with steamed broccoli and rice was very easy and almost too delicious considering how quickly it was put together. Another easy meal was tilapia fillets sprinkled with Penzeys Trinidad seasoning, pan-sautéed, served with microwaved baked potatoes and steamed spinach. Another night was spaghetti with my Mom’s sauce (which, fortunately, she had given us several jars of when we visited at Christmas) and a salad.

Unfortunately today, Sunday, is Pizza Night. Last week I had taken dough from the freezer on Saturday night and placed it in the refrigerator to thaw; we used this for dinner on Sunday (I sat at the kitchen table, chopping veggies, while Jack rolled out the dough, made a simple red sauce, and assembled it). Alas, tonight I have to dig up a recipe for a quick food-processor dough. And that is what I should be doing now.

Following is the shrimp recipe which we used and give a big ol’ thumbs up to:

Garlic Lime Shrimp
May 2004

Canadian Living

1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced [you can use more, of course - I almost always do!]
1 tbsp grated lime rind
1/4 tsp each cayenne pepper and salt
1 3/4 lb large raw shrimp (about 50), peeled and deveined
1/4 cup white wine or chicken stock
2 tbsp lime juice
3 green onions, chopped
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander (cilantro)

In large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium heat; fry garlic, lime rind, cayenne pepper and salt, stirring occasionally, until aromatic, about 2 minutes.

Add shrimp; fry, stirring often, until slightly pink, about 3 minutes.

Add wine and lime juice; cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until shrimp are bright pink and almost no liquid remains, about 3 minutes. Toss with onions and coriander.

[I serve this with rice.]

Makes about 4-main course servings. Per piece: about 16 cal, 2 g pro, trace total fat, trace carb, 0 g fibre, 29 mg sodium, 18 mg chol. % RDI: 1% calcium, 2% iron, 1% vit. A, 2% vit. C.

My notes:

I used 12 ounces of shrimp for the two of us, but kept the remaining ingredients as is for a bit more sauce.

And I apologize, but very few food photos will be posted until I’m back in the kitchen on my own!

It's been a while...

almost 3 months since I've last posted! To say that I've been busy seems a tad inadequate, though. :)

I recently fell and broke a bone in my lower leg and one in my foot and am now forced to sit all day long wearing a heavy, bulky boot-cast thing. Allllll dayyyy looooooong... it has been only a few days and I'm going crazy! But there are some other things to clear up before I can resume my posting here. I will return very soon. ;)