Rosemary Lemon Grilled Chicken

Cooking healthy food every day is not hard, but it does take some organization.  Not saying I do it well every day, but I'm getting pretty motivated to get us eating a healthier diet without deprivation.  (Neither of us do deprived, well.)

My mother made the best dry rub grilled chicken.  A ton of flavor without being too spicy.  Fragrant.  Oh, it makes me happy to think about those warm summer days in the back yard.  Dad at the grille.  Mom making potato salad by the bucket.  Homemade ice cream.  

This is my favorite herb chicken on the grill right now.  Especially since I have fresh rosemary.  No matter how much I grow, it's never enough.  My herb garden looks pretty ragged from my daily snips. 

Rosemary Lemon Grilled Chicken

1/2 c canola oil

1/2 c. fresh rosemary leaves, chopped

1 lemon, zested

1/4 c. fresh lemon juice

6 boneless chicken breast halves or the equivalent of other pieces. 

Salt and pepper to taste.

And here is where the organization comes in.  Marinades can add tons of flavor, but it needs to be done ahead of time.  I've marinaded meat 2 or even 3 days ahead, but at least one day.  Place the chicken pieces in a shallow dish.  I dry chicken with a paper towel.  (Chicken blood does not add to this dish.)  Pour the marinade over the chicken pieces.  Cover with plastic and set it in the back of your frig.  

Bring it out as the grill comes to temp.  Cook it on a hot grill, turning with tongs until done.  When is it done?  I recommend using a meat thermometer.  Chicken is done when it's 170 degrees internal temp.  Or, cut into it to see if there is any pink, if you must.  

Tomatoes from the garden, fresh beans from Bizi Farms.  Life's Good.  We are trying to learn to fill half the plate with vegetables, 1 quarter with meat and the last quarter with a carb.

There is no quadrant for ice cream.  Sorry. 

  

Herb and Feta Topped Cod

I've been seeing recommendations to eat fish 2 or 3 times per week.  That's a lot of fish.  I'm not sure we are up to it.

But fish is high in omega fatty acids, offers reduced risk of heart disease, blood pressure and cholesterol concerns, and contains vitamins and essential minerals.  Clearly, it is part of a good diet.  

When I see Pacific Cod at my price point, I have them wrap 2 or 3 packages for me and freeze it for week night meals.  Some nights, all I've got in me is to season it on both sides with salt and pepper and cook it in my big flat skillet with a little good oil.  And that's perfectly fine, but I'm looking for more flavor and Husband thought this topping was delicious. 

A big handful of fresh oregano, cleaned and finely chopped. It grows easily at my house, but use whatever fresh herbs you have.  Drizzle with olive oil.  A big spoonful of capers, chopped.  Another big spoonful of feta.  Mix it into almost a paste.  Top the cooked fish with it before serving.  It's really good.     

Yogurt: Jalapeno Rice Casserole

One of my goals right now is to train or challenge myself to do more with the ingredients that I have at hand.  I don't live in a mild climate, so the ingredients at my produce market changes seasonally.  I'm done chasing the next ingredient in a recipe that I don't happen to have and will need to go to the store for.  I've recently been through some of my favorites:  tomatillos,  rhubarb, ginger.   

I'm starting Yogurt, which I eat a lot of and always have on hand.  I make yogurt myself.  I challenge you to do the same  http://dinnerattheosbornes.blogspot.com/2011/04/homemade-yogurt.html

This dish requires other ingredients which I like and want to learn how to use better - rice, fresh herbs, and jalapenos.  All are on my list for the future. 

Jalapeno Rice Casserole.

2 c. chicken broth

1 c. rice

Pour broth into a sauce pan and bring to boil.  Add rice, stir, cover and reduce to simmer for 20 minutes or until rice is tender.

Mix together

1/2 c. plain non fat yogurt

2 T. Italian Dressing

1 T. chopped fresh parsley

1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped

The picture shows the favorite Italian Dressing at the Osbornes, but use whatever you like best. 

Remove the seeds and white vein from the center of the pepper, then finely chop it.  Remove the stems of the parsley and chop it.

  

At the risk of sounding weird, I stop and smell and taste every little thing as I cook.  Life is so short and such a roller coaster ride.  Why not draw any pleasure in the moment that you can? 

Combine the yogurt sauce with the rice.  I decided it was just a little dry and drizzled with olive oil. 

There is a roasting chicken in my oven right now.  I reduced the heat to 350, covered the casserole dish, and set it in the oven next to the chicken.  Bake for 30 minutes at 350.  Top with 1/2 cup shredded Tillamook Montery Jack cheese and bake an additional 5 minutes. 

For a printable copy go here. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1y2dBV2XQN0VuBmuYxDBnQwtnOtZlyaHKUPiO7LbeThI/edit?hl=en_US&authkey=CJG4-OIE
Anyone know how to rename this link in my text so you don't see the gobbly goop?

Fragrant and creamy.  Not quite as moist as I would like.  Think I'll make more of the sauce next time. 

Goes pretty good with a roast chicken, though.

Sunday Roast Chicken

We've been through some hard times in the last couple years, mostly struggles with our business, that left us at different times, tired, discouraged, and less savory things.  Husband and I have nearly opposite skill sets, talents and abilities.  When it works, we create huge synergy.  When it doesn't, it can be disaster. 

But now, as things start looking better, and we start to re-evaluate our lives, we find that we are stronger for the experience and grateful for the little pleasures.  I'm not sure where we ever got so off track, but we are back, and better for it.  We certainly remembered that we knew how to make hard decisions.  And we knew how to be frugal.  My local store has stewing chickens for $.79 / lb every so often.  When they do, I stick a couple in the freezer.  This is a lot of food for the dollar.  And find me something more satisfying than sitting down to roast chicken on a Sunday night. 

Herb roasted chicken
2 small limes, washed well
2 garlic cloves
1/3 cup fresh oregano, cleaned, leaves removed from stems, and leaves finely chopped
1/4 thyme leaves, cleaned and picked
1 stewing/roasting chicken, washed well with soap and water, rinsed and dried ( pick off anything on the chicken that you don't want to eat)
2 T. butter, melted
1/2 t. coarse sea salt

Finely grate peel from one lime.  Juice that lime and compost what remains.  Slice one garlic clove and mince the other.  The minced garlic and butter goes in the juice. In the cleaned cavity, start stuffing the 2nd lime which has been quartered, the sliced garlic, and the oregano leaves. 

Slowly pour the butter/juice mixture over the chicken rubbing it with your hands and turning it to coat every part.  As Paula Deene say, "I believe in rubbing my meat, hee, hee." and I do too.  All jokes aside, I insist on taking the time to enjoy this process.  What is the hurry?  Pour any remaining liquid into the cavity.  Sprinkle the thyme leaves and salt over it all.

Once you are satisfied, set him in a roasting pan.  Place him in a 375 degree oven. Now, back outside to enjoy the yard. 

And my favorite gardening buddy.

Dash in for a bit to check the chicken.  The whole house smells lovely.  It will be done in approximately 1 1/2 hours or until a meat thermometer reads 170 and juices run clear.  Let stand for a few minutes before slicing. 

By the way, we are still eating salad with homemade ranch dressing from a previous post.  The difference is that the bunnies are getting full or the lettuce in the raised beds are growing faster than they can eat it.  We may actually get to eat some soon.

The beginning of a good evening.

Remember lifes important details.  And remember to enjoy them.

  

I love fresh herbs

Can I just say that fresh herbs make me really happy?  I mean seriously.  We live in a world where people get happy with $4.00 coffees and the newest cell phones with all the trendy features.  If you are a little blue, I suggest putting down the antidepressents and picking up the oregano.

And while you are at it.  Crush it between your fingers and stand there and smell it.  It is here that you'll find personal satisfaction, no bliss.  The newest "thing" at the mall can't bring you happiness.   I promise.  Picking thyme off their stems, well maybe. 

So for tonight, I'm re-heating the big pot of chili we've been eating.  I've given the recipe before. This is a very tested recipe at the Osbornes. 

 http://dinnerattheosbornes.blogspot.com/2009/12/chili-heaven.html

And salad with homemade ranch dressing.  The recipe is from thepioneerwoman.com and it is there that my herbs will go. 

I'll probably make my mom's pop overs.  I've been thinking about adding thyme and parmesan to the batter.  I'll let you know how it goes.  Here's Mom's original recipe. 

 http://dinnerattheosbornes.blogspot.com/2009/11/pop-overs-basic.html

So throw away the antidepressants and sniff a little chives.

And remember to be happy.

Turkey and Oregano Skillet Dinner

Just a few things.
1.  I haven't harvested a single leaf of lettuce.  Oh, I planted quite a bit.  And the plants are there.  There is a little bunny coming 'round and nibbling on it.  Each leaf is nibbled to the end as the next one comes up.  I'm still in mourning for Cocoa the Doberman who lost her battle with old age.  She kept the yard free of varmits and raskily rabbits in a way no other of our dog family can.  I miss you Cocoa.
2.  Step son and I have arranged to purchase a half a cow from a local rancher.  I'm pretty stoked about the whole thing.  The freezer needs some cleaning out, so we'll be eating its contents until the new meat comes.

3.  I'm so happy to have fresh herbs again.  My green house allows me to keep a few herbs almost year round, but now I can have parsley.  The greenhouse oregano and thyme are pitifully picked stubs.  But the outside plants are coming back.  Summer means fresh herbs in everything I make!.  Yeah.

Turkey and Oregano Skillet Dinner

1 lb ground turkey

1 t. salt, coarse sea salt is my favorite right now

1/8 t. ground pepper

1 14.5 oz. can stewed tomatoes

1 14.5 oz. can green beans (I'm buying Santiam brand because I know they are canned locally) 

1/4 c. fresh organo chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 red pepper, roasted and chopped

3/4 c. rotelle pasta cooked.

Brown the meat until completely cooked and drain any liquid.   Add salt and pepper.  Add the tomatoes with liquid.  Drain the beans and add them.  Wash and pick over the herbs.  Remove anything you don't want to eat.  I usually find some little spider about the time I think they are clean, so take the time.  Remove leafs from the stems.  The stems go in the compost.  Chop the leaves finely. 

I know I've said this many times, but you deserve to take the time to stand there and enjoy this.  Smell the herbs.  What do they make you think of?  How do you feel?  Feel how soft and nice they are.  I was remembering a series of summer days, sitting in the grass in front of the house on the Homeplace on my grandparents farm.  Making clover neckless until there were mountains of them.  Later as it started to get dark, laying back in the piles of clover neckless with my cousins, watching bats fly from the barn to the big tree and back to the barn and back to the big tree.

Okay, now we are roasting a pepper:  Turn on your broiler. Cut it in half and remove the stem and seeds.  Wash the pepper well.  Lay the 2 pepper halves on a piece of foil.   Flatten each half out by breaking it until it lays flat.  Rub the skins with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and stick it under the broiler.  And I mean broil it until the skins turn black and start to separate from the meat. 

Don't skip this step.  It creates a lot of flavor.   I've got flats of some special pepper plants in my green house.  I'm hoping for a good crop and that I'll do this to some of them and freeze it.   (I saw that on someone else's blog.) 

Once they are cool, the black just pulls off leaving a soft, moist, red, and very flavorful pepper.  Rub the red flesh with a bit more olive oil and sprinkle with a bit more coarse sea salt.  If you enjoy this, I won't tell anyone.  Chop it and put in the skillet for this dish.

Add the cooked pasta, stir to combine, and you are done.  I don't need a lot of pasta for this type of thing, but add more if you want.  Probably more if you are serving kids.  More if you need to stretch it so serve more people. 

Stir and serve.  It's just the two of us tonight, so the left overs will go to work with us in the morning for lunch. 

Remember to feel good.

Baked Fish with Herbs

I come from a family with a shared trait of dealing with problems by micromanaging and controlling our environment.  By the way, I don't consider this a bad thing.  Many problems can be solved by careful organization and a methodical approach.  Micromanaging a checking account, for example, means you are never overdrawn.  Micromanaging the laundry means that you have clean clothes nicely put away. 

Unfortunately, such an approach to life does not guarantee happiness.  And I married a free spirit with a wild side.  His way can get us into trouble and worse than trouble.  Somewhere in the middle is probably best.

So when my mother gained a little weight when I was in my early teens, what happened was not not out of character in the family I grew up in.  She put us all on a very strict diet.  None of us were overweight or ever have been.  I remember each day she had a certain number of vegetable and fruit servings, and a maximum number of bread, rice and potatoe servings for each of us.  I remember we went to skim milk and desert was out of the question for some time.   We ate a lot of broiled skinless, boneless chicken breast, which is bland when not seasoned well.  I remember Dad complaining.  "Now, Cathy!"  But once she lost the weight she wanted to, we all got to eat again.

One good thing from that time was baked fish.  She'd put the fish in foil with little pieces of butter and fresh herbs over top, then wrap it up and bake until flaky.  This with a mountain of fresh green beans is a great meal. 

It's still early in the season, but I do have hebs in the yard and the greenhouse.  I went about with scissors collecting a big handful which included parsley, chives, and oregano, taking the time to smell them and feel them.  Washed and inspected carefully.  Anything I don't want to eat was pinched off.

Chopped well.  Add a couple of cloves of garlic minced.  I am nearing the end of my precious stash of garlic from my garden.
Pieces of firm white fish go on a big piece of foil.  A good dose of olive oil and salt.  I'm really into coarse sea salt right now.  The herbs on top, then fold the foil around the fish to form a packet. 

Now into the oven to bake until the fish flakes when pricked with a fork.  Scrap most of the herbs off before serving.  They've done the job of flavoring the fish.  Steaming it in the foil left it moist.  Yum.  And good for you. 

Together with roast potatoes,  a good meal.  Remember to eat your fish and remember that a little control isn't a bad thing. 

A gardener can only dream

My green house is starting to work again.  I should explain.  In December and January, the best I hope for is keeping everything alive.  In addition, I can usually continue to harvest thyme, mint and oregano for part of that time.

Other than that, I go into maintenance mode.  Actually, I ignore it. 

But it has been a mild winter for us.  Well, mild in temperature.  Where I live it starts to rain about November and quits sometime around May.   This picture was from last year.  No snow this year. 

But at some point I get to start to think of seed starting.  I can get to 60 or 70 some days and stay above 40 at night.  I've got a little heat in it.  If it isn't completely overcast and raining, I can get a little solar gain happening.

So it is this time of year, I start to think about what my garden will look like.  I don't have a big one mind you.  Perennials, shade and sun, and roses.  Blue berries and strawberries.  Fresh herbs and tomatoes.  I planted a raspberry plant and a blackberry plant last year.  They are just sticks now.  I suppost it is obvious this picture is early May, not now.

I use fresh herbs when I have them.  I use basil, tarragon, oregano, parsley, chives, mint, thyme.  I don't plant a zucchini usually or a cucumber.  I have access to farm fresh local produce at a modest price in season.  Although, last year I longed to play around with zucchini blosoms, battered and fried, or stuffed.  That would have been fun.  I wanted to make my grandmother's zucchini relish, but I didn't get it done.

I've planted bush beans the last couple years and that was fun.  I started some soy beans last spring, but went on vacation in June and killed some of them and gave the rest to my daughter in law. 

I've always wanted some dwarf fruit trees, but I don't have the room.  And let's be serious.  I wouldn't take care of them well enough.  Darn it.  That unfortunate need for gainful employment.  It gets in my way.

Oh well.  A girl can dream.

Cooking for Pleasure

I have this unfortunate need for gainful employment.  The last two years have not been kind to the business my husband and I own and run together.  We've been working very hard and I think we will pull through.  In addition to a long week, we worked on Saturday too.  I was planning on cooking for pleasure last night but didn't get home soon enough, so the Queen of Casseroles whipped something up quickly and we watched a movie.  But today, Sunday, I planned, insisted actually, on a few hours to do as I please, which included painting some furniture and cooking.   My December 27 post talked about my visit with my mother and the pleasurable day we had making Julie Child's Beef Bourguignon.  I had been thinking that it had been awhile since I made a good old American beef stew, so that is what I set out to do.  I've modified a recipe I have.  This is not original.

Beef Stew Chez Osborne
In my largest kettle, I browned about 2 1/2 lbs of stew meat in 3 T. Olive oil seasoned in 1 T. Salt and quite a bit of fresh ground pepper.  When each piece was browned on the outside but still uncooked on the inside, I removed them to a plate, got rid of the juices they gave off and wiped out my kettle. 

Now 1/2 a medium onion finely chopped.  Onion is a sensitive issue in my house.  Husband doesn't like it.  Sorry dear, Stew has onion in it, please forgive me.  And 3 cloves of garlic minced. 

There is a pleasure of all the sense in cooking for me.  I want to take the time to touch things, smell things, as I go.  I grow my garlic.  My October 31 post showed my crop from the summer.  In my climate it is harvested in late June and hung to dry.  I still have a bit.  It isn't beautiful, but it is very lovely to cook with. This it about half of my remaining stash, so I'll be buying it from the grocery store before the next crop comes in.  What a bummer. 

Return the meat to the pot once the onions and garlic is cooked.  A little can of tomato paste (that's probably too much, but I can't stand to waste it.)  A 1/3 c. flour sprinkled over that and mixed.  Then an entire 32 oz carton of beef broth. 

Checked the furniture for dryness then out to my greenhouse for herbs.  The winter has not been kind to several things in  my greenhouse.  I'm a bit embarrassed.  The starts of kinnikinnick I was going to winter over and plant in the spring are not looking good.  The oregano and mint looks good.  The chives plant didn't winter over well, but it should be alive.  We'll see what it does.  Here is my thyme plant. 

The leaves are still fragrant and soft, although the plant is quite lopsided.  Took a moment to sniff and feel good.  I tasted it and decided to use it.  Don't worry little friend; spring is coming!  Snipped some and back to the kitchen.   I don't have a bay leaf plant, although I would very much like to.  I think they are Mediterranian.  I wonder if they would winter over in the Pacific Northwest?   I'm out of cheese cloth, but no worries.  I had fun cramming the Thyme and 3 dried old crinkly bay leaves into my tea ball.  I really need to look into the bay leaf plant!

Into the pool little tea ball.  I suspect that Emeril would not approve of this procedure, but it is really cracking me up.  Slowly simmered this one for an hour.

5 carrots and 2 celery stalks.  American stew has potatoes in it.  Five small red skinned potatoes, peeled.

And into the soup.  Where's the tea ball?  Oh there it is.  Okay this isn't exactly the recipe in the Betty Crocker Cookbook, but I'm not really a turnip girl.  Husband comes by, like he does every evening, to tell me it smells good and kiss my neck.

Cook the whole thing at a low simmer for another hour.  About this time, I poured myself a glass of wine and turned on the television.  This should be a nice night.  My favorite sou chef, the golden retriever, is Hoovering (As in vacuuming the floor for crumbs) at my feet.

Osborne Cheese Bread

There are two full time residents of this house, but many visitors. 

Husband likes cheese bread, but if it's just us, the french bread loaf gets dry.  I'm going to make cheese bread out of the remaining loaf and freeze part of it.  Will that work?  It should.

Slice the pieces, spread with butter.  Then a pinch of garlic powder between my fingers and sprinkle it over all pieces and the same with Italian seasoning.  Then spinkle with mozzarella cheese.  We'll only eat a couple pieces, so I'll freeze the others and pull them out another day. 

Remember to feel good.  And have courage.  A better day is coming.