Changing Gears

It's been awhile.

Shortly after my last entry, not only did Ryan and I make a pretty big move from South Florida to Boston, but I also decided to cut out all beef, pork, and poultry from my diet. For three short months I also cut out seafood, but I decided I wasn't quite ready to make the move to a completely vegetarian diet.

At any rate, I've been a pescetarian now for well over a year, and I love it. Thankfully, despite his initial hesitation, Ryan has embraced this new way of eating. Even if he does order a cheeseburger every now and then when we're out, he's also just as likely to choose the vegetarian option.

My goal is to start blogging more frequently now that we're settled, so stay tuned!

Perfect Steamed Rice (His)

The focus of this post was originally going to be a product review for Taste of Thai's Red Curry mix. We both love curry, and after having the best Indian curry of of our lives in - of all places - Sofia, Bulgaria, we have been on an eternal hunt for a recipe that provides a repeat of the culinary magic that we experienced at the Taj Mahal.

I've tried many, many recipes over the past few years... some better than others... but - to date - have not had much success in finding a recipe that absolutely knocks all four of our socks off at the same time.

Taste of Thai was an easy solution on a lazy Sunday to our curry craving... but unfortunately we weren't thrilled with how it turned out. Ryan followed the directions exactly and it had a very nice flavor, but was far, far too watery.

However! The Jasmine rice was awesome.

Usually we eat brown rice as it's much better for you. But sometimes, I just get that urge to have yummy, fluffy steamed not-so-good-for-you white rice. I always thought that it was necessary to order out from a Chinese restaurant (or else own a rice steamer) to get that perfect steamed rice flavor and texture. Due to prior experiences, I thought rice made on the stovetop was naturally gummy or mushy...

Oh, how wrong I was.

The trick is to rinse and soak your rice prior to cooking it. (This does wash away some of the nutrients... but honestly, white rice does not have much nutritional value anyway.)

We had to tweak the recipe a bit for Jasmine rice since it calls for less water than long-grain... but we were thrilled with the outcome.

PERFECT STEAMED RICE

• 1 cup Jasmine or long-grain rice
• 1.25 cups water (for Jasmine) or 1.5 cups water (for long-grain)

DIRECTIONS

1. First, look at your the color of your rice. It will be a sort of clear-white color. Put the rice in bowl and cover with water from faucet. Swish the rice around with your fingers. The water will become murky. Strain out the water, and repeat. After a few times, the water will be mostly clear. Cover the rice with water one last time and let sit for at least 15 - 20 minutes. (Although 30 minutes is better.)
2. Strain out water, being careful to remove as much water as possible. (If you have a mesh strainer, this works great for this purpose.) Take a look at your rice now. It will be a much more pearly white color.
3. Put rice in a sauce pan and pour in water per the Ingredients. (You don't need to use as much water as will be referenced on the package. Thanks to its soak, it's now "retaining" water all on its own. That's why we've reduced our numbers above.)
4. Bring water and rice to a full boil at medium-high heat. As soon as it is boiling, cover tightly and reduce heat to low. Allow your rice to sit on low, remaining covered, for about 20 minutes.
5. After 20 minutes on low, turn off your burner completely... but leave your rice sitting there for 10 more minutes... and leave it COVERED. Don't release the all important steam by peeking at your rice!
   
6. Remove lid and fluff with fork. Voila! Perfect steamed rice.

I went ahead and included a picture of the final product - curry and all... You can actually see how the sauce collected at the bottom of the plate. Relatively tasty. It had a nice zing and was not a total disappointment. But easy is not always better and we're back to the curry drawing board.

Maryland Blue Crab Cakes and Romaine and Roasted Red Pepper Salad (Hers)

The other day, Ryan and I went the Seafood Fest in Pompano Beach. We had a lot of fun wandering around enjoying the sun, surf, sand... and, naturally, the seafood. There were a lot of vendors offering up delicious sounding cuisine, so it was tough to make a decision. But after some contemplation, I opted to try some coconut shrimp and "Maryland" crab cakes. 

As a Maryland girl, born and raised, I am snobby about my seafood. Thus, I was a bit skeptical about latter part of this dish. And as it turns out, with good reason. These weren't horrible, but no one who grew up near the shores of the Chesapeake Bay would have ever prefaced these crab cakes with the illustrious title "Maryland."

I've said it before, and I will say it again, it is virtually impossible to get a good crab cake outside the DelMarVa area. 

Unless, of course, you make them yourself.

This recipe is my step-mom's and I think it's delicious. We cut the recipe in half since there are only two of us and crab is not cheap. They're not as good as they would have been if we had fresh crab meat, but on the whole - very tasty! As my husband said when he finished his meal tonight, "That's why I married a Maryland girl!"

**

KRISTIN'S AWESOME MARYLAND BLUE CRAB CAKES

courtesy of my step-mom 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound backfin or lump crab meat (**If you can get fresh Maryland Blue crab meat, use it! If not, check in your seafood section of your grocery store. They usually will have Phillip's or Publix plastic containers filled with crab meat. Avoid using canned...)
• 4 saltine crackers, crumbled (**One of the trademarks of a good Maryland crab cake is the lack of breading. Saltines add just enough binding without sacrificing the crab taste.)
• 1 T fresh minced parsley
  
• 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
  
• 2 - 3 shakes of Tobasco sauce
  
• 1 egg beaten
  
• 1 cup mayonnaise, divided
  
• 1/2 tsp Old Bay seasoning
  
• 1/2 tsp salt (**If you're not using fresh crab meat, leave this out. We don't have access to fresh Maryland Blue crab meat here in Florida and the crab cakes were a tad salty which makes me think the preservative in the lump meat we bought already had salt in it.)
  
• 1/8 tsp cracked pepper
  
• paprika
  
• lemon
  

DIRECTIONS

1. Gently pick through crab to remove all pieces of shell. 
   
2. Combine next nine ingredients, except for 1/4 cup mayo. Mix and form six cakes. Place on cookie sheet. 
   
3. Spread each crab cake with remaining mayonnaise and 1/2 lemon juice. Sprinkle with paprika. Bake in a preheated 350-degree F oven for 20 minutes. Then broil until golden brown. 
   
4. Garnish with paprika and lemon. Serves 4 - 6. (Or 2 if you're really hungry and just can't help yourself!)

See what I mean about the importance of leaving out the breading! 

***

With our crab cakes, we had a side of romaine and roasted red pepper salad. I improvised with this one, but it came out really good!

ROMAINE AND ROASTED RED PEPPER SALAD

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups romaine lettuce
• one roasted red pepper (we used jarred to save on time, but you could always make your own too!)
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup Bloody Mary mix
• 2 cloves garlic
• black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine olive oil, balsamic vinegar, bloody mary mix, garlic and black pepper. Put in blender or food processor and blend until smooth.
2. Wash and chop romaine. Drain the red pepper and chop into bite sized chunks.
3. Pour dressing over salad and serve. There will be extra dressing, so if you want to make double the salad this amount would work just fine.

Spicy Peanut Salmon and Asparagus (His)

Salmon is something we eat regularly (particularly when it is on sale!) It's just so good for you and there are so many different ways to make it.

Sometimes we will go all out with our salmon... but other times, we just want something simple. We love A Taste of Thai products, especially their Spicy Peanut Bake. We've tried it with chicken and pork with great success. 

This time we decided to spread some of its magic around. After all, why shouldn't our salmon get to experience it too?

***

SPICY PEANUT SALMON

courtesy of A Taste of Thai

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound salmon
• 1 package Spicy Peanut Bake

DIRECTIONS

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F
   
2. Empty packet of peanut bake onto plate and coat salmon with its contents
   
3. Put coated salmon in baking dish and bake for 20 - 30 minutes or until fish flakes and is opaque in the center

***

We also love asparagus. Unlike salmon we nearly always have this the same way!

ROASTED ASPARAGUS

INGREDIENTS

• package (@ 1 pound) fresh asparagus
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt to taste
• Freshly ground pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F
   
2. Rinse the asparagus and cut off the woody bottoms (Ryan forgot to do this part, as you can see in the picture), then pat dry and place in a baking dish.
   
3. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle salt and pepper to taste, then toss.
   
4. Bake uncovered for 10 - 15 minutes

Sometimes we'll top our asparagus with balsamic vinegar or parmesan cheese... or  - if we're feeling really crazy - both!  Yum!!!

***

Sweet and Spicy Sweet Potatoes (Hers)

This recipe is out of this world and one of my favorite side dishes to make. We do, however, make quite a few changes. Rather than include the original recipe and note these alterations (which could get tedious), I included the recipe as we make it.

As an aside, I really think you can't go wrong with this one... regardless of how you tweak it in your own kitchen. And for what it's worth, in most instances our alterations are really a matter of personal taste. However, I did indicate where we feel our changes significantly improve the recipe and why.

SWEET AND SPICY SWEET POTATOES

(Adapted) courtesy of AllRecipes.com

INGREDIENTS

• 2 large sweet potatoes, cubed (We vary from the original recipe in that we do not peel them. They taste much better with the skin on... plus the skin is good for you!)
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil (We find that the less oil you use, the crispier your potatoes will be! We say "no" to soggy potatoes!)
• 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon McCormick's Original Chicken seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F
2. Place sweet potato chunks in large bowl. Drizzle olive oil on top. Sprinkle all seasonings (except brown sugar) on potatoes and toss so potatoes are coated with olive oil and seasoning.
3. Spread potatoes on baking sheet, then sprinkle the brown sugar on top, stirring around a little bit so all of the potatoes have a bit of the sugar. (This causes the sugar to caramelize nicely on top of the potatoes and adds a nice crunch.)
4. Bake in pre-heated oven for about 20 minutes, then remove and turn the potatoes with a spatula. Continue baking until potatoes are crispy and tender... around 15 - 20 minutes more.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Pretzel Turtles (Hers)

My husband Ryan and I are so blessed. 

We won't bore you with all of the ways in which we honestly believe we're the luckiest couple on the face of the earth as even we have to admit our open and boundless love for each other can be gag-worthy to the casual observer....

But there is no denying that our mutual affection (and - dare I say - talent?) for cooking are just part of what make us very fortunate indeed.

Some of our recipes are labor intensive. Others are not.

Ryan is meticulous about following recipes. I, on the other hand, prefer to tweak recipes to make them "better." This is not always entirely successful. 

Nevertheless, we enjoy spending time in the kitchen... and with each other... so what better way to share this with others than through this blog?

And you can't go wrong kicking off a food-blog with a little bit of salt... and a whole lot of sugar...

***

PRETZEL TURTLES

courtesy of AllRecipes.com

INGREDIENTS

• 20 mini pretzels (we use the Snyder's of Hanover Snaps)
• 20 chocolate caramels (we use the Dove Chocolate Caramels... they fit perfectly on the Snaps!)
• 20 pecan halves

DIRECTIONS 

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and lay out the pretzels in a single layer.
3. Place a chocolate on top of each pretzel.
4. Place in the oven for three (3) minutes.
5. Gently press a pecan half into each chocolate. 
   

It's okay if a little bit of the caramel oozes out. 

In fact, it's more than okay if a little bit of the caramel oozes out.

These are good warm or room-temperature the next day. Store in an air-tight container (if you don't demolish them in one sitting!)

***