Spring = Inspired Water

Vegetable garden planting has most likely taken place, flowers are popping up, meaning the weather is getting warmer, which means we are having an early spring, and I imagine everything will need lots of water.

I found it warm yesterday and found myself drinking lots of water. In our home we drink filtered water, lots of refreshing filtered water since I received my Mavea water pitcher last year.

I was contacted by Mavea and offered another chance to give one away. So I did. Randomly choosing someone off of Facebook and twitter we sent out the a Elmaris XL. They are offering colors now- with a campaign of 'Add a splash of colour to your life'- green.

One thing Theresa mentioned to me, as well as I like, she likes the easy and convenient on-line purchasing of these products and having them delivered to your house. My family as well as hers do all of our shopping on-line, mostly Amazon.com, but they do carry these products too. You also simply purchase the replaceable filters at various sites.

Theresa keeps her pitcher in the fridge, and we keep ours upstairs. We bought a larger size container for the kitchen counter, but needed another one to refill our bottle during the night. I add ice in the top section and let it melt, so during night it keeps the water cool.

We had the opportunity to visit Theresa Sunday and see what she thought of her prize. I was visiting the area and had not seen the pitcher before it arrived at her house. I was pleasantly pleased with the green color and size of the pitcher.

As I have said before, cookAppeal has chosen (a few years ago) to no longer shill for companies, but here in my house we believe in products like this. The Mavea water filter pitcher is well worth taking up space on my blog. If you have the opportunity and need a product like this, try it!

You can find them on Facebook- Mavea Inspired Water

Beer Battered Cod and 'Our' Dirty Rice

How we forget life can be so busy when company shows up at our doorstep!

My son arrived from Asia not quite two weeks ago and its been crazy. He requested I make so many things he has not had for the past year and half, my head is spinning. He also will be living with us, not sure how long, but I am a happy mom. He is almost 25 and is trying to finish up his Translating and English studies. We are so proud of him.

Okay back to the food. I made a simple batter recipe and add a dash of your fav beer, in this case hubs and son love Yuengling, a PA/NJ beer that is spreading out in distribution. 

Once you pan saute the cod (I do not use much oil as in my southern frying roots) remove almost all of the oil, if any, but about two tablespoons and add a pinch of flour and spicy seasonings to make a rue of sorts or in this case a gravy. Once it begins to turn golden add a few cups heavy cream and thicken. Last minute I tossed some shrimp into the oil before making gravy. A nice fresh squeeze of lemon and zest to give it a nice fresh flavor!

In a separate pan I sauteed some sausage, shrimp pieces, cilantro, seasonings, and then added rice (wild rice here) to open up the hull for quicker cooking. Add stock and begin cooking. just before it cooks  we added asparagus and tomato pieces left from night before. Makes for a good dirty rice! Not original recipe, but a fun one.

My son has been cooking for me as well. Funny how when our kids grow up they mimic us.

Busy Busy Busy

My son has come home from Asia and decided to live with us for a while. He has been in St. Louis working and going to college, and was in Korea teaching English for a year, but wants a change of pace and to finish up his college semester here. 

His being back the past week has kept me busy. We have begun to cook, so I will catch up on some food post soon. My life is a whirlwind at the moment!

Pork Belly Goodness

I'm not sure why, but I had not cooked pork belly at home. Outside of the professional kitchen, fresh pork in my visit in Virgina years ago, and bacon at home I had just not connected with it.

We saw it at Whole Foods, and I had to make hubs some. He often orders it at upscale restaurants, so I knew he would enjoy it.

My plan? Cook two pieces, 4X4 inches, about 1/2 pound each, or more in an Asian pear and hot oven environment.

Score the fat with diagonal cuts and in each line place generous amounts of dry rub.
I rubbed them down with pepper, salt, cumin, paprika and let them sit over night.

The next day I preheated the oven to 350 degrees.

Again, fat side up, I patted a moderate amount of you favorite brand hoisen sauce, sliced Asian pears, and placed the pork bellies in a foil covered baking pan. Placing them in the middle of the hot oven (again, fat side up); it cooked it for about 1 and half hours.

Unwrap and let the top crisp up a bit in a 425 degree oven, for about 30 minutes or more. Your taste.

Turning vegetables in Asian pear and fat which has collected in bottom of pan, and cook with pork bellies.

Once done, let sit for 10 minutes and slice; serve with salad and vegetables.

I took the bits of veggies and pork and pears in bottom of pan, separated the fat, and made a gravy of sorts.

Hubs thoroughly enjoyed this, as I.

Lemon Chicken and Potato Dumplings

Just a post about winter eating. Nothing fancy. Collard and mustard greens with some chard sauteed in garlic, pepper, salt and a squeeze of lemon; add some chicken stock to the pan after removing and cook your dumplings. Add some heavy cream and a dusting of flour to thicken. Maybe another splash of lemon, as I always do.

Brown some chicken breast with the same seasonings, douse with more lemon juice and zest, and you've got yourself a great weekend sports or award show meal. Nothing fancy like I said. Just good! Don't forget to open a Chardonnay and Enjoy your weekend!

Gluten Free White Lasagna

Back in late January when we had this, I made this...

White Spinach Lasagna and BBQ Roasted Chicken (and in my new clay dish from Spain).

Making pasta with gluten free ingredients is a bit tough, but I wanted to try it.  I found this interesting recipe on an Examiner site for Soyghetti, so I decided to give it a try. Soy flour was hard to find, but I had Whole Earth order it for me and mixed it with Quinoa flour.

If you do not have a pasta roller, then you might want to invest in one. My client wanted to make it too, since she has never tried some of the things I do. She is an expert Indian roti maker, she can roll it out paper thin if needed. So we both began rolling out the pasta.

We made the sauce bechemel style, and added egg to the spinach and onion to help it stick together, because I forgot Parmesan cheese. Only had Tex-mex. It still tasted good. The men in our life loved it. The pasta was place in a glass dish sprayed with non-stick spray, and simply layered with ingredients.

The BBQ Chicken- I mixed Tandoori paste with tomato sauce and barbeque sauce recipe just playing around, and it had this really great flavor! We will be having this again.

Locally Grown Summer Food Is Just The Best

Last year's post, but am I the only one ready for summer to get here? You can still find these ingredients, at least organic from Whole Foods for now...

My bowl may not be pretty, but it taste great. Lets face it, for the past four weeks as more and more locally grown produce and foods come to our farmers markets, you can't beat it. I have discovered to beat my boredom with raw salads lately, I have grilled the vegetables and throw in the arugula at the last minute.

Dress some chopped vegetables with olive oil, heat up a skillet or grill, toss the vegetables on, and cook them. A squeeze of lemon or lime, break some bread and open a good (or locally made) bottle of wine with friends and enjoy the simple life.

In this bowl? Arugula (great sauteed, and smoked), local spinach, onion, squash, mushrooms, and a few other goodies cooked in a large basket strainer over the grill- let the veggies smoke.

TIP: Buy the largest strainer you can find, and keep it on hand for grilling or smoker. This was something I saw on Anthony Bourdain's new show, Lay Over while he was in Spain. Large enough grates to let the heat and smoke come through, but small enough to keep veggies from falling out, and it doesn't stick. Keep oil in a spray bottle and spray veggies and strainer before placing over the flame.

I saw the chef Anthony was visiting a cook who was smoking many things over the grill in his large strainer basket.

Brilliant!

Add grilled seafood, beef, pork or chicken, some local made breads (farm butter) and its a filling meal.