Julie and Julia = Summer and Ina

Ina, I loved your show today. It was the Back to Basics episode with the shrimp scampi that was baked with the panko topping. I loved the food, but even more the table was perfect. You referenced Julia Child in your episode on how she didn't cook Italian food because it is too easy, and that is why you like it. I like you for it. Soon after the show I saw a preview for the new movie Julie and Julia and I feel we are Summer and Ina. It sounds horrible right? Well if they ever make a movie on my blog (no chance) I would like to play you, at least when you are in your 30's.

Hopefully when my husband is done with school I'll go to Paris and eat from all the cafe's and bakeries and try all of thier food. Summer in Paris? Barefoot in Paris? I'll bring my husband too, he is the largets consumer of my cooking and my biggest fan too.

Pan-Fried Onion Dip

When I was working as a waitress in Park City, UT I fell in love with Burgies' Tuna Melts. I know, the tuna melt, not that exciting. But for me, it still is one of my favorite grilled sandwiches of all time. The Burgies tuna melt was as follows. Tuna salad made with good mayo, diced onion, celery, and S&P. The homestyle wheat bread was buttered and grilled with swiss cheese. Once that was melted it was topped with the cold tuna, lettuce and tomato. It was grilled for just a bit more and served with their waffle fries. I still make it this way today.

I've been craving a tuna melt and wanted to make something special to serve with it tonight for dinner, so I tried out Ina's Pan Fried Onion Dip from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook. She claims it is ten times better than the original, and it is! I've had the Lipton Soup mix kind at least 100 times over the sports events held by my father over the years, but this one is special. I love that you can find the onion chunks throughout the dip. Give it a try!

Pan-Fried Onion Dip
2 large yellow onions
4 T unsalted butter
1/4 c vegetable oil
1/4 t ground cayenne pepper
1 t kosher salt
1/2 t ground black pepper
4 oz cream cheese
1/2 c sour cream
1/2 cup mayo

Cut the onions in half, and then slice them in to 1/8 inch thick half rounds. Heat the butter and oil in a large saute pan on medium heat. Add the onions, cayenne, salt, and pepper and saute for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 more minutes, until the onions are browned and caramelized. Allow the onions to cool.
Place the cream cheese, sour cream, and mayo in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat until smooth. Add the onions and mix well. Taste for seasonings. Serve at room temperature with crackers, chips, and veggies!

Corned Beef Hash, it's actually delicious!

Corned Beef Hash, Actually Delicious!
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
2-3 cups finely chopped, cooked corned beef
2-3 cups chopped cooked potatoes, preferably Yukon gold
Salt and pepper
Chopped fresh parsley

Heat olive oil over medium heat in a sautee pan. Add the onion and cook a few minutes, until translucent. Mix in the chopped corned beef and potatoes. Spread out evenly over the pan. Increase the heat to high or medium high and press down on the mixture with a metal spatula. Until the mixture browns. If nicely browned, use the spatula to flip sections over in the pan so that they brown on the other side. Press down again with the spatula. If there is too much sticking, you can add a little more oil to the pan. Continue to cook in this manner until the potatoes and the corned beef are nicely browned.
Remove from heat, stir in chopped parsley. Add plenty of freshly ground black pepper, and add salt to taste.
Serve with fried eggs over easy for breakfast with a dash of tobasco. I dip in ketchup.
Serves 4-6.

What Makes the Best Fajitas?

I'm somewhat of a purist when it comes to fajitas. The best fajitas I've had are from a restaurant near a mall in Arlington, I have no idea what the name is, I'll have to ask Cassie- we had so much fun there once that I actually wet my pants. Really, if you knew me, you'd know that is quite possible. Just because the fajitas sizzle on a platter does not mean that they'll be good. For example the mixed fajitas at Puerto Vallerta in Rexburg tasted like they were made with soy sauce. That's yucky.

So I offer you my list of requirements for a great fajita:

• Smokin' hot grill or cast iron pan. I use a cast iron grill pan to get the grill flavor, and I'm not shy about it.
• Steamed tortillas. When the fajita filling is about done I toss the tortillas on top.
• No fajita seasoning packet, salt and pepper or a grill seasoning will do.
• Skip the green bell peppers, go for the pasilla or "poblano" with onions and red bell peppers. Pasilla peppers are low in heat, lots of flavor, and cheaper in the winter. I think you'll love it. WinCo always has them.
• Fresh squeeze of lime. Always.
• Toppings allowed: Veggies, meat, romaine lettuce, sour cream, guacamole, and salsa.
• Toppings never allowed, but loved by my husband: beans and cheese. That's for burritos.
• Toppings considered: Grilled corn salsa, cabbage slaw, and that's about it.

Ina has the best chunky guacamole recipe, we made it tonight with our fajitas with a little tweaking. Here is our interpretation:

Ingredients
4 ripe Haas avocados
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
8 dashes Tabasco sauce
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 medium tomato, seeded and finely chopped

Directions
Halve and pit the avocados. While the avacado is in the peel make small vertical and horizontal slices to make a small dice then scoop the flesh into a bowl with a spoon. Add the lime juice, Tabasco, onion, garlic and salt and pepper; toss with a wooden spoon. Add the tomatoes and toss to combine. Adjust the seasonings as needed.

Make sure to cover it with plastic wrap placed directly on the guacamole. Great with chips or on your fajitas.

Roasted Tomatoes, Onions and Garlic

Roasted Grape Tomatoes, Onions, and Garlic

1 pints grape tomatoes

2 or 3 large onions
4 garlic cloves
Good olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Sea salt

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Remove the stem end of each onion and carefully slice off the brown part of the root end, leaving the root intact. Peel the onion. Stand each onion root end up on a cutting board and cut the onion in wedges through the root. Place the wedges in a bowl.
Toss the tomatoes lightly with olive oil on a sheet pan. Spread them out into one layer and sprinkle generously with kosher salt and pepper. Roast for 15 to 20 minutes, until the tomatoes and onions are soft.

Ina and Penne Carbonara

I think kids will eat veggies if the veggies taste great. Ina roasts practically everything including veggies, and they taste so great! Everything from broccoli with garlic to tomatoes and onions. This pasta dish uses her roasting recipes to make one great penne carbonara.

Whole Wheat Penne Carbonara
Ingredients
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound roasted grape tomatoes
2 whole sliced and roasted onions
4 cloves of roasted garlic
1 pound whole wheat penne
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 good handfuls freshly grated Parmesan
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil
12 thick slices pancetta or lean bacon, cut into chunky pieces
1 tsp crushed red pepper

Before you start cooking, it's important to get yourself a very large pan, or use a high-sided roasting pan so you can give the pasta a good toss.
Put a large pan of salted water on to boil. Add the penne to the pan and cook according to the package instructions.
To make your creamy carbonara sauce, put the egg yolks into a bowl, add the cream and half the Parmesan, and mix together with a fork. Season lightly with salt and pepper and set aside.
Heat a very large frying pan (a 14-inch is a good start - every house should have one!), add a good splash of olive oil and fry the pancetta or bacon with the crushed red pepper until dark brown and crisp. Add the roasted vegetables give everything a stir, so the vegetables is coated with all the lovely bacon-flavored oil.
It's very important to get this next bit right or your carbonara could end up ruined. You need to work quickly. When the pasta is cooked, drain it, reserving a little of the cooking water. Immediately, toss the pasta in the pan with the tomatoes and onions, bacon and lovely flavors, then remove from the heat and add a ladleful of the reserved cooking water and your creamy sauce. Stir together quickly. (No more cooking now, otherwise you'll scramble the eggs.)
While you're tossing the pasta and sauce, sprinkle in the rest of the Parmesan and a little more of the cooking water if needed, to give you a silky and shiny sauce. Taste quickly for seasoning. A handful of chopped parsley would also be delicious in the end.

Make it and Love it.

This blog is wonderful. A review of my sweet pork tacos was posted today. It just makes me so happy!

Tonights dinner is one that you will definitely make and love. So here's the deal, go work out today, run, walk, bike, do pilates, whatever you love. Be ready, this recipe has more calories than I've got baby cracker crumbles on my floor this morning. It's craveable. It's honestly one of 5 dishes I've created that I can say I absolutely crave.

Thanks "Make it and Love it"!

www.makeitandloveit.blogspot.com

Spinach Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing

Spinach Salad

Grilled Chicken
1 lb. fresh spinach
1/2 lb. fresh mushrooms sliced
3 hard boiled eggs, chopped
12 oz. bacon, cooked and crumbled (not too small)
½ red onion sliced thinly
Poppy seed dressing (recipe follows)

Removed stems from spinach and wash several times in cold water. Drain and refrigerate at least 2 hours. At serving time, fill bowl with spinach and arrange mushrooms, onions, and chopped eggs on top. Sprinkle cooked bacon pieces over all and top with a generous amount of poppy seed dressing. Toss to coat.

Poppy Seed Dressing

1 cup canola oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 Tbsp. dry mustard or 1 tsp of Dijon Mustard
1/2 Tbsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 Tbsp. poppy seeds

Mix all ingredients; using whisk, whip until thoroughly blended. Let rest 10 minutes and whip again. Stir before using. I like to put mine in a mason jar and shake. If you'd like to marinade the onions and mushrooms in the dressing it is delicious. Dressing keeps at least 2 weeks in refrigerator.

Old Glory BBQ Slaw Completed

Tonight we ate the Old Glory BBQ Slaw Sandwich. Pork shoulder was on sale for .99 cents a pound so we roasted some up. I changed the slaw recipe to be the following:

• 1/4 Head of Green Cabbage, Shredded
• 1/2 Carrot, Shredded
• (I ran out of apples thought I still think it would be good)
• 1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1/2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
• 2 T Sugar
• 1 tsp Salt

If you love the tang of vinegar, lightly coat your slaw with this and you'll have a nice kick to your usual pulled pork sandwich.

We also roasted some beautiful asparagus that is finally coming back into season, it was so delicous roasted with olive oil and salt and pepper in a 400 degree oven.

Sunday Gourmetists Welcome!

I was recently asked to host a food booth for a friend's stake. I had a wonderful time sharing my mini pork tacos with everyone, and it has inspired me to begin this blog so randomly titled with my favorite phrase, "That's Yucky".

I hope this blog will be a site for all of us to discuss our favorite foods, and think of creative ways to re-invent them. For all my sisters who received the Sunday Gourmet recipe book I compiled, please ask any questions or if you need advice or a recipe for an event please do! I love thinking about food and problem solving for you.

Thanks for participating on Saturday, and for giving me the confidence to speak publicly about my love of good food, and I hope we discover good things together. Please sign up as a follower, or I'll add you to my blog friend list- and we can do digital lunch sometime.

Love is: An In-Oven Digital Thermometer

I'm kinda embarrassed of my chicken photo because it is underdone, but I was just too excited to take a photo. Mike and I went to DownEast Outfitter Home, the gem of Idaho Falls, and found this in-oven thermometer for 9.99$. It was such a steal. I'm so happy to store this one in my top drawer. I know know exactly when my food is done, so no more praying it's done but not too done. The fear of under-cooking poultry has destroyed many chickens in my life. I'm cooking here my favorite Lemon Garlic Roast Chicken. One of my favorite one-pot meals.

Lemon and Garlic Roast Chicken
1 (5 to 6-pound) roasting chicken
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 large bunch fresh thyme or 1 T dried thyme
4 lemons
3 heads garlic, cut in 1/2 crosswise
2 tablespoons butter, melted
Red Potato, Carrots, and Onion
1 1/2 cup chicken stock

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and pat the outside dry. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the thyme, 1 lemon, halved, and 2 halves of the garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken.

Place quartered potatoes, onions and carrots on the bottom of a stock pot or roasting pan. Cut 2 of the lemons in quarters and scatter the quarters and remaining garlic around the chicken. Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours. Remove to a platter and cover with aluminum foil while you prepare the gravy.

Remove all but 2 tablespoons of the fat from the bottom of the pan. Add the chicken stock and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat, and simmer for 5 minutes, or until reduced by half.
Slice the chicken on a platter. Serve with the gravy.

Mall Pretzles

This winter our family had to go a bit pioneer with our food. We didn't have too much money to spend on treats when grocery shopping so we used what we had: all purpose flour. The penny pinch drove me to find and develop the perfect pretzel recipe for that food storage flour. Yeast can be spendy but buy it in the bulk food section at Win-co and you'll save even more!

1 T package active dry yeast
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/8 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups warm water
4 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups warm water
2 tablespoons baking soda
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons coarse kosher salt (I beg you to go and buy kosher salt, you'll love it)

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast, brown sugar and salt in 1 1/2 cups warm water. Stir in flour, one cup at a time mixing until combined each time. Knead dough on a floured surface until smooth. Douch should easily handled, but not stiff. Place in a greased bowl, and turn to coat the surface. Cover, and let rise for one hour.

Combine 2 cups warm water and baking soda in an 8 inch square pan.
After dough has risen, cut into 12 pieces. Roll each piece into a 3 foot rope, to your desire thickness. Twist into a pretzel shape, and dip into the baking soda solution. Don't be shy! This is very important. Place on parchment covered cookie sheets, and let rise 15 to 20 minutes.
Bake at 450 degrees F for 8 to 10 minutes, or until golden brown. Brush with melted butter, and sprinkle with coarse salt, garlic salt or cinnamon sugar.

When forming the ropes, roll each one to about half the length you want, then set it aside while you roll the rest. By the time you get back to the first rope, it will have rested enough to roll further.

Old Glory BBQ Slaw

During my nanny days of DC I went to a BBQ restaurant called Old Glory in Georgetown. When you sit at your table they offer up around 8 sauces for barbeque from around the United States. I loved sitting there with a pile of pulled pork trying all the sauces. I remember not loving the Texas sauce (sorry- too much like chili). But I loved the barbeque sauce from North Carolina. I particularly loved the vinegar barbeque sauce that was the perfect pairing for me to the sweet roasted pork.

Here is my idea: I'll prepare shredded cabbage, carrot and add shredded apple. Toss it with the carolina vinegar and eat it on top of the pulled pork sandwich. Wish me luck! Here is my mental recipe idea:

Old Glory Slaw:
1 cup cider vinegar
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 head cabbage sliced thin
2 carrots, grated
1 apple, grated

Mix first four ingredients together. Let stand as long as possible, at least 1/2 a day, but the longer the better. Combine desire amount with remaining ingredients, serve immediately on a pulled pork sandwich.

Coconut Cupcakes

My favorite cookbook author of all time is Ina Garten of Barefoot Contessa. She just makes the food I want to eat. She has a recipe for coconut cupcakes that I have modified to be made from a cake mix. They are a favorite of my family.

The Cupcake

Using a French Vanilla cake mix bake as directed except substitute the water for coconut milk (light coconut milk is also fine).

The Cream Cheese Frosting

I think the key to a great frosting is starting with all of your ingredients at absolute room temperature and whipping it as much as possible. If you'd like to add a dash of the remaining coconut milk to this recipe you can if it seems too thick.

• 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups sifted powdered sugar
• Shredded Sweetened Coconut

In a mixing bowl, beat together the cream cheese, butter, vanilla extract until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in 1 1/2 cups of the powdered sugar, beating well. Gradually beat in as much of the remaining sugar as needed to reach a comfortable spreading consistency. Generously frost the cooled cupcakes and dunk into the coconut. I promise they’ll look great no matter what!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

I have been looking for the past few months for a red velvet cake mix, I don't do cakes from scratch because that seems insane. So I bought five boxes. I made my first batch and I love how they turn my fingers a delicious color of red and go very well with cream cheese frosting.