A Walk in the Woods

We're nearing the end of summer, and we've managed to cross most stuff off our fun summer to do list. Hiking, however, lingered until yesterday.  There's a great state park about 3 miles from us.  If you haven't been to Callahan State Park and you live in the area, you should absolutely go.  That goes double if you have dogs, since the whole place is very dog friendly.  

There's two entrances, and we normally go to one of them (helpful, huh?  I just can't remember which one.  The North one?  The West one?)  I'll look it up.  Okay, I think that we go to the Millwood Street entrance. That side of the park has some wooded areas, some open fields, and a great little muddy pond that dogs love to swim in.  Not our dogs, mind you, as they don't really like other dogs and I'm not about to bring them someplace where they're going to be stressed out and get in a fight.  That would be bad doggy parenting.  Anyway, this time, we decided to try the other side of the park.  It was okay.  Much more wooded, and the paths weren't marked as well.

It was as steep as it looks.  

We didn't intentionally color coordinate the lunch bag and the outfit.  Swear it.

Most importantly, I learned that if you can't really read a trail map and have a poor sense of direction, don't go hiking someplace new with your children.  We had to give up and turn around after about 45 minutes of my saying "I'm pretty sure we're headed in the right direction."  But we didn't get hopelessly lost, and we did see some frogs, a snake, and got to pee behind a huge rock.  Everyone wins.

Then we got well earned ice cream at Gerards, which thankfully reopened.  Again, if you live around here, go.  And go early, because they close at 6 and the BBQ is really good.  

So we were hot and tired and I wanted an easy dinner.  Grill!  Possibly the best thing about the grill is that there are almost no dishes to do after cooking.

Given that, we grill a lot in the summer.  But you can only eat so many hamburgers before you want to change things up.  These are a little healthier, easy to throw together, and look nice on a plate.

Greek Turkey Burgers
(There has got to be a bad history teacher joke here about Greece and Turkey, but I'm not making it)

1 lb ground turkey
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup frozen chopped spinach
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
10 black olives, chopped (optional)
1 egg, lightly beaten

rolls, lettuce, tomato, and whatever else you like on a burger for serving.

Place all of the ingredients for the turkey burgers in a large bowl and mix with a fork.  Try to make sure that everything's well incorporated, without making the turkey too mushy.  It's a fine line.

Form the mix into patties.  I made 6 patties, but if you'd like a slightly more substantial burger, make 5.  Make the patties only about 1/2-3/4 inch thick, because you want them to cook all the way through without being charred on the outside.

Preheat the grill to medium, and make sure your grates are well oiled.  When the grill is hot, place the burgers gently on the grates and let cook for about 6 minutes without disturbing them.

Gently flip the burgers and let cook for another 6 minutes.  Check to make sure that the turkey is cooked all the way through.

Place on rolls and top as you like.  I served with orzo and a salad.  

Healthy and yummy.

Damn Book

In here is a recipe for Tandoori Chicken and Indian-Spiced Creamed Corn.  Just scroll on down.

I've been cooking.  And kid-ing.  And all the usual stuff.  But I haven't been posting.  Mostly because I've been too busy reading the 5th book in the Game of Thrones series.  And I'm annoyed because I don't even like it all that much.  I'm just about at the middle, and we're starting to get back to the characters that I care about but seriously, Danaerys?  Don't care.  Yeah, yeah, you're kind and everyone wants to take advantage of you and blood of the dragon yadda yadda.  How about hanging out with three people whose names I can keep straight?  And while I'm at it, how about everyone just holds on to their original name for more than one chapter?  Just tell me what the hell is going on with the Stark children and I'm good.

I'm the most annoying character ever, and yet I just won't die!

I'm sorry to people who actually have some kind of life.  You have no idea what I'm talking about.  

Otherwise it's been good stuff.  Quick one night trip with some friends to the beach, and that was great.

We hit the indoor pool while the rainbow came out,

Dining at their own table,

Beach day.

Day two of ice cream.

The way home.  Think they had fun?

Tomorrow the plan's to hit the Ecotarium.  I've never been; I hope it's fun.

So I said that I was going to update about waffles and apples, but I wasn't super crazy about the waffles.  Instead we have Tandori Chicken with Indian-Spiced Creamed Corn (served with naan and sliced cucumbers).  It was good and easy.

Tandori Chicken
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 small container plain greek yogurt (I like Fage)
about 2 tbsp tandori seasoning*

Cut the chicken into about 1 inch chunks.

Stir the tandoori seasoning into the yogurt and mix well.  Stir the chicken into the yogurt mix and make sure it's thoroughly coated.  It can sit anywhere from 15 minutes to overnight.

This is me, forgetting to take pictures as I go and attempting to make it up after the fact.

Heat a grill to high heat and make sure it's well oiled.  

Thread the chicken onto 4 skewers and cook, turning once, for about 7 minutes per side.

Umm, raw chicken.

  
Serve either on or off the skewers.

*I really like this one that I got at Whole Foods.  That said, I kind of want to punch myself in the face for using a spice by a company called "Urban Accents."

Indian-Spiced Creamed Corn

I know that in an ideal cooking world all corn dishes are made with corn fresh off the cob.  I never like to spend the time and always cheat and use frozen corn.  

Good enough for me!

1 12 oz package frozen corn, thawed
1 small onion, diced fine
2 garlic cloves, minced
about 1/3 c 1/2 and 1/2
4 tbsp butter, softened
1 tsp garam masala spice mix*
olive oil for sauteeing

On low heat, saute the diced onion and the minced garlic until the onion is translucent.  

Add a little less than 1/2 the package of corn, and set aside.

In a Cuisinart or using a hand-held blender, puree the rest of the corn, adding 1/2 and 1/2 to your desired thickness.

I took like 9 pictures.  There was no way to make this not look like sludge.

Mix the corn and onion mixture with the pureed corn and place in a greased 8X8 baking dish.  Top with a splash more 1/2 and 1/2 and put in a 350 degree oven until it's warm (at least 15 minutes, but it's forgiving.  If you'd like to make it before putting the chicken on the grill, that's probably ok.  Just check to make sure it's not too dried out before serving).

As it heats, mix the garam masala and the butter.

When serving, top the corn with the spiced butter (you can do this on individual plates or on the whole dish, depending on the taste preferences of those with whom you are dining).

I'll get better at remembering "plating" pictures.  

I just lied to you, internet.

* This does not have to be Urban Accents brand.  Ugh.  I'm suffering from inadvertent-hipster self loathing.

Look what I found as I was uploading pictures for this post.  Looks like someone got his hands on my camera.  Sherman Klump, is that you?*

*ugh, more self-loathing.  I can't believe I just referenced one of the worst Eddie Murphy movies ever.  This needs to stop.

Alright, this was good.  It's been fun catching up.  And tomorrow I'll post the noodlecake with tofu recipe that was also super easy and everyone liked.  

What We Ate in Maine

Everything.  We ate everything in Maine.  


Get all the Murphy boys and their families together and I think there are about 400 people total.  Okay, maybe my estimates aren't the most accurate, but when you toss in the visiting friends and put everyone all together, I don't think that I'm that far off.  And there was much fun to be had.  And there was lots of eating.

we also had beautiful sunsets, great times on the beach, adventures in minigolf and Old Orchard amusement park, and fun times with the Murphy ladies.  

But we're talking food here.

We ate at Congdon's Donuts which have the best donuts ever, and their bacon isn't too bad either.


We ate delicious meals prepared by the various and sundry Murphy families - chicken noodle casserole that actually tasted like chicken and noodles and vegetables (yum!), American chop suey which was as good as always, chicken parm for a crowd over pasta, BBQ chicken and marinated steak that I went back for more than once.  I made tacos that, not to toot my own horn, were pretty tasty.


The last night we ate s'mores, and then, realizing that there was Lobster Tracks ice cream left, we ate that too.  


I am not getting on the scale for many weeks.


And one night many of the grown ups ate lobster.  Or as I like to call it, cockroach of the sea.  Guess who didn't eat lobster?


Since, in spite of our best eating efforts, there were many a leftover, I made leftover pizza for those of us who were going to take a pass on the bottom dwellers.  And I made cheese pizza for the kids.

The pizza that got a little burnt is not pictured.  Not to worry, it was still eaten.

Leftover BBQ Chicken Pizza
1 package pizza dough (I'll get my homemade recipe on here someday)
1 leftover breast of BBQ chicken, sliced thin
about 1/2 cup leftover grilled vegetables (we had peppers and onions) diced
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
BBQ sauce* for drizzling (I think I used about 1/2 cup, but just have the bottle handy)


Preheat the oven to 425


Let the store bought dough rest on the counter for at least an hour.  It really needs to come to room temp before it's willing to be stretched.  Once it is pliable, grease a pizza pan (I used 12 inch, but 14 inch would have been fine), stretch the dough to fill the pan, and then let it rest again.  It will probably contract.  Give it about 10 minutes, stretch it again to the edges, then lightly brush with olive oil all over (or spray with olive oil cooking spray).


Drizzle a few lines of BBQ sauce in a zig zag pattern on the dough, then layer 1/3 of the cheddar and 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese on top of the BBQ sauce.


Place the sliced chicken on top of the cheese, and zig zag a few more lines of BBQ sauce.  Top with 1/3 of the cheddar and 1/3 of the mozzarella.


Finally, sprinkle the chopped veggies on top, put a little more BBQ sauce in the spaces that don't have any, and top with the rest of the cheese.


Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the crust is browned (I always lift up a corner of the crust and check the bottom.  It should look lightly browned as well).


*As far as I'm concerned KC Masterpiece is the best BBQ sauce out there.  I understand that some people wrongly prefer Sweet Baby Rays.  I'm sure whatever you use will be fine. But if you're on the fence, go with KC Masterpiece.

Leftover Steak and Gorgonzola Pizza

This was really good.  Worth making an extra steak if you're grilling.


1 package pizza dough
about 2 cups leftover marinated grilled steak sliced thin and cut into bite sized pieces (probably about a 12 oz steak, but it would depend on your cut of meat)
2 cups baby spinach, sliced into ribbons OR 2 cups arugula
3/4 c crumbled gorgonzola cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella


Do that thing with the pizza dough that I described above until it's ready to be topped.


Put the spinach or arugula over the center of the pizza dough (in lieu of sauce) and either coat with a light coating of olive oil or spray with olive oil cooking spray.


Top the greens with about 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese.


Place the cut steak on top of the mozzarella, and then top that with the remaining mozzarella and the gorgonzola.


Bake for about 20 minutes, making sure the crust is browned all over.  

Dammit.  Now I want pizza.

Coming tomorrow...waffles, apples, and maple buttermilk syrup.

Dinner Date: Short Ribs and Other Good Stuff

I really should have called this post: "How to impress a date without really working hard," but there's a lot of ways to do that, and frankly, some of them are much more fun than short ribs.  But as far as impressing someone with your cooking prowess, this is totally the way to do it.


The whole dinner was the short ribs served over buttered grits and a grilled beet salad.  But of all of those things, the only thing that really required a recipe was the short ribs, and I'll toss in a dijon vinaigrette for the salad (in case you're the make-your-own-dressing type).  

Beer Braised Short Ribs
note: most of my recipes serve 4, this served two, but it could easily be doubled
1.5 lbs beef short ribs, bone in
olive oil for searing
1 onion, medium size dice
2 bottles of dark beer (I used Long Trail doublebag, but that's only because it's what we had in the house.)
1/2 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp dijion mustard


Preheat the oven to 325
In an oven safe pot with a lid (I used my dutch oven - thanks Rachel Brill!), heat about 2 tbsp olive oil to high heat and then brown the short ribs on the meaty side (this takes about 2 minutes).  Remove the ribs to a plate.

Put the onions in the pot, lower the heat to medium, and cook for a couple of minutes until they begin to brown around the edges.
While the onions are browning, drink some of one of the beers.  Seriously, you only need about 1 3/4 beers for this recipe, and it's a shame for it to go to waste.  If you wanted to go ahead and drink half a beer, that would be ok too.  
Once the onions have started to brown, remove the pot from the heat, pour in what's left of the beer, and stir in the thyme and mustard.  
Put the short ribs back in the pot, cover, and place in the oven and forget about them for about 2 hours 

(this is very forgiving - two hours, two and a half... Just check after about 2 to make sure there's still enough liquid in the pot.  If not, add a little more beer, water, whatever).  
When you're ready to serve, cut the short ribs off the bone and into about 1 inch pieces, and serve with the onions left from the gravy.  


If you want to serve with the grilled beets and grits...

Grilled Beet and Wilted Lettuce Salad with Dijon Vinaigrette
1 bunch beets, peeled, sliced about 1/4 inch thick
1 head romaine lettuce, cut in quarters
6 tbsp olive oil, divided
3 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
1 tsp dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste


Preheat the grill to medium high.
Place sliced beets in a grill basket and toss with 2 tbsp olive oil.

These beets were stripey.  And delicious.

Grill, turning occasionally, about 30 minutes


As they're grilling, make the dressing by combining the rest of the oil, vinegar and mustard.


Right before you're ready to serve dinner, spray each of the quartered romaine heads with cooking spray, and place on the grill for 2 minutes.  
Remove from the grill, plate the lettuce and beets, and drizzle with the dressing.

Grits
I'm not going to tell you how to make grits.  Buy a container of instant grits.  Cook them according to the directions on the box (although I do prefer to cook them a little more slowly and covered, but that's only because it's more forgiving, timewise).  Stir in a little butter at the end of the cooking.  

Top with the short ribs, serve with the beet salad, and realize that something that took two hours of mostly hands off cooking can be eaten in about 10 minutes.

This picture is upside down.  No idea how that happened.

Dining al fresco.  

Which leaves you a lot of time for the rest of your date...

On the grill, obviously

When it's 90 degrees out and I just spent the whole day at the beach, I'm not always one for firing up the oven and making things even toastier.  Dinner tonight was pork burgers, grilled brussels sprouts, and those yummy garlic fries again (I had to use some more of the scapes).  The bad news is that I burnt the fries this time.  The good news is that the rest of dinner was good, and many of the fries were salvageable.  

Pork Burgers
1 lb ground pork
1/3 c. panko
1/4 c. milk
1 beaten egg
1 tbsp mustard (I used dijon, but whatever floats your boat)
hamburger rolls for serving


Mix all the ingredients in a bowl using a fork, then form into 5 patties.  
Preheat the grill to medium-high and then cook the burgers for about 6 minutes per side (you want them cooked through, but not dry)
Note:  Apparently, if you like sauerkraut, these would be good topped therewith.  However, I think sauerkraut is vile, so I can't speak to that point.  

Grilled/Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Hear me out on these: they're good.  Forget all your preconceived notions about brussels sprouts (including the way that boiled brussels sprouts smell - blech).  Even the kids like these.  Pete won't eat them (wuss), but that just means more for us.


About as many brussels sprouts as you can hold cupped in your two hands is enough for 4 people.  (I never weigh things at the grocery store).
olive oil
sea salt


Wash and cut the brussels sprouts in half if they're small, in quarters if they're large, trimming the woody end.
Toss into a grill basket or on a baking sheet.
Coat with olive oil (I don't know - 3 tbsp?)
Season generously with sea salt.


If you're grilling, grill on medium high heat until the sprouts are both soft and browned (it's okay if they blacken in spots), probably about 20 minutes.  Stir them occasionally.


If you're roasting, heat the oven to 400-450 (depending on what else you're cooking) and cook until they are both soft and browned (it's okay if they blacken in spots), probably about 30 minutes.  Flip once during cooking.


Honestly, these brussels sprouts don't even need bacon.

Dinner without the kids

I think that the best part about this dinner was that I didn't have to get up during it once.  That said, it was pretty tasty too.  My goal is to get pictures of this kind of thing, but for now, recipes only.

Southwest Turkey Burgers 
1 lb ground turkey 
2 tsp taco seasoning
diced black olives to taste
sliced pepperjack cheese
slices of sweet onion
slices of bell peppers


Mix the turkey, taco seasoning and black olives together, and form into patties (I made 5 good sized burgers).
Heat a grill to medium high heat, and place the onions, bell peppers and burgers near the middle.  Cook about 8 minutes, then flip them all.  
Cook about 8 more minutes, then top the burgers with the pepperjack.  Cook until the cheese melts, then pile it all (burger, peppers, onions) onto buns, with a little lettuce and tomato (if you're into that kind of thing).

Grilled Garlic Fries
These were good.  Really good.  Worth the 3 step cooking process.


5 medium potatoes (I used yukon gold, but regular baking potatoes would work too)
5 inch piece of garlic scape or 3 large garlic cloves, minced
olive oil 
2 tbsp butter


Peel and cut the potatoes into a basic fry shape.  I wasn't too picky about it.
In a steamer basket, steam the sliced potatoes until they have softened, but aren't mushy (err on the side of undercooked here - probably about 5-7 minutes)
Dump the potatoes from the steamer basket to a grill basket, give them a minute or two to air dry, and coat them with olive oil (about 3 tbsp)
Cook them on medium high heat for about 20 minutes, stirring every so often so they brown evenly.
When the potatoes have about 5 minutes left, melt the butter in a skillet over low heat and cook the garlic 'til it's soft but not brown.  
Remove the potatoes from the grill and toss them in with the garlic butter to coat.  Season very generously with sea salt and pepper.


We also had a salad.  Like I said, it was a good dinner.