super target. clearance. look for it. everywhere in there. seriously.

i ran the endcaps at super target (40th and whatever, south of pine lake), looking for any clearance items... found a pair of 1000-count pillowcases for ten down from forty... but a lot of the clearance deals are in the regular racks. represented here, a chefmate 7" santoku knife on clearance for just four bucks and change.
and! and. this is just fun. two jars of caviar, which might be more accurately represented by me as roe, or in other words, fish eggs. these would be fine til june 2008, but i think they will be used much sooner. these fish eggs were still in refrigeration, of course... look around in the cold section for deals, you know from their dry goods they don't like to carry a lot of dead weight.
the best knife? the best roe? no, no, no.
all three for twelve dollars? i would not pass that up.

leftover takeout taken over, not left out

i finally made it to the new location of the oven at 70th & pioneers, to have a dinner

with some friends. i had the chicken jalfrazie, leftovers pictured above. as you can see from the amount left in the styrofoam: not still an entree, yet not a side dish. so what to do with it... make it into soup! that's the smaller photo below left.

in a small soup pan, i heated up one can of coconut milk, one can of chicken broth, and a couple of dried chiles and let that simmer for half an hour to bring the spice out. then i added the leftover chicken and let stew over low heat till it smelled too good to wait any longer, about twenty minutes.
this is a pretty good formula to make most indian leftovers (especially those made with white chicken, which can dry out, the next day if not sooner) from one into soup for two. leave out any leftover rice and heat separately, and then add to soup before serving, as desired.

for the love of fresh fish, a new dish was made

i had planned on making a variation of a poke salad, using ahi tuna from

midwest seafood. but i got there a little late on saturday, and they were out! that's the risk of going to a place with the freshest fish in town... and not getting there until late afternoon. lesson learned.
i got a half-pound fillet of salmon, though, and adjusted the recipe from there to make an appetizer that same night.

i cubed the salmon, and tossed the raw fish with three sliced stalks of green onion, chunks of one cucumber and one avocado, a chopped one-handful of cherry tomatoes, and a tbsp of sesame seeds. for the dressing, i mixed the juice of one grapefruit with about as much toasted sesame oil and a few dashes of fish sauce, and then tossed this mixture with the previous sentence.
i trust the fish from midwest seafood, so i covered this bowl and let it sit at room temperature for half an hour and then served. it was delicious. the color of salmon works with the smell of grapefruit in a way i can't explain. next time i would leave the avocado out till just before serving, because it lost its texture into the dressing more than i would have liked. two lessons learned. i will make this again for sure.

what it might look like when you open a can of coconut milk

it's okay! it does separate in the can, however, and might look too oddly, weirdly coagulated to be true; so go ahead and smell it-- just to make yourself know. a nutty smell is fine, a sour smell is not.
once warmed, coconut milk re-integrates itself within its structure, smoothness, and sweet.

herbs for meat are the herbs for me

so, we all like to buy and use the fresh herbs, but i have a hard time with the cost to benefit ratio. unless i'm making something for a party, i usually don't need a whole container of one herb, and then i've got some wilting leaves in the fridge, waiting for me to use them in a way they deserve.

in comes the 'herbs for meat' mix that you'll find in the packaged herbs in the produce section, and i'm sold on it for the future. it's a blend of basil, oregano, rosemary and thyme. (if you're a vegan, think of it as the simon and garfunkel mix instead of the meat mix! apologies to all for that.)
the blend is perfect if you're roasting a bird... or perfect if you want a bit of one herb for one recipe, and then also have a recipe that needs a couple others... the one that's most challenging to find use for within a recipe, in my opinion, is the rosemary-- and guess what, it lasts the longest, so you've got some time to figure it into a plan. try it with poultry or potatoes.
standard price around town for a 4 oz pkg is between 2.50 and $3.

a potluck appetizer combined with non-storebought gift for hostess

when i first held the little cookie cutters in my hand, i wasn't sure what i would do with them. i have little patience for any baking, save the simplest.

and yet, i knew they'd be perfect someday.

and that day was christmas eve and christmas day, so there you go, christmas miracle again.

the cocktail loaves of bread are still 2 for $3 at hy-vee. you get about 48 slices (24 sandwiches) in each loaf.
i used the tiny cookie cutters to pierce a shape from the top layer of bread on each sandwich. i alternated the layering of filling to have more colors on the plate.
the vegans got vegan cream cheese, sliced english cucumbers, and slices of red bell pepper sauteed (and softened) in toasted sesame oil, on pumpernickel. the omnivores got sliced summer sausage and cheese on sourdough.

i baked the bread shapes left inside the cookie cutters, scattered onto a cookie sheet, at 300 for at least fifteen minutes. one batch got sprinkled with parmesan cheese and pepper, one stayed plain. if they're done before you are, just turn off the oven and let them sit in there. the low heat won't hurt them. put in a clear glass jar for best presentation.

gloria: not just a 70s tv character

happy holidays to you and yours, and to everyone else, too

baking elephant garlic

baked garlic is always fun, if messy. elephant garlic is easier to peel when baked, and the flavor is more subdued, which makes for a more diverse audience. as shown here, the skin will fall away easily.
preheat oven to 350. slice the top of the bulb off, enough to expose some of each clove. drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. bake loosely covered for an hour.
you can peel and mash the cloves and then serve as a spread, or use as an ingredient-- i used these in the smashed potatoes described below.

you say potato, i say bacon

if you can't use the peel in a smashed potato dish, you can still get the added texture by using chopped, cooked bacon. this is three yukon gold potatoes, cut in chunks and boiled in enough water to cover, until easily smashable. i drained and then stirred in the bacon, one bulb's worth of baked elephant garlic, a handful of grated cheese, and a couple tbsp each of olive oil and sour cream.

reminders about seafood marinades

citrus and other fruit marinades suggest selves to seafood. remember that the assertive chemical nature of citrus can't be left alone with the delicate structure of seafood for too long. one half-hour, at room-temperature, tops, before it goes on the grill or in the pan.

which would you rather eat? or serve?

these two pieces of shrimp were marinated and grilled exactly the same way. one deveined, one not. deveining shrimp: gross, tedious, totally worth it.
the shrimp from midwest seafood, once again, more than justified the trip and relative expense.

watch for smoked hocks or shanks on sale-- best stock ever

last week ideal had smoked ham shanks for 1.09#. they'll cut them to order, too.
these make a very tasty stock. here i've browned an onion, then added about $2 worth of shank and added water to almost cover. this picture is taken right before i was going to add more liquid and some greens.
i also recommend throwing a dried chili pepper into any broth to help round out the flavor.

mint, mango and jalapeno glaze

sorry i left that lamb chop post without any hints or ideas...
my main lamb experience is with gyros, but lamb chops at hy-vee last week for 3.99# (down from 9.99#) invited me to experiment. mint on sale at super saver, and two for a dollar mangos at sunmart, both hurried this concoction into existence.
i chopped one mango's flesh and stirred that into one chopped jalapeno, which is the picture here. then took a supermarket bunch of mint-- stripped the leaves off half that bunch, and threw the leaves into the blended mix, and stirred up the green and gold. used enough of this to glaze the lamb chops (enough to coat each side once before going on the grill), and then threw the rest into a pan on the stove-- with an already-browning onion and red bell pepper, both diced. tossed some leftover steamed rice into the pan and then covered, let stew for a few until due, and served on a plate with the chops, which were better than i ever expected.

lamb chops, spicy mint mango glaze

christmas brie, oh christmas brie

i've seen the bread at le quartier meant to be used as a bread bowl for soup, and thought it might work for brie. it does nicely.
preheat oven to 350. use a knife to cut a triangle into the bread, and make the hole in the bread deeper than the thickness of the cheese, and insert the cheese. bake for thirty minutes. serve with sliced bread or fruit to dip into the brie.
i used tubes of sundried tomato and pesto to decorate it to look like a christmas tree. if you try this, add the decorations after baking for prettier results.

fancy treats on a plate

leon's is advertising a few flavors of pate this week. i picked up a 6.5 oz pkg of paysan pate for 4.99. (they have foie gras, but it's $35 for the same amount.) here's a chunk of the pate with a cherry stilton cheese, some cashews, and a tangerine. also, the "demi parisian" loaves of french bread are on sale for 79c at leon's this week.

bacon-wrapped london broil for a dollar

hy-vee usually has one- or two- day sales in the monday journal star. this week they offered bacon- wrapped london broil for a dollar apiece! with asparagus on sale at ideal, this dinner you see here cost about a buck fifty a plate.

so, i can recommend some brands

for dry pasta, i always used to go with barilla. the price to quality ratio worked for me. now, though, a company called ronzoni has introduced a high fiber, calcium enriched pasta that looks, cooks, and curls just like regular pasta; so i've got a new favorite. it's sold in most local supermarkets now.
for bottled pasta sauce, i've never gone wrong with paul newman's. in all of my purchases, the brand has been reliable and reasonably affordable, across the board.

asparagus, walnut and gorgonzola rice

this all started with finding the thirty per cent off sticker on the cheese island at open harvest-- on the gorgonzola wedges. it's a milder bleu cheese than you might expect, easy to work in with other winter ingredients.
first, got a cup of brown rice going in the rice steamer. then browned an onion in olive oil in a large pan, until soft. then added one bunch asparagus-- on sale at ideal for 1.99/# this week-- broken into inch-long pieces. when this took on high color, added a few sliced crimini mushrooms and kept on low heat for just a couple of minutes... then stirred in the cooked rice, and immediately after, four ounces of crumbled gorgonzola, a splash of olive oil, several turns of the pepper grinder, and a cup of toasted walnuts. kept over low heat, stirring now and then, five minutes. then covered and turned off the heat. let sit about another five minutes and then it's ready to eat.
here it is with a smoked pork chop (also on sale at ideal this week, and quite tasty).

when i looked up toasting walnuts...

the top result on google was a unl website!
it's pretty good, lots of basic info, clear and concise, easy to navigate for the beginner:
http://lancaster.unl.edu/food/

tangerines so far this season

in the last week i've had tangerines from open harvest, hy-vee and ideal. i haven't found a stellar one to recommend yet, but i have high hopes for starlight on old cheney. so far, i can say that the clementines are tending more sugary than the satsumas, based on recent availability.
don't let the lack of perfect tangerines let you from enjoying the beginning of the season, though. when on a plate with salty foods like nuts and cheese, you can appreciate the complexity of the flavor even without crazy sweetness.

cheap kitchen gift idea at open harvest

open harvest has little two-packs of these posters for three dollars. the other poster is bigger, with a tractor & farm scene included. by the bulk spices.

one starch, one sauce, and two sets of dietary restrictions

first, there was the jar of spiced garlic puree for 99c on cetak's sale rack.

then open harvest had the fancy mixes of lundberg brown rices for 1.99/16 oz pkg. and kohl's had a lovely fifty dollar rice cooker for half price.

one group's requirement: kid-friendly vegan. the other: not so much on the vegetables, thanks.
i made a full pot of the brown rice. and used the jar of spiced garlic puree between these two:

1. brown an onion in the garlic puree. toss in a chopped head of kale and a half-cup of water. stir regularly. when kale is almost done, toss in two chopped tomatoes. keep over low heat for five minutes. stir in a can of beans, stir in 3/4 of the rice, cover and remove from heat. this will thicken as it cools. (smaller picture, obviously.)
2. brown a pound of stew meat from cetak's in a skillet with some of the garlic puree. then turn down the heat. saute covered over low heat for at least an hour (test for tenderness as much as doneness), stir every now and then. meanwhile, use an egg slicer on several portobello mushrooms and toss those in near the end of the meat's tour of duty. when the mushrooms are almost done, stir in the remaining rice, cover, and remove from heat.

serve either whenever. both warm up well.

shopping wisely at ideal and leon's

both ideal and leon's are small, locally- owned grocery stores-- with great selections of food, and reputations for being spendy. if you go about it correctly, though, you can get a lot from your dollar at each one. i am a big fan of both stores.
ideal's sale cycle runs monday thru saturday (they're closed sundays). the ad is in the 'neighborhood extra' in the sunday journal-star.
the ad for leon's is in the tuesday journal-star. their sale cycle is tuesday thru monday.
they both have good sales. if you stick to what's in the ads, and don't buy stuff on a whim-- just file the info about what enticing, expensive glories they have available away for future use-- you can walk away with bargains.
this week at ideal: ghirardelli baking chips 2.89/pkg. lindt chocolate bars 2/$3. bartlett pears 59/#. mascarpone cheese 2.69/8 oz. tub. vitamin water 99/ea.
this week at leon's: lemons 2/$1. tiramisu mascarpone cheese 2.99. and nabisco famous chocolate wafers! okay, these are 4.49 a package, but if you google recipes using these cookies, most of the returns will be about how they're impossible to find. i haven't seen them in over ten years. among other things, these make the best chocolate crumb crust ever.

and, speaking of leon's market....

it's always salad days in there.
even if you're just stopping into leon's for one item, you must swing through the produce department. they almost always have close-dated bagged salad mixes marked down to 99 cents. they must store their produce correctly, because these bags always look pretty good... if you're going to eat them in the next day or two.

soup and open faced sandwiches

A loaf of bread from le quartier is perfect for this. and they'll slice it for you if you buy it at their bakery. and brie is on sale all over town.

first, i preheated the oven to 350. then laid slices of olive bread into a cookie sheet. sliced up two bosc pears and put a piece of fruit onto each piece of bread, and a slim wedge of brie on top of that.
bake till the brie starts to melt. serve as an appetizer, or with a soup.

i warmed up some butternut squash soup while this baked, and had the toasts on the side. it made the soup, which is always satsifying, not quite so boring.

introducing: the amaretto gameday

a bottle of amaretto on clearance at cvs inspired this concoction.
for each cup of black tea you steep (and steep it a bit longer than usual), add a quarter cup of apricot nectar and a dash of amaretto to the teapot.
picked up the apricot nectar on clearance at open harvest.
since there's an ice storm today, served this warm with a dried fruit garnish. in the summer, serve iced with fresh citrus garnish.

double agent: blooming green tea pot

blooming green tea is $2 apiece at bad robot. i found a clear glass double boiler to work well in place of a clear glass teapot designed expressly for the brewing and viewing of the tea. don't think you need to buy a new teapot just to enjoy this popular new variety.

boil the water in the smaller pan of the double boiler. (the bigger lip on the large pan will make it easier to pour into cups later.) place the tea blossoms-- which aren't real flowers, but are still quite lovely sewn together-- in the large pan. once the water reaches a boil, turn off heat. when it stops rolling, pour over the tea. and citrus or ginger if you wish. cover with the same lid. after five or ten minutes (you should really judge this for yourself!) pour the tea, using the lid as a strainer if needed.

for the occasional milk drinker

a couple of different companies are producing aseptic packages of cow's organic milk. it's not a bad idea to keep a couple in the kitchen for emergencies. because of the packaging technique, this one i just bought is good till april!

more cocktail (ducktail?) sandwiches

those loaves of cocktail bread are long! and to think i bought two.
this is more of the same pumpernickel from rubschlager, which has a nice bite to it, and keeps itself together amazingly well for such a thin, and oddly tiny, slice of bread.
i bought knott's berry farm jalapeno jelly for this, and while it is an amazing color, it was not remotely spicy enough to stand up to the other flavors.

take whatever serving platter you're using and cover it with slices of the bread, so you know how much to chop up in the way of toppings. spread a light layer of hot! pepper jelly on each slice.
top with a 1/8 inch slice of smoked duck. (cetak's has them right now and they're pretty good, but 13.77#. pieces averaged around twenty bucks. i used about a third of one here, froze a third, and will use the other third this week.) (the circumference of the smoked duck at cetak's may have inspired my entire foray into cocktail sandwiches.)
top each with however much chevre there is to go around (as to use a whole tube of the fresh goat cheese). cetak's has the standard little tubes for 4.99.
very thinly slice one or two stalks of celery, and arrange in whatever pattern on top of the cheese. it doesn't take much pressure for them to stay put.
then one more dollop of hot! pepper jelly on top.

these were gone quickly, but i can imagine this is not a fragile traveler, and could be assembled hours ahead of time--and stay that way through to their destination.

smiley faces, even for some crazy vegan kids. and their offspring.

again, more popular with the adults than the kids, but i was one of those adults.
i finally got to use one of those loaves of cocktail bread from a chicago company called rubschlager, which happened to be on sale at hy-vee this week... and i chose the pumpernickel for this snack.
take your largest cookie sheet and layer the bottom with pieces of untoasted cocktail bread. spread each one lightly with hummus-- this is just to get the cucumber to stick, so use a light touch.
you need one cucumber (cut into at least as many coins as the number of pieces of cocktail bread). cut this up now, and toss into a bowl of salted water (to dry the cucumber a little) while you cut up two sticks of celery. one stick as the traditional c-shape. the other stick sliced from top to bottom before using the same slice as on the first stick, producing two eyebrows for every smile... again, you need at least as many as it takes to top each slice of bread. decide thickness of slice accordingly.
drain cucumber, affix coin to hummus-spread bread. add another thin layer of hummus atop the cucumber. use two small chunks and one c-shape of celery to make a smiley face on each bread-and-cucumber slice.

new york: not just a reality tv character

new yorks on sale at cetak's on mondays. anyway. put some peeled parsnips, 2 tbsp butter and 1/2 can of broth into the oven at 375 for thirty minutes. meanwhile, toasted some pecans in a skillet over medium heat. and as soon as those popped enough to get me nervous, i added one julienned onion and the rest of the broth-- and once that sizzled, i threw in one chopped gold bell pepper. put that over low heat and mixed with the parsnips (now out of the oven!) and covered.
grilled the meat over medium heat till medium rare, with the asparagus on the same grill at the last turn.

non-ad sale of the weekend

two good sales on convenience meat food at 70th & pioneers hy-vee. they have shrimp appetizers from royal asia marked down from ten dollars to two... these must have moved not at all, because the candied walnuts alone (in the box i bought) were a steal at two bucks.
also crazy cheap at that location: sandwich-style bacon. more canadian than strip in format, must not have made an impression on their regular shoppers; but for three dollars a pound you can close your eyes and pretend it's whatever shape of your bacon dreams.

kid-friendly vegan potluck salad

(and by kid-friendly, i mean kids there will like at least a couple of the ingredients, and their parents will still eat the salad as is.)

first, make the dressing: open a can of mandarin oranges. reserve oranges, and drain the syrup into a small bowl. to the syrup, add an equal part of olive oil and a half part of tamari, and one tbsp small flake coconut. mix and set aside.

take one bag cleaned baby spinach and empty into large bowl. add three ribboned carrots. add dressing and toss.

on top of tossed salad, arrange drained mandarin oranges in a ring, and throw a handful of roasted soynuts in the middle of that. if you mix the oranges or nuts into the salad now, they'll sink to the bottom of the bowl by the time you get to the potluck... so toss it all together when you get there.

pumpkin marshmallow bread pudding

i couldn't find a recipe using canned pumpkin and marshmallows in a bread pudding... much less using breads like sourdough and pumpernickel, which i thought would stand up pleasantly to the sweetness of the dessert... so i put this recipe together from several others, with my own additions.

preheat oven to 350.
mix together two cups of milk and a third of a can of canned pumpkin. set aside.
chop 5-6 pieces of bread into cubes. toss these, and one cup of small marshmallows, into the pumpkin milk and stir till covered evenly. let this soak together while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

in another bowl, mix three eggs together. add a tbsp of maple syrup, a tsp of nutmeg (and whatever other related spices suggest themselves to you), and the rest of the can of pumpkin, and stir together.
pour this mixture over the soaking bread, stir to combine, and spoon into two loaf pans or similar. (there's just something funny about bread pudding in a loaf pan.)

bake for about thirty minutes, or until the batter sets-- if you use glass pans, you'll see it pulling away from the sides in places. serve warm, with whipped cream.

jalapeno and cheese cornbread muffins

i picked up some bob's red mill corn bread mix. the recipe on the back of the package is pretty simple to follow: mix together the wet ingredients (1 egg, 1/2 cup oil, 1 1/4 cup water) and add that mixture to 2 1/2 cups mix, stir only to combine. makes 12 muffins. 400 degrees, 15 minutes.

i decreased the oil slightly, and after the wet and dry ingredients were combined, i gently and briefly stirred in one diced jalapeno and 1/4 cup shredded colby jack cheese. these are tasty but very hot! good with cream cheese.

if you don't believe me, try it

let's say you're getting yourself ready for dinner while you're getting the dinner ready. if your evening includes both putting in contact lenses, and chopping up a jalapeno... fingers should touch contacts first!

broccoli balsamic with hazelnuts

bags of julienned broccoli stalks are in most of the bigger produce sections in town, labeled broccoli slaw. just because it's marketed as cole slaw doesn't mean you need to use it as such. this is just one idea for a quick side dish.
(it's the season for cheaper whole nuts in the produce section, too. have fun [carefully!] cracking the nutshells by giving each one a quick whack of a hammer while still in the plastic bag. as long you don't really smash them hard, the nutmeats are easy to remove from the shells. )

chop and toast a couple dozen hazelnuts in a skillet that has a lid...but don't use the lid yet. add a tablespoon of balsamic salad dressing and about as much water, and then add a bag of broccoli stalks. keep over low heat five minutes, stir occasionally. then add more water and cover to steam another five minutes.

i put some chunks of sheep's milk cheese on the top after taking this off the heat, and re-cover for a couple minutes to soften but not completely melt the cheese.

...and, speaking of popcorn...

i'm all for making anything at home... unless, of course, you can buy it cheaper and easier than you can make it yourself. case in point: colby ridge's popcorn of unnamed flavor that is mostly plain popcorn with about 10% each of cheese and caramel popcorn tossed in.
salty! sweet! delicious.
available at their locations throughout the city, check for specials at the one near you.

honey baked ham and greens soup

the ham bone i got from honey baked ham was too big for even my biggest stock pot! there was still tons of meat on it, though, which i carved off and used to make a fantastic soup.
first i caramelized one julienned onion in a little olive oil. then i added two cans of chicken stock (on sale all over town this week) and the same amount of water, one whole dried chili pepper, and the ham from the hambone. i let this bubble away till i couldn't stand it any longer, about an hour. then i added one bunch of chopped kale, stirred, and covered. after ten minutes-- in other words, before the kale was overdone-- i removed the pan from the burner.

thrift shopping for the kitchen

i got these at saint louise's thrift store at 22nd and o street, the best thrift store in town. two hard plastic containers with a pleasing design, perfect for holding implements on the counter and freeing up some drawer space.

carrot cucumber and sesame salad

this is a good clean taste on a plate with either a complicated protein flavor, like game, or a delicate one such as whitefish.
first peel, quarter and slice one cucumber; throw that into a bowl with two ribboned carrots and a tablespoon of sesame seeds. in another bowl, mix together white wine vinegar and toasted sesame oil (in a ratio to your taste-- i go for equal parts myself). toss the dressing with the vegetables and chill while cooking the meat and grains.

easy spicy-sweet-hot marinade

green onions are a buck for three bunches at hy-vee this week. which inspired this marinade for chicken last night.
one cup pineapple juice, 1/4 cup tamari, 1/4 cup toasted sesame oil. one chopped bunch of green onions, an inch of grated ginger, and three dried chiles. mix. marinate.
this would work well with some fish, too.

caramelizing onions, just for the record

this is the first step in about half the things i make, so i thought i'd go over it once. i know people who've thought 'caramelizing onions' meant adding sugar, but that's not the case. it just means heating the onions over low heat till translucent. the process brings out the sugar within the onion, taking away the bitterness (and resultant onion breath). if you take the onions all the way to browned--keep stirring!--you'll be surprised how sweet an onion can be. smells great, too.

making ribbons out of carrot sticks

carrots have a great sweet flavor. they're super cheap and they pop with color. i've never been a big fan of the texture, however... too woody when raw in a salad, whether in chunks or julienned. too mushy when cooked, as in a soup.
i solved my texture problem with this technique, and this is how i always prepare carrots now.
after peeling off the outer layer, which i discard, i just keep on peeling. when i get to the core of the carrot, when it gets difficult to peel, i just eat it right there as a snack.
tossed into a salad raw, or cooked into a warm dish, or even as a layer in a sandwich--it works!

snack bars with an autumn flavor

having recently over- estimated someone's love of cereal, and wanting to take a snack to a friend's art opening, i put this together last night. gooey!
i was starting out with a big bag of honey nut whole grain cereal called scooters. the other ingredients followed that flavor lead. both the chips and the marshmallows were on sale at hy-vee.

first, melted a half a stick of butter over low heat. when liquid, added a bag of marshmallows, a cup of butterscotch chips, and a teaspoon of cinnamon. stirred constantly till all that melted, then immediately added six cups of cereal and stirred it to coat. then transferred the sticky mess as fast as i could into a pan, and spread it out as well as i could before it got solid. they disappeared quickly.