One of my favorite food blogs is Annie-Eats. It seems every post is of something I want to try. One of her recipes I have tried most recently is Roasted Vegetable Chickpea Salad. It is incredibly easy to make and is quite versatile going from lunch for me to snack for JP. We typically eat it with pita chips although I can see if being great alone or even stuffed into a pita or wrap.
I for the most part followed her recipe but did make a few minor adjustments.
Ingredients:
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 cup frozen corn, thawed
2 cloves garlic, minces or pressed2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt & Pepper
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
4oz crumbled feta
2 teaspoon honey
Dried basil
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line baking sheet with aluminum foil. Combine grape tomatoes, red onion, corn, garlic, and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Add mixture to baking sheet spreading in an even layer. Roast about 25 minutes stirring once halfway through. Remove from oven and let cool slightly.
Add chickpeas and feta to a mixing bowl. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil and add honey. Add cooled vegetables to the bowl with the chikpeas. Add basil and toss slightly to incorporate. Serve at room temperature or chilled.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
2013 Kitchen Goal- Aji de Gallina
I had the pleasure of living in Dallas for a year after college while I was doing my internship. While there my roommate Amanda and I had a friend, Anthony, who was from Peru. He and his brothers worked at a Peruvian restaurant called Alo. Amanda and I frequented Alo often because we loved a particular dish they had called Aji de Gallina.
Since leaving Dallas, I have always wanted to try my hand at making Aji de Gallina. I never did, so I decided to put it on my list of things to do in the kitchen in 2013.
Each year our takes one of the countries in which we support missionaries and has a potluck meal based on that countries food. This January we were informed we would be having a Peruvian potluck. I, of course, knew exactly what I would bring.
Although I had experienced this dish multiple times, I had no idea how to make it. So, I went to Google. I discovered that there are many variations of this traditional Peruvian dish. Therefore, I combined several recipes to make the dish as I remembered it.
The recipe calls for Aji Amarillo (yellow chile pepper). I really did not know where to get this. I decided to try Whole Foods first because it is close. If that was a bust, I was going to go to a Mexican grocery store. Whole Foods came through. Although they did not have fresh Aji Amarillo, they had dried. After talking with an employee who seemed to know what she was doing, I felt confident this would be ok to use.
It ended up being ok to use, however, if you are going to use these dried peppers make sure that you soak them in hot water first. Additionally, you will need a pretty good food processor to chop them up. I actually discovered that putting them into the food processor was unsuccessful. As you will see the recipes requires you to boil and then puree a carrot. When you do this with the aji, the aji does puree.
RECIPE
Boil 4-6 chicken breasts, 1 carrot, and 1 onion in chicken broth. Simmer for about 45 minutes or until chicken is easily shredded.
Once done, take carrot and 3 (or more if you want spicier) dried aji peppers that have been soaked in hot water according to package. Puree these together in a food processor. Add onion and puree it in the mix as well.
Heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in large skillet. Add carrot, onion, aji paste to skillet and heat over low. Add 1/4 teaspoon of tumeric (note: at this point the mixture is very orange and you think there is no way it will end up yellow like it is supposed to be. no worries, it will end up yellow).
Add 1 can of evaporated milk to large skillet and combine. Once combined, add shredded chicken.
In food processor (that you have cleaned from previous use), combine 1/2 loaf of crustless white bread with ~1 1/2 cups milk. Add the mixture to chicken sauce. Stir over medium low heat for about 10 minutes until the sauce is thick and creamy.
Add 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese and stir in.
Serve over rice.
I feel like the above picture does not do the completed product justice. The recipe is supposed to be served over rice, but because I was taking it to a potluck, I mixed in the rice. Additionally I think I mixed in too much rice so the complete product was not as creamy as desired. Plus it is just not a good picture in general! I realized on the way to church that I had no taken a picture of it, so I snapped a quick picture of it in the crockpot in the car (note: I only used the crockpot to transport it).
Ideally you would serve this dish with yellow potatoes that have been lightly fried + an olive. Apparently this dish is also served with a hard boiled egg.
Since leaving Dallas, I have always wanted to try my hand at making Aji de Gallina. I never did, so I decided to put it on my list of things to do in the kitchen in 2013.
Each year our takes one of the countries in which we support missionaries and has a potluck meal based on that countries food. This January we were informed we would be having a Peruvian potluck. I, of course, knew exactly what I would bring.
Although I had experienced this dish multiple times, I had no idea how to make it. So, I went to Google. I discovered that there are many variations of this traditional Peruvian dish. Therefore, I combined several recipes to make the dish as I remembered it.
The recipe calls for Aji Amarillo (yellow chile pepper). I really did not know where to get this. I decided to try Whole Foods first because it is close. If that was a bust, I was going to go to a Mexican grocery store. Whole Foods came through. Although they did not have fresh Aji Amarillo, they had dried. After talking with an employee who seemed to know what she was doing, I felt confident this would be ok to use.
RECIPE
Boil 4-6 chicken breasts, 1 carrot, and 1 onion in chicken broth. Simmer for about 45 minutes or until chicken is easily shredded.
Once done, take carrot and 3 (or more if you want spicier) dried aji peppers that have been soaked in hot water according to package. Puree these together in a food processor. Add onion and puree it in the mix as well.
Heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in large skillet. Add carrot, onion, aji paste to skillet and heat over low. Add 1/4 teaspoon of tumeric (note: at this point the mixture is very orange and you think there is no way it will end up yellow like it is supposed to be. no worries, it will end up yellow).
Add 1 can of evaporated milk to large skillet and combine. Once combined, add shredded chicken.
In food processor (that you have cleaned from previous use), combine 1/2 loaf of crustless white bread with ~1 1/2 cups milk. Add the mixture to chicken sauce. Stir over medium low heat for about 10 minutes until the sauce is thick and creamy.
Add 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese and stir in.
Serve over rice.
I feel like the above picture does not do the completed product justice. The recipe is supposed to be served over rice, but because I was taking it to a potluck, I mixed in the rice. Additionally I think I mixed in too much rice so the complete product was not as creamy as desired. Plus it is just not a good picture in general! I realized on the way to church that I had no taken a picture of it, so I snapped a quick picture of it in the crockpot in the car (note: I only used the crockpot to transport it).
Ideally you would serve this dish with yellow potatoes that have been lightly fried + an olive. Apparently this dish is also served with a hard boiled egg.
Friday, February 22, 2013
2013 Goals- January
Now that we are just about a week from March, let's look at how I did at accomplishing my 2013 goals in January.
Create/obtain coffee table books for each place JP and/or I have lived.
Have not done anything towards this goal.
Laundry
I'm trying! During January, JP was traveling which means I could not just wait until the morning to iron his clothes. So, at least his laundry I have been staying on top of. I have not tried to organize missing socks yet- who knows I may find some pairs!
Cleaning Schedule
I have not developed an official schedule; however, I find that I am being more intentional about cleaning.
Read the Bible in a Year
I'm behind, but I am making progress. The daily Bible reading app I am using is definitely helping. Also, JP frequently checks up on me to see if I'm staying on track.
Read 12 Books
The month of January was devoted to this goal- although for the month of January I do not even get check off a book being read. I spent several nights a week reading Atlas Shrugged during the month. I read enough pages to count as two books, but I did not finish in January, though. So, as of the end of January I'm still sitting at 12 books that need to be read.
One Craft/month
Zero crafts- I was too busy reading.
Go Somewhere I Haven't Been
No new places visited.
Prepare New Things in the Kitchen
I get to check one thing of the list! I made Aji de Gallina. Look for a post on this in the future.
5K & more Exercise
I did not run a 5K, but I did attend workout class each Monday of the week. As far as exercising at home, I did meet my goal of 4x week. About twice a week, I pulled up some workout videos on youtube. I discovered that I love the fact our new tv can connect to the internet. I have really enjoyed Jillian Michael's 6 Week Six Pack Abs workout. It takes about 30 minutes to complete. Then, about twice a week I completed a 30+ minute walk in the neighborhood.
Stay within my Discretionary Money Budget
Since I was without a computer for the month of January, I have not completed an in depth analysis of our finances. But, I'm pretty sure I stayed under budget.
Blog
The blog started off strong with a bunch of posts I did before my computer stopped working. However, towards the end of the month it was not very active due to lack of computer.
Send Notes
3 notes sent. Blog commenting goal of 2 blog comments/week not met.
Create/obtain coffee table books for each place JP and/or I have lived.
Have not done anything towards this goal.
Laundry
I'm trying! During January, JP was traveling which means I could not just wait until the morning to iron his clothes. So, at least his laundry I have been staying on top of. I have not tried to organize missing socks yet- who knows I may find some pairs!
Cleaning Schedule
I have not developed an official schedule; however, I find that I am being more intentional about cleaning.
Read the Bible in a Year
I'm behind, but I am making progress. The daily Bible reading app I am using is definitely helping. Also, JP frequently checks up on me to see if I'm staying on track.
Read 12 Books
The month of January was devoted to this goal- although for the month of January I do not even get check off a book being read. I spent several nights a week reading Atlas Shrugged during the month. I read enough pages to count as two books, but I did not finish in January, though. So, as of the end of January I'm still sitting at 12 books that need to be read.
One Craft/month
Zero crafts- I was too busy reading.
Go Somewhere I Haven't Been
No new places visited.
Prepare New Things in the Kitchen
I get to check one thing of the list! I made Aji de Gallina. Look for a post on this in the future.
5K & more Exercise
I did not run a 5K, but I did attend workout class each Monday of the week. As far as exercising at home, I did meet my goal of 4x week. About twice a week, I pulled up some workout videos on youtube. I discovered that I love the fact our new tv can connect to the internet. I have really enjoyed Jillian Michael's 6 Week Six Pack Abs workout. It takes about 30 minutes to complete. Then, about twice a week I completed a 30+ minute walk in the neighborhood.
Stay within my Discretionary Money Budget
Since I was without a computer for the month of January, I have not completed an in depth analysis of our finances. But, I'm pretty sure I stayed under budget.
Blog
The blog started off strong with a bunch of posts I did before my computer stopped working. However, towards the end of the month it was not very active due to lack of computer.
Send Notes
3 notes sent. Blog commenting goal of 2 blog comments/week not met.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
New Computer
Hello blog! I am writing you from my new computer. Unfortunately my computer purchased after I graduated from college- which I named Miguel- stopped working properly at the beginning of the year. The computer itself worked fine; it was the screen that stopped working. JP did some research and attempted to fix it but was unsuccessful (one of the few times he has been unsuccessful being a handyman). So, since Miguel already sounded like a small motor vehicle, it was decided to go ahead and invest in a replacement.
Since this was not a planned purchase, I really did not want to spend a lot of money. Sure, I would have loved the latest, greatest laptop or maybe even a Mac... but at this point I would much rather buy furniture! So, I decided to see what I could get for $300. For what I use my computer- blogging, internet surfing, basic photo editing- a fancy computer is really not necessary. A chair for our unfilled living room, however, I feel is necessary (and hopefully I will decide on one soon).
After some research I determined I could get what I wanted for between $300-$400. I searched deals daily and finally found something about a month and a half later. I was able to get the RAM, hard drive and processor speed that I wanted. I did not think I would ever find it all together, but Best Buy came through with what I thought was a great price of 299.99 + tax (free shipping). Plus I bought it through Shop Discover (why I love my Discover card) and got 10% cash back- which paid for the tax.
Now that I have my new computer- which I have named Sophie- my goal of blogging more frequently will hopefully continue. While I was waiting on finding a new computer, I did have access to JP's mini computer, but I really don't like it. And yes, I could have blogged from my phone, but I don't really like that either.
So here is to my computer that came in right a budget.
Since this was not a planned purchase, I really did not want to spend a lot of money. Sure, I would have loved the latest, greatest laptop or maybe even a Mac... but at this point I would much rather buy furniture! So, I decided to see what I could get for $300. For what I use my computer- blogging, internet surfing, basic photo editing- a fancy computer is really not necessary. A chair for our unfilled living room, however, I feel is necessary (and hopefully I will decide on one soon).
After some research I determined I could get what I wanted for between $300-$400. I searched deals daily and finally found something about a month and a half later. I was able to get the RAM, hard drive and processor speed that I wanted. I did not think I would ever find it all together, but Best Buy came through with what I thought was a great price of 299.99 + tax (free shipping). Plus I bought it through Shop Discover (why I love my Discover card) and got 10% cash back- which paid for the tax.
Now that I have my new computer- which I have named Sophie- my goal of blogging more frequently will hopefully continue. While I was waiting on finding a new computer, I did have access to JP's mini computer, but I really don't like it. And yes, I could have blogged from my phone, but I don't really like that either.
So here is to my computer that came in right a budget.
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