Chicken Satay, Potatoes, and Cold Soup

I always wanted to try chicken Satay. I worked at a restaraunt once that had it on the menu, and it looked really really good. But it was like $9 and I didn't get a staff discount on it so it didn't seem worth it for like three measly little bits of chicken on a stick. So I never tried it. Maybe I should have because then I would know what it is supposed to taste like.

I got the recipe from here. The only ingredient I changed was I added some frozen cilantro. I didn't follow the amounts closely. I barbecued the chicken and it was pretty good but I didn't like it with too much sauce. I may have used too much peanut butter. It would have been better thinner. Ian gobbled the sauce like it was going out of style. Weird.

I also got some really good baby Yukon Gold potatoes which I steamed for a bit before sticking them on the bbq in a foil pan with some butter, salt, pepper, and fresh thyme. Best. Potatoes. Ever.

Finally, I made Gazpacho which is absolutely the best on a really hot day. My own recipe which is as follows:

One can diced tomatoes
1 clove garlic, chopped fine
fresh thyme, basil, parsley and oregano. (Dried is fine. Don't make a fuss, it is too hot out. Also, you don't need all of them, just whatever you have. I didn't have any parsley today. Also, my basil was frozen.)
About 1/3 -1/2 of an English cucumber, in cubes
About 1/2 of a pepper (orange is yummy) in bite size pieces
Salt
Pepper
A glub of olive oil
A glub of Balsamic vinegar
A glub is about 1-2 tbsps. Don't worry about being precise here.
Maybe about half a cup or so of V8 or tomato juice, just to make it soupier. Not really necessary, I wouldn't go buy it just for this but if you have it, it's nice.

Just mix it all in a bowl and then put it in the fridge for an hour or two. If you want to get all fancy you could put sour cream on it and some chopped parsley or whatever. Or don't. Anyway, it is like liquid salad and very healthy. Also, as I said before, it tastes phenominal when it is very hot out.

Enjoy!

Broccoli Surprise

I needed to make something super fast last night and I needed it to have veggies in it. So I steamed some broccoli in veggie broth (go Campbells), and meanwhile chopped a small onion and sauted it in butter. Then I poured the broth/broccoli into the onion pan. Then I took the pot from the broccoli and put a glob of butter in and melted it, then threw in a couple handfuls of flour, and mixed that up for a bit until it was all dissolved, and added some milk (about a cup). Then I poured the onion/broth/broccoli into the milk/flour/butter pot and cooked it a bit more until the broccoli was good and soft, and then whipped it up with my handy dandy hand blender, added a bit of salt and pepper, and some grated cheddar cheese. And voila! A rich, filling, relatively healthy cream of broccoli soup created in under 20 minutes.

Is there anything I can't do??

Lasagna, Part Deux

Well last night was leftovers. And as promised, here's Trav's recipe for 4 Cheese Lasagna:

whole wheat lasagna noodles (enough to make 4 layers when cooked)
1.5 lb lean ground beef

Sauce

1 can or jar of your favourite sauce (I just use whatever's on sale)
1 small can tomato paste
1/2 cup finely chopped zucchini
1/2 cup finely chopped carrot
1/2 cup finely chopped tomato
3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 small onion finely chopped
1 tsp oregano
salt & pepper to taste

Cheeses

500g mozzarella cheese
150g cheddar cheese
500g cottage cheese
100g fresh parmesan cheese

In dutch oven (large pot) brown lean ground beef, add remaining sauce ingredients and simmer for about an hour or until veggies are soft. You can use whatever veg you like, these are just what I prefer. While sauce is simmering, grate mozza and cheddar into one bowl and then grate parmesan into cottage cheese into another bowl. When sauce has about 20min remaining, boil large stockpot of water for noodles. The water should be well salted and some oil will help keep the noodles from sticking together. When the water comes to a boil add noodles. About 12min will cook a lasagna noodle al dente. When noodles and sauce are done layer everything in this order: sauce, noodles, sauce, noodles, cottage/parmesan mix, noodles, sauce, noodles, mozza/cheddar mix. Bake in 375F oven for approx 40min. Enjoy! By Trav


Tonight was pretty easy dinner, I just whipped up a Lazy Chicky Noodle Soup, with some chicken stock, sauteed chicken, veggies and noodles. We have chicken out of the freezer for tomorrow. I don't know what it will be yet, though. Stay posted!