Cilantro Lime Rice

Horror of horrors, we were cleaning out the freezer and found a pack of chicken legs. Just to get rid of them, we marinated it is a simple vinaigrette dressing and grilled them up, and served them with a simple rice dish, similar to the recipe used at Chipotle. It was supposed to be a meal just to get rid of the chicken, but it turned out so good that we are already planning to have it again soon.

Cilantro Lime Rice

1 teaspoon vegetable oil or butter
2 tsp. fresh cilantro, chopped
2/3 cup rice (or barley, wheat, or other whole grain)
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Lime

Cook the rice with the salt in a steamer, then stir in the butter, cilantro and squeeze the lime over the rice. Toss to fluff and serve.

The Best Fried Chicken - EVER

This chicken had better be good. Dang good. 'Cause I sure ain't gonna shell out $1000 for ordinary KFC fried chicken.

We saw this at the KFC on the way to the Como Zoo. We were hungry, but not THAT hungry.

Chocolate Kissed Grain-ola

Food Storage has worked its way into my heart. It must be a parasite, boring itself into a place where it knows I will never be rid of it. Oh, well. If it is here to stay, we might as well enjoy it. Granola is a great way to use some of the food stored under the stairs.

This recipe originally came without the cocoa, vanilla, or Raspberry enlightenment. Both versions are good. It is especially good with Mom's homemade yogurt in a parfait. This granola is low in sugar and oil, and it is just as tasty as other recipes. Next time I will try it with the rolled 6-grain rolled oatmeal that Mary gave me when I helped her organize her storage room, and you could easily triple the cocoa powder without it being too overwhelming.

Homemade yogurt and blueberries make a great pairing to soften up the granola.

Grain-ola

4 C old fashioned oats

3/4 C salted sunflower seeds

1 C walnuts or macadamia nuts, halves or in quarters

1 1/2 C unsweetened coconut

1 1/2 C dried fruit, chopped (mixed berries, ginger, tropical fruit, etc.)

zest of 2 oranges

3/4 C honey

1/4 C oil

1 t vanilla

1 t cocoa (optional)

1 t Raspberry Enlightenment from Penzeys (optional)

leftover cereal (Rice Crispies, Wheaties, Bran Flakes, etc.)

Measure the oil and honey into a microwave safe dish and heat 30-60 seconds until it is warm and runny. Add the vanilla, cocoa, orange zest, and Raspberry Enlightenment to the honey and oil. This ensures it is evenly mixed throughout the batch of granola.

In a large bowl, mix the granola, nuts, and coconut. Stir in the honey mixture to evenly coat. Put onto 2 rimmed baking dishes and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Add the dried fruit and let everything cool on the sheet. Mix in any extra cereal if desired and store in an air tight container.

And a Canoe Hoist to Boot

Finally! It is done. 7 trips to Home Depot and 2 weeks of parking outside are over!

If you don't count the time spent kissing, it only took a couple of hours of actual work time. But it was sprinkled over such a long time period that every day the task seemed to loom larger and larger. Before the end, it wasn't a simple canoe hoist, it was an incredibly challenging rocket we were trying to complete before North Korea tested another nuke and wiped us out of existence.

Here were out issues:

1) We got 2 too few pulleys (it took 5 total.)
2) We were short one carabiner.
3) How were we going to attach the canoe? We needed more eyelet screws for the boards.
4) The rope wouldn't stay in knots so we needed rope cleats.
5) We screwed the board 1 foot too close to the light bulb, so the canoe completely blocked the light. Then the screws stripped so we had to pry them out.
6) We needed one more rope cleat because we forgot about the first knot on the ceiling.
7) The ropes around the canoe were too long, and the canoe hung so low that we couldn't get our cars underneath it.
8) The rivets on the canoe keel don't come out if the drill is on 'reverse' but the drill bit will break if enough force is applied. No amount of colorful language will alter this basic fact of life.

Sheesh...we're exhausted! It is pretty standard for us to take a simple project and twist it and turn it until it is a complicated mess. It's basically my calling in life. I can do it in practically any situation, with little to no effort. In fact, I emulate the motto, "There is No Job too Simple for Our Staff to Complicate!"

Zucchini, ricotta, and petit pois lasagne

After running errands in high heels this weekend, my feet ached. Kevin said we should head straight downstairs to work on our canoe project, but I said I needed a break. Three hours later I woke up on the couch. HOLY COW! Where did the time go?

Our canoe hoist may never get finished (it should be easy, right?) but I did manage to make dinner. This recipe is the way vegetarian recipes should be. Heavy on the vegetables and no meat substitutes in sight. There is nothing worse than seeing a vegetarian recipe that calls for "veggie burgers" "tofu" or any other meat substitute. If you don't want to eat meat fine, but it is no fair cheating and using a fake meat.

You may be wondering why I took a picture of the cookbook instead of a picture of our dinner. It was either:

1) I am so artistic that the cookbook picture of a picture called to me.

2) When dinner was done I ravenously ate and ate until the pan of lasagna was no longer photo worthy.

Bless you heart. You picked #1. Sorry to disappoint - as soon as the oven bell chimed I started digging in. It was worth the lost photo and the burned taste buds. Then, after one more slice, I had the urge to make another pan just for the picture, but ultimately settled on the slacker's option.

Zucchini, ricotta, and petit pois lasagne

9 sheets ready to use lasagna noodles

1 T olive oil

2 onions, chopped

1 pound zucchini, thinly sliced

2 cups frozen petit pois (or peas)

2 T mint, chopped (if desired - feel free to leave it out)

1 pound ricotta cheese

1 1/4 C milk

1 1/4 C sour cream

1/4 C Parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

green salad to serve with

Put the lasagna in a shallow bowl, cover with cold water, and soak while you prepare the filling. Soaking it makes it lighter and nicer.

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan, add the onions, and fry gently for 5 minutes until the onions begin to soften. Add the zucchini then cover and cook for 15-20 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender but not browned. Stir in the petit pois and mint, season with salt and pepper, and remove from heat.

Mix the ricotta with 2 T of milk to soften it a little, and season with black pepper.

Drain the lasagna and arrange a single layer in the base of a casserole dish. Spread half of the ricotta mixture and put half of the zucchini mixture on top of that. Top with another layer of lasagna, ricotta, zucchini, and finish with a layer of lasagna.

For the topping, mix together the sour cream and remaining milk. Pour this mixture over the top of the lasagna, then sprinkle thickly with the Parmesan cheese. Bake in a preheated oven, 400 degrees, for 40 minutes. Serve with a crunchy green salad.

Stacks and Stacks of High Protein Pancakes

Isn't it strange that the most widely accepted breakfast foods are terrible ways to start the day? Like donuts. Nobody would ever think of skipping dinner and eating just dessert. If they weren't so dang tasty they wouldn't fool any of us into thinking they could be called breakfast.

I ran across this recipe several weeks ago and finally tried it this weekend. It looked so interesting to me. Sometimes people talk about wonderful light, fluffy pancakes, and I never understood where they were coming from. I like dense, thin pancakes, and these are just the ticket.

They are satisfying and, as a bonus, Kevin doesn't like them, so I get to eat them all. Are you wondering how I can eat 4 eggs at one sitting? Let's never mention it again.

High Protein Pancakes

1/4 C whole wheat flour

1/4 C cottage cheese

4 eggs

1/2 C milk or yogurt

Blend everything with a hand blender until it is smooth. Cook like pancakes on a hot griddle. They will be very thin.

Just the Right Medicine

There are a lot of characters at work. It is interesting to get a glimpse into the workings of a variety of families. One such insight came last week. Kurt's son, Andrew, got a cavity filled, and was forced pay $10 to cover part of the bill. We asked if Andrew brushed his teeth. He does, but Jill, Kurt's wife, didn't think he was thorough enough with his brushing habits.

Everyone stared in horror as Kurt told the story of fining Andrew, sweet Andrew, for the filling.

I retaliated with an email titled, "Only the WORST Kind of Person."

Megan: "Only the worst kind of person would require a kid to pay for his own medical care…"

Kurt responds: "What are you saying about Jill???

He carbon copied Jill on the email. Uggghh...how will she respond? Kurts laughs and laughs while I turn red. Then he tells me that the address he sent it to wasn't Jills address. Later, he did talk to her about it, and she responded by saying, "I don't think it's that bad."

Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin

It happened at work on Friday. My chin itched. I scratched it. There was a little bit of dry skin where I scratched, so I slowly scratched again to remove the peeling skin. That skin didn't come off. Then I realized it was a hair. It was 2 inches long. It was incredibly thick and wirey. It was growing out of a mole. HOW DID IT GET SO LONG BEFORE I EVEN NOTICED IT??

When I say I am looking forward to aging, this is not what I mean. It is enthralling is the clarity in direction and purpose that I often see in older-middle-aged women. Is there some way to get that power without extra hairs growing in unauthorized places??

(This isn't actually a picture of my hairy mole. That hair was gone long before I thought about taking a picture of it.)

Strong Women

"Did they not yearn to muffle these strong and unpredictable women in order to mask their own impotence?" -Azar Nafisi in "Things I've Been Silent About"

(She was speaking about the men who flog women in Iran for showing their hair in public.)