A FRIDGE FULL OF FOOD...

Thanksgiving turkey redux: Turkey Orzo Soup

I can't believe it's been a week since I've posted!  Man, that just shows you what working the weekend and having a bad cold will do for you--makes you a lazy bones!  I've almost literally done nothing but work, sleep, and whine the last week.  I've had my cold since Thanksgiving and somewhere along the line I wasn't careful enough and gave it to Gene, who I think is sicker than I am, although I whine louder and you know what that means: the squeaky wheel is the bigger pain in the butt.

But we're finally both feeling a little better so I have no excuses but to get back to my life including cooking tonight instead of ordering out and today, with God as my witness, I will be working on my novel. That back-up cd hasn't seen the light of day in at least a couple of weeks and I originally promised myself it would be finished by the end of the year which is fastly approaching. Sigh.

But before I pull that out, let me tell you real quick about the soup I made the other night that was, as Mr Food says "Oooooohhhh, so good!", and another pasta soup for Ruth's weekly Presto Pasta Nights.  Check her blog on Friday to see this weeks round up! 

Thanksgiving Leftovers: Turkey Pasta Soup

Ruth over at Once Upon a Feast hosts a great weekly food event called Presto Pasta Nights.  She posts a round up every Friday of the previous week's great pasta dishes. 

I'm getting back into the groove of  pasta night with my turkey leftovers in a pasta soup last night.  It's all about the broth, comforting in its turkey goodness with an attention-getting mix of pasta shapes to devour.

One of the interesting little secrets about this soup was that I followed Gene's initiative and spooned it over some leftover dressing from Thanksgiving.  It may sound odd but it's really yummy, giving the soup just an extra weight and oomph, turning it from "just soup" into a full meal for Gene.

Lunchbox Looky-loos

I think a lot of us have found that taking a lunch saves us from the perils of the cafeteria, both bad food and bad choices. Yesterday was a good proof of that for me.  For this last stretch of work, on the days I took my lunch to work I was able to get in my fruits and vegetables and eat good sources of protein while the one day, yesterday, I didn't pack a lunch and ended up with a ham sandwich. Not that that part was bad but a croissant? Why didn't my mouth say "wheat bread, please"?  Instead I said "mayo, yes please.". Grrrrr...  And then I had macaroni and cheese on top of it. Grrrr...

But on the other days I'm glad to say this is what I ate:

Chicken Finger wrap, bing cherries, sharp cheddar cheese, cucumber sticks, baby carrots.

The wrap looked like this:

Looks like fish sticks, doesn't it? It's chicken fingers. I didn't like using the ones with breading but I was in a hurry and I'd run out of breadless tenders. Next time I'll put the tomato and lettuce in separte baggie and put it together at work.  The tomatoes made it a little soggy but other than that it was good.  From bottom up, the layers are:  light cream cheese, Harry & David onion pepper chutney, lettuce, cherry tomatoes halved, and chicken fingers.

Small tuna, sharp cheddar, melba toast, raisins, zuchini sticks.

Doctor's Kitchen Monday: Lemon Chicken Scallopini Redux

My favorite dish in the whole world is Lemon Chicken Scallopini.  Everybody has a favorite and that's mine.  I've always been more of a salty/savory kind of snacker and lemon chicken scallopini fulfills all of my taste favorites: salty, savory, and tangy.

I love the way pounding the chicken makes it so tender, almost not meat-like. It loses some of that stringy, chewy, hardness that I hate about eating animal flesh whether it's steak, poultry, or fish.  Actually, to be honest, I tolerate beef (triglyceride gasp!) and fish better than the texture of chicken or turkey, unless the poultry filets are white and pounded thin.  Then, they melt in my mouth and I can plow through an full serving with no problem. Prepared any other way, I have to force myself to eat meat. I usually cheat and snack on protein jello, soup, bars, and shakes from Dr. Brenda's Carriage Park supplies or GNC.

This sauce is my all time favorite. I love the savory down-home goodness of the chicken stock mixed with the tartness of the lemon, the saltiness of the capers, and the muskiness of the 'shrooms.  Most chicken scallopini recipes also add bacon. Sometimes I add that but sometimes I skip it because the bacon can be the one traditional ingredient that, for me, throws the balance of the dish over into "too salty".  I like the earthiness of the bacon but the salt adds up even if you're using low sodium chicken stock so I can live without it or with very little. I know I'm going all Un-Emeril when I say that but this is the one dish that, in my opinion, can be undone by bacon specifically because of the saltiness.

I'll eat this sauce on almost anything. Feel free to think dirty on that one because I really love the simplicity of this sauce.  In the picture, I also fried the last bit of green cauliflower I had left from Aunt Miranda's produce jaunt last week.  Not only did it taste magnificent, it brought back great memories of all the lunches Aunt Miranda and I shared at Marketplace Cafe on National that is now the second Garbo's Pizzaria.  They served long fat wedges of fried cauliflower in this sauce and it was to die for. I don't know about Aunt Miranda but I remember nothing else on that menu EXCEPT the fried cauliflower appetizer.  Luckily, Gene hates cauliflower, no matter the color, and I got all three pieces.  That's okay. I traded him half of my chicken.  It was worth it.

Capers, a Mediterranean flower bud, high in Vitamin A and Omega-3 Fatty Acids, is my spotlight this week for Weekly Herb Blogging. Created by Kalyn of Salt Lake City's Kalyn's Kitchen, WHB is hosted this week by Astrid of Paulchen's Food Blog.  Check in with her late in the week for the round-up of heraliciousness.

Chicken and Rice with a Twist: That's the Ticket

I was cruising blogs the other day and saw a photo and recipe name that struck my fancy on Cynthia's blog, Tastes Like Home.  "Cook-up Rice". Hmmm... just sounded good to me, comforting and filling.  In the post she said that she didn't have the recipe written down on the blog but if anyone wanted it, to email her. So I did.  Nice lady. Everyone go see her blog. Then make her crazy by emailing her for the recipe because it's fabulous.  You need it.  (She's gonna hate me forever.)

Please note that my dish doesn't look like her dish but all most of the important ingredients are there.  Okay, I switched the beans, all right?  I'm a gimp. I didn't want to go to the grocery for black-eyed peas.  In my pantry, I had the choice of kidney, lima, garbanzo, lentils, or butter beans.  I chose the last and it was delicious. Gene loved it too.  Cynthia says this is a traditional Guyanese dish and they often serve it on Saturday nights with fried fish, fried plantains, and a fresh salad.  Well, that sounds wonderful but I'm a whiney bitch today so Gene's going to have to go to Cynthia's house in Barbados if he wants all the accompaniments.  He was lucky to get the chicken and rice, if you know what I mean, rather than being handed the phone and Pizza Hut's number. It was just one of those days.

I'm not going to give a recipe because you can email herself (I told you I was feeling hateful) and, more importantly, I didn't quite follow directions. Surely by now that's not really surprise, is it?  Cynthia says to make the whole thing in a dutch oven. I said "Screw that! I'm not standing over a pot!"  so I ended up throwing the whole thing in the oven and forgetting about it for an hour.  I'm glad I remembered it, though, or we would have missed that delicious meal.  I'm never making chicken and rice my old way ever again. I've already folded up the email and stuck it in my recipe box. Thanks, Cynthia!

I think the key to this dish is the fresh herbs and the coconut milk.  Thyme is my favorite herb, always has been. I think I could almost suck the leaves off the stems.  Almost.  So because of the four sprigs of fresh thyme that went into it, Cook-up Rice is my entry in this week's Weekend Herb Blogging, created by Kalyn at Kalyn's Kitchen, hosted this week by this week by Ulrike of Kuchenlatein.

UPDATE:  The recipe--MY VERSION--is now posted. 

Click Below.

Gene's Favorite Meal: Fish Bait, otherwise known as Chicken Livers & Cole Slaw

Since I've been experimenting a lot lately, I decided to give Gene a break and serve him one of his favorite meals last night.  Gene, when given the choice, favors down home comfort food cooking. Nothing wrong with that. He's always game for my experiments and has added new flavors to his "that'll work" list of foods, but his true love will always be the foods we grew up on.

I do have to snicker for a moment, though, remembering buying the livers for him.  In the check-out line, the amiable sacker, a young man of about eighteen, said while holding the chicken livers in his hand, "Going fishing?" I said "No, my husband actually likes those fried and served with cole slaw."  He looked at the checker, another young man, and they both said "Really?" as if I were the biggest jokester on the planet trying to pull one over on them.  I said, "I don't supposed you've ever heard of rumaki?"  Blank looks from both.  I just laughed and said "Well they're fish bait to me too but I'm not lying. Lots of, aparrently "old", people like to eat fried chicken livers."  They both smiled and shook their heads as if to say "What's gotten in to those old people of today?"

Do no Asian restaurants serve rumaki anymore? I remember that used to always been on the menus, as a delicacy, but now that I think about it, I haven't seen it in quite a while. We also had it on the hors d'oeuvres menu for banquets at one of the hotels I worked at.  I think I saw it ordered one time, about 20 years ago, for a wedding.

The livers are rolled in seasoned flour, shallow fried in expeller-pressed canola oil, and drained on paper towels.  The fries are Amy's from the organic section, commercially made using olive oil, and baked to serve. The cole slaw is a simple prep of shredded cabbage with a mayo/mustard and vinegar dressing.

Gene was a happy camper.

Springfield-Style Cashew Chicken

UPDATE:  Click HERE to be taken to the post made a few days after this one for photos of, and my conversation with, David Leong's son, Wing Yee, who is a chef at the local restaurant Fire & Ice on North Glenstone.

Here in my town is such an entity as Springfield-Style Cashew Chicken.  It's something we're (in)famous for but maybe not as proud of as, say, The Hill in St. Louis is of inventing the toasted ravioli. Or maybe we are.  Sit back, my friends, I have a short tale for you that rivals anything in Mayberry, and is about as goofy as Barney Fife.  Most of fills in the blanks came from my friend and co-worker, Scott. I'd heard bits and pieces of this over the years but he's the one who tells it in the most cohesive manner.  And even he admits that he's pretty sure most of this is true but he's not sure of all of the details.  There are always a certain amount of rumors surrounding any urban legend.

Apparently in the 60's, a neuro surgeon was brought to town jointly by the two hospitals here. His name, Scott had heard, was Dr. Fong. Dr. Fong not only brought his own family but two brothers and their families joined him here in Springfield.  Their origins have been assigned to several cities. I've heard San Fransisco, New York City, and Chicago. Personally, I'd be more likely to believe Chicago just because it's already in the Midwest.  Either coast seems like a long distance recruitment for two hospitals that at the time were the largest in southwest Missouri, but not all that large in the big city scheme of things.

So the story goes that Dr. Fong brought his brothers, both of whom opened the first Chinese restaurants in town.  First.  How pathetic and embarrassing is that?  To go along with that hicksville kind of thing I probably should have worded it as they opened the first Chinese restaurants in these here parts.  Well anyway, I'm glad they did. The two restaurants were Springfield landmarks and both only closed down in the last 10 years. That's not bad for starting in the 60's. One was Leong's Tea House and the other was called Gee's East Wind.   

Chicken Stir Fry with Broccoli: Yep, It's that Easy

Cate, at Sweetnicks, hosts a blogging even every week called ARF/5-a-day, or Antioxidant Rich Foods.  I love this event because it keeps me thinking "What foods are good for me, really packed?"  Especially since I'm really trying to get some of my weight off, I'm very interested in meals that pack a lot of nutrition into the fewest number of calories as possible. (Aren't we all, right?)  Stir fry is a great choice. I've said before, and it's still true, that stir fry to me is liked cooked salad: lots of veggies, a little protein, and a great sauce/dressing.

Let's take a look at some of the ingredients:

Broccoli--high in vitamins C,K, and A.  Note that vitamin K is a catalyst for clotting factors in the blood so folks who are on Coumadin or other blood thinners should be aware that varying day to day consumption of foods high in vitamin K will affect your PTT/INR (blood regulation) tests. That doesn't mean don't eat broccoli, it just means try to eat about the same amount of leafy dark green vegetables each day.  Broccoli is also fairly high in potassium, vitamins B-6 & B-12, folate, soluble fiber, manganese, magnesium, and phosphorus.

Red bell Pepper-- also high vitamins C, A, and B-6, folate, soluble fiber, and also has a fair amount of manganese, copper, and potassium.

Mushrooms--high in selenium, vitamins B-6 and B-12, copper, niacin, potassium, phosphorus, zinc, and manganese.

Stir fry with these three ingredients alone provide the daily recommended amounts of vitamins C, K, B-6, B-12, and selenium. Much tastier than swallowing a pill!

The Poetic Dance of Comfort Food

Mine and Gene's week of comfort food continues, as does the cleanup outside our front window in the city.  We just heard a press conference from the mayor that they're down to a little less than 20,000 homes without power, over one hundred stop lights are fully functional, 19 are flashing, and only 9 are still dark.  We did hoot and "holler" at still being a small town at heart when our Sheriff got up with his report to say that they had caught thieves who had tried to steal the generators from railroad crossings (power to the crossing arms and warning lights) to sell and he actually called them, on local tv, "low-life scumbags" and announced that he's going to have their names printed in the local paper after charges are filed so that everyone will know who they are what danger they put everyone in.  I love our Sheriff. He brooks no bulls***.  They've announced drop off spots for the debris but asked people to not clean up yet, until the temps warm up and the ice melts so that people aren't under limbs that might continue to come crashing down.  So in small steps our world is coming back to normal.

Our friend James, one of the unlucky ones still without power, came over last night to catch up some laundry and share a home cooked meal.  When you've been without power for almost a week, even a humble chicken and rice casserole hits the spot. And then when I served him warm chocolate cake with cinnamon ice cream...he felt he could go back and face his house.  He does have a generator to run the furnace so he has heat, and we did offer to let him stay with us but he insisted he wanted to sleep in his own bed. I understand that.

Hope everyone is safe and warm and eating well.

Oven Baked Fried Chicken...that's the ticket

Gene and I are still up to our sinuses in the respiratory infection so we're still big babies about food.  We're not eating much during the day because we can't smell which equals not being able to taste which equals not being really hungry until our stomachs rumble loudly at dinner time. And then what do we want? Comfort food, of course.  Last night was oven baked fried chicken and mashed potatoes. 

There is no real recipe for this but I do make it a little differently, I think, than most people. It is a lighter version of fried chicken than being completely immersed, deep fried, but the object in mine isn't really so much to strip all the calories as it is to make it as tender and juicy and easy on me as possible. 

Last night, I used thighs and I didn't skin them.  They're dipped in salted flour and then milk and then a half flour/half bread crumb mix that's seasoned with salt, pepper, and cayenne.  Then they're browned in just a couple of tablespoons of expeller pressed canola oil on the stove top before being baked in the oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.  The outside retains the crispy while the inside is tender and juicy.  This is Gene's favorite meal in the whole world.

Just in case you were wondering. Yes, I made him cream gravy with the skillet drippings to go with the mashed potatoes. Not brown gravy as we laughingly fight over with our friend from Boston. Brown gravy is for roast beef.  Cream gravy is for fried chicken and mashed potatoes. She'd never heard of making gravy with cream (or milk) until she moved to St. Louis.  In truth I used fat free half and half, not real cream but you know what I mean. It works and tastes the same.