Easy Balsamic Marinated Chicken or Salmon

This is one of my current favorite marinades for chicken, and I only just came up with it because it was so excellent on salmon.  In short, here is the recipe:

Balsamic Marinade for Chicken or Fish

3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup canola or olive oil
1/4 cup honey
1 small head of garlic or 4-8 cloves, whole
(makes enough marinade for 6 thighs or 2-3 large split chicken breasts or 2 pounds of salmon, or the equivalent)

Whisk first 3 ingredients together in a baking dish, until thoroughly mixed.  Marinate fish or chicken for 20-30 minutes before putting in preheated 350 F Bake oven.  Fish takes less time to marinate than chicken.  Cook until done to your liking.  Will depend on size and type of meat or fish and the cut. 

Excellent served with any kind of rice, asparagus, stir-fried kale, or green salad.

*Spicy* Chicken Tortilla Soup

Mmmm, one of my all-time favorite recipes.  Full disclosure: I love soup.  I love every type of soup.  I love the idea of soup.  All of it.  And there is something about a spicy tortilla soup that does it for me.  Mmmm.  To me,  what really makes an excellent tortilla soup is:

1. Tortillas, of course
2. Good chicken stock, preferably homemade
3. Lime, Avocado, and Cilantro
4. Tomatoes
5. Jalapeno

That is all you really need for a great tortilla soup, in my opinion.  I also like to add fresh chicken, celery, sauteed onions, fresh garlic, red peppers, and thyme.  The Jalapeno is optional, in that many kids and even adults cannot handle them, but if you like a bit or a lot of spicy, go for it! 

Spicy Chicken Tortilla Soup
serves 6-8

8 cups of chicken stock, preferably homemade*
5-8 chicken thighs, without skin
1 large can of fire roasted tomatoes (24 oz)
1.5 cups dry pinto beans (optional) or 1 can of pintos
4 large sticks of celery, chopped
1 red pepper, sliced
2 large onions
4 cloves of garlic
1 TBS fresh thyme
1 package of small corn tortillas (about 10 tortillas)
1/2 jalapeno
1-2 limes, cut into wedges, served as garnish
1/2 bunch of cilantro, diced, served as garnish
1 avocado, sliced, served as garnish

*Begin by making your chicken stock.  I like to use a whole chicken bone from a previous baking.  I freeze them with some meat on, for just this kind of soup.  Boil the chicken in 8 cups of water (enough to cover it by an inch or two) for 3-6 hours at a slow boil.  For extra flavor add 2 bay leaves, 2 sprigs of thyme, 2 carrots, and 2 celery.  After cooking all the ingredients for several hours strain the bones, vegetables and herbs out so that you have just the liquid.  Freeze for later use or, make this soup . . .

Heat up your chicken stock to a slow boil.  Add 1.5 cups of dry pinto beans and cook for 2-3 hours, until soft.  Always make sure you have enough water!  Do not over-stir as you will break up the beans.  You can use canned beans, in which case you will proceed immediately to next step without cooking for several hours.

Saute 2 large, chopped onions until browned.  Set aside.  Saute 1/2 jalapeno, careful to not hurt your lungs with the spiciness!  Some of you may want to seed them and only cook the green part as the seeds are very spicy.  Also, set aside.

Add chopped celery, red pepper, canned tomatoes, fresh thyme, and chicken thighs, to the soup.  Cook for 45-60 minutes, or until chicken is tender.  Take thighs out of soup and shred them.  The easiest way to shred is to use two forks and break them up.  Add them to the soup again. 

Now add the sauteed onions, minced garlic, and jalapenos.  You may want to make 2 pans of soup, one spicy, one "not spicy" (for the kids or the wimps).

Meanwhile, make your tortillas: Dry them out by cooking them on a baking sheet at 225 F for 10-15 minutes.  Chop into 1/4 inch slices and cook in high heat oil on the stove top.  They will be a lot like chips after cooking. 

dried tortillas

Serve soup on top of tortillas with a garnish of a wedge of  lime, diced cilantro, and avocado.  I also had a green salad with this special dressing:

Lime Vinaigrette
2 TBS olive oil
2 TBS seasoned rice vinegar
1 TBS fresh lime juice
1 tsp honey
1 clove of minced garlic

Music for Deeper Relaxation

 Barb's New CD

I recently purchased a new CD for my massage practice from Barb Nichols.  The CD is entitled, "Sound Journey: Deep in the Cave."  The music transports the listener into deeper and deeper relaxation with the aid of nature sounds, Tibetan singing bowls, and other musical instruments.  I first listened to the CD in my home where my children, 4 years old and 2 years old, intently listened to it while playing imaginary animal games.  They later requested I play it again.  I now use the CD to promote calm play between my kids.

My massage studio is very nature-based in color schemes, with live plants and even a little fish pond.  "Into the Cave" easily connected my massage studio with my massage work.  As a practitioner, I found it easy to get into a rhythm, finding a strong sense of healing, relaxation, and connection in the music.  The music is subtle enough to become part of the massage studio and hence a part of the healing work.  I would highly recommend the CD to health practitioners who want to use the power of nature and instruments in their work.  After having received massage with this CD playing, many of my clients have requested this CD again for their session. 

I personally love hearing the little frogs singing, the hoot of the owl, a flowing stream and the calming sounds of the Tibetan Singing bowls.  The CD takes the listener from deep within a cave, complete with dripping sounds, to a stream, giving the feeling of "emerging".

To learn more about purchasing Barb's CD visit her website here:
Sound Journey: Deep in the Cave

For more information about Barb's Sound Massage studio and services, visit her website:
Whidbey Sound Massage

Inspiring Food Blogs

There is an endless number of food blogs.  And why not?  We eat everyday and food plays an important part in our lives culturally, socially, and biologically.  I have complied a list of some food blogs that I enjoy, but they are really only a fraction of what is out there!  If you have a favorite food blog, let me know!

Here they are, in no particular order:

http://www.thewednesdaychef.com  In December 2009, the writer will be moving back to Berlin to write a book, tentatively titled My Berlin Kitchen, to be published by Viking Press in a few years.  Lots of recipes.

http://www.deliciousdays.com co-authored by Nicky and Oliver of Munich, has a wide variety of recipes.

http://www.noblepig.com  "a little about food, a little about wine, a lot about nothing." The author and her husband are building a vineyard in Oregon.

http://www.ffffood.com fffood is a place for all things gastronomical. Recipes, Reviews and general foodliness, a beautifully photographed and laid out website.

http://www.davidlebovitz.com David was named one of the “Top Five Pastry Chefs in the Bay Area” and his blog mostly focuses on dessert recipes.

http://www.eatingasia.typepad.com/eatingasia/ a food and travel blog with a focus on Asian food, warning: very mouth watering!!

http://www.glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com "...a delightful food memoir of learning to eat superbly while remaining gluten-free." - Newsweek magazine
 

http://www.chezpim.com  a variety of recipes from the author of The Foodie Handbook: The (Almost) Definitive Guide to Gastronomy.


http://www.chocolateandzucchini.com written by a 30-year old Parisian woman with a passion for all things food related. 


http://www.thepioneerwoman.com Authored by Ree, a city girl who fell in love with a cowboy and now lives in the middle of nowhere on a ranch.  Recipes, photography, homeschooling and more.  Recipes have a Western frontier theme to them.

http://www.seriouseats.com  "Serious Eats is a website focused on celebrating and sharing food enthusiasm through blogs and online community."  Blog combines the food community with, well, food related things!

http://www.tastegoblet.wordpress.com all things culinary with a focus on sweet treats.

http://www.mattbites.com "a man obsessed with food, drink, and everything in between"

http://www.simplyrecipes.com A blog created to document a large family's recipes.  Voted Best Food Blog in 2006.

http://www.notwithoutsalt.com Written by a woman with a passion for all things salted; sweet and savory, and in her words she blogs with the,"hope that you too will find pleasure, joy and sustenance in good food."

http://www.101cookbooks.com Heidi writes about the recipes that intersect her life, travels, and everyday interests. A focus on vegetarian recipes.  Try her Tempeh Curry!

http://www.havecakewilltravel.com A recipe journal focused primarily on natural, whole foods and ingredients - vegetarian recipes that are good for you and for the planet.

http://www.doriegreenspan.com Written by food writer and cookbook author, Dorie Greenspan.  She regularly commutes from New York City to Westbrook, Connecticut to Paris, France.

http://www.orangette.blogspot.com/  In the author's words, "I started Orangette in July of 2004. I had just decided to quit a Ph.D. program in cultural anthropology, and I didn’t know what to do with myself. The only thing I knew was that, whatever I did, it had to involve food and writing."  Checkout her many desserts, Carmelized Cauliflower, Asparagus Flan, and more.


http://www.cannelle-vanille.blogspot.com/ Beautiful photography, food styling, and mouth-watering recipes, including gluten free desserts!

 http://www.figandcherry.com/
The author wanted to express her mixture of Lebanese and Hungarian cultures in the name "Fig and Cherry". She lives in Sydney and travels to get inspired about cooking. You will find a range of recipes.

http://www.norecipes.com/
With the idea that cooking is more fun without recipes, author Marc beautifully photographs, and yes, even includes recipes on his blog. 

http://thestonesoup.com/blog/  Minimalist home cooking, in Jules words, "reducing the number of ingredients, the amount of equipment, the number of steps involved and the time we spend in the kitchen to a minimum so we can focus what’s important." Amen!

http://smittenkitchen.com/  Fearless cooking from a tiny kitchen in New York City.  Try her Ricotta Muffins.

http://www.mytartelette.com/ Mostly desserts from a French expatriate.  Author Helen,works as a recipe developer, food writer, food stylist, and food photographer.   These traits make for a beautiful blog and yummy recipes.

Balsamic-Garlic Marinated Salmon

Balsamic and Garlic Marinated Salmon

Here is a complete dinner menu that is sure to please.  I combined fresh garlic, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar with fresh salmon to make a very flavorful main dish.  Add slow-baked pinto beans with fennel seed, jasmine rice and green salad and voila!  check out the recipe below for more details, including a wonderful Chardonnay to pair it with.

Balsamic and Garlic Marinated Salmon

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic, crushed or chopped small
1.5-2 pounds of salmon

Marinate salmon for 1 to 3 hours (I marinated it for 1 hour and it was great!) then bake at 350F until tender, about 20-35 minutes depending on the cut of fish. Watch the salmon carefully as it is much better if it is not over cooked.  Turn off heat when there is just a little red on the inside of the salmon for best results.  the retained heat will gently cook the salmon the rest of the way.

 Slow-Cooked Pinto Beans with Fennel Seed

2 cups dry pinto beans
1 TBS fennel seed
dash of olive oil
dash of salt
enough water to cover beans by 2 inches

Start by soaking the pinto beans in water for 2-3 hours.  After soaking, cook beans for 3-4 hours at a slow boil with salt and olive oil.  Add fennel seeds about 1-2 hours before beans are done.  Refrain from stirring beans, except to make sure they are cooked evenly, as the stirring breaks them apart, as does too-high cooking temperatures, so cook them at a slow boil. 

 Slow-cooked Pinto beans with fennel seeds, topped with sauteed red onions

Serve with jasmine rice, sauteed red onions, a green salad, and, if you can, Pine and Post Chardonnay, one of my favorite local and affordable white wines. 

Check out Pine and Post here.  Food and Wine describes Pine and Post Chardonnay as,

a steal of a Chardonnay in a terrific vintage for Washington white wines, with spicy oak notes balanced against lively apple and apricot fruit.

Pine and Post Chardonnay, below

Sauteed onions in a cast iron pan

 Above, Trader Joe's Jasmine Rice

 Marina's Chocolate Powdered Sugar Cake

On top of all that, my 4 year old daughter, Marina, created the above pictured cake at grandma's house earlier in the day.  It was surprisingly good and amazingly fluffy and chocolaty for a 4-year-old's creation!.

Marina's Chocolate Powdered Sugar Cake 

Marina lists the ingredients as (her words):

milk

powdered sugar on top

cocoa powder

eggs

salt

vanilla

baking powder

Instructions: 

First mix cocoa, powdered sugar and milk.  Then add the eggs.  More powdered sugar, baking powder, vanilla and salt. Mix good. Cook for 12-15 minutes in a pie dish.  Serve with powdered sugar and cocoa sprinkled on top.  I can't guarantee that your version will turn out as well as Marina's!

Sailing with S.E.A.

 the Indigo

SEA (Service, Education, and Adventure) is a very exciting program that connects people with nature through direct experiences aboard boats exploring the Puget Sound and its wildlife.  To learn more visit their website:
http://www.serviceeducationadventure.org/

The SEA program has several boats that they use for educational purposes, including the Indigo.  
In partner with the showing of "Beneath the Salish Sea" by Florian Graner, at the Clyde in Langley, WA, the SEA program brought the Indigo down from Oak Harbor to Langley to offer tours and information about SEA both before and after the movie.  To read about the movie and SEA click here.  I have included some pictures from the voyage south to Langley on the Indigo, which I was lucky enough to be a part of. 

Calm and Sunny in Oak Harbor, it was beautiful!  I love how the water makes a perfect mirror, above.

 

 View from the Indigo, Oak Harbor marina

 

 that's Oak Harbor from the boat

 

 Ahnika aboard the Indigo

 

 High tide even covers part of the exit sign

 

Oak Harbor marina

 

Above: looking in at the Captain

 

 there was quite a bit of fog through parts of the trip

 

 

 

 

 the kitchen, not too shabby! 

 

 Chris Burt, boat Captain and SEA founder, makes breakfast.  To read more about the staff of SEA, visit their website here.

 

 

 

 

 On the top deck of the Indigo

 

 Looking into the steering room (is that what you call it?)

 

 We were at Langley in less that 3 hours!  Here's looking out from the Langley marina

 

 View of Langley from the water

 

Preparing to dock, above.  Pictured in the middle is Scott Ashworth, owner of the Indigo.  To read more about the staff of SEA, visit their website here.

 

 Chris and Scott, discussing where to dock the boat.

 

We're docked!

 

 the Indigo at the Langley marina, above

SEA links schools, universities, government agencies and the private sector to create real-world learning and authentic work-based experiences. Our work is conducted in and around Northwest Washington, though we are available to work up and down the Pacific Coast.
 
We collaborate with educational organizations and community partners to build supportive networks of educational learning experiences, community enhancement and student empowerment. This is a unique but logical fusion of community, business, government and educational agencies. ---http://www.serviceeducationadventure.org/

Martin Luther King Work Day

A great way to celebrate MLK and help out your community!  Any other ideas?
(click on the poster to see a larger view)

Underwater Odyssey through the Puget Sound

Come see what lies beneath the beautiful blue waters around puget sound at the Clyde's showing of "Beneath the Salish Sea". 

Beneath the Salish Sea

Sunday, January 17, 2010

 2:00 to 3:30 at The Clyde

 * To add to the fun, SEA's 65-foot teaching vessel Indigo will be at the Langley Marina 

& open for free tours both before (11:00-2:00) and after (4:00-7:00) the film.

RIP Laptop 2005-2010

It is time.  Again I am typing on this mini computer because our family laptop, oh my sweet big laptop, fails to turn on despite being plugged in. 

 My husband mentioned that we have had the laptop since 2005, the year Marina was born.  As Marina is just getting old enough to brush her own teeth, go to bed by herself, hold advanced conversations, my computer is in its golden years.  Or perhaps it is on the other side already. Is there another side for said laptop . . .It is truly amazing that technology can be outdated so quickly. 

Perhaps the next big technological invention will be technology that isn't outdated in 5 years, but rather technology that is outdated in 10 or 15 years.  We are moving so fast technologically that new and better inventions are coming out just about every year.  That's what we need in vehicle technology, fast-paced innovations.  A vehicle, as Edgar Cacye predicted we will eventually invent, with a no-fuel motor.  Now that would be a fitting memorial to my outdated computer with a coma. 

Double Cream Cheese Frosting

Double Cream Cheese Frosting (for carrot cake):

This frosting is a must with carrot cake, also good on other cakes.  I have experimented with the below listed ingredients to get the perfect combination of flavors.  I like a cream cheese frosting that is slightly more cream cheese taste than sugar.  Frosts three 9-inch cakes lightly or 2 heavily.



2- 8 oz cream cheese, preferably organic, at room temp

5 TBS butter, room temp
2 cups of powdered sugar
1 TBS vanilla


Blend all ingredients in mixer unitl smooth.  Frostins should be stiff enough to frost cake immediately.  Will harden nicely in fridge.   

New Year's Eve Good Luck Dinner & Celebration

 I cooked ham and beans (cannelli and black-eyed peas) for 3 hours at a slow boil with sage, thyme, and bay leaves.  the beans and ham were soft and flavorful.  I served the lucky meal with a side of fresh baked cornbread and stir fry of collards, kale and onions.  For dessert we had spiced carrot cake with double cream cheese frosting.  To buy the Spiced Carrot cake Mix visit Namaste website.  It is wheat and gluten free too!

 

A close up of the dinner (above)

 

 We enjoyed dessert outside by a fire.  Pictured above is our heart light.

 

 Luc preps the fire

 

 L to R: Luc, Candice (me), Owen Sr. with Stella and Vicky with Marina.

Double Cream Cheese Frosting (for carrot cake):

This frosting is a must with carrot cake, also good on other cakes.  I have experimented with the below listed ingredients to get the perfect combination of flavors.  I like a cream cheese frosting that is slightly more cream cheese taste than sugar.  Frosts three 9-inch cakes lightly or 2 heavily.

2- 8 oz cream cheese, preferably organic, at room temp
5 TBS butter, room temp
2 cups of powdered sugar
1 TBS vanilla

Blend all ingredients in mixer unitl smooth.  Frostins should be stiff enough to frost cake immediately.  Will harden nicely in fridge.