Lime Light

Right?  There's something so magical about cilantro and lime together...

In Oregon now. 
Our Immediate Tribe (aka my child, husband, and dogs) has finally reunited after two long months of being separated NY to OR.  He wrapped up the finishing of owning our first home and I went ahead with the kid to connect with my Ma and Pa who already live in Oregon. 
Not having been reunited more than 2.5 weeks our plans have gone full circle from getting a trailer and living in it for unknown amount of time while we eliminate debt and prepare for a more homesteady lifestyle... through to lets buy fuckin 100 acres, go off grid and figure it out...
....and we've landed back on earth and decided to go check out trailers to see if we could even Do it. ...we ended up walking out with a 31ft trailer.  We get it next week.

Parking this thing (the yet to be named trailer) in the back of Their property and going to figure out next steps...

Planting seeds somewhat successfully with my daughter.

Get on with the food already!  

Okay,
Here we have a carne asada ..the meat was pre marinated from a Mexican market, but we barbequed it and bought fresh limes and a white onion, ... cut about all the cilantro from the current batch in the garden... and tha'ts all you need! ..oh, and tortillas (i did not make the tortillas but thinking about adding that to the list of things I would like to learn)
I throw a tortilla on the fire till its crispy on both sides and burns my hand.  I hurry to the platter where I have now the carne cut up into thin long slices, and I scatter some along the middle of the tortilla. Sprinkling with the raw onion and tons of cilantro and then I squeeze out as much lime juice i can from one slice. Done.  And it's perfect. 
This was my first family tribe meal since we've all been together. It was a great way to start the next chapter of life..  family & food.

God, there's something about cilantro... how I love thee

....I spoke less about Lime than I should have considering the title.

A Year Later...

Oh Hey.
I've written to you many times in my head, even took photos to share...

I don't remember where exactly I left off with you and I don't think either of us care to read/write about my last year right now because we are just reintroducing ourselves.

I'm Jess. Together with my Hubby, we have a toddler, two dogs, a mortgage on a house, two car payments, yada yada yada.. "i mentioned the bisque.."  .. and well, the whole 'American Dream' just does not work. 
Selling house. Leaving New York for Oregon.  Live simple.   That's the idea.

Live Simple. 
It's a hard start but I think we can get there. 

My little slice of greenery, 'Home" NY.

Pictured above, one of the few things that make leaving my home hard - the backyard.

I hope to rekindle something with my blog here...

The Leftover Gal, I mean, Chick.

Chicken with lemon, stuffing, sweet & gold potatoes, carrots, small boiling onion, topped with a parsley/caper salsa verde and baked lemon garnish.

I always try to think about how to turn one meal into two.. not just because I'm economical (cheap) but really it just takes a load off having to come up with clever meals every night.
I will be feeding 4 mouths (one being a one year old for the next month so I really want to up my creative cooking game.

Night one:   Whole cooked chicken with assorted veg.     I cut up a sweet potato and some other regular potatoes I have in stock, plenty of carrots, a roughly chopped onion, tomato, (and I like to throw in the small white boiling tomatoes because it looks nice on the plate).    I season my chicken in an olive oil rub that has all the spices in my cupboard.. salts and peppers,  herbs, turmeric, mustard, ... lots of fresh minced garlic and then also some fresh parsley or whatever I have.  Rosemary,etc...
Bake at 425 degrees for about 1.5hours (depending on size, I was cooking a chicky that was just under 5lbs I think...) ..you want the inside breast/thighs to hit 165 degrees.   Plated as above picture.  The sauce on top was a Salsa Verde which I elaborate on in a previous post A Tale of Two Verdes

Before and After... because, why not.

Night Two:   The Aussie's would call this 'bubble and squeak'  ..its when you just stir up a chopped up leftover!   ... I added a little red wine vinaigrette salad with some garlic bread.

..there was still enough leftover for lunch too! 

I Found My Charger in The Cacciatora!

...well I didn't actually find my camera battery charger in the dish but it's my segway..
Quite a few posts ago I mentioned that I wanted to get away from phone blogging and get back to taking pictures with my lovely Canon and sitting down in front of a real screen to make my entries.
My husband's friend was visiting and found the damn charger buried in the couch! (Hubby can attest that when I "look" for lost things it's really just a scan of the rooms...also, I can't put a lid on anything correctly to save my life...but that's another thing..)
This is officially my last post using my phone. (Obviously the occasional photo may happen but it's my intention to not make it my device of choice.)
..Said friend who found the charger also brought over a couple books for me, now that I've gotten the cooking bug.
Saveur Cooks: Authentic Italian (by the editors of Saveur Magazine.
(Wonderful photography in the book and loads of recipes I am excited to try.)

A few nights ago I did Pollo Alla Cacciatora.. which is a recipe I've been inherently doing for awhile now without guidelines..
It came out lovely using the recipe from the book, and it was very easy, tasty, and I recommend this dish for gatherings because it presents well, looks fancy, and really doesn't come with stress.
(See photo for recipe)
 

Cauli-Flower Power

Aka Tete's cauliflower dish with cilantro, garlic,  and lemon.

I love this dish.  My mother in law makes it for me anytime we stay with her because her own kids don't care for it. ..but I just can't get enough.

Take a head of cauliflower and cut into crude chunks. 
Heat pan with oil (I used olive oil, but Tete said regular oil, or fancy flavored olive oils work well too) add enough water for steaming.  (1/4 cup ish)
Sauté cauliflower in pan on a low heat for around 15min or until it is soft enough to split with a fork and water has evaporated.   During this time add some salt, pepper, and red pepper.
Add between. .2 and 5 cloves of minced garlic (pending your love of garlic) and a fair amount of chopped cilantro (maybe around 2 or 3 handfuls) ..keep cooking on slow for not longer than 2 min...you don't want to cook the garlic, just get everything mixed in. 
Serve with a lemon.
If you enjoy lemon the way we do in this family than know you may go through two lemons for one head of cauliflower! 

With Meat: first cook ground beef in oil with red pepper, salt, then resume recipe from the top.

Baby loves this dish.

Enjoy!  Would love to know of any variations of this dish too.

A Tale of Two Verdes

I was given Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food for Christmas and have eagerly made my way past the first 50 some pages ...landing on the ever important basics of a few staple sauces.
The one that really caught my eye was the salsa verde because all of its components are things I love. .and love to amplify!  (I say amplify because upon looking at one of her other sauces, the vinaigrette, her ratio of oil to vinegar is something like 1:4  .....and honestly I do it the opposite.  And I use way too much garlic.  I understand this probably specifically makes me an unsavory cook in many eyes but what can I say besides we really like that Oh Fuck Bang! Bite in my house)
...I also may have stated previously that I will, on occasion, just drink the leftover vinegar dressing from the empty salad bowl.
...and even with my verde I did not measure it out the way Alice suggests, but I did keep it in mind.  (Sidenote: Alice, I really think you are amazing. And I've originally heard of you because my father in law used to be in your circle of friends you did group dinner cookings with well before your restaurant days. )

Last night I did roasted chicken thighs on garlic mash with roasted asparagus. ..served with the verde.
Tonight I did steak stir fry strips that were tossed in the verde right before serving with a side of red wine vinegar dressing mixed green salad with red onion, tomato, goat cheese over avocado.
Both yummy.   ...couldn't tell you which I preferred! But my one year old just couldn't get enough of the chicken, mash, and verde altogether.

The verde:
As close to mince as you can parsley (flat leaf preferably) and capers.  ...about a 2:1 ratio.
A clove  (or 2 if you are feeling crazy) minced garlic.
Some olive oil. I only like to put enough in to get everything juicy mixed because I know I'll be adding lemon juice. 
Before you add lemon juice. .let it stand for at least 30min to get the flavors meshed.  Salt pepper to taste.

...I know there is a thing to following recipes, but I think sauces are better felt up as supposed to just blindly executed. 
...then again,  I'm eating it...I might be more frugal if I was being judged outside my inside circle that is my family.

Dressing Up Italian Dressing

I had an image in my mind this afternoon. ..it involved using the last avocado in the fridge and Italian dressing (when on a lazy day I will just cut the avo in half and fill the little crater with dressing and eat with a spoon!) ...but I envisioned the avo sprinkled over a nice dish..something with color. 
I pan seared some boneless skinless chicken thighs in butter. .added carrots a few minutes after flipping the chicken pieces. .to be caramelized essentially.  I added a few drizzles of Italian dressing.
Meanwhile roasting some small white boiling onions in the oven.
A mixed greens salad with a touch of red onion and a tomato I cut in half so we can allocate our own bites with the salad.  And of course an avocado. ..
It came out delicious. ..maybe I was just hungry.  But we ate it all up. .and baby girl had a bit of it all.