more grillin'

Inspired by my bro and the epic Minnesota weather of late, I'm at the grill most evenings (except, of course when I run out of gas in the middle of the meal...but that RARELY happens two years in a row, right?). Here's a recent evening's fare:

Bleu Cheese Stuffed Burgers, Yukon Potato Wedges and Spicy Green Beans


Bleu Cheese Stuffed Burgers
3-4 tablespoons grated onion (like a vadalia)
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
1 egg (trust me, it helps keep the burger moist)
1.5 lbs ground beef (I use 90% or leaner ground beef)

Mix above together and roll into four balls. Press thumb into middle of ball - about an inch in. Fill with one tablespoon of a good creamy bleu cheese (my favorite is Pt. Reyes Bleu Cheese). Flatten to 1 inch thick patties. Grill on high heat (don't forget to spray the grill - refer to this post for a good spray bottle photo op), 4-5 minutes on each side. Consider grilling up some of the left over vadalia onion, and while you're at it throw the buns on the grill to toast them.

Yukon Potato Wedges
3-4 small yukon potatoes, sliced however you want to
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper

Toss wedges in olive oil, salt and pepper. Place on aluminum foil and place right on hot (400 degree) grill. Close lid and grill for a good 20 minutes, or until a little crispy. Given the time these take, I'd suggest putting them on the grill before burgers. P.S. Mine didn't get super crispy, but my this is my brother's recipe and he does them in the oven at 375 for 20 minutes so perhaps the oven situation was better for crispiness.

Spicy Green Beans
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon chili paste (more or less depending on your heat-tolerance index)
2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon brown sugar
2 cloves garlic minced
1 tablespoon ginger minced (or a tad more if you like)
3 green onions sliced / diced whatever your favorite style of cutting
2-3 handfuls of green beans (perhaps a pound or so?)

Clean green beans and snap ends. Heat olive oil in skillet - medium heat. Add green beans to skillet and heat for 5-7 minutes...good green color and a little puckering...but still crispy. Remove green beans and set aside. Add green onions, ginger and garlic to skillet and heat for just a minute or so. Add chili paste, soy sauce, brown sugar and stir. Add green beans, stir to coat and allow to cook for about 2-3 minutes.

Slice a good tomato, onion, lettuce and get some great buns (these are from Breadsmith). A good tonic with lime refreshment and it's like summer is here or something (though we did sit inside on this evening, it was about 60 degrees).




burgers and onion...nearly done!

kicking forty-one in the ass

The Taurus of the family turned forty-one years old this past Saturday. We have a tradition to ask the other one of those introspective (and oft-vexing) questions requiring the birthday-ed one to say what he / she wants to do with the coming year. This year’s conversation went a bit like this:

Cindy (in energizer bunny form): Todd! It’s your birthday, Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday! You’re forty-one, it’s a new year! Are you excited? What do you want to do with forty-one?

Todd (in satori form): Thanks Love! Technically I wasn’t born until the afternoon so I’m still 40, which gives me a few hours to prepare. And prepare, I am.

Cindy: Alright (under breath) crazy man. I'm not sure what that means. For what are you preparing? 'Tis just another day, really, isn't it?

Todd: Nope not just another day, this time. I’m getting ready. Readying my plans for forty-one, I’m not at the Happy Birthday just yet.

Cindy: Hmm. Sounds interesting, what are you doing with forty one, then?

Todd: Kicking it the ass, kickin' it in the ass, Dear. Forty knocked me sideways. Not again, I’m kickin’ this next one in the ass.

Perfect. This is why I love Todd the Taurus. And later that day I read this little snipit about a Taurus man:

Taurus peacefully tends and nurtures Spring's garden, bringing forth harmony from chaos. Like the Bull, Taurus does not move unless there is something worth moving for.

I think Todd is ready to move and bring forth harmony (kick-ass style) from an insanely chaotic year.

We kicked ass - er, off - OFF the year (and Mother's Day) with a picnic in Wabun Park just near the Ford Bridge. Geoff and Tina provided deliciously marinated chicken and veggie kebabs. Mom shared a wonderful green salad and balsamic dressing. And, we capped it off with a small Cafe Latte Triple Chocolate Cake. When I put the little party cake on the table, in true Todd fashion he exclaimed, "Cupcakes! I love cupcakes!"



A frisbee golf outing followed, and we all learned my mom and I should NEVER be on the same team given our triple and quadruple bogies.

Here's the skinny on the food:

veggie kebabs
1 vadalia onion quartered
18-20 baby portabello mushrooms
2 red peppers
2 yellow peppers
2 yellow zucchini or summer squash
1 can pineapple chunks (yes, even those who hail from Hawaii sometimes buy pineapple chunks)

chicken kebabs
3-4 skinless boneless chicken breasts, cubed

marinade
pineapple juice from chunks
2 cloves of garlic
1 table spoon ginger
salt and pepper to taste

Skewer the veggies and meat. Marinate separately for at least 1 hour. Get the coals ready, oil up your grilling surface and put on the kebabs. Watch. Flip. Watch. Eat.



key ingredient: spray bottle of oil for the grill, it's Geoff's non-stick weapon.



other key ingredient: Geoff the Grilling Master

vegetables and a tree

Two wonderful things come of indefinite furlough. One: time in the garden. Two: fruits (and vegetables) of garden labor. A few years ago we tackled the front yard and created what I call the graduate school experiment, and now we are tackling the back yard. Our lack of attention to this part of the property has been a boon for creeping charlie, wild violet (which I like), dandelions, ostrich ferns, sticker weeds (not the technical term, but my term) and every possible aggressive species there is. It is a disaster, and our Disaster Remediation Project kicked off on May 1. Slowly but surely it will assume semblance of a designed space (Todd to Cindy, "I'm not touching or moving anything until we have a plan"). We're attempting to phase in the design..small chunks at a time, instead of razing it to a dirt dust bowl and then having 'zones' for planted areas but no specific plan like in the grad school experiment. (You see, I had only been through the site analysis part of the studio progression in grad school by the time we addressed the front yard. I was great at creating a big analysis blobby diagram that said 'sun / prairie type plants', 'buffer / shrub area', etc., but not so good at creating a cohesive plant palette - the plants in design class didn't come until my second year - dammit.) Anyway, we learned our lesson, and Todd and I have been working through an awesome Japanese garden-inspired design (read: minimal palette & areas of contemplation), but I did reserve the existing back corner raised beds for a veggie and cutting flower garden. Here's a glimpse (click on image to enlarge):



And, Todd's task today: slaughter the silver maple. Kidding of course, but he did have every sharp engine-powered tool we own out there. I imagine she is a little sad losing such a big limb. But, it was pretty sick so it needed to come down for long-term health reasons. Though she'll initially miss it, I think she'll thank us for helping her lose a little weight as she enters into the latter phases of life. While we'd not select this tree if we were starting from square one, she's got a cool twisting form, so we're glad to have her anchor the back yard. We promise to not give her a hosta ring, but to pay due respect to such an old beauty.

Here's Todd doing the duty.


And here's Todd going, "Holy $#%#!! what did I do?"

mind wander time

Note: The following contains philosophical musings of author. AND, I like to ramble at times. If said topic bores you, I highly suggest you close this tab in your browser now and check back on Monday for the next post about the killer vegetable garden I've started. I won’t be offended – really – it’s okay.

My autobiographical description to the right of this entry – yep right over there –> tells you a little about this (relatively) new endeavor into cooking as a means to enjoy the lighter side of life. This morning, I finally realized why I'm enjoying the cooking time so much these days...it’s my mind wander time that I had lost for a few too many years. When I was coaching, often I had daily moments (or hours) to just let my mind wander wherever thoughts would take it. While in transit to some far off location, in early mornings when the sun would rise over mountain peaks, or in long evening runs in new locations, I had time to ponder the past, present and future. Going back to grad school, I lost that mind wander time but am only just realizing - a mere 4.5 years after grad school began- I lost such an important part of my day. It just wasn’t programmed into my academically-based day or week; for all practical purposes I did NOT regularly run, I didn't see sun rises from the top of the mountains and I surely didn't drive cross-country by myself. I miss those days, but not in a 'I wanna go back' way. More in a, 'why did I feel more in balance?' way. I've slowly started to get back to some daily mind wander time by running and cycling on a more regular basis, AND by cooking. Yes, it requires great concentration at times, especially when I'm trying to get my brain to remember 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda when going from reading the cook book to actively measuring (note to self: work on short term memory). But, for the most part, cooking is allowing me to re-insert some mind wander time on a more regular basis and damn it feels good.

chicken bombed the lime zucchini

Or something like that...the result was some soupy goodness...

Good soupy-ness? Soup Goody? Gooey Soup? Yes, yes and no.

Here are some photos from my recently mentioned exploration with limes in chicken and zucchini bombs.


I made a tortilla soup...but really tortillas are just 1/16th of the recipe so why is it not called chicken soup? Perhaps the "chicken soup" name is politely reserved for grandma's goodness that helps you get better. That said, depending on the amount of adobo sauce you add, this recipe is sure to help with sinuses if, in fact, you need to get better.

the soup ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large white onion chopped
1 garlic clove minced
1-2 zucchinis chopped
28 oz low-sodium chicken broth
2 cups water
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 can "Mexican-style" tomatoes, I used Kuners' diced tomatoes with chili spices
2 teaspoons adobo sauce (I had some left over from a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce so decided to try it in this recipe)
16 ounces chicken breast, cut into thin strips (less than 1/2 inch wide)

accoutrements:
1 lime wedged
1 avocado sliced
1 cup jack cheese (or pepper jack)
1/2 cup cilantro chopped
2 green onions sliced
4 corn tortillas + 2 teaspoons olive oil

making the soup:
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large stock pot, saute onion and garlic for about 2 minutes (should become a little translucent, but not colored). Add water, chicken broth, bay leaf, tomatoes, cumin and 1 teaspoon adobo sauce. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 5 minutes. Add chicken and simmer until chicken is cooked thoroughly (10 minutes). Add 1 teaspoon adobo sauce. It is done!

making corn tortillas:
Oven to 375. Brush one side of each tortilla with olive oil. Stack them and cut in half. Stack again and cut into small strips. Place on non-stick baking sheet and bake until golden brown (about 10-15 minutes). Done!

To try something new, I decided to make some warm corn muffins to go with it all. Super easy, and I made them just before my mom came over for dinner...

corn muffins:
oven to 350
1 cup yellow corn meal
1 cup unbleached flour
3 tablespoons sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
mix.....then add

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 cup milk
1 egg lightly beaten

Stir until well blended. Grease muffin tin and spoon batter into muffin tin. Bake for 10-12 minutes until firm (may or may not turn golden brown on top...they're ready when firm).

Results: Happy and full Todd, Marcia and Cindy. The soup is quick to make and you could definitely add other veggies (corn, black beans, summer squash...). The smoky flavor of the adobo sauce is what make it, so don't omit that!

the cliff-hanger resolve

Hmmm...well, not really sure reading the items: limes, chicken, baking powder, zucchini, and bay leaf would piqued my interest enough to return to furlough food, and I'm the one who should be at least mildy amused by my own blog, right? Now if I had suggested "limes IN chicken" or "zucchini bombs" perhaps I would have returned. Hmm...Nope, still not sure.

But it looks like I'm here, and you're here so it must be something that brought you back. Perhaps you are one of the few who have asked for images and recipes of some items I've cooked recently. Perhaps you're just bored at work and looking to pass the time. I have a sneaking suspicion you are one in the same.

The title of my last post was "and I finally *made* muffins"; naturally there is a double meaning to that statement. The obvious: I did make muffins (three batches, in fact). The no so obvious: I am making the most of it (refer to post number one for what 'making the most of it' actually means). Explanation....

The Muffins:
It starts with a rather amusing beginner-cook story. This story is now logged nicely in my mom's book of Silly Cindy Young Cooking Adventures, tucked right next to the chapter she can read to you about the time I brought home 12 loaves of french bread to make one 9x13 pan of bread pudding for Thanksgiving. We had bread in the freezer for, well, YEARS really. And now I've got blueberries...lots of them.

I took on the Cooks Illustrated recipe for blueberry muffins (May/June issue). With a lemon zest sugar topping and a blueberry jam swirled into the muffins, it sounded like a winner. The blueberry jam thing is actually what got me...in more ways than one. (1) The blueberry jam and promise of good blueberry taste hooked me; (2) The preparation for said blueberry jam did a little "gotcha" on my brain and cooking confidence at the grocery store.

ONE: I don't actually like blueberry muffins very much, never have. I see them as the Emperors New Clothes of Food, really. I try one now and again and think to myself, "Do these taste like this to everyone? It this just muffin innards, with blue spurty things devoid of any taste? Where is the rich taste I think of when I think "blueberry"? Why is everyone eating these when clearly there is no taste?!?" Blueberries just near my Grandma's house in Stonington were rich, sweet and there was a little zing in those suckers; I ate them by the handful when I was a kid. So this recipe got me: it was a test to see if I could make a blueberry muffin taste like blueberry, as the author claimed it would.

TWO: I forgot my list of things to get at the grocery store so had to rely on my not-so-trusty-short-term-memory. I remembered the recipe called for "2 ____ of blueberries, picked over". Well that blank is pretty crucial, now isn't it? 2 tablespoons? 2 lbs? 2 cups? 2 what? I went to the frozen fruit area, and found some blueberries from Door County (just a stone's throw from the UP). I still couldn't remember what the 2 _____ was. I thought, "Well, you are going to be making a jam, so maybe it IS two pounds?? It needs to reduce and perhaps this recipe makes a double batch?? Two pounds sounds like an awful lot, but you better get more than have to come back, Cindy." So naturally if I'm looking for pounds, the item is sold in 12 OUNCE bags. I did my math...32 oz so I needed to get three bags....Wow, that's a lot (red flag! red flag! red flag!). What sort of recipe would seriously make you get three bags of frozen blueberries? I assured myself that well of course it will call for a lot of blueberries it is a top notch recipe. I grabbed three bags, the rest of the groceries and headed home to read what the devil filled in the blank. It was....2....(yes, I'm sure you figured it out when I gave you the 2___ options above)...CUPS. Of course, CUPS. The idea of making a jam, having never done so before, shattered my cooking confidence and scattered my clarity all over the floor of the grocery store. What else would explain coming home with two POUNDS of frozen blueberries? At least that is how I explained it to Todd who helped unpack the groceries and revealed bag after bag after bag of blueberries (holy crap, did you buy them out?). Gotcha, says blueberry jam. I will be making muffins for quite some time given the bags taking room in the freezer.

So that is a long prologue into muffin making....I did in fact make the blueberry muffins (jam and then some). The buttermilk batter and sweet, yet tangy, little blueberries made the perfect muffin. I did the lemon zest and sugar for a topping in the first batch, the second batch I tried the strudel topping. Lemon zest sugar is WAY better than the strudel (little heavy and flavorless). While it still wasn't like eating blueberries by the handful, there was a good dose of blueberry flavor throughout the entire muffin. After baking (and eating two warm ones), we put them in a container and I swear they were better the second day. I'm not sure it is legal to post the recipe but here goes:

Topping:
1/3 cup sugar, 3 teaspons lemon zest (it calls for 1.5 but I doubled it)

Muffin Ingredients:
2 CUPS blueberries (fresh or frozen, depending on the season), picked over (duh)
1 1/8 cups sugar (plus 1 teaspoon for jam)
2 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Making the gotcha jam:
Bring 1 cup blueberries and 1 teaspoon sugar to a simmer, mashing berries and stirring often. Reduce to about 1/4 to 1/2 cup. Let cool.

Batter (or "crumb" as those in the muffin biz call it):
Oven to 425, grease 12-muffin tin
Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together in large bowl. Whisk 1 1/8 cups sugar and egg together in medium bowl until combined; slowly whisk in butter and oil until combined; whisk in buttermilk and vanilla until combined. Fold in egg mixture and remaining cup blueberries into flour mixture until just moistened (batter will be lumpy...do not over mix!). Using ice cream scoop (this is crucial), and fill muffin cups (batter should completely fill cups and mound slightly). Spoon teaspoon of cooked berry mixture into center of each mound of batter. Using a chopstick or skewer, gently swirl berry filling into batter using figure-eight motion (note: figure-eight will likely not work and will make you feel inept if you try in your itty bitty muffin cups of your tin...just swirl in what ever fashion you can). Sprinkle lemon sugar evenly over muffins. Bake until just golden and just firm (17-19 minutes), rotate muffin tin 1/2 way through baking time. Cool for 5 minutes in tin, transfer to wire rack and cool 5 minutes before serving.



The muffins pictured here actually have a strudel topping, but don't do it, stick with the lemon.

And lastly, Making the Most of It:
I have left the ranks of coen+partners as a full time employee. The reasons are many, but largely personal. I love all the people, and see a fantastically talented group. Hopefully the entire lot will be at the Michigan wedding, but it was time for me to try something that suits me. It will be filled with design, to be sure, but as my dad has always said, "It is good to be your own boss." I've decided to heed that advice and am working on aligning personal and professional health (with a slight slant to the personal for the time being), being my own boss as it were. I am scared, overwhelmed and busy these days...but am just beginning to realize the possibilities in this great, big, humorous, enjoyable thing called LIFE.

I promise to resolve the limes in chicken and zucchini bombs in the next post. I needed to revel in a little muffin-ness for today and frankly I imagine you've lost your attention span by this point...if you're still here.