Taste With Grace

For this sauce, I used 8 vine ripe tomatoes.  I simply diced the and chopped up a handful of basil in my garden and placed them in a large pot to cook down.  I didn't not skin or deseed the tomatoes, like many of the recipes instructed me to do, and honestly I don't think I needed to.  For this sauce, however, I was wanting a chunkier texture, so not getting rid of the skin and seeds probably didn't matter.  When I make sauce to can and freeze, I plan on doing these steps.  While the tomatoes and basil cooked, I sauteed a few cloves of minced garlic and a large white onion (diced) in some olive oil until translucent.  Once finished, I added the onions and garlic to the tomato and basil pot.  I added salt, pepper, and a couple tablespoons of white sugar to the mix and gave it a stir.  I added sugar because tomatoes can be very acidic and the sugar helps to cut down the acid and (obviously) adds a sweetness that I really like.  Then I put it on low heat and let it simmer for a couple of hours! The sauce was absolutely delicious and sooooo fresh.  This recipe made enough sauce for my husband and I and then leftovers.  So probably 4 servings in the end.  Now that I've done fresh tomato sauce, there really IS a huge difference between that and the bottled stuff.  I can't say I'll never use bottles again because they are definitely convenient, but I'll just say that I'll be making this sauce a lot more in the future.  Hope you enjoy! Let me know if you try it! 

I'm really enjoying writing this blog and posting my pictures to Instagram.  I hope you all are enjoying reading it.  Any and all feedback is welcome- I want to know how to make this blog better and something you all want to read!  I want to branch out to cover other topics like meal planning, kitchen tips, kitchen techniques, etc.  More on that later!

I first made the Sweet Fire Chipotle Chicken bowls a few months ago because my friend from church has an awesome food blog so I wanted to try out one of her recipes.  And this one was definitely a good pick.  The cilantro lime black bean rice is amazing to start out.  And then the Chicken is slightly spicy (but not too much) with broccoli to top it off.  The flavors are sweet and spicy- which is my favorite combination- due to the use of chipotles in adobo.  For those of you who don't know, you can buy a can of chipotles in adobo and then store it in your fridge in an air tight container for quite a long time.  Both the sauce and the chilies can be used in various recipes.  The recipe for this dinner can be found here. 

I'm usually very into meal planning.  In fact, I plan my meals out on a monthly basis.  Sometimes I look at what I'm supposed to make, however, and am just not feeling it.  I don't really remember what I was supposed to make one night, but I wasn't feeling it, and turned to my quick ham and pea bow tie pasta instead.  This is my "I don't feel like cooking" dish- even though it does require some cooking obviously.  But not much! You make a simple roux white sauce first.  I always make a big batch because my husband loves this and likes to have leftovers.  So for an entire box of bow tie pasta, I do 3 or 4 table spoons of butter melted with an equal amount of tablespoons of flour.  Once you mix those, you slowly whisk in milk a little at a time until the sauce is the thickness that you want it to be.  Once you get it there, add the seasoning that you want.  I do it differently every time, but it generally includes salt, pepper, garlic powder, minced onions and possibly dried basil or italian seasonings.  The key is to taste the sauce as you go so that you get it to be the taste that you want.  Boil the pasta and add the peas in for the last few minutes to get them heated up.  Then add the sauce to the peas and pasta with some diced ham (bacon or pancetta is also good!) and top with parmesan cheese.  You can also switch out the peas for asparagus, broccoli, or really anything you want.  Very simple and delicious. 

Ben and I are really into making pizzas and end up making them regularly.  And I am proud to announce that we have finally mastered the art of using a pizza stone after many attempts in the beginning.  The key is to have the stone be in the oven first so that it is hot when you put the dough on and to use a LOT of corn meal.  You can also use parchment paper.  The pizza crust recipe that I use can be found here.  I always double it because we always end up making two pizzas because we always invite people over when we are making pizzas.  And our two favorites to make are the Brussels sprout bacon pizza and the breakfast pizza.  Both are good and we can never decide which one we like best.  

The brussels sprouts (by the way I just learned that the correct term is brusselS sprouts, not brussel sprouts, like I thought all along. But you probably already knew that) pizza has a rosemary creamy white sauce and is topped with bacon and mozzarella cheese.  The official recipe can be found here.

I am proud to say that I invented the breakfast pizza.  Or at least I thought of this version on my own without looking at a recipe.  There are probably lots of similar recipes out there.  It has salsa for the sauce (we use a hot habanero salsa), and then is topped with bacon, hash browns (that were cooked in the bacon grease!!), and mozzarella cheese on top.  Then a fried egg goes on top of that! Drool.  Hash browns on a pizza you ask?! Yes. A thousand times yes. 

And here are some pizza making tips that I have learned along the way.  Preheat the oven to 400 with the pizza stone in it.  Put a generous amount of corn meal on your pizza peel and on your stone once you are ready to go.  Put the dough on the peel (that you have rolled out into the desired shape) and top with whatever toppings you would like- the possibilities are truly endless and bake for around 12-15 minutes.  I would check on it at 12 minutes and go from there.  The crust needs to be slightly browned and the cheese will be bubbly. Then to get the pizza off of the pizza stone, you can use your hand (with an oven mitt on of course) to kind of push it back onto the peel or use a very thin cutting board to slide it under and put it onto the peel.  

My final meal I will be discussing is curry.  I made this for a friend who just had a baby last week and she also happens to be vegan.  I make curry all the time and was happy to realize that it is a vegan friendly meal since it uses coconut milk and I just left the meat that I usually put in out.  The best part about curry is how easy and delicious it is.  I have every possible color of curry paste in my fridge with lots of coconut milk in my food storage so that curry is always an option. You an find curry paste at any international or asian grocery store.  Walmart and other normal grocery stores do have red or green curry paste but it is a tiny container and usually more expensive, just FYI.  For this particular curry, I used every vegetable imagineable (zucchini, broccoli, onion, asparagus, peppers, peas, mushrooms, carrots, and potatoes), but usually I either use whatever vegetables I have in my fridge or just choose 3 or 4.  I also usually put chicken in there, but you can do any meat you want really.  You start by pouring some olive oil in a pan along with some curry paste.  In order to feed my family (my husband and I since my baby doesn't eat curry usually) I end up using 2 chicken tenderloins and one can of coconut milk.  Which means that for the curry paste, I would use 2-3 tablespoons, depending on the color.  The more you put in, the spicier it is, but if you don't put enough in, it won't taste like curry.  The 2-3 tablespoons is the low end of curry that you should put in.  For this particular time, I used yellow curry, which is not very spicy.  So you cook your curry in the oil with your meat (if you chose to do a meat) until it is cooked almost all the way through and then add the onion and other vegetables that you chose to do.  Let them cook a little to kind of get soft and so they are coated in the curry and oil.  Add the coconut milk (unsweetened) and cover.  Bring it to a boil and then let simmer until the vegetables are the desired tenderness.  This will usually take around 10 minutes, unless potatoes are one of the vegetables you chose, then it usually takes a little longer.  Then you are done! Spoon over rice and enjoy.  I always add cashews in once it is done because it adds a delicious flavor and crunch.  Don't put them in until the end because they will get too soft and chewy if you boil them with everything else.  

Thanks for reading! Let me know about your kitchen adventures!

Love,

Grace