French Onion Soup for the Soul

This weekend, I have had a terrible cold.  I have been able to fend off illness for almost a month since starting school back up.  Unfortunately, this cold hit me hard yesterday.  I have been completely useless; I have been doing nothing but eating, sleeping, and drinking lots of fluids.  I know.  Rough life.  But when you feel like your head is 10 sizes bigger, your nose is non-functional except for mucus production, and you're coughing your lungs up, eating, sleeping, and drinking is all that can be expected.

Earlier in the week, Rudy and I went to Costco to buy our monthly stock of necessities.  One of these necessities was a 5 lb. bag of onions.  I have been totally craving French Onion Soup since the weather has been on the cooler side.  This morning, I was complaining to Rudy that I wouldn't be able to make the soup because I really wasn't feeling good.  I proceeded to belly-ache about how much I had been wanting this oniony soupy goodness, how I had been dreeming about it all week, and upset I am that I wouldn't be getting any.  He then did something I was secretly hoping he would do:  he asked me for the recipe and said he would make it for me!

I have always felt Rudy was an amazing nurse, even before he passed his NCLEX, for many reasons.  The big reason, he really goes the distance to make sure his patients feel better even when they feel like crap.  Even if this means indulging his girlfriend's cravings for French Onion Soup.  So needless to say, I had the most delicious bowl of French Onion Soup tonight, and it tasted even better because it was made with love! 

Thank you Rudy for filling up not only my tummy with yummy, oniony, cheesey gooiness, but also for feeding my soul!  I love you!

Happy Birthday Natalie!

Natalie was turning the big 2-5, so we needed to do something special.  I made a confetti cake for Natalie, no box needed!  The best part is, I was able to make the cake just as fast from scratch as I usually do from the box.  And I was so much prouder!  To top it off, Rudy tinted the frosting a nice and sunny yellow.  That would be Natalie's favorite color.

The hard part of making the cake was transporting the cake to San Pedro's fish market.  We went down to San Pedro for dinner, and we wanted to bring the cake.  I had to put the cake in the freezer so it would survive the almost hour long drive and the 20 minute walk to where we were meeting everyone.  It worked out really well!  The only thing the time in the freezer didn't protect the cake from was me dropping my phone onto it on the car ride over.  Oops.

All and all, it was a great night!  A little fish, beer, and cake in Pedro, then off the Anaheim for some ice-skating.  Really, we all had a blast!  We need to have another birthday bash soon! 

Happy Birthday Natalie!

Did I mention it was homemade confetti cake???

Pork Chops alla Pizzaiola

I can safely say that I am a very spoiled person.  Rudy decided that he would cook for us the other night, and it was nothing short of amazing!  I don't know what made Rudy decide to cook this fabuloso dinner, but I'm sure glad he did!

I was having one of those days.  It wasn't bad, but it was definitely not all good.  I was tired, my body was sore, and I was starving.  The phone call home made my day much brighter.  Rudy informed me that he wanted to make a dinner with pork chops since we had just bought 10 nice and juicy pork chops from Costco the day before.  I was already surprised and excited. 

Then, he really threw me for a loop.  He told me the recipe he really wanted to make was one he had found at Food Network's website, and the chef who created it was Giada de Laurentiis.  He really dislikes her shows.  I really mean it.  Whenever I am watching one of them, he just rolls his eyes the whole time.  But, he really likes her recipes, so sometimes he will suck it up.  And I am really glad he did! 

The porkchops were beyond delicious!  The tomatoes and onions were heavenly; the potatoes were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside; the greenbeans were crisp with a hint of garlic.  I normally talk and talk and talk, even when eating dinner, but that night, I was quiet as a church mouse.  I was just wanted to savor every bite, willing the flavors to stay longer.  But alas, the meal was eventually over.  And this time, there were no leftovers because I just couldn't stop eating these delicious porkchops.  But don't cry for me just yet.  I have been promised another porkchop meal on Monday!  So even though it is the start of the workweek, as well as the start of the new school year, I will be sailing through the day just by thinking about the night's dinner!  Rudy, you can cook for me any day!

Mommy Biscuits

Apparently these cookies make mommies very happy, but make 1-year-olds very grumpy.  This is because 1-years-olds cannot enjoy these buttery, soft cookies, while mommies can eat them all!  That's why these Korova Cookies are nicknamed Mommy Biscuits! 

Silly baby, these are for Mommy!

The Caesar of All Chicken Salads

I remember going to this really nice Italian restaurant when I went with my family in Cancun.  I know, I know, sounds odd.  Italian food while in Mexico.  But believe me!  It was some of the best Italian food I've ever had!  Too bad the restaurant is all the way in Mexico... Now I am really craving their Caesar Salad!

What's really special about this salad is that they make it table side, specially for you.  I mean, they make the traditional Caesar Salad dressing, complete with the special bowl they rub garlic all over to the egg yolk as the base for the dressing, right next to you at the table!  I even got to see the cute little anchovies as they got mashed into oblivion.  It was seriously the most delicious salad I have ever had.  And when I saw just how easy the dressing was to make, I knew I had to try it sometime at home.

Freshly tossed, but at the kitchen counter, not the table.

Now fast-forward about 3 years, and you will see me finally trying my hand at making my own Chicken Caesar Salad.  Finally!  Thanks to a one, Jamie Oliver, I now have a super yummy Caesar Salad recipe.  It's not traditional, so you don't need a special "Caesar Bowl" that you rub garlic all over.  But you do need a way to make a very nummy past of anchovies, garlic, and lemon zest.  Yes, you read right.  You will have to handle anchovies in all their oily, salty glory!

I got to make ciabatta, then turn around and make it into crispy croutons!

Did I mention that this recipe also breaks the traditional mode by adding bacon?  Well, it has bacon.  And lots of it!  All in all, I highly recommend this recipe, even if it does mean busting open a whole can of anchovies.  Really.  You can do it!

Anchovies, garlic, and lemon. Oh my!

You can find a similar recipe here, but mine was really quick and easy because I got it off the Jamie Oliver 20 Minute Meals App for my iPhone.  If you have access to this app, I highly recommend it!  Sooooo much good stuff!

Sunday Mornings

Everyone has their special Sunday morning traditions.  For some it's going to church, for others it's reading the morning paper with a good cup of coffee, but, for me, it's being spoiled by having scrambled eggs made specially for me!  Rudy and I will sleep in on Sundays, and, when we decide to finally roll out of bed, I'm starving!  Rudy goes into the kitchen and starts going through the refrigerator, looking for all the leftover veggies and meats and cheeses that we have from the previous week.  I never know what combination he's going to come up with, and every week it's a big surprise.  I am usually sitting down on the couch surfing the web, enjoying the smells coming from the kitchen.  Then, I am presented with a plate of the most delicious scrambled eggs!  I am really bad at making scrambled eggs: they always end up too dry or too watery.  Rudy, however, is the master of scrambled eggs.  They are never too dry, are never browned, are fluffy and moist, but not sopping wet.  I don't know how he does it, but I am sure glad he does!

Happy Sunday to everyone!

Tikka Turkey Wraps

Tonight's dinner was probably my favorite dinner ever!  It was like a flavor explosion in my mouth.  Seriously.  I am still dumbfounded by it, and I really have no idea where to start.

So let me describe to you this deliciousness that I concocted.  It started out as a plain turkey burger, but then I had to add some feta cheese to the patties.  But then I remembered that I wanted to use the leftover tikka I had made earlier in the week.  So I added coriander, cumin, and turmeric powder to the patties.  I wrapped up the patties with a healthy dose of salt and pepper.  Now let me tell you, the flavor didn't end there...

What did I spread the tikka on?  I slathered that delectible sauce all over the outside of one of my pitas.  Yes.  The outside.  Here's why:  I wanted to make the dish resemble a hamburger, and sliding a patty inside the pita just didn't seem hamburgery to me.  So I decided to fold the pita instead.  Hence, the spreading of the tikka on the outside of the pita.

Hamburgers always have lettuce (unless you don't like green veggies.  Then I guess there isn't any lettuce...), but unfortunately I was too lazy to go out to the grocery store to buy some.  Instead, I used the rest of the baby spinach I had chillin' in the fridge (Get it? Chillin'? Fridge?).  I dug more in the veggie bin and found I still had some potatoes left and a little red onion.  The potatoes became fries, because, lets face it, hamburgers are just no fun without fries.  The red onion was sliced up super thin and got to play in the spinach with the patties.

Once I put everything in my mouth, I literally stopped chewing and just the flavors sit on my tongue.  It was that good.  If you don't try any of the other recipes in this blog except for one, make sure this is the one!  And just to help you out, you can go here to get the tikka sauce I used for tonight's dinner.  It came from another amazing dinner I found, where else, at Epicurious.  Just don't add the sauce to the chicken.  Add it to your wrap instead!

Tikka Turkey Wrap

1 lb. ground lean turkey
2 oz. crumbled feta cheese
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. tumeric
1 tsp. corriander
1 1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 1/2 tsp. ground pepper
1 cup baby spinach leaves
1/4 red onion, sliced paper thin
4 pitas, or other flatbreads of your choosing
1/3 cup tikka sauce

1. Mix the first 7 ingredients together until just blended.  Don't over-do it unless you want really tough burgers.  Put this in the fridge and let the ingredients hang out for an hour (or longer if that's the way you roll.)
2. Divide the turkey mixture into fourths.  Form each quarter into a patty about 1/2 inch thick.
3. Heat a skillet over medium heat.  Spray the skillet with cooking spray (turkey is so lean, it sticks to the pan) and place the patties in.  Cook the patties for 8 minutes on one side, then flip and cook for another 8 minutes on the other side.
4. While the patties are cooking for the last 5 minutes, assemble the pitas.  Spread a thin layer of tikka sauce on each pita.  Then spread a layer of spinach leaves on top of the tikka.  Then spread the onion slices over the spinach.  Easy!  I know!
5. Lay each patty onto one half of each pita.  Fold the other half of the pita over, and voila, tikka turkey wrap!

Easy Fries

8 medium-large red potatoes
drizzle of canola oil
garlic salt
pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees farienheit.
2. Scrub any dirt off the potatoes under cool, running water.  Then slice the potatoes into wedges.  You should get about 8-12 wedges from each potato.
3. Place the potato wedges into a large zip top plastic bag.  Drizzle canola oil over the potatoes and add a few shakes of garlic salt and a few grinds of pepper.  Smoosh it all around until the potatoes are completely covered.
4. Lay the potatoes out onto a baking tray, making sure the wedges are standing up and not lying down (they get stuck to the tray if they are lazy and lay down).  Roast the potato wedges in the oven the tops of the wedges start to get crispy and brown, about 30 minutes.
5. Take out of the over and let them cook down for about 5 minutes before you enjoy.  Serve with your favorite burger or chicken.