Best chocolate mousse ever

Because we got a lot of exercise this week/weekend and it's been a loooong first week of school (but a good one), we rewarded ourselves with homemade chocolate mousse. Now the difference this time was we each had a small portion instead of a huge bowl full! I can't take credit for this recipe, this one belongs to Tyler Florence's Ultimate cookbook (a fantastic cookbook).

Here's the link for the recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/chocolate-mousse-recipe/index.html

It is really simple and turns out great everytime (except of course that one time when I used salt instead of sugar, but I digress!)

Mussels with thyme/white wine/lemon sauce

For weeks we have been reading articles and watching cooking shows about mussels and they always look so easy and so good! So we went to Whole Foods yesterday and bought a couple pounds. The meal was simple and absolutely delicious, our only regret was that we didn't have a nice crusty baguette to go with it! The most difficult part was cleaning the mussels and de-bearding them. We soaked them in cold water for about 20 minutes and them scrubbed them with the rough side of a (new) sponge and then placed them in another bowl of water before straining them. For the sauce, we cooked 1 onion, 1 sliced lemon, and 6 sprigs of thyme in a pot until just cooked through (see picture). Then we added the cleaned mussels and stirred for one minute. Next we added 3/4 cup of dry white wine and 1/2 cup of chicken stock. Once the liquid was boiling, we turned off the heat and put the lid on (our pot is a cast iron, so it stays hot for awhile). Meanwhile, we boiled 1/4 pound of spaghetti (we're still trying to limit our pasta amount, so we just had a little bit). Once the mussels were all opened, we topped them with 1/4 cup of chopped parsley and then served them, with the broth, on top of the spaghetti. It was really good! We need to convince my parents to make the trek up to Parrish so we can make this for them too!

Chase vs. Food (tackling the beast that is risotto)

For our last dinner of summer 2010, we decided to go all out and try something that intimidated me: risotto. And since it was a special meal, we decided to make lobster risotto. I've only ever tried to make this delicious rice dish once before, and it turned out hard, gummy, and inedible! I've only been defeated by a few dishes (pad thai and hollandaise are yet to be conquered), and risotto was definitely one of them. With a little help from Giada and a lot of time, Ryan and I tackled risotto. It turned out to be pretty easy to make (the hardest part is the constantly stirring and adding of the liquid) and absolutely delicious to eat!

For the lobster:

Add two lobster tails (if frozen, make sure they have thawed completely) to a pot of boiling, salted water. Once lobster is added, turn heat down to medium-high. Boil for 6-8 minutes until tails curl and meat is white. Take tails out of water and let rest until cool enough to handle. Take the meat out of the shell (I wish I had some bright insight to share with you on a easy way to do this, but it actually was one of the more difficult things about this meal!). Once all the meat is removed, put the shells in a sauce pot.

For the stock:

We totally cheated and used store-bought chicken stock. To add a little extra flavor, we added the previously mentioned lobster shells to the stock. For the stock itself, add 5 cups to the sauce pan and turn on medium heat until warmed and then turned heat down to low. Add a couple sprigs of fresh thyme to sauce pan. Once stock is warm, you're ready to add it to your rice.

For the risotto:

Finely dice 1 large onion or 2 small onions (I used yellow onion). Meanwhile, add 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter to a medium-heat pot. Once butter has foamed and starts to brown, add onions. Stir for 1 minute and add 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon cracked pepper. Stir for about 5 minutes or until onions are starting to carmelize. Add 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme. Now you're ready to add the rice; add 1 1/2 cup of arborio rice. Stir to mix in with butter and onions for about 3 minutes. Next add 1/2 cup marsala wine. Cook wine until almost completely reduced. Now you're ready for the tedious part of risotto. Start adding the chicken stock, 1/2 cup at a time and stir until moisture is reduced. Keep adding stock, stirring, and checking moisture level until rice is cooked (for us, we ending up adding 1/2 cup of stock about every 3 minutes until we added almost all of the stock, it took about 25 minutes total). The important part is to constantly stir and keep an eye on the liquid level. We kept tasting it to check if the rice was done. It's a fine line between crunchy rice and completely over-cooked rice.

Final Steps:

Once risotto is cooked, turn the heat off the pan but leave on the same burner. Add 1 tablespoon of butter, 1/4 cup of minced chives, 1/4 cup of minced parsley, and 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese. Stir to combine. Place a couple of spoonfuls on a plate and top with lobster meat. Enjoy!!

I was really nervous about making this dish, but I feel confident enough to try again and play with the ingredients. It was fun to make, especially because Ryan and I made it together with Sadie at our feet.

Last Day of Summer...

Well tomorrow school starts for the 2010-2011 school year. Yesterday we got to see a bunch of our former (and future) students when they came and got their schedules, so it got us excited for the new year. We really wanted to spend our final day of the summer doing something outside. An early morning rain led to a nice, breezy, and slightly-less hot day. We drove down to St. Armands and had lunch at Columbia (it was only $16 for lunch, including a yummy mojito and the 1905 Salad!) and then made our way down the beach to Longboat Key. We found a practically abandoned beach access and went swimming for awhile. The sand isn't as nice as Siesta, but the waves were pretty big and it was really peaceful and quiet. We felt like we were on vacation for the day! We drove the long way home, up the rest of the LBK to Holmes Beach and Anna Maria. It was a great way to spend the afternoon. Now we're relaxing and getting ready for a feast (more on that later...). Here are some pictures from our "Sunday Funday."

Family BBQ

This past weekend, we had the pleasure of visiting with my brother and his adorable kids (Patrick and Gabriella). It was so great to see them. On Friday night, we got together with them, my parents, Nana, my Aunt Patty, Uncle Al, and cousin MacKenzie at my parents house. It was a great time with lots of good food. I took some pictures of some of the food we had (my father is the ultimate master grillman). We made two types of flank steak (one with a dry rub and one with a wet marinade), salad, baked beans, creamed corn, hot dogs, sausage, ribs, potato salad, bread, and brownies. It was all delicious (so much we had round 2 for lunch on Saturday!). It was a great way to end our summer and catch up with family members. Here are a few pictures from that night.

Work Night...

Well it's official, summer is over :( Our first day back was today (kids start next week). Ryan and I actually planned ahead and cooked a bunch of stuff on Sunday, fully accepting our mid-week laziness. Way too often Tuesday or Wednesday night will roll around and we'll say screw it, let's just get take out. Well the fact we're trying to eat better (and we haven't gotten a paycheck since June) won out, so we're really trying to only eat at home. On Sunday night we cooked a ton (went to BJ's and got a huge package of chicken) of chicken cutlets (sauteed them with a dusting of whole wheat flour, salt, and pepper and then quickly seared them in a hot skillet with a tablespoon of canola oil). Throughout the week we've had different dishes with chicken. Last night we made chicken parm (without the delicious gobs of mozarella, only a little sprinkling and with a small portion of whole wheat pasta), but tonight was one of my absolute favorite Italian-American dishes- chicken marsala. The entire dish from prep to dinner table was about 15 minutes.

For the sauce and chicken:
Turn a skillet on medium-high heat and add 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add one (small) sliced onion and stir for one minute and then reduce heat to medium-low. Season with salt and pepper. Once onions start to brown (see picture above) add 1 tablespoon minced thyme (we used fresh, but if you use dried, cut amount in half). Once onions are carmelized, add 1 tablespoon flour (we've been using whole wheat and don't really notice a difference in flavor) and stir to get rid of "raw" flour taste. Add 1/2 marsala wine (or sherry or madeira) and turn heat to medium. Once marsala is completely stirred in, add 1/4 cup of chicken stock. Once sauce is boiling, put in cooked chicken cutlets (if you didn't cook chicken ahead of time, cook it before the onions for about 5 minutes per side). Put the lid on the pan and turn heat down to medium-low. Right before serving, add two tablespoons of cream or half and half. Check thickness of sauce (mine was too thick, so I added a dash more of marsala and chicken stock) and add 1 tablespoon each of fresh flat leaf parsley and basil. Serve as is or on top of pasta (we used quinoa because it has a lot more protein and read somewhere that it is healthier than pasta, and actually makes for a delicious side dish!).

It's always hard finding the motivation during the school/work week, but with some planning and prepping ahead of time, hopefully it won't be too hard! One of our goals this year is to eat more at home; we got in bad habits last year of eating out too much. Also, we hope to do more things during the week too (going to the pool, movies, etc.). Happy new school year to all my teacher friends!

PS. 2 1/2 weeks until UF's first game, can't wait!!!

Grill It w/ Ryan Chase

Ryan and I braved the massive rain storm and managed to get in 15 minutes of grilling before it started raining again! We've been inspired by all the cooking magazines we get and shows and decided to give it a try with kabobs! We made a ton extra so we can use the leftovers the rest of the week (in preparation for school, because we never feel like cooking after dealing with kiddos all day!). So we made grilled spice rubbed skirt steak, eggplant, chicken breast, and shrimp. For the shrimp, eggplant, and chicken we used the same marinade (in three separate bowls of course!). It is a really simple marinade but is really tasty: zest and juice of one lemon, 1/2 cup of chopped parsley, salt and pepper, and 1/2 cup of canola oil (cheaper than olive oil, but you could certainly subsitute olive oil). We didn't marinate for very long, only about 30 minutes (our stomachs were growling after a long afternoon of Ikea shopping!). After soaking the bamboo skewers for awhile, we placed the goodies (separating the items, and putting all the eggplant with only the eggplant and so on). We put the chicken and eggplant skewers on first and cooked for about 8 minutes per side. The shrimp only took about 2 minutes per side. For the skirt steak, Ryan was in charge of the rub (I tried to sneak a peak at his secret recipe and I know for sure I saw some garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne, and corriander going in there...who knows what else). We grilled the skirt steak for about 4 minutes aside for medium-rare. It all turned out pretty darn tasty and will give us tons of goodies the rest of the week. On a side note, where the heck did the summer go?? We officially start work again next week, but already went in today!!

Healthier Crab Cakes

One of my most favorite things in the world are crab cakes. They are becoming increasingly difficult to find a good one in a restaurant. Usually they have so much filling or breading, it no longer tastes like anything resembling a crab! We make our own at home every now and then, and we decided to make them for a Sunday dinner (since grilling was out of the question due to the monsoon we got on Sunday!). We used just regular lump crap meat instead of jumbo, but jumbo lump is of course the best tasting. Here's how we made it:

Slice two green onions (the whole thing, dark green to white) and add it to a medium sized baking bowl, add 1 teaspoon minced garlic, 2 tablespoons chopped parsley, 1 egg, 1 tablespoon worchester sauce, the zest and juice of one lemon, 2 tablespoons fat free milk, and 1 1/2 cups of panko breadcrumbs. Once those were mixed we added salt and pepper and then the crab, without over-mixing. Form into golf ball size balls, slightly pressing down in the center to flatten out without flattening out completely, and put in the fridge for 30 minutes to firm up. Meanwhile heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil on medium-high heat in a frying pan. Once oil is hot (not smoking hot, but enough to sizzle), add the crab cakes. Cook for about 5-7 minutes per side or until golden. Good warm or at room temperature.

For dipping sauce: combine 1 tablespoon spicy mustard, 1 tablespoon mayo, zest and juice of one lemon, 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley, 1 teaspoon siracha sauce (or your favorite hot sauce), and salt/pepper. Mix and serve with crab cakes and lemon wedges.

Birthday feast

Okay, so we took a break from healthy eating for a day to celebrate Ryan's Mom's birthday. We cooked a yummy dinner and celebrated at our house. Here's just a few pictures from our feast (halibut poached in lemon, thyme, and olive oil, flank steak, potatoes gratin, grilled asparagus, and homemade vanilla cake with coffee-chocolate frosting). Happy birthday Momma Page!

The grocery store...duh duh dunnn

What's the worst thing to do to myself? Go to Publix (or Fresh Market, or Whole Foods) and be completely hungry. I get home with $100 worth of crap that I usually have to turn around and go to the store the next day to get real food. I've been reading a lot of different books and articles, and one tip I found interesting and one I've been following is when you shop, stick to the outside perimeter of the store. Produce, deli, meat, seafood, and dairy are the places where we end up getting 90% of our groceries. We're trying to stay away from any processed foods (except for the occasional bowl of Kashi). The only time we really go to those inner aisles of the store is for spices or olive oil or stuff like that.

We were talking the other day and thinking back at all the things we used to eat that we thought we healthy. All those 100 calorie packs of food, baked chips (or worse, the ones with olestra), fat free cookies, cereals, low-fat fruit yogurt, etc. The problem with me at least, is if I'm eating the supposed "healthy" low-fat ice cream, I'm likely to eat twice as much as I would if it was the real deal because at least then I wouldn't be kidding myself with the fact it wasn't good for me. I'm by no means a health expert, but these are a few things I try to help.

I know I've mentioned before about trying to eat organic, and we're still trying to too, but it is expensive! My friend Emily had a good tip for fruits and veggies, only buy organic for the fruits and veggies that you eat the skin. If you peel it, it's not as important. Thanks Em! We try to buy grass fed beef whenever possible (around here, we've only been able to find it at Whole Foods), it has a different taste, but I prefer it. Organic, free-range chicken is a little more difficult to find, but I buy it whenever I find it. If I win the lottery (if only...) I would totally do 100% of my shopping at Whole Foods or places like that. My mother-in-law works there now and gets an awesome discount, might have to see if we can take advantage of that when she's here this week! =)

dessert...

For Ryan and I, the hardest part about trying to live a healthier lifestyle is dessert. We both have a huge sweet-tooth. I think that was always our downfall whenever we would try to diet in the past...we'd always succumb to that dessert aisle! So we're constantly on the lookout for some healthier desserts. If anyone has any suggestions, we'd gladly take them! Sometimes a fresh piece of fruit is nice, but it's still not "real" dessert. So we came up with our dessert smoothie, that tastes almost as good as a milkshake. We make this sometimes for dessert, or sometimes for breakfast (you can make the night before, store it in the fridge, and then add ice in the morning and re-blend).

"Dessert" Smoothie:
In a blender add: 2 cups of crushed ice, 1/2 cup of fat free plain yogurt, 1/4 of unsweetened applesauce, 2 packets of truvia (or whatever you prefer for a sugar substitute, could always use a tablespoon of honey instead), 1 fresh peach cut up into small segments, 4 medium sized strawberries, and 1/4 cup of organic fat free milk (really tastes better than non-organic, we like Hood or Horizon brands). Blend until all combined. You can add more or less ice depending on how you like the consistency, I like it super thick so I have to use a spoon. Pour into a glass and I like to drizzle a little honey on top.

Note: Instead of peaches and strawberries, you could substitute whatever berries or fruit you like (blueberries and raspberries are good, and Ryan likes bananas); but I don't recommend blackberries, the seeds are too big! Also, if you are using frozen fruit, only start with 1 cup of ice. I haven't really found frozen peaches I like, but frozen strawberries work well, and you don't even have to thaw them out.