My dog Maverick is in a deep depression.

  His other mom, Katie, decided to leave us for the great north Idaho.  He is so sad, he can barely bark when people leave the house anymore.  Before Katie left, she and Maverick were able to have one last photoshoot.   Here are some of my favorites:

 Twins!

I am not sure what this has to do with pineapple, coconut and shrimp fried rice, but I just really wanted to post this modeling session. 

 Katie, if you are reading this please come back soon.  We miss you very much!

I saw an idea for shrimp fried rice in a cute hollowed out pineapple on Rasa Malaysia and thought I would try to expand on her recipe.  If you haven’t been to Rasa Malayasia and you like Asian food, please go now, you will never look back! She is amazing.  Anyways, I made a few additions (coconut, pecans) and scrapped the shrimp paste, because I think that stuff smells disgusting.  This makes a great side dish or even a meal if you add a salad.  And for all of my seafood phobic friends out there, you can certainly substitute the shrimp with chicken, beef or tofu.

Pineapple, Coconut and Shrimp Fried Rice

Printable recipe here

1 whole pineapple
8 oz of raw shrimp chopped (deveined, tails and shells removed)
8 oz. steamed white rice
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 fresh red chili (seeded and cut into small pieces)
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 cup coconut milk (lite or regular)
½ cup sweetened shredded coconut
1 tablespoon pineapple juice
1/2 teaspoon dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons pecans chopped
2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
Cilantro leaves for garnishing

Cut pineapple in half.  Carefully cut around the edges of the pineapple while still keeping the out skin in tact.  Reserve half of the pineapple shape for a serving dish.  Use about 1 cups of chopped pineapple for the rice. 

 Set aside.

Heat oil in large fry pan over medium heat.  A wok is best, but a frying pan will definitely work great.   Saute garlic and red chili until just fragrant.

Add shrimp and stir-fry until shrimp is almost all the way pink. Add rice, pineapple pieces, pineapple juice, coconut milk, coconut and stir.

  Then add fish sauce and dark soy sauce and stir.  Let cook about 5 minutes and then stir in pecans.  Spoon into pineapple half and serve immediately garnished with cilantro.

Hi All! I know it has been forever, but unfortunately life has gotten in the way of blogging.  Between traveling for work and moving in with Jav, I have been too busy/lazy to write about my favorite recipes.  However, I am back! I can’t wait to share all of the yummy recipes I have been working on the past month or so. 

For Memorial Day, Jav and I went to my mom’s house in Wenatchee to relax and enjoy the holiday.  Here is the view from her house…isn’t it amazing?

 Here she is after we did some wine tasting. 

If you ever go to Wenatchee, you must go to Dutch John’s winery.  It is in a old warehouse/strip mall, but so great!

 My mom got a new job and is working like crazy, so Jav and I made a yummy dinner for her when she returned from work. I love potato salad – I mean I actually love everything with potatoes, but a good potato salad can make a winter day feel like summer.  It is the quintessential barbeque side (I hate coleslaw).  This version is a little different because the potatoes are roasted first with herbs and then smothered with the standard mayo-based dressing.  It adds depth that your average potato salad doesn’t have and with the extra flavor you don’t need to use as much mayo.  Also, I use my mom’s top-secret ingredient (not really, but it is a MUST), pickle juice. 

 We served the potato salad with ribs, green salad and a patriotic tres leches cake.  MMMMMMMMM.

  It felt like summer even though it was cold and rainy.

Hope you enjoy! Go Potatoes!!

Roasted Potato Salad

Serves 10-12

3 Pounds russet potatoes (preferable Idaho born), cubed (you can leave skin on depending on your taste preference).

Handful chopped fresh thyme and rosemary leaves

3 Garlic cloves chopped

3 Tablespoons Olive Oil

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

¾ Cup mayonnaise

½ Cup sour cream

4 Tablespoons yellow mustard

Pickle Juice

4 or 5 chopped dill pickles

1/2 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup chopped red onion

4 or 5 hardboiled eggs chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375

Mix together herbs, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. 

Toss over potatoes and spread on baking sheet. 

 Bake potatoes for 45 – 50 minutes until golden brown but not dried out.  Set aside to cool a bit.  In a small bowl mix mayo, sour cream, mustard and pickles.  Add a little pickle juice to taste (3 or 4 tablespoons – more if you want it tangy). 

Add potatoes, onion, celery, eggs and mayo mixture to large bowl and mix, gently smashing some of the potatoes. 

 Salt and pepper to taste. Chill in fridge until ready to serve.  I serve mine cold, but you could serve it warm too. Garnish with any extra herbies.

Enjoy!

Love,

Lindzee

Happy St. Patrick’s day!  And happy birthday to my dad! He would have been 66 this year.  As many of you know, my dad passed away about two months ago after a relatively short battle with cancer.  I miss him so much.  I was very lucky to have him for a dad for the amount of time I did.  In order to celebrate his birthday and St. Patty’s day, my fabulous friend and wonderful cook Cristopher Wobbin hosted a little shindig at her house.  She is on the left, Katie is in the middle, and Cortnay is on the right.

She made these fantastically good pizzas.  Here is the fig, pistachio and goat cheese. This was my favorite. So creative.

Also, a blue cheese, fresh mozzarella, beef filet and onion pizza. Holy lord.

Everyone ate a lot.  In fact, I ate way too much and almost had to be carried home by Jav.

Michelle brought her cute little puppy Charlie.

Maverick got scared with Crissie’s huge chocolate lab Gus and Charlie running around, so he got on the table.

He then needed a Guinness to recover.

My contribution to the meal was my dad’s favorite meal ever.  The Caesar salad. Everywhere we went, no matter the restaurant, he would order a Caesar salad.  He judged every restaurant by the quality of their dressing and usually ordered an extra side of dressing.   It was also the first thing I learned to make at my dad’s restaurant when I was 15.  I was also in charge of cooking the chicken on the grill and served many raw in the middle chicken breasts.  I am not kidding.  My dad was always so complimentary of my cooking and really enjoyed my Caesar, which is fairly lemony. I hope you enjoy it too!

The secret is the homemade garlic croutons. Store bought croutons suck.  You can quote me on that.   If you do one thing while making salad, please don’t ever buy store bought croutons.  They taste like cardboard bits of toasted cardboard.  Homemade croutons are very quick and inexpensive to make and keep well in a sealed container.    Thank you for your cooperation in advance of this matter.

Caesar Salad with Homemade Garlic Croutons
Printable recipe here

Salad and Dressing

1 Head of Romaine Lettuce washed and torn into bite size pieces

Croutons (recipe below)

2 Cloves Garlic

2 Tablespoons Mayo (I use this in place of a raw egg)

½ Teaspoon Dijon Mustard

3 Tablespoons Fresh Lemon Juice

1 Teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce

1 Teaspoon Anchovy Paste (this won’t make it fishy.  At least I don’t think it does.)

5 Tablespoons Olive Oil

¼ Cup Freshly Grated Parmesan plus another ¼ cup for top of salad.

Salt and Pepper to taste

In a food processor grind up garlic, mayo, dijon, lemon juice, Worcestershire and anchovy paste.

Slowly drizzle and mix in olive oil.  Turn off processor and stir in ¼ cup parmesan. 

 Salt and pepper to taste, but it won’t need much due to the cheese and anchovy paste.    Pour a little over romaine and mix up with croutons and extra parmesan.  Taste for flavor and if needed add more dressing.  You can always add more, but you can’t remove dressing.  Made this mistake a few times . 

Croutons

1 Loaf of Fresh Sourdough bread chopped into small crouton sized cubes. (I like sourdough, but you can use any kind you want.)

¼ Cup Olive Oil

2 Cloves Garlic Crushed

Lawry’s Seasoning Salt to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix olive oil, garlic and seasoning salt together in a small bowl.  Put 1/3 of the bread cubes in a large bowl and pour 1/3 of oil mixture over the bread. Mix well. Continue this process until all the oil and bread cubes are used.  Add to a cookie or baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes until hard and toasty brown.  Watch carefully or you might burn.

Love,

Lindzee

.

Howdy! We celebrated a special occasion last night – Jav decided to quit his job and start his own business Arerra Interactive! Today was his first day being his own boss. I am so proud of him and know he will be extremely successful in his new venture.  However, if it doesn’t work out he might have a successful career in modeling.

To commemorate the occasion, I made some beef and potatoes. Jav is mostly a fan of french fries and burgers (Jack in the Box, McDonalds, Burger King) and likes to spend his day of Sabbath partaking in a tradition called “Gluttony Sunday” where he generally visits all three of these fast food joints before noon.

However, this Sunday, I decided to make a stuffed flank steak with roasted fingerling potatoes. Aren’t fingerling potatoes the cutest? They are so good too!

Their flavor is just a tad sweet and creamy. This is a very simple meal that makes it look like you spent a lot of time slaving away in the kitchen.

 Stuffed Flank Steak

 1.5-2lbs of Flank Steak

 Marinade

 ¼ Cup Soy Sauce
2 Cloves Garlic Chopped
4 Green Onions Chopped
½ Cup Brown Sugar
¼ Cup Rice Wine Vinegar
4 Tablespoons Honey
½ Cup Pineapple Juice
Red Pepper Flakes (optional)
¼ Cup Olive Oil

Pound meat with meat pounder covered with plastic wrap until ¼ inch thick. Watch out for splatters!

Blend marinade all ingredients in the blender.

Pour over flank steak in ziplock bag. Marinate in fridge for 2-4 hours.

Filling

6 Strips of Good Quality Bacon
2 Cups Fresh Spinach
2 Cloves Garlic
 3/4 Cup Parmesan Shredded
1 Tablespoon Red Wine Vinegar
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Cook bacon until partially cooked but not crisp.

Drain off grease and set bacon aside.

 In food processor, pulse together spinach, garlic, parmesan, vinegar, oil, salt and pepper until mixture resembles a pesto.

Remove steak from fridge and spread spinach mixture over the steak.

 

Add bacon pieces not overlapping on top of spinach mixture.

Roll together tightly.

Use toothpicks or skewers to hold together ever two inches.

 Slice into two inch rolls.

Grill over medium heat for 10-15 minutes until done.

This is for medium depending on your grill hotness. If you use a meat therm, I like it to read 135 degrees when I take them off the grill.

Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

5 Cloves Garlic
¼ Cup Olive Oil
3 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
1 Tablespoon Chopped Rosemary
Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Crush garlic – Remember this old thing, the garlic crusher? I love this tool.

 Mix garlic, oil, lemon juice, rosemary and salt and pepper together in small bowl.

 Pour mixture over potatoes in a roasting pan.

Make sure potatoes are evenly covered. Roast for 20-25 minutes until brown and yummy.
Serve hot.

Enjoy!

Love,

Lindzee

Hi all!  I decided to get a little frisky today and try something that I totally made up.  I didn’t even look on the internets for advice. I love Panzanella salad and every time I go to Bardenay in Boise I order their version of the Panzanella.  Since, tomatoes (typically in Panzanella) are not exactly in season ‘round these parts I thought I would try to make it with root veggies and some sourdough bread I bought at local bakery Zeppole.

Root vegetables are amazing and great in the winter when you don’t have other summertime fresh fruits and veggies available. I included some parsnips, beets, carrots and onion in my panzanella.   My roommate Katie said “I think beets taste like dirt, but I really kind of like it”. 

 I totally agree! Except, they are messy!!  I forgot to wear gloves while chopping and this happenened. 

Doesn’t  this look like rat tail carnage?

 Everyone seemed to really enjoy this little concoction and said they felt healthier after eating it.  Apparently, root veggies are packed full of precious vitamins and minerals.  Even Jav (Mr. Meat and Potatoes) gave it a really strange look at first but went back for more.  Potatoes (also a root veggie) would be good in this too though!

Roasted Root Vegetable with Sautéed Beet Greens Panzanella Salad

4 Beets with Beet Greens

2 Parsnips

5 Carrots

1 Red Onion

1 Small Loaf of Sourdough Bread Day Old ( 3 Cups in Cubes)

2 Cloves Garlic

½  Lemon

2 Tablespoons Rosemary Chopped

1/2 Cup Olive Oil + 4 Tablespoons

2 Tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar

¼ Cup Parmesan freshly grated

Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven

Peel and chop the beets into chunks reserving the beet greens for later.  I used a normal peeler for all the veggies in the recipe

Peel Parsnips

 – See that lighter center? It is woody and icky.  Chop around it into chunks.

Peel and chop carrots and onion.

Add all veggies  into large baking dish

Grate part of lemon peel for about 1 teaspoon of peel without the white pith.  The microplane is one of my favorite kitchen tools – Thanks Crissie! 

 Chop garlic and smash with lemon peel and about a teaspoon of salt to make a paste.  

Add to small mixing bowl with olive oil and a teaspoon of the lemon juice and the Rosemary.  Mix together well and pour ½ of the olive oil mixture over veggies. Reserve other half of oil mixture.  Mix well to coat.

 Bake for 45 minutes.

Take other half  of oil mixture and pour over the sour dough bread cut into cubes just a little larger than typical croutons. 

  Add cubes to baking dish and mix the olive oil mixture over the cubes to coat well.  Season with salt and pepper. 

Bake for 10 minutes on 400.  Remove from oven and let cool.

Meanwhile, take the beet greens and chop them into large pieces. 

Saute them in about a tablespoon of olive oil until just wilted over medium heat in a medium skillet.  Sorry! Forgot to take a picture of this.  Remove and set aside.

Mix 3 Tablespoons olive oil and red wine vinegar.  Set aside.

Remove veggies from oven after 45 minutes.  Mix veggies with bread cubes, sautéed beet greens and red wine vinegar and parmesan.  Season to taste.  Can be served warm or cold.

Enjoy!

Love,

Lindzee

It also may seem like a strange combination of flavors, but this recipe has been a holiday tradition in my house since I can remember.  We serve it with our holiday meals, but it is almost like dessert.  My mom makes this dish every year on Thanksgiving and Christmas. And every year it is the dish that gets the most rave reviews.

Here is my amazing mom pulling a dish out of the oven:

The combination of sweet, creamy and salty flavors in this dish can’t be beat.  It is a fairly inexpensive dish to make for a large crowd or potluck.

Additionally, I wanted to post this picture of my two roommates in their snuggies just for fun:

My Mom’s Pretzel Raspberry Jell-O Salad

Step 1:

2 Cups Pretzels Crushed

3/4 Cup butter, melted

4 Tablespoons Sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix together all ingredients and spread in thin layer in a 9 x 13 baking dish. Bake 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool. I am serious when I say this.  Please make sure it is cool. Not a place for a shortcut.

Step 2:

1 Large Package Raspberry Jell-O

2 Cups boiling water

2 (10 oz.) bags of frozen raspberries

Dissolve Jell-O in 2 cups boiling water. Add frozen raspberries.

 Set aside for 15-20 minutes until lightly set.  Not too set but a little firmish.

Step 3:

8 oz. cream cheese softened – room temp.

1 Cup sugar

1 (8 oz.) Cool Whip

Mix together until smooth.

Spread this mixture over the cooled pretzel mixture.  Top with Jell-O mixture. Refrigerate overnight.

Enjoy!

Love,

Lindzee

For the past 15 years my parents have lived next door to a family named the Newton’s.  When I was 15 we moved to Wenatchee from Seattle and our families have been great friends ever since. The mom of the house, Barb, is definitely the hostess with the mostest, Martha Stewart without the jail time.  She is also the sweetest most caring woman you will ever meet. 

 Here she is with her husband Dick (who is also very nice and makes a mean grilled salmon).  I stole the picture from her Facebook.

 Growing up, Barb always cooked the most wonderful meals and it seemed like she was constantly feeding the entire town.  My parents still eat dinner at their house all of the time. Probably 3-4 times a week. :)  I would too if I lived there.  Her food is amazing. I asked Barb to contribute a recipe for the blog. Her pork roast is my favorite and she very graciously agreed to give up her trade secrets.   This recipe is remarkable and simple!  Great for entertaining a crowd and practically impossible to screw up.  But don’t blame me if you do.   

I could eat the sauce/gravy with a spoon.   It is so good.  Go make this now.  I mean it.

I served mine with some carrots roasted with butter and garlic and mashed potatoes.  Mmmmmm.

Barb’s Pork Loin Roast with Mustard Sauce

Serves 6

1 3lb pork loin (de-boned)

 Garlic – Lots, about a whole head chopped

½ Cup Olive Oil

½ Jar (4oz) Grey Poupon Dijon Mustard

1 Teaspoon Rosemary chopped

Salt and Pepper

1 Cup Heavy Cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together, ½ of the garlic; and all the oil, mustard, rosemary, salt and pepper.

Make an incision in the meat in the middle only about 2 inches down.  Spread rest of garlic in this cavity and half of the mustard sauce.  Roll and tie with kitchen twine.

Spread the rest of mustard sauce on the outside of the roast.  Bake 1 hour and 20 minutes or until it registers 145 degrees in the center.

Remove roast from pan.  Either add drippings to another stock pan or use the roasting pan for the sauce. 

Add cream to drippings and reduce by cooking over medium heat for about 15 minutes while stirring constantly. 

Salt and pepper to taste. Sauce will become a rich, light caramel color. 

Slice and pour the sauce over pork.

 
Roasted Garlic Carrots

12 Carrots

¼ cup melted butter

2 chopped cloves garlic

½ teaspoon sugar

1 Tablespoon parsley chopped

Salt and Pepper

Rub garlic into butter.  Pour over carrots in roasting pan.  Sprinkle with sugar,parsley and salt and pepper. 

 Roast on 350 degrees for 1 hour until tender.

Enjoy!

Love,

Lindzee