Adventure Food Love

Great recipes & garden & crazy adventure!

11 Oct 2012
3 Comments

Crock pot Creamy Chicken and wild rice

First I have to say : sorry there is no pictures…..we ate it all.

This is easy..and delicious.

I have been working more and more, and have found my self in many of your shoes, coming home at 6, kids starving, I’m starving, Hubs is due home any time and I don’t have dinner.  Not only that, but I don’t have any energy or inclination to cook.

My crock pot has been shoved up in that silly cabinet above the fridge that you never ever get too.  Well, I dug it down the other day, and the results were delish.  So the dust has been wiped off, the weather has turned (crock pot weather now:) and I’m sure I will be posting a lot more crock pot meals during the winter.

  • 1 can each FF cream of chicken & cream of mushroom soup
  • 1/2 small can FF evaporated milk
  • 4 chicken thighs.  (I had skin on, and just took the skin off when they were cooked, but off to start might be better.)
  • 2-3 big carrots, cut into medallions
  • 2 stalks of celery sliced the same width as the carrots
  • 11/2 cups of sliced mushrooms
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 4 garlic cloves diced, (or 2 tsp garlic powder)
  • 1 small package of wild rice.  (should serve 4)
  • chicken stock to fill

Put everything in your crock pot, add enough chicken stock to cover the chicken ( I used about a cup).   Put your crock pot on low for about 8 hours, or high for 4-6 hrs.  I turned mine on high at noon 30 , and when we walked in  at 6 the house smelled amazing, the chicken was falling off the bone.

Enjoy!

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24 Sep 2012
2 Comments

Summer sausage & roasted vegetable pasta

Another simple pasta recipe for the end of the summer.  We have fresh produce coming from everywhere, the tomatoes taste out of this world.  We don’t really eat pasta that much for dinner at our house.  (As I plan to make Bolognese for dinner:) maybe once a week if that?  But it is that easy stand by when hubs comes home and looks at the kitchen that doesn’t have anything working…..”oh bother,” I say “I forgot about that.”

I most always have stuff in the pantry and fridge that I can whip into something that quasi resembles a somewhat decent dinner, maybe a little less lately that normal, but hey, I’ve been pretty busy.  One of those things is smoked turkey sausage.  It’s pre-cooked, so it’s super fast, and becuase it’s turkey sausage, it’s about 1/2 the fat and calories of regular sausage.  Oh, it lasts for a couple weeks in the fridge, which means you can grab it when you have nothing planned……or want to do next to nothing for dinner, but cringe at the thought of take out.

I had this super nice pasta in the pantry from my lasted trip to Tacoma Boys, but any pasta would work well with this.

Saugage &  Roasted Tomato pasta

Serves 4

  • 1/2 -3/4  package of precooked smoked turkey sausage, sliced on the diagonal about 1 cm thick.
  • 3 big garlic cloves minced
  • 1/2 lb fresh tomatoes big dice (or cherry tomatoes, halved)
  • handful fresh basil
  • 1 lb pasta
  • 1/4 cup cream
  • 2 springs fresh thyme
  • handful fresh parsley
  • 1/2 lb fresh zucchini sliced 1cm thick
  • 1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
  • salt and pepper to taste.
  • olive oil

Toss tomatoes , zucchini, thyme and garlic in the olive oil with ~1/2 tsp salt and pepper.  Roast spread out on a sheet pan,  in 400 degree oven 15 minutes.  While the vegetables roast, heat up your big pot of salted water for the pasta.

When the veg are done, toss in a pan with the sausage and cream heat till bubbling then turn off the heat (make sure you get all the juice too!!).  toss in the basil and parsley, taste for more salt and pepper, and add about 1/2 the cheese.  when the pasta is done toss in the sauce, serve with the rest of the cheese on top and some more fresh basil.

enjoy.

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09 Sep 2012
3 Comments

Our first sunday Review blog party! Come show us what you’ve been doing:)


I would love to see what you have been up to this week.  In the kitchen, garden, garage or craft room!  Please join my blog, share your pics & check out some other bloggers projects!

Posted in Reviews and tagged , ,
07 Sep 2012
6 Comments

Tomatillo review

Just a quick post.

Another ‘product’ review:)

This year I planted two tomatillo’s in my garden.  I bought them at the last minute at the great local nursery in town here.  One has done great in the not quite hot washington summer, and one, not so great….

So, if you live some where that see’s mild summers, Toma Verda has produced a good bucket load of big fruit.  It’s September, so you still have to wait, but if, like me you love roasted tomatillo avocado salsa…….its worth it.  (I’ll post the recipe soon!)

The other tomatillo, i’m not sure of the variety, has produced to date one usable fruit.  It has lots of baby fruits now, but they are not going to be big enough to eat by the time we have our first frost in a couple weeks.  Learning, learning.

So there you go, helpful for the other North Westers and maybe North Easters?

Posted in garden, Reviews and tagged , ,
05 Sep 2012
3 Comments

Beer Butt Chicken

Nothing says summer like grilling, beer and BBQ chicken…

but would it be More summer if you cleverly morphed those three together??  As in taking a whole chicken, and gently placing a half empty can of brewski up the rear end for a total beer infusion.  I have been interested in this concept for a while.  I love roast chicken, but for me its a winter dish, on that requires roast vegetables and me standing in the kitchen for a couple hours.

Don’t get me wrong, I like working in the kitchen, and on a dark and dreary winter day in the NW (which happen….alot…)I will happily spend all day in the kitchen.  But it’s september.  And its beautiful out side.  We are reaching the mid to high 70′s in the afternoon with a slight breeze. There is no better weather for being out side.  So beer butt chicken it is.

Seriously this is easy as pie.  And good.  Moist on the inside crispy smoky skin on the out side.  Served up with some grilled vegetables from the garden and you have the perfect summer meal.  mmm.

The best part may also be, that because there is beer and a grill involved, which I am told are two men magnets, you might be able to pawn off dinner duties to your always super helpful hubby!  (Sorry to any men reading this who take offense to that:) Didn’t happen for me cuz mine got home right at EAT time, but i’m cool with a little grilling.  I’m even getting the hang of our charcoal grill/ smoker!

So here goes:

Beer Butt Chicken (the easiest whole chicken around??)

  • 1 4-5 lb whole chicken
  • 1 half empty can of beer.  I used a nw micro brew, but any would work.
  • 2 tbsp evoo
  • 1 tbsp salt
  • 2 tbsp fresh thyme (or experiment with other herbs!)
  • 1/2 tbsp fresh ground pepper

I used a charcoal grill, which takes a little bit longer to heat up, but only put the charcoals on one side of the grill, the bird will cook with indirect heat.  IF you have a gas grill, only light half the burners.

Back inside, wash and pat dry the chicken then cover in a mixture of the olive oil, salt & pepper and thyme.  Save a little thyme for adding to the beer before inserting into the chicken.

Drink half a can of beer, then with the other half, put some herbs in there and insert into the butt of the chicken.  This should make an easy, not wobbly stand for ms chicken. If you are not a beer drinker, you can use wine, or even chicken stock and these will also keep your chicken beautiful and moist.  But because the been already comes in a perfectly sized receptacle, and I think the hoppy flavor adds to the smokiness of the finished product, the two are a good fit.

place the chicken on the grill, not over the direct heat and close the lid.  for a 4 pound chicken, it takes about an hour and thirty minutes of cooking time.  If you have a meat thermometer you are looking for a final cooking temp of about 166.  Walk away from the grill for the first hour.  then check, and see if you need more coals, or if your bird needs to be turned around to brown evenly.  (mine did)

I threw on some corn on the cob and crispy zucchini when I had about 15 minutes left in the chicken cooking time.

remove from the heat, remove can for easy carving and enjoy!  This seriously was the most juicy chicken I’ve ever cooked.

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03 Sep 2012
12 Comments

Out of the garden…and into the kitchen

It’s been good and bad this year, as far a performance in the garden goes.  The weather, really has been great up here just south of seattle.  Warm with some hot patches and for the most part sunny.  The tomatoes are starting to ripen a whole month earlier than they did last year, although I have less giant varieties than I did last year.  The cucumbers are doing well, potatoes, all four varieties are all ready in storage and my winter vegetable seeds are planted.

I have two clear winners this summer.  Two varieties that have stood out in flavor and sheer volume of produce.

The first, will probably always be on my top list.  Sungold cherry tomatoes.  They are PROLIFIC.  They are the first tomato in my garden to ripen, a good two weeks before the other small cherries and/or grape tomatoes that I have.  And I feel like, a flavor that can not be matched.  They are bright orange and taste like garden candy.  I will always plant these tomatoes…and even if I didn’t, the likelyhood that a volunteer or two or three would sprout from a dropped tomato the year before is great.  Here in the NW we sometimes have issues with tomtoes getting enough heat to ripen.  Not this gem, it was developed by Oregon State (and they know not quite hot NW summers) (and I went to school there…so I have to plant it right??!)

Seriously..if you are a newbie at tomatoes, need a good container tomato, you need a snack plant for your little kids… Sungold cherry is it!!

Ok, and number two is a purple bush bean called Royal Burgundy.   I started them in the beds late, after the  green bush beans, but right now they are double the size and are still producing, There are still flowers.  I Just keep picking.  I have picked maybe three times as many purple beans than I have green beans this summer.  The green beans are done, and I didn’t plant a second batch.  They turn green when you cook them, but raw into a vegi salad they look fantastic.  ( they still taste great cooked though too:)  And I have a two year old daughter who’s favorite color happens to be purple, so she digs these things.

Issues this year?  My scarlet runner beans.  I had lots of flowers, then a hot snap and no more.  They have flowers right now, but no beans. Im not sure what I did wrong.  But I also know that my parents scarlet runners down in portland had the same problem this year.  Any body have any Idea?

Posted in garden and tagged , , , ,
29 Aug 2012

Simple Caprese pasta & Yelm Confiture

I have been working to get my small preserving business off the ground, and let me tell you its not easy…I wish I could just get into the kitchen and cook.  Or at least have some accounting that was pressing.  Well I’m sure there is accounting that is pressing, but there is a multitude of other stuff that has to be done.  And each thing has three steps that I didn’t think of so it’s a lot harder than originally planned.  Slowly but steadily I make progress.  I finally got my web site up and running and am now able to take online orders.  Which of course is not as easy as I had hoped.  But we are there.  Thanks is part to some friends who had good ideas, and were willing to help.

Please check out my store www.yelmconfiture.biz!

Needless to say, dinner and lunch have’t been a huge priority lately.  Poor family:)  But ’tis the season for this recipe.. and it is a delicious as it is easy.

This recipe takes pretty much as long as your pasta takes too cook, so 9 maybe 10 minutes?  It is simple, fresh and really full of flavor.  My Kids gobble it down….helped by the fact that they helped pick the basil and the cherry tomatoes no doubt.

There is no real measurements either, I have a tendency to go heavy on the veg, and lighter on the pasta, but some would go the other way.  here is what I do;

Simple Caprese Pasta

Set a big pot of boiling water (salted of course) on the stove to heat up…ok well its not boiling yet, but it will be.

(this recipe serves two adults)

3 garlic cloves lightly smashed (ie not into little bits, but enough to get the juices flowing)

1tbsp EVOO

1 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp pepper

2 cups fresh tomatoes.  I used a mixture of halved sungold cherry tomatoes and one nice big juicy brandywine diced

4 big leaves of basil, julienned

1/2 cup diced fresh mozzarella ( i used bocconcini cut in half)

1/4 diced onion

2 servings of pasta

In a medium bowl toss the garlic in the olive oil and salt, smoosh the garlic a little to re lease the garlic juice, but not enough to break it up.  You will be fishing this out in a bit.  Add the chopped tomatoes, onions and mozz, toss and set aside.  Cook pasta as per instructions on the box. Drain and toss with the vegetable mixture.  at the last minute add in the basil and fish out the garlic cloves.

Taste for seasoning and enjoy!

Told ya, easy peasy:)

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28 Aug 2012

Crispy & delicious patty pan squash

It is that time of year….there is zucchini coming out of everyone’s ears.  They sit on the counter  being stared at until they start to turn wrinkly….then it’s too late.

I have been good this year…dealing with not one, but two gardens full of squash.  Not only am I growing a bunch of different varieties,  but my mum and dad are growing still yet different ones down in Portland.   Their garden is my dad’s domain, and he has admitted to growing things for fast personal satisfaction….I think he just likes to look at the big leaves that the cukes and the summer squash have.  He definatly is stuck in a rut.  He doesn’t like to move his veg from year to year.  His non rotation of crops is playing havoc on his tomatoes and runner beans this year…

But not his squash, and most certainly not his cucumbers which are producing more (maybe double the amount) than the zucchini are.

What to do, what to do?!!  The age old late summer question.

I’ve been pickling and freezing, for winter tasties…but last night, I crispafied some of my patty pan.  The whole family loved it…which is good cuz they are getting them tonight too…with my regular zuccinni:)

The magic ingredient is lite crackers  they made this lite and crunchy.

Crispy Topped zucchinni

  • 4 Wasa Light and Crispy crackers
  • 1/2 cup good parmesan cheese
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • salt and pepper
  • 6 medium patty pan squash cut in half, or regular summer squash, depending on size, one per person.
  • EVOO
  • 1tbsp chopped fresh herbs (basil or parsley etc)

Slice your squash in half, and slice the bottom so they sit flat on the cookie sheet, which you have sprayed with cooking spray or lined with tin foil.

Blend the crackers, parmesan, garlic and S&P in the food processor till it resembles bread crumbs.  Sprinkle on your squash, then drizzle with about 1/2 tsp evoo per half.

Bake in 400 oven for ~ 15 minutes until brown & crispy.

Top with chopped fresh herbs…I used basil.

Watch the family gobble them up!

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16 Aug 2012
2 Comments

garden dwellers

This is a post of pictures.  The garden is so pretty in the morning after the sprinklers have had a go…..that’s when I normally have a meander and find vegetables that need to be eaten, weeds….alot….that need to be pulled and the critters that call the garden home.  Like this giant spider.   The kids were quite impressed.  If any one knows what kind of spider it is, well, I would love to know.  The bees are loving it here too, right now  I have a swollen toe thanks to a honey bee underfoot.  But I’m glad they are here…doing my part to save america’s crops.  This is a bumble bee though, on one of my dahlias.Some more dahlias, which I thought were annuals that I planted last year, started from seed, but they have come back strong, so maybe I have some tubers going on.  Yeay!  I suppose they are they same?  The one’s from the tubers and the ones from seed….Then there is my brandywine.  That is ripe already.  A good 4 weeks ahead of last year!  Yeay!!

…..oh, and Rufus.  Who just so happens to be Rufusita.  Or four of them.  Immature femal Rufus Hummingbirds. Kicking up quite a racket in the early am and then when the shade falls back on the garden in the evening.  I suppose there is only enough nectar for one:)

 

 

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14 Aug 2012

baked summer eggs. The perfect breakfast?

The vegetables come pouring in, my big tomatoes are starting to get ripe…even a big brandywine which is about a month ahead of last year.  This is a easy recipe that is perfect for breakfast, or a light dinner.  High in protein and lots of veg.  Which is perfect for the summer months.   When I say recipe, i mean pull vegetables that you have laying around, cook ‘em up and add your eggs.  Serious good eats.  This is how I prepared it this morning;

Pre heat the oven to 400.  Then saute up some onion in a little EVOO. DO THIS IN A PAN THAT YOU CAN PUT IN THE OVEN. Add some garlic.  Then I threw in some fresh diced zucchini & a couple green beans and about 1/4 cup of red bell pepper.  I added two eggs to mine, scooting the veg to make two spaces in the pan.  Crack the eggs in sprinkle with salt and cook about two minutes before popping in the oven for about 10 minutes.  This depends on how you like your eggs….runny obviously less time, totally firm then leave for about 13 minutes.  Sprinkle some cheese, and freshly grated cheese.  Add chopped tomatos and a handful of basil and parsley.  Then have a delicious, very healthy, filling breakfast.

Power through your summer!!

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