Asian Grilled Chicken

I was craving the Best Noodles of Your Life today, so I tried to basically build a meal around that. I decided to try the Asian Chicken from one of my favorite cooking blogs, For The Love of Cooking.


I thought the chicken was good but for some reason it struck us a bit salty and I have no idea why. I used reduced sodium soy sauce and the recipe has no other salty indigents that I can tell. Maybe we were still feeling the effects of my salt potatoes from Friday. But whatever it was, it was still delicious enough for me to pack the leftovers for lunch.


Edited to add: It took me like a whole week to realize, but the problem with the chicken was that I definitely DID NOT use reduced sodium soy sauce. I forgot that I bought a giant soy sauce from BJ's and poured some of it into a reduced sodium soy sauce container. Somewhere, an Asian is weeping at my stupidity.

Crab Legs. AKA I'm in Heaven

Ah summer. I picked up a shit load of snow crab legs at HMart on Friday afternoon and we had an absolute feast.


Dan wrapped the snow crab legs in aluminum foil with some lemon slices, thyme, and a couple tablespoons of Corona Light. He then placed them on the grill for about 20 minutes. We prefer this method over microwaving only because I find it less of a hassle since I don't have to worry about stuffing incredibly long crab legs into a teeny tiny microwave. But microwaving works fine too. Just wrap the crab legs in a damp paper towel and cook for about 2 minutes.


I served the crab legs with salt potatoes. And no this isn't a wonderful new potato recipe. I accidentally over salted the potatoes and they were terrible. Which is a shame because they really did look lovely.


Rich people problems. That's what I like to say when I start feeling sorry for myself about really ridiculous things. My redskin potatoes, that I was serving along side some expensive snow crab legs, were too salty! Or like, I'm so sick of filet mignon! Wah! It's like, shut the fuck up Jodi.


This is kind of irrelevant but look at these incredibly adorable tea light holders I purchased at the Dollar Store about 4 years ago for the sole purpose of trotting out when we eat crab (or I guess lobster since they are also represented on the tea light holders).

Red, White and Blue Cake

Happy Fourth of July!

You can find this lovely cake recipe here. This cake was super easy. Anyone can do it. Do not be intimidated like I was. Piping bags scare me. They give me nightmares.

Here is a fantastically refreshing cherry tomato and green bean salad that I adapted from another great food blog, Smitten Kitchen. Her pictures are so great, they make me cry. The only change I made to her recipe is I used balsamic vinegar instead of red wine vinegar. I also add crumbled garlic and herb feta cheese which is not pictured because I didn't add it until the last minute and then I forgot to take a picture. That is so ME.

And here's some fresh watermelon. No recipe required! I love things like that.


And of course, it wouldn't be Fourth of July without a caprese salad which is basically a fancy way of saying mozzarella, tomato and basil drizzled with some olive olive. American flags optional. I think every Italian grandmother is probably rolling over in their respective graves right about now.

Pesto Pasta with Shrimp and Peas (and Spinach too)

So this is like the second time I've ever taken a picture of my ingredients and I'm never doing it again. First of all, half way through cooking I decided to use frozen peas instead of green beans because I felt it worked better. And second of all, I forgot to photograph the shrimp. Moving on.

This recipe is really easy and it's one I "created" on my own. Here's what you need:

- Store bought Pesto (I used Classico and practically the whole jar)
- about 3/4 cup of peas
- a box of bowtie pasta
- 1/4 toasted pine nuts
- a bag of spinach
- shrimp marinated in fresh chopped garlic and cooked in butter

Start by boiling the bowtie pasta per instructions. Next toast your pine nuts in a small skillet on medium heat until they start to turn brown. In a larger separate pan on medium, add your fresh spinach and a drop of olive oil. Cover and let cook until wilted. Set spinach aside. Using the same skillet, add a bit of butter and add the shrimp and garlic. Cook until shrimp is pink being careful not to overcook. Heat your peas in the microwave (I buy the "Steam in the Bag" kind). Now to your pasta add the spinach and stir. Next add your pesto ( most or all of the jar), pine nuts (be still my heart), peas and your shrimpies. Yes. I said shrimpies. Get used to it.


I almost forget the parmesan cheese! You cannot forget the cheese. If you forget the cheese, you will surely be disfigured in a horrible accident.

So grate some cheese. And sprinkle that shit on top of the pasta. And....

that's it! I hope I didn't forget anything. I'm new at this.

Roasted Vegetable Orzo Salad

There's just something about lamb chops that I love so much. And a few weeks ago, I was really craving them so I pulled out the ones that I had froze over Easter. I decided to serve Ina's Roasted Vegetable and Orzo salad as side. In fact, I pretty much followed that particular episode of Barefoot Contessa to a "T" since I also decided to make a carrot cake. Except I made this one instead.

Chopped 1/2 red onion, 1 yellow and red pepper, 1 small yellow squash,
1 small zuchinni

These are the vegetables for the roasted vegetable orzo salad. Before roasting obviously. Don't they look so colorful and healthy? I love veggies.


These are the vegetables after roasting. They turn out so sweet and caramelized. Roasted vegetables are seriously an untapped resource, people. I think kids would eat their vegetables more if parents just roasted them more often. Or you know what else would get kids to eat their veggies? Tell them they'll get scurvy if they don't.


So in additional to the lovely roasted vegetables, I added cooked orzo, scallions, basil, the lemon dressing and pine nuts. Oh my. Pine nuts are from the gods! They really, truly are. I worship at the church of pine nuts.


This salad is so good, my sister, who positively HATES onions, ate the salad with glee and in fact complimented it. Of course I didn't tell her about the onions. Hee hee. I'm evil. Maybe I'll make a believer out of her yet.

Best Noodles of Your Life

The other day, I made these noodles. These Asian noodles that literally knocked my socks off. These noodles that I plan to make, again and again. Thank you Pam of the fabulous For The Love of Cooking. I used the dressing for the noodles exactly. But for the salad, I eliminated the chicken since I was serving it with steak. I just added snow peas, sesame seeds, 1 red and yellow bell pepper and unsalted cashews. I didn't add cilantro because I don't have a taste for it, but I'm sure it would add an extra delicious element for those who do like it.




I also made skirt steak and used PW's marinade. And it was WONDERFUL.



PW's recipe calls for flank steak, but I think skirt steak works just as beautifully. For all those who want a cheap cut of steak, skirt is your friend. Your very best friend. Your Bosom Buddy, if you will. And I have to confess something. I ate these Asian noodles for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And I'm not kidding. I almost wish I was. But looking at these pictures now, I wish there was more left. OH! And also, as I was eating my fifth bowl, I realized that these noodles are both vegetarian AND vegan. And they are an excellent source of protein (because of the cashews) as well as an excellent source of veggies. I rule.

Chicken and Asparagus Rolls

We absolutely love sushi and sometimes we even love the sushi that non-sushi eaters eat. And that's where Dan got the idea for these fantastic chicken and asparagus rolls that we had for dinner. You won't find any raw fish here.


You start by pounding out some chicken breasts. And I start by taking pictures of my sexy boyfriend. There is just something about a man with a mallet.

Then you wrap the chicken around blanched asparagus and blah, blah, blah, I forgot to take a picture of that. Too busy sipping my sangria. Then you place the rolls on a hot grill. And let me tell you, I think he had a hell of time keeping them from falling apart. Perhaps a couple of tooth picks that had been soaking in water would have worked nicely. OH WELL!

But he persevered and they came out great. The one on the left looks like it's falling apart a little but we won't mention that.


Then we cut them into sushi size bites and dipped them in soy sauce. And then we had a St. Patty's Day party.