Candied Meyer Lemon Peel

6 lemons
1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup water

There are a few different ways to remove the lemon peel off of a lemon. I juiced my lemons first, and then used a really sharp filet knife to “skin” the lemon like you would skin a piece of fish. Alternatively, you can use a vegetable peeler to remove the peel from the lemons in long strips. Either way you want to remove as much of the pith (white stuff) as possible. You should be able to see the small holes though the white. Cut the peel lengthwise into 1/8 inch wide strips.

In a sauce pan combine 3/4 cup sugar and 3/4 cup water together. 

Dissolve sugar and bring to a boil.

Add the lemon peel strips. 

Reduce heat and let simmer for 15-20 minutes or until translucent. 

Place the remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a shallow dish. 

Remove the peel from the saucepan using tongs or a slotted spoon. 

Coat each one in sugar and shake off excess sugar. 

Place lemon peels on wax or parchment paper to fully dry (maybe overnight). 

Once dry, store in either a mason jar or a ziplock bag.

"If Life gives you Lemons... Make Lemonade"

Lemon tree in our backyard

If Life (Or your weekly organic delivery box, coupled with the lemon tree in the backyard) gives you lemons… make lemonade, and candied lemon peels!


When our organic box of fruits and vegetables showed up this week (www.farmfreshtoyou.com), our delivery contained about 15 Meyer Lemons. My first thought was “I didn’t realize that lemons were a winter fruit”, and my second thought was “What on earth am I going to do with 15 Meyer lemons?”

Meyer lemons are much sweeter than regular lemons, and their skins are edible with a little bit of sugar and boiling.

For the entire last week, the majority of the US was hit by crazy snow storms, blizzards, power outages, and hundreds of flights we canceled. From as far as I can tell, it sounded like some of the worst weather in years for the three-fourths of the country that it affected.  While the rest of the country was buying more firewood, bundling up, and shoveling themselves out of their homes… I was wearing shorts (for the first time this year) and making lemonade. Here in Northern California, we sat outside in the sun, and spent the entire weekend remarking how nice and warm it was. Saturday was in the high 70’s low 80’s, and due to the drastic change in weather that felt hot. (ok I’m rubbing  it in a little).

Like I said, for some reason I always think of lemons as more of a summer fruit (maybe because they are bright yellow and summery looking), and maybe because lemonade is one of the best hot weather drinks. Well, either way, if they are a winter fruit or a summer fruit – In the middle of winter (February) and in the middle of our summer like weather, we drank lemonade on the patio.

Winter/Summer Lemonade

10 Meyer Lemons juiced (about 2 cups)

2 cups of sugar

6 cups of water

Juice the lemons, strain pulp and seeds.

Save the peels (for candied lemons)

Add juice, water and sugar. Mix well until sugar is dissolved.

Serve over ice, with a lemon round to garnish. Enjoy!

Trex - Trail Mix meets Chex Mix with a Bite!

Killer Party Snack and Great Everyday Snack

We seem to be constantly on the go, between work, school, water polo practice/games, gym, lacrosse practice/games, family hikes, bike rides, jogs, homework, playing with the dogs, and everything in between… Snacks are a must. If I don’t snack, I’ll fall over (or even worst – I'll get the “Angry Hungrys”).

Here’s a recipe for quite possibly my family’s favorite snack. It’s Chex mix meets trail mix… So we call it Trex. It's great for parties (I'll be serving it at our Superbowl Party), and it will disappear from the pantry faster than any other store bought snack. It’s salty, savory, crunchy, and naturally sweet.

Don’t feel bad when the kids eat it by the handfuls, since it’s packed with protein from the nuts, and vitamins B6, B12, E, C, K, and A, from the dried cranberries and raisins.

Pack it in little baggies, for the perfect lunchtime snack (as long as the kids don’t try to sell it for cash)! Apparently it’s worth its weight in gold.


Trex recipe:

1/2 stick of butter (melted)
1/8 cup of Olive oil
1/8 cup of worcester sauce
1 tbs of seasoning salt
1 tbs of garlic salt
1 tsp of onion powder
½  tsp cayenne pepper (optional-
if you like a little spicy "Bite")

(Dry Ingredients)
2 cups of honey chex
3 cups of wheat chex
1 cup of rice chex
1 cups of corn chex
1 cup of dry roasted honey peanuts
1 can of mixed nuts
1 cup of raisins
½ cup dried cranberries

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
• In small microwave safe bowl, melt butter. Add olive oil, spices and worcestershire sauce to melted butter. Mix well.
• In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients -chex cereals, peanuts, nuts, raisins and cranberries. 
• Pour half the butter mixture over cereal, mix, and repeat with the other half of butter mixture.
• Mix until evenly coated.
• Line two baking sheets with tin foil (for easier clean up). Spread Trex mixture evenly onto both baking sheets.
• Cook for 10-15 minutes, rotate pans (top pan to bottom) and stir. Keep baking for 10-15 minutes  or until trex is slightly toasted.
• Let cool, serve, and watch it disappear.

Miso Glazed Steelhead

"Salmon" just SO much better!!

We are finally settled into the new house… and it’s so great to be having good friends over for dinner again. We had an impromptu dinner party over the weekend with our friend (who was on dad duty while his exhausted wife got some much deserved “me” time), our newly married friends (who I adore), super dad’s 2 year old son, and the boys. 

I love to try new recipes, and even more I love to find new foods to wow our guests. While shopping for our little get-together, I found some beautiful Steelhead at the store. Compared to the Salmon fillets right next to it, there were only very slight differences. The steelhead was richer in color, the fillets were only slightly thinner than the salmon, and due to the richer color the fat was slightly more visible. As it turns out, there is a major difference - the taste! It was so moist, perfectly flavored, and so delicious that I might not ever buy “regular” salmon ever again!

Steelhead is actually a trout, but unlike the landlocked rainbow trout, steelhead swim out into the ocean during their adulthood. After some further research it seems that the life of a steelhead and the life of a salmon are very similar. 

Both fish eat large diets of Krill, spawn in streams, adults live in the ocean, and return to the stream to spawn. The main difference between salmon and steelhead is that steelhead can spawn numerous times before dying, whereas salmon only spawn once in their lifetime. This last point actually makes the steelhead a better choice, if you’re concerned with sustainability or being more “green.” 

This might just be the best “salmon” you’ve ever eaten!

Menu:

~
Cracked dungeons crab, with homemade cocktail sauce.
Spicy Pickled Asparagus Spears
~~
Bok Choy with ham
Spiced Coconut Rice
Miso Glazed Steelhead
~~~
Dessert:
(I totally forgot to make one!)
We rarely eat dessert, and it just slipped my mind… oh well I don’t think anyone noticed ;)

Cracked Crab:

To clean and crack crab- remove the apron, remove the larger shell by lifting it from the back, wash out the body cavity, remove the gills, the remove legs and arms, split the body in half and remove the crab section by section, crack the legs with either a meat pounder or a nut cracker.

Cocktail Sauce
1 Cup of ketchup
1 tbs of worcester sauce
1 tbs lemon juice
2-3 tbs horseradish (depending on how horsy you like it)
3-6  dashes of Tabasco (optional)
Mix it all together in a small mixing bowl, serve chilled.

Spicy Pickled Asparagus Spears 

2 cups Apple cider vinegar
1 tbs sea salt
1 tbs dill seeds
3-4 small chili peppers
4 cloves of garlic roughly chopped
25 asparagus spears

Add vinegar, dill seeds, sea salt, chili peppers, and garlic to a sauce pan, bring to a simmer. Add asparagus in batches; cook each batch so that the liquid just covers the spears (about 8 at a time). Remove when just tender, set aside in a shallow pan to cool.  When all the asparagus is cooked, pour the remaining liquid over cooling spears, chill (the longer the better, even overnight if possible). Serve.

Miso Glazed Steelhead

Miso glaze:
2 heaping tbs of miso paste
3 tbs lemon
3 tbs low sodium soy sauce
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup brown sugar

Mix ingredients together in a small mixing bowl until smooth.

To prepare the steelhead, rinse, pat dry, and cut fillet into serving sized pieces (skin on). Line a baking sheet with tin foil, and place the fish on the tin foil skin side down. Turn oven onto broil, with the top rack about 3 inches from the heat source. Paint Miso glaze on top of each piece. (save the remaining glaze for the bok choy). Place pan under broiler for about 8 mins (check it frequently). Fish should flake easily, and glaze should be slightly browned in places. Serve skin on.

Spiced Coconut Rice
2 tbs olive oil
Sea salt
1 tps cumin seeds
3 bay leaves
4 whole cloves
Pinch of cinnamon
Pinch of cumin powder
3 cardamom pods (optional)
½ package of sweetened coconut
1 cup of white rice
2 ¼  cups of water

Add spices, salt and olive oil to a medium pot. Slightly fry spices (1 min), add coconut and dry rice, slightly brown while stirring. Slowly add water, bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, and cover. Cook on low for 20 mins.  Remove from heat and let stand for 5 mins. Serve.

Bok Choy with Ham

½ lb of chopped ham steak
(I used some frozen ham leftover from Christmas, any ham steak will work).
Olive oil
Bok Choy (rinsed and quartered)
Remaining miso glaze (about ¼ cup)

In a wok, fry the ham until browned; add Bok Choy and Miso glaze. Toss until Bok Choy is covered with sauce. Cover pan for about 10 mins, mix, and if Bok Choy is wilted serve

Dessert- Like I said... OOPS!.

Coca-Cola Braised Pork Sholder

After talking to a friend about her Coca-Cola Beef Ribs, I decided that I'd try something similar. We were having friends over, and I love to try new recipe's on our guests. This one was a huge hit with both our friends as well as the boys. Oh- and the leftover pulled pork sandwiches were almost equally delicious!

This recipe requires you to reduce the liquid, cook and reduce again. My husband (who's talents lie in cleaning the pots, not making them dirty) asked while eating this meal "Why on earth would you take so much time to boil off all the liquid? Why can't you just use it like it is? He got to taste the answer - I took the sauce (which you'll see is delicious), added water back into it, and handed him a spoon to taste. It tasted like weak soup, and had barely the same flavor. So this was my answer-

I do it, cause it just tastes better.

Coca-Cola Braised Pork Shoulder

Serves 6, with leftovers
Executive chef Ben de Vries from Luella in SF, makes a very similar dish. I've taken his recipe and modified it slightly.

INGREDIENTS
Pork shoulder
4 - 5 lbs boneless pork shoulder
sea salt
pepper
1/8 cup olive oil
3 cans of Coca-Cola room temperature (don't use diet coke)
3 tbs of chicken bouillon (I suggest using "Better than Bouillon")*  


Season the pork with salt and pepper. Heat oil on high in a dutch oven, or a high sided oven-safe pan.When hot, add the seasoned pork shoulder (fat side down to start), and then sear until entire shoulder is golden brown on all sides. Remove the pork from the pan and set aside.

Add 1 can of Coca-Cola to dutch oven and de-glaze the pan, begin to reduce. Bring to a boil. Add 3 Tbs of chicken bouillon, use a good bouillon not the cubes otherwise it will be really salty and lacking flavor.Add the 2 other cans of Coke, by adding one, letting it reduce and then adding the other, letting it reduce.


Preheat the oven to 450° When there's about 2 cups of liquid in the pan, return meat to pan (fat side down) and bring to a boil for about 10 mins. Flip the meat over in the pan so that the fat side is up, cover and bake for about an hour and half, or until the meat falls apart easily. Remove from oven, and remove the meat from the dutch oven, set aside covered.
Return pan to stove, and reduce until sauce is think and syrupy.  



White bean puree
2 cans of white beans rinsed
2 tbs Olive oil
2 tbs water
Sear salt and ground pepper


Drain the beans and puree in a food processor until smooth, adding enough olive oil and water until the beans have a mashed potato-like consistency; season with salt and pepper to taste. Spoon into a microwave safe bowl, cover and warm for 2 mins.



Pickled red onions
1 large red onion (about 12 oz), sliced lengthwise about 1/4-inch thick
1 1/2 cups red wine vinegar
1/4 cup sugar


Combine the onions, vinegar and sugar in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and let cool. Adjust flavor with more vinegar or sugar as desired, then refrigerate until chilled. (The onions can be made up to a week ahead.)

To serve: Spoon warm white bean puree onto a plate; top with pork and drizzle with sauce. Drain the onions and garnish the pork.

LEFTOVERS:
Pulled pork sandwiches
Pork from night before
whole wheat bread
spicy brown mustard
pickled red onions
white aged cheddar cheese


Heat leftover pork in a medium skillet with any leftover sauce, pull chunks apart as the pork begins to warm up and slightly fry. Toast whole grain bread, and assemble sandwich with cheddar cheese on the bottom slice of bread, add warmed pulled pork to cheese side of bread, top with cheese, pickled onions, mustard and the other bread.

... it's soo good!

"Le Saucy Chicken"

Everyone learns how to cook, from someone or somewhere. For me, I grew up with a mother who couldn’t cook (this has changed over the years) but as a child; If my mother cooked dinner, the dinner bell summoning us to the kitchen, was without fail the smoke alarm. 

I’m not kidding when I say that my mother has burned macaroni and cheese (the kind out of the box). It’s still a mystery, since if you read the directions on the box there’s no heating needed after you strain the macaroni, but not to worry we ate “blackened” mac and cheese that night.

For every rule there’s always an exception, this recipe is one of them. With that being said, here’s a recipe that might just set off the smoke alarm, but it’s totally ok if it does.

Le Saucy Chicken

Le Sauce

1 jar of Apricot Jam (homemade when possible, don't substitute with sugar free jam)

1/2 c Soy sauce

2 tbs Yellow mustard

1 tps Powdered Ginger
1 tbs spicy BBQ sauce
(optional a pinch of cayenne pepper)

Add ingredients to sauce pan, bring to a boil then simmer reduce slightly. 

8 Chicken Drumsticks and 8 thighs (skin on)

Olive oil

Sea salt, ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees

Place chicken drumsticks on a pan covered in tin foil, rub chicken with olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake for 45 mins or until the drumsticks are slightly golden.

Remove from oven, and pour off any liquid in pan. Turn oven to broil. Baste Le Sauce on the chicken skin side up to start, place under broiler for 2 mins or until bubbling. Keep watch on the broiler, portions of the chicken will slightly burn and this is totally fine (just disconnect the smoke alarm like my mom did), remove from broiler, rotate chicken, baste with Le Sauce, broil, repeat… continue for about 8 rotations until done. Skin will be "slightly burned" in spots, serve once fully glazed.

Sides:

Spicy Greens

5 cloves of garlic, crushed

Olive oil

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 can of chicken stock

1 bunch of collared greens

1 bunch of brocolini rabe

1 bunch of red chard

In a wok or deep pan, add olive oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Lightly fry the garlic, be careful not to burn. Add greens and chicken broth, simmer until greens are totally wilted and no sauce remains (30 mins). 

Roasted Rosemary Red Potatoes

7 medium red potatoes

Olive oil

Sea salt

Pepper

Fresh Rosemary

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Quarter red potatoes, so that all pieces are equal in size. Combine ingredients in a large ziplock bag and shake until potatoes are coated.  Bake uncovered until lightly browned.

First Post

It’s a new year, and after months of my husband asking “When are you going to start that blog?” I have decided that now is finally the time. 2010 was quite possibly the busiest year of my life – and now that things have slowed down (as slow as it can be with 2 boys, 2 dogs, a husband, and a start-up company), I feel it’s now time.

The New Year was celebrated unlike any New Year’s party I’ve ever been to. Let’s just say that “Country” doesn’t even being to cover it. The nicest people you will ever meet, who have a machine gun in their basement, and a rattlesnake in their refrigerator. I was exactly 3 miles from my own front door, and I will have you know- I was an entire world away.

As you might imagine, the group that had gathered at this home, had a few weapons in their home arsenals and no shortage of guns/ammo, and stories about guns and ammo. My favorite story of the night – told from a proud father talking about his daughter’s newest gun and most recent kill, ended with a hand packaged ziplock bag of 2 pounds of venison medallions for me to take home. – Score!!!

Our friends who had invited us to this little New Year’s get together, (and were as out of place as we were) got invited to our house the following night for a venison feast.

Here was that night’s Menu (recipes to follow):

I’ll call it - Le Menu le Réveillon de Saint-Sylvestre  - Since it was our “New Year’s feast” (one day late). 

Le Menu le Réveillon de Saint-Sylvestre 

Pear Gorgonzola salad, topped with sweet and spicy pecans

Pan Seared Venison Medallions with a Balsamic and Cranberry Reduction

“Tahoe” Wild Rice

Butternut Squash

Red Wine (brought by our friends)

"Tahoe" Wild Rice

1 small yellow onion chopped

2 large cloves of garlic finely chopped

5 sprigs of fresh thyme

1 tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 tbs chicken bouillon

1 cup of wild rice

2 1/4 cups of water

(you can substitute 2 1/4 cups of chicken broth instead of the water and chicken bouillon)

Add onion, garlic, olive oil and thyme to a pot and saute until onions are cooked, add chicken bouillon, water and rice- bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a low simmer, and cook until tender.

So simple, but this one is a fan favorite!

Pear gorgonzola salad, topped with sweet and spicy pecans

1 red pear cored and sliced

3 handfuls of mixed greens

1/3 cup of crumbled gorgonzola cheese

¼ cup of dried cranberries

½ cup Pear dressing (recipe below)

½ cup of Sweet and Spicy Pecans (recipe below)

Sweet and Spicy Pecans

½ Cup of roughly chopped pecans or pecan pieces

1 tbs of extra virgin olive oil

2 tbs brown sugar

Dash of cayenne pepper

Pinch of sea salt

Add pecan pieces and olive oil, to a small nonstick pan and lightly toast (be careful they burn really easily). When lightly toasted add brown sugar, salt, and a dash of cayenne pepper mix and remove from heat. Let cool in the pan.

Pear Dressing

½ cup of Extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup of campaign vinegar

2 garlic cloves pressed

¼ cup of pear syrup (substitute 2 tbs of honey if you don’t have pear syrup)

2 Pinches of sea salt,

ground pepper to taste

Combine ingredients and mix with a wisk until consistent. Let stand for 20 mins (or more) and mix again.