Posts from — June 2010

A quick note: Happy Birthday to my dear friend, Anne Lyons! Annie, I’ll see you this afternoon to celebrate your special day – so your “real” birthday post will be tomorrow, with pictures and all! Until then, I love you and HaPpY BiRtHdAy!!! xoxo

The theme of one of our kid’s cooking classes this week was “Mexican”. For dessert, we made these chunky quadruple chocolate cookies. What made them “Mexican” was the inclusion of Ibarra chocolate, which can be readily found in Arizona grocery stores.  If you live elsewhere and your store doesn’t have an expansive Hispanic section, Ibarra can be purchased online. What makes this chocolate special is the distinct cinnamon flavor. It is imported from Guadalajara, Mexico and the ingredients are sugar, cocoa nibs, lecithin, and cinnamon. It is primarily used to make hot cocoa or in baking. Ibarra is not often eaten like a candy bar because its undissolved granulated sugar makes a rough and gritty texture. Each package contains six 3.1-ounce chocolate tablets. Another fun aspect of these treats is the dipping of each cookie into three different chocolate glazes, making them extra festive and decadent. Muy Bien!

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Along with yesterday’s cherry crumble post, we made this fall-inspired “pancake” for Monday’s breakfast-inspired cooking class menu. Cherries may remind us of summer and apples more of autumn, but luckily apples are around all year long. I’m not sure what I was thinking when I placed this on the menu (way back in March when I sent out the registrations-schedules) for the summer classes. I have a very similar recipe I call the Magic Pancake Basket which uses a strawberry topping after the pancake comes out of the oven… that would have been more summer-like. Oh well, apples or strawberries – this morning treat is a winner every single time.

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For Monday’s cooking class, our menu was “breakfast”.  The luscious ending to our meal was a cherry crumble. To me, cherries are the epitome of summer. As soon as I see them appearing in the market, my eyes and taste buds light up, especially for the Rainier cherries! Unfortunately, Rainiers are not yet in season or readily available here, so we used Bing cherries today. Either variety is wonderful and oh so very pretty in this summertime dessert.

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Boneless skinless chicken breasts – convenient, practical, readily available from your freezer… and boring! Seriously, sometimes I’m so sick of trying to think of new and exciting things to do with chicken breast, I nearly swear them off. But when I am honest with myself, I know that I really do like the convenience, availability, and practicality of the staple known as boneless, skinless chicken breasts. So instead of swearing them off, I decided to “fancy” them up a bit, after getting some inspiration from this lovely recipe: instant pot frozen chicken breast.

Enjoy.

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I wouldn’t actually call this true “fusion” cooking, but the idea is mixing two cuisines, in this case, Italian and Mexican.  According to Wikipedia, Fusion cuisine combines elements of various culinary traditions while not fitting specifically into any. The term generally refers to the innovations in many contemporary restaurant cuisines since the 1970s. So, true fusion cooking would do a bit more than just add pepper jack cheese and corn to risotto!  No matter, it’s delicious anyway.

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Since this post was originally put up, a charitable non-denominational organization called Spirit & Word was founded and established with initial funding from the estate of Bill Austin. They do wonderful work and you can contribute or just go there as a spiritual resource.  CLICK HERE to learn more.

Bill Austin 1954- 2010

Yesterday a friend of mine passed away after a brave battle with bladder cancer. He was not the kind of friend who I would see often, actually, I only saw him in person about a dozen times. But I heard his voice 5 days a week for nearly 20 years… and man.. could he make me laugh!  Not only me but hundreds of thousands of people across the Valley of the Sun and throughout the state of Arizona.

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I found out today that I am older than the fajita. This makes me seriously depressed! I can deal with being older than say; cell phones, laptops, GPS, and a wide assortment of technological gizmos or even the Microplane zester!  But older than fajitas… that’s just not right!

According to Wikipedia, ” Sonny Falcon is believed to have operated the first commercial fajita taco stand at a weeklong outdoor event in Kyle, Texas,  in 1969 (let’s just say I was already in elementary school by then). He also went to rodeos, fairs, and outdoor festivals selling his fajita taco. An Austin reporter christened him ‘The Fajita King’ and Falcon was able to trademark the name.” And according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word fajita is not known to have appeared in print until 1971 (at least I was still in grade school at the time).

Originally only skirt steak was used for this Tex-Mex icon, but today, popular meats include chicken, pork, shrimp, and just about all cuts of beef.  As an example; my sister Sloane had boneless bottom round on hand, so she marinated it overnight and we grilled that up for a quick and delicious fajita dinner.

Thank you, Sloane, and I have to say that the Dos Equis Cerveza in addition to the fact that I was the victor in our 7-person – 3-hour marathon of Mexican Train Dominoes, did relieve a bit of my new-found realization about just how old I am!

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Although this recipe has quite a long list of ingredients, with the assistance of the food processor and a well-stocked pantry, it couldn’t be easier. Of course, it doesn’t have to be Tuesday to serve this as a quick dinner or as a side to grilled meat. And you can always add shredded chicken or cooked shrimp if you don’t want to go the vegetarian route. It’s a guaranteed family pleaser!

Oh, and if you’re local, you may want to watch Valley Dish on NBC Channel 12 tomorrow (Wednesday, June 2) at 4:30. I’ll be on with Tram Mai making Penne Pasta with Maple Mustard Chicken.

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