Movie Night!

It was Sunday night and Bill and I were planning on watching a movie. Unfortunately, I hadn't made it to the grocery store yet. I was determined to not spend money but wanted to have a fun movie night meal for us to share. After pursuing some recipes and looking through my poorly stocked pantry, I decided on making these oven fries. We loved them! I made different sauces to go with them. I liked that the fries  were a little lighter and less greasy than regular fries but had a great texture and lots of flavor.

4 large Russet baking potatoes
cooking spray
1  egg whites
1 tablespoon of Cajun seasoning
Sauce ingredients

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Slice your potatoes into one inch slices or however thick or thin you like fries. The thinner you slice it, the less time it will take to cook.
Place with wax paper ( I was out and used foil) on a cookie sheet.Spray wax paper with cooking spray (or drizzle with olive oil). Combine egg whites and Cajuns seasoning in a bowl. Coat the potatoes with egg whites and Cajuns seasoning . Place the coated potatoes onto the prepared baking sheet and spread them out into a single layer. It is okay if they touch. Sprinkle with sea salt. Bake for 40 minutes or until fries are crispy. Turn them every them three times (every 10 minutes or so). Serve with special sauces.

Fiesta Ranch:

Cajun seasonings, ranch, an 1/8 teaspoon of hot sauce (when I use this dip I melt cheese on top of the fries and you can even add bacon).

Basil:

Mayonnaise, garlic, lemon juice, and basil

Other ideas: Dijon and mayonnaise, ketchup and mayonaise.

Mexican Chocolate Pudding

This recipe comes for the New York Times and it is phenomenal.If I had known this pudding had tofu in it, I probably wouldn't have given it a chance. I am so glad I did! This pudding is extremely easy and fun for company. Just don't tell them what's in it before they have a bite!) 

I tweaked the original recipe just a little bit. Here it is:

1/4 cup sugar

1 pound silken tofu

8 ounces high-quality bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, melted ( I used Ghiradelli semisweet chocolate chips)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1  teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon chili powder, or more to taste

Chocolate shavings (optional).

1. In a small pot, combine sugar with 3/4 cup water; bring to a boil and cook until sugar is dissolved, stirring occasionally. Cool slightly.

2. Put all ingredients except for chocolate shavings in a blender and purée until completely smooth, stopping machine to scrape down its sides if necessary. 

Divide among 4 to 6 ramekins and chill for at least 30 minutes.  I covered them with foil before placing in the refrigerator. If you like, garnish with chocolate shavings before serving.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings.

Is white bread such a crime?

Lately I have really gotten into making bread! I found this simple recipe for white bread and I've been adapting it all week. I was trying to stretch the grocery budget so I made a simple chicken salad to go along with the bread. Bill asked if we can have this meal a lot.  Yes and it's extremely cheap and easy! You just have to have time to allow the bread to rise for an hour.

I know white bread is getting a bad rap these days, but you just have to try this. I've switched the recipe to wheat flour too. They are both great but the white bread is still the winner.
Recipe from Smitten Kitchen
Yield: One sandwich loaf
1 cup  milk, warmed
1 1/8 teaspoons (half of one envelope i.e active dry yeast
1 tablespoon (13 grams or 1/2 ounce) sugar
1 teaspoon table salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted plus additional for greasing pan
2 cups  unbleached all-purpose flour
Whisk yeast into warmed milk and set aside for 5 minutes. Whisk together yeast mixture, sugar, salt and butter. Beat in flour with a wooden spoon  half at a time to make a smooth batter. Beat until smooth. I was surprised that this only took 2-3 minutes by hand.
Butter a 9×5x3-inch loaf pan. Pour batter into pan and cover with a piece of buttered plastic wrap and let rise for forty minutes. 20 minutes before it is done rising, preheat your oven to 400°F and remove the plastic wrap.
Place bread in oven and reduce temperature to 375°F. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until accelerometer reads 210°. Bread should be golden brown on the top

Chicken Salad
They key to good chicken salad is poached chicken and good mayonnaise ( but not too much!)
How to poach chicken:

Poached chicken is so tender!
Place chicken breasts in bottom of a small  pot (the thicker the pot the better.) Try to have them cover the bottom of the pot in one layer. Cover chicken with broth or water. Add herbs. I used tarragon, chives, salt, and pepper. Use whatever seasoning you enjoy
Bring to a boil, then  reduce heat (low) and simmer. Partly cover and barely simmer for 10 more minutes. Turn off heat , and allow chicken to remain in hot water for 15 minutes on the stove.

Cut or shred chicken. I typically shred it for soups and cut it into thin chunks for chicken salad.

Chicken Salad:
2 chicken breasts
1/4 cup of celery or a granny smith apple
2 tablespoon (or more depending on if salad is too dry) of Helmsman's original  mayonnaise. Trust me here. Good mayonnaise makes a difference.

Salt and Pepper

Barbecue Pizza

This is so easy and makes some of the best barbecue I've had (and I am from Memphis!) I've noticed that Boston butts go on sale a lot at Kroger, so I try to buy them and freeze them. The barbecue freezes great and makes for Bill approved barbecue nachos. This recipe makes a lot of barbecue for at least two meals!

• 1 boneless pork butt
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground red pepper
• 1 (12 oz) bottle of Chipotle marinade ( I prefer Lawrys but off brands work fine too).
• 1 (18 oz) bottle of Barbecue sauce (Corky's is my favorite)
• Pizza Dough (use a mix, make it homemade, or buy a fresh ball of dough)
• Mexican cheese
• Can of pizza sauce
• 1 tablespoon of wine or vinegar
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of basil

Barbecue:

Rub salt and pepper on pork. Place in crock pot and pour marinade and sauce over the pork. ***If making pizza reserve 1/4 cup of barbecue sauce. Cover and cook on high for 6-7 hours or until pork is tender and shreds easily. Remove pork and shred. Remove 1 cup of sauce and stir the shredded pork in the sauce.

Pizza: 

Make pizza dough as directed. Pour pizza sauce into pan. Add 1 tbs of wine, 1 tbs of sugar, and 1 tsp of basil. You may want to use less sugar if you have a sweeter sauce. These additions aren't necessary but make for a yummy sauce.

Cook pizza dough. Spread sauce  and add barbecue on top. I usually add some of  the barbecue sauce to the barbecue before I put it on the pizza. If your barbecue is frozen, thaw before putting it on the pizza. Cover with cheese. Sprinkle the top with sea salt.

Bake until dough is golden and cheese is melted. Enjoy!

Mango Fish Tacos

For a while now I have wanted to start a simple cooking blog. Lately I have been spending way too much time reading recipes, inventing recipes, and thinking about how I can improve tonight's dinner. While I love the beautiful cooking blogs that are filled with funny anecdotes and gorgeous mouthwatering pictures of every ingredient, my blog is going to be pretty simple. With graduate school and adjusting to marriage, I probably shouldn't even be blogging! All that said most of these recipes really can be done with little time and on a budget. You just have to plan for them!

                                               

Bill and I went to Cancun for our honeymoon and ever since we have been craving "real" Mexican food! One thing I realized is that they don't really use a lot of flour tortillas or cheese. Everything tasted so fresh!

I made these for Bill and he liked them so much I decided to make them for my parents when they came to visit this week! We enjoyed them again.

Mango Fish Tacos

• Corn tortillas
• Olive oil
• Mangoes
• Cilantro
• Sliced Cabbage (slaw mix by the lettuce)
• Brown Sugar
• Ranch Dressing
• 2 Limes
• Tilapia
• Cajun Seasoning
• Cumin
• Garlic
• Crisco Cooking Spray
• Butter
• Vinegar

Fish: Make the marinade for your fish by combining, six tablespoons of olive oil and two tablespoons of lime juice, one tablespoon of lime zest, 2 teaspoons of cumin, and 1 teaspoon of minced garlic. Place fish in marinade (you can do this earlier in the day but don't have to). Wash mangoes and cut into cubes. Melt two tablespoons of butter in your skillet. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook mangoes on medium high heat until tender (ten minutes). Place fish ( make sure you baste the sides with the fresh cilantro and lime) in skillet and shake 1 teaspoon of Cajun seasoning on fish to blacken. Place corn tortillas (8) on cookie sheet and spray with cooking spray. Place in oven for ten minutes until small bubbles form on tortilla.

Cook fish for seven minutes or until flakey. Flip sides half way through. Break fish when done cooking into pieces.

Slaw:  1 1/2 tablespoons of ranch, 2 teaspoons of vinegar and 1 tablespoon of brown sugar. Whisk together and then combine 1 1/2 cups of slaw mix.

Assemble tacos: Place fish and mangoes on tortillas. Then place a tablespoon of slaw and sometimes I put a little bit of salsa on top.

Enjoy! I served this with Mexican rice (added in frozen peas) and fresh salsa and chips.