If You Grill it, They Will Come.

Today I stumbled upon the pre-grand opening of The Melt on San Fernando in Burbank.  Grilled Cheese on a sunny day, sounded great.  I texted a friend down the street and she met me to grab some grub.  There was a line out the door of this modern, clean shop, managed by a friendly hostess.   The line seemed to him smoothly along mostly because they distracted us with samples of soft serve as we waited.  When we got to the front, our excellent cashier explained that the menu was limited today and that it was all FREE!  I got the classic, Aged Cheddar cheese on Artisan White Bread with a Bacon "Middle" accompanied by two tomato basil soup.  Add to that a mixed Boylan Natural Cane Soda fountain Drink and I was set. It hit the spot!

From environmentally friendly packaging, to the hi-tech order board, to the extremely friendly staff, This place has it all going on.  Check it out when you are in Downtown Burbank.

Official grand opening is Sunday.

Breadmaking Again

Again, I attempt a bread-maker bread. This one tastes very good, but is filled with bad for you goodness with extra eggs, sugar and butter.  The texture is crisp and crusty on the outside and more flaky on the inside.  The recipe is close to the Brioche recipe that I make sometimes. It's OK to experiment.

Here is the recipe:

3 Cups of All Purpose Flour
1/3 Cup of Sugar (a bit less than this, really)
1 tsp Salt
3 Large Eggs
3/4-1 Stick of Unsalted Butter - Melted and Cooled
1 Cup Water
1 TBSP Yeast

Add these ingredients to the breadmaker.  Mine works Dry ingredients first, but some machines use the wet ingredients first. I add the yeast on top of the wet ingredients. Set to Basic or White Bread and push start.

Bread Machine Sandwich White Bread

I wanted a good sandwich breadmaker bread for lunch today.  I found a good Sweet Mexican bread recipe, but it seemed too sugary for a tuna sandwich.  I dialed back the sugar, added some yeast and it yielded a nice loaf with a thick crust, that sliced cleanly, and held together well for sandwiches.

Here's the recipe:

• 3 cups flour 
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 Tbsp sugar  
• 2 teaspoons yeast 
• 1 cup milk  
• 1/4 cup melted butter  
• 1 egg  

Layer the ingredients as your breadmaker suggests, mine uses dry ingredients first as listed.
Set to basic bread setting.

It was no Breadmaker Brioche, but I will surely make this one again.

Indian Chicken with New Potatoes, Simplified

I love Indian Food, but with two small children who do not like spicy foods, we often avoid this cuisine at home.  When looking for a dinner option, I happened upon a recipe that did not seem spicy and had fairly common ingredients that I already had in my pantry.  I did make a few modifications for simplicity and wound up with a dish praised by those of all ages in my household. In the spirit of recording recipes that my family liked, I am preserving this one for future dinners.

Chicken and New Potatoes
Serves 6

1&1/4 lbs of chicken breast cut up (I used Tenders for simplicity)
1 clove of garlic chopped fine
1/2 tsp ground ginger (or fresh grated if you have it)
1 tsp ground corriander
1 medium onion chopped
3 TBSP vegetable oil
1 cup of hot water
1&1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp cumin
2 cans of new potatoes (cut into quarters if whole)
black pepper to taste

Put chicken into glass bowl or dish, rub all over with garlic, coriander, and ginger.  Set aside for an hour or two to marinate.  Heat 2TBSP of vegetable oil in a large frying pan and saute chopped onions for 5 minutes or until softened.  Add chicken and fry until brown.  Add water and salt to pan, bring to a boil, cover and simmer until chicken is tender.  Meanwhile, in another frying pan, heat 1 TBSP of oil.  Add new potatoes to this pan to fry.  Turn the potatoes occasionally so they don't stick the pan.   During the last few minutes of cooking, sprinkle cumin and black pepper on the potatoes and stir to coat evenly.  Combine the potatoes and the chicken mixture and serve.

In addition to being pretty simple and family friendly, it turns out that this dish is fairly low in calories.  The Weight Watchers Points Plus total on this recipe is 6 points plus per serving.

Easy, Cheap, and Healthy Side Dish - Spinach Souflee

A friend asked for easy side dishes.  This is a super easy weekday recipe that is healthy and happens to be low cost.  This side dish is a great way to get those veggies.  This recipe is also open for experimentation, add an egg for more souffle, add 1/2 cup of cottage cheese for more creaminess, or add cooked bacon crumbles for more deliciousness.

Altered from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/easy-spinach-souffle/

1 egg

1/3 cup skim milk
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese or shredded Parmesan Cheese
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
salt and pepper to taste 
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained, or a bag of fresh spinach washed, dried, and lightly sauteed in 2 tsp of olive oil or steamed in the microwave until tender.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl whisk together egg, milk, cheese, garlic, salt and pepper. Fold in spinach. Place in a small casserole dish.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until lightly set.
4. NOTE: If you are in a hurry, use a microwave safe casserole dish, cover with plastic wrap, and cook on high for 3 minutes. Release the steam, recover, and cook on high for another 3 minutes. Enjoy!

 Serves 4 - about 90 calories and 2 WW points plus per serving

yahrzeit candle for dad - tehdik

yahrzeit candle for dad - tehdik, a photo by sidknee23 on Flickr.

Happy New Year!

I am ready for a new year.   So many things are in transition at this time of the year, new classes, new work situations, people moving, friends who are soon to marry, friends who are soon to give birth, a world of changes and possibility.  I am grateful for this time of transition.  May the next year bring new experiences, new prosperity, new life and as always love.

This is what I am making for dinner tonight.
http://familyoffood.blogspot.com/2008/01/jewish-soul-food.html

L'shanah tovah!

Stickers you can EAT! Food Fun.

 

At the Studio City Farmer's Market this weekend, I discovered My Fruity Faces.  My Fruity Faces are fun edible stickers for food.  They are natural, slightly sweet stickers that are OK to eat and dissolve in your mouth.

Adam Gerber, Partner and Kidxecutive showed us these edible stickers.  They are designed to make fruits and vegetables more fun for kids to eat.  When I suggested they would make great cupcake toppers, Adam stopped me and pointed out that their mission was to encourage healthy eating and to help fight childhood obesity.  He then gave my kids a couple of stickers on a cucumber slice.  They ate it up (so to speak!)

You can find My Fruity Faces at http://www.myfruityfaces.com/