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Well, nowhere really.

My head just has not really been in food blog land as of late.

I have been spending a lot of free time at the gym. Nick, who used to have to harass me about getting off my butt and going to the gym, actually said to me last night that it was annoying how much time I spend there and that I need to go less! I will take that under advisement honey.

I have also been enjoying some free time shopping. I have apparently decided to singlehandedly stimulate our economy by spending all my money on clothing and shoes.

We have also had some exciting news from our family and friends recently:

One of our closest friends Dianna just got engaged to her adorable Italian boyfriend while on a trip in Italy. I couldn’t be more excited for her and for their wedding, which will most likely be in Italy!! Yay!

Nick and I also learned that we will soon become an Aunt and Uncle, so we are definitely excited about that as well. However, I don’t think that a new baby will help curb my shopping addiciton

And of course, I have been cooking. I have actually made the last 3 Craving Ellie in My Belly recipes, but just did not have the energy to take a decent picture and write a post. I feel like a bit of a slacker, so here is my attempt at redemption:

Chicken Chop Suey - this was a great choice by our one and only Healthy Hostess, Ali. I did think that the flavor of this was very similar to a lot of Ellie’s other Asian inspired recipes, but it was definitely tasty and filling. I loved the crispy baked wontons!

Tuscan Vegetable Soup - I can’t rave enough about this soup and I have to thank Pam of Lobster and Fishsticks for choosing it. It is so hearty and filled with yummy veggies. I loved that the broth has just a hint of redness from the tomatoes, and I also simmered mine with a parmigianno rind which gave it tons of flavor. I always keep my leftover cheese rinds in the fridge for things like this. I made this on Saturday night after it had literally been raining in DC nonstop for days, and it was so perfect.

And this week’s pick was Chicken & Mushroom Quesadilla and was chosen by Marthe of Culinary Delights. I have actually made these before, and they were really good. So this time I changed it up a bit, mainly to use up some stuff I already had in the fridge/freezer. I stuffed them with some leftover roasted veggies that I had on hand from roasted veggie lasagna I made the night before. I sauteed up some extra mushrooms to add to that, and I added some cooked shredded turkey to Nick’s that I had in the freezer. Topped with a generous helping of reduced fat colby/jack cheese mix, these were sooooo good, and easy. Although, I had a good laugh at Ellie’s suggested serving size of a half a quesadilla! Nick and I both had our own whole one, and it was a perfect dinner portion for me.

I also made the Allspice Crumb Muffins, which was a Tuesdays with Dorie pick a week or so ago. This was chosen by one of my Craving Ellie girls, Kayte of Grandma’s Kitchen Table. I was so happy that she chose these because I have been eyeing them for quite a while. And I will pretty much try any muffin recipe under the sun. These got two thumbs up from me. I made some with and some without the buttery crumble topping, and both versions were delicious. I loved the surprising flavor of the allspice, this was a nice change up for me as far as muffins go. Great pick Kayte!

I am really going to try to get back into posting and reading all your blogs regularly, since it is something that I truly enjoy doing!

Later.

This weeks Craving Ellie in My Belly is Chicken Sate with a Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce. It was chosen by the hilariously funny Cathy of The Tortefeasor. It can be found at the aforementioned Food Network link or on page 54-55 of The Food You Crave. This is in the appetizer section of the book, but I decided to make it into dinner portions and serve it with some rice.

This recipe starts with marinating the chicken in a mixture of chicken stock, lite coconut milk, soy sauce, shallot, garlic, fish sauce, brown sugar, lime zest, and ginger. I marinated my chicken for about 8 hours instead of the 1 hour Ellie suggests. The chicken was very flavorful on it’s own and my favorite part was the flecks of lime zest that stuck to the chicken from the marinade.

I enjoyed skewering the chicken but I only got about 6 skewers instead of 8. I guess I over stuffed my skewers, but it really did not matter since it was just the two of us. I did only use 1 pound of chicken breast and I felt like it was a generous amount of chicken for dinner. I couldn’t finish it all. However, Nick, who increasingly complains that he is always so hungry finished all of his and the rest of mine.

The peanut sauce was very good, similar to but definitely not the same as the sauce from the lime peanut noodles that we made a few weeks ago. The dipping sauce was made from peanut butter (I used up the rest of my homemade PB ), chicken broth, soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger, lime juice, garlic, chili flakes, red curry paste, and shallot. I think I liked this sauce better, and I was pleased to see that Nick enjoyed it as well. I was worried that this would end up being a pizza night because he is not a big fan of peanut sauces or sauces in general on his chicken. However, to my pleasant surprise he not only tolerated but sincerely liked the sauce. I left out the red pepper flakes because I don’t really like any heat in my food. Though I did think the sauce still had a bit of a kick from the green curry paste (the store was out of red curry paste - but they smell the same to me - very strong and kind of gross).

Instead of tossing the leftover coconut milk I decided to make some rice with it. I combined 1 cup of light coconut milk, 1 cup of water, 1 cup of uncooked basmati rice, 1/4 tsp of grated fresh ginger, and a splash of lime juice. Just cook it up like you would normally cook rice, this took about 15 - 20 minutes. The rice was very creamy and it definitely retained flavor from the coconut milk. Though I could not taste the ginger or lime at all, so if I make this again, I would increase both.

Overall this was a very tasty dinner and I would absolutely make this chicken and the dipping sauce again.

This week’s Craving Ellie in My Belly is stuffed turkey burgers, chosen by the lovely Peggy of Pantry Revisited. These were good, not my favorite, but they were good. Lean ground turkey is stuffed with mozzarella cheese, roasted red peppers, and I added jalapenos as well. To stuff them, you create 8 small patties, flatten them, place your stuffing on top of one, and then top it with another patty and pinch the edges closed. This is pretty easy as long as you don’t over stuff the burgers.

I don’t really like to make turkey burgers because I am always worried that they will not be cooked through, and then I end up over cooking them and that’s gross. I also find that ground turkey gets so dry, so to combat that I used half ground turkey breast and half ground thigh meat. This gave the burger a nice flavor and helped it from totally drying out while my neurosis over cooked these burgers.

The recipe is pretty simple and Ellie barely calls for any seasoning of the meat. Just some salt and pepper once the patties are formed. I luv ya Ellie, but come one, this turkey needs some flavor. It just so happened that the night I made these, Nick came home with a package of Emeril products from FoodBuzz. So I added some of Emeril’s original essence into the meat as well as some Worcestershire sauce. I am not really into Emeril, but I enjoyed his essence, which is just salt, paprika, black pepper, granulated garlic, spices (hmmm?), and onion powder. We also topped our burgers with some of Emeril’s kicked up horseradish mustard. Thanks Emeril and FoodBuzz!

So, we have eaten these burgers twice. I made a full recipe of 4 burgers and froze 2 of them for another night. When I made the second set of burgers, I flattened them so that they would cook quicker and then I served them on some flat naan bread that I had in the house. I also topped each burger with a slice of Monterey Jack cheese. This was really good, and I liked the burgers better served this way versus a regular thick fat burger on a roll. (I like my big thick burgers to be made of fattening juicy red meat) I really enjoyed the bites with the roasted red pepper. I think if I make these again, I would chop up the red pepper into small pieces and mix it into the meat instead of stuffing them. We ate this with a simple salad and some baked potato chips. This was a great and super easy dinner. Thanks for a great pick Peggy!

Think about the best orange chicken you have ever had from a Chinese restaurant. Okay? This orange glazed chicken is ten times better than that. I promise you.

It is lighter, fresher, and sweeter in a less artificial way. I found this recipe via Nick at Macheesmo. I believe he based it on an America’s Test Kitchen recipe, which explains why this is unbelievably delicious.

Nick used chicken breasts for this, but I used bone in chicken thighs, and I served it with some Chinese stir fry cabbage. We all loved this dish and it has definitely earned a spot in the dinner rotation. You should make it. Soon.

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Jambalaya is not something that I would normally choose to make on my own. I generally don’t like food that is overly spicy and I definitely associate hot and spicy with creole food.

However, this week’s Craving Ellie in My Belly recipe Jambalaya with Shrimp and Ham was absolutely delicious. I honestly don’t know how close to an authentic jambalaya it truly is, but we both really enjoyed it and I will be making it again for sure.

This jambalaya was pretty simple to make. There is minimal chopping, just some onions, garlic, and red & green peppers. The spice blend of paprika (I used smoked because that’s all I had), oregano, thyme, and cayenne pepper give a lot of flavor, with a bay leaf or 2 added in for good measure. I doubled all the spices except the cayenne pepper since I read some Food Network reviews that said this was a little bland. This worked out well because the flavor was great and the amount of spice was perfect for me. (I could still taste the food but my nose was running a bit while eating it)

Instead of ham I used 2 chicken sausages that I had in the freezer and I used a pound of fresh tiger shrimp. To cook the sausage I poached it until fully cooked, rested it for about 10 minutes, then sliced it and put the slices under the broiler until they were brown and crispy. All that meat and seafood added a lot of chunky heartiness to the bowl. I also used fire roasted crushed tomatoes instead of diced because I like a smoother tomato texture in things like this.

My bowl was chock full of tasty sausage, shrimp, veggies, and perfectly cooked rice (one of my favorite foods). I love a healthy meal that is hearty like this. It is great to eat something that is good for you and be so satisfied afterwards. This was even great as lunch leftovers a few days later.

This yummy jambalaya was picked by Anonymous New York. Check out her blog and the other Craving Ellie ladies to see what they thought of this.

You can find Ellie Krieger’s recipe here or on page 236 of The Food You Crave: Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life.

I was not introduced to real barbecue until a few short years ago. I think the first true pork bbq sandwich I ever had was on my first trip the the Outer Banks in North Carolina. Truth be told, I was not that impressed. I think it was the ridonculously vinegary sauce. I love a sweet and tangy BBQ sauce, but whatever I had was not enough sweet and too much tang.

Anyway, last year, Nick decided that it would be a good idea to build a smoker. Needless to say, we had many months of great summer BBQ’s with a variety of smoked foods, including multiple pork butts. So this is what really ignited and cemented my love of smoked food and true barbecue.

Unfortunately, pork butt is not a lean cut of meat. In fact, part of the reason why the pulled pork is so good is because slow cooking it upwards of 10 hours allows all the fat to melt into the meat, making it extra tender and flavorful. So when I saw Ellie Krieger make some delicious looking pulled BBQ chicken sandwiches I knew I had give them a try. Could I satiate my cravings for good barbecue in a healthy way. Barbecue purists would say no, but I say yes.

Ellie uses a store bought rotisserie chicken and a quick homemade barbecue sauce. I added some homemade coleslaw to them and served them on some homemade rolls. This was unbelievably good. They can’t compete with a real pulled pork sandwich, but they are a great easy weeknight healthy alternative. I will be making these again and again.

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This week’s Craving Ellie in My Belly was Jerk Chicken with Cool Pineapple Salsa and was chosen by Jen of Notes From The Table.

I had actually been eye balling this recipe for a while but was hesitant to make it. I just wasn’t convinced that I would enjoy the flavors. So I was pleased to see that it was picked by Jen because it gave me the push I needed to try this out.

I made this for dinner on Monday night, and had to hustle a little bit because I had to get back to work for a meeting. I was planning on making some brown rice and beans with this. However, Nick ended up staying home from work that day and he made a delicious creamy asparagus soup that we ate as a first course instead. (As an aside, this was the best soup I have had in a long time, and it was healthy to boot. We will definitely make it again and post about it).

So all I did was cook up the chicken according to the recipe, except that I left out the hot pepper. I also copped out on the fruit salsa and just served some cut up pineapple. I was rushing and the pineapple was so sweet and juicy, I didn’t really think it needed anything else. I cut up a whole fresh pineapple, and there was so much leftover that I have been happily snacking on it all week.

The verdict: This was pretty tasty. I thought that all the flavors in the jerk sauce really melded well together. I was worried about how the all spice would translate in the sauce, but it was not overpowering at all. Nick enjoyed this more than I did, but it was definitely a win as far as I am concerned as well. I don’t think this will become a repeat for me, but I am glad that I made it.

Check out the Craving Ellie blogroll to see what everyone else thought.

Confused by the title? Me too. Let’s take this one step at a time. Homemade chicken stock and broth is one of most versatile ingredients one will come in contact with in day to day cooking. Not only is it great for a quick batch of soup when somebody has a wittle bewwy ache, but equally good for deglazing pans for sauces, for cooking veggies and rice, and tasty even on its own. Back to the title - why, pray-tell did I name this post “How to Make Homemade Chicken Stock Broth Recipe?” Mostly because I am an attention whore. See, I cleverly named the post so that people searching for “how to make” and “recipe” find a match for both chicken “stock” and “broth.” Pretty sneaky, no? You should see what I do when I flop a nut straight UTG (read: Texas Hold’em). But there is even a more compelling reason, you see…

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This was my first attempt at Coq au Vin, and quite honestly, it may have been the first time I have eaten Coq au Vin. I cannot recall ever ordering it in a restaurant. This was a recipe from Anthony Bourdain’s Les Halles Cookbook: Strategies, Recipes, and Techniques of Classic Bistro Cooking and it was April’s Recipes to Rival pick by Temperance of High on the Hog.

Here is my opinion of this dish: meh (I may or may not have stolen that word from Nick at Macheesmo).

Here is why I think I thought this dish was “meh":

1. I did not use bacon and I reduced the amount of butter.
2. I used frozen pearl onions instead of fresh, and I was unhappy with their final flavor. I was lazy.
3. I should have also added some stock to the cooking liquid, instead of only wine for a more diverse flavor.
4. I may have actually overcooked the chicken a little.
5. You know some days you start cooking and then you think to yourself “man, I just really don’t feel like cooking today". Well that is kind of how I felt when I was cooking this. And the process just dragged on and I just wanted to be done already. So I may have been a little inclined to not love this since I was kind of mad at it. (Yes, I was mad at my food. It is a growing trend for me).

Nick liked this, but I was underwhelmed. Granted I left out the bacon and reduced the amount of butter since this was a weeknight meal, so it could have been my fault. However, Nick and I often half joke that adding butter and bacon is like cheating in cooking, because a dish can’t really be bad if there is enough butter and/or bacon. We could all be “iron chefs” with a little bit of creativity and a ton of various pork and butter fats. So I was hoping that this dish would still perform well minus the extra fat. The taste was good, but it wasn’t unbelievable. Apparently, bacon is large part of the flavor profile of a Coq au Vin, so next time I would not forgo it.

Here is the original recipe if you would like to give it a try. I don’t know how this recipe compares to other Coq au Vin recipes because I was a bad food blogger and did not do any research. I would like to try some other recipes as I know that people don’t rave about Coq au Vin for nothing.

Here is my chicken marinating overnight in a mixture of wine, onion, carrot, celery, cloves, peppercorns and thyme.

The next day, after a searing, though you can’t really tell becasue the stain of the wine hides the yummy browning:

Coq au Vin, simmering away:

This picture is creeping me out a little for some reason. It looks like a chicken graveyard.

Chicken thigh, served with some tri colored pasta. I love these colored pastas.

This week’s Craving Ellie in my Belly was Turkey Meatballs with a Quick and Spicy Tomato Sauce. It was a wonderful choice by Amanda of Oddball Oven Mitt.

I have made these turkey meatballs many many times, they are a family favorite. In fact, I have even posted about them on this blog before, you can find the post here. I go into more detail about how I prepare them in my previous post. What you need to know about these meatballs is that they are delicious and full of flavor, and you cook them in the broiler so they get all crispy, almost like they are fried. (I said almost!) If you are expecting some full fat fried pork and beef meatballs, you will be disappointed. However, for a healthy alternative made with something as dry as ground turkey, these don’t disappoint.

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