Wedded Bliss

Congrats, Mr. & Mrs. Aaron Shotts!

Food for togetherness,

the SupperSmiths, forging one meal at a time

Wednesday- No Excuses Terkiyaki Chicken

Chef’s Notes: I’m a little scatterbrained this week, because mainly I’m excited about this weekend. My cousin, Katie, is getting married! I can’t wait! Although our menu is suffering this week from the lack of attention, I WAS going to make a different kind of chicken until I realized around dinner time it needed to marinate. Oops. So I slathered on some Teriyaki Sauce and called it a day! I also made a bulgar side dish, which SmithCale deemed as “terribly bland” unless mixed with the sauce. I guess he’s just prepping my feelings for when our kids constantly berate my food.

Plan of Attack:

1. Preheat oven

2. Bake

Ingredients for 2:

2 chicken leg/thigh combos or chicken cut of your choice

¼ C teriyaki sauce

Cooking Spray

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Spray an 8x8 baking dish with cooking spray
3. Add chicken and top with teriyaki sauce
4. Bake for 45-50 minutes, basting the meat at about 25 minutes with the teriyaki sauce in the bottom of the dish
5. Enjoy!

Mother Nature's revenge hit East Texas at full force. I listen to poor Mark Scirto's voice from 4:30 until our electricity went out. Then I listen to him on my laptop.

Luckily our house and the garden made it intact! Can't say that for our neighbor's tree, which thankfully missed our fence.

Butters hunkering behind the toliet

Waiting to lose power

Tuesday- Ham Frittata

Chef’s Notes:

Dear Diary,

Day 2 of no grocery store (with the exception of a quick run and grab of an onion, chips, salsa & one lunch apple).

It’s looking bleak, but luckily there is plenty of leftover ham from Easter.

I tell SmithCale that eggs are good for him, but really I’m just trying to use them up before their due date on the 28th (T-2 days).

The native is restless, and the daily evening thunderstorms don’t help my anti-store drive.

One more meal down, but store visit is becoming imminent.

Love,

Blythe

Plan of Attack:

1. Brown onions & pepper

2. Mix eggs mixture

3. Combine & Bake

Ingredients for 2:

4 oz ham, diced

1 tsp olive oil

½ green bell pepper, diced

¼ C red onion, chopped

3 eggs

½ C milk

¼ C all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp grated parmesan

2 oz Monterey Jack cheese, shredded, divided

¼ tsp dried tarragon

Salt and pepper to taste

2 homemade tortillas

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
2. Heat olive oil in skillet over medium-high heat
3. Add onion & bell pepper; sauté 8-10 minutes until softened & browned
4. Remove from heat and add ham; set aside
5. In another bowl whisk together eggs, milk, flour, tarragon, parmesan, 1.5 oz Monterey Jack cheese, salt & pepper
6. Spray 2 ramekins or other oven-safe dish with cooking spray.
7. Tear tortilla in half and place in the bottom of each dish
8. Top ½ of the onion/bell pepper/ ham mixture
9. Add ½ of the egg mixture and shake ramekin to even contents
10. Then top with other ½ of the tortilla and more shredded cheese
11. Bake for 20 minutes
12. Allow to rest for 3-5 minutes
13. Enjoy!

Food before the storm hits (it's tornado-y here),

the SupperSmiths, forging one meal at a time

Meatless Monday- Sloppy Lentil Joes

Adapted from recipe by peasandthankyou.com

Chef’s Notes: I don’t really know why, but a few years ago I decided I really like sloppy joes. Not just regular ones, but the bbq ones. When I found this recipe that used lentils instead of meat, I was intrigued. SmithCale was tentative. Going against my normal calculated judgment, I’m going to even deem this kid friendly. There are not enough words and time to try to convince you that the lentils really aren’t a big player in this dish. If I were blind-folded I would even be tempted to say that they tasted like regular manwichy ones. Be bold! Feed your kids lentils, and restock your toilet paper.

Plan of Attack:

1. Cook lentils

2. Combine in one pan

Ingredients for 3-4:

2 C chicken/veggie broth

½ C water

½ C dried lentils

1 tsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

½ Tbsp chili powder

1 tsp dried oregano

1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce + enough water to rinse can

1 Tbsp tomato paste

½ Tbsp red wine vinegar

½ Tbsp Worchestershire sauce

1/8 C bbq sauce

Salt & pepper to taste

homemade buns

red onion, sliced

dill pickle, sliced

Instructions:

1. In a large pot combine broth, water and lentils. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat; simmer 30 minutes
2. After lentils have cooked about 15 minutes, heat olive oil in a large skillet to medium-high heat
3. Add onions and brown for about 10 minutes
4. Add garlic, chili powder and oregano; sauté 30 seconds
5. Add tomato sauce, tomato paste, vinegar, worchestershire sauce and bbq; simmer until lentils are cooked
6. Add cooked lentils and salt & pepper to taste. Simmer for about 5-10 minutes or until it reaches the consistency you prefer
7. Serve on toasted buns with red onion & pickles
8. Enjoy!

Easter Miracles

What do you call it when you're sitting outside with your camera and a ladybug flies onto your finger?

A small miracle.

What do you say when a middle aged man talks to you after your Sunday run, while putting his bike into the back of his truck, and proceeds to tell you how he's lost 100 pounds in a year due to diet and exercise?

An Easter miracle.

Maybe he tells that story to everyone. But, I believe that God sent him to me to encourage me that common sense is making a comeback.

That we will stop numbing our feelings with food and begin to live life again.

Because HE came so that we might have life abundantly. To share HIS love. To give HOPE.

Now a quick review of other Easter Weekend blessings:

Saturday Brunch

Our first cherry tomatoes

Peaches ripening

Homeade Kitty Forts

Noticing how veiny my foot is

Food for Life Abundantly,

the SupperSmiths, forging one meal at a time

Thursday- Chipotle Pork Tacos

Adapted from cooking light

Chef’s Notes: You know what I love about spring and summer dishes? They’re easy. Not a lot of cooking and simmering. God really knew what he was doing when he picked what fruits and veggies to be in season. The winter veggies needs to be softened and cooked so that you’ll have something warm, but in the hotter months they’re cool and refreshing! Be sure to check out my Jicamole salad. Jicama should be your new friend; it’s a cross between a water chestnut and a pear! Seriously, don’t be scared of the brown UFO in the veggie section.

Plan of Attack:

1. Combine in one bowl

2. Cook until done

Ingredients for 2:

½ lb pork tenderloin

1 tsp orange zest

½ Tbsp lime juice

1 tsp dried oregano

½ tsp brown sugar

2 tsp adobo sauce + ½ one pepper in adobo sauce

1 garlic clove, minced

Pinch of salt

1 tsp olive oil

Jicamole Salad

4 homemade tortillas

Instructions:

1. Cover pork in either foil or plastic wrap and beat with a mallet until flattened (it won’t be completely flat, just do the best you can); then slice thinly
2. In a bowl combine all other ingredients and toss in sliced pork pieces until well coated
3. Heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat
4. Cook pork until done (about 4-5 minutes)
5. Enjoy!

Jicamole Salad

Plan of Attack:

1. Combine in one bowl

Ingredients for 4:

Handful fresh cilantro, chopped

1/8 C olive oil

1 Tbsp Rice vinegar

1 Tbsp lime juice

1 jalapeno, diced (1/2 of the seeds removed)

1 small/medium jicama (pronounced HIC-ama), peeled and diced

¼ C red onion, diced

1 roma tomato, diced

½ avocado, chopped

½ tsp garlic powder

Salt to taste

Instructions:

1. In a bowl combine cilantro, vinegar, lime juice and jalapeno
2. Whisk in olive oil until well mixed
3. Add jicama, red onion, tomato, avocado, garlic powder and salt
4. Cover and allow to chill for at least 1 hour
5. Enjoy!

Wednesday: Chicken Salad (with GRAPES)**

Chef’s Notes: I have to admit, I’m pretty tough on myself. I expect a lot from me, and don’t like failure. Today was a continuation of yesterday’s crumminess. So, I decided to take the night off, which brings me a lot of anxiety. I LOVE schedules and rules, case-in-point: I usually work out 6 days a week, and my reasoning is why shouldn't I? We don't have kids yet and it's the only time I get to be selfish, I know when we have kid, 4-5 days a week (probably all in the a.m.) will have to do. But since I enjoy running so much outside these days I hate my workout DVDs. Today I just didn’t feel like it, so I skipped it. I made an easy dinner, got frozen yogurt then we worked in the garden until 8. Sometimes living life is the best activity.

Plan of Attack:

1. Combine in one bowl

Ingredients for 2:

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast (6 oz), cubed*

1/8 C mayo

1/8C greek yogurt

¼ jicama, peeled and diced

¼ C green grapes, chopped

1 Tbsp relish

1/8 C garlic roasted almonds, chopped (or regular almonds + ¼ tsp garlic powder)

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Combine ingredients in a bowl and chill for about 1 hour
2. Enjoy!

*I’ll share a secret with you. I cooked my chicken breast in the crockpot all day, then just cubed it when I got home. Spray a piece of foil with cooking spray, place chicken in the middle along with a little salt & pepper. Seal it up and set in crockpot for 6 hours on low. Came out perfect, not too dry and cooked through, and NO clean up*

**Monni is 10 weeks tomorrow, but up until now baby J has been the size of a GRAPE**

SmithCale made fun of my brownie bites. Word to the wise: Don't make fun of a PMSing woman's brownie bites.

Food for Life,

the SupperSmiths, forging one meal at a time

Tuesday- Pasta alla Puttanesca

Chef’s Notes: Don’t you love being a woman? At random times your mid-section decides to spontaneous explode with bloat. What do you do on those days? Eat carbs! I struggled through 3 miles today sprinkled with irritable outbursts at SmithCale (complete with apologies).

Back to the food, we first heard Spaghetti alla Puttanesca on Biatchin’ Kitchen. She described it as, “spaghetti as a ho would make it.” At first we just thought she was being funny, but then Wikipedia explained she was right! Today we got in touch with our inner hoes, and it was delicious.

Plan of Attack:

1. Cook sausage/onions/mushrooms/sauce

2. Boil pasta

3. Toss

Ingredients for 2:

4 oz spaghetti or linguine, cooked according to package directions

1 tsp olive oil

½ onion, thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, minced

½ package of your favorite mushrooms

2 sausage links, sliced diagonally (remember how Nolan saved the day last week?)

1 C Puttanesca sauce (found on your pasta sauce aisle)

4-5 fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced

Romano cheese, shredded

Instructions:

1. Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat
2. Add onion; sauté 4-5 minutes until lightly browned and softened
3. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute
4. Add mushrooms; sauté 3-4 minutes until softened
5. Add sausage; sauté 3-4 minutes
6. Add sauce and cooked noodles, warm through
7. Top with basil leaves and Romano cheese
8. Enjoy!

If you noticed SmithCale's tankard he got while we were in Houston at an upscale antique store. The bottom was a seller for him. They just don't make things like they used to; so little violence in our drink-wear anymore.

Food for soothing the savage bloat,

the SupperSmiths, forging one meal at a time

Goodbye Spring

Allow me to back up to last Thursday. It was a beautiful day, included a beautiful run and a pre-approved second vegetarian meal.

My in-laws live in Spring, Tx, but will soon be putting their house on the market and moving back to the family rice farm Southwest of Houston. SmithCale wanted to be sure he cemented memories of the house he spent most of his childhood years in.

My cat-in-law, Angel

The other cat-in-law, aptly named Fluffy. But don't let this cute, unassuming picture fool you.

Fluffy's always watching.

I think I'll keep my day job.

Food for weekends,

the SupperSmiths, forging one meal at a time

Meatless Monday- Leftover Lentils

Chef’s Notes: I’ll be honest, after last Wednesday I got lazy. Then we went to Houston (some pics coming), then we got back Sunday. The laziness continued. Monday came and we were scraping the bottom of our stocked supplies. For lunch we had pb&j flatbreads with cheezits (lunch of champions for sure). When most would have caved to the fast food nemesis, I literally just used what veggies were left in our fridge to make this up. I guess the best genius is made in slim circumstances.

Plan of Attack:

1. Cook all in one pan

Ingredients for 2-3:

½ C jasmine rice, cooked according to package directions

1 tsp olive oil

½ onion, thinly vertically sliced

1 carrot, chopped

3-4 celery stalks, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

¾ C dried lentils

½ tsp cumin

½ tsp garam masala

¼ tsp turmeric

1 C chicken/veggie broth

1 ½ C water

Salt to taste

Instructions:

1. Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat
2. Add onion, carrot, celery and garlic; sauté 10-15 minutes or until everything is browned and softened
3. Add lentils, cumin, garam masala, turmeric and salt; sauté for 30 seconds, stirring constantly
4. Add broth and water, bring to a boil. Cover and lower temperature to medium-low heat and simmer for 20-25 minutes or until lentils are tender
5. Serve with rice and pita chips
6. Enjoy!

Food for grocery store avoidance,

the SupperSmiths, forging one meal at a time

Wednesday- Szechuan Fever Stir-Fry

Chef's Notes: Have you ever just needed a night off? Today SmithCale and I needed a night off, but not from cooking of course. Have you ever seen that Joe's Crab Shack commercial where he asks his co-workers, "You want to take the family out for some sad, greasy food?", that's kind of how SmithCale and I feel about eating out now. I've ruined us. You can't find this kind of awesomeness just anywhere! SmithCale asked for a Szechuan-flavored dish last week, so I made one up! It was delicious and beautiful! Now on to more relaxation, because tomorrow involves more work and running.

Plan of Attack:

1. Cook all in one Wok

Ingredients for 2:

1 Tbsp wok oil

4 oz thai rice noodles, soften to package directions

1 garlic clove, minced

1 red bell pepper, julienned

8 oz pork loin, thinly sliced

1 package Trumpet Mushroom, thinly sliced length-wise

Handful red onion slices

¼ C Szechuan Sauce

2 green onions, thinly sliced

Instructions:

1. Heat wok oil in a large wok over high heat
2. Add garlic and cook for 15 seconds
3. Add pork loin and red bell pepper; sauté 2 minutes
4. Add trumpet mushrooms and red onion; sauté another 2 minutes
5. Cover with a lid and steam for 3 ½ minutes
6. Add Szechuan sauce and noodles, cook a final 2 minutes
7. Top with green onions
8. Enjoy!

Make way for the King of the Trumpet Mushrooms!

Tuesday- Slow Cooked Kidney Beans ‘n Rice

After yesterday's lackluster meal, my bruised ego and sore feelings needed a real touchdown of a meal.

As a good Texas girl, I know who to rely on when you need a real hole-in-one: Nolan Ryan.

His brand of sausage was a real slam dunk. No msg and quality ingredients!

GOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!

Plan of Attack:

1. Cook all in one slow cooker

Ingredients for 3-4:

¾ C dried kidney beans, soaked overnight then boiled for 2 minutes

2 sausage links, chopped

½ C Texmati/ Basmati Rice

1 Green Bell Pepper, diced

½ yellow onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 ½ tsp Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning

1 bay leaf

1 C chicken broth

2 ½ C water

Salt and pepper to taste

Fresh cilantro, roughly chopped

Instructions:

1. Soak dried beans overnight, then place them in a small pot with water and boil for 2 minutes.
2. Add beans along with other ingredients to the slow cooker
3. Cook on low for 8 hours
4. Top with fresh cilantro
5. Enjoy!

Misleading people to think I don't know Nolan Ryan played baseball,

the SupperSmiths, forging one meal at a time

P.S.- This meal is dedicated to Monni (Need Insurance?) who is 8 wks & 5 days pregnant: KIDNEY BEAN size!

Meatless Monday: Wah Waaaaah

As SmithCale said, our card was up. He was right, it'd been a while since I'd made a flop of a meal. Actually, it's been since fall!

I had such high expectations for this recipe too. It was from one of my favorite sources, Clean Eating. It was filled with onions. And fresh thyme. And my new foe, White Wine Vinegar.

The WHOLE thing just tasted like vinegar. No matter how I tried to save it; More broth. Dried thyme. Salt.

Nothing helped.

SmithCale lamented later that he even had burnt his tongue for this soup. I told him I couldn't have burnt my tongue because my mouth was already filled with a protective coating of sadness.

On the bright side, the goat cheese with scallion crustinis were AWESOME!

Toast bread of choice under broiler

Smash goat cheese and blend with green onions

Sprinkle cheese mixture atop toasted bread, and broil for a final minute.

Food to be cautious of,

the SupperSmiths, forging one meal at a time

Weekend Recap

Another glorious, albeit, quiet weekend for the Smiths'. Friday started with a little beauty at lunch.

Then it was on to our now infamous Friday Cookouts. Actually, the fun started last Sunday when we went to the store and SmithCale deemed the tortillas found the store too processed. I mean, he was right, but I was feeling lazy.

By Thursday the laziness had worn off and we whipped up a batch of homemade tortillas (See Below for recipe).

THEY ARE AWESOME!

I saved 4 for Friday and froze the rest for later consumption.

Fajita Friday!

Our good friend from Los Pinos showed up.

Our onions have broken through! We bought a cheap $1.98 bag with not much hope, but as you can see...hope springs eternal!

Sunday started with this... yes, that says 5 miles in under 50 minutes. Slowly but surely.

Finished with making and canning strawberry jam with orange zest.

That's all for this weekend from Blythe Smith, the new renaissance woman.

Homemade Tortillas

Plan of Attack:

1. Mix tortilla dough

2. Allow to rest for 1 hour

3. Cook tortillas (goes really fast)

Ingredients for 1 dozen:

1/2 C all-purpose flour

2 C bread flour

4 Tbps unsalted butter, cubed and chilled

1 tsp salt

3/4 C boiling water

Instructions:

1. In a bowl (or stand mixer) combine both kinds of flour and salt.
2. Using a pastry cutter or fork, cut chilled butter into the flour until the butter is only about the size of small peas (AKA no big lumps left)
3. Push all of the flour mixture to the sides of the bowl making a well in the middle and add the boiling water. Stir together until the dough forms.
4. Either knead the mixture by hand until it is smooth, or use your stand mixer for about 3-4 minutes
5. Make golf ball size (2 oz) balls out of the dough and cover with a damp towel. Allow to set for at least 1 hour (dough should be toughened on the outside)
6. Heat a naked/non oiled skillet to high heat
7. Roll the dough balls into thin tortillas, using extra flour on your surface to keep from sticking
8. Cook about 30 seconds on each side, or when it starts to bubble it's time to flip. Also it your skillet is too high, turn down the heat to keep from burning the later ones; repeat until all our cooked. Allow to completely cool, then store or freeze
9. Enjoy!

Food for life,

the SupperSmiths, forging one meal at a time

Thursday- Chickpeas ‘n Greens

Adapted from Cooking Light

Chef's Notes: I could have kicked myself, I have THREE loaves of homemade bread in the freezer. But did ANY of them find their way out to be eaten with this meal?? NO! It really is a shame, but I won't be too harsh on myself. Even though I think it's written somewhere that you shouldn't eat a heapin' bowl of greens without some kind of homemade carb along side. Next time, Greens, I won't be out smartest so easily!

Plan of Attack:

1. Cook all in one pan

Ingredients for 3:

2 slices bacon

½ C dried chickpeas cooked according to package directions or 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (I threw my dried chickpeas in the crockpot this morning with 4 C water and a little salt. Low cookin' 8 hours later they were perfectly done!)

2 carrots, roughly chopped

½ onion, roughly chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

½ tsp paprika

½ tsp cumin

¼ tsp red pepper flakes

Salt and pepper to taste

2 ½ C chicken broth

1 C water

1 bunch collard greens, trimmed and chopped

1 Tbsp sour cream for garnish

Instructions:

1. Heat a large pot over medium-high heat
2. Add bacon and cook until crisp, remove from pot and crumble; set aside
3. Add onions and carrots to the pot with the bacon drippings; sauté 4 minutes
4. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute
5. Add paprika, cumin and red pepper flakes and sauté 30 seconds stirring frequently
6. Pour in chicken broth and water then add the collards and season with salt and pepper
7. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes
8. Add chickpeas and bacon and simmer a final 15 minutes
9. Enjoy!

SmithCale has gotten a new toy, a real honest to goodness camera. It started when my Cousin Kate, who is getting married in T-23 days, asked us to video her wedding. I mean, I did get a degree in it, may as well dust off that skill.

But SmithCale spiraled into a maze of cameras, tutorial videos and reviews. He finally found the camera he thought would be the best. Right now, he's NOT playing on his computer, he's READING THE MANUALS. I'm telling you, it's serious.

Here's some of his shots from the camera's maiden voyage.

See? I really do cook all the food!

Food for Life,

the SupperSmiths, forging one meal at a time