Rosemary Grilled Chicken with Zucchini Cilantro Soba Noodles

Today was a long day.. I was on mommy duty full time all day without help. I had to work while they napped and played with the 3 year olds all day. My childcare help is on vacation and it was back to being the sole mama bear at home. I went to a potty training lecture yesterday and spent the entire day today training my son to go on the potty. If any of you are struggling with potty training toddlers like I am. Run and get this book by Jan Faull - Mommy, I have to go Potty!! She is brilliant. I used her techniques of talking to my son and sharing that it was his "job" to learn to use the potty and my job to help him. I did this type of phrasing and saying that we are "practicing" for him to learn to use the potty and soon he will be expected to do it on his own. Guess what?! He did. ALL DAY LONG. He went to toilet 7 times today. Of course all with reminders but he only used his pull up for the poop. Rest was in the toilet. I decided with her advice just to focus on my son and lo and behold, I did not have to do much training with my daughter.. she was equally interested and she had only one accident all day long. I am hoping and praying that our successes continue tomorrow and soon I will be able to get rid of all disposable items at home. Its been a very long road and anyone who has to potty train only one child at a time, be thankful! Its been super hard with two at the same time.

SO.. what does all this toilet talk have to do with the delicious dinner I made? Well. Mostly nothing.. but the point I was trying to make was that the recipes used in tonight's dinner were really simple and very quick. A perfect end to a tiring day of dealing with flushing wet wipes and the drama of pooping and peeing toddlers. Yeah, I can see the hit counter reach millions based on my appetizing start. :)

The chicken skewers on top of the soba noodles are based on Todd and Diane's recipe from White on Rice Couple.. If you have never been to their blog. Run, go, now. Its sheer genius. See the full details here.

The soba noodles were actually inspired by their cousous recipe. I did not have couscous at home so instead, I used their combo of zucchini, garlic, shallots plus soy sauce into a stir fry.

Here is my Soba Noodle Recipe:

• 6 oz organic wheat soba noodle (it can be any soba noodle, I just used what I had on hand)
• 3 garlic cloves finely chopped
• 1 shallot diced
• 1/2 cup onions
• 3 tsp soy sauce
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
• 1 zucchini chopped into thin julienne slices
• Fresh ground pepper and salt to taste
• 2 tsp olive oil

Method:
Cook soba noodles per direction and drain. Approx 4 minutes.
Stir fry shallots, garlic, onions in the oil till they almost turn brown.
Add in zucchini and stir fry on medium heat till zucchini is cooked and slightly brown (2 minutes)
Add Noodles and soy sauce. Stir to combine.
Add chopped cilantro
Add salt/pepper to taste.

Serve warm with the rosemary chicken and some fresh fruit.

My kids will eat anything on a stick. They loved the chicken and noodle combo. Dinner was complete in less than 1/2 hour including all the prep. This is my kind of weekday cooking!

Mint Rice, Egg Curry, Garlic Mashed Cauliflower

We have a garden!! Well, sort of. My kids have been pestering me for a veggie garden this spring and I finally broke down and got them a couple of tomato plants, some cilantro, mint and parsley. Since I have the ability to kill cacti, we decided to go the potted route this year. If this whole thing is a smashing success, I will plant a planter box next year. Everything but the parsley is a seedling so they have had lots of fun seeing the plants grow. My kids are better gardeners than I am and religiously remember to water their 4 pots even on soggy rainy Seattle days. So their efforts might in fact be a detriment because both of them take turns watering the same exact pot generously.

The mint has been thriving and I used it and the cilantro in the recipes below... I did all three recipes with estimates so the recipes below are just from memory, no real measuring involved so I cannot guarantee the results for you. Mostly logged her for my own historic purposes. :)

Garlic Mashed Cauliflower - Steam 1 head chopped cauli in a pot with 1 to 2 garli cloves. Once the cauliflower is tender, add some buttermilk (~2 to 4 tablespoons), dry dill or chives (I had dill), a dash of white pepper, some butter (scant) and salt. Whip into a puree with a handblender.

Mint Rice - Puree 1 cup fresh mint leaves with 1/2 cup cilantro leaves plus 1/2 inch ginger, 1 garlic clove,1 shallot, 2 green chillies and salt. Heat some oil in a heavy saute pan, throw in some cumin seeds, cardomom seeds and 1/2 inch whole cinnamon stick till cumin seeds sizzle, add the pureed chutney and pan fry for 1 to 2 minutes. Rinse 2 cups of rice (basmati is best but jasmine is fine in a pinch) and add 2 cups water plus pureed contents into a rice cooker. Blend well and cook till done.

Egg Curry - This was a basic tomato based egg curry. A hurried weekday dinner. Boil 6 eggs and shell. In a saute pan, heat up cumin seeds till they sizzle, add chopped onions, garlic and ginger. Cook till onions are golden brown. Add 2 cups chopped tomatoes plus salt to taste. Cook till tomatoes are soft. Using a hand blender/emulsifier, puree the curry base. Add chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder (I did not use exact measurements, a spoon or so?) and cook for couple more minutes. Add 1/2 cup coconut milk at the very end and taste for spice and salt. Gently stir in boiled eggs.

Ice Cream Sundae

Made three sauces and french almonds today for our gourmet dinner dessert night. We get together with some friends every other month for a fine meal. This week's menu includes gourmet pizza and I decided to bring build your own ice cream sundae to the party. It includes Rum Caramel Sauce, Mocha Sauce, Fresh Strawberry Sauce. The nuts are French Almonds and I did not have time to make my own ice cream so I am taking along espresso chip, french lavendar and vanilla custard as the partners in this food crime.

Recipes from David Lebowitz's, The Perfect Scoop to follow.

Coconut Banana Bread

A bunch of ripe bananas got me cruising for a good banana bread recipe. Nicole's coconut banana bread recipe caught my eye as it included one of my all time favorite combos of coconut and bananas. I modified her recipe ever so slightly with still great results. I halved her flour and added 1 cup whole wheat flour, threw in 3 teaspoons of chopped candied ginger and topped off the bread with some toasted almond slices. The results? Pure banana bread heaven. The almonds gave the bread a nice little crunch, the ginger was subtle and the main flavors focused on coconut and banana! A winner.

Here is what I did based on Nicole's recipe:

Coconut Banana Bread

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup wheat flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup mashed banana (2 med-large)
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 3 tsp chopped candied ginger
• A fist of toasted almonds for topping.

Preheat oven 350F and lightly grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add candied ginger to the dry mix.
In a large bowl, whisk together sugar and eggs until well combined, then whisk in the mashed banana, coconut milk, butter and vanilla extract. Pour dry ingredients into wet ingredients and stir until just combined, making sure no streaks of flour remain. Stir in shredded coconut and pour batter out into prepared baking pan. Sprinkle toasted almonds on top.
Bake for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, or with only a few moist crumbs attached.
Turn loaf out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.

Makes 1 loaf.

Sun, Salmon, BBQ'ed Corn with Green Chutney

We have had some spectacularly sunny 2 to 3 days these past days. Can't help but BBQ on a weekday with such glorious weather. The first shot is of Mt. Rainier from the 520 Bridge between Seattle and Bellevue. I took it while my hubby drove. Our son's middle name is Rainier. We love this mountain so much and hope to summit it one of these days. Besides being blessed with gorgeous views in our city, we have access to alaskan wild salmon. Today I made a simple marinade of lemon juice, 1/2 orange juice with lots of pulp with dash of green chilli paste, ginger, garlic and salt. It was very nice flavor to the salmon. Our dinner tonight was corn on cob brushed with a spicy cilantro-mint chutney I made (Cilantro, mint, onion, lime juice, salt, sugar and of course green chillies for heat). Store bought spinach naan with fresh orange.

Click: Dialing Apples in the Play Kitchen

Dialing Apples in the Play Kitchen ~ Taken with a Nikon D50, 35 mm fixed lens, Macro Mode for January Click

Red, one of my favorite colors. Its been a while since my last posting and its fitting to start the new year with a cheery red post. The backdrop for this shot is actually a play kitchen. A bright red kitchen that my twins got over Christmas. They love it. I love the fact that they pretend cook while I cook.

I have been busy in the kitchen trying out healthy recipes but been swamped with work, now school, kids and family life. Hopefully will come back here to share some of my recipes on and off.

Here are some other red beauties from my photo shoot. I ended up picking the photo of the apple because of the phone and the faucet. Loved the contrast.

Strawberries and the kitchen..


The actual kitchen:

Our Thanksgiving Feast

My in-laws celebrate thanksgiving in its traditional form. This year my BIL made the turkey and stuffing and gravy. I did the rest.