Deep thoughts from my husband...

The hubby and I are watching a show on the history of pizza in the United States.

The show is comparing New York pizzas (thin) to Chicago pizzas (deep dish). You know the controversy!

But his thoughts on the subject? "I'm an equal opportunity pizza lover"





enjoy your time in the kitchen...

Fajita dinner...

Fajitas are such a quick dinner... a lot of nights when hubby works a late night, this is what we do for dinner. I can cut everything ahead of time and set it aside and wait for that text that says "Home in 15! Muah!" Then I can make a quick dinner of it...

First I start with my veggies... and fajitas are a "whatever you like on them" type of dish. Some people don't like bell peppers, some people don't like red onion... so feel free to "make it your own".

This is what we like... red onion, red/green bell pepper and just a few cloves of garlic.



Take apart those peppers (remove the ribs/seeds/stem) and cut them into long strips (but not too thin). And do the same with half a large red onion.



In a pan over medium-high heat (use cast iron, all-clad or a wok... but not a "non stick" pan) throw the veggies right in. No need for oil... if you add oil it will keep the veggies from charring ("non-stick" pans won't allow for char either)... and we like a little char on our veggies for fajitas.



You're going to hear some loud sizzling - this is OK.

This is what you want.

Give the veggies a few minutes without moving them. This will help in the char process. Then toss them... are they charring like you want? Mine did! This step will take 5-8 minutes ... every few minutes move the veggies around.

You will want to take the veggies out when they are partially charred but softened to the touch. We like our veggies semi-crispy for our fajitas. The semi-crispy veg makes for a real fresh tasting fajita.

Then I remove the pan from the heat and the veggies get set aside until I'm ready to re-warm them with the cooked chicken.



Next? I prep the chicken tenders by patting them dry...



Adding some kosher salt and ground cumin...



And a good amount of chili powder... all on one side. (I season the other side of the chicken once it's in the pan.)



Then I cut the chicken into bite size pieces... good big bite size pieces... (I like cutting them before cooking as they cook just a lil' faster).



But before I put the chicken in the pan I want to take advantage of all of the flavor that's been left in the bottom of that pan from the veggies. So I put the pan back over the heat and add some chicken stock. This will help to pull up the "flavor bits" (aka "charred goodness") off the bottom of the pan. Believe me, you don't want to get rid of this stuff or wash out the pan at this point - you want to use it to your benefit (the benefit of your taste buds).



So pour in the chicken stock, and let it do it's magic. There will once again be a lot of sizzling and some steam. So, careful...

With a wooden spoon you can easily pull the flavor bits up off the bottom of that pan. Some of the chicken stock will evaporate while you are doing this but it helps to loosen up all that flavor.





Once the bits have been "freed", add your chicken to the pan (seasoned side down) - and don't touch.

Step away from the hot pan...



Well, ok... the only thing I recommend doing at this point is adding a tiny bit more kosher salt and some black pepper to this side of the chicken. But don't move 'em. We can get all technical at this point... but just take my word for it, don't move 'em... yet.



Let's take a closer look at what's happening in this pan. See how the sides of the chicken bits are turning white... we're getting closer to be able to turn the chicken over. See, there is some time involved in allowing the meat to come up to temp so that it cooks, so that the coagulation of the proteins takes place. Once this happens then the chicken can be easily moved around the pan without sticking and shredding apart.

(You know what I'm talking about... we've all moved a protein around before it was ready to move, haven't we?!)



So, once the coloring on the side of the chicken looks similar to the picture above, it's probably close to being able to move. (On these small pieces of chicken that's about 2-3 minutes.)

Turn over your beautiful bits of chicken with a set of tongs.

And look at all that color you just produced! (This is going to be so yummy!)



Cooking on the second side won't take as long. (On these small pieces of chicken that's only about a minute or two.) So it's time to bring the veggies back to temp. Throw them in with the almost-done chicken... it's at this point that I throw in the diced garlic. It doesn't need much time (and with the high heat we're using on these fajitas - had we thrown them in with the veggies in the first step they would have just burnt).

Once the chicken/veg mix has come together and you've given the garlic a minute or two, place a lid/cover partially over the pan just to keep things warm.



Oh... and you DO have tortillas warming up, don't you?! We use our cast iron tortilla warmers (that my hero-of-a-hubby bought me for our first Christmas together, back in the day).



And right about now is when he's walking in the back door and says "Mmmm... smells great babe! Fajitas?!" He gives me a kiss, un-blings (wallet, watch, etc is removed and placed somewhere that will annoy me later - but at least he's home now), he pours our drinks and ...



...and then we serve up. He adds sour cream and cheese to his fajitas. I just want some sour cream and fresh cilantro.

Tonight we're enjoying our fajitas alongside Creamy Poblano Rice. Oh, and I opted against a second fajita so I could have a bigger serving of the rice. Yummy...



enjoy your time in the kitchen...

how we do our ribeyes...

When we celebrate a special occasion (at home), or splurge for a date night (at home), or find a great deal on good-lookin' ribeyes... this is how we do it...

What we look for: good "marbling" in the meat, a thick steak, and fresh looking meat.

How I prepare them: generously salt/pepper the steaks on both sides, allow them to come to room temperature for at least an hour before grilling them, and talk to them nicely... they like to be talked to.




Then I pre-heat the stove top grill... it's a griddle pan that stretches out over 2 burners. And I set the burners to just over "medium" heat. I allow the griddle pan to warm up for about 5 minutes until it just starts to smoke. The steaks get transferred to the griddle... and grilled to our desired done-ness (in our opinion, this should only ever be "medium-rare"). (As you can tell, I didn't include pics of the grilling steaks - I'm sure you know what that looks like...)


Tonight we were celebrating a week into a new job for my hero-of-a-hubby. So, we threw in the scallops too...

How we do scallops: tonight I cooked bacon to go with the baked potatoes, so I left about a tablespoon of bacon grease in the pan. Then I added two pats of butter and heated the griddle until nice and hot, but before the butter started to brown.

(Oh wait - it's important to pat the scallops dry on both sides with a paper towel - this helps with the browning.)

Just slightly salt one side of the scallops and gently place into the hot saute pan (salt side down - you can salt/pepper the other side while they are cooking). And then don't touch the scallops for at least 2 minutes... you might want to, but don't do it. While they are cooking, but don't touch those scallops... you'll want to do something... so now you can slightly salt/pepper this side of the scallops. OK, ready?!

After 2 minutes, gently nudge the scallops off the bottom of the skillet with a pair of tongs - and flip over in the saute pan. (They might stick slightly - so move slow and gentle.) Since scallops cook rather quickly they don't need much more time. After flipping them over, they only need about 1 1/2 minutes.

Oh, and for the potatoes... a couple years ago I found Alton Brown's take on the perfect baked potato. I've been making them this way ever since.


Now, pardon me... we're off to celebrate and "do our thing"... I love my life! (and I love my husband! And I'm so proud of him... )



enjoy your time in the kitchen...

a memory of our trip to Florence, Italy

It was June 2004 ... my hero-of-a-hubby had taken us to Florence, Italy for our (slightly delayed) honeymoon. One night after dinner, as we prepared to walk back out into the cobble stone alley from whence we came (our restaurant, a hole in the wall that the locals frequented), we paid our dinner bill and were handed 2 frosty shot glasses!

"What is this?" I asked? It was beautiful, and I was intrigued. The cameriere (waiter) replied: "Limoncello" and he lifted it to my mouth and handed it to me. We drank it ... and we enjoyed it. He explained, in his best english, that it is italian tradition to enjoy a quick, cold shot of limoncello after dinner. When in Florence... who were we to argue?!



When we returned home I was giddy to find it on the shelves of the local Trader Joe's. I introduced it to my best girlfriend Debbie... and when we get together at my house to catch up, it's tradition... we start it off with a shot of limoncello.

I keep my bottle in the freezer at all times... it's happy to wait right there for
me...



enjoy your time in the kitchen...

my fav mac n' cheese...

it's perfect... it's heavenly... it's amazing... it's mouthwatering...

it's delectable... it's tasty... it's tempting... it's out of this world!

it's my favorite mac 'n cheese... E-V-E-R!!!

excuse me for a few moments....

it got a little ugly this afternoon... but it was yummy!

(my hero-of-a-hubby is out golfing ... so i didn't even have to share...)

btw - it's from Trader Joe's... it's found in the frozen food section... it's hard to wait 25 minutes while it's in the oven.

but it's worth the wait...

tip from Lori: about half-way through the cooking time, take it out of the oven and stir it up with a spoon. make sure it's mixed well... it cooks more evenly if you do!

enjoy your time in the kitcen...

a Christmas tradition in our house...

It's only two ingredients... and that's all it needs to be...



Tonight my hero-of-a-hubby came home to baked goodies on every flat surface in the kitchen... as he scanned the room his eyes didn't even sparkle. UNTIL he saw these in the works! And he said - "I know you're baking for Christmas goodies (meaning, to be boxed up and put into packages being shipped out of state) but those aren't leaving the house!"

I promised to make him a batch all his own...

And this is how it's done... open a bag of pretzels. This brand is my favorite!



Melt the vanilla flavored candy coating (this brand is also my fav - and I've tried MANY Others... none stand up to "Log House"... they should be paying me for these endorsements...) ... melt it according to the instructions on the back. It's THAT simple...



Find something in your kitchen to pick up the pretzels - you can use a chop stick, or a butter knife... tonight I used a skewer.



Keep dropping in the pretzels and flipping them over to coat them on both sides... pick up and transfer to parchment paper. It's a good idea to let them dry... BUT, if you happen to find some broken pretzels, enjoy them before they dry! It's Heaven... simply Heaven!

Each bag of pretzels this size goes through approximately 2 trays of candy coating. And each tray of candy coating will coat about 60-70 of these "tiny twists"... and to think, my hubby gets a batch all his own!



enjoy your time in the kitchen...