In past anniversaries I posted a special “anniversary edition” blog entry.  See 1st anniversary here and 2nd anniversary here.

In the 1st Anniversary post I was just excited to be here in the blog-o-sphere and “cutie” the cat was my faithful cooking partner. I spoke about my journey to starting the blog and things I have learned along the way.

In the 2nd Anniversary post I showed my love of statistics and of course asked everybody to read a recap of the year before! (not very original!)

This year I decided not to force everybody to read the recap of the first year yet again. I also decided that while the blog statistics might be interesting to me – maybe not everyone wants to read about those again either!

She looks a little cranky because she was waiting for food!

In a sad moment this past year, I also lost my faithful cooking companion of 20 years; “cutie” the cat. She lived a great life, tasting almost everything I cooked. (her favorite food was french fries!)  She is missed but remains the official mascot of the blog. The only bright spot is I have regained the use of the kitchen island as a usable surface instead of dedicating it to a cat perch!

…But don’t be sad! Be glad!

I am. I am extremely glad for all of my now over 50 “not-actually-related-to-me”  followers!

So this year I just thought I would say “Thank You!”

Thanks for coming back more than once! Thanks for signing up to follow me! Thanks for leaving comments and hitting “like!” Thanks for being patient when I leave a post up for few too many days because I got a little busy!

I am looking forward to another year full of cooking and eating – hope you are too!

I think this picture from a past NYC new year’s eve trip captures me perfectly…                                as someone who is not afraid to wear the sparkly sunglasses!

Inspired the other day by Trisha’s blueberry pancakes but not having any blueberries (or sour cream) on hand, I had to make a few changes to the original recipe.

I almost always have fresh strawberries in the fridge and so I thought “why let blueberries have all the fun?”

I just cut the strawberries into smaller chunks so they would distribute evenly in the pancake batter and have a chance to “cook” a bit in the brief time that a pancake stays on the griddle.

I also went a little heavier on the lemon zest than the recipe advised, because really, “who doesn’t love a little lemon?!”

With the substitution of some low-fat Greek yogurt instead of sour cream, these pancakes turn out so light and yummy. You don’t feel weighted down after eating 3 or maybe like 6. (they were small!)

Make sure to use real maple syrup and for a little something extra, warm the syrup and add just a tiny dash of cinnamon to it.

Also a good trick is to cool all the extra pancakes on a rack and then package them for the freezer in singles or enough to make a serving. They can be pulled out and heated up in your toaster – just like those ones that “pop” out of your toaster only with out all the artificial flavors/colors.

is a burrito really a quesadilla that has been wrapped instead of folded? Or perhaps a quesadilla is really a burrito that has been folded?

Either way they are delicious on the grill – which is exactly what I did with my burritos the other night.

I actually took the step of grilling my marinated chicken tenders on the grill first, then stuffing them with some other  fresh ingredients into a flour tortilla, rolling it all up burrito style before grilling the whole thing again.

I felt the need to secure them with a toothpick during the grilling because I am a classic “over stuffer” and I was worried everything would end up at the bottom of the grill. I also took liberties and sprayed my favorite butter “product” on them before grilling just to keep things tasty. Don’t judge me because I use this product – it is just really convenient, especially when I am “un-frying.”  If you are feeling “au natural” you could brush them with olive oil or melted butter.

Here is what I put in mine…

Yup – you are not seeing things, those are indeed lentils. Why? Cause that is what I had hanging around in my freezer, leftover from my last lentil purchase from TJ’s.

Just as yummy as black beans and hey even “Mikey liked it.” ( oh and in case you were wondering that is Cilantro)

Here is how they got assembled….

Please don’t notice that I may have left the chicken on a teensy bit long. But it was still somewhat juicy and good due to the long marinade!

And here is what they looked like being served after grilling….

I took the toothpicks out before plating and added a lime-cumin cream made from Greek yogurt. ( just add salt, pepper, lime juice and cumin to the yogurt)

And here is what you got when you ate them! Yum…….

(See, that chicken held up even with all its “charred bits.”)

The best thing about these that I realized is they could be stuffed, wrapped and grilled ahead of time and then you can wrap them in foil for reheat later when the party crowd arrives. ( or frozen for that matter) I used an 8-10″ tortilla size and stuffed each with 1 good size chicken tender plus the fresh ingredients. This meant that 2 burritos per person with dipping cream/salsa makes a great portion especially if served with rice and sliced fresh avocados!

Production Notes:

The Marinade…good for about a 1.5 lbs to 2 lbs of chicken cuts of your choice

1/2 cup of fresh lime juice

1 -2 tsp of seasoned salt ( your favorite brand)

1 healthy Tbsp of minced garlic

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 healthy Tbsp of agave nectar ( or sweetener of choice, like honey, maple syrup etc)

couple healthy squirts of Sriracha ( use another kind of hot sauce if you like it better)

Whisk it all together and marinade the chicken at least 2-3 hours. The heavy amount of lime juice might “cook” the chicken a bit if you go overnight but I think it would still be okay.

It is this product that he stills requests at dinner time. Often.

As for me…since my mother was way ahead of the curve in terms of natural foods, I spent my childhood wondering about these mystery foods I saw on TV and who ate them.

Now-a-days I find myself creating my own coating mix more often than opening a box of his favorite. And guess what? He likes it just as much!

Standard breading technique and a few ingredients are all you need!

I used plain breadcrumbs mixed with grated parmesan cheese and Penzey’s Northwood seasoning to create the crispy outside coating. To make it stick, I first dredged the chops in plain flour and swiped it through a beaten egg before coating it in the crumb mix. If you really wanted to keep the dirty dishes down you could “shake” on the flour in a plastic bag and also do that with the crumb mixture. ( might be kinda messy to do that with the egg:-)

Just  line them up on a rack to allow the hot air to circulate and crisp all sides. ( I lined mine with sprayed foil for easy clean up) and bake at 375 in a pre-heated oven for 30-45 mins depending on the thickness of the chops.

You can’t even tell the difference between mine and the commercial product!

And no pork chop would be complete without some apple sauce!

When it comes to cupcakes, it is definitely about frosting. Wedding cake – definitely the frosting (and the many layers of it in between). What about the glaze on the coffee cake: usually the best part. I consider finding a cake (or cupcake) that is actually moist and delicious, along with its wonderful frosting, something along the lines of hitting the lottery. When I have a sweet tooth, the high standards come out to play!

That is why I generally don’t bake. I like to leave it to the pros. (Quick shout out to my neighbor Meaghan who leaves those cupcake chains in the dust with her skills!)

But every once in a while I get my “Betty” on and whip up a baked good. This time I combined a craving for orange juice and walnuts.  I was shooting for “orange-walnut sour cream coffee cake” and ended up with “not really what want I wanted but totally awesome cream cheese frosting.”

I basically checked out a few versions of the cream cheese frosting online and saw that most involved cream cheese, butter and powdered sugar. I threw in some chopped walnuts for crunch. YUM!

As for the cake… I am not  even going to bother finding the scrap piece of paper around this house somewhere with the cake recipe written on it, because it just wasn’t that good.

But the frosting…..

Enough frosting can save any cake!

I had been using walnut oil for my salad dressings but I found it to be fairly neutral in taste and kinda “oily.” I know that is weird because it IS oil but it was just not the same as olive oil.

Pumpkin seed oil is nice but very expensive.

So the other day I noticed “sunflower oil” on the shelf. Organic and “first cold pressed” no less. And a fairly reasonable price. So I bought it and tried it. To my surprise it was quite good. It has a distinct nutty flavor (obviously of sunflower seeds) and a great thick texture to it. It is like warm and cozy version of extra virgin olive oil. It doesn’t have the sometimes bitter, green taste that is prized in olive oils.

Although the label suggests to only use it for salad dressings and drizzles (which I will definitely do) I decided to use for roasting my veggies. Kinda like when people use EVOO for roasting and cooking even though it is meant to be used in dressings and drizzles.

So what veggie would I try this on?

Well, there has been a lot of conversation flying around the blogs about cauliflower lately – apparently some folks love it and some don’t. You know who you are

Well I love it and when I found this fresh beauty at the store recently, I knew I had to have it.

So I cut it up and tossed it with my new sunflower oil, salt, pepper and a little dried rosemary. And some carrots.

Into a hot 400 degree oven until they were toasty and delicious!

Enjoyed on its own or as a tasty side dish to something else – these veggies were delicious wrapped in a subtle perfume of toasted sunflower seeds and rosemary.

FAIR WARNING: Vegetarians you may want to avert your eyes now!

I finally decided to tackle beef short ribs. The universe seemed to be calling to me to cook them, as I kept seeing them being prepared on TV and on blogs lately.

They always seemed so fancy and maybe just a tad bit hard to cook but I am here to announce – they are delicious and easy, I don’t know why I waited so long!

Behold the lovely subject….(cue “angel music”)

I broke out the “special occasion” bacon fat and got these beauties browning in a hot pan.

Next up was the “mire poix” of veggies. (celery, onion, carrots) Don’t judge me -I used shredded carrots!

Now it was time to put the meat back in for its long slow braise!

Two and half hours later, I took an immersion blender to the pot of yummy goodness and behold…

A life changing meal…

Braised beef short ribs with roasted cauliflower and carrots

The Recipe

I was cooking for two but still ended up with more than enough sauce, you could double the meat and not anything else and still have enough sauce for 4.

2lbs +/- (4 ribs) Beef short ribs, bone in

Plenty of salt and pepper to taste

2 Tbsp bacon fat or fat of choice that can withstand high heat.

1 cup each, finely diced onion, carrot, celery

2-3 cloves garlic finely minced

1 dried bay leaf

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cumin

3-4 springs of fresh thyme

1 can ( 6oz) tomato paste

1 cup unsweetened apple juice

1-2 cups of water

2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Coat the ribs in salt/pepper and brown patiently on each side in the hot fat. Remove meat, set aside and turn heat down. Add onions, celery and carrots to pan and cook down for a few mins. Add the garlic and cook a few mins more. Be careful not to burn garlic. Add the dried spices and the fresh thyme. Add the tomato paste. Stir and kinda “toast” everything for a few minutes. De-glaze pan with the apple juice and Worcestershire sauce. Add the meat back in – nestle it among the liquid and veggies. Add enough water until liquid and veggies are about a 1/4″ under the top level of meat. Cover and bake in 350 degree oven ( preheated) for 2 and 1/2 hours.

Remove the meat carefully and set aside for a few minutes, while you discard the thyme springs. Use an immersion blender to blend the remaining liquid and veggies into a thick sauce. Add a little hot water if it needs to be thinned. If you don’t have an immersion blender (why not?!) transfer the pan contents to a blender and carefully blend. Meat can be added back into the pan/sauce and kept warm or reheated after coo0ling and storing.

Well I love this new darling of the culinary world as much as the next person, but sometimes you just get tired of eating the same leftovers again and again – even if it is a super food!

It started out innocently enough with plans for a quinoa salad that I could munch on for a couple of days this week. I got my rice cooker out because that is how I cook my quinoa – it’s perfect every time.

I also had some leftover carrot and celery sticks, and some extra fresh herbs and cherry tomatoes in the fridge.

So I started a mirepoix:

When the veggies were softened, off  the heat, I added: a pint of split cherry tomatoes, 2-3 tablespoons of chopped basil, 1  jar of capers, (3.5oz -drained) 1/2 cup of fresh chopped parsley, the juice and zest of 1 large lemon and 1 tablespoon of Herb de Provence seasoning.

Looks good just as it is right?

I mean personally I could stop right there and eat this by the spoonful. Or on toasted bread or mixed with pasta. Or with a can of white beans. Which is exactly what I added because I thought that might really give some “heft” to this salad. Again, at this point with the beans added, you had a complete meal all done. You could just stop there.

But I decided it would be terrific with my cooked and cooled quinoa.

All 6+ cups of it!!!

Why 6 cups??   Because as I was pouring out a dry cup of uncooked quinoa, I thought.. “why don’t I double it because it is great to have in the fridge to throw in stuff. Right?” So two cups of dry quinoa went into the rice cooker with 4 cups of water. Math not really being my strong point, I didn’t think about the fact that this would yield at least 6 cups of cooked quinoa.

So I ended up with a giant party-sized bowl of salad. It needed a little seasoning adjustment, salt, pepper-more lemon at the end because although the initial mix was super flavorful, it got a little diluted in the “sea of quinoa.”

My advice is next time use half as much quinoa or double the amount of the other stuff and invite 12 people over.

Check out a “winter salad” version here.

I was watching one of the many cooking shows that are on these days and one of the cooks ( I won’t name names since I like her and it isn’t her fault that she doesn’t have good Italian food in the boondocks!) made Chicken Parmigiana. Which of course made me immediately crave it. After all this IS the stick by which I measure all Italian restaurants the first time I visit them. I also found it weird to actually hear it pronounced properly. It has been so long since I have actually heard it fully pronounced that I almost thought it to be a different dish. Even the small local joints around Boston spell it “Chicken Parm” on the signs! But the most interesting thing about watching her make it that day, was she never used any Parmesan cheese in the crust of the chicken! I swear she didn’t use any at all, but when I cross checked the recipe on her website, I noted that she added some to the fresh marina sauce and then as a sprinkle on top. But not on the crust of the chicken.

But no worries – I still like her and it inspired me to do a quick posting to set the record straight.

You must dredge your chicken cutlets in a combination of seasoned breadcrumbs and finely grated Parmesan cheese. ( The good stuff too, don’t cheap out here.) Than you simply pan fry the cutlets in a shallow bit of olive oil or if you are feeling a little like a Boston pizza joint; you drop them into the fryolator. But the goal is a crispy, crispy Parmesan crust. (and fully cooked chicken)

Exhibit A…

Now you can do a couple of things with this…

You can put it on a nice Italian roll with some Provolone cheese and some red sauce for a “Chicken Parm Sub” or you can serve it with red sauce and your choice of pasta for a “Chicken Parm Dinner.” And yes, we like to melt some Provolone cheese on top too.

Exhibit B….

You can get fancy and add some fresh chopped herbs on top – but they don’t do that in Boston. Just saying.

For me it is about a great meal and this how I prefer my Easter eggs…

With some great sautéed asparagus, ham and toast. Happy Easter!!

Although a frittata IS an easy egg dish and a great way to use up whatever is hanging around your kitchen, for us, making one instantly has us singing tunes from “The Lion King.”    As in “Hakuna Frittata” – corny right?

(Kinda of like when I make “empanadas” and we sing the song “Desparado!”)

Anyway this one started out because I had a bag of spinach hanging around needing to be used up and some of the baby gold potatoes.

So I sliced up the baby gold potatoes (about a 1/4″ thick) and layered them in a well-sprayed, oven proof 10″ saute pan with some butter on med heat to start softening while I prepped (de-stem the spinach, crack eggs and pour cream) the other stuff. Turn the heat off and add all the goodies in first on top of the potatoes:

1/2 of an 8oz bag of spinach (raw), about 4 oz. crumbled feta, about 8 sundried tomatoes chopped small, plenty of salt and pepper, a shake of garlic powder for a little “warmth.”

And than the liquids get poured carefully over this – I used about a cup of “half and half” ( I was out of milk) and 8 large eggs. Make sure you whisk the eggs and cream (or milk) together first. A little more salt and pepper on top.

Pop this into a preheated 350 degree oven for 35 mins or until the middle is set and fluffy. Kinda like this….

Now be patient and let it cool a bit – this is best served, and slices cleaner, if you let it cool significantly. This frittata is filling and satisfying, yet deceiving in that it is light. But it is by no means “diet food.” My husband loved it and that is saying a lot since he doesn’t eat anything that might seem at all like “diet food.”

Might I suggest a glass of wine and some crusty warm bread with this?

I know what you are thinking…

… “who uses that product and who uses it in meatballs?!”

Well my Father-in-law did and since he made some great Italian meatballs for a learn-to-cook–later-in-life Irish guy, I use it too. Unfortunately we never accurately got his recipe before he passed away.   (readers take note… this is important stuff to do before it is too late!) So I am always fiddling around with my meatballs to see if I can capture his essence.

www.gravy.com will tell you that the product has “NO chemical preservatives, artificial color, flavors or additives are ever used.”  I am not sure it is health food but it doesn’t seem terrible – check out the website and you can make your own decisions about this.

As for my meatballs – they turned out great, even if I say so myself. I took the time and care to chop and use fresh herbs  (makes all the difference) and I also measured everything and wrote it down so you could try them too. And they are baked, so they are just a tad easier and healthier than the pan-fried ones!

The recipe

1 lb ground pork

1/2 lb ground beef (80/20 blend)

2 garlic cloves, super finely minced/mashed (use 1 clove if you are not a huge garlic fan)

pinch hot chili flakes ( don’t leave this out – it needs it)

yah I know I use a fork – I just don’t like getting all messy!

1/2 TB dried Oregano

1/4 cup fresh, finely minced fresh basil

1/4 cup fresh, finely minced fresh flat leaf parsley

plenty of salt and pepper to taste

1/3 cup finely grated pecorino romano cheese

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 TSP Gravy Master®

2 cups freshly ground bread crumbs (about 1/3 of a day-old Italian loaf) mixed with 3/4 cup of milk to form a thick oatmeal consistency.

Gotta test the first one!

Preheat oven to 425 Degrees. Mix it all very lightly in a bowl. Heat a small skillet on the stove and cook one up real quick as a tester for flavor. If it needs anything more, make the adjustments, and start forming the balls.

I personally like small ( 1″ diameter) balls. They cook quick, fit nice on my sheet pans, and tuck perfectly into leftover meatball subs. They can also be pressed into action out of the freezer ( fully cook, then freeze) as perfect little reheated  appetizer with toothpicks stuck into them for dipping!

Take the time to make them even size. rounder is nice too but hey… sometimes they are gonna be a little “square”

Line them up in even little rows on parchment lined sheet pans and if you are paranoid like I am about them sticking anyway, spray the parchment with a little cooking spray first. Bake them  for 14 mins. Feel free to turn them halfway thru if you think you can manage not to break them apart in the process. You may want to add another minute or two to cooking time to make up for time spent outside of oven turning.

This general cooking time assumes that you will be putting them into red sauce for a little further cooking and heating. And although the baking in the oven yields them fully cooked – they are just so.. kinda like al dente pasta… so if you are not going to simmer them any further in some sauce – feel free to leave them in an extra 2 mins or so.

Cool and freeze any that don’t go into the sauce. Yields 36 balls. (including the tester)

Enjoy over a heaping mound of pasta with some extra cheese on top!