Paris Travel Tips
January 3, 2014
Did I mention that I love to travel? My first 2 years in the workforce I spent traveling alone around the US and I loved it! I got to visit some cities I probably would never have on my own. The best part is, my family loves to travel too. My parents started a tradition a few years ago, after my sister and I were out of their house, traveling for Thanksgiving. They discovered that it’s a great time to visit Europe, it’s not tourist season, the flights are relatively inexpensive, and we already have a couple of days off of work!
This past Thanksgiving, we were all lucky enough to join them in Paris! I do mean we too, my parents, my sister and her husband, Jason and I. Paris had been on my bucket list of places to visit and I was so excited to be able to experience it with my family. Paris is beautiful, the food is amazing, and there is so much to see! The hard part was trying to coordinate what everyone wanted to do while we were there! We hit a lot of the main highlights, the Louvre, Musée d’Orsay, Versailles, Champs-Élysées, Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Mom and I even took a French cooking class! It was a busy trip but somehow we were able to fit it all in. I think we can all say we learned a few things about traveling in Paris on our trip. Some things we heard from others before we left, and some we figured out when we were there. So here is our top 5 list of Paris travel tips.
Eiffel Tower at night
1. Buy a Metro pass
We were in Paris for a week, so after a couple days of buying carnets (packs of 10 metro tickets) we decided it would be more cost effective to buy a Metro pass. You can get around basically anywhere you need to in the city for the number of days you buy your pass for. The Metro was not hard to navigate either, as long as you know what stop you need before you get off, and all of our tour books were good about listing what Metro stop was the closest. By the end of the week we really knew what lines would get us back to our hotel!
2. Get the Museum Pass
If you have a lot of the main attractions on your list, I highly recommend the Museum Pass. It got us into the Louvre, Musée d’Orsay, Musée de l’Orangerie (Monet’s Water Lilies are beautiful!), the towers of Notre Dame, Centre Pombidou (modern art museum)…and the list goes on! A lot of the main attractions are included in the pass so it is worth checking out. You can buy the pass for a set number of days (1, 3, 5, etc) and it becomes active on the first day you use it, so you have to plan out your stops accordingly.
A Gargoyle on the towers of Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower
3. Spend some time sitting in a cafe
Everyone we talked to that had been to Paris said that we had to do this, and know I know why! It was fun to order a cappuccino, a snack, sit and just people watch. I loved to watch everyone in the cafes catching up with their friends, or family, in the middle of the work day! Les dux Magots is a well known cafe on Saint Germain that is supposed to have great people watching. Unfortunately, when we were there they were closed for renovations, but there are quite a few other cafes in that same area. That’s also by the oldest church in Paris which is cool to see!
4. Pay for the guided tour at Versailles
You have quite a few ticket options when you visit Versailles and our hotel concierge recommended purchasing tickets to the guided tour. You get to see the private apartments of King Louis XI and Louis the XVI, and the Royal Chapel with a smaller group, and the ticket includes admission to the rest of the palace as well! We walked the gardens, took the guided tour, then walked around the rest of the palace. We learned so much on the guided tour and it was so nice to be in a smaller group without all the crowds! The guided tour ticket is only €6 more and well worth it.
Inside the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles
5. Have the hotel concierge recommend where they would eat, and go there!
Our hotel concierge was a wonderful young lady who could not have been more helpful! She strongly recommended reservations for dinner every night, and helped us find restaurants within walking distance from the hotel. My mom made it a point to ask her where she would go eat dinner, and then we had her make reservations at those places. We tried some traditional French cuisine, a concept restaurant where all the main dishes looked like desserts, tapas, and a small Italian place. It didn’t look like any of these restaurants could hold more than 30 people at a time and the food was always amazing! I don’t think we had a bad meal the entire trip! I’m going to have to remember this tip when I go places on my own too, always ask where the locals go eat.
We had a wonderful week in Paris, ate way to much, saw some amazing sights, and did quite a bit of shopping. Both Jason and I said we would go back, but this time take some day trips outside the city, and spend some more time just wandering around the streets of Paris. We found some cute areas with shops on the last couple days and we wish we had more time to spend just browsing. Until next time, au revoir!
-LG
Notre Dame Cathedral
How I Met Your Mother “Sumbitch” Cookies
December 5, 2013
Yesterday we got our first snowstorm of the season. I love snow, don’t get me wrong, but I really dislike the traffic that happens when it snows. Lucky for me, I was fortunate enough to work from home while we got about 6″ of snow dumped on us. I loved watching the big fluffy snowflakes fall from the sky, and how pretty all the trees looked with the blanket of fresh snow. I felt so cozy at home that I got this urge to bake cookies, no complaints from Jason of course.
Normally I have my go-to recipe when I want cookies (oatmeal chocolate chip), but I had been holding onto a recipe we had heard about from an episode of How I Met Your Mother. Jason watches the show pretty regularly, and I just happened to be watching an episode with him, the one when “The Mother” meets Lily on the Train and uses her “sumbitch” cookies to help calm her down. They sounded so good! Who could resist, chocolate, peanut butter and caramel?
Here’s the recipe I used:
How I Met Your Mother “Sumbitch” Cookies
1 c butter softened
1 c granulated sugar
1 c packed brown sugar
1 c creamy peanut butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
bite size chocolate covered caramel candy (I used Hershey’s Kisses with caramel)
1. Beat butter, sugars and peanut butter until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla, beat until blended
2. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Add to the butter mixture, beat until blended. Cover and chill for at least 30 minutes
3. Preheat over to 350°F. Shape 2 Tbs of dough around each unwrapped candy. It helps to use lightly floured hands to keep the dough from sticking. Place on an ungreased or parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
Cookie dough around the Hershey Kisses
4. Bake for 13-14 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on baking sheet for 5-10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. (Cooling for extra time on the sheet is very important! The candy is still really soft/melted so if you pick up the cookies too early, the whole thing will fall apart.)
Yields: about 4 dozen
The finished HIMYM “Sumbitches!”
The cookies did not disappoint! I loved the combination of peanut butter and chocolate and to throw the caramel in there too added another yummy flavor. The cookies were chewy (my favorite) and the caramel stayed pretty soft too. I was worried about it hardening, but it didn’t at all. The kisses melted into the dough really well too, but did not spread all the way though the cookie. The stayed close to the center, so don’t be surprised if that happens to you too. Jason took a few into work for taste testing, and everyone loved them! Now I’m really craving a “sumbitch” and of course they’re all on the counter at home.
Homemade Crockpot Applesauce
November 21, 2013
We’re fortunate enough to have two apple tress in the backyard, a Courtland tree and a Honey Gold tree. The first year I moved in, the trees didn’t produce any apples, so I originally thought they were too young. But after talking to the people at our local greenhouse, they said it wasn’t uncommon for young trees to have apples one year, and none the next year. They also gave us some great tips about using something to help strengthen the roots, since apple tree roots don’t grow very deep, and different sprays we could use to keep bugs away.
This year, the apple trees delivered! We had so many apples, we almost ran out of room to store them. The Courtland apples ripen first, and I was ambitious enough to make an apple pie, and we saved the rest for eating. The flavor was so delicious! Crisp and the right amount of tartness. The Honey Gold tree ripens second, usually about 2-4 weeks later, and by this time, I do not want to make another pie or even a crisp! We both love applesauce but hate how the store bought stuff has so much sugar added in, we decided to try making our own at home.
Our bounty of apples
Our schedule has not lightened up at all recently, I think in the last 2 weeks we’ve had something going on after work every night of the week! I knew we wouldn’t have time at home to make the applesauce on the stove top so I decided to try it in the crockpot. Except for all the prep work of peeling and cutting up the apples, it was so simple!
Crockpot Applesauce
14 medium apples (I filled the crockpot very close to the top)
1 strip of lemon peel
1 tsp lemon juice
cinnamon stick
8 tsp brown sugar
2/3 c sugar
1. Peel, core and chop up the apples, add to the crockpot
2. Add sugar, lemon peel, lemon juice and cinnamon stick. I broke the cinnamon stick in half, hoping it would help increase the flavor
All the ingredients in the crock pot ready to go!
3. Stir all the ingredients together
4. Cook on low for 6 hours (I did this on a work day, and after the 6 hours my crockpot turned to warm and stayed on until I got home from work. The apples did not burn or start sticking to the sides which was a relief!)
5. Remove the cinnamon stick and lemon peel.
6. Mash or blend the apples to the consistency of your choice. I was able to use a potato masher to get a very smooth apple sauce, the apples fell apart perfectly.
7. Can and process as you would normally. I used a hot water bath, otherwise you could keep it in the fridge if you plan on eating it relatively quickly, or freeze it to enjoy later on.
The crockpot applesauce turned out great. The little bit of sugar was perfect to make it just a little bit sweeter, but still let the flavor of the apples come through. We were a little disappointed that we only got 3 pint sized cans though. We were both hoping for more! I’d absolutely make homemade applesauce in a crock pot again, it was nice to throw it all together and forget it! Now we see how long we can wait before we open the first can!
Nike Women’s Half-Marathon 2013
November 6, 2013
Two weekends ago my 15 weeks of half-marathon training finally paid off! I completed my second Nike Women’s Half-Marathon in San Francisco and I could not be happier with how it went.
This will always be one of my favorite races. Not only is it put on by Nike (I love their stuff), but it’s in San Francisco (one of my favorite cities) and it helps benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS). I first heard about it a few years ago, and it was easy to motivate me to train and run 13.1 miles! At the finish line you are greeted by San Francisco’s finest firemen dressed sharply in tuxedos, and instead of handing you a finishers medal, they hand you a custom Tiffany & Co. sterling sliver necklace!
The race is so popular Nike actually limits the number of people that can participate. So, there are two ways you can sign up. 1) Join Team in Training and fundraise for LLS or 2) Enter the lottery and hope your name is picked to be one of the 30,000 people that are running. When I ran in 2011, I entered the lottery by myself and luckily got picked! My mom and I made a long weekend out of it and had a blast. After telling a few of my girlfriends and fellow runners about it, they got excited and were interesting in trying to get in for 2012. We signed up as a team, and sadly, did not get picked. So we decided to give it another try this year, signed up as a team again called the MinneSNOWta Sexy Striders, and anxiously waited for mid-June when Nike was conducting the lottery. The nice part about signing up as a team, if someone on the team is picked, the entire team gets in! We hoped that would help our chances. A few of us were texting back and forth the day of the lottery, checking to see if anyone had gotten the e-mail that said we were in. One of the girls got her email that morning and we all knew we were going to San Fran in October!
Nike put together a pretty neat app which included information about the race, the course map, and a training program depending on how you wanted to do (finish or Personal Record (PR.)) Since I ran it before, I decided I wanted to PR and beat my time from 2011 of 2:28. I’m not going to lie, those 15 weeks of training got tough. There were plenty of early Saturday or Sunday morning long training runs, waking up at 5am to get my run in for the day, and days my legs were dead tired. It was addicting in a way though, checking to see what my workout was for the next day, and seeing if my time improved over my last run. I actually started to get faster and I’m a believer in tempo runs now, they are not just pointless intervals like I used to think.
My mom was probably just as excited as I was about getting into the run, so we planned a girls weekend. My mom and sister both flew into San Fran and we met up at the airport a couple of days before the run. We checked out the expo to get my race packet, try out some free food and score some free samples from Paul Mitchell and Neutrogena. Nike also puts the names of all the runners on display at their San Fran store, so we had to stop and take a pic. The atmosphere was so energetic it was contagious. Everyone was excited to be there and ready for the race.
At the NWM Expo 2013
Since the race was on Sunday, we spent Saturday doing a little sightseeing. Not too much walking was my only rule. So we checked out the farmer’s market at the Ferry Building, did a little shopping and met up with the rest of the team who flew in for dinner that night.
Spending time at the Ferry Building and Farmer’s Market
Sunday, race day! Of course I was nervous, I get nervous before every race! A few of us met up at the start line and actually stuck together for most of the race. Let me tell you, running with people you know and chatting makes it go by so much quicker and is much more fun! I used to think I would rather run alone, just me and my thoughts, but chatting and encouraging each other throughout the course made it much easier! Now I know everyone thinks if you’re running in San Francisco you’re running up the steep hills. Not true! The first 5 miles or so is flat, you run through downtown and along the Embarcadero. These miles went by quickly and at mile 5 we thought that we could totally take on a full marathon some day. Miles 6-10 you’re up in the Presidio, so yeah it’s hilly in there, but mile 10 makes it all worth it when you hang a left and see the beach and ocean just open up in front of you. We kept joking about how the hills were nothing compared to the hills on the trails we ran at home. Miles 11-13 you run through Golden Gate Park and take in all the scenery. I kind of hit my wall around mile 11 thinking that I still had 2 more miles to go and how tired I was getting. But, a few of the girls were nearby and actually picked up the pace a little. They helped me get over the wall and find the energy to kick it into the finish. I love the entire route because you get to see San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge, and be right by the ocean. It’s challenging, but definitely worth it.
2013 NWM Course Map
I finished in 2:17, 11 minutes faster than my previous time and that is now my new PR! I was so happy with my time and felt great! My legs were tired, and I was thirsty but I earned that finisher’s t-shirt and necklace! Of course we had to take a picture with the handsome fireman too.
Finishers!
My mom and my sister were a fantastic cheering section! They made their own t-shirts to wear and signs to hold up on the course. We saw them around mile 4 and again at the finish line. I was so glad they were both able to come out and cheer me on! It was a fun girls weekend. After the race and a hot shower, I wanted one thing, a gigantic Ghirardelli ice cream sundae!
At the finish line with my awesome cheering section!
We all flew back home on Monday, and my mom was already asking where my next destination race will be. So I’m taking suggestions! Let me know if you’ve done a destination race that you really enjoyed. So far the Disney Princess Half-Marathon, the Honolulu Marathon and Athens Marathon are on the list!
Crockpot Chicken Pot Pie
October 14, 2013
Crockpot season is officially upon us! As soon as the weather starts to turn colder and grey, I love to pull out the crockpot (or slowcooker depending on where you’re from), throw everything in the night before, have it cook all day and have dinner ready when we get home from work the next day. (Yes I know you can use them year round, but something feels wrong about using the crock pot in the middle of the summer to me.) It’s so easy and really nice to not always have to cook every night! I do feel bad for Maggie sometimes though since she has to smell the food cooking all day long, then never gets to have any.
We both love chicken pot pie, it just feels like a comfort food to me. I remember eating Marie Callender’s mini pot pies when I was growing up on cold fall and winter days, so it brings back memories of growing up in upstate New York and all the snow we got. After searching for the perfect crock pot chicken pot pie recipe, we ended up combining elements of a few different ones. Instead of pouring the filling into a pie, we decided to make some refrigerated biscuits and serve the pot pie filling over the biscuits. I’m sure it would have been just as easy to make the pie but the biscuits were a fun twist.
Now, I get skeptical with any crock pot chicken recipe. I have a horrible track record with the chicken turning out dry, so naturally I was nervous, but it turned out great! The chicken was not dry at all and it was the perfect warm and hearty dinner for a grey and rainy day.
Crock Pot Chicken Pot Pie
3-4 chicken breasts, chopped into bite size pieces
4-5 red potatoes, chopped into bite size pieces
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cups frozen veggies (I used 1 c of corn and 1 c of peas)
1 large (family size) can cream of chicken soup
salt and pepper to taste
2 cans refrigerated biscuits
1. Chop and dice the chicken, potatoes and onion. Place into the crock pot.
2. Add in the frozen veggies, cream of chicken soup and salt and pepper. Stir all the ingredients together so the soup evenly coats all the ingredients.
The chicken pot pie mixture, all stirred up and ready to go!
3. Cook on low 6-8 hours, until chicken and potatoes are cooked. We cooked it on low for 8 hours and everything was done when we got home from work.
My mom bought me this crock pot as a Christmas gift last year…I have never been more excited to get kitchen gadgets as a present! It has a fantastic feature that allows you to set your cook time, and after the cook time is up, it automatically switches the heat to warm so you dish doesn’t get cold, or keep cooking.
4. When it’s time to eat, bake the biscuits according to the package directions.
5. When the biscuits are done, open them up and serve the pot pie mixture over the biscuits.
Chicken Pot Pie over Biscuits
It tasted delicious! I loved having the flavor from the onion in there, plus the heartiness of the potatoes. The chicken was not dry at all, and it fell apart easily. There was enough pot pie filling for us to have dinner that night, plus leftovers for at least 2 more meals. The one thing I would do different though is season the chicken before putting it into the crock pot. We thought the flavor was good but it could have used a little more pepper. Seasoning the chicken as well as the entire mixture might help kick up the flavor just a little bit. This recipe is definitely being saved and made again sometime this winter! Anyone have any variations on chicken pot pie that they have tried before?
Pasta with Basil Pesto and Roasted Tomatoes
October 11, 2013
The weather is slowly turning to fall, which means our garden is just about done for the year. I really enjoyed all the fresh herbs, cucumbers and tomatoes all summer long. For some reason though, our basil and cherry tomato plants are still growing! I was pulling plants the other day and I think I picked at least 2 cups worth of cherry tomatoes! I needed to figure out something to do with all the tomatoes and basil, quickly before they spoiled sitting around our house. It was perfect timing too, we ran the Twin Cities 10k last Saturday as our race for October and I was still searching for a good pre-race meal. Well with all the basil and tomatoes, what better than homemade pesto with oven roasted tomatoes and chicken over pasta!
Pesto
I’ve always loved Giada’s peso recipe. It’s fairly easy to make and really hard to mess up.
1 garlic clove
2 cups fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup pine nuts
Salt and black pepper
1/2 cup – 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1. Add garlic, basil, pine nuts, salt and pepper into a food processor. Pulse until everything is finely chopped.
2. While the blender is still running, slowly pour in 1/2 c of the olive oil. You want the pesto to have a thick but smooth consistency. You can always add more oil if necessary.
3. Add the Parmesan and blend until the cheese is mixed in.
I know pine nuts are expensive, so I’ve substituted walnuts and even almonds in a pinch. I couldn’t really tell any difference in taste between pesto with pine nuts and pesto with walnuts. I know the recipe calls for toasting or roasting the pine nuts, but I always forget this step! I’m sure the flavors would be different, so someday I’ll have to remember to roast whatever nuts I’m using.
Roasted Tomatoes
This could not have been easier to do, and you could use any seasoning you feel like.
As many tomatoes as you want
Olive Oil
Balsalmic Vinear
Salt and Pepper or other seasoning to taste
1. Preheat oven to 400°F
2. Chop all the tomatoes in half or bite size pieces depending on what type of tomatoes you are using. I also cut up some of the extra roma tomatoes we had sitting around.
2. Place into a large mixing bowl. Toss with olive oil, vinegar and seasonings.
Seasoning the yummy tomatoes from the garden
3. Lay out onto a greased roasting pan or cookie sheet. Roast in oven for 8-12 minutes, or until the skins on the tomatoes begin to shrivel and brown.
Finished tomatoes
While I was roasting the tomatoes and making the pesto, I boiled half a box of rotini (it was all we had left in the house for pasta choices) seasoned some chicken breast with Italian seasoning and baked it in the oven. When the pasta was done, I mixed in the pesto and topped it with the roasted tomatoes, chicken and some more parmesan cheese.
Finished dish
The pasta tasted amazing. All the flavors came together really well with the fresh basil, tomatoes, rosemary and oregano in the Italian seasoning. The flavors were pretty light but it was a filling dish! The whole combination must have been perfect pre-race fuel too. Both Jason and I beat our goal times and set new PRs for a 10k! It was a beautiful course, starting by the capitol building in St. Paul, past the Cathedral, down Summit Ave with all the old houses and back. The best part was finishing on a downhill, running toward the capitol building, what a beautiful view. It might have been the course that helped us PR, but the dinner couldn’t have hurt either! I think we’ll be making this again the night before a race.
After the race with our medals and the capitol building
No-Bake S’mores
September 19, 2013
We went camping a couple of weekends ago at Mille Lacs State Park to check camping off my list of “Things to Do in Summer 2013.” It wasn’t my first time camping, but my first time really using my new backpack. We had a 3/4 mile hike out to our campsite on a small lake, beautiful, quiet and not too far for my first time backpacking. I loved it! Packing everything in the pack was a struggle for me trying to fit everything, (note to self, I need a better sleeping bag! One that is meant for backpacking.) but we planned ahead with clothes and meals so we had the right amount of food and all our supplies fit just perfectly. Maggie came along too and got to experience her first weekend camping. Being a beagle, she LOVED all the new smells and that we went on lots of long “walks.”
Big smile from Maggie on our hike
I insisted that we bring stuff to make s’mores, even though we were trying to save room in our packs. I love roasting marshmallows over the campfire, trying to get them perfectly toasted. I end up burning the marshmallow most of the time though. Plus, s’mores have chocolate so they’re an automatic delicious treat in my book!
Since we don’t have a fire pit to roast s’mores at home, Jason found a recipe to satisfy my s’mores craving…no bake s’mores! Making these were so easy and quick; it took about 30 minutes total, including the time the s’mores spent in the freezer. Here’s what you’ll need:
Graham crackers
Marshmallow fluff/creme
Chocolate to melt
Sprinkles or chopped nuts to add as a topping (optional)
1. Take the graham crackers and break them into quarters.
2. Using a knife or spatula, spread about a tablespoon of the marshmallow fluff/creme onto one graham cracker. Set aside on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper.
Graham Crackers and Marshmallow Fluff
3. Top with another graham cracker quarter. The fluff was a little runny, so we put them in the freezer for about 10 minutes.
4. Melt your chocolate. We used about 3/4 of a bag of Toll House’s milk chocolate chocolate chips. They melted fairly quickly, and were ready when we pulled the graham crackers out of the freezer, but you could use whatever chocolate you prefer. We used our “double boiler” set up, a metal mixing bowl over a pot of boiling water.
Melting the Chocolate
5. Dip half to 3/4 of the graham crackers in the melted chocolate. Leave some plain graham cracker so it’s easier for people to pick them up and eat! The bowl was deep enough that it worked out easily for us to just dip the s’more and put it right back on the cookie sheet. The trick to this step is to dip as quickly as possible. The heat from the chocolate will start to soften the marshmallow fluff, and we didn’t want it dripping into the chocolate.
Dipping the s’more!
6. Sprinkle your desired topping onto the chocolate. (Totally optional!) We were hosting a game night and wanted to be festive. Do this while the chocolate is still soft so the topping sticks.
Adding the sprinkles to the s’mores
7. Put the cookie sheet back into the freezer for about 10 minutes. This will help the chocolate harden and the marshmallow re-harden if it started to melt.
8. Enjoy! Everyone at game night LOVED them and by the end of the evening they were all gone. If you do have any leftovers, I would suggest storing them in the fridge, the marshmallow fluff started to run again as they sat out during the evening.
I might have to make some more of these soon to re-live our camping weekend!
Finished S’mores
Rosemary Ranch Chicken Kabobs
September 16, 2013
Now I know it’s after Labor Day, but I’m still trying to hold on to summer by grilling until I can’t stand being outside in the cold! (Then Jason graciously volunteers to go outside and man the grill.) This is one of my absolute favorite chicken kabob recipes. The marinade is so easy to prepare, flavorful, and the best part is, I’ve never had the chicken turn out dry! Plus, who doesn’t like ranch dressing? I’ll marinade a couple of chicken breasts, skewer up some peppers, mushrooms and onions to throw on the grill and dinner is ready in about 30 minutes (well more than that if you count marinading the chicken.) A quick meal is key at our house right now, Jason’s been busy with work and I’m still in the middle of training for my half-marathon (only 5 more weeks to go! I love running, but it will be nice when I don’t have to spend hours each day training) and the last thing either of us want to do is cook an elaborate meal that takes hours.
Ingredients
1/4 c olive oil
1/4 c light ranch dressing
1 1/2 T Worcestershire sauce
1 T dried rosemary
1 t lemon juice
1 t white vinegar
salt/pepper to taste (although I’ve never used them)
2 chicken breasts
1. Mix the marinade together
In a medium size bowl, stir together the olive oil, ranch dressing, Worcestershire sauce, rosemary, lemon juice, white vinegar and salt/pepper if you like. Because the olive oil and ranch don’t want to play nice together, it will take some stirring to get everything to come together.
2. Chop the chicken into pieces and add to the marinade
3. Cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes
I love to prep the marinade and chicken the night before and let it sit over night. I think it helps make the chicken more flavorful!
4. Preheat your grill to medium to medium-high heat.
While you’re waiting for your grill to heat up, thread the chicken onto skewers and discard the marinade. No reusing marinade that has touched raw meat!
5. Time to grill!
Grill the skewers for about 8-12 minutes, until the chicken is no longer pink in the middle and the juices run clear (the usual disclaimer for cooking chicken)
We usually put the skewers of veggies on the grill at the same time as the chicken so they have enough time to cook.And while we’re waiting for the food on the grill, we’ll cook up some rice. The debate is usually what type of rice, white or brown, and it seems since Jason’s been cooking the rice recently we’re always eating white… hmm, I think we’ll have to change that.
Important Healthy Facts
(just the chicken and marinade, all veggies and side dishes are up to you!)
Serves: 4
Prep Time: 40+ minutes (10 minutes to prep the marinade and chicken, at least 30 minutes to marinade)
Cook Time: 8-12 minutes
Calories per serving: appx. 228 (that is if all the marinade was on the chicken while you cooked it)
Cold Brew Coffee- Cold and Hot New Trend
September 5, 2013
I’ll never forget the first time I tried coffee. I was probably in middle school, helping my mom at a volunteer event early in the morning. All the adults were drinking coffee and it smelled so good I asked my mom if I could try some. She laughed, told me I probably wouldn’t like it but helped me make a cup with plenty of milk and sugar anyway. She was right (as she usually is), I hated it. But, she said I’d probably learn to like it over time, eventually would be able to stop adding milk and sugar to cut down on the bitter taste, and she guessed I would be having some before work everyday.
Now, I wouldn’t say I’m addicted to coffee, but I do really enjoy it, and I don’t think there have been many days since entering the working world where I’ve gone without. We usually brew our own at home in the mornings, and over time I’ve slowly been upgrading the coffee makers. I started with a little 4 cup coffee maker, bought a grind and brew so I could have freshly ground beans, was given a Keurig (thanks Mom and Dad!), then Mom introduced me to the French Press and donated her espresso machine to the growing collection!
There are quite a few ways you could make coffee around the house depending on your mood! Now I keep seeing advertisements for cold brew coffee, and tried it for the first time when I was on vacation with my mom in Arizona. It was delicious! So smooth, not bitter and I could actually taste some of the flavors of the coffee.
Basically to make cold brew coffee you let your grounds soak in water for a long period of time, at least 12 hours, at room temperature. Then you filter out the grounds and are left with a coffee concentrate that you dilute, usually with water or milk. From what we’ve read, using hot water to brew coffee draws out oils and the bitter flavors from the coffee beans. But, using the room temperature or cold water produces a different reaction with the coffee beans, so no oil or bitter flavors. We decided the process sounded easy enough to try making it at home. Now you can buy special equipment to do this (like the Toddy for example), but we thought they were a little expensive when we could make our own set up at home.
Materials:
Coffee beans
Coffee grinder
Jug for “brewing”
Sieve
Coffee Filters
Bowl to collect the filtered coffee
Container to store the coffee
1. Grind the beans
I found a recipe from the NY Times to help make sure we got it right, and they suggest a coarse grind. You’ll need 1/3 c coarse ground beans for every 1 1/2 c of water. We used some beans from our new favorite coffee shop, Beans and Leaves in Long Grove, IL. If you’re in the area, you need to stop. It’s a small little shop but they have some amazing flavored whole bean coffee at really reasonable prices. We’re planning on calling an order in and having them ship us some of our favorite blends.
- Beans and Leaves Almond Amaretto Blend, yum!
2. Combine beans and water
1/3c of ground beans for every 1 1/2 c of water. Stir so everything is mixed in well. Any dry patches of grounds are wasted coffee, so make sure you mix it well. We like to make big batches (six cups at a time) so we can drink it all week.
3. Cover the container and let it sit
We let it sit covered on the counter for at least 12 hours. 24 hours is the recommended amount but you can get away with 12 in a pinch.
- Letting the coffee brew
4. Strain the coffee
We put a coffee filter in a sieve over a large metal bowl to help collect the coffee more easily. Then we transfer it to a smaller container for storage in the fridge. It seemed easier than putting the sieve over a funnel into our smaller container. Someone would have had to stand there holding the sieve waiting for the coffee to strain. With the metal bowl we can simply pour the coffee into the sieve and walk away. This step can take some time as you wait for the coffee to filter through the grounds.
- Strainer with the coffee filter
5. Enjoy!
Since the cold brew process makes stronger coffee, or coffee concentrate, use a 1:1 ratio to mix your cold press with water or milk. When it was really hot last week, we were using milk and pouring the coffee over ice, it made a delicious iced coffee! Not diluted down at all like it was when we just poured hot coffee over ice. Now that it’s a little cooler in the morning, I’ve been mixing mine with hot water and it still tastes great. I love being able to taste all the flavors, especially the little amaretto taste of this batch!
We’ll have to go out and buy some flavored syrups now. I’d love to try adding some caramel on those days I’m craving something sweet! Has anyone else given cold brew a try yet?
Mmmm Ribs!
August 30, 2013
There’s something about all the summer holidays that makes me want to grill, mix up some potato salad and buy local sweet corn from the farm up the street. And of course it’s around the same time that the grocery stores put racks of baby back ribs on sale! With Labor day coming up, I picked up a rack to enjoy on the “unofficial last day of summer.”
Honestly, I was legitimately scared to cook ribs at home for a long time. It seemed like too much work, and I was nervous about over cooking them to the point where they would end up being dry. I was flipping channels a few years ago and Bobby Flay was on the Food Network (a frequently watched channel at our house in case you hadn’t figured that out yet) talking about cooking ribs on the grill. Now I get that he is skilled at grilling everything under the sun, but he made it sound easy enough that I had to give it a try! The first time around was a success, so I invited some people over for a second try. There are a few people (Jason included) that get excited when they hear I’m cooking ribs!
I modified Bobby’s rib rub recipe (I’m a little bit of a wimp when it comes to hot spices), prepped the ribs and after about 2 hours on the grill, dinner was served! Here’s the step by step:
1. Mix the dry rib rub together in a separate bowl
1 T cumin
1 T paprika
1 T garlic powder
1 T onion powder
1 T chili powder
1 T brown sugar
1 T sea salt
1/2 t cayenne pepper
1/2 t black pepper
Mixing together the spices
Don’t put the brown sugar away yet! You’ll need about an additional 1/4- 1/2 c when it comes time to season the ribs
2. Prep the ribs
After I take them out of the package I lay them on a cutting board covered in paper towels and pat them dry. There is a membrane on the back of the ribs that needs to come off. I’ve heard if you leave it on, the ribs come out tougher and prevent the rub from really getting into all of the meat. To do this, you can take a finger or a butter knife, and slide it under the membrane/over a bone. Lift the membrane until it starts to tear (it’s a pretty audible noise.) Use a paper towel, grab the membrane and slowly pull across the rack of ribs until it comes off. You might be able to get it all in one piece, or it might take a few tries, but just be patient with it, you’ll eventually be able to remove it all.
Starting to remove the membrane
3. Season the ribs
The dry rub will cover about 2 1/2 to 3 lbs of ribs. I start with the back (bony side), pour about half of the rub across the rack, then rub and pat it in until it covers the back and sides of the ribs. Flip it over, and repeat on the front (meaty side). To help balance the heat and keep the ribs moist, I pour anywhere from an additional 1/4 to 1/2 c of brown sugar onto the front of the ribs and pat this in so it covers the ribs evenly. You don’t have to do this if you’re trying to watch your calories or sugar though (1/2 c of packed brown sugar is about 415 calories!)
Rubbing the spices into the ribs
Adding the brown sugar to the top of the spices
4. Wrap the ribs in tin foil and let them sit
This helps the seasoning really get into the meat. I leave mine in the fridge for at least 2 hours. When it’s almost time to start cooking them, I let them rest on the counter for about 30 minutes to an hour so they come up to room temperature.
5. Pre-heat the grill
I always cook the ribs at 250°F over indirect heat. (I accidentally cooked them over direct heat once, they were fine, just not as tender as I like) We have a gas grill so it makes keeping an eye on the temperature very easy!
6. Cooking time!
I’ve learned that it usually does not take as much time to cook the ribs as the package recommends. The USDA recommends that you cook pork to an internal temp of 160°F, so I absolutely make sure I get the meat up to temperature! But on average, my 2 1/2lb rack of ribs takes about 2 hours to cook.
Every 30 minutes I flip the ribs over to the other side for even cooking. When I get to the 1:50 minute mark, I go check the temp of the ribs and if we’re close to 160°F, I’ll baste the top of the ribs with bar-b-que sauce and let it cook for the last 10 minutes, or until it’s up to temperature.
7. Let the ribs rest
After they are done, I have to exercise a lot of patience to cover the ribs in tin foil and let them rest for about 15 minutes. In reality, it helps us set the table and make sure everything else is done.
8. Cut the ribs along the bone and enjoy!
Finished Ribs all ready to eat
It does take about 5 hours total with prep time, but since a lot of the time is spent with the ribs resting, the entire process is really pretty easy! So what’s your favorite food to cook on the grill?
Important Healthy Facts:
Time: 3 hour prep time, 2 hour cook time
Yields: 3-4 servings (4-5 ribs per/person)
Calories: appx. 232 (this is just for the meat and does not include the brown sugar or bar-b-que sauce if you used any)