Despite the pelting rain and cold damp air yesterday Jon and I ventured out onto the beach for a walk along the shore. We started out out down by Little Beach (also known as Harbor Beach) and made our way along the shoreline in the direction of Howe's Beach. We walked along the ice shelf picking our way along the naturally made trail for a half an hour or so. It was a great walk, so refreshing and peaceful. There's something about a deserted winter beach and cold salt air that can really clear your head. I was starting to go a little stir crazy and after the walk I felt totally refreshed.
The walk pretty succesful too, we found 3 lobster buoys and about 20 yards or so of rope. My husband puts out lobster traps every year so he was happy to find perfectly usable stuff just washed up on the beach.
By the time we got home I had that cold to the bone, almost achey feeling. I don't consider this a bad thing, I actually love the feeling you get after being out in the cold wet weather because then you can come inside take a hot shower and just totally relax. And that's just what I did, and it was awesome. Ten minutes in a steamy hot shower, then changed into cozy clothes and settled in with the book I've been reading. Which is a good book by the way, worth reading. It's titled Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls, she also wrote The Glass Castle.
So after a little bit of reading I got my totally relaxed but off the couch to make dinner. I tried something that I have eaten many times but never actually made at home, Quesadillas. They were so good and super easy. Low prep, low clean up, and you really can't screw them up. They made an awesome comforting dinner, I served them with Zatarians Red Beans & Rice, but they'd be great for an app or snack as well. I had a leftover triangle for lunch today and it was really good cold too, all the flavors had blended togther and the jalapenos had kind of blended into the cheese and gave it a really nice bite. If you're interested the recipe is below. You could play around with this too, add corn, peppers, avocado or whatever you're in the mood for. For those of you are looking to keep to a food budget, like myself, its a super affordable meal as well. We are actually going to make burritos tonight with the leftovers!!
Chicken Quesadillas
serves 2
3/4 lb boneless chicken breast
2 plum tomatoes chopped
red onion diced - use as much or as little of this as you want
canned jalapenos chopped - optional
1 cup shredded mexican blend of cheeses
1/2 lemon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
season chicken with lemon juice, salt, and pepper
place on grill pan and cook through
once cooked shred the chicken or dice into small pieces
place a layer of chicken on top of one tortilla, sprinkle with desired amount of tomato, red onion, jalapenos, and cheese (keep in mind that you do need a fair amount of cheese to make it good and gooey)
top with a second tortilla and place the whole thing on the grill. grill on each side for about 3 minutes or until tortilla is crispy and golden in color. Remove from grill and place on a sheet pan, repeat with second quesadilla. Once they are both toasted place them in the preheated oven for abotu 10-15 minutes until the cheese is completely meleted. Remove from oven, cut into quarters and serve.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Cold Feet
Well we got more snow last night! Not too much but just enough to cover the bare spots created by the rain in a thin white blanket. I actually was happy for the rain, despite the damp cold that it brings with it. I was just glad it was melting the snow as it pelted the ground.Our cats were not so excited about the rain, I don't know if I've mentioned that we have four cats, yes that's right four. It's a bit much in our small house but we love them and I wouldn't trade them for the world. We had two until Fleezly our big orange guy, who by the way is really an awesome big fluffy cuddle bug, disappeared last spring. My husband found him when he was just weeks old with a litter of strays in a parking lot. He looked like a miniature lion with big blue eyes, honestly the cutest thing I think I have ever seen. So anyways, he was gone for about a week and a half and my usually well composed husband was a mess, he was so upset about the fact that we thought the cat had been eaten by coyotes and was gone for good. My friend Christine and I saw and add one day for two orange kittens, brother and sister, that needed a home together b/c they were such good buddies. We had lunch at the Lost Dog and had a long convo back and forth about whether or not we should go look at them. So we drove to Brewster, just to look of course at least this is what we told ourselves, needless to say once we got a hold of those two tiny furry balls of cuteness neither one of us could walk out without them. So 10 minutes later Christine's sitting in the passenger seat with a basket of kittens on her lap as I'm driving back towards Dennis. And of course two days later as I'm walking out the door to work who shows up on the back porch but Fleezly! So that is the story on how we ended up crazy cat people.
I did have a point as I started writing this, and it was this. I think even the animals are very ready for spring. The chickens and ducks have been yelling at me ever since the last snow. The cats barely go out and when they do they walk along gingerly lifting their paws trying to avoid the snow as best as possible, shaking off the wet icy mess every few feet. Two days ago the ducks yelled just about from morning until night. They had food, water, hay ect... really everything that they needed to be comfortable but they were just plain pissed off. It seems that they hate walking in the snow and they have just about had it with being couped up in the pen, where at least the snow melts immediately from the constant movement of chicken toes.
I think next winter we are going to invest in a pond heater so that no matter the weather the ducks have a place to take a dip. Hopefully that will solve their winter blues.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Fabulous Food!
Jon and I went to a great restaurant last Saturday night. We went with my sister, my parents, and their two friends that were down for the weekend. My parents picked the restaurant and they decided on The Peddler. Tucked in on a side street off 6A over by the Brewster Bookstore, it's a true hidden gem.
The food is to die for! The place is run by the chef, who is also the owner, and his wife. She single handedly waits on all of the tables, there's only about 10 but still its a feat on a saturday night, while he turns out mouth watering dishes such as duck a l'orange and a bolognese that will make you think you're dining in Rome rather than Cape Cod.
With just two people they manage to turn out unbelievabley delectable dishes. Most of the fare is inspired by French and Italian cuisine. The sauces are amazing, and the French Onion Soup, ordered by 5 out of 7 of us, is out of this world. My husband, who had never been there before Saturday, said that the duck was hands down the best he had ever had. He can't wait to go back. I would say we're a group of fairly picky eaters and there was nothing but compliments as we savored every last bite of our meals!
This would be the perfect Valentines Day spot for any couple looking for a quiet romantic setting and great food. The only thing I would say is try to get there on the earlier side as it does fill up around 7:30 or so and there are not many tables to go around.
Happy Eating!!
The food is to die for! The place is run by the chef, who is also the owner, and his wife. She single handedly waits on all of the tables, there's only about 10 but still its a feat on a saturday night, while he turns out mouth watering dishes such as duck a l'orange and a bolognese that will make you think you're dining in Rome rather than Cape Cod.
With just two people they manage to turn out unbelievabley delectable dishes. Most of the fare is inspired by French and Italian cuisine. The sauces are amazing, and the French Onion Soup, ordered by 5 out of 7 of us, is out of this world. My husband, who had never been there before Saturday, said that the duck was hands down the best he had ever had. He can't wait to go back. I would say we're a group of fairly picky eaters and there was nothing but compliments as we savored every last bite of our meals!
This would be the perfect Valentines Day spot for any couple looking for a quiet romantic setting and great food. The only thing I would say is try to get there on the earlier side as it does fill up around 7:30 or so and there are not many tables to go around.
Happy Eating!!
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Fresh Eggs
Late last winter my husband and I decided to get chickens. His parents had them when he was younger and he was really into the idea of having fresh eggs. At first I was totally against the idea, I thought it would be a ton of work and that the coup would smell. But after I did a little research I started to come around. The idea of fresh eggs ultimately is what persuaded me, I had never had one before our chickens started laying, and I have to say they are totally worth it. The yolks are this bright sunny orange, not the pale dull yellow you get with store bought eggs. They are also really firm, for instance if you're cooking a sunny side up egg and you pierce the yolk it doesn't run all over the place you really have to work to make it go anywhere. We make eggs all the time now, omlets, egg sandwich's, scrambled, over easy, you name it and we've been making it. I was never a big egg eater before this but the fresh eggs are absolutely delicious. I also love the fact that we know the chickens are healthy and chemical free. A couple of months ago we had to buy a dozen store eggs, I think it was around Christmas and because I was doing a lot of baking I needed more than our chickens were laying. Well, every single egg we cracked in that dozen had a double yoke. Why I have no idea, but it definitely creeped me out a little bit.
The other aspect that brought me around was the variety of eggs that you can get. We got 9 chickens (we're down to 7 now b/c 2 turned out to be roosters and the town doesn't allow you to have roosters in a residential neighborhood) and we get brown eggs, pink eggs, and blue eggs. The blue are my favorite, they come in different shades of a beautiful antique blue/green that I really love. I have saved my favorite shells for paint color swatches for our front door. We get about 4 eggs a day so we have plenty for ourselves and some to give away.
The chickens, although not really pets, do have some personality. They are funny to watch. They run and jump and flutter through the air. They are not graceful in any way but they are pretty animals. I love to see them laying in piles in the sun. In the warm weather they will all come out of their coup and rummage around in the dirt pecking at whatever they may find until they all collapse in a heap to bask in the summer sun for a while.
As it turns out they really are not all that much work to take care of. I go out every morning and re-fill their water and check on their food supply. We got them a heated water bowl for the winter to keep it from freezing. I fill up a bucket from the kitchen sink and lug it out for them in the morning, it's even easier in the warm weather when the hose we had set up near their coup is turned on. We gather the eggs every afternoon, wash them off, date them and put them away. I thought it was really intersting that you can keep fresh eggs out for up to a week before refrigerating them. Other than that the only real maintenance is cleaning out the coup once a week. And the big bonus is that come spring we are going to have awesome compost for our gardens! Chicken manure is really good for the soil.
So in the end I love having chickens, we are going to be getting a few more to add to our flock this spring. We also have two ducks in the group, they don't lay anymore but they are great pets. They have great personalities and are so funny when they splash around in their baby pool. Now my husband is on to pigs....
The other aspect that brought me around was the variety of eggs that you can get. We got 9 chickens (we're down to 7 now b/c 2 turned out to be roosters and the town doesn't allow you to have roosters in a residential neighborhood) and we get brown eggs, pink eggs, and blue eggs. The blue are my favorite, they come in different shades of a beautiful antique blue/green that I really love. I have saved my favorite shells for paint color swatches for our front door. We get about 4 eggs a day so we have plenty for ourselves and some to give away.
The chickens, although not really pets, do have some personality. They are funny to watch. They run and jump and flutter through the air. They are not graceful in any way but they are pretty animals. I love to see them laying in piles in the sun. In the warm weather they will all come out of their coup and rummage around in the dirt pecking at whatever they may find until they all collapse in a heap to bask in the summer sun for a while.
As it turns out they really are not all that much work to take care of. I go out every morning and re-fill their water and check on their food supply. We got them a heated water bowl for the winter to keep it from freezing. I fill up a bucket from the kitchen sink and lug it out for them in the morning, it's even easier in the warm weather when the hose we had set up near their coup is turned on. We gather the eggs every afternoon, wash them off, date them and put them away. I thought it was really intersting that you can keep fresh eggs out for up to a week before refrigerating them. Other than that the only real maintenance is cleaning out the coup once a week. And the big bonus is that come spring we are going to have awesome compost for our gardens! Chicken manure is really good for the soil.
So in the end I love having chickens, we are going to be getting a few more to add to our flock this spring. We also have two ducks in the group, they don't lay anymore but they are great pets. They have great personalities and are so funny when they splash around in their baby pool. Now my husband is on to pigs....
Being a native New Englander I should be used to these long, grey, cold winters by now having lived through 29 of them. But somehow come February I start wishing the warm sun would hurry up and get here. This is my second winter living full time on Cape Cod, and I am really enjoying it. Its a slower pace, and can be really quiet at times but it gives me a lot of time do things that I probably wouldn't be doing if I still lived in the Boston area.
For instance I just baked my first loaf of bread from scratch the other day. My friend lent me a great book of no knead bread recipes and I'm planning on working my way slowly through the book until I get the hang of it. The book is called "My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method" by Jim Lahey. It was really quite fullfilling when it came out of the oven and I discovered that it came out perfectly, well maybe not perfectly but it was pretty damn good if I do say so myself. So after waiting 18 hours for it to rise, it only took about half an hour to come out of the oven smelling heavenly and delicious. Between my husband and I we ate 3 small baguettes in two days! So, I'm thinking next time I will be giving some away or I'll have to start giving my pants away instead.
We dont' go out that much this time of year so I've been trying to get a little more creative, and wallet friendly, in the kitchen. Last night I made a lemon buerre blanc sauce (first time making anything like it) and poured it over a piece of grilled haddock. I served it with grilled asparagus and cous cous. It was great, I based the sauce on a recipe out of the Joy of Cooking but made a few changes to try and make it a little healthier, although not by much. If you interested check out the recipe below.
I know cooking is not huge in a lot of peoples daily lives and sometimes it seems so time consuming. There are definitely days when I come home and the last thing I want to do is stand in front of the stove. To be fair though I have to say that typically I really do enjoy cooking quite a bit. It's almost therapuetic for me. I love food, cooking, and eating! I could get lost in a good grocery store for hours looking at all the great cheeses, veggies, and treats. Last nights dinner was minimal prep and really once everything is on the stove you don't have to do much at all. So it was pretty simple over all but very tasty. It would be an impressive meal to serve for friends, and they wouldn't have to know you barely did any work!
It's nice to have a few go to easy yet delicious recipes in your repetoire. Especially in a time when a lot of people are cutting back and the restaurant dinners are getting fewer and further between. I think it's really rewarding to serve your friends a good meal that you've created in your kitchen.
You should note that most of my recipes are pretty non structured. Meaning if you want more garlic add more garlic, if you want to use chives instead of capers go ahead. Add veggies to the cous cous, whatever you prefer. You can really be creative with this stuff, thats what makes it easy and keeps it intersting.
Grilled Haddock
1-2 lbs of haddock (you could really use any fish the sauce is versatile)
salt and pepper the fish and coat with a light drizzle of olive oil
Place the haddock on a hot grill pan, cook about 7 minutes on each side (time will vary depending on thickness of filet)
Lemon Buerre Blanc with Capers
2 garlic cloves minced
zest of one small lemon
1/3 cup of white wine
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
3/4 stick of butter
2 tablespoons capers
Add 1 tablespoon of butter to the pan and melt over medium heat. Add the garlic, saute for about 30 seconds to a minute. Add the wine, lemon zest, and rice wine vinegar. Cook over medium heat until reduced by half. Add the remaining butter to the pan. Cook until combined. Add the capers.
Drizzle over the grilled fish.
Cous Cous
1 14 ounce can of reduced sodium chicken stock
1 1/4 cups cous cous
3 cloves minced garlic
1/4 cup white onion diced
Coat a sauce pan with olive oil and add the onion and garlic to the pan. Cook over medium heat until the onion is translucent. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Add the cous cous, remove from heat and cover. Let stand for about 5 minutes. Stir and serve.
Grilled Asparagus
1 bunch of asparagus
olive oil
salt and pepper
Place asparagus on a hot grill pan and drizzle with olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste. Roll the asparagus around a bit to get them coated with the oil. Cook about 7-10 minutes until they are softened a bit and have nice dark grill marks.
For instance I just baked my first loaf of bread from scratch the other day. My friend lent me a great book of no knead bread recipes and I'm planning on working my way slowly through the book until I get the hang of it. The book is called "My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method" by Jim Lahey. It was really quite fullfilling when it came out of the oven and I discovered that it came out perfectly, well maybe not perfectly but it was pretty damn good if I do say so myself. So after waiting 18 hours for it to rise, it only took about half an hour to come out of the oven smelling heavenly and delicious. Between my husband and I we ate 3 small baguettes in two days! So, I'm thinking next time I will be giving some away or I'll have to start giving my pants away instead.
We dont' go out that much this time of year so I've been trying to get a little more creative, and wallet friendly, in the kitchen. Last night I made a lemon buerre blanc sauce (first time making anything like it) and poured it over a piece of grilled haddock. I served it with grilled asparagus and cous cous. It was great, I based the sauce on a recipe out of the Joy of Cooking but made a few changes to try and make it a little healthier, although not by much. If you interested check out the recipe below.
I know cooking is not huge in a lot of peoples daily lives and sometimes it seems so time consuming. There are definitely days when I come home and the last thing I want to do is stand in front of the stove. To be fair though I have to say that typically I really do enjoy cooking quite a bit. It's almost therapuetic for me. I love food, cooking, and eating! I could get lost in a good grocery store for hours looking at all the great cheeses, veggies, and treats. Last nights dinner was minimal prep and really once everything is on the stove you don't have to do much at all. So it was pretty simple over all but very tasty. It would be an impressive meal to serve for friends, and they wouldn't have to know you barely did any work!
It's nice to have a few go to easy yet delicious recipes in your repetoire. Especially in a time when a lot of people are cutting back and the restaurant dinners are getting fewer and further between. I think it's really rewarding to serve your friends a good meal that you've created in your kitchen.
You should note that most of my recipes are pretty non structured. Meaning if you want more garlic add more garlic, if you want to use chives instead of capers go ahead. Add veggies to the cous cous, whatever you prefer. You can really be creative with this stuff, thats what makes it easy and keeps it intersting.
Grilled Haddock
1-2 lbs of haddock (you could really use any fish the sauce is versatile)
salt and pepper the fish and coat with a light drizzle of olive oil
Place the haddock on a hot grill pan, cook about 7 minutes on each side (time will vary depending on thickness of filet)
Lemon Buerre Blanc with Capers
2 garlic cloves minced
zest of one small lemon
1/3 cup of white wine
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
3/4 stick of butter
2 tablespoons capers
Add 1 tablespoon of butter to the pan and melt over medium heat. Add the garlic, saute for about 30 seconds to a minute. Add the wine, lemon zest, and rice wine vinegar. Cook over medium heat until reduced by half. Add the remaining butter to the pan. Cook until combined. Add the capers.
Drizzle over the grilled fish.
Cous Cous
1 14 ounce can of reduced sodium chicken stock
1 1/4 cups cous cous
3 cloves minced garlic
1/4 cup white onion diced
Coat a sauce pan with olive oil and add the onion and garlic to the pan. Cook over medium heat until the onion is translucent. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Add the cous cous, remove from heat and cover. Let stand for about 5 minutes. Stir and serve.
Grilled Asparagus
1 bunch of asparagus
olive oil
salt and pepper
Place asparagus on a hot grill pan and drizzle with olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste. Roll the asparagus around a bit to get them coated with the oil. Cook about 7-10 minutes until they are softened a bit and have nice dark grill marks.
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