A Valentine's Day Picnic: BLTs, rice salad, truffles, and cookies!

Going out to eat just isn't as fun as going on a picnic! Here are a few treats that are easy to pack and eat :). First, the chocolate truffles! It isn't Valentine's Day without 'em. I got the recipe from here, it's from Alton Brown. I also made chocolate covered pecan caramels, inspired by Ina Garten's recipe.


Second, tasty, soft and fluffy gluten free orange sugar cookies. Canola oil makes these cookies soft, but they still have an addicting buttery taste and classic sugar cookie flavor; I ate 5 in one day! Eat these for dessert on your picnic or eat them before the main course! The simple recipe includes the following ingredients:

Bake at for about 10-12 minutes at 375, or until edges brown slightly; it's best to refrigerate the dough overnight.

3.5 tbsp potato starch
3/4c white rice flour (more or less, depending on if you want them firmer/softer)
1/3c almond meal
1/3c tapioca flour
2/3c sugar
2tbsp milk
2tbsp canola oil
1.5 tbsp melted butter
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp orange peel
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 egg
sprinkle with vanilla sugar

Now, the main course. A tasty BLT made with this AMAZING gluten-free bread, nitrate free applewood smoked bacon, crispy ham (I fried it :P), colby jack cheese, and the secret sauce: Jalapeno Maple Dressing (it sounds strange, but believe me, it complements the saltiness of the bacon quite nicely; it's a mayo-based sandwich dressing with a kick!). That sandwich is served with a side of ham and rice salad...jeez, so much ham! But it tastes delicious when combined with unique ingredients and veggies, see the recipe below!

Savory Polenta and a bittersweet goodbye to Digi

I just got back from my first trip to NYC 2 nights ago. In saying goodbye to NYC, I also had to say goodbye to my poor ol' camera, Digi! I was able to capture the polenta photo before his 'passing', though. So what you're seeing isn't a pic with the new camera :)...at least not yet!

He, aka Digi, served me quite well for many years; shooting on command, getting covered in the sugar and grease of my sweet and savory concoctions, even suffering a few accidental blows, all in the name of amateur food photography. It turns out he couldn't handle the clicking anymore. He went on strike by refusing to capture anything or anyone striking a pose! He literally got tired of me pressing his buttons; his big 'button' just fell off. I was devastated! Hopefully he forgives me for my ignorance; I have no idea what that 'button' is called...you know, the one you press to take the picture?

My husband saw the disappointment in my face and instantly said I could get a new one in no time. I knew we could order another 'button', I even mentioned it to him, but the hubby really wanted me to have a new camera (that's him!). He said this one had done its job. Poor ol' Digi was an old timer now, and it was time to move on.

I confess. After I saw the camera that my hubby ordered for me yesterday, suddenly moving on didn't sound so baaad! Check out this beast!

The new camera will be coming in next Friday! It's perfect for a somewhat penny-pinching pre-amateur (whatever comes before amateur, I'm not even that advanced yet ha!) like myself. It takes crisp photos, it's one notch below an SLR but it's still an automatic; it's also much more affordable than a digital SLR. It does have some very cool settings and I have a feeling it's going to take me awhile to figure out everything, but I don't mind one bit.

Notice how this new camera is an 'it' and the old one is a 'he'; I still haven't fully embraced the new camera as one of 'my own' yet ;).

Alright, so thankfully I have a few extra recipe photos saved on my lappy that I can share with you all until the new camera comes in (does anyone else use nicknames in reference to their techy gadgets?)! But I have to say one thing about the recipes I've posted so far...

Let me just apologize for being such a dufus; I can't believe how many recipes I've left the xanthan gum out of, I've noticed it a lot lately. Ok, so I didn't forget it in the actual dough (I'm making progress in that department :P), but I forget to write it in the darn recipe cards! I think I've put the amounts in all the previous recipes, but if you all notice xanthan gum missing from gluten-free baked goods on Flour Arrangments recipes from here on out, just let me know :)! THANKS!

marinated pork chops

I made these pork chops a few weeks ago...but I didn't bother posting the recipe or photo because, to be honest, I've been getting lazy with that. Also, it seems life has been pretty crazy lately, but not in the bad way, we've just been going out of town a lot on the weekends and I started working at another job, in addition to the one I already have. So, I'm sure you can understand why posting has been a little difficult for me lately. I do feel bad that the excitement of having a new food blog is sort of wearing off, but I refuse to continue neglecting it the way I have been.

Annyhowww, As the holidays approach, I hope to bake a lot more. I've always wanted to learn how to make a pumpkin pie from scratch, or any pie for that matter, so that's a recipe I'll be experimenting with...and I think Jose's actually going to be helping me with that. I want to figure out how to make it before Thanksgiving. I even need to figure out how to make a moist turkey in the oven...because I think he and I are going to be in charge of making the turkey this year, that should be exciting... I am a little nervous, though. I've never baked such a large piece of protein like that, but I do know there are tips posted all over the web. Does anyone have any seasoning ideas or turkey basting/baking tips that always seem to work? The good thing is, I used to help my parents put the turkey together a couple of times when I was growing up, so it's not entirely unfamiliar to me--they rubbed a garlic/spice butter blend on their turkey every couple of hours until it finished cooking...but I wonder if olive oil would work? Would it taste funny? Hmm...

Now, getting back to the pork chops... I've recently started making pork chops about once a week, and I've experimented with different ways of marinating them...so far this is my favorite way of making pork chops. They cook really fast, it definitely helps that they are thinly sliced. I don't remember the exact amounts I used, but this is the general idea. When it comes to marinating, it usually doesn't really matter how much of each "sauce" or seasoning you use, as long as the flavor isn't too overwhelming, or so it seems. For these pork chops, I used the following ingredients:

I think this was about 3/4-1 lb of pork chops
1/3-1/2 worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
a pinch of pepper
a pinch of paprika
1 small garlic clove, finely chopped
1/2 tbsp Italian seasoning
a sprinkle of salt, or garlic salt
a sprinkle of onion powder

Later, when the pork chops were almost done cooking over a low-medium flame, I added in about
1/3 of a small sweet onion--doesn't matter what kind
1 large roma tomato, diced
about 1/2 cup chopped up mushrooms
I seared these over a high flame with the pork chops until the onions were slightly darker, then I covered the all-purpose pan that held these ingredients and simmered them together for about 7 minutes over a low flame. I think it took about 20-30 minutes to make these--but I marinated the pork chops for about 3 hours ahead of time. If you don't have time to marinate them, they will still taste good--I think they should be seared a little longer, though, because, at least to me, they tend to taste better that way if they weren't able to absorb the flavors of the marinade sauce.

Hopefully I'll post again soon :). Thanks for leaving such nice messages for me to read when I least expect it!

easy taquitos!

...and for the last day of chicken left-overs, I made taquitos! I'm gonna have to start using a recipe book because I'm running out of ideas for chicken; my palate is still somewhat narrow but hopefully that'll change soon...back to the topic, this is another recipe that'll work for those days when there isn't much time for anything fancy. This is also fun finger food for parties or snack time. I made this a meal by serving it with the traditional side of beans and rice...and the not so traditional organic mixed veggies :D... When I can't have veggies in the actual meal, I always make sure to serve them as a side so that I feel like I'm getting meeting some of the food pyramid requirements :P.

So what did I do for the taquitos? I used some shredded chicken, fried it with cubed potatoes, chopped garlic and onion. Of course, a pinch of salt and pepper were thrown in, along with a hearty sprinkle of cilantro and parsley. I put the chicken in corn tortillas, which I warmed up in the micro for about 20 seconds so they'd be soft enough to roll into taquitos without breaking. I also added some colby/jack cheese before rolling everything up and piercing the taquitos with a toothpick (so they would hold when frying). I then fried the taquitos in a covered pan with canola oil for about 1 minute on each side, or until they were slightly crispy/golden all around. That's basically it! This was a very fast meal to whip up; minus the cooking time for the chicken, I was able to finish this in 15 minutes!

honey ginger chicken and a fun seasonal veggie mix

When there isn't much time to make something fancy to eat, I try to make up for the lack of complexity with a dash of spices, a quick vinaigrette, or a fun texture. I tried to incorporate all those things into this dish, making sure to use up one of the many squashes I've managed to collect in my refrigerator. Chicken breast is a versatile protein I like to work with, though it does tend to be a little dry if it's cooked the wrong way. Essentially, I would've preferred to let the chicken marinate over night in the "sauce" I made for it, but, like I mentioned earlier, I didn't have the time. Instead, I decided to let the chicken cook on a very low setting for a few minutes, then sear in all the flavors by cooking the meat over a high flame for a much shorter period of time. In doing so, the end result was reasonably moist and very flavorful. I would still like to know how to get a perfectly juicy piece of chicken breast, though; most of the time it seems that the fattier meats are the juiciest, but I'm sure there's a trick out there I've yet to learn that could easily prove that idea wrong...time will tell :).

I used about a pound of chicken breast to make this dish, and I actually sliced each chicken breast in half so it would cook faster. After cutting the chicken into smaller portions, I placed it in a pan with a little olive oil and 1/3 cup of orange juice. One thing I'd like to note again is that I cooked the chicken breast with the seasonings covered with a lid over a low setting for about 40 minutes. Afterward, for about 3 minutes, I uncovered the chicken and raised the flame to a very high setting until almost all the liquid/juice evaporated and the chicken itself was slightly browned on one side--I think this is what helped "lock-in" the flavor.

Here are the ingredients I added to each side of the chicken pieces equally:
1 3/4 tsp ginger
3/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp pepper
2 1/2 tsp parsley
2 TBSP honey

While the chicken cooked over a low setting, I prepared the veggies. Sometimes veggies can use a little bit of sweetness for extra flavor, so why not incorporate fruits when preparing them? I decided to add raisins to a mix of carrots and squash, but I also added chopped almonds because nuts tend to add a fun bite to whatever they're thrown in--I will never use pine nuts, though...just discovered I was allergic to those a few years ago, and it was not a fun discovery, to say the least :P.

Here are the measured ingredients I added:
1 1/2 cups cubed squash pieces
3/4 cups chopped carrots (a smart chopper does a great job with this)
1/8-1/4 cup chopped almonds
1/4 cup raisins
3/4 tsp fine herb spice
pinch of salt and pepper
2 TBSP olive oil

the veggies cooked pretty fast, especially the squash. I think it's best to actually cook the carrots alone in the olive oil before adding the other ingredients; the squash cooks a lot faster and almonds burn easily. By the way, burned almonds smell horrible...kind of like popcorn--I know because I burned some a few weeks ago and they do not give off a very pleasant smell when that happens :D.

Random Sidenote:
Oh, here are a few interesting excerpts from a CNN article about produce:
A research review of 41 studies conducted by the University of California at Davis found that, on average, organic produce contains as much as 27 percent more vitamin C, 21 percent more iron, and 29 percent more magnesium compared with traditionally grown foods.

USDA researchers have found that if it's [produce] not handled properly, produce can lose up to half its nutrients in transit. Water-soluble nutrients such as vitamin C are particularly
vulnerable.

You can read the rest of the article here

sweedish meatballs with veggies and croutons? yep!

I've never had an original sweedish meatball dish, but I had the "American" version a few times growing up. When I started trying to figure out how to make them, I used canned cream of mushroom...but, eventually, I decided to try making these meatballs without using canned soup, or anything canned, for that matter. I also wanted to throw in some veggies that would work well with the meatballs, and I thought croûtons would be a fun way to add a new texture to the usually warm and meaty dish. I don't normally eat salad, but I really love putting homemade croûtons on any pasta dish I make. Even though it's fun to buy the box kind sometimes, I had some leftover bread from when we made honey oatmeal bread in our breadmaker, so I decided to use a few slices to make the croûtons. Here are the ingredients I used along with the steps I took when making the dish:

I mixed 1lb of ground turkey in a bowl with the following ingredients
3 tbsp dried veggie soup blend (salt free)
1/2-3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 TBSP chervil leaf
1/2 cup sweet white onion, diced
1 egg
1/2 cup garlic and herb bread crumbs
2 roma tomatoes, diced

Once these ingredients were all mixed together, I rolled them into 1" meatballs and cooked them in an everyday pan with some olive oil until they were golden brown on the outside--they cooked in about 30 minutes covered up with a lid. About 20 minutes into the cooking process, I added 1 1/2 cups water with 2 1/2 tsp of dissolved chicken bouillon and 1 TBSP mixed-in flour (to thicken the sauce) to the pan with the meatballs; I also like to add about 1-2 TBSP sour cream and 1 TBSP butter so that the sauce is creamier. I threw in a few more spices like 2 tsp Italian seasoning, and a few whole bay leaves. I also added about 2 cups of mushrooms, and about 1 1/2 cups raw spinach, then allowed these ingredients simmer for 15 minutes.

While the meatballs were cooking, I cut up about 1 cup worth of bread into croûton-size pieces. I then put them in a small baking pan, drizzled them with about 1 TBSP of olive oil, sprinkled about 1/2 tsp basil, 1/8-1/4 tsp garlic salt and a pinch of pepper. Then I baked these guys in the oven for about 10-12 minutes in a 375 degree oven.

I served the meatballs with croûtons over some lightly seasoned pasta sprinkled with parmesan cheese, and that was basically it! I try to add veggies to whatever I make. They have so much nutrients and I prefer to eat veggies over consuming vitamins. I also try to buy organic veggies whenever I can, but did you know that frozen vegetables, in general, are actually better than the fresh ones because they're picked when they're perfectly ripe (so they have more nutrients)? Interesting.

cranberry chicken summer salad with citrus honey sauce

This is something I made this weekend when I was feeling too lazy to make something more time consuming. I basically made baked chicken fingers, a quick veggie/cranberry salad, some seasoned rice and decided I'd call it a salad. It was fast and easy but still flavorful. I didn't measure the spices I added to the bread-crumbs that covered the chicken, but here's a rough estimate of what all went in to this part of the meal:
about...
1 lb chicken breast tenders
3/4 cup garlic and herb bread crumb
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 tsp basil
Then the chicken breast tenders were dipped in an egg wash, covered in the bread crumb seasoning mixed. They cooked in the oven for about 30-35 minutes at 325.

The "salad", if you want to call it that, was also easy to make. Most of the prep time for this dinner was spent cutting up the ingredients I used, which included:
1/2 sweet onion
1/4 cup sweet, dried cranberries
1/4-1/3 cup finely chopped celery
1 finely chopped onion
2 TBSP olive oil
a pinch of salt and pepper
1/2-3/4 cup chopped mushrooms
I then seared all these veggies/fruits together until they had a sweet and spicy aroma.

The rice was cooked in chicken broth and a mixture of spices, then I made the dressing last, so I could throw it over the baked chicken before serving. This is enough dressing for about 2 people:
1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp brown sugar
2 1/2 tsp freshly squeezed tangelo or orange juice (I actually squeezed a tangelo...and I've only recently heard of them :)
1/2-1 tsp honey (depending on how sweet you want it)

This was all pretty quick and easy to make, I had a very lazy weekend. Today we made a pizza...and I'm really happy with how well the bread maker makes pizza dough! With just a few extra seasonings sprinkled over the dough after rolling it into a pizza shape, and the proper veggies and cheeses, the bread maker pizza dough, and the pizza in general, comes out so much better than delivery! I should have taken a picture, but it was so good that I couldn't resist diving into it before getting the camera out. Slow weekends are nice...especially on cold winter days...which I am definitely looking forward. But there's good news, it seems the unbearable Texas heat is finally giving in, at least a little, to the slight coolness of the approaching autumn days...we're finally in the low 90s!