National Tempura Day!

 All right, I know I was a day early celebrating since we had tempura in our sushi last night, but maybe that just means that for once I'm ahead of the game!

National Spaghetti Day!

 As if you need another reason to enjoy a delicious bowl of spaghetti!

no, this is not a picture I took.
 (dinner didn't last long enough for me to capture one!)

Missionary Sandwich

 One of my favorite family recipes is the Missionary Sandwich. The name coming from one of our favorite meals to make when we would have the missionaries over (pretty self-explanatory), and whenever we get the chance we still beg my mother to make them. I've made them a few times myself in the past, but have yet to make them for my husband, so I thought I'd add it to the menu this week.

 Here's what you'll need:

Hoagie rolls

Thinly sliced ham 

cheddar, grated

onion

tomato

avocado

alfalfa sprouts

butter

 And here's what you do:

Turn oven onto Broil (low), with rack moved to the very top. Lightly spread butter and both sides of the open face hoagie roll. On one side goes the shredded cheese, and the other side gets the ham and onions. Place on a baking sheet and put into the oven for about 3 minutes. (Just enough time to melt the cheese and crisp up the bread). Then just add on the tomatoes, avocado and sprouts and it's good to go!

 The only exception I had to make this time was the lack of alfalfa sprouts due to an apparent recall on them, but it's still just as delicious. The husband loved it, and I loved that it took about 5 minutes to throw together!

Housewifery and Pie Baking

This last Thanksgiving also happen to be the first Thanksgiving that my husband and I had together, and also our first as husband and wife, so I wanted it to be as special as possible. We were invited to my sister's house for dinner with the family, so I was off the hook for cooking the turkey. (I've still yet to cook one on my own, and quite frankly I'm a little intimidated by the idea.)
 A tradition on my side of the family is a pineapple pie and it's not Thanksgiving for my husband without a pumpkin pie, so that's what I set off to make. I had never made a pie before, and I wanted to try some fun decorative things on them that I had found on Pinterest (of course), and I was so nervous about how they would turn out. And as much as I really wanted to attempt making the crusts from scratch, after much debate and conversations with others, I concluded that whatever I made was not going to be as tasty as a pre-made dough.

Pumpkin Pie:

Ingredients

• ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• ½ teaspoon salt

• ½ teaspoon ground ginger

• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves

• 15 ounces canned pure pumpkin

• 2 eggs, lightly beaten

• 12 ounces evaporated milk

• 1 9-inch unbaked pie shell (Pillsbury ready made)
• Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Combine the sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger and cloves in a bowl and mix well. Set aside.
3. Combine the pumpkin and eggs in a bowl and mix well. Add to the sugar mixture and mix well. Add the evaporated milk gradually, stirring constantly. Pour into the pie shell.
4. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees. Bake for another 35 to 40 minutes or until the pie tests done.

The extra step that I added to this was that about 15-20 minutes before it was done I pulled it out of the oven and placed on the leaf cut outs (made out of the second pie shell in the pack) and then brushed them with egg yolk that was combined with food coloring. And the final product:

And the most important thing was that my husband LOVED it!! (Also, since he's on a very short list of family members that even like pumpkin pie, he got most of it to himself!)

As for the pineapple pie:

1 (20 oz.) can DOLE Crushed Pineapple
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
¼ teaspoon salt (optional)
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 tablespoon lemon juice 
Pastry for 9-inch double-crust pie (Pillsbury ready made crust again)
Instructions:
Combine crushed pineapple, sugar, cornstarch and salt in saucepan. Cook, stirring, until thickened and clear. Stir in butter and lemon juice. Cool slightly.
Pour filling into unbaked 9-inch pastry shell. Top with second crust and flute edges, cut slits in several places. Bake at 400^⁰F., 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly golden brown.

This recipe should be doubled. I made it the way it said and it only filled the pie crust about halfway. I realized this once my filling was completed and in the cooling down process and so I made the decision to add a little design to the edges. I knew that I would be adding leaf cutouts across the entire top of the pie, and so I took a different leaf cookie cutter and made the impressions all the way around and folded over the top of the filling. The leaf cutouts were just placed over the whole thing and cooked at the same time and temperature. A really simple addition to any pie!

For my first pies they both turned out surprisingly well and tasted delicious. We had a great time with the family and my fear of baking pies is gone. That is until I attempt my own crust . . . . .

I am Officially a Housewife

  As some of you may already know, I've been making some adjustments to my personal life. After many conversations between myself and my wonderfully supportive husband, we have decided that it's time for me to pursue some other opportunities. I have finally made the leap from working wife to housewife(/student). I enrolled a little while ago in some online courses and have been very slowly making my way through, and now I'm able to focus on that full time! And hopefully now that this shift has happened I'll also have more time to dedicate to the blog (which I've really been missing!).

  Also, now that I'm back writing again, I couldn't start up with just any old thing, so tonight for dinner we spiced things up, Moroccan style! One of my favorite places is Marrakesh, the restaurant in Portland Oregon, not the city in Morocco (although I've never been there and am sure that I would love it there too!). It wasn't somewhere that I went often, but I always enjoyed the experience whatever the occasion. If you are one of my many Portland area readers and haven't checked it out yet, you definitely should. And if you are one of my many readers from elsewhere, or just want to save some money, I suggest having a Moroccan night in your home too!

  My husband had no idea what he was in for as I was whisking around the kitchen preparing dinner with ingredients that you don't too often find in our house, but I'm sure common in most other homes they are more common. In fact one of the biggest appeals to this meal, besides the familiar smells wafting though our home, was that I only had to run to the store for 3 things! Another added bonus was that the main course hasdbeen prepared in the crockpot, so NO FUSS! 

  For those of you familiar with the Moroccan way, we ate dinner sitting on the floor and eating with our hands this evening. And we started that awesome meal off with a salad, but not any ordinary salad, a roasted eggplant salad! In Morocco they call it Zaalouk, and it turned out perfectly! (After Ryan's first bite there was a loud and resounding "MMMMMMMMMMM!")

Roasted Eggplant Salad: Zaalook/Zaalouk Recipe

4 servings

For the eggplants

1 medium eggplant
3 to 4 tablespoons olive oil

For the sauce
2 medium tomatoes, peeled and diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 tablespoon chopped parsley, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 420 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cut off the top and bottom of the eggplant and peel it, leaving sporadic strips of skin throughout. Cut it into 1-inch cubes. If the eggplant is old and excessively seedy, you may need to salt and drain it for at least 30 minutes before use, otherwise proceed directly. Place the eggplant cubes in a single layer in a baking dish or cookie sheet and generously brush them with olive oil. Roast them for 25 to 30 minutes (I'm at a little higher altitude and I only roasted them for about 15 minutes and they were perfect). Remove from the oven and mash the eggplants on a cutting board with a fork or potato masher.

In a medium sauté pan, cook the tomatoes with garlic and olive oil over medium heat, for 5 to 7 minutes. Add the mashed eggplants and cook for another 10 to 15 minutes, mashing them some more with a spatula to completely blend with the tomatoes. Remove from the heat and stir in the sea salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin and vinegar.

Serve warm, cold or at room temperature, garnished with chopped parsley. Serve flat bread or crusty bread (I went with a crusty artisan flat bread that I found for $2 at the store) **I served it with finely diced cucumbers and green leaf lettuce (again, that's how it is prepared at the restaurant, but you can take it or leave it). 

  It comes out looking, or at least mine did, like a big pile of mush. But, if my memory serves me correctly, that's what it looks like at the restaurant and it smelled EXACTLY the same! It can be served warm, but I prefer it the way that I've been served it in the past, which is kinda cold. The greatest part is that you can quickly make this up after you've thrown dinner in and let it chill for a while in the fridge, then just pull it out right when the crockpot goes off and VOILA! And speaking of dinner, the main course tonight was:

Lemon and Olive Chicken!

Ingredients:
2 cups chopped onion
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I actually used chicken thighs because I love the taste of them)
1 lemon, thinly sliced
1 cup green olives (you can always add more, I did!)
1 tbs white vinegar
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 cup swason 99% fat free chicken broth
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

Place onion in bottom of slow cooker. Arrange chicken breasts over onions. Place the thinly sliced lemon's on top of the chicken breasts, add olives, vinegar, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Slowly pour broth over chicken.

Cover and cook on LOW for 5 to 6 hours or on HIGH 3 to 3 1/2 hours, or until chicken is tender. Add parsley before serving.

 I can't even begin to tell you how awesome your house will smell!

  About 5 minutes before the Crockpot went off I whipped up some Cous Cous (SUPER EASY TO MAKE, just follow directions on the box) and dinner was ready! I know that this might seem like a lot, trust me, I thought the same thing before attempting it, but it really is one of the easiest meals I've ever made and with the greatest reward. 

  It was definitely something different than we normally do, and I'm fortunate enough to have a husband who is equally as adventurous and doesn't just roll his eyes when I carry dinner past the dining room table and set it on the coffee table. :) 

I'm in Love With a Wonderful Guy!

  It may or may not surprise you that I love musicals. One of my favorites would definitely have to be South Pacific. My earliest memory with this musical was going over to my grandparent's house and my grandfather was sitting in his chair watching it. And I remember curling up by his feet and watching it with him. And now every time I watch it, which is probably twice a month, I think of that time fondly. The other thing I think about, is how much there is no way I actually understood anything that was really going on in the movie. Even still, I notice something new every time that I watch it. Or maybe it's just that every time I watch it I am in a different place and just see it differently. Either way, this last time that I saw it, just a few days ago, I gravitated toward the song "I'm in Love With A Wonderful Guy". It happens in a part in the movie that she has all by written him off, by "washing him right out of her hair", and then of course he shows up and as soon as she sees him it is undeniable that she loves him. It's hard not to smile when watching this.

  What I love most about the song is that it's exactly how we should feel with the person that we're with. When you are with someone that makes you so happy that it overflows and you can't help but sing it from the rooftops (or in her case the beach)! You may not express it in song and dance, but I hope that you do express it in someway. As much as I love watching it in the movies, I'm personally not a big "song and dance" type of person, but I show it in other ways. From the way that I cut up the bread when I make french toast (because I know that he likes the french toast sticks) to making sure the house is clean when he gets home so that we have more time to spend together. And, of course, everyday I tell him how much I love him and how much I appreciate everything that he does for me.
  As a side note: Ryan likes to remind me that instead of using up valuable/limited DVR space to keep this on the recorded list, I could just put in the disc of it that he bought for me. But it's like hearing a song on the radio that you know you have the cd for and could listen to anytime that you want, it just sounds so much better on the radio. Or when you've watched Julie&Julia for the 17th time, because they keep showing it, but I wouldn't take the time to put in the DVD that I have. I know that it's silly, but I also know that I'm far from alone in this!

Menu Monday!

  Ryan says to me last night, "If this taste even half as good as it smells, then it's going to be the best thing you've ever made!".
  And it did.
  And it was!

  I love trying new dishes, and I love it even more when they turn out good! Dinner last night was no exception. And just like the rest of my meals, the gyros that I made for dinner were quick, easy and delicious!

For the meat:

1 lb. ground lamb (which I thought would be hard to find, but it was right next to ground beef in the deli!)
4 cloves of garlic, grated
1/4 c. grated red onion
1 tsp. dijon mustard
salt and pepper
1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. chopped rosemary (dried or fresh)

*mix it all together (I like using my hands!) and then throw it straight into a hot pan to brown up. The instructions said to make patties out of it, but I decided not to!

For the Tzatziki sauce:
1 1/2 c. plain Greek yogurt
1 clove garlic, grated
1 tsp. lemon juice
3 green onions, finely chopped
1 tsp. dried dill weed
1/2 med. cucumber, peeled and grated (when it's grated, the flavor seems to infuse into the sauce a lot better)
salt and pepper to taste

*combine and chill for at least an hour before using.

  And that's basically it! Grab a pita, pop in the meat, top with the sauce and some thinly sliced red onions, tomatoes and feta, and you've got yourself dinner! I honestly thought that it would more complicated, or that I would spend a bunch of money on all the ingredients. But once I figured it all out, the only things that I didn't already have at the house were the lamb (which was only about $5), the dill weed and the rosemary (which I now have and can use it so many other things).

Now, I know you're thinking to yourself, "But Ashley, what about dessert?" Don't you worry, I got that covered to.

  Dessert was a quick and easy (duh!) chocolate mousse pie! I whipped up a packet of chocolate pudding, mixed in a little cool whip, tossed it in a pre-made graham cracker crust and topped with a thin layer of more cool whip, and PRESTO!
 
Add it all together, and what have you got?

One very happy husband!