Menu of the Week

Go figure the week that Jim thinks I hit it out of the ballpark I miss the pic of my chalkboard menu wall. At least I snapped a few pics of the dishes before we devoured them.

Honey Bourbon Toddy: Cough Syrup for Grown Ups

I came down with the cold of the century early this year. I was miserable and wanted to sip on something with healing properties that would also help me go to sleep. My cure was this seasonal mixture of booze, water, honey, citrus and spices, otherwise known as the Hot Toddy. It soothes, coddles, and makes everything right in your world - the equivalent of Mom.

In a microwavable mug I measure out 4 oz Water and 1-2 Tablespoons of fresh squeezed lemon. Microwave for one minute to get piping hot. Then I stir in in 1-2 Tablespoons of local honey and 2 oz of Bourbon (like Bulleit or TX Bourbon). I use a loose tea steeper to drop in 6 cloves and then stir with a cinnamon stick.

The warm adult beverage does the trick to calm my cough and help me sleep. Well, it's actually the honey that does the trick, I think. But the bourbon sure doesn't hurt.  Taking a full spoonful of honey has been shown to be very effective at calming nighttime coughs but it is not as fun as this adult cough remedy.

Thanks to the cold, I started liking bourbon and now I'm a whiskey girl. Who would have thought?!?!

Menu of the Week

The menu of the week was mostly "hit" and one big miss. Keep reading to see which night bombed!

Menu of the Week + Salmon in Lemon Brodetto and Pea Puree

 

It was another great weekly menu at our house with some repeated favorites and a couple new recipes that will be making a comeback.

 

The Chicken Tacos are one of those easy meals good for several days of lunches.  I take frozen chicken breasts and put them in a crock pot with a jar of salsa and a package of taco seasoning. Set the slow cooker on low all day (5-8 hours) and then the chicken easily shreds with a fork inside the crockpot. I buy tortillas, a block of cheddar cheese to grate at home and we call that a great dinner. I serve with black beans and sometimes Mexican rice. Super easy, really yummy. I feel like this isn't even a recipe at all which is why I have not featured it on HWM. Maybe I should throw it up on here next time I make it so I at least have a picture to reference when it shows up on our weekly menu.

 

On Monday we had the usual Salmon but this time I decided to try a Giada recipe from Food Network. This Salmon in Lemon Brodetto and Pea Puree is a perfect dish for spring. I've got the full recipe with pictures below.

Lemon Chicken Fettuccini

Jim requested lemon chicken twice in the past week so I lovingly obliged, but changed it up a bit. Of course! That's what I do. Remember my mom's Lemon Chicken? She coats the chicken with seasonings and flour and bakes it with butter. She serves the chicken breasts covered in sauce and served over rice. I took the same steps, tweaked the method a bit and came up with this summer pasta dish that is bright with lemon and totally satisfying.

I started by rinsing three chicken breasts and trimming the ugly parts off the sides and bottom. You know those odd little pieces that hang off - I like to cut them off with kitchen shears.  Pat the chicken dry and then place in a dutch oven and season with whatever house seasoning you like. I used salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder.

This Dutch Oven is from the new Cocinaware line at H-E-B, and is less than $30! Find out how to win some cool Cocinaware.

To give the chicken some flavors to cook in, I cut a lemon into wedges and squeezed them over the chicken and then threw the lemon in the pot.

Ah, a dish without garlic is a dish without love. Too dramatic? Well, I peeled these four garlic cloves and threw them in whole. Next time, I will probably smash them with the back of my knife and throw them in smashed.  As I left them whole, there was an "essence" of garlic, but I would have liked a more intense garlic flavor.

At this point, I wasn't sure how I would use the chicken breasts. I may leave them whole and place them on top of the pasta and ladle the sauce on top. Instead of pats of butter, I drizzled just a little bit of olive oil over the top and then covered the pot and cooked for 30 minutes in a 350 degrees oven.

While the chickens baked, I added a large pinch of salt to a pot of water and put this on the stove to boil. When I have about 10 minutes till dinner I will drop the pasta and cook it for 8-10 minutes, drain and serve. I used fettuccini, but spaghetti or other type of pasta would work just as well.

The sauce is very important to the dish and ridiculously simply. You can customize this sauce as much as you like. If you want to keep it simple, use 8 ounces of sour cream, a can of cream of chicken soup and 1/3 cup of lemon juice (lemon juice from a bottle would be fine too).

I used 8 ounces of sour cream, white wine, fresh lemons, minced garlic, chopped onion and a can of cream of chicken soup. Here is how I did it.

I ended up only using one half of the onion and dicing on the fine side.

Over medium heat I cooked the onions in a tablespoon of butter.

 I minced two garlic cloves and added those to the onions also.

When the onions are almost translucent and before they start getting too brown, I added a splash of white wine.

This is Bell Springs Chardonnay, a local wine located in Dripping Springs, Texas. It's bright and creamy with hints of lemon which goes so well in this lemon chicken dish.

Ahhh... wish I could send you a whiff of this onion, garlic and wine mixture.  I let this simmer for a little bit until the liquid was nearly evaporated.

 LEMONS! I sliced three, but ended up only needing two lemons to get to 1/3 cup of fresh juice.

Be sure to strain the lemon seeds out.

This is one of those cans you should always have in your pantry - it can be used in so many dishes. In this recipe it gives body and creaminess to my lemon sauce.

After the cream of chicken is stirred in, add the 8 ounces of sour cream.

Stir everything together and taste for seasoning. I added 1/2 teaspoon of pepper and 1/4 cup of the pasta water to thin the sauce a bit. Then turned the stove to low so the sauce stays warm while I finish with the chicken and pasta.

After 30 minutes the chickens are cooked through - pierce with a fork and make sure the juice runs clear. Likewise you can cut with a knife and make sure the meat is no longer pink.

Now it's time to decide how I want to serve the chicken, sauce and pasta.

My game day decision was to shred the chicken with two forks and stir it into the sauce.

When the pasta was finished cooking I plated the fettuccini on the plate first and topped with the lemon chicken sauce and garnished each plate with chopped green onions and a few slivers of lemon.

If you can, be sure to serve the same wine you used in your dish with your meal. The wine will compliment the meal and vice versa.

Baked Lemon Pasta

I made this Baked Lemon Pasta on a weeknight for a friend and I. It turned out to be the best summer dish for us to share on the patio along with a crisp and cold glass of Chardonnay.



Here is what you need for this easy and simple recipe:

1 pound thin spaghetti
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
Juice of 1 lemon
Zest of 1 lemon
2 cups sour cream
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste if desired
Plenty of grated Parmesan cheese
Flat leaf parsley, chopped
Extra lemon juice

Start by setting a large pot of water to boil, toss in some salt, then throw in the spaghetti and cook until al dente. Preheat the oven to 375.

In a skillet, melt 1/2 stick of butter with 2 T olive oil over low heat.

When butter is melted, add minced garlic. Squeeze lemon juice into the pan. Turn off heat. Add sour cream and stir mixture together. Add lemon zest and salt. Taste, then add more salt if necessary.

Pour mixture over drained spaghetti and stir together, then pour spaghetti into an oven safe dish.

Cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes.

Then remove foil and bake for an additional 7 to 10 minutes. (Don’t bake too long or the pasta will dry out.)

When you remove it from the oven, squeeze a little more lemon juice over the top. Shower generously with Parmesan cheese. You can see I am NOT afraid of cheese!

Then chop fresh parsley and sprinkle on top. Dive in and enjoy! Thanks P-Dub for another easy weeknight recipe. My friend and I really enjoyed this dish, but Jim thought it "needed more chicken." Okay, I get the hint. Maybe next time I will add some diced or shredded chicken. I also want to note that this did not reheat well. I may half the recipe in the future if I was just cooking for Jim and I...and add chicken of course.

Simply Perfect Lemonade

My precious baby Cole fishing his baseball out of the fountain. It was a hot day so I let him play in the water, but soon regreted that decision when he came over and shook right where I was sitting. Stinky dog quickly became wet stinky dog. Boys will be boys I guess. Speaking of boys, I had no idea how crazy happy Jim would be the day I made lemonade. It was one of those hot Texas days and I needed a sweet and tart beverage to quinch my thirst. Luckily, Elise had a post about perfect lemonade that I found online.

The secret to perfect lemonade is to start by making sugar syrup, also known as "simple syrup". Dissolving the sugar in hot water effectively disperses the sugar in the lemonade, instead of having the sugar sink to the bottom. This is also a great way to sweeten iced tea by the way.

1 1/2 c water
1 c sugar
1 c lemon juice

Make simple syrup by heating the sugar and water in a small saucepan until the sugar is dissolved completely. Add the lemon juice and the simple syrup to a pitcher. Add 3 to 4 cups of cold water, more or less to the desired strength. Refrigerate 30 to 40 minutes. If the lemonade is a little sweet for your taste, add a little more straight lemon juice to it. Serve with ice, sliced lemons. Serves 6.

I boiled 1 1/2 cups water and added one cup of granulated sugar. When sugar disolved, I removed from the burner and added one cup of lemon juice.

Then I poured this concentrated lemonade into a glass container and stored in the fridge.

To make the perfect glass of lemonade I added 1/2 cup of the concentrate, topped with ice and water. Voila, simply perfect lemonade. You would have thought I created cold fusion the way Jim flipped over this lemonade. It's the simple things in life!!

You know what could make this perfect glass of lemonade even better? Titos Vodka! Jenna, have you come up with a name for that concoction yet?

Here is another alternative! Make an Arnold Parmer, a great non-alcoholic cocktail. 50% lemonade and 50% iced tea.

Or better yet, freeze the lemonade in your ice cream maker or on a sheet pan like you were making a granita. Then, make iced tea and serve a scoop of lemonade on top.

Lemon Basil Mint Sorbet

I'm sticking with the lemon theme with this AMAZING Lemon Basil Mint Sorbet. I think this is a beautiful and simply luxury we should give ourselves and our guests every once in a while. I have an ice cream maker but have never attempted sorbet before and was inspired by a recent cooking class I attended (more on the cooking class later). Here is what you need:
2 1/2 cups water
2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons lemon zest
3 tablespoons lemon juice
basil leaves (use a big bunch of basil, around 20-25 leaves)
mint leaves (use half the amount of mint as you did basil, so around 10-12 leaves)

In a saucepan combine the water,

sugar,

lemon zest (this stuff you can't fake, use the real deal),

and lemon juice. Normally I would cut corners and use bottled lemon juice, here I squeezed my own. Bring to a simmer and cook until the sugar is dissolved, about 10 minutes.

Now add the basil.

Add the mint.

Take off the heat and let it steep for at least three minutes. I let mine steep for about 10.

Strain syrup through a fine mesh sieve and set aside to cool.

Transfer to the refrigerator until thoroughly chilled.

Then process in an ice cream machine according to manufacturer's directions. Transfer to a freezer-proof container with a lid and freeze until ready to serve.

We really loved these flavor combinations. The mint was bright, the basil was earthy and the lemon gave the sorbet a lovely zing.

The sorbet that inspired me to make sorbet was blood orange, mint and basil - but when I couldn't find blood orange juice at the store I settled upon lemon. But we did not settle my friends, this was REALLY great!

Recipe by Emeril Lagasse

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups water
2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons lemon zest
3 tablespoons lemon juice
24 basil leaves
12 mint leaves

Directions
In a small saucepan, combine the water, sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice. Bring to a simmer and cook until the sugar is dissolved, about 10 minutes. Add the basil and mint and set aside to steep for 3 minutes. Strain syrup through a fine mesh sieve and set aside to cool. Transfer to the refrigerator until thoroughly chilled, then process in an ice cream machine according to manufacturer's directions. Transfer to a freezer-proof container with a lid and freeze until ready to serve.

OH, and have I mentioned I PASSED my CMP exam! I took the exam in January after spending most of 2008 studying and preparing…then I had to wait two months to find out my results! Finally, a Certified Meeting Professional! New business cards are ordered, and my e-mail signature is already changed. Woo hoo!