I grew up in a savory snack household. Give me salami, olives and pickles over any kind of sweet treat. Ever since Costco started carrying those petit cucumbers my dad has set out to master the homemade pickle. He tried garlic and lemon and various herbs, but today when he arrived at our house for a barbecue he proudly presented his tastiest variety – the simple dill pickle.
Here’s his recipe.
Continue reading Simple Dill Pickles | A Free Recipe
Now that I work full time I’m always on the lookout for quick and easy meals. Sometimes I rely on tradition and make this simple chicken dish inspired by my favorite Italian cook, Marcella Hazan.
Every member of my family has her own copy of this fabulous cookbook. Her recipes are not overly complicated. They are realistic and wholesome.
Several years ago my mother adapted her veal scallopini with asparagus recipe to include chicken instead of veal. It has become one of my family’s favorite chicken dishes. And it’s just perfect for hectic weeknights.
Continue reading Weeknight chicken scallopini with asparagus
Spring has sprung (hopefully) and nothing makes your home feel “spring fresh” more than a fresh flower arrangement. Recently I had a coffee meeting with Rachel Christy, owner of Alaska Blooms Peony Farms, and she pointed out that I’m a DIY bride’s florist. Indeed, many of the brides who hire me order the main floral pieces from me and then save money by creating centerpieces themselves. Since I’m a business of one person, I am completely fine with this arrangement. When a bride orders centerpieces I usually hire an assistant.
During a phone consultation with a Kentucky bride, she told me my floral business reminds her of small-batch whiskey makers. These are folks in Kentucky who make whiskey on the side of their normal jobs that are different from the standard whiskeys. I love that comparison.
Anyway, since Mother’s Day is the next floral holiday on the calendar (and often the busiest day for florists) I thought I would share a step-by-step tutorial on how you can make your own flower arrangement. Whether you’re a son, a daughter or a DIY bride, this should be helpful for anyone who is looking to be florally frugal.
If you’re in Anchorage, you can purchase beautiful greenery by the stem at Alaska Wholesale Flower Market. They range from $1.89-2.99 a stem. They also have gorgeous blooms there, but in an effort to save money I purchased grocery store flowers using a buy one, get one half off coupon.
Continue reading DIY Mother’s Day Arrangement – a step-by-step tutorial
My friend Annie is an avid knitter. She’s more of a knitting ninja – she wears her needles down to near stubs because of her always-popular Harry Potter scarves.
In the past few years it seems all of her friends are procreating because she makes a baby blanket nearly every month. I shared her adorable feather and fan lovey a couple of years back and when she posted a scarf with a similar pattern on her Etsy shop yesterday I asked if I could share the pattern.
Continue reading Guest post: Feather & Fan Scarflette
Our son, Jack, turns 4 this week. Since his second birthday we’ve let him choose his party theme. At 2 it was Pingu (please, have a look at this adorable Swedish claymation penguin show), last year it was the Lorax and when I asked him this year what he wanted, he chose the Grinch.
During the holidays we took Jack to a local restaurant to see the outrageous film based on the Dr. Seuss character. It was his first big screen experience so it must have left an impression on him.
Continue reading Grinch-themed birthday party
I recently got a full-time job. This means I come home at 5:15 and if my husband and I want some non-kid, sane time I have 45 minutes to get dinner on the table before we start our son’s bedtime routine.
This is not a lot of prep time, I’ve discovered. It takes all my strength to make something nutritious and non-mac & cheesy.
I am realizing that I need to strategize. I can’t expect to chop veggies, thaw chicken, marinate steak, or do all the other simple, yet time-consuming preparatory steps required to make tasty food.
Here’s the first of hopefully many recipes where you can come home from work, make the food, and then spend some quality time with your family, such as watching “Bob’s Burgers” (that’s what we are currently doing).
Serves 4-6
To make delicious fried rice you really need to start with cold, cooked rice. That’s hard to do when you want to cook a meal in 30 minutes. But if you make the rice the night before while you’re binge-watching “The Voice,” and stick it in the fridge, you’re good to go the next day.
Ingredients:
Directions:
Slice the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Season with salt and pepper and set aside. Combine the butter and garlic in a bowl. Set aside. Heat a large skillet over high heat. Lightly coat the pan with vegetable oil.
Pour the eggs in the pan and let set for a minute before stirring vigorously. Set eggs aside. Wipe pan clean and add a little more oil. Toss in the chicken and sauté till cooked through. Set aside.
Add the chicken stock, veggies and onion to the pan. Sauté until veggies are cooked through. Add the sesame oil and 1 tablespoon of the garlic butter. Start crumbling the rice into the pan with your hands, about a cup at a time. Add a little more butter between handfuls. Add the green onions.
When butter and rice are incorporated in the pan, stir in the eggs and chicken. Add the soy sauce and cook until rice gets a little crispy if you like. Add pepper to taste.
Store the leftovers for lunch or cook up some ham or Spam and have breakfast fried rice.
There’s no other time that I feel as though I’ve failed at life as when I hard boil eggs. It seems like a simple endeavor: boil eggs, cool them, peel them. But usually my eggs are impossible to peel.
When I asked my friends on social media why I can’t seem to successfully peel an egg, I got all sorts of egg-cellent suggestions from running them under water as I peeled them, to shaking them vigorously in a jar of water (totally didn’t work). The most frequent response I got was I was using too-fresh eggs.
I dutifully tried every suggestion but got no closer to a peelable egg. Finally, I heard a new one: steam the eggs.
I tried it. It worked. Here’s how to make the perfect hard-cooked egg. *note: after trying this method three times, the only successful batch was when I steamed 4 eggs. When I tried to steam 12 they didn’t get cooked through enough — but they were incredibly easy to peel!
What you’ll need:
Some eggs
A pot
A steamer basket
Directions:
Fill your pot with about an inch of water and bring it to a boil. Place your eggs in a steamer basket and lower them into the pot. Cover, turn the heat to medium and steam for 13 minutes.
A couple of minutes before the eggs are done, fill a bowl with ice and cold water. Transfer the eggs to the bowl and let them cool for 15 minutes.
They peeled perfectly!
Yay for life hacks.
Looking for a good egg salad recipe? Try my chicken salad but substitute eggs!
Today is a soup day. It’s rainy, grey and I just want to stay inside. Plus, after recently having major surgery, I’m on a limited diet of soft foods. When I noticed I had a couple of sweet potatoes in my pantry I decided to use them to make a blended, flavorful soup.
I’m not much of a soup chef. I have my minestrone, but that takes a lot of chopping. When a friend brought me some butternut squash soup last week she said all she did was roast everything and put it in a blender with some stock. Easy peasy.
This soup is sweet, savory and slightly creamy. Perfect for a day like today.
Serves 5
Ingredients:
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Peel the carrots. Place the carrots and the whole sweet potatoes on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for one hour. Remove the carrots and place the whole, peeled garlic cloves in the pan. Roast another 15 minutes or until garlic is golden brown.
Meanwhile, heat the oil and butter in a pan and sauté the onions until translucent, about 7 minutes. Roughly tear up the sage and place in the pan. Sauté for another 2 minutes. Turn off heat and set aside.
After the sweet potatoes have cooled slightly it should be easy to remove the skins. Chop them into rough pieces and place in a blender with the carrots, garlic, onions and sage. Add 2 cups of stock and blend for a few minutes, scraping down the sides if necessary.
Put contents in a soup pot and add remaining cup of stock. Bring to a boil, turn down heat and simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
A few minutes before serving stir in the cream cheese until melted and well combined. Serve with a sprinkling of freshly grated parmesan.
A couple of weeks ago I was packing for a two-week vacation in Mexico. Our family trips consist of sleeping, eating and lying around, so I have a lot of time to knit. I wanted to work on a pattern that was easy and quick to finish.
I’m not usually a fan of knitting scarves as they go on forever and ever, but I realized I don’t have many scarves and the cowls I’ve made muss my hair when I take them off.
I don’t do lacework and cable scarves have a wrong side, which I find unattractive. That’s when I found a free downloadable pattern from Ravelry called the Reversible Chevron Scarf designed by Debbie Seton of The Crimson Rabbit.
This scarf has a beautiful texture and the design, which is made up of just knits and purls, looks the same on both sides. Just what I wanted!
Continue reading Reversible chevron scarf
Our family just came back from a two-week vacation in Nayarit, Mexico. One of the perks of the place we stay in is a housekeeper who cooks for us. Moña used to run a restaurant out of her home and she’s the best Mexican chef I know. I yearn for her chiles rellenos and chilaquiles.
One of her specialties is battered, fried cauliflower. I’m not a cauliflower enthusiast, but when it’s prepared like chiles rellenos, I’m sold.
Florets are coated in a delicate egg batter, pan fried and tossed in a simple tomato sauce. The florets turn out perfectly tender, almost like al dente pasta.
The difficulty with my trying to make Moña’s recipes back home is our lack of delicious produce. Our fresh tomatoes are usually terrible and our onions aren’t nearly as sweet.
Here is my attempt at one of Moña’s signature side dishes. It’s accompanying pulled pork enchiladas and mexican rice. Look for the rice recipe below.
Serves 4
Ingredients:
Directions:
Place the flour, chicken stock, sugar, chile powder and tomatoes in a blender. Blend until smooth. Set aside.
Separate the eggs and whip the whites until stiff. Fold in the yolks.
Pour oil in a small sauté pan. There should be about a half-inch of oil in the pan. Heat over high heat. When hot, dip florets in the egg batter till covered and drop them in the pan. You’ll need to do several batches but they brown pretty quickly. Spoon oil over the florets as they brown on the first side, then turn them all over and brown on the other side.
Drain the florets and place on a paper towel-lined platter. Set aside.
Heat a tablespoon of oil in a large skillet and sauté the onion and garlic until soft. Add the blended tomato mixture and oregano. Stir until thickened. If too thick, add more chicken stock. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Add the cauliflower florets and simmer for 5-10 minutes.
Serve on a platter and sprinkle with cojita or monterey jack cheese.
Serves 4
Ingredients:
Directions:
Heat the butter in a large sauté pan. Toss in the rice and cook, stirring for a few minutes until the rice is lightly toasted. Pour in 1 cup of stock and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for five minutes.
Add another cup of stock, the carrots, onion and garlic. Cover and cook for 15 minutes.
Check the rice every now and then to see if it needs more liquid. Add more stock if necessary.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Alaska Knit Nat 