Grilled Teriyaki Chicken and Vegetables with Brown Rice

For most people, the term "grill master" conjures up images of a 40 year old man standing over a flaming grill, whipping out perfectly grilled steaks. This is the image you see on TV and in movies, and I suppose this is probably fairly accurate for most households.

But not at our house.

In our home, grilling falls under the broad category of "cooking" and almost all things cooking fall under the category of "Tanya's responsibilities". Not that I mind. I enjoy grilling and like playing with fire as much as your average man.

More practically, though, I view the barbeque as a secondary cooking appliance, the equivalent of my kitchen stove and oven for the summer months. It is sweet relief on a sweltering day (you know, we do have 5 or 6 of those every year) to have a reliable means of cooking that doesn't heat up the house and results in food that tastes as good, and frequently even better, than your standard kitchen fare.

For the last 8 years I barbequed on an old gas barbeque we found at an estate sale. It worked. Kind of. I mean, it did alright as long as you like most everything well charred. We ate a lot of unintentional "Cajun style" meals. This spring as I manually lit the barbeque, struggled to correctly place the always-slipping-and-falling grill grate, attempted to rescue flaming chicken and then ate the resulting charred-but-not-done-in-the-middle chicken, I informed my husband that I was finished. As much as I loved to barbeque, I couldn't handle it anymore. No meal is worth the frustratingly near tears experience this barbeque evoked in me.

Then he reminded me of my upcoming birthday. He asked if I would like a gas barbeque for my birthday. Would I ever!

The search for the right gas barbeque began. Daniel and I are the type to thoroughly research what we buy. We are very frugal and like to get a good deal, but we also understand that it is sometimes worth making an investment for a higher quality product. We looked at gas barbeques in the stores, talked to salesmen, and then went home and read reviews online. We repeated that process again. In the end, we decided on a Weber. It seems like you just can't go wrong with a Weber gas barbeque. I mean, how many items have a full 5 stars on Amazon.com?

On Sunday, we bought one, brought it home and put it together. Last night I made hamburgers and grilled corn on the cob. I told Daniel that I still needed to figure out how this grill works. His response? "So, what are you grilling tomorrow night?"

I hadn't thought about it. I figured it might finally be time to get creative grilling.

Here is what I came up with:

Grilled Teriyaki Chicken and Vegetables with Brown Rice

I collected my ingredients: red onion, bell peppers, pineapple, and chicken marinating in Teriyaki sauce.

I preheated my nice new, fancy schmancy grill.

 Like how I improvised by using my vegetable steamer with the red onions?

Inside, I mixed some Teriyaki sauce (this is currently my favorite brand), some chicken broth and a little cornstarch together.

 

While the chicken and veggies cooked, I thickened this sauce to add to the deliciously finished meal.

Here are the results still on the grill:

 Here are the results chopped up and mixed together in a bowl:

And best of all, here is the finished product on my plate ready to be devoured:

And yes, it was delicious. Absolutely delicious.

Homemade Pizza

I love pizza. But then again, who doesn't love pizza? I know there will be some deranged person out there who probably doesn't love pizza. If you don't love pizza, you must have some serious taste bud issues. Maybe hypogeusia or dysgeusia? I say, see a doctor.

As far back as I can remember, pizza has always been a treat. As a kid my favorite was kind was Canadian Bacon and Pineapple. There is just something delicious about the combination of sweet, salty, spicy and cheesy. It blends the best of all worlds into one tasty pizza!

When my husband and I were first married, we regularly had pizza delivered. It was quick, easy and, well, delicious. In a pinch, a frozen pizza curbed the craving. As we plunged into the uncharted waters of "single income family with kids", we cut back on our expenses. Sadly, eating out (which included delivery in) was almost completely eliminated.

Why not just stick with frozen pizzas at this point, you say? At first glance, that seems like a simple solution. The problem is that in my first pregnancy I had some cravings (Mexican food with all the fixings) and only a few aversions. The primary culprit: frozen pizza. There was just something about the smell of frozen pizza cooking that completely turned my stomach. I don't know what "they" put in frozen pizza, but I still have some residual aversion to this day. (I hear you, maybe I am the one who should be seeing a doctor.)

Around this time I also began to explore the possibility of making pizza at home. I started out using Trader Joe's Pizza Dough. I stored it in my freezer and defrosted it when the pizza urge hit. Next I found pizza dough at the San Francisco Street Bakery. Sometimes, though, their dough was sold mostly frozen and took too long to defrost for dinner. Soon I realized that it probably wouldn't take much longer than the defrost time to actually make the dough myself.

After trying out several pizza dough recipes, I finally settled on the one in my Betty Crocker's Cookbook. One thing I really like about this recipe is that the dough only needs to rest/rise for 30 minutes! It is still kind of time consuming, but totally worth the effort.

Homemade Pizza

Mix 1 cup of flour (I used fresh ground hard white wheat), 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon sea salt and 2 1/2 teaspoons yeast (or 1 package) in a large bowl. I prefer that my large bowl be connected to my Kitchenaid mixer. Add 3 tablespoons oil and 1 cup very warm water. Beat on medium speed for 3 minutes. Or do like I do and beat it on medium speed for what seems like a reasonable amount of time. This method has worked for me so far.

Stir in enough remaining flour until the dough is soft and leaves the sides of the bowl. I never really measure, but the recipe call for 1 1/2 to 2 cups more.

This looked like the dough was sufficiently leaving the sides of the bowl, so this is where I stopped.

Place dough on a lightly floured surface. Knead 5 to 8 minutes or until dough is smooth and springy.

I like to use my kitchen table to knead. The height just works better for me. (I know, I am just asking for short jokes right about now.) Seriously, it is much easier and a lot less work to knead on the lower surface.

Cover the beautiful dough ball loosely with plastic wrap. I like to put my dough in a bowl greased with olive oil.

I may have gotten a little carried away with the olive oil this time. It looked like my dough was practically floating in the olive oil. I just figure, olive oil is good for you, right? It adds great flavor, right? And you know what else? My dough didn't stick to my bowl.

Set your timer for 30 minutes. While the dough is resting and rising, start the pizza sauce. Chop up some onion. I think I used a whole medium sized onion. In my opinion, it is hard to use too much onion. (Want to chop without crying? Check out this post.) Start that sauteing in some olive oil. Add in a generous amount of fresh garlic. I just had to show you this single huge clove from my garden. Amazing, isn't it?

After the onion and garlic is sauteed to soft perfection, add in a can of tomato sauce. For those of you who want specifics, this can was 15 oz. Stir in the tomato sauce.

Dump in your spices. I say dump because that is what I really do. I never measure spices. Never.

In the bottom right of the picture is my dumping of basil. The other large pile is a dumping of oregano. Bottom left is a small pile of crushed red chili peppers, which add a slight spiciness and make it truly taste like pizza sauce. Near the top is some fresh ground black pepper. I know it would have been twice as delicious if I would have used fresh spices, but I don't always have them on hand.

Stir the sauce. Let this concoction of yumminess simmer. The longer it simmers the more delicious it will be.

When the timer (which you set for 30 minutes) beeps, preheat the oven to 425°.
Grab your bowl o' dough and smile, enjoying how much the dough has risen in just 30 minutes.

Dump the dough onto your 15" pizza stone. I use my rolling pin and roll my pizza out the size of the pizza stone. Honestly, I am too scared of dropping the pizza dough to attempt throwing it. This makes a semi-thick crust pizza. (The recipe actually says to use it for 2 - 12" pizzas.)

Pop the pizza dough into the preheated oven. Partially bake for 7-8 minutes or until crust just begins to brown.

While the crust is baking, assemble your toppings. We enjoy many different toppings, but this time I went super simple. I just used pepperoni.

Applegate Farms makes my current favorite pepperoni. I love that it doesn't have any bad stuff (nitrates, nitrites, hormones, MSG, etc.) And it tastes delicious!!!

These pepperonis are very large, so I cut them into quarters.

Grate a nice big pile of cheese. Or ask your husband to grate it for you, like I did. Didn't he do a great job?


My favorite combination of cheeses is Mozzarella, Cheddar and Parmesan. There is just something about adding the Parmesan that makes the pizza so yummy.

Grab your partially cooked pizza crust from the oven. I like to set mine on a silicone trivet. It protects the counter and keeps the pizza stone from sliding.

Pull your pot of finished pizza sauce from the stove. (If you want pre-made pizza sauce, Trader Joe's makes some great sauce.)

Slather your crust with this sauce. This is either enough sauce for a very generous saucing on this pizza or enough to use half now and freeze the other half for when the next homemade pizza craving hits.

Add a sprinkling of cheese, a thick layer of pepperoni (or your toppings of choice) and a final nice thick layer of cheese.

Bake your pizza for another 10 or so minutes, or until the cheese is melted and sufficiently bubbly.

Now for the best part: eat. I enjoy watching my kids devour their dinner, making plenty of satisfied gulping and lip smacking noises. Yes, that is the real reason why I love making homemade pizza.

Crispy Crashed Potatoes

One of the perks of attending Mom's Group at church is that sometimes you really feel like you hit the jackpot. A few weeks ago, that is exactly how I felt. A local chef came and did a cooking presentation. I felt like I had a front seat, exclusive session with one of those fabulous television cooking personalities. Deborah White (who taught cooking classes down at the Bayview School of Cooking) came and shared 4 amazing recipes with our group.

Although all 4 were fabulous, this recipe was certainly the easiest and my first one to try. I would say that it is definitely a keeper! My whole family loved Crispy Crashed Potatoes. They were absolutely delicious! The only thing I think I might do differently next time is to add some fresh chopped rosemary. I think rosemary and potatoes were just made to go together.

Ingredients:

16 to 20 small red or Yukon gold potatoes (1 1/2 to 2 inch diameter) or about 12 medium sized potatoes, washed. (I only had gargantuan potatoes on hand, so I used about 5 potatoes.)
Kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1. Place potatoes in large pot. Cover with at least 1 inch of water. Add 2 Tbsp. of salt. (Or do like I do and just dump salt until it feels like the water is thoroughly salted.)

2. Bring the water to a boil over high heat, reduce to a simmer and cook the potatoes until they are completely tender. Make sure they are cooked through, but don't overcook. The total cooking time is around 30-35 minutes.

3. While potatoes are cooking, set up a dish towel folded in half and laying flat on the counter. When the potatoes are done, remove with a slotted spoon and lay on the dish towel to dry.

4. Meanwhile, cover a large rimmed sheet pan (I used my jelly roll pan) with foil. Drizzle the foil with 1/4 cup or so of extra virgin olive oil.

5. Place a potato on the oiled pan.

6. Fold another dish towel into quarters. Using the dish towel to cover your hand, gently press down on the potatoes with the palm of your hand to flatten it to a thickness of about 1/2 inch. (At this point you can let the potatoes come to room temperature, cover and refrigerate for up to 8 hours.)

7. When ready to cook, preheat oven to 450°.

8. Drizzle smashed/crashed potatoes with olive oil, a generous amount of kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.

9. Place in preheated oven and cook approximately 30-40 minutes or until they are crispy and deep brown in color. Serve immediately.

10. Smile as your children happily eat.





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White Chicken Chili

Tonight, when my husband asked what was for dinner, I answered "White chicken chili." His response: "Ohhhhh, yum!" Yes, this recipe result in some seriously mouth-wateringly delicious chili. In fact, both of my kids gobbled it up. I wish you could see and hear my almost 5 year old saying "mmmm" while shoveling mouthfuls of chili.

How do you make this fabulous chili? Well, I will tell you. First, I will explain how I make it, then I will share the original recipe (not sure the origin of the recipe...).

First, I chopped a whole medium sized onion with my handy-dandy, much loved Food Chopper. As that began to saute in some olive oil, I chopped up a fairly large garden variety garlic clove with the same food chopper. I threw that garlic in as well and continued to saute the mixture until it was soft.

Next, I dumped in some homemade chicken broth (3 or so cups), 5 handfuls of frozen corn, and the rest of the chicken meat from a crockpot cooked chicken. Time for adding some flavor. I added 2 - 4 oz. cans of roasted green chili peppers, a generous sprinkling of ground cumin, some salt, 2 Tbsp of lime juice, and lemon pepper seasoning 1 Tbsp of lemon juice plus some fresh ground pepper.

After that came to a boil, I added some beans that I had soaked overnight and then cooked all day 3 - 15 oz. cans of great northern beans, drained. I cooked the beans until heated through it was boiling again.

Time to scoop up some chili and enjoy it! Now, to be honest, the best way to enjoy this chili is with a liberal amount of pepperjack cheese. Our family enjoys scooping it up with either some tortilla chips, bread or both, as was the case tonight.

What? You say you aren't a "dump cook"? Well, for those of you who prefer a more exact recipe, here is the original recipe:

White Chili

3 cups water (chicken broth just tastes better, though)
1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. lemon pepper

Combine in pot. Cook chicken. Cut up chicken and return to pot.

1 garlic clove, minced
1 cup chopped onion

Saute in small amount of vegetable oil. Add to chicken.

Add:
2 - 8 oz. frozen corn (or cans, drained)
8 oz. diced green chilies
1 tsp. ground cumin
2 Tbsp. lime juice

Bring to boil.

Add 2 - 15 oz. cans great northern beans, drained. Heat through.

Sourdough Crackers

 Since I started taking the sourdough course at GNOWFGLINS, I have attempted several different sourdough recipes. One of our favorites so far is crackers.

I had been in such a cracker conundrum. Years ago I bought crackers like Wheat Thins, Triscuits, Ritz, Saltines, Cheez-its and Goldfish. Since we have turned to more natural and organic foods, we have not found a decent replacement for these crackers. There are some that are alright, but they sure are expensive! As a result, we pretty much just didn't have crackers in our house. The only crunchy snack type food we had was Kettle Chips.

Until now.

These crackers are wonderful. They are perfectly crunchy and salty. What more could you ask for in a cracker? The recipe is very versatile as well. Whatever flavor you would like, you can make!

Sourdough Crackers
(Original recipe from GNOWFGLINS e-course, labeled as "Erin's Crackers")

1 cup sourdough starter
1/3 cup melted butter
1 - 2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 1/2 tsp. salt, divided

1. Combine 1 cup of sourdough starter and melted (but not hot) butter. Stir in 1 cup of flour (I used white whole wheat). Add in more flour 1/4 cup at a time until you have a stiff dough. Knead in flour until the dough is pretty stiff and no longer sticky. (I go by how the dough feels and not the amount of flour added.

2. Cover cracker dough in bowl and let sit for at least 8 hours to sour. (I generally make the dough sometime in the morning and then make the crackers in the evening. So mine sits about 12 hours.)

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3. Break dough in half. This ball in my hand is about half.

4. Smash the dough open on a clean counter or table. Sprinkle 1/4 tsp. baking soda and 1/4 tsp. salt on dough. (This is where you can get creative as well. I have added chopped rosemary, a cheese and spice blend, and a spicy cheese blend.) Knead in your ingredients to combine.

5. Cut parchment paper to the size of your largest cookie sheet. (If you don't have a very large cookie sheet, try breaking the dough in half again.) Place dough on parchment paper. Squish it down a little bit to make it easier to roll out. Place plastic wrap over dough. (The dough is pretty sticky and WILL stick to a rolling pin!) Roll out until paper thin.

6. Sprinkle about 1/2 to 1 tsp. salt evenly over the top. I use my hands to spread it around a bit and to make sure it all has salt. No one likes a cracker that isn't salty! Use rolling pin to gently push salt down into the cracker.

7. Use a pizza cutter to cut into cracker sized rows.

8. Slide a cookie sheet under the parchment paper. Place in preheated oven. Cook for about 15 minutes. (While this batch is cooking, repeat steps 4-7 with the second half of your dough.)

9.Pull crackers out of the oven. Check the edges as the thin edges cook fastest. Remove the edges and place on a cooling rack.

10. Cook crackers until lightly browned and crispy. Cool on cooling rack.

11. Enjoy!!!

Chunky Applesauce

Last week I received a phone call asking if I would like a box of apples. Well, what could I say? Of course I would like a box of apples! We go through so many apples in our house; we could handle a box of apples, right?

This box was not your standard box of apples. I have seen boxes of apples at the farmers market, but this box was so large it was in a league all of its own. Oh my. I don't have room to store that many apples! What to do with all the apples?

In the end, I decided it must be time to make applesauce. I don't have any fancy applesauce making equipment. I have a vegetable peeler, a knife and stock pots. What else do you need?

I set to work peeling, coring and slicing apples. Fuji, Pink Lady, Golden Delicious and Red Delicious flew threw my hands. After a generous dumping of cinnamon and some mashing with my potato masher, I called it good. It was still a little chunky, but that just adds texture. Yes, texture, that is what we will call it.

After cooking, I proceeded to can the applesauce. It was amazing how the applesauce seemed to grow as I ladled it into pint sized jars. My water-bath canner could handle 7 pints per batch. I ended up doing 3 batches, resulting in 19 jars of applesauce. I think we will be set for quite some time.

Now what to do with the remaining 5 Granny Smith apples. I think it is time for an apple crisp...

Homemade Ricecakes

What comes to mind when you hear the word "ricecakes"? Probably those bland, puffed rice things people eat when they are trying to lose weight and still feel like they are eating something. If you were to ask my kids what comes to mind when they hear the word "ricecakes" it would be a different story altogether.You see, in our family, a "ricecake" is a breakfast food, kind of like a pancake.

What? You mean you have never heard of these before? There is probably good reason for that. It would have to do with the fact that you were not raised in the same house I was. (Sorry.) This is a family recipe. In fact, my mom ate it growing up as well.

I believe my grandma came up with ricecakes when she had 5 little kids and a very small budget. White rice was cheap and this was just another way she could use it in a meal.

In our home, we eat brown rice and so I make brown ricecakes. I think I have made some modifications to the way both my grandma and my mom made them. This recipe is a great way to serve my kids whole grains and protein. And my girls LOVE them!

Today, I will be sharing with you my version of ricecakes. Keep in mind that this is one of those "dump" recipes. It is based more on how the ricecake batter looks than the exact amount of ingredients. I will try to give fairly specific measurements and instructions for those of you who didn't have the opportunity to learn this alongside your mother as I did.

Ricecakes

3 cups cooked brown rice
3 eggs
1-2 Tbsp. oil (I generally use olive oil.)
1 Tbsp. sweetener (I used honey today, but have used agave and sugar in the past.)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup milk

1. Preheat griddle. I have a gas stove and preheat my griddle on medium heat.



2. Add rice to a bowl. Break up rice if it is stuck together.





 
3. Add 3 eggs. Mix together. The consistency should not be runny, but the eggs should be able to easily coat all of the rice.



  4. Add remaining ingredients. I let my kids dump in as much cinnamon as their little hearts desire. I actually have no idea how much milk I normally add. This is not a very runny batter. It should still be fairly thick. If it is too runny, I have added a little ground flaxseed or flour before and that still turns out great.

5. Oil griddle. (I use butter on mine.)

6. Give the batter a quick stir; scoop 2 spoon fulls of batter per rice cake. (I just use my large regular flatware spoon for this.) Squish and flatten into a circular shape. It should be around 3/8" thick.



7. Allow to cook until the edges look cooked and the ricecake is thickening up. These take longer to cook than regular pancakes and will fall apart if you try to flip them too early. Flip ricecakes.




8. Allow to cook on second side. This side does not take very long, maybe one minute.

9. Remove from pan. Give the batter a quick stir and start more ricecakes cooking.

10. Serve with butter and real maple syrup. Makes about 9 - 4" wide ricecakes. (This morning I had to make more than this amount. My girls ate 4 each!)

Tortilla Soup

Nothing says soup weather like wind, rain and cold temperatures, which made today perfect. But there are so many soups from which to choose. Chicken noodle is always a favorite. I made both lentil soup and corn chowder not very long ago. What to make?

In this situation, I tend to fall back on my most reliable soup. Tortilla soup is much loved by my whole family. I know that when I make this soup, there will be no complaints, only requests for seconds and thirds. And, as you can see from this picture of my 4 year old, bowls will be cleaned!

I have discovered that most everyone loves this soup as well. It is always safe to serve to company, bring as a meal to a friend who has had a new baby, or bring to a potluck. The only problem might be that I won't bring home as much leftover soup as my family would like.

So here is my recipe, the way I make it. Feel free to experiment and modify according to your own likes. Enjoy!

Tortilla Soup

1 container Pacific Organic Chicken Broth
1 - 29 oz. can Hominy, drained (I used Juanita's - find it the Mexican section at the grocery store.)
1 - 4 oz. can Diced Roasted Green Chili Peppers
Spices to taste (I throw in chili powder, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder and oregano. Instead of spices you can throw in a can of enchilada sauce.)
1 chicken breast, cooked and cubed
1 quart sized jar of pinto beans (So maybe you don't can your own beans like I do; probably use 2 regular sized cans from the store. This is also really good with black beans.)
Several handfuls of frozen corn (I would guess 1-2 cups)


1. Add Chicken Broth, Hominy, Diced Green Chili Peppers and Spices to your soup pot. (This soup barely fit in my 4 quart pot.) Bring to boil then reduce heat and simmer 20-30 minutes, until Hominy softens.

2. Add chicken, Pinto beans and corn. (I have thrown in some cooked brown rice before as well.) Cook until heated through.

3. Dish up! We love this soup with cheese (cheddar or pepper jack) on top. Some people really like a good spoonful of sour cream too. Serve with tortilla chips either crunched up on top or used to scoop up the soup.