Recap: Smokey South African Lime Chicken

I previewed this recipe in my last entry, and I'm finally getting around to writing the final review of the recipe. 

I bought a package of two full boneless, skinless chicken breasts and ended up just using one, which was plenty of chicken for the both of us - there was enough left over for me to have as a lunch-sized portion the next day. 

To start, I trimmed the chicken breast and separated the two breast pieces. I adapted this recipe from a pepper-lime chicken recipe, so I juiced two small limes for the marinade (use more or less depending on how tangy you want the flavor). To replace the pepper, I used a new seasoning mix:

It is called South African Smoke Seasoning Blend and Ashley found it at Trader Joe's. If you want to season meat to achieve a deep smokey flavor, this is your stuff! It's really good. 

In a Pyrex dish about 2 inches deep, I poured the lime juice and placed the trimmed chicken breast. I sprinkled one side with the seasoning, let it sit for a few minutes, then flipped and sprinkled the other. Surprisingly, all of the seasoning stayed on the chicken. I put the lid on the Pyrex dish and put it in the fridge until I was ready to start cooking.

These chicken breasts can be grilled, broiled or baked. We got a little rained out, so I baked mine at 375 for about 30 minutes and flipped halfway through. The end result was great, and I'll definitely try this recipe again, hopefully grilling next time. 

The side dish was scalloped mashed potatoes baked in a cheese sauce, but I wasn't very pleased with the recipe. I think it calls for too much butter and the cheese (sharp white cheddar) was too bland. I may try that again as well, but definitely reducing the amount of butter and using a more flavorful cheese like a smoked gouda. 

Smokey South African seasoned & lime chicken and cheesy scalloped potatoes

Hi friends! It's been awhile again. I swear there's a backlog on photos on my camera waiting to be downloaded for blog posting. What can I say - life is sort of busy.

Anyway, I'm really excited to try two new recipes for dinner tonight! A couple of weeks ago when we were in the grocery store, Ashley saw boxed cheesy scalloped potatoes and said "...that would be really good if it was real." And so came the inspiration for tonight's dinner. I'e been in kind of a food rut lately...we both have...so coming up with dinner ideas has been difficult. I decided to turn to one of my trusty old cookbooks and look for a chicken recipe that would go well with the potatoes. That's when I found the pepper-lime chicken recipe. But of course I can't just take a recipe and prepare it as-is. The last time we were at Trader Joe's, Ashley found a South African smoke seasoning blend (he loves BBQ and spicy flavors), so I'm subbing that seasoning mix (it comes in its own grinder/mill) for the pepper in the recipe.

Hopefully all comes out well and I'll have pictures and a great review after dinner tonight!

Gardens, Breakfasts and Dogs

Good morning, glories! While I was sitting at my desk yesterday morning, I couldn't help but admire the pattern my coffee was making in the mug while I was slow to drink it, so I had to take a snap.

It's no secret that I've been loving my garden this season! And I'm not the only one. Occasionally I forget to check the squash, and they get too big to eat. What does that mean? Dog toys!

Wheeler has her mouth full with a piece of summer squash.

Marty gnawing away on his piece of squash. 

Besides the squash, I've had some lovely yellow tomatoes. They're really tasty, and a perfect size. So far they are the earliest to ripen and I've picked a half dozen or so. I'm also super excited because tomato plants started coming up in places where some rotten tomatoes must have fallen last year, and at least one is my absolute favorite, but most difficult seed to find - the Garden Peach tomato!

And finally, how about these "green" beans? They are an heirloom bean - a deep purple on the vine, but supposedly when you cook them, they turn an emerald green. I love them too much raw to cook them, so I suppose I won't see that magic trick in the kitchen.

So what's with all these funky veggies? I really love the heirloom varieties, and this season that's pretty much all I bought when I was picking out my seeds. Do you realize how much genetic diversity you are preserving by choosing one of the "weird" varieties, as opposed to your typical big, red tomato or regular old bush bean? Saving seeds used to be a necessary part of the farming process for farmers years ago, which is how we've been able to have so many wonderful varieties available to us today. 

Also, you may have at some point heard about monoculture (growing all of the same variety) versus polyculture (growing many varieties). That's kind of the idea here, too. I'm growing about 6-8 different varieties of tomatoes, all in my backyard garden. Again, it preserves the genetic diversity, but may also be beneficial if pests decide to attack any of my plants. 

I'm not the only gardener around. Ashley loves to spend evenings in his garden (and I love that about him!) and often brings me some of the veggies he's grown. Currently I have a handful of hot peppers drying. It was pretty cool over the past couple of weeks to watch them turn from green to bright red and shrink up into almost fake looking little peppers. 

But this past weekend, he brought a paper bag full of red and white potatoes. We washed them, chopped them up, cooked them in olive oil and sprinkled them with a hefty dose of Old Bay. Delicious! 

And then we have the equivalent of the "his and hers" breakfast. Go ahead...just call us brunchaholics. 

Ashley's brunch with local turkey breakfast sausages. 

My meat-free brunch with a fresh croissant from a local bakery. 

Are you growing anything new in your garden this summer? What's your favorite part of your weekend breakfast or brunch? Happy Tuesday everyone!

I'll Stop the World and Melt with You

At this hour...at the minute...10:38 p.m. to be exact, we're still suffering a heat index of 101 degrees. Yuck. I think the high heat index of the day reached 107 degrees. Tomorrow's actual temperature is supposed to be 101 degrees with not a cloud in the sky. Beautiful, right?

Anyway, for an hour this afternoon, I escaped obligations and enjoyed this: 

And believe me, I wasn't out of that water for a second until it was time to dry off and go home. Someday when I am married and a homeowner, there will be a pool in my backyard...if my husband knows what's good for him. *insert angelic smile and batting eyelashes*

Before I headed off this afternoon to complete two more of my member work hours for the co-op, I spied this little guy sitting on the door of my car:

Until this summer, I have never seen a praying mantis in Philadelphia. A couple of weeks ago, I found one on the foyer door in the entryway of my apartment. They're following me! When I was a kid, my mom owned a business and in the strip mall where her shop was located, there were large, brick planters with shrubbery in them. I always found praying mantises around them. I was so fascinated by their fragile, interesting little bodies. I guess I still am! Have you found any interesting, summer critters at home or while on vacation? 

It's not spring, but I'm still cleaning!

If you don't already know, I have two children...two furry, four-legged, barking children. One of my pups, Marty the poodle-terrier mix, is quite the sloppy eater. His messes could probably rival the mess that children of the two-legged variety make, for those types of parents out there.

Tonight I spied an army of black ants trying to make off with a piece of half-chewed kibble Marty spit onto the floor (Did I mention what excellent manners he has? No? Hmm...) and that was enough for me. I muscled up and pulled the refrigerator away from the wall and out into the middle of the kitchen floor.

Let me tell you friends, everything in the kitchen is not all sugar and spice. It's also part dust bunny, part army-carried kibbel chunks, part random food wrapper you could have sworn ended up in the trashcan, part dried mystery crud on the floor....yeah, you get the picture. I could sum it up in one word for you: EW.

After sweeping and scrubbing the floor (I use a pet-friendly mix of white vinegar and water in a spray bottle), I also remembered a good environmentally-conscious tip: dust off the coils on the back of the fridge. Keeping the coils free of dust can help your fridge operate and cool more efficiently, and we all know what that means. New shoes! Just kidding - it could mean a lower electricity bill (which I just may find a tad more exciting than a new pair of shoes)!

And not to be out-famed by Marty, I have to be fair my girl Wheeler, the queen of the castle!

My Favorite Dinner

Mmm...seitan and veggie stir fry! I was introduced to seitan by the wonderful, health-conscious mother of the kids in my neighborhood who I used to babysit. Part of the family ate a vegetarian diet and part ate meat, so seitan was a popular item in their house. Thank goodness for that, because it's one of my favorite meat substitutes, now!

I went for seasonal veggies to add to my stir fry - thin asparagus stalks, carrots and a summer squash from my garden. As you can see in the photo, I also used onion, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce and of course, the seitan. Not pictured are the olive oil and rice.

The process is simple and uses one pan and one pot, at most. In a large frying pan, pour enough olive oil in the bottom to almost cover the the surface. Start with your peeled and slice carrots and seitan (I pull it apart into smaller pieces). Let them simmer a couple minutes on their own, and then add the minced garlic, ginger (I love the zing it adds, so I use about a teaspoon) and chopped onion (this was a small, yellow onion - I used half). The reason why I don't add the onion and garlic immediately is because they have a tendency to burn when heated the entire time. Next, add the squash, followed by the asparagus (washed and cut, of course). Finally, add the teriyaki and soy sauces in whatever amounts suit your taste.

As you can tell, I add my ingredients to the frying pan based on the length of time I want that particular ingredient to cook. The carrots and seitan need much longer to cook than the asparagus. I lucked out and already had a large portion of basmati rice leftover from dinner two nights prior, so I put it right into the frying pan and stirred it up with the seitan, veggies and sauces until it was completely heated. Talk about an an easy meal! This is one of my absolute favorites...now if I could just get Ashley to eat veggies...

BBQ Pulled Pork

Ashley's birthday was on a Sunday in June. He's not really into big celebrations, so we stuck to our usual "Adventure Sunday" (I'll elaborate more on that in a future post) and explored a natural wildlife refuge in the area. I did get him a birthday gift, but while while we were out for the day, I think his favorite birthday treat was simmering in the crockpot at home.

Painted turtle sunning itself on a log in the pond.

I couldn't remember exactly how I prepared the chunk of pig (your best best is a pork shoulder with one fatty side and the bone still in it) the last time I made pulled pork, but I'll let you in on a little secret about the most important ingredient: beer. Not just any beer though - a stout (or three). Look at a million recipes online for BBQ seasoning and you'll find about the same mix of seasonings: paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, ground cumin, brown sugar and chili powder. Of course there are more (or fewer) spices you can mix together to meet your particular tastes, but those are the basics. 

I like to mix all of my spices in a bowl, and then rub the pork shoulder really thoroughly with all the spices, just like you'd prepare dry-rubbed ribs. After the meat is coated in spices, I put it aside for a few minutes while I caramelize onions. Slice up a yellow onion into rings, add a bit of olive oil to a large pan and pour in a few tablespoons of brown sugar. On low heat, sauté the onions until they are golden brown, then dump them into the bottom of the crockpot. 

I add a bit more olive oil to a the same pan (You really think I'm going to clean up that many dishes? Please.) and brown all sides of the meat, just to get the cooking started and seal in the flavor. Once all sides are browned, into the crockpot it goes, resting on a bed of caramelized onions. Next I throw in a few sprigs of fresh thyme and pour in 2-3 bottles of beer, depending on how large the piece of pork is. 

You want the piece of meat completely covered with liquid, even a little extra so it remains covered as some of the liquid steams out. The beer selection is crucial. You want a dark, flavorful beer. You can choose one with a coffee or smokey undertone, or a sweeter taste. You can find any of these flavors in numerous stouts and porters. Don't be afraid to mix different types of beer. The first time I made pulled pork, we sampled all of the beers in a make-your-own 6-pack and chose two with flavors we thought to be complimentary to each other. So pour in your 2 stouts or porters. I topped my liquid off with half a bottle of a honey weiss, which is a lighter wheat beer. You can always add other flavors such as hot sauce, molasses, BBQ sause, etc. to enhance the flavor of the meat. Be creative!

After all the prep work is done, put the lid on your crockpot, set the temperature to medium or high and give the meat 6-8 hours to fall apart. When it's time to pull the meat apart, I like to keep it in the crockpot and the liquid so it can continue soaking up the flavor and not get dried out. I use a big two-pronged meat fork and a large serving fork since the meat shreds so easily at this point.

Ashley's birthday dinner was complete when the pulled pork was served on toasted potato rolls with homemade cheesy mashed potatoes, made from red potatoes. We ended the day with a picnic on the roof. It was such an awesome meal that I ate three sandwiches! 

Birthday boy's pulled pork and mashed potatoes.

Chow down, birthday boy!