The Choice: Brazilian Chicken, a Delicious Do-over

How's your summer?  I hope wherever you are, you are staying nice and cool, relaxed, and are enjoying some good food.  If you're like me, you're taking some time to enjoy some good books, too.

We had the most uneventful Fourth of July, ever.  It's been so doggone hot these last two weeks.  We did have a teensy bit of an adventure when we lost power for about thirty-six hours following that crazy storm last weekend; although we spent a good chunk of last Saturday in Washington DC to meet up with friends who were in town to attend a wedding.  We had planned to go back to D.C. for the July 4 holiday and take in a baseball game, and possibly even the fireworks, but decided to stick close to home.  It was like a typical Saturday, really; I went to the grocery store, we took in a movie (The Amazing Spider-Man.  Joe didn't like it much, because he thought it was just a re-mash of the original one from ten years ago, when Tobey Macguire acquired a spider bite and suddenly developed incredible superpowers. The rest of us thought it was great.  Don't listen to those whiners who try to tell you it's old hat.) and we cooked hot dogs and brats on the grill.  We did manage to put on our own little private fireworks display in our driveway, though.

(I also tried making custard-style ice cream again, but I hadn't kept the ice-cream maker bowl in the freezer long enough, and we ended up having amazingly delicious milkshakes with our brats!)

On Sunday, since we thankfully had power back, I decided to take another go at the Brazilian Chicken Cutlets I couldn't seem to make properly last time I tried.  (Click here to find out why I decided to make them in the first place, and what Gabby was cooking for Travis in The Choice.)

I've had the recipe for a few years, and have made it on occasion; ever since Rachael Ray cooked it on her television talk show.

We interrupt this blog for a small trivia quiz:

Which Brazilian race car driver was a guest on the Rachael Ray Show and cooked this dish with her?
                a.  Tony Kanaan
                b.  Helio Castroneves
                c.  Rubens Barrichello
                d.  Gil de Ferran

Hint:  Rachael is a huge Dancing With the Stars fan.

It's Helio Castroneves, of course; and you can see the recipe AND a video of Rachael and Helio yukking it up in the kitchen here.  And if you saw my last "7 Quick Takes" post, you've seen a picture that I took of Helio a month or so after he won the famed Mirror Ball Trophy.  (And less than a year after that, he won the Indianapolis 500 for the third time.)  To those of you who couldn't care less, I apologize.  Back to what we're cooking...

Here's the recipe:

BRAZILIAN CHICKEN CUTLETS WITH RAW TROPICAL SAUCE

Ingredients:

8 to 10 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Zest and juice of 1 lemon, divided

1/2 cup (a large handful) parsley, chopped
A few dashes hot sauce
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 large, ripe mango, pitted and chopped
4 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1/2 medium red onion, chopped
1/4 cup (about a palmful) cilantro, chopped
Juice of 1 lime
1 cup flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
Few dashes nutmeg
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO), plus more as needed

Preparation:

Make a paste for the cutlets by placing the garlic into a bowl with a small pinch of salt. Using a spoon, mash the salt and garlic together into a paste. Add in the lemon juice, parsley, hot sauce and some freshly ground black pepper, and reserve.

Flatten the chicken breasts into cutlets by butterflying each piece. Open each breast up and pound them out by placing them into a large zipper bag one at a time with a small amount of water. Seal the bag, squeezing out as much air as you can. Pound the chicken with a small, cast iron skillet until it's evenly thin. As you finish each breast, place them into another large plastic zipper bag or mixing bowl. Once all the breasts are pounded out, add the garlic paste to the zipper bag or bowl and toss the chicken around to coat it evenly. Marinate for about 10 minutes.

While the chicken is marinating, prepare the raw sauce by combining the mango, plum tomatoes, red onion, cilantro, lime juice, some salt and freshly ground black pepper in a medium mixing bowl. Toss everything to combine and set aside until you're ready to serve.

Yields: 4 servings

(Source:  Rachael Ray Show)

I made some slight changes to the recipe.  First, I made the garlic paste in the food processor rather than trying to mash by hand.  I marinaded the chicken in a dish instead of a plastic bag.  Rachael is not the Food Police.  She wouldn't care.

I tried to make the raw tropical sauce--it's more like a salsa, really; it could even pass for a salad--as the recipe directed; the only difference was using local tomatoes I picked up from the Farmer's Market instead of Romas.  I even tried cutting the mango the way Rachael suggests, and it worked fairly well.  AND my mango was nicely ripe; in fact, I used two of them.  (When you cut a mango, quite a bit of the flesh clings to the seed.  I particularly enjoyed nibbling some of the extra mango from the pit.  Did you know I used to despise mangoes?  I can't imagine why.  Now I love them..)

What do you think of my lame attempt at still life photography?

I had planned on making bread crumbs with some of my leftover gluten free bread, but I didn't get around to it.  Instead I just dipped the chicken in my favorite gluten free breading before frying.

(Fitting name given that this post is inspired by The Choice, right?  This makes a great batter when you mix it with water; for this recipe I just dipped the chicken right in the mix like I would with flour.)

It was pretty hot out, but tolerable enough by evening to enjoy our meal outside.

Normally by the time I post something here I'm already reading the next book and planning my next meal; often I've already cooked it and everything.  Not so this time around, but I expect you'll see something from The Last Song in the near future.  That book has been calling my name.  Stay tuned!

The Lucky One: Turkey on Homemade Bread, Vanilla Custard Ice Cream

For my final (at least for now) project inspired by The Lucky One, I decided to prepare something that Logan often fixes for himself:  turkey sandwiches.  Except I'm sure Logan doesn't make his own bread.  For dessert we have custard-style ice cream, because Beth makes some for Logan one fine evening.

First, the turkey sandwiches; allow me to set the scene:  Logan standing in Beth's kitchen watching Beth prepare tacos for dinner.  He looks around, notices that her kitchen is much prettier than his own, and admires the way she expertly breezes about, gathering ingredients and dicing vegetables and such like.

"Need a hand?"
She shot him a skeptical look.  "Don't tell me that in addition to training dogs, fixing cars, and being a musician, you're an expert chef."
"I wouldn't go that far.  But I know my way around the kitchen.  I make dinner every night."
"Oh yeah?  What did you have last night?"
"Turkey sandwich on wheat.  With a pickle."
"And the night before?"
"Turkey sandwich on wheat.  No pickle."
She giggled.  "What was the last hot meal you cooked?"
He pretended to rack his brains.  "Uh...beans and franks.  On Monday."
She feigned amazement.  "I stand corrected.  How are you at grating cheese?"
"In that, I would consider myself an expert."
(The Lucky One, p. 127-128)

I decided to make a loaf of Joe's favorite bread: my mother-in-law's delicious molasses oat bread.  I'll give you her version first, and then mine that I adapted for my bread machine.

MOLASSES OAT BREAD

4 3/4 to 5 cups sifted all-purpose flour

2 cups quick-cooking rolled oats

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 packages active dry yeast

2 teaspoons salt

1 cup milk

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup shortening

1/4 cup light molasses

2 eggs

In large mixer bowl, combine 3 cups of the flour, the oats, brown sugar, yeast and salt.  In saucepan, combine milk, water, shortening and molasses.  Cook over low heat till warm, stirring to melt shortening.  Add molasses mixture with eggs to flour mixture.  Beat at low speed on electric mixer for 1/2 minute, scraping sides of bowl constantly.  Beat 3 minutes at high speed.  By hand, stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough.  Turn out on lightly floured surface and knead till smooth, 4 to 5 minutes.  Place in greased bowl, turning once, grease surface.  Cover and let rise till double, about 1 1/2 hours.  Punch down; turn out on lightly floured surface.  Divide dough in half.  Shape each into a loaf.  brush with a little water.  roll in additional rolled oats.  Place in two greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 5/8 inch loaf pans.  Cover and let rise till double, about 1 hour.  Bake in 350 oven for 40 to 45 minutes.  Makes two loaves.

MOLASSES OAT BREAD (BREAD MACHINE VERSION)

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup shortening

2 tablespoons molasses

1 egg

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons cup brown sugar

2 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour (I never sift)

1 cup rolled oats (either quick or regular; it doesn't really matter)

1 package (1 1/4 teaspoon) active dry yeast

In saucepan, combine milk, water, shortening, and molasses.  Cook over low heat till warm, stirring to melt shortening.  Add molasses mixture to bread pan; then add egg, salt, and brown sugar.  Add flour and oats; then add yeast last.  I like to make a little hollow at the top of my flour/oat pile for the yeast.  DO NOT STIR, THE MACHINE DOES THIS FOR YOU.  Set machine for white bread, medium crust.

Kneading...

This was the first time I made this using REAL milk and REAL eggs; because of Moe's allergies, I had always made it with Egg Replacer and rice or soy milk.  Now that he's allowed to have these things in breads and the like, I was able to use the real stuff, and boy what a difference it makes!  Joe says (and unfortunately since I'm on a gluten free diet I wasn't really able to sample it) it was the best loaf I've made yet.  Next time I might try substituting butter for the shortening to see if that makes it even better.  And someday, I might just try a gluten free version of this...maybe.

We don't normally use this type of bread for sandwiches; we just cut off hunks and eat them with dinner.  The bread was a little bit crumbly, but the general consensus was that it made for a fabulous sandwich.

(The supplies.  I had thought I would get some fancy-schmancy gourmet turkey, but Moe says that the packaged turkey cold cuts from Costco are his favorite.  Not pictured:  bacon.)

(Joe's sandwich.  The coleslaw is some that my mother-in-law's friend had made and brought to their house on Father's Day when we all had dinner together.  I think I want to get the recipe from her...)

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

One night after work, Logan stops in at Beth's house, and guess what she's preparing for them?  Yep--turkey sandwiches.  AND, she makes ice cream for dessert.  Hand-cranked, of course.  Just like Denise in The Rescue.

She dug out an electric mixer and a bowl, along with a measuring cup.  From the spice cabinet, she chose sugar, flour, and vanilla extract.  She added three cups of sugar and a cup of flour to the bowl and mixed it by hand, then put the bowl on the mixer.  Next, she beat in three eggs, [a quart of] half-and-half, and three teaspoons [uh, Nick, that would be one tablespoon, dude] vanilla extract before turning on the mixer.  Finally, she splashed in a bit of milk and poured the entire mixture into the cream can, put the can in the ice-cream maker, and surrounded it with crushed ice and rock salt.
(The Lucky One, p. 151-152)

Well, my ice cream maker is a newfangled electric one, complete with a freezable bowl so you don't even have to use ice or rock salt.  And normally if someone prepares something a certain way in one of Nick's books, I'll do my best to prepare it just like they do (except for Noah and Allie's crabs--one of these days I'll try that); this time, I opted to find a different recipe, because a.  If I put flour in my homemade ice cream, I can't eat it thanks to my gluten sensitivity; and b. Beth doesn't cook the eggs.  Even though the eggs we get are from happy free-roaming chickens that live on family farms and the chances of contracting salmonella from them are practically zero, I'm still a little bit squeamish of raw eggs.  I found a simple custard ice cream recipe online (and I doubled the recipe and used 2 cups milk, 2 cups cream, etc.):

VANILLA ICE CREAM (BASIC CUSTARD STYLE)

1 cup whole milk

·         1 cup heavy cream or 1 cup whipping cream

·         2 egg yolks

·         1/3 cup sugar

·         1 teaspoon real vanilla extract (not imitation!)

Directions:

1.  Beat eggs very well with a mixer, gradually add sugar beat until thick and lemon colored.

2.  Stir in milk and heat, stirring until thickened.

3.  Remove from heat and cool mixture.

4.  Add cream and vanilla, cover and chill mixture.

5.  Pour into ice cream maker and follow manufactures(sic) directions.

(Source:  Food.com)

(It was hard to tell when the egg mixture was thick enough.  For a while I was afraid I might have overcooked the yolks.)

(I know it's ready when the ice cream touches the top of the plastic dasher-mixer.)

(A little soft, almost milkshake-y, even after being in the freezer for a few hours; I think it's because my refrigerator coils badly needed cleaning and the freezer wasn't getting cold enough.  I cleaned the coils today--finally!  I hope that solves the problem...)

The verdict? Delicious.  Everyone says I should always make ice cream with eggs.  No problem.

I'm not sure what my next project will be; don't be surprised if my next post is a 7 Quick Takes.  I've got some more cool stuff to share with you.  After that?  Perhaps it will be bacon pancakes with ligonberries...or coconut cream cake...or breakfast burritos...and soon I want to make those Brazilian chicken cutlets again, and do it right this time.  Stay tuned!!

7 Quick Takes: Mussels and Short Ribs and Dancing With The Stars Contestants I've Seen In Person

--1--

First off, a disclaimer.  Some of the photos in this post aren't the greatest because I took them with my phone.  My old one.  I now have a new phone (longish story--you can read about that here) AND, I finally got my camera back after a month in the shop.  My future posts will have better photos, I promise.

So.

Joe and the boys, as always, cooked me a fancy dinner on Mother's Day.  They pulled out this cookbook

I took THIS photo just this morning, with my camera, not my phone...

and decided to cook mussels and short ribs.  So without further ado (now that it's almost Father's Day; good grief, I'm late posting this, sheesh):

--2--

Grill-Roasted Mussels

6 lb* (3 kg) mussels, well scrubbed and debearded (what the heck does THAT mean?)

1 cup (8 fl oz/250 ml) dry white wine

1/4 cup (2 oz/60 g) unsalted butter

2 cloves garlic, minced

Leaves from 1 bunch fresh flat-leaf (Italian) parsley, chopped

Prepare a CHARCOAL or GAS grill for DIRECT grilling over HIGH heat.

Divide the mussels between 2 large, heavy cast-iron frying pans,* discarding any that fail to close to the touch.

CHARCOAL:  Place the pans over the hottest part of the fire.  Cover the grill and cook the mussels until they open, 3-5 minutes, stirring the mussels occasionally with tongs.  GAS*:  Place the pans directly over the heat elements.  Cover the grill and cook the mussels until they open, 3-5 minutes, stirring the mussels occasionally with tongs.

Transfer the mussels to warmed individual bowls, discarding any mussels that failed to open.  In a small flameproof saucepan, combine the wine, butter, and garlic.  Place the pan n the grill rack and swirl until the butter is melted.  Stir in the parsley.  Pour the wine mixture over the mussels, dividing evenly.  Set out a couple of empty bowls for spent shells.

(from Williams-Sonoma's Essentials of Grilling:  Recipes and Techniques for Successful Outdoor Cooking, p. 239)

*I think they halved the recipe and only got 3 lbs, and only used one pan.  We poured the mussels into one big serving platter and everyone dug in.  Oh, and we have a gas grill, not a charcoal one.

--3--

Korean-Style Short Ribs

1/4 cup (2 fl oz/60 ml) soy sauce*

3 tablespoons rice vinegar

3 tablespoons dry sherry (we didn't have any so I helped them choose a red wine to use instead)

3 tablespoons Asian Sesame oil*

1 1/2 tablespons peeled and grated fresh ginger

1 1/2 tablespoons honey

1/3 cup (1 1/2 oz/45 g) sesame seeds, toasted*

3-4 lbs (1.5-2 kg) beef short ribs, crosscut flanken style*

Lettuce Leaves

In a shallow, nonreactive dish just large enough to hold the meat in a single layer, stir together the soy sauce, vinegar, sherry, sesame oil, ginger, honey, and about 1/4 cup (1 oz/30 g) of the sesame seeds.  Add the ribs and turn to coat all sides.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or for up to 24 hours, turning occasionally.  Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before grilling.

Prepare a grill for DIRECT grilling over HIGH heat.  Oil the grill rack.  Remove the meat from the marinade, reserving the marinade.  Grill the ribs over the hottest part of the fire (for charcoal) or directly over the heat elements (for gas), turning once and brushing with the marinade for up to 5 minutes before the ribs are done, until nicely charred and cooked to your liking, 6-10 minutes per side for medium rare.  Sprinkle the ribs with the remaining sesame seeds and serve with the lettuce.

*We made some substitutions:  Gluten free tamari rather than soy sauce, canola oil instead of sesame (Moe is allergic), and Joe made Moe a separate marinade without sesame seeds.  We didn't have any dry sherry so I helped them pick out a nice red wine they could use.  And the part about "crosscut flanken style?"  They couldn't find anything like that.  Just plain old regular-cut short ribs will do; I think they just had to cook them just a tad bit longer.
(Adapted from Essentials of Grilling, p. 92)

Of course, the asparagus is the fresh, local variety! 

Joe is the grill-meister.

--4--

Before I started blogging and before I knew about Facebook and Twitter, I was really into Oprah's Book Club, and wasted many hours taking part in online discussions of her selections.  Now that Oprah has moved on to other things (I'm still miffed that she never had Nicholas Sparks on her show.  But hey, Anderson Cooper did; yay, Anderson!) I figured her book club had gone down with her.

Guess what?  Oprah's Book Club is back, and last week I read her latest selection, Wild by Cheryl Strayed.  Yesterday over at Musings of a Catholic Mom I posted my own review of sorts; check it out!

--5--

And while you're on my other blog, you might as well check out what I posted earlier this week, too.  Last Saturday I took some friends to see GAIVIN DEGRAW LIVE IN CONCERT (I just love typing that) and I still don't think I've quite come down off of Cloud Nine yet.  You know Gavin DeGraw..."Not Over You," "Sweeter"... you might have seen him this spring on Dancing With the Stars, although if you blinked you may have missed him because he got booted pretty early on, unfortunately.  So anyway he ROCKS and I got to see him and here's how I was feeling afterwards.  I took some blurry photos with my new phone; here's the best one:

And in case you missed Gavin on Dancing With the Stars, here he is on what was probably his best night (except maybe the crying part):

--6--

Speaking of people who've been on Dancing With the Stars (AND cried on the show; those evil producers try and squeeze as many tears out of them that they possibly can) and pictures I've taken of them, do you know who this is?

It's Helio Castroneves, the race car driver who won the Mirror Ball Trophy a few years back.  He also won the Indianapolis 500 three times.  I took this photo of him in Richmond back in 2008.  Yes, that's ME he's smiling at.  And why did I post this photo, you ask?  Well, do you know the name of the professional dancer who taught Helio to foxtrot and samba and quickstep and ultimately helped him become a Dancing With the Stars champion?  Julianne Hough.  Know what she's up to these days?  (Besides starring in the new movie Rock of Ages, which frankly looks like one I will most likely skip...) Right now she's down in Soutport,North Carolina, filming the next Nicholas Sparks movie, Safe Haven.  How about that? 

(Wouldn't you just love to see Nicholas Sparks on Dancing With the Stars?  I would vote for him every single week.  Hopefully they won't try and make him cry.)

--7--

Sooo....summer vacation is here and hopefully I'll have a little bit more time for this here little blog.  I've got a couple more projects up my sleeve from The Lucky One, and soon you'll probably see more Lemony Snicket and/or The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo posts.  Then we'll move on to The Last Song.

I sure hope Nick will have a new story out this fall.  I'm running out of books.

Have a great weekend, and be sure to give all the dads in your life big hugs.  Oh, and Nick...Happy Father's Day!

(Check out Jen's Conversion Diary blog for more Quick Takes!)

A Series of Fortunate Food: Bad Beginning, Good Pasta

Our kids are big fans of the Lemony Snicket stories, A Series of Unfortunate Events.  Joe read all of the books to them when they were small, and now we're making our way through the audiobooks.  We thought it would be fun to take a break from Nicholas Sparks and cook something from a story the whole family enjoys.  (And truthfully, with only three Nicholas Sparks books left on my shelf, I'll take any excuse to postpone the end of this blogging project...)

A Series of Unfortunate Events is made up of thirteen books, all tales of the three Baudelaire orphans and their never-ending quest to escape the clutches of the evil Count Olaf, who is their legal guardian but whose ultimate goal is to kill them and steal the enormous fortune the children's parents left when they died.  The first book in the saga, The Bad Beginning, tells of the fire in the Baudelaire mansion that killed Mr. and Mrs. B while their children, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny, were relaxing on a beach.  They are immediately taken to Count Olaf, their closest relative, and there the orphans' troubles get much worse.  Olaf is a lazy, self-centered, greedy villain who puts the children to work doing endless chores.  One day he orders them to cook a meal for him and ten or so of his cronies.  Olaf's neighbor, Justice Strauss, is a kind and gentle soul who helps them choose something to prepare and shop for the ingredients.  (If only Justice Strauss were their guardian, things would be oh so much better for the children...)  After browsing through Ms. Strauss's cookbooks, they choose Pasta Puttanesca.

From a street vendor, they purchased olives after tasting several varieties and choosing their favorites.  At a pasta store they selected interestingly shaped noodles...Then, at the supermarket, they purchased garlic, which is a sharp-tasting bulbous plant; anchovies, which are small salty fish; capers, which are flower buds from a small shrub and taste marvelous; and tomatoes, which are actually fruits and not vegetables as most people believe.  They thought it would be proper to serve dessert, and bought several envelopes of pudding mix.  Perhaps, the orphans thought, if they made a delicious meal, Count Olaf might be a bit kinder to them.  (The Bad Beginning, p.41-42)

(Side note:  I had planned to try to make pudding--from scratch, of course; but, well...it just didn't happen.  Another day, another blog post.)

I found this recipe from Rachael Ray:

PASTA PUTTANESCA

Ingredients:

·         2 tablespoons (2 turns around the pan) extra-virgin olive oil

·         4 to 6 cloves garlic, chopped

·         1 tin flat anchovy filets, drained

·         1 /2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

·         20 oil-cured black olives, cracked away from pit and coarsely chopped

·         3 tablespoons capers

·         1 (32-ounce) can chunky style crushed tomatoes

·         1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained

·         A few grinds black pepper

·         1/4 cup (a couple of handfuls) flat leaf parsley,, chopped

·         1 pound spaghetti, cooked to al dente (with a bite)

·         Crusty bread, for mopping

·         Grated Parmigiano Reggiano or Romano, for passing, optional

Directions:

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add oil, garlic, anchovies, and crushed pepper. Saute mixture until anchovies melt into oil and completely dissolve and garlic is tender, about 3 minutes: your kitchen never smelled so good! Add olives, capers, tomatoes, black pepper, and parsley. Bring sauce to a bubble, reduce heat, and simmer 8 to 10 minutes.  Toss sauce with cooked pasta.

(Source:  Food Network)

I was a little bit hesitant to make this, for two reasons:  1.  I'm afraid of anchovies.  Whenever we get an anchovy pizza (for Curly and Joe, definitely not for me) I can't stand to sit near whoever is eating it because of the smell.  But I made Caesar's Salad recently I couldn't taste them so I was willing to try.  2.  I don't like capers.  At all.  But I wanted to stay true to the recipe, so I used them anyway.

I varied Rachael's recipe slightly;  I used a can of diced tomatoes as well as some fresh ones instead of a big can of crushed.  I had curly parsley on hand, which tastes almost the same as flat-leaf.  And I decided to use Kalmata olives instead of plain old black ones.  And fresh pepper.  It just didn't seem right not to use it.

For the pasta, since the Baudelaire's selected "interestingly shaped noodles," I found some bowtie and spiral-shaped pasta to use instead of spaghetti.

That sure looks like an awful lot of anchovies...

I was afraid the anchovies and garlic would stink up the kitchen, but to my surprise it had a nice savory, nutty, garlicky aroma.

After putting the tomatoes, olives, capers, and crushed red pepper in the food processor, I transferred it all to the skillet with the anchovies and garlic.  It smelled delicious.

Curly wanted an Aqueous Martini with his Pasta Puttanesca.  That's just plain water and an olive served in a martini glass.  That beverage is featured in a later Lemony Snicket book, The Ersatz Elevator.

The verdict?  I didn't care for it much.  It must have been the capers.  Joe and the boys liked it, though; so I would say it was a success!

I got my camera back this week!  Soon (I hope) I'll be making some special sandwiches on homemade bread, and custard-style ice cream for dessert.  Stay tuned for my next post, the wonderful short ribs my family made for me on Mother's Day.  Without my camera, I couldn't help taking some photos with my phone.  (I haven't really looked at them, to tell you the truth, so I have no idea if they'll be any good.)

Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend, and Happy Pentecost Sunday!

The Lucky One: Taco Night!

 I still haven't seen the movie.  I haven't had time.  I'll probably wait until it's on DVD, which is what I always do when there's something out I want to see and I never get to the theater to watch it.  These days when we go to the movies it's a family affair, and we see the fast-paced action flicks.  (Most recently it was The Hunger Games.  And I wouldn't be surprised if you find us at Men in Black III in a couple of weeks.)

In my last post, I told you about how Logan has walked from Colorado to North Carolina to find a woman whose photo he found in Iraq.  When he finds Beth, he rents a house near hers and gets a job at her Nana's kennel.  When Nana goes away for a few days, Logan starts spending more of his time with Beth and her son, Ben.  (Good grief, I'm making Logan sound like some creepy stalker, aren't I?  He's really not like that, I promise...)

One evening when Logan is preparing to head home after work (the kennel is conveniently located on Nana's property, and of course Beth lives there) and saying that he really must be going but not really wanting to leave, Beth asks him would you like to stay for dinner and I hope you like tacos, and it's no trouble really, we'd love the extra company.  Well of course, tacos sound much better than what Logan would probably be eating at home, like a turkey sandwich or something boring like that. 

Beth uses pre-packaged taco seasoning, and OF COURSE there's no way I was going to do THAT!  Here's a recipe I like to use, from a blogger who calls herself "Not Rachael Ray."  It's almost as easy as opening up a packet of seasoning:

Homemade Taco Seasoning

1 Tbsp chili powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp paprika
1.5 tsp ground cumin
1/2 to 1 tsp sea salt (more or less to taste)
1 tsp black pepper

1. In small bowl, mix all ingredients and store in airtight container. (Or you can mix it together in the container you are going to store it in–just give it a shake!)

Silly me didn't take any pictures of the beautiful seasoning mix until after I added it to the meat...

 2. Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of this mixture plus 1/2 to 3/4 cup of water to one pound of cooked meat (of your choice). Simmer over medium heat, stirring frequently until there is very little liquid left in the pan.

3. Serve with your favorite taco topping! I recommend lots of sour cream, fresh salsa, guacamole,* lettuce, cheese and tomato.

(Source:  RachelCooks)

*I did not make guacamole for these; not this time.  I've grown to love guacamole, and I don't make it as often as I'd like.  Sometime I'll blog about that.

"Okay," she said, pulling another pot from under the stove, "let me whip up the salsa."
She poured in a large can of tomato sauce, then added the onions and peppers and a dash of Tabasco, along with salt and pepper.  She stirred them together and set the heat on medium.
"Your own recipe?"
"Nana's.  Ben doesn't like things too spicy, so this is what she came up with."
The Lucky One, p. 129

Every so often, I find myself talking to Nicholas Sparks while I'm cooking.  "I'm not too sure about this, Nick,"  I'll say skeptically.  "Are you sure this will actually work?  I mean, this is NOT the way I would make this."  I had my doubts about Mike's Creole burgers and Lexie's pasta sauce, and I told Nick as much.  Telepathically, at least.  When I make salsa, I take fresh tomatoes and onions and garlic and hot peppers and cilantro and lime juice and salt and pepper, and throw them all into the food processor.  This one seemed like it would be more like a jarred salsa like what you would buy in the grocery store, and a pretty bland one at that. 

Hmmm...a pretty boring-looking salsa...but how will it taste?

 As always, however, Nick was right and I was wrong.  It turned out great.  (OK, I will admit that I still prefer fresh salsa, but this one was MUCH better than a jar of Old El Paso.)

The toppings, including the leftover peppers and onions.  Not pictured:  sour cream.  Seems I'm always leaving something out of photos like these...

Beth puts the taco shells in the oven for a few minutes before serving them.  I've never done this, but from now on I will.  I've always found pre-packaged taco shells kind of chewy and stale, but heating them up makes them nice and crispy, and makes for a much better taco.

Delicious with some fresh asparagus from the Farmers' Market.

 Oh!  And do you know what else Beth, Logan, and Ben had with their tacos?  Beer for the grown-ups, and fresh-squeezed lemonade for Ben.  Lemonade is a no-brainer and you don't need a recipe; just mix a little lemon juice with about the same amount of sugar, and 3 or 4 times as much water.  You can adjust the amounts of each according to how you like it.  (Usually I use the store-bought lemon juice.  I decided to squeeze my lemons this time, but guess what?  I wanted more lemon juice so I supplemented with a little of the bottled kind.  Big mistake.  Next time I'll just squeeze more lemons.  Using fresh lemons makes a huge difference.)

Gluten free beer or lemonade?  Can't decide.  I'll have both.

I still don't have my camera back.  The camera store had sent it off to the repair center, and they called this week to tell me they had an estimate for the repair job.  An estimate.  After nearly four weeks.  It will probably be at least another two weeks before I finally get it back.  I've got one more project finished, though, and I will share that one with you in my next post:  PASTA PUTTANESCA a la Lemony Snicket!  After that, I'm planning (assuming I get my camera back sometime within the next few weeks) at least one more post from The Lucky One, in which once again I'll need my ice cream maker.  And just in time for summer, too!