cinco de mayo.

 last last thursday was cinco de mayo and since we do not drink on school nights (very grown up of us i know) we saved our celebration for saturday night. i love meal planning and the more ethnic the better & the wackier the day - icing on the cake.

not many people celebrate cinco de mayo out here in la belle provence but then again i'm not many people. having a foodie mum & dad, loving mexican food and having mexican exchange student live with us throughout my teenage years, us celebrating this does not come as a surprise.

notice the kids hamburgers - the mexican theme did not do it for them. tragic i know.

i ended up choosing a simple but complex flavour meal, - still with me? - everything had many components but the taste was clean and refreshing.

to drink - watermelon mojitos. don't they just sound exotic? the husband thought so too but they ended up being more my thing than his.

for dinner we had chicken soft tacos. so good!!! there really hasn't been a soft taco that i haven't fallen for when introduced. i ended up marinating 4 chicken breast's (wish i had pounded it a little flatter - thoughts for next time and there will be a next time!) in heaps of freshly squeeze lime juice & minced garlic with chopped cilantro (i actually took scissors and just cut it over top). i had ended up squeezing about 5 limes and minced about 6 garlic cloves. don't forget to salt and pepper as well! most common mistake in cooking is forgetting those two superheroes - they are your greatest sidekicks in the kitchen. i just let that sit around on the counter while i prepared everything else and the grill got hot - you can prepare this earlier in the day and place in the fridge if you would like, i wouldn't let them go longer than 3 hours as lime juice has the power to cook food. throw them on the grill and cook till done. let them rest off the grill covered with foil for 10 minutes and then slice on the diagonal and serve them up! serve with warm flour or corn tortillas. now the fun part - toppings! this is where your imagination can run wild! i went with more lime juice for squeezing, salsa, hot sauce, lime cilantro sour cream, hot peppers, chopped cilantro, chopped seeded tomatoes and shredded romaine. pass the plates and let your guests build there own!

then the sides came out - game over! we had a watermelon feta salad and a salsa salad. yum and yum.

we ended up being able to sit out long enough to get the effect of the candle light and actually enjoy the evening outside. pretty good saturday if you ask me.

watermelon mojitos adapted from the barefoot contessa
when i first spied this recipe on her back to basic series my mouth was salavating. i change a few things to make this more enjoyable to our palate. it was a little too sweet and strong to me at first.
first you take 30 leaves of fresh mint (hook #1) add it to a mortar & pestle (very important) and crush it up to release the oils - take a moment and breath it in. add big chunks of cubed watermelon (no rind) to your glorious food processor and puree (add a little extra - i'll fill you in in a bit about that later). add your mint to your decorative pitcher. add 1 1/2 cups of white rum (hook #2). add 2 cups of your watermelon puree (keep the rest close by) and add 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup simple syrup (taste first at 1/4 cup). now put in 6 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lime juice (hook #3). stir. pour 3/4 the way into a tall glass and fill the rest in with soda water. garnish with watermelon spears.
simple syrup: place one cup of water and one cup of white sugar in a pot and bring to a boil. remove from heat and let cool. voila!

drinks for your junior diners: take the reserved watermelon puree place half way in a glass with some ice cubes and then top off with soda water. add a squeeze of lime & don't forget the decorative straw!!! yum!

watermelon feta salad

this is so easy and so bright & refreshing.
cube up your watermelon - however much you want. squeeze fresh limes over top and toss. add your cubed feta. allow to sit for at least 30 mins for all the flavours to meld.

salsa salad stolen from my friend corrine

dice up some red peppers, seeded tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, (i also added corn this time - cut off the cob), you can also add some black beans - cover the whole thing in fresh squeezed lime juice (there seems to be a theme here)

lime cilantro sour cream.

so easy and a really cool way to jazz up sour cream. place as much as you want of the sour cream in a bowl and squeeze fresh lime juice all over and add cilantro. keep adding and tasting till it's how you want it. simple! and adds just the right touch. you can add some diced jalapeno to it as well.

on the menu this week: now and then.

what a time we have been having around these parts! everyone here has been sick then not sick then someone else gets sick.....so needless to say i did not prepare most of the culinary delights we had in store, opting for the more palate pleasing soup and toasted sandwiches. not very exciting to report about.

but we seem to have turned a corner. we are all doing well - sniffles are gone, dinners being held down - so on that note i wanted to let you in on the few tasty creations from last week and the current outlook for this week.

sunday: tony's amazing ribs, sweet potato fries, grilled garlic baguette and lemon vinaigrette spring salad.

monday: ina's roast chicken, steamed brown rice and steamed asparagus.

tuesday: taco's with fresh avocado salsa. unless the husband has to work late then we will make a cheese pizza - our new breakthrough food that the munchkins will eat!!! so excited that we have added another item to the small list.

wednesday: pasta pomodoro, spring salad. hockey day - gotta fill that guy up!

thursday: spinach salad, grilled garlic baguette and breaded chicken cutlet.

friday: pork stir-fry.

saturday: big huge over-stuffed hamburgers.

sunday: roast chicken dinner.

last weeks gems:

saturday - steak sandwiches. now i have never really been good at making these restaurant style but it looks like we are now heading in the right direction. of course while out shopping i had a completely different idea but then i spotted a deal on fast fry steaks and demi ciabatta baguettes and thought why not? we marinated the steaks in worchester, steak spice and garlic for about 1 hour - they are thin so you don't need much time. i then proceeded to melt 2 large onions cut into rings (wish i had done 3) and 1/2 a pint of mushrooms (wish i had done the whole pint) over medium to low heat for about an hour, keeping an eye on them and occasionally stirring. once the meat was ready to go on the grill i sliced open my baguettes length wise (one whole demi per person) drizzled it with oil and cracked fresh pepper over them. these went on with the steaks to get toasted and a bit of bbq flavour. when done it was all brought in and i rubbed a freshly cut clove of garlic over the toasted side of the bread - what a difference this made! i tossed the onions and mushrooms with a bit of balsamic vinaigrette before serving. then assemble. place meat on bread, top with onion mixture - this point i drizzled some hp on top, the husband used some 57 sauce - then place other half of bread on top, slice and eat. we paired this with sweet potato fries and asian coleslaw. yum!

tuesday - spicy noodles with prawns. hooray for donna hay! i was really looking for a asian inspired recipe in which i could use wide rice noodles and the prawns which have been burning a whole in our freezer and i accomplished both.  i was hunting through her cookbook, as she has a real asian theme throughout her cooking, and came across a recipe which i had notes all over from a previous dinner (completely forgot which is weird because i remember everything!) and knew this was the one. i had almost everything but was able to improvise and get dinner on the table.
1 pound peeled prawns or chopped meat of your choice - i have used chicken before.
400gr (14oz) fresh or dried thick rice noodles
2 tbsp veg oil
2 tsp freshly grated ginger - a pain but totally worth it!
1 tsp mild chili flakes - i would add only a half tsp of red pepper flakes and i like it spicy but whoa!!
6 green onion, diced.
150 gr green beans, trimmed and 1-inch diced.
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 tbsp lime juice - original
1/2 tbsp brown sugar - original
1 tbsp fish sauce - original
2/3 cup oyster sauce - original
a big blob of hoisin sauce - my substitution
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped (optional)
1/2 cup roasted unsalted peanuts, chopped (optional)
**the italicized ingredients are from the original recipe that i did not have on hand therefore i improvised. 

place rice noodles in a bowl and cover with boiling water. allow to stand for 2 minutes for fresh noodles and 5-7 for dried, stir to separate, then drain. heat a wok or stir-fry pan over high heat. add the oil, ginger and chilli and cook for two minutes. if adding prawns or chicken add along now. cook the protein through. add onions and beans and cook for 3 minutes. add the chicken stock, lime juice, sugar, fish sauce, oyster sauce, hoisin sauce and rice noodles and cook, stirring for 2 minutes. toss through the cilantro and peanuts and serve. serves 4.  
served us 2 as a main course and i went back looking for more and was disappointed to find none!

wednesday: my chicken enchiladas. we just absolutely love these and it's such a great way to use up leftover chicken. i had no peppers on hand as the price of vegetables has sky rocketed so i substituted mushrooms instead and they were quite lovely. here again is another example of colouring outside the lines and being calm & accepting about it. and not letting vegetables go walking out the door.

thursday: brinner. tonight we indulged in brinner. fried eggs, seared ham and a stack of flap jacks. i had been wanting to make pancakes ever since that disappointing display at the sugar shack and i seized my opportunity on thursday. i love pairing the cakes with just the whites cooked eggs so the yolks spill out with vigor over the rest of the plate once pierced and drown the rest of the dinner in there yellowy goodness. there was nothing healthy about this and i felt guilty serving it as we have to watch the husband's cholesterol but man was it good.

image via stephmodo.

on the menu this week.

we had a couple changes to the line up last week so some dishes are making a repeat appearance this week and hopefully they are tasty enough to share with you! when friday of last rolled around i was not in the mood to cook, so pizza it was, and on saturday i was craving sweet potato fries hence burgers were bumped up and roast chicken in it's place on sunday because they were $.99 a pound at the iga. tonight i am tackling the lentils & sausages and of course last night roast chicken a la ina was sublime. last thursday we had stephmodo's pasta and oh my goodness was it ever good! the husband even commented how good it was and was pretty happy when he found out the sauce was from scratch - i think we ate twice as much pasta as we would any other night on account of that sauce - that's why it's making a repeat appearance as well. hope your meals are as tasty for you this week!

sunday: roast chicken, roasted potatoes and carrots, steamed asparagus.

monday: french lentils and sausages.

tuesday: my chicken enchiladas.

wednesday: pasta a la stephmodo.

thursday: roasted prawns and feta.

friday: sweet and spicy pork chops.

saturday: tba

sunday: SUPERBOWL SUNDAY! back ribs, coleslaw & cornbread.

on the menu this week.

here we go. this weeks menu. quite simple this time around and i suspect it will all be quite delicious.
fingers crossed.

sunday: baked bone-in, skin off chicken breasts with cranberry sauce, mashed white beans (recipe below) and steamed broccoli.

monday: chili (my style and jessica seindfeld's style morphed), corn muffins and coleslaw.

tuesday: chicken tostadas for the adults and the bean & cheese variety for the kids. quite ambitious this one as aydan's food repertoire is limited but finger's crossed - i'm hoping she will like the whole taco chip like idea.

wednesday: leftover chili dressed up.

thursday: chicken pesto pasta.

friday: tacos - nothing fancy here, right from the kit. but i may have to make an avocado salsa for the occasion.

saturday: big cheffy type salads - going to a children's birthday party that day so i believe a big bowl of crunchy salad will be in order.

mashed white beans

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cans (19 ounces each) cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage (or 1 tsp dried)
coarse salt and fresh ground pepper

1) in a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. cook the garlic, stirring often, until golden, about 1 minute.
2) add the beans, sage, and 1 1/4 cup of water. cook, stirring often, until the beans are hot and the liquid thickens, about 4 minutes.
3) mash the beans, leaving some whole. season with salt and pepper.
serves 4.

** these were really delicious and a great accompaniment to the chicken and cranberry. i had only ground sage on hand and it was a good substitute but it did produce gray beans but served with "mood" lighting no one was the wiser. if doing or a dinner party i would have chosen fresh of dried leaves.