Monthly Archives: March 2009

Pasta salad

lunch 8 Comments

We go through a lot of this in the summer. It’s so good, so quick, and so easy to change it up with whatever you have on hand. For this batch I used:

Boil the pasta and drain but do not rinse; you want all that starch to say on there so the dressing sticks to the pasta. Let the pasta cool a bit, then add everything but the cheese. Cover and put in the fridge till it’s cold, then add the cheese. I usually add more dressing at this point too because a lot of the first addition has absorbed, and I like a lot of dressing on it. Then just toss and serve!

To shake things up a bit you could add:

  • Feta cheese
  • Gorgonzola cheese
  • Chopped peppers
  • Lemon juice
  • Chopped tomatoes
  • Olives

Go crazy with it! This travels really well, so it’s a no-brainer for taking to parties in the summer — just be sure to bring some extra dressing with you so you can add and toss just before serving.

Pain de Mie

baking, tools 3 Comments

Do we all remember my Pain de Mie fail? Cute, right? Well this is what happens when you actually have a pain de mie pan:

Square bready goodness.

Following this recipe from King Arthur Flour (I know, you’re shocked), I let the bread rise to within about 1/2 inch of the top of the pan, then slid the lid on:

And it came out great! The Kiddo loves it (that’s huge) for cinnamon toast in the morning, and Sunbutter sandwiches for “wunch.”

I cut the loaf in two and froze half; the other half goes in our breadbox or the bread bag, where I slice as needed. Honestly, I’m not totally sold on a whole bread storage system. What do you do with homemade bread? Slice it all then freeze? Freeze a solid half loaf? Nom it all so fast there isn’t any to freeze? Or…?

My favorite new organizational tool

tools 7 Comments

Curtain rods! How great is this?

I saw this in a magazine and it’s flipping brilliant. Two little tension curtain rods from Target for about $6 (for the pair) and I don’t have to fear an avalanche of cookie sheets when I open the cabinet. Score!

Your turn! What are your favorite tips for an organized kitchen? Organizing does not come naturally to me (zip it, Yankee — and I say that with love 😉 ), so I’m always on the lookout for ideas — especially cheap and easy ones like this. Lay ’em on me!

Spicy sweet and sour chicken with sushi rice

supper 8 Comments


The Yankee went back for seconds!

I found this recipe here and here, then went about a couple modifications; The Yankee and I were in the mood for something with a little more kick, more like General Tso’s chicken than sweet and sour. The Kiddo, shockingly, was in the mood for Cheerios.

You will need:

For the chicken

  • 3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • salt and pepper
  • garlic powder
  • 1 cup cornstarch
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1/4 cup canola oil

For the sauce

  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 4 tablespoons ketchup
  • ½ cup vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  • crushed red pepper, to taste

Now then:

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
  2. Cut boneless chicken breasts into chunks — a little more than bite sized, but small enough to easily pick up with chopsticks is ideal
  3. Season with garlic, salt and pepper
  4. Put one cup cornstarch in a brown paper bag (double-bagged just in case is great), and throw your chicken pieces in there; roll the top down tightly and shake to coat all chicken
  5. Now put your beaten eggs in a container with a lid; shake off any excess cornstarch from the chicken pieces and put in the egg; close lid and shake to coat with egg
  6. Pan fry in canola oil until brown but not cooked through
  7. Place in a single layer in a baking dish — I lined mine with foil for easier clean-up
  8. Whisk together sauce ingredients and pour over chicken

Now bake at 325, turning chicken every ten minutes or so, for about half an hour or until chicken is cooked through. When chicken is done, turn the oven to broil to really sizzle the sauce and reduce it a bit, and give the chicken some great texture. Be sure to turn the chicken once to crisp up both sides.

If your little heart so desires (mine did), you can make up a second batch of sauce and simmer it on the stove till it’s reduced.

I served this with sushi rice and it was delicious! Not as quick as take-out, obviously, but great quality and no MSG. Two thumbs up for that!

Whey biscuits

baking, breakfast, kids 5 Comments

After all that yogurt straining, I ended up with quite a bit of whey. Time to make biscuits!

I used:

  • 2 cups King Arthur AP flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 Tbsp baking powder
  • 1/4 cup powdered milk (for extra protein and creaminess)
  • 1/2 tsp instant yeast
  • 2 Tbsp shortening
  • 2 Tbsp cold butter
  • 1 cup whey

I do these in the food processor — they’re ridiculously fast that way. Toss in the flour, salt, baking powder, powdered milk and yeast and pulse a couple times. Cut in the shortening and butter and pulse about 8 times. Pour in the whey and let it sit a minute to soak in, then pulse till mostly blended — maybe 5-8 times?

Now pat out the dough on a floured surface and cut with a floured cutter. My cast iron was otherwise occupied, so I baked these on parchment paper on a cookie sheet:

Bake at 400 degrees F for about ten minutes. See them poofing up?

Get ’em while they’re hot!

The finished product:

The Kiddo loves these with Sunbutter on them for lunch; I love ’em with butter and honey. Fluffy tasty goodness!