BBQ TriTip Dinner

We grilled for dinner the other night since we had family over and it was a nice evening for it.

 TriTip marinated in olive oil, salt, pepper, and worcestershire sauce.

 Rice pilaf with toasted pine nuts.

 Roasted asparagus.

Texas toast. 

Are you still using your grill?

Emeril Lagasse's Chicken Pot Pie with Taragon Biscuit Top

A one-pot meal that can be made ahead and has leftovers for lunch....love it!

Chicken Pot Pie with Taragon Biscuit Top
by Emeril Lagasse

ingredients

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 ½ teaspoons salt

¾ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus 3 tablespoons melted

1 pound button mushrooms stemmed and quartered

1 ½ cups small-diced onion

¾ cup small-diced carrot

¾ cup small-diced celery

1 tablespoon minced garlic

¼ cup all-purpose flour

4 cups chicken stock or canned low-sodium chicken broth

8 ounces Yukon Gold Potatoes, scrubbed and diced

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

½ cup fresh or frozen green peas

1 recipe Tarragon Biscuits

For the Tarragon Biscuits:

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1 cup cake flour

1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons sugar

1 ½ teaspoons salt

5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cubed

1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon leaves

1 ½ cups buttermilk

directions
Set a 12 inch cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat
In a large bowl, combine the chicken thighs with 1 teaspoon of the salt, ½ teaspoon of the pepper, and the olive oil. Place half the chicken in the pan and sear, stirring occasionally, until the chicken begins to brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the chicken and set aside in a separate bowl while you cook the remaining chicken. Place that cooked chicken in a bowl as well.
Add the unmelted butter to the pan and, when melted, add the mushrooms and the remaining salt and pepper. Cook until the mushrooms are well caramelized, 3 to 4 minutes, then add the onion, carrot, celery, and garlic to cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly caramelized, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the flour and cook, stirring for 1 minute. Add the stock, browned chicken, potatoes, and thyme.
Preheat oven to 475 degrees
Bring the liquid to a boil, reduce the heat so that the sauce just simmers, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the chicken and potatoes are tender…about 35 minutes. Gently stir in the peas and then remove the pan from the heat. Place the biscuits on top of the chicken and gravy, with 8 biscuits around the edge of the pan and the remaining 4 biscuits in the center. Be sure the biscuits do not touch. Brush the tops of the biscuits with the melted butter and bake until the biscuits are golden brown and flaky..14 to 15 minutes. Allow the pot pie to cool briefly before serving.
For the Tarragon Biscuits:
Sift the all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt into a large bowl
Using your fingers or a pastry cutter, work the cold butter into the flour until the pieces of butter are pea sized. Add the tarragon and buttermilk, and with your ands or a rubber spatula, stir until the milk and flour come together to form a dough
Sprinkle some of the extra all-purpose flour on a work surface and place the dough on top of the flour. Use your hands to press the dough into a ½ inch thick disk about 9 inches in diameter. Using a 2 inch round cutter dusted with flour, cut out 12 dough rounds. Be sure to press straight down when cutting the dough…a twisting motion will prevent the dough from rising.
Place the biscuits on top of the pot pie and bake as directed.
Makes 12-16 servings

Do you have a favorite one-pot meal that can be made ahead?

Julia Child's Mousse au Chocolat or Chocolate Mousse

 Decadent and delicious chocolate mousse. They type of dessert you make before the New Year starts and you make too many resolutions about eating healthy and getting into shape. 

I made Julia Child's version of chocolate mousse because I know her recipes never fail and her instructions are easy to follow. Make sure you set aside at least an hour to follow all the steps in the recipe. Plus, you'll need to have enough time to let the mousse chill in the fridge so it's best to make it the night before you plan to serve it.

Chocolate Mousse
Mastering the Art of French Cooking
by Julia Child, Simone Beck & Louisette Bertholle

ingredients

4 eggs, separated
¾ cup granulated sugar plus one tablespoon, separated
¼ cup orange liqueur
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
4 tablespoons strong coffee
6 ounces unsalted butter, softened
¼ cup finely chopped candied orange zest (recipe following)
Pinch of salt

directions

1. Beat the egg yolks and sugar together until mixture is thick, pale yellow and falls back upon itself, forming a slowly dissolving ribbon.  Beat in the orange liqueur, then set the mixing bowl over the not-quite-simmering water.  Continue beating for three to four minutes until the mixture is foamy and too hot for your finger.  Then set the mixing bowl in the basin of ice water and continue to beat for another three to four minutes until the mixture is cool and again forms the ribbon.  It will have the consistency of mayonnaise.Set aside.
2. Place another clean mixing bowl over the basin of not-quite-simmering water, creating a double-boiler.  Inside, melt chocolate with coffee, then remove from heat and beat in the butter a bit at a time to make a smooth cream.  Beat the chocolate into the egg yolks and sugar, then beat in the orange zest.
3. In yet another clean mixing bowl, beat the egg whites and salt until soft peaks form.  Sprinkle in the sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.  Stir one-fourth of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then gently fold in the rest.
4. Turn into a serving dish, dessert cups or petits pots.  Refrigerate for at least two hours, or overnight.

Dark Chocolate M&Ms Cookies

Have you seen all the flavors of M&Ms they have now? Seriously, I was at Target recently and there were too many to choose from. I picked up a bag of the Dark Chocolate flavor and kicked of Christmas cookie season.

 I used the Nestle Toll House cookie recipe but replaced the chocolate chips with M&Ms. So Yummy!

Plenty to share with friends.
I have a bag of the peanut butter M&Ms to try next.
Have you tried any of the new flavors? Which one is your favorite?

Quick Lunch for a Crowd

 On a recent visit to my grandparent's house we had one of those "it's almost lunch, we need to feed everyone but don't know what to make" moments. A quick trip to the grocery store, about 30 minutes in the kitchen and lunch was ready.

I made delicious grilled cheese sandwiches. These were made with Swiss cheese, granny smith apple slices and a little dijon mustard. To get the nice brown toasty color, I spray them with a little olive oil cooking spray before heating them on the stove. I keep batches in a warm oven until all the sandwiches are done and ready to serve.

Grapes with grilled cheese are a perfect match.

 

Quick pasta salad made with Italian dressing, chopped tomatoes, black olives, scallions and chunks of Parmesean cheese.

Do you have a quick go-to lunch that you make to feed a large group?

Pumpkin Cookies with Maple Icing

These cookies remind me of baked donuts. They are soft and doughy with a nice spice to them. Unfortunately, I've managed to misplace the recipe but by googling pumpkin spice cookies there are so many that have the same ingredients that I'm sure you could use any of the recipes available online and they would taste just as good. The icing is a simple mixture of powdered sugar, maple syrup and just a teeny tiny little bit of water.
One thing to keep in mind, these cookies are super moist. When I put them in the container, the next morning the cookies had absorbed or possibly dissolved all the glaze and they were a wet sticky mess. Still delicious though.

Running Musings

Guess what helps get rid of a stitch while you're running.....singing. A friend of mine who spent some time in the Marines explained the reason they chant during their runs is that it helps regulate breathing, therefore getting rid of the stitch. I started trying it, much to my embarrassment, but hey it works. I even sometimes chant Sound Off 123 when I feel a really sharp stitch starting to set in.

 

I'm sharing this awful photo of right before I left for my 5K because the one they took of me actually running is so so so much worse. I almost cried when I saw it because not only do I look 20 lbs heavier but for for some reason I also look like a man. I'm doing my best to forget I ever saw the photo. 

My clunky but very effective massager is key to my running recovery. I also have a foam roller but it just doesn't compare. The massager really targets the side of my shins and calves which tense of the most. Mainly due to the fact that I need new shoes which I'm hoping to buy next weekend.

 Anybody else want a scale like this for Christmas? Apparently I've made an error in calorie burn judgement with running. I convinced myself that since I was running I could eat anything I wanted and not gain weight. Wrong! Hence my awful running photo. Bye Bye ice cream. You will be missed.

Do you have any running musings or tips?