Recipes Discovered

Read my review of this recipe.

It’s been awhile since I posted a new recipe, but I have had an extremely busy month. It hasn’t been all fun and games though, and I did use my travels to get ideas for new recipes. Seth and I spent one weekend in Seattle, and had the opportunity to eat at Tom Douglas’s restaurant, Dahlia Lounge. Not only did I have the best crab cakes there, but I also had the most amazing coconut cream pie I’ve ever eaten. Words cannot describe it. If you are ever in Seattle, Dahlia Lounge is a must. Just be sure to make reservations a couple days in advance because it’s a very busy place. Another city we visited was Nanaimo, British Columbia. While we were there, we discovered that Nanaimo is very famous for a dessert appropriately named the nanaimo bar. The nanaimo bar is a no bake dessert that has a chewy chocolate bottom layer with nuts and coconut, a creamy custard filling, and chocolate topping. It’s delicious and easy to find the recipe, so when my family was here this weekend, I treated them to part of our trip. >> Read more

Chicken Provencal Stoup Recipe

Spices are generally fairly expensive, especially unique herbs like herbes de Provence. Herbes de Provence is a mixture of rosemary, marjoram, basil, bay leaf, thyme, and lavender. It was invented in Provence, a region of southeast France, in the 1970′s, and is used primarily to flavor grilled meats and vegetable stews. It’s not very common in th spice aisle, but I found a bag of it at the Bloomsburg Fair for only a dollar. After finding the spice, I found a Rachael Ray recipe that used it in a stoup, which is defined by Rachael Ray as “thicker than a soup but thinner than a stew”.
This is a pot soup, which makes it really simple. I began by heating olive oil over medium heat and then adding chopped carrots, garlic, zucchini, red pepper, and onions. After sauteing the vegetables for 5 minutes, I seasoned them with salt, pepper, and herbes de Provence, and then added sliced potatoes. I didn’t have wine to add, so I added 6 cups of chicken broth instead of 5 along with a can of diced tomatoes. After bringing the broth to a boil, I added the diced chicken, and then covered the pot and let it simmer for 10 minutes. I served the soup as it was, without adding the tapenade.
I really enjoyed the taste of this soup. The herbes de Provence had a very unique flavor, and the lavender really stood out. Pouching the chicken in the broth also added a lot of flavor to the soup, and the fresh vegetables were perfectly cooked without being over cooked. The soup is obviously very different from traditional vegetable soup, but it’s fresh and delicious, and makes a great summer vegetable soup.

Pepper Steak Stir Fry Recipe

Seth’s sister gave me this recipe for pepper steak stir fry that I really wanted to try. I only had chicken, but I figured that would work in place of the steak.

In a ziplock bag, I mixed together vegetable oil, corn starch, soy sauce, and pepper. I left the salt out because I thought the soy sauce would make it salty enough. Once everything was mixed, I added sliced chicken breast and put it in the refrigerator to marinate while I chopped all the vegetables. As with all stir fries, it’s importable to have all the ingredients ready to go. I cut fresh tomatoes into wedges, sliced both a green and a red pepper, diced an onion, and minced a little garlic. I didn’t have any ginger, but would have definitely added it to the mix. Since I was using chicken instead of beef, I made the sauce my combining chicken broth, corn starch, soy sauce, and sugar. >> Read more