Not Exactly Cooking...

Just another cool picture I like

Also, in fairness, it does include wine...

Heirloom Tomatoes!

Pardon me while I indulge in the 

artistic beauty of these heirloom tomatoes...

Alyssa sees lungs, I see an eyeball.

What do you see??

Oh yeah, and they were also sweet and delicious!

Oh how I miss these...

Blood Orange Martini

When blood oranges are in season, I buy a full reusable grocery bag full (12 lbs or so)

a truly perfect beverage for a hot summer day

to make:

get whatever device you have to extract juice

I have a primitive juicer, hoping someday to get the jamba juice style hand-press juicer

prepare to put in some elbow grease squeezing out the beautiful purple, red, and orange juices

in a shaker over ice add:

2 shots vodka (preferably blood-orange infused, obviously)

1 shot triple sec

2 shots fresh-squeezed blood orange juice

shake vigorously and strain into chilled martini glass

garnish with fresh blood orange slices and fresh-frozen raspberries

(fresh frozen means buy them fresh and freeze them, possibly vodka soaked if you want a kick with your post-martini chewables)

Healthy can be tasty

Garlic, black peppercorn, sage-infused olive oil marinated, grilled chicken breast

.... breath...

grilled onions

grilled asparagus

baked sweet potato fries

Wish i had a picture of the infused olive oil, but nevertheless...

 place chicken breast (trimmed) in ziploc bag with olive oil

marinate for 2-24 hours

preheat oven to 425 degrees

slice sweet potatoes (peeled optional) into 1/2-1" pieces

place on non-stick baking sheet or parchment paper-lined baking sheet

sprinkle with salt and pepper

bake for 30-40 minutes depending on crispness desired

while fries are in the oven, preheat bbq grill on medium-high heat

spray grates with pam, place chicken breast on bottom rack

place onions and asparagus on top rack

close lid

turn chicken, onions, and asparagus at approx. 7 minutes

cook for another 7 minutes

Espresso-infused vodka: The prequel

I know I already did a post on this, but it seems to be a pretty big hit with the twenty-something crowd, maybe further, who knows?

So a little DIY in case you'd like to try an infusion of your own

Stage 1

Pour approx. 2 cups vodka out of a 1.5L bottle

Fill with espresso beans

Stage 2

Nothing but waiting, but just wanted to show the progression

This photo is at about 3 hours

Stage 3

In this case, 18 hours, it's a fluid situation

I found the easiest way to get the coffee beans strained out is with...

you guessed it! a strainer!

Pour over strainer into another bottle or into a different container if you don't have two large bottles

If pouring into another large bottle, a funnel is definitely recommended

Asian/Pacific Island Dinner

We've got a sweet and salty dinner here!

Pistachio-crusted Halibut topped with a familiar pineapple salsa

Soy-sauce sauteed orange and green bell pepper, bok choy, and sprouts

Coconut white rice

To prepare fish:

Crush approx 1/2 cup pistachios (or put in coffee grinder/blender on pulse for a few seconds, but not so long the pistachios become powdery.. I like bigger chunks)

mix pistachio with flour, salt, pepper, garlic salt, onion powder, cayenne pepper and put on plate

using tongs, cover fish with dusting

sautee in olive oil until crisp on each side, then bake @450 degrees for 6-8 minutes

To prepare rice:

place 2 cups rice, 1 can coconut milk (14.5 oz i think) and salt in pot, cooking covered untiil milk is absorbed (35-40 minutes)

turn off burner, allow to rest for 5 minutes

fluff with fork

optional: top with shaved coconut (if you don't mind the texture it adds a little more flavor)

Summertime and the grillin's easy

i love colorful food!

NY spiedie chicken cubes on the tin foil

fresh pineapple

zucchini, mushroom, red bell pepper & red onion skewers

not included in this picture is the final preparation of the chicken:

hot dog bun (preferably from the bakery, not just a preservative-laden store brand)

melted provolone cheese

spicy dijon mustard

the very best part about bbq is the ease of cleanup!!!

Sweet & Spicy Pizza

if you know anything about me, you know i love pizza!

this was one of our favorites:

Trader Joe's pizza crust (this was the whole wheat type)

Stone Levitation BBQ sauce (I hadn't dabbled in homemade yet)

pineapple

white onion

jalapeno

mozzarella cheese

parsley

if you know anything about my cooking preferences, you know that if i can make it from scratch, i will

however, i make an exception to this rule with my pizza crust for three reasons:

the crust only costs $1.29

it saves me a full day of prep

i've made dough a few times and the TJ brand just tastes better...

when i have better baking skills and an oven that cooks at an even temperature

i'm sure i'll make my own dough