Polentina with Bananas and Maple Syrup and Black Bean Sausage Chili

Recipe: Polentina with Bananas and Maple Syrup and Black Bean Sausage Chili

So I cheated a little this weekend. How did I cheat? Well, I'll get to that in a second. My cheating all resulted from a major case of the blah's. What are the blah's? Well to me, they are when you just feel off your normal game or not your normal self. And I'm not sure why, but I had the blah's all weekend. And with the blah's came very little motivation to do anything. I was supposed to cook Polentina, Rosemary Spoon Bread, and Tortilla soup. I went grocery shopping on Saturday, got everything I needed and came home with the intention to cook, looked at the large pile of dishes in the sink from the Tuna/HV adventure on Wednesday, gave a big sigh and retreated to the couch to watch my DVD's of The Wire, season 4. Cooking makes me very happy. Cleaning up my cooking messes does not. And seeing the 3 day old pile of dishes particularly depressed me Saturday for some reason. I sometimes get overwhelmed at the thought of something and mentally check out. Sometimes it's not even a major event that overwhelms me. I mean they were just dishes, for pete's sake. But I just didn't feel like dealing with anything on Saturday. After a few hours of trying to motivate myself, I said screw it and decided to cook on Sunday. On Sunday morning, I got up, cleaned up the kitchen and felt like I had my mojo back. After cleaning the kitchen, I moved on to making my Polentina. Polentina is a breakfast dish made with corn meal. Polenta is a boiled form of corn meal, and Polentina refers to a more liquid or creamier form of polenta. It's a very comforting food, and it's very easy to make. It's also a very filling meal, similar to the way oatmeal is filling. If you don't like oatmeal, or want a change, I would definitely try this. To make it, boil milk, water, sugar, and salt and whisk the corn meal into the boiling liquid. Then for the next 15 minutes, let the mixture simmer while stirring it every couple of minutes. Top the bowl of Polentina with sliced bananas, warm maple syrup and melted butter. It is so very good. I sat down with my comforting bowl of Polentina, a cup of Mint Green Tea, and watched "The Other Boleyn Girl" all before noon. I was so proud of myself for getting back on track. And then....well let's just say the comforting bowl of Polentina was a little too comforting. So comforting in fact, I ended up falling asleep until 4 in the afternoon. :)

All of this leads me back to my cheating. I woke up from my nap, and realized the motivation I had took a nap with me. But unlike me, my motivation did not wake back up. At that point, I realized this just isn't my weekend for being productive and I said "Yeah, I'm not cooking spoon bread or tortilla soup tonight". And then I decided to cheat. I pulled out one of my old standby Taste of Home recipes, Black Bean Sausage Chili. It's quick and easy to make. Oh, and most importantly, it's freaking delicious. And since I did cook something, it made me feel less like a slacker. To make it, cook Italian sausage with a few cloves of garlic. Then mix in chopped green pepper and onions and cook for a few more minutes. Next pour chili powder, diced tomatoes, black beans, corn, tomato paste and sauce and a handful of dried herbs (no dicing fresh herbs for me tonight!) and let it all simmer for 30 minutes. Before serving the chili, top it with shredded cheddar cheese. If you ever need a meal and are short on time or motivation to cook, this is the recipe for you. So there you have it. I guess since I did make something from my Williams-Sonoma cookbook, it's not truly cheating. I just didn't accomplish all I wanted to accomplish. But I will say, the Black Bean Sausage Chili isn't too bad of a back-up plan. Quite honestly, cheating has never tasted (or looked) so good before. ;)

Polentina with Bananas and Maple Syrup

Black Bean Sausage Chili

Seared Tuna with Italian Herb Sauce and Haricots Verts with Shallot & Lemon

Recipe: Seared Tuna with Italian Herb Sauce and Haricots Verts with Shallot & Lemon

I didn't just cook for 1 tonight! Yay! My friend Sarah is in town for work and is staying with me. So I got to have another guinea pig for my experiment. And Sarah is engaged to Terraun, my other resident guinea pig. So now, being my guinea pig is a family affair. And since I was sharing my adventure, I invited my friend Henry over also. I love cooking for other people, especially when they like the results. Cooking for yourself is lonely sometimes. And after 4 days of Chicken Pot Pie, no matter how good it is...it gets a little monotonous. So I was very excited to be able to share my adventure with my friends. This was another very fancy, stylistic meal. And another one to add to my dinner party portfolio. This one actually looks fancier than the pork chops and twice-baked potatoes meal. It wasn't quite as simple as that meal, but by no means was it stressful to prepare. Now, have you wondered what Haricots Verts are yet? When it popped up randomly, and I saw what the recipe was, I was thinking, "What the heck is this? What odd vegetable has Williams-Sonoma come up with now?". Being the inquisitive person that I am, and being very afraid I wouldn't find these Haricots Verts anywhere in the Mid-Ohio Valley area, I googl'd them. And yeah...they're green beans. :) So apparently the French term for green beans is Haricots Verts. Ha! That sounds so much more fancy than green beans. So from this moment on, I shall call green beans Haricots Verts. Or HV's, which is what Sarah and I ended up calling them by the end of the night. Verts is also an acceptable term.

So for these two recipes to have come up randomly, they complemented each other very well. I started by making the Italian Herb Sauce because it needed to sit for an hour so the flavors could meld. And man did it have a lot of flavors in it to meld. I put an anchovy fillet, a minced garlic clove, Italian parsley leaves, fresh mint leaves, capers, dijon mustard, and red wine vinegar into a food processor and pureed it all until it was smooth. I was somewhat nervous with the anchovy at first. Although I've never had anchovies, it just seems they aren't a very well liked food. While I was shopping for food today, I told Sarah I would be home after I found my anchovies, and she also took pause for a second. I think when people hear the word anchovy, they immediately get grossed out. It's like one of the red-headed stepchildren of the food family. But in the essence of my adventure, I shall try all foods, the loved and unloved alike. And Sarah was happy to commit as well. Turns out, we had nothing to worry about. All of the flavors were pureed together so well there's no chance we would've tasted the anchovy anyway. So while the sauce was in the fridge melding, I started working on the HV's. I boiled the HV's for about 6 minutes, and then put them in ice to stop the cooking so they stayed crisp. I sauteed shallots for a couple of minutes and then added the HV's and continued sautéing them. Then at the end I added lemon zest and sauteed for 30 more seconds. I added chopped parsley, salt, and pepper to season. And this dish was complete. I knew it was good well before the meal was ready to serve because Henry kept sneaking over and stealing pieces of HV's. In fact, I almost had to ban him from the kitchen. I'd never think to put lemon zest on HV's, but it gives it a really fresh taste. Hmm, I wonder what other vegetables would also benefit from lemon zest? Brussels Sprouts, perhaps??? :) To sear the tuna, I just cooked the steaks on high heat for 90 seconds on each side. Then, after asking my guests if they wanted rare, medium rare, or medium tuna steaks, I cooked each side for 60 seconds longer for medium. Actually, I think they were more medium-well, but they were still really good. In fact, this was an awesome meal. It was fancy and healthy and easy to make. And Sarah and Henry both loved it. Yay! In fact, in addition to my usual picture to show how the meal turned out, I have the "5 minutes after the meal was served" pictures of Sarah and Henry's plates. Needless to say, they devoured this meal. A definite sign of a successful experiment. :) So while I didn't have much left over from this meal, seeing my friends enjoy it was a much more fulfilling reward than eating HV's for the next 3 days.

The final masterpiece

Sarah's plate before it was devoured

Henry's plate, 5 minutes later....

Sarah's plate, 5 minutes later...

Pork Chops with Apple & Onion and Twice-Baked Potatoes

Recipe: Pork Chops with Apple & Onion and Twice-Baked Potatoes

Finally! After exploding potatoes, a badly managed weekend, and being incapacitated by a bad toothache last Wednesday, I finally made my twice-baked potatoes! Fourth times the charm, eh? I have to say, the recipe was worth the wait. Both of them were. When one day I am living in a new area and have all kinds of wonderful dinner parties for my friends, this meal will definitely be on the menu. And it only took me 2 hours to cook both dishes. Since the potatoes had to bake for one hour, I'd say I didn't do too bad at all with time management this time. Sometimes when I cook, I like to listen to Inspirational music, especially Hillsong, to get me in the mood. But not this time. I went all the way random on the music playlist. I had everything from Kanye West to AC/DC to Stevie Wonder to Santana to 2Pac bumping Saturday night. Music is my other "Happy Place". I love to escape into the beats of a track or find something I can connect to in the lyrics of a song. As strange as it sounds, I think music was my first best friend. As a kid, when I really couldn't verbalize what I was thinking or feeling, music did it for me. And for some reason, with the combination of my fully random music library going and finally being able to cook a meal I've been attempting to make for 2 weeks, I was in a zone.

While my potatoes were baking, I snipped the stems off my spinach leaves, minced my shallots, and shredded my cheese for the potatoes. Then since I still had time, and I was on my time management game, I sliced the yellow onion and the green apple for my pork chops. I even had time to make the rub for the pork chops. Now, I've always known that sage is the magic seasoning for turkey because it brings out a good flavor in the turkey. But I never knew it was the same for pork also. For my rub, I took sage, salt, and pepper and rubbed them over my 4 pork chops. I had to let them stand at room temperature in the rub, so I let the pork chops do that while I worked with the twice-baked potatoes. Actually, by the time I finished fixing the rub, my potatoes were done baking so I went right from prepping the pork chops to working on my potatoes. I'm telling you, I was time management queen. And yes, I actually pulled 4 whole, intact potatoes from the oven. Of course, if you could have seen the way I pierced those poor potatoes before I put them in. :) Let's just say, it's a good thing there's no such thing as protective services for vegetables. I think I would've been taken in for domestic abuse by way of stabbing. To make my filling, I sautéed the shallots in butter and garlic and then added the spinach. I was skeptical when adding the spinach at first. I used two bunches of spinach leaves, which is a lot of green leaves. At first I was somewhat concerned I had misinterpreted what 2 bunches really meant. But the leaves wilted to about 1/4 its original volume by the time it was all said and done, so I felt much better. Next, I scooped out the potato flesh from the shells, mashed more butter, sour cream and salt and pepper in, and mixed the mashed potatoes with the spinach mix. This entire mixture was loaded back into the empty shells, and back into the oven the potatoes went for 20 minutes. A very tasty and fancy dish, that is a piece of cake to make. Of course, that is if you can make sure your potatoes don't explode in the beginning. :) Now, while my potatoes were baking a second time, I switched back to my pork chops. The technique for this dish was also pretty simple. I just seared the pork chops on both sides until they were brown and not pink on the inside. Then I took the chops out of the pan, and added the onions and apples to the pan and sautéed them in the pan drippings. After about 5 minutes, I deglazed the pan with Chardonnay, and viola! The pork chops were complete. And I have to say, apples and pork chops together is definitely a keeper on the list of things I'll be eating again and again. They were sooooo good.

Sometimes things seem much more complicated than the really are. If I were to look at the picture of my dish, I would think it took a lot of effort to cook this meal. But this meal offers style, without the stress. And that gets a two thumbs up from me. Of course, when I serve it to my dinner guests, they don't have to know it's a no-stress dish. They can all think I worked for hours to prepare a stylistic and tasty dish for them all. Of course, that means I'll have to invite people that don't read my blog. But that's just a minor detail...

Chocolate Chip & Pecan Cookies

Recipe: Chocolate Chip & Pecan Cookies

I had this great menu planned out to cook this weekend. I was going to remake (or make for the first time) my Twice-Baked Potatoes, Pork Chops, and for dessert Chocolate Chip & Pecan cookies. But once again, my Time Management curse strikes again! Somehow with not much to do all weekend, my entire weekend flew by and I'm not sure how. And I only completed 33% of what I wanted to accomplish. Dang life and how quickly things go by. :) No complaints, I did good stuff this weekend. I actually de-cluttered my house and unpacked from my recent trip out of town (which is why I didn't cook last weekend). I went to the beauty salon (always a good thing). I did an impromptu bowling outing with some of my work friends. And I had an awesome workout with my trainer. Earlier this month, I started working out with a trainer. And I have to say, I'm liking the results. I could say, I'm liking the way my arms and legs are starting to tone up, or how I'm seeing my waistline slimming down. But seriously, my favorite result so far has been...my bowling score. Bowling for me usually results in a lot of gutter balls until I drink about 2 or 3 beers. Then I can at least hit 6 of the 10 pins. But typically, I don't often break 75 points in a game. But wouldn't you know, I broke 100 twice last night. Yay! I think the muscle I'm building helped me throw a more controlled ball. Now, none of this has to do with cooking, but it does make me happy. And since the blog is not just about my cooking in my happy place, but my journey to finding more happy places, there ya go. My journey is going to find me one buff, tough cooking machine before it's all said and done.

But back to my cooking adventure. After I worked out on Sunday, I went to the store to get groceries. By the time I got home, it was 3:30. I'm thinking, not so bad. I should be able to do 3 recipes in 5ish hours. What was I thinking??? I thought I'd do the cookies first so I could bake them and get them out the way. Then I'd have the oven free for the baked potatoes and I could prep the rest of the meals while the potatoes were baking (and hopefully not exploding). But my first mishap was when I realized I didn't have Vanilla Extract. I always check before I go to the store, and I swore I had Extract. So...back to the store I went, which lost me 30 more minutes. I finally got in a groove though. But the groove was a slow moving one, as usual. One of the things I liked about this cookie recipe, was that I ground the pecans in with my flour, baking soda, and salt. I also put bigger pieces of chopped pecans in with the cookie dough at the end, but grounding them into the flour mixture was a new one. I'm happy with the way my cookies turned out. And they looked just like the cookbook! Usually the picture in the book tends to vary some from my final production. But my cookies looked exactly like the cookbook. I had enough of the cookie dough before they finished cooking to know they were good. Eating cookie dough is my favorite part of baking cookies. I wish I could just make cookies to just eat the dough. But I don't know how healthy that would be. Between all of the cookie dough and the cookies I ate, I think I undid every second of my workout today. But man were they good. Oh and what did the rest of my cooking adventure in for the night was when I got on the phone with my friend Terraun. I actually got on the phone while making my cookies, but while I waited for them to bake we kept talking and reviewing the most recent events of Pop Culture. And a 20 minute conversation turned into 90 minutes. And next thing you know...it was 7:00. And I decided to punt on the potatoes and the pork chops. At least I got my cookies done. :) And they are really good. Maybe I should be nice and take some to work tomorrow. Or maybe, I'll savor them all for myself. Then again, I've already undone one day of working out. Not sure I really want to undo the last month. But then again....