Never Leave a Man Alone with this Recipe
06 Feb 2010 Leave a Comment
When I first moved to Austin, I left something important behind in Lubbock: my husband. He had a contract to finish there through the end of May, and I had decided to accept a job starting in January. We faced six months of a long-distance relationship.
As I did most of the cooking, I worried that he would either feast on unhealthy fast food or starve. For Christmas before I left, I bought him an indoor grill. I hoped that would help with the issue. But, six months later when we reunited in Austin, he had gained about 50 pounds. When I asked about his nutrition, he sheepishly told me that he lived on Tyson’s barbecue chicken strips, French fries, and chocolate oatmeal cookies.
I can’t say much for Tyson’s line of chicken products, or for frozen fries, but I can vouch for Paul’s chocolate-oatmeal cookies. They are fudge-like with chunks of oatmeal, peanut buttery and just plain delicious. Best of all? You don’t have to turn on the oven, so they are great in the summer. I just wouldn’t recommend 2 batches a week. Well, actually I would–as long as you don’t mind putting on a few pounds.
Download the recipe for these delicious cookies here. Oh, I made a “test” batch to be sure the recipe was correct. And, I was going to post a photo. So, I carefully placed the cookies on a plate and went to get the camera ready. When I came back, the plate was empty. Maybe next time.
Lighter Blueberry Muffins
22 Jan 2010 Leave a Comment
in Cooking, Downloadable PDF, Food, Recipe
I’ve always loved muffins, and until recently, I defaulted to the Martha White mixes. A couple years ago, though, I started trying to cook more foods from scratch so that I could avoid preservatives and other artificial ingredients while using as many organic products as possible. When I found out how easy from-scratch muffins are to make (and how much tastier they are than the mixes), I vowed to never go back to the packaged stuff.
Unfortunately, muffins can be fattening and high in sugar. But, I’ve adapted several muffin recipes to bring you my own, healthier version of the blueberry muffin. It’s not too sweet, but it’s positively brimming with blueberries, and it’s so moist, it’s almost like having cake for breakfast.
With some of my muffin recipes, I substitute some whole-wheat flour for part of the white flour, but I use all white in this one to get that soft, sumptious taste that I just love in a blueberry muffin. Here’s the recipe.
And, if you’ve never cooked muffins before, from scratch, here are a few tips:
- Don’t overmix the batter. It should be slighly lumpy.
- Fill any empty muffin cups in your pan half-full of water while cooking.
- Don’t stir the batter too much after adding fruit. Try to fold the fruit in.
- Eat muffins while they are hot!
8-Minute Pork Chops for One
12 Jan 2010 Leave a Comment
in Cooking, Downloadable PDF, Food, Recipe
Maybe you are a fabulous single gal or guy. Or, maybe you are just in the mood for something different than the rest of the family. Or, maybe (like me), you have an ultra picky son who likes pork. Either way, here’s an 8-minute plan for a fantastic pork chop dinner for one.
1 minute: Cut a thick-cut pork chop into 1-inch pieces (to do this very quickly, use kitchen shears)
1 minute: Take a sandwich bag, adding 2 Tbsp of flour and some seasonings (a dash or so of garlic salt, paprika, and black pepper is YUM). Dump the pork chops into the bag and shake.
30 seconds: Heat 1 tsp oil in a small saucepan on medium-high heat. You don’t have to be exact on the amount of oil. Just add a big drop to the pan.
30 seconds: Add 1 tsp butter (no need to be exact, just slice off a pat and drop in the pan), and add pork chops from sandwich bag as soon as the butter melts. (You can just dump them in. It’s ok if a some flour falls into the pan.)
2 minutes: Wait while the pork chop pieces brown. Wait the full 2 minutes to get a nice, buttery, crunchy crust, but make sure they don’t start to burn. Then, turn the pork chops.
2 minutes: Wait while the pork chops brown on the other side. Wait the full 2 minutes to get a nice crust. Then, stir.
1 minute: Cook the chops for another minute, until they are done.
That’s so easy, eh? You can serve these bad boys with a sweet potato you’ve had roasting by its lonesome in the oven or with a premixed, prewashed salad from the fridge. These chops also go great with buttermilk biscuits. If you want the recipe on a card, I’ve got one for you. Download it here.
Why I Learned How to Cook
02 Jan 2010 1 Comment
in Cooking, Downloadable PDF, Food, Recipe Tags: Cooking, Downloadable PDF, Food, Recipe
My mother cooked almost every meal I ate growing up. The rest of the meals I ate, my great-grandmother cooked. They were true Southern cooks, working in a steaming hot kitchen with every iron going.
When I moved away for college, I realized I didn’t know how to cook much of anything. I guess I figured I would eat McDonald’s and Wendy’s because they were both near my apartment. And, I’ll admit, for a girl who didn’t eat out much while growing up, the thought of a McDonald’s less than a couple miles away from my apartment made my bones tingle. And, on the second night in my apartment, I drove down the steep hill to the Wendy’s drive-thru. It wasn’t really all I’d hoped for. I missed my Momma’s cooking.
I needed to learn how to cook something. One dish that I loved that my mom had made a few times, we called chicken and rice tacos. It’s now my go-to dish, the meal I make when I need something fast, the comfort food I crave in the winter, the sure-fire company pleaser. But, it took me a while to get to where I can make it with ease.
The first time I made it, I stood over a big pot, watching my chicken brown, with the phone at my ear, Momma telling me what to do next. After we thought I had it made, we hung up and I left the pot to simmer. It was simmering, all right, still on the medium-high temperature setting. A few minutes passed, and I smelled the burn. I furiously stirred and scraped at the bottom while making another phone call home. Momma was telling me, as I continued to furiously scrape to carefully avoid scraping the bottom. I notice the black bits littering my beautiful pot of chicken and rice. I had distributed the burn throughout. But, I learned something in that moment. Cooking is not easy. But, I could do it.
My next try was better, and each time I made it, I learned how to make it better. I learned many more things about cooking through my chicken and rice tacos. I learned that I didn’t need the recipe anymore. I also discovered that if I didn’t have something on the ingredient list, I could easily make substitutions. In fact, I’ve found some great takes on chicken and rice tacos. I think that’s part of the reason why I love this dish so much. I sowed my cooking oats on it. It gave me confidence to try new things in the kitchen. It’s been my friend.
I have recently been spring cleaning, and I came across the original recipe, written on an old “From Paula’s Kitchen” recipe card. Paula is my mother, and her handwriting was smudged a bit with a red fingerprint or two. They might be mine or hers. Chances are, they are both.
Download your own PDF Chicken and Rice Tacos recipe card: ChickenAndRiceTacos
–Amanda
