Happy Chinese New Year!

With the treacherous, terrible, terrible "ice storm" we had last night the government was shut down for 3 hours. I'm exaggerating on the extremeness of this storm because there wasn't really any. The bonus that came out of this nice 3 hour delay to work was this recipe I made up that is a Korean style inspired Kale Chip to celebrate Solnal the Korean (Chinese) New Year which is TODAY :).

sol nal 설날

I say it's Korean style because it tastes exactly like those seaweed chips you can find in every kids lunch box in South Korea. :) 

Garlicky Kale Chips:

OVER FLOWING KALE

First I tore the leaves off into LARGE mouth bite size pieces.

 Bye-bye stems.... (I regret not saving them for a broth of some sort)

 The delicious rub ingredients:

GARLICY KALE CHIPS here we come!

 Spice makes it nice!!!

Rub a dub dub! Kale is rubbed down with the delicious mix and set for 275 degrees F. in the baker for 25 minutes (with a good toss-a-roo half way through).

 While these little fella's baked we put some Chicken Adobo on the stove.

Then This evening it was time to try  a vegetarian Chili with the new ingredient I found on sale:

Cocoa Chile Blend:

Sweet Potatoes chopped and browned a bit with olive oil and onions.

 The Line up:
4 small sweet potatoes
1 onion
2T Olive Oil
2 bay leaves
1/4 t cloves (ground)
1 1/2 T Cocoa Chile Blend
1t cumin
3-4 stock cubes
16 oz dark red beans
16 oz chick peas
4-5 garlicky cloves
1 can of tomatoes

This all basically falls into a pot and you heat it up for about an hour. Piece of cake!

After heading to Zumba I needed to refuel my body with the ultimate Chocolate Green Monster!  I had a real sweet teeth tooth so this hit the spot!

Delicious Green Monster for two!

Nighty Night!

Walnut, Sundried Tomato, Feta, Basil Pesto!



Guten Tag Everyone! This week has been rain, rain, rain, rain and guess what... rain.  I thought our experience with hurricane Irene two weekends ago was enough rain and would allow for us to have some sun but nope.  Tropical Storm Lee just HAD to come over and ruin the sun party. I think we're going to be in the rain for a while.



Water for elephants. I've been meaning to read that book.

Last night called for something with pasta, chicken, and my about to go bad basil.  Since most pesto calls for fresh cheese (money money) and pine nuts (money, money, money) I decided to call my cheaper Costco friends (aka Feta Cheese and Walnuts) into action. 

Basil, Sun-Dried Tomato, Walnut, Feta Pesto! 

(This is what it is...)

Ingredients list:

• 1 C. Sun-dried Tomatoes
• 1 C. Water
• 4-5 Chicken Breasts
• 4 Tblsp. Olive Oil
• 1 Lemon
• 2 C. Basil
• 1/2 C. Walnuts
• 1/2 C. Feta Cheese
• 3-4 Cups cooked pasta (just until firm)

 First off I boiled 3-4 cups of any type of pasta just until firm  and set that out of the way.

Boil the Sun Dried tomatoes in 1 cup of water for 10-15 minutes in a small sauce or skillet pan. RESERVE the water to help make the pesto smooth.

Show these Chicadees who's boss! Laying down the pounder!

For the Chicadee:

2 Tblsp. Olive Oil in a large skillet over medium heat

 4-5 Chicadee breasts pound and season them with salt (or use season salt given to you from your awesome brother) and use plenty of black pepper 

 1 lemon zested on the face-up side of the Chicadees 

Let these little babies cook until nice and brown on one side then flip and squeeze  lemon juice around them.

 

Good price for the basil from LA Mart $1.79 pound

Basil goes in head first then the sun-dried ta-maters with the reserved water that they were boiled in.

Then add 2 Tblsp olive oil and a few Tblsp of water only if it doesn't become smooth enough to blend well. 

After adding the feta cheese and it should look like this!

Then get any veggies that you like and give them a shower.

You can let them nest on top the chickadees while the chicken is browning. 

BEHOLD THE YUMMY Mountain of veggies!

Season them with salt and pepper too, no need to add any more oil, lots of flavors already from the Chicks.

Now the Chickadees are just waiting patiently in the background.

I just love the golden crisp crunch of browned chickadees!

After the veggies were done I heated the pasta and 1 cup of the pesto for 5 minutes in the skillet getting all the noodles coated with the pesto flavors. Then I combined the pasta and veggies in a big bowel to get everybody well acquainted with the pesto.

 



This makes plenty of leftover pesto that will keep for at least a week or you could freeze it too. I plan to spread it on breads or if I need a quick sauce later this week I'll use the rest.

There's nothing like tasty pesto on a rainy day.



Ms. Furry Fern is getting soaked!



This week begins on Monday!

This week is off to a great start! We woke up to breezy temperatures in the upper 60's which is much deserving of a walk to school work as you can gather from the picture! Now that my foot is back in order (got off the silly crutches last Monday) I can take long walks again. No running or leaping yet but I'm just really grateful and I have a new appreciation for having two working legs.

What I learned from this experience is I get cranky and moody when I don't exercise and I get seriously jealous of walkers, joggers, movers, shakers, bicyclists AND even roller bladders when I have a non-ambulatory lower limb. (I really don't care for roller blading that much, as it always results in my face hitting the ground.)

Hopefully we hang on to this new routine of waking up early to walk to work because it's a much more peaceful way to start the day.

Speaking of routines I'm doing fairly well on my list so far.  Mostly everything except keeping in touch with family and friends better.  Folks I need to work on that so bare with me and I'll come around someday. :)

I have to add something to that list because I've already started it. Learning Filipino or rather I should say Tagalog.  I've been studying Spanish and Tagalog with a free trial to Rosetta Stone.  So far so good! I'm thinking I should organize what I learn on this blog. Of course not "take it" from Rosetta Stone, however expand on what I've learned because there just isn't a whole lot out there for learning Tagalog online. Actually there's not even much out there to even pay to learn Tagalog. So maybe folks could learn with me if I post it up for grabs on the Webby.

Hmmmm something to get started on!