I don't think I need to mention it again, but I absolutely love one dish dinners! Completely and totally. There's just something about not having to make lots of different things when you're making a meal. My love of one dish meals probably comes from having tuna noodle casserole a lot as a child. Knowing me, I probably liked it because of the potato chips on the top.
We love stir fry meals where you don't throw everything except the kitchen sink into them. I've learned from experience, my mom's idea of stir fry, that you should focus on a few key ingredients. Sesame chicken with mushrooms is a great example.
This is something we've been eating more of recently, one dish dinners to go over rice. This one was perfect because we had a multitude of mushrooms in the fridge. The recipe wanted us to use snow peas as well, but we skipped that. Instead, we topped ours with some sprouts (at least I did, someone doesn't like them). I think that added a nice crunch and fresh taste.
We posted a couple of weeks ago about a special new project at Rosie Discovers. This year we're touring breweries in the Chicago area. Why are we touring them you ask? Well over the holidays we got this great idea to make bread with craft beers.
Had I ever made beer bread before? Well, no but I have a basic understanding of how to make a great loaf of bread. With this knowledge, I've been experimenting and working the kinks out of my yeasted beer bread recipes. My hope for each bread recipe is to bring out the flavors in the beer. To make each loaf special. I'll be sharing these recipes with you along the way, so make sure you come back to check them out.
Here are photos of a few of my practice loaves. The first is a Spaten Doppelbock, which is a dark German beer. This bread wasn't too bad, but not quite right. The dopplebock was still sour despite the sugar I added.
The second was a Sam Adam's Coastal and the only quick bread I made. I don't know if the Sam Adam's is just an icky beer, but my loaf turned out like a flour tasting hockey puck. Definite yuck. I used a King Arthur Flour recipe and it just wasn't good.
The last is a Summit Saga IPA. This made a pretty good bread with a citrus taste to it. It wasn't a particularly strong beer, so it tasted more like a bakery sandwich bread.
The first brewery we're featuring is Church Street Brewing Co. in Itasca, IL. Let me tell you, they were incredibly kind and patient with us. They walked us through pretty much the entire brewing process. It's a bit more involved than you might think. :) We're going to have 4 (that's right FOUR) different breads made with their beers and spent grain.
Make sure to follow along as we hope to get to work with most of the breweries in the Chicago area. Also feel free to leave the name of your favorite brewery in the comments below to make sure that we contact them.
This past Wednesday night we went to see Disney's Rockin' Ever After at the Allstate Arena. I have to say for a week night and the show not starting till 7 pm, the place was packed! I was surprised to see it so packed as the show was 2 hours long and my parents never let me stay up that late on an elementary school night.
As an adult seeing the show, its not quite as magical as for the kids. Although, the kids in the audience were mesmerized by the show. As soon as the show started, the entire arena was quiet. There were four basic segments to the show; The Little Mermaid, Rapunzel, Brave and The Beauty and the Beast.
The costumes were outstanding! Great attention to detail and color. The props and lighting were quite well done too.
If you have time this weekend, definitely see a show at the Allstate Arena. Or get tickets to take your kids to the show at the United Center next week.
*I am a Feld Family Ambassador, and in exchange for my time and efforts in attending shows and reporting my opinion within this blog, as well as keeping you advised of the latest discount offers, Feld Entertainment has provided me with complimentary tickets to Feld shows and opportunities to attend private Feld pre‐Show events. All opinions are my own.*
We absolutely love kale in everything! Recently I had Andrew Weil's True Food cookbook and there was a recipe for kale pesto. Since we already love pesto, I thought combining the two would be right up our alley. I wrote it down thinking it sounded interesting and promptly forgot about it.
Well last week, I had an abundance of kale I needed to use up and remembered that recipe. First, I should remind you that pine nuts do not have a long shelf life. If you don't pick them up at the store, make sure yours are fresh before you use them. Otherwise the taste of your pesto might be a little off. I forgot to test mine and they were a little stale, which did come through in the pesto. Also if you don't have pine nuts (they are a little pricey) feel free to use an equal amount of another toasted nut. Toasted walnuts are a great substitution here. Second, this pesto really tastes better the second day. Since its made with kale it stays the same vibrant green after storing unlike basil pesto. No need to add an olive oil layer to the top.
True Food's recipe called for black kale (which I didn't have) so I used regular old green kale. I also only made a half a recipe, which was more than enough for an entire box of pasta.
Kale Pesto
4 cups packed chopped fresh kale
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/3-1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup pine nuts
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Fill a large bowl with ice water.
Plunge kale into boiling water for 3 minutes. Using tongs, transfer kale to ice water. After 3 minutes, drain the kale in a colander, then squeeze firmly to remove excess water.
Put kale and all ingredients except oil in food processor. As you start to run food processor, drizzle olive oil in the opening. Stop when you reach a pesto consistency.
If you saw yesterday's post about making your own kimbap, you probably saw our sushi rolling mat. It actually came from Crate and Barrel. Today, January 21st, its on sale for $2.95 with free shipping! Talk about a steal!
Now you have no excuse not to try kimbap at home. :)
Alison: We need to practice making our Superbowl treats. What do you think we should make? I think it should be something healthy. All I ever see at parties is junk food or unhealthy choices.
Susie: Practice? I don't think so! Everything I make is wonderful!
Alison: Practice makes perfect!
Susie: Well, in that case we should make something already perfected! Kimbap! You can always use an extra excuse to make one of our favorite foods again!
Alison: Kimbap is pretty good, although I like it better freshly made. Cold rice just doesn't do anything for me. :( Susie: Whatever, you're just picky and spoiled. Not everyone gets warm food all the time.
Alison: I know that, but I still like it fresh!
Susie: For anyone wondering, kimbap is kind of like a sushi roll. Only it's a Korean style with cooked meat in most versions. Ours is a bit different with vegetables you'd find here easily. Our recipe calls for bulgogi though which is yummy marinated meat.
Alison: Seriously! So delicious that we have a hard time not eating it before we get to making the rolls.
Susie: I bet Mariano's would have everything we need to make kimbap. I just checked the ad online and they've got Black Angus skirt steak on sale.
Alison: Lucky for me the Arlington Heights store is practically in my backyard. The Mariano's in Arlington Heights is the very first store in the new grocery store chain. It's been open about two and a half years now and pretty much no matter what time you go, the store is packed with customers.
Susie: They've got a phenomenal produce department. Including lots of organic fruits and veggies. For our recipe, we need carrots, cucumber and radishes. But feel free to put your favorite veggies in yours. Try to pick something you can cut thin and still has a crunch to it.
Alison: Mariano's also has an amazing butcher counter. It's really, really big. They have a large selection of meats, make their own sausage and will even steam your shrimp for you.
Susie: Most helpful, they immediately offered to cut us a pound when there wasn't a piece close in the case.
Alison: Mariano's also carries a good selection of local beers. We've been checking these out more and more lately as we've been perfecting our beer bread recipes.
Susie: Another bonus, you'll notice that unlike some stores, Mariano's does tend to carry local brands like Revolution, Great Lakes, Two Brothers or Five Rabbit.
Alison: Other things you'll need for our kimbap recipe can be found in the Asian part of the International aisle. We easily found sushi rice, seaweed sheets and mirin.
Susie: It's great that they actually have these items. Or else we'd have to go out of our way to a specialty store. Check out our entire shopping trip in our Google+ album.
Alison: Time to get home and get cooking. Before heading home, we had to pick up some beer and spent grain in Elk Grove. While on the way, we stopped to see the Elks. They're right on Arlington Heights road not too far past the expressway.
Susie: Not a bad end to a trip. Although, it's sad that I just figured out why it's called Elk Grove. In my defense, I didn't grow up in the area around these elks. Like someone I know...
Alison: I love the elks. I used to see them when I was little too. :)
Kimbap
Bulgogi - beef and marinade
1 pound beef, cut into thin strips (we used a natural NY strip steak)
1/4 cup low sodium sauce
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
1 tablespoon mirin (can be substituted with cooking sherry)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 medium onion, grated or finely minced
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
2 carrots, peeled and julienned
2/3 cucumber, peeled and julienned
3-4 radishes, thinly sliced
2 cups sushi rice, uncooked
10 sheets of seaweed
bamboo sushi rolling mat or silicon baking mat
Place the beef in the freezer while you make the marinade. This will make it easier to slice. Combine all the rest of the marinade ingredients in a bowl and whisk. Remove the beef from the freezer and slice thinly on the diagonal against the grain. Add sliced beef to marinade and stir to coat. Cover and place in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the sushi rice. Place rice in a fine mesh sieve and rinse under cold water until the water runs clear. Place rice in large microwave safe container and add 3 cups hot water. Cover and microwave either using the rice setting on your microwave or for 20 minutes. We've found this the best method to make rice, it always comes out fluffy and perfect. When rice is done cooking, remove from microwave and fluff with fork. Set aside to cool.
After 30 minutes, remove marinated beef from the refrigerator. Heat a large non-stick skillet over high heat, add half of beef mixture. Cook without stirring for a couple of minutes, flip beef and add rest to skillet. Cook until nicely browned and cooked through. Set aside to cool
To assemble your kimbap: Place a sheet of seaweed on your rolling mat.
Scoop two fairly good spoonfuls of sticky rice onto the bottom half of the seaweed sheet. Thoroughly wet your fingers and spread rice into an even layer.
Add your veggies all across the rice.
Add a line of bulgogi.
Holding the end of the bamboo mat, start to slowly roll up the mat readjusting your hold as needed. When the seaweed is completely rolled up, give it a final squeeze to firm up the roll.
Here's a quick video of how to roll up the kimbap.
All that's left is to slice the kimbap roll into bite-size pieces. Use a serrated knife to easily cut through the seaweed. This recipe makes 10 kimbap rolls. You can easily cut each roll into 10 slices. That gives you a 100 piece appetizer.
Susie: The best part of this recipe is that it doesn't need to be entirely precise. It'll still taste great because you're using raw vegetables with a marinated meat.
Alison: Ta-da! A healthy Superbowl snack that will disappear during your party.
*I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study forCollective Bias™ #CBias #SocialFabric All opinions are my own.*
This post isn't going to have a picture. :( I know its incredibly sad. It's also not about cooking or baking or alcohol. It's about laundry. I know not really something I've talked much about. But everyone does it.
Anyway, I was at the store earlier this week and met a woman who told me the best way to get your clothes clean and keep the colors bright was to use ammonia and vinegar when you wash them. I'd always heard adding vinegar to your laundry worked like a natural fabric softener, but never a thing about ammonia.
I figured I'd give it a whirl as I had both ammonia and vinegar in the house. This is easy peasy to do. When you add your detergent to the washer, add a cup of ammonia and run a regular wash cycle. Add your vinegar to the rinse cycle like you would a fabric softener. When you take the clothes out of the washer they will smell slightly like vinegar, but it will be gone after you dry your clothes.
I added a dryer sheet to the dryer, force of habit, but I'm not quite sure that I'd have needed it.
You'll be amazed at how great your clothes feel. :) Using this leaves no lingering smells in the laundry. Which I absolutely love.
