Happy Christmas!

It's over. Kind of a relief. Although we got a lot more X-mas decor that I put up after shopping extreme clearance on December 26th. Christmas was really nice, though. We cooked a ham (have you done that? turns out baking a regular ham is tasty and not salty like the processed ones and takes a long time.) We had a variation of a Swedish smorgasbord. We went to the Grand Canyon on Christmas Eve, we were there with all the shintos and hindus and other Christmas rejects. My dad and his wife were here, we did a bunch of things I'd wanted to do with them, mostly involved eating different places. Like here and here.
It was nice not to travel for once.
It was nice to have them here and also kind of nice when they left Saturday afternoon and we went to True Grit and had another night and day of holiday weekend left. In all a perfectly lovely southwestern Christmas, it was even a white one (no, not an SB1070 joke) with the reasonable amount of snow we got on the 22nd.
Even though I am among the Christmas rejects, I was/am still grateful for the opportunity to spend time with people (and dogs) I love. Another highlight is that I ate way, way too many meatballs and have been practically mainlining broccoli and green pepper strips while I'm at work this week to try to compensate. Mmmm. Meatballs.

Recipes!

You may be still slogging through a turkey-hangover and totally grossed out by majority-poultry recipes... but then you can just keep these in mind for 2011. I segued straight from turkey (and red wine) hangover to sick-as-dog holed up in bed. It's awesome. And I've watched some great chick-flicks, like Confessions of a Shopaholic and The Proposal. And I'm not getting better? So weird.

1. Chicken Enchiladas. I've made approximately this recipe a bunch of times now with great success. I sometimes use roasted green chiles instead of tomatillos (depends on what we get from the CSA). I have done it with cooking my own boneless or bone-in chicken (instead of using the deli roasted chicken) and it does just add this other level of complication and time committment. I would also recommend making a whole big tray since even with the deli chicken, its a bit of an ordeal and more satisfying if you can either feed a bunch of people with them or eat them for many meals. They're delicious.

2. Chicken Tagine. This one is courtesy of the Plaitkens. But I also made it and can vouch for its ultimate deliciousness. I just somewhat cooked the chicken in a pot before adding it to the other ingredients. The microwaving situation skeeved me out, the comments seem to agree.

3. Parmesan & Thyme Crackers. I haven't actually made these, but I have eaten them. Check out the recipe and see why they're sooo good.

1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
4 oz grated parmesan (about 1 cup)
1 tsp minced thyme
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Cream all ingredients together, roll into a ball and then a log and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for at least 30 min. but up to 4 days. When ready, cut into 3/8 inch rounds and bake for 22 minutes on parchment paper at 350 degrees.

Brush with Fame

I got my haircut last week. But this isn't about that. While I was in the chair, this song was playing:



A guy from a neighboring restaurant came to deliver some food. He said, "hey, this is my cousin's band!" I thought, "wow! I wonder who is cousin is. Does Jeff Tweedy's cousin work at a bbq place in Flagstaff?" And then he said, "yeah, the Rembrants!" Remember these guys?



So, only slightly less cool, I met the cousin of some guy from the Rembrants.

Eggs!

Recently we decided eggs are something we're willing to spend more money on. Charlie and I can both taste a difference in grass-fed/free range eggs and now that I'm eating some eggs again (thanks, Simvastatin!), we want the good ones. Also, eggs are one of the only foods I've heard of where the organic or natural version is actually substantially more nutritious and healthy than the regular version. For example, 1⁄3 less cholesterol, 1⁄4 less saturated fat, 2⁄3 more vitamin A, 2 times more omega-3s, 3 times more vitamin E, 7 times more beta carotene than typical eggs. We've even casually discussed getting our own chickens... but I put the kabash on that until we live in the same place... all of the time. Anyway, soon after we decided to pony up more for eggs, a woman who works in my building began selling some grass-fed eggs from her local friend's chickens.
They came today, aren't they gorgeous? It's like an Easter Basket for lazy people!

Simmering

At our house right now...

Slow Cooker Chipotle-Lime Chicken Thighs Jamaican Rice and Peas

and

Cuban Black Beans

and

Tuna Tostadas

Post-bar life is grand!

Divine Intervention

Just the other day I wondered aloud where we were going to get girl scout cookies this year. And sure enough, this evening a knock at the door from our mini patched and vested neighbor and her dad! Two thin mints, one samoa and one tagalong, please! Praise Jesus.

Roasted Chickpeas

I first had these when I was home for Thanksgiving, my mom had made them. I made them the other night and they are too good not to share. Take some canned chickpeas (they shrink when they're roasted, I wouldn't go through the hassle with fewer than 2 cans-worth.) Rinse them well and put in a pan with just enough olive oil to keep them from sticking.

Seasoning is up to you, I used garlic powder, sea salt, cumin and garam masala and was pretty pleased with the result-- a little zesty but not overwhelming.

Put the pan of seasoned chickpeas in a 350 degree oven for about 50 minutes, every ten minutes or so shaking the pan around to keep them from burning.

The chickpeas end up a little crunchy and almost like snack nuts or something. Delicious!

Make These!

From this recipe. Eat them with small corn tortillas, queso fresco and avocado. Add some tomato-less corn salsa from Trader Joe's. You will be very grateful as a salty/sweet and delicious jubilee occurs in your mouth.

Soup to Nuts

I am a sicky sick-poo. Just a cold, but it's really knocking me down. I spent my lunch break sleeping in the back seat of my car. For an hour. Draw your own conclusions. After work I picked up our first real CSA share, the last one was just kind of a between-seasons thing. Notable in the share were pistachios, roasted green chilies and canteloupe! Oh my goodness.
Anyway, here's what I did tonight, I recommend it:

Bake a butternut squash- this way works well.

Scoop out the insides and add to food processor with some melted chicken stock you had in the freezer and then defrosted. Add a head of roasted garlic you weirdly made two days ago when you roasted all of the garlic in the house and ate one head of it by itself. Things get weird when Charlie is gone. Puree. Add some Bayou Blast (recipe at the bottom here. Better yet, add this shit to everything you make, because it will make it better. Anything. I swear. Use Kosher Salt because that also makes everything better. Together, it's magic.)

Mix the puree in with the remaining chicken stock. Try not to use too much chicken stock and have to try to boil off the excess like me. Voila, roasted garlic butternut squash soup!

And then, if you like me, go to bed by 8:30 because you're still sicky sick sick.

Let's Play

Let's play a game I am going to call "find the flaw." Since moving to Arizona, we've been going to Sonic... a lot. I've only eaten there once, though- these trips have all been for drinks. Every day from 2-4 pm is "happy hour," therefore half-priced, and I so get a Route 44 size diet cherry limeade for $1.32. I enjoy it very much. So naturally I have been trying to figure out how it's bad for me and why I should stop. Now, at 26 calories for the whole she-bang, it can't be that. And at half-price, it's not a habit that will break the bank. It's not carbonated... so there goes bone-loss. I guess artificial sweeteners aren't good... but, really, can someone please tell me why I should stop? Have I found the last safe vice, might I float away, brain curdled by maraschino cherries?

Unrelated

To my last point, Ferris Bueller just started on AMC. Although we own two copies on DVD, I feel compelled to watch. At least glad they recognize it is an American Movie Classic.

Related to two posts ago, the homemade yogurt on its own is a little intense (I used whole milk as the website suggests for starting out) but then I let some sit in a colander with cheese cloth in the fridge for 24 hours. I added some salt and garlic powder-- and it's a delicious tangy and savory sour cream/cream cheese type topping something like crackers. THAT I cannot recommend highly enough. My next attempt will be with skim or 1% in an attempt to make such a delicious thing with some kind of health benefit over the original.

Oatmeal Pancakes

I made oatmeal pancakes this morning (before the aforedreamed nytimes and coffee session), basically this recipe. Except not really at all. All of the ingredients, except nutmeg and wheat germ because I didn't have any. And about 3-6 times as much oatmeal, but cooked, steel cut oats. They were good, real good and a nice way to avoid sweet breakfasts leaving me vaguely nauseated and hungry an hour later.

I am also experimenting withe making my own yogurt from here. And even looking forward to making my own laundry detergent when what we have runs out. Although I've always really liked making things I never considered I could make myself, I do have to give credit for many of these ideas to the Christian Mommy Blogs I've been frequented. I mean, I might not believe in Satan. Or hell. Or Jesus. Or "submission" to one's husband. Or letting God decide how many kids one has (since apparently God always chooses, like, 17)... but I sure can I get behind saving a buck or two!

I'll let you know how the yogurt, laundry detergent and possible birth-again turn out.

You Might be Moving if...

You peel and lay the strings from a string cheese across a freezer-burned boca burger, microwave it and call it lunch.

I'll save you the picture I took, it's gross. Lunch was saved by Cholula and sliced tomato from the "farm."

Sandwiches

Charlie and I sometimes talk about our future project, opening "Macon Coffee." Macon Coffee will definitely be a cool coffee shop... sometimes it will also offer the opportunity for people to fix their bikes there and/or get legal advice and fill out pro se materials. Whatever form it ends up taking, obviously we'll need to develop a menu of expensive sandwiches. So we periodically create sandwiches and name them after wherever we are. The Bandelier is pb and avocado on wheat. The Franklin (our street in Madison) is pb and melted cheese... on wheat. There's some others but neither of us can remember them tonight. But tonight, ladies and gents, I've developed the Flagstaff Snack Plate. It's Ryvita (rye/sesame) crackers with avocado smooshed over it (no knifes at the Ramada, apparently), slice of pepper jack and some turkey. You may have noticed a theme, or rather, that all of our sandwiches are made from essentially the same ingredients. WHATever. Keeps overhead low, right?

Mildly related sad story: Local news reporting that shoplifting hasn't increased, but that now people are stealing food, firewood and personal hygiene products. Sad face.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Democrats

This is all a little tongue in cheek, but I've really been appreciate President Obama and the dems lately. Maybe because I am the not-working poor.

Some examples:
I listened to a lot of NPR on my drive home from Michigan yesterday. Judge (soon to be Justice?) Sotomayor is so great. What a cool, calm, collected, smart, experienced choice she was. Also, this is maybe my law nerd side, but everyone needs to shut up about how judges are supposed to be umpires. This may be more true in trial court or even appellate court. But one thing I learned from my stint at the WI Supreme Court to a lesser extent, is that cases only get up to that level because they are tough calls. And because both sides have a strong argument and could possibly prevail. Sometimes precedent needs to be overturned-- or we'd be stuck with b.s. like segregation. I know she wasn't supposed to say it, but Sotomayor's quote about policy being made in federal appellate courts... is true. And I for one would rather have someone smart and fair who understands how it works. She's totally not perfect, seems to be really law & order (not in the re-run good way) and pro-prosecution, but criminal cases are really infrequently heard by the Court, comparatively. And I'd rather have that lady, with her experiences and biases, evaluating my case than Clarence Thomas. Once he figures out how to tie his shoe. Also, hip hip hooray for Al Franken's first, well, really anything since getting sworn in. He was smart and humble, I thought. Just how I like my men...

Ok, also, I was getting really jazzed about Dr. Regina Benjamin for Surgeon General. Maybe I'm being naive and we'll learn she has a Cruella DeVille coat made of puppies... but so far, she looks awesome. Coastal Alabaman community doctor for the poor?? Swoon. Again, good work President Obama.

Now on to the personal. I just renewed a book from the Madison Public Library online. This may sound simple, but it's really, really cool that there is a free place that anyone can go and get books. Kids and moms and homeless people and-- me! So, thanks, government for funding the library.

My foodstamps card came finally! I'm officially on the dole. No, this is not how I pictured life after law school... but I am very happy to live in a society where we have things like food stamps. And I will continue to happily pay into these programs for the rest of my working life.

And, finally, thanks to the Dems for getting me relatively cheap COBRA health insurance coverage. You guys are the best!!

Question

Sweet Jesus, who is eating a hamburger every day and did we need a ten-year study to tell us those people will die sooner?

See here.

Ok, back to studying for second exam in 2 days. In 22 hours, this whole law school thing is done. Weird. And awesome.

Recipe Ideas

Hi Friends,
Here are some recipes I've made recently. They're all relatively easy, very tasty and good for people with cholesterol situations.

Asian Chicken Cabbage Salad- pretty simple, healthy and has a nice flavor. Cabbage is supposed to be so good for you. Nutrition and so on. Go ahead and invest in sesame oil, a teeny amount really makes the difference in dishes like this.

Aloo Gobi- you know, that delicious cauliflower and potato dish you may recognize from the Indian Buffet? One thing I'd recommend before jumping in to too many Indian or Indian-inspired dishes is checking your local co-op for bulk spices. We belong to Willy St., but it's only a 10% surcharge if you don't belong. And the spices are SO much cheaper this way. Like I have been buying 2-3 oz. of spices for under $1/each. And also you can just get as much as you'll need, so if it's something more unusual you're not stuck with a buch of leftover that will just go stale. Of course, then you'll probably need these like me, too.

Vegetable and Chickpea Curry- this stuff is amazingly delicious. I forgot to buy green beans last time and so made it without, which was still great but I am looking forward to making it again.

Slow Cooker Chicken Chili- Ok, I made this with ground Turkey. And the tapioca aspect is pretty weird. I mean, it's not like you notice it, it's just strange. But this stuff is good, the best addition is the shredded sweet potatoes (a superfood!). Uncharacteristically, I did not add the beer. I love beans. All beans.

Speaking of beans. I have been making a delicious Southwestern Black Bean Salad. Kind of an amalgam of different recipes-- black beans, corn, green peppers, red onions, some red wine vinegar, some olive oil, cumin, salt & pepper. Maybe a minced hot pepper like jalapeno or serrano. Kind of like this.

Speaking more of beans, I am working my way through the 7 lb. can purchased at 40%. Last night I made these Bean and 'Bello Burgers, and I highly recommend them. I used twice as much Worcestire because Charlie is afraid of mustard, I might next time add some salt, but I do like my stuff salty.

Happy Valentine's Day

Bargain City

First things first, Sophy is a mysterious badass/heartthrob.

But second, I did the funnest thing today, you guys. Well, yesterday I had Thanksgiving... which was very fun (and I didn't even shut down and sleep through half of it like I did last year...) But TODAY, Charlie and I visited a nearby Cub Foods grocery store that is going out of business. All regular groceries there are 40% off (including the cherry Pucker schnapps and alcohol-free wine) and some things, like greeting cards and medicine were 60-85% off. It was amazing. We got all this weird food from the completely picked-over store-- and for so cheap! One good find was an industrial-sized can of black beans-- 23 servings for $5. Also lots of marinades, salad dressings and pickled things, some cheese and mini-marshmallows. The whole thing made me feel very rich and it was one of my favorite things I have done recently. Which is weird and maybe a little sad.

I can tell how jealous you are, internet. There is a lot, a lot of Cream of Mushroom soup left-- so get over there!

New Orleans Recap

Got back from another week in New Orleans late last night. I recently figured out I've spent 17 weeks over the past 2 years there. That's a lot... Anyway, I thought I'd recap by recapping what but mostly where I ate. So if you know someone going there, you can tell them about the good places.

Friday:
Ribs at Interstate BBQ, Memphis. Apparently famous. They are not kidding when they say the $8 rib tips are for a "big appetite."

Saturday:
Beignets from Cafe Du Monde
World's Healthiest Pizza (Mediterranean...mmm...)
BBQ at Josie's

Sunday:
Ruby Slipper (crab cake brunch)
Pat O's (2 hurricanes, and they sell food?!?! My americana classic, wings and salad)
No dinner= still a mistake

Monday:
5 Happiness (funny name and a little expensive for dinner, but good lunch specials and really tasty high quality chinese food.)
Oki Nago dinner (Yes, it's a buffet in Metairie... but it has all you can eat sushi, oysters, mongolian grill for $15?!?! Yes!)

Tuesday:
5 Happiness leftovers
Liuzza's By the Track (get the gumbo)
Jacques Imo's (alligator sausage cheesecake, fried green tomatoes with shrimp remoulade) + Maple Leaf (Rebirth Brass Band)

Wednesday:
Juan's Flying Burrito (everything is good. My fave over the summer was the jerk shrimp salad-- with mango and goat cheese? Delish! This time I got the luau quesadilla. Mostly for the bacon.)
Liuzza's (unrelated to the other Liuzza's-- fried pickles, shrimp po' boy)

Thursday:
Red Beans & Rice at Lauren's House.

Friday:
Slices (andouille & shrimp pizza? ok!)
Harbor Seafood & Oyster Bar (if you're the airport, go here. It's awesome and a dozen really good oysters on the half shell are $6)

And so I am back... and feeling I need a full body cleanse.