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Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Herbed Roast
Week 23 - April 18, 2010
I'm back again after a few Sundays off. Today I was going to practice a recipe that I'm making for my Baltic Sea themed party that I'm having for my family (be on the look out for your invitations, Palaikas!) Unfortunatly, my knees and muscles decided that it was best not to head to the grocery store after my 8.4 mile run today. That means dinner was made with what was on hand: a chuck roast. Apologizes for my lack of creativity.
Herbed Roast
1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
1 cup beef broth
1 (3 pound) boneless chuck eye or top blade
Directions:
1. In a bowl, combine the first five ingredients. Rub over entire roast. Place in a shallow roasting pan. Add cup of beef broth. Bake, covered with foil at 325 degrees F for 1-1/2 to 2 hours or until meat is tender and reaches desired doneness. Let stand 10 minutes before carving.
Again, as I said, I worked with what was on hand because I didn't make it to the grocery store. The full recipe (including ingredients that I did not have) that inspired this meal can be found here. It actually turned out incredibily tender and juicy...great with mashed potatoes. For a quick prep and tasty comfort food type dinner, this recipe fits the bill.
I can't guarantee that I'll be posting next week (10 mile run on the training schedule) or the next week (Half-Marathon day!!!!) but I'll try to post again as soon as I'm able. In the meantime...post your favorite recipes (or links to your favorites) in the comments below!
I'm back again after a few Sundays off. Today I was going to practice a recipe that I'm making for my Baltic Sea themed party that I'm having for my family (be on the look out for your invitations, Palaikas!) Unfortunatly, my knees and muscles decided that it was best not to head to the grocery store after my 8.4 mile run today. That means dinner was made with what was on hand: a chuck roast. Apologizes for my lack of creativity.
Herbed Roast
1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
1 cup beef broth
1 (3 pound) boneless chuck eye or top blade
Directions:
1. In a bowl, combine the first five ingredients. Rub over entire roast. Place in a shallow roasting pan. Add cup of beef broth. Bake, covered with foil at 325 degrees F for 1-1/2 to 2 hours or until meat is tender and reaches desired doneness. Let stand 10 minutes before carving.
Again, as I said, I worked with what was on hand because I didn't make it to the grocery store. The full recipe (including ingredients that I did not have) that inspired this meal can be found here. It actually turned out incredibily tender and juicy...great with mashed potatoes. For a quick prep and tasty comfort food type dinner, this recipe fits the bill.
I can't guarantee that I'll be posting next week (10 mile run on the training schedule) or the next week (Half-Marathon day!!!!) but I'll try to post again as soon as I'm able. In the meantime...post your favorite recipes (or links to your favorites) in the comments below!
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Week 22 - Orange Ruffy in Sherry-Herb Sauce
March 21, 2010 - Happy Birthday, Daddie!!! According to our family tradition, the birthday person gets to choose their favorite meal to be prepared at home. My dad is in Lancaster, so I'll just have to owe him a birthday dinner (with pinapple upside down cake for dessert) when he comes home.
While today's Sunday dinner was not a birthday meal, it did turn out really well! Here's the recipe (from Doreenbuch at Allrecipes.com)
Orange Ruffy in Sherry-Herb Sauce
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup sherry
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives*
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
8 (4 ounce) orange roughy fillets
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 tomatoes, peeled and sliced**
*If you do not have fresh chives, substitute 1 TB dried chives instead
** Didn't have tomatos on hand, but I'm sure they'd be delicious in this recipe
Directions
1.Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Lightly grease a medium baking dish.
2.Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat, and stir in flour until smooth. Gradually stir in chicken broth and sherry. Cook, stirring constantly, until thick and bubbly. Mix in chives, basil, and thyme. Remove from heat, and set aside.
3.In the prepared baking dish, arrange the orange roughy fillets in a single layer. Season with salt and pepper. Arrange tomato slices over the fish. Cover with the broth mixture.
4.Cover dish with foil and bake 30 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven, until fish is easily flaked with a fork.
My commentary:
I served the fish with brown rice. It was a light, healthy meal that tasted great! It was easy to make and didn't make many dirty dishes, which is always a huge plus in my book. Jason wants this one again, which is also a good sign.
To end tonight, here's a few photos to celebrate my wonderful father-
While today's Sunday dinner was not a birthday meal, it did turn out really well! Here's the recipe (from Doreenbuch at Allrecipes.com)
Orange Ruffy in Sherry-Herb Sauce
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup sherry
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives*
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
8 (4 ounce) orange roughy fillets
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 tomatoes, peeled and sliced**
*If you do not have fresh chives, substitute 1 TB dried chives instead
** Didn't have tomatos on hand, but I'm sure they'd be delicious in this recipe
Directions
1.Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Lightly grease a medium baking dish.
2.Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat, and stir in flour until smooth. Gradually stir in chicken broth and sherry. Cook, stirring constantly, until thick and bubbly. Mix in chives, basil, and thyme. Remove from heat, and set aside.
3.In the prepared baking dish, arrange the orange roughy fillets in a single layer. Season with salt and pepper. Arrange tomato slices over the fish. Cover with the broth mixture.
4.Cover dish with foil and bake 30 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven, until fish is easily flaked with a fork.
My commentary:
I served the fish with brown rice. It was a light, healthy meal that tasted great! It was easy to make and didn't make many dirty dishes, which is always a huge plus in my book. Jason wants this one again, which is also a good sign.
To end tonight, here's a few photos to celebrate my wonderful father-
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Week 21 - March 14, 2010 - Orange Chicken
Today's dinner was nothing fancy, since I was easing back into having to cook after having the day off yesterday. :) I'll post the link to the Orange Chicken recipe here.
Feeling grateful for my wonderful friends and family tonight.
Eat well and Love much, until next week!
Week 20 - March 7, 2010
(A belated post from last week's dinner...)
This week is a first for my little cooking experiment.: For this week's dinner, Jason was the chef. Of course, there is a very good reason for this (other than the fact that he is a great husband.) In my continued training for this lovely half-marathon, I logged a total of 11 miles this weekend. Seven of those miles were on Saturday morning at Twin Lakes Park and four were the next day at Mammoth Park. Now, allow me to remind you that as of about 2 months ago, I had not exercised at all in several years. The thought of running 1 mile was intimidating...but 7 miles? All at once? Who would have thought that was even possible? I would guess that it was around the 4th mile when my legs started to burn, but I kept going. Somewhere around mile 5 1/2 I think I ceased to be able to feel my legs at all, which made the last mile and a half seem less painful. For the rest of the day (and night) I was sore, but somehow I still convinced myself to wake up early on Sunday and run again. I intentionally ran less mileage at a much slower pace that day, but the damage was done. Adding that 4 miles after the 7 mile run the day before was not my best plan. Every muscle and joint in my body disagreed with that decision, and decided to stop working after I got home. Once I sat done, I actually struggled to stand up. So Jason cooked. :)
Here was his recipe (courtesy Jean Heady at Allrecipes.com)
Marinated Pork
1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
8 Pork Chops
Directions
In a saucepan, combine the first nine ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat; cool slightly. Place 2/3 cup marinade in a bowl for basting; cover and chill. Pour remaining marinade into a large resealable plastic bag. Cut pork into five slices, about 1 in. each; add to bag. Seal and turn to coat; refrigerate overnight.
Drain and discard marinade. Place pork on a broiler pan coated with nonstick cooking spray. Broil 4 in. from the heat for 10 minutes on each side or until juices run clear, brushing with reserved marinade and turning occasionally.
It turned out pretty well! Jason mistakenly added about 4 times the amount of garlic that it called for, so we'll definitely be trying this one again. But I have to end this week with a big thanks to Jason for cooking dinner and not laughing at me as I was lying immobile on the couch. :)
This week is a first for my little cooking experiment.: For this week's dinner, Jason was the chef. Of course, there is a very good reason for this (other than the fact that he is a great husband.) In my continued training for this lovely half-marathon, I logged a total of 11 miles this weekend. Seven of those miles were on Saturday morning at Twin Lakes Park and four were the next day at Mammoth Park. Now, allow me to remind you that as of about 2 months ago, I had not exercised at all in several years. The thought of running 1 mile was intimidating...but 7 miles? All at once? Who would have thought that was even possible? I would guess that it was around the 4th mile when my legs started to burn, but I kept going. Somewhere around mile 5 1/2 I think I ceased to be able to feel my legs at all, which made the last mile and a half seem less painful. For the rest of the day (and night) I was sore, but somehow I still convinced myself to wake up early on Sunday and run again. I intentionally ran less mileage at a much slower pace that day, but the damage was done. Adding that 4 miles after the 7 mile run the day before was not my best plan. Every muscle and joint in my body disagreed with that decision, and decided to stop working after I got home. Once I sat done, I actually struggled to stand up. So Jason cooked. :)
Here was his recipe (courtesy Jean Heady at Allrecipes.com)
Marinated Pork
1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
8 Pork Chops
Directions
In a saucepan, combine the first nine ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat; cool slightly. Place 2/3 cup marinade in a bowl for basting; cover and chill. Pour remaining marinade into a large resealable plastic bag. Cut pork into five slices, about 1 in. each; add to bag. Seal and turn to coat; refrigerate overnight.
Drain and discard marinade. Place pork on a broiler pan coated with nonstick cooking spray. Broil 4 in. from the heat for 10 minutes on each side or until juices run clear, brushing with reserved marinade and turning occasionally.
It turned out pretty well! Jason mistakenly added about 4 times the amount of garlic that it called for, so we'll definitely be trying this one again. But I have to end this week with a big thanks to Jason for cooking dinner and not laughing at me as I was lying immobile on the couch. :)
Happy Cooking! (And Happy Running to my running buddies!)
Until next week!
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Week 19: A Breakfast/Brunch for Champions
February 28th...the day of my first 5K race. And as promised, this week's menu is a (post race) Sunday breakfast/brunch. The certainty of today's race (and brunch for that matter) were called into question due to the continued snow and ice. Up until the very last minute, I was expecting that the race might be cancelled which in turn could've left me with quite a bit of food and no guests. For that reason, I decided to keep it really simple.
Menu:
Warm Cinnamon Apples
Cinnamon Rolls
Ham & Cheese
So the recipe that I'll share this week is just for the apples.
Warm Cinnamon Apples (modified from chef "356" at allrecipes.com)
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon butter
4 large tart apples - peeled, cored and sliced 1/4 inch thick (I used Granny Smith apples)
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 cup cold water
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Directions
1.In a large skillet or saucepan, melt butter over medium heat; add apples. Cook, stirring constantly, until apples are almost tender, about 8-10 minutes (a few minutes longer if you prefer the apples softer).
2.Dissolve cornstarch in water; add to skillet. Stir in brown sugar and cinnamon. Boil for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and serve warm.
The great thing about this recipe is that I made it the night before. I stored it in a pyrex dish with a lid, and just popped it in the oven for a bit to warm it back up before serving. I can admit the cinnamon rolls were not home-made, but they were still delicious and wonderfully warm after running in the cold. Jason was in charge of the omelets, which actually ended up as something I'd like to call "Scrambled Egg Style Omelets" (aka, flipping them wasn't as easy as he expected...I told him we should've practiced the night before.) Now that I'm typing this, I realize that I intended to make hash browns too, but apparently that completely slipped my mind after all that running. :)
All in all, I'm feeling good today. Finishing the 5K in a pretty decent time (34:10) and catching up with some old friends during the run was a great way to start my Sunday. On top of that, I won a (randomly drawn, totally unrelated to actual running skill) $100 prize at the 5K. Hooray!
So I've come to the end of this week's post, and I leave you with a finish of a different kind below.
That's me, by the way! :) Until next week!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Week 18 (Better late than never?)
February 21, 2010 - Week 18
Oooppss...I'm a tad late with this post. After more than a month gap in posting, I'm starting up again. But allow me to digress for a moment to ask your opinion. Do you feel that as an adult, it is more difficult to stick with hobbies (in my case, like this lovely cooking project/blog)? I have no problem being committed to people (my husband, family and friends) or my profession...but this hobby thing seems much trickier. I have never considered myself a "quitter"(and never quit anything as a kid or in college) but I was a bit disappointed in myself that I let keeping up with the blog get away from me. Does this happen to you? I look back and try to figure out where I got off track. I think the holidays were hectic, combined with crazy weather over the last several weeks where grocery store trips to get the special ingredient of the week were not always conducive. And of course, my ADD kicks in and I decided to take up another hobby (I'm currently in training for a half-marathon.) I suppose I feel like a serial-hobbiest. I need to commit! So that's something I'll be working on. :)
So to ease back into the cooking and the blog, I made a super-easy dinner. At the store, Sirloin Tip Roast was buy one get one free, so of course I took advantage. I'll be trying to think of something a bit more creative to do with the second roast.
Menu:
Sirloin Tip Roast in Mushroom Sauce
Mashed Potatoes
Green Peas
I decided to roast the meat very simply. I used one can of Cream of Mushroom Soup with an equal amount of water. I covered the meat with foil to help keep the moisture in and roasted it on low heat over several hours. The result was a tender, moist cut of meat with nice subtle flavor. Nothing out of the ordinary for the potatoes and veggies. Just a simple, good-old fashioned meat and potatoes kind of family dinner.
Next Sunday's post should be much more interesting. I'll be making a brunch for several people that will be coming to my house after a 5K that we are running. I have a few recipes in mind already, but if anyone has a great brunch recipe, send it my way.
Oooppss...I'm a tad late with this post. After more than a month gap in posting, I'm starting up again. But allow me to digress for a moment to ask your opinion. Do you feel that as an adult, it is more difficult to stick with hobbies (in my case, like this lovely cooking project/blog)? I have no problem being committed to people (my husband, family and friends) or my profession...but this hobby thing seems much trickier. I have never considered myself a "quitter"(and never quit anything as a kid or in college) but I was a bit disappointed in myself that I let keeping up with the blog get away from me. Does this happen to you? I look back and try to figure out where I got off track. I think the holidays were hectic, combined with crazy weather over the last several weeks where grocery store trips to get the special ingredient of the week were not always conducive. And of course, my ADD kicks in and I decided to take up another hobby (I'm currently in training for a half-marathon.) I suppose I feel like a serial-hobbiest. I need to commit! So that's something I'll be working on. :)
So to ease back into the cooking and the blog, I made a super-easy dinner. At the store, Sirloin Tip Roast was buy one get one free, so of course I took advantage. I'll be trying to think of something a bit more creative to do with the second roast.
Menu:
Sirloin Tip Roast in Mushroom Sauce
Mashed Potatoes
Green Peas
I decided to roast the meat very simply. I used one can of Cream of Mushroom Soup with an equal amount of water. I covered the meat with foil to help keep the moisture in and roasted it on low heat over several hours. The result was a tender, moist cut of meat with nice subtle flavor. Nothing out of the ordinary for the potatoes and veggies. Just a simple, good-old fashioned meat and potatoes kind of family dinner.
Next Sunday's post should be much more interesting. I'll be making a brunch for several people that will be coming to my house after a 5K that we are running. I have a few recipes in mind already, but if anyone has a great brunch recipe, send it my way.
Stay warm, eat well, and stick to it (whatever your it may be) until next week.
(Really....next week....I promise!)
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