Stove-top Popcorn

John and I never eat microwave popcorn anymore. It's full of awful junk. Too salty. Sometimes soggy. And perfluorooctanoic acid, found in the bag material, is the exact opposite of good for you.

Popcorn by itself, however, is very good for you. It's a whole grain food and low in calories. Unless you coat it in butter, sugar, and salt.

Making popcorn on the stove is easy, and a throw back to another era. Jiffy Pop, anyone? (I don't know if Jiffy Pop is better for you, but my gut instinct says yes. Not better for you than fresh off the stove, however!) It's also cheap - buying a big bag of kernels is much less expensive than a box of microwave popcorn in bags.

And best of all, you can control the ingredients, from how much butter and salt, to dark chocolate flakes and cayenne pepper. Your imagination is the limit!

Here's what you'll need:

3 TBS canola oil (I also use coconut)
1/3 to 1/2 cup of popcorn kernels

Pour oil into a large dutch over, set to medium high. Drop a few kernels in. When they pop, briefly remove from heat and drop the rest in.
After about 30 seconds, place dutch oven back on burner. Cover mostly, but be sure to leave a gap so steam can escape. Otherwise, popcorn will be soggy.
Shake occasionally during cooking process, to prevent burning. Once popping almost ceases, remove from heat. Add salt, pepper, whatever. Dump into HUGE bowl, and eat!

Jamaican Beef and Pumpkin Curry

I know what your thinking - Jamaican Curry? Whaaaat? Curry is Asian! Well, yeah, it is. But also, it's not. Despite the infamy of the African slave trade in the Americas, many indentured servants (read, slaves) from India were also brought over to work, and as a result curries are common throughout the Caribbean. Need proof? Read about Nicki Minaj. (Her real last name is Maraj.) She's the most famous person that I can think of with crossed African/Indian ancestry, and was born in Trinidad.

Anyway, moving onto the food! Pumpkin - who doesn't love it? Great in pies, breads, lattes... but pumpkin is also very good in savory and spicy dishes like this one. MAKE SURE to get a pie pumpkin! They possess much more flavor than your regular ol' jack-o-lantern variety. If you can find a pie/baking pumpkin, another form of squash, like acorn, will work just as good. I just enjoy working with pumpkin, feels like I'm doing something fun and adventurous, putting the orange gourd in a main dish!

What makes this dish 'Jamaican' in nature is the teaspoon of allspice added in. I prefer to use McCormick's Red Curry Powder when making this, but technically regular old curry powder will do. I would NOT recommend the Hot Madras curry, however. The Red Curry Powder is somewhat sweeter than others, and creates an intense aroma when you first fry up the beef.

I used precut stew beef for my meat, but feel free to use something fancier. I'm cheap, and so I bought the cheap. End of story. Add the dry ingredients (salt, pepper, curry powder, allspice, ground coriander seed) to the beef, making sure that all pieces are well covered. Then place in a bowl, set in refrigerator, and allow to marinate for an hour or more.

About chopping up the pumpkin: it's not exactly the easiest thing to do. One of the big differences between this recipe, and pretty much every other one I've ever done that has pumpkin in it, is that you need to leave the fruit in big chunks. This means that you can't bake or microwave the pumpkin and scoop its guts out. Which means you have to remove the rind. Oh boy. So, here's what I do - I stab the whole pumpkin a few times, place it on a microwave safe plate, and then microwave it for about 1 minute 30 seconds, rotating it every now and then. This softens it up a bit. Then cut pumpkin in half, remove seeds and weird nasty feeling stringy stuff, cut off stem area. Cut the halves in half again. Cut those halves in half. Then, carefully, with a sharp knife, set a piece on its side and carefully start slicing the rind off. Some pumpkin rinds are easier to remove the rind than others, each one is a unique creature.

For the tomatoes, make sure you remove the skin and seeds. The easiest way to do this is to set the tomatoes in boiling water, until the skins split. IMMEDIATELY RUN UNDER COLD WATER. This stops the cooking process. I forgot to do this, and as a result, created a huge mess when I cut into them. The skin should just slide right off, once they are cool enough to handle.

If your going to add the habanero, I have a secret method of not getting the burning pain up under my fingernails. Cut the habanero in half, and then deseed and rib it under running water. Helps prevent the burning. Remember to wash your hands immediately afterwards nonetheless, or use gloves when working with them.

Once you've browned the meat, onion, garlic, added the tomatoes, and habanero (for those who dare), then add about a cup of tomato sauce, a cup of water, and a chicken bouillon cube. Let it cook forever. Then enjoy with lots of rice!

Oh, you should smell this cooking. Blows you away with its wonderful scent. A perfect fall dish.

Surinamese Herbed Chicken

This recipe I adapted from Kayotic Kitchen, an absolutely beautiful food blog by a woman based in the Netherlands.

What, I asked myself, is Surinamese cooking? Kay from Kayotic Kitchen just LOVES food from this country, but I know little about the place or its history. Sounds Asian, right? Wrong! Suriname is located in South America, on the northern border of Brazil, and it was once a Dutch colony. Hence the connection to the Netherlands. This recipe does have a very Asian feel to it, despite its South American origins, (umm, Galangal doesn't get much more Asian to me). This is because of the many immigrants from South Asia, ala
Indonesia, to the country, of course!

Kay's original recipe calls for Laos (galangal powder), Walnut oil, garlic oil (never did find this exact thing, so I'm using garlic infused olive oil), and Chervil (nope, can't find that either). For the Galangal, I purchased from Importfoods.com. The Walnut oil I purchased at my local Kroger, actually! As for the Chervil... This is a fresh herb, a form of Parsley, beloved of the French, spread around Europe by the Romans. I boldly substituted a bit of mint in its place, but just a few leaves. Alternatively, you could use cilantro. I won't, because I hate the stuff.

Kay pounded her chicken flat. Because I'm lazy with a full time job, I simply bought mine already thinly cut. Once you've created the spice mix, rub it into the chicken breasts and let them sit, ensuring that the spices stick.

I didn't have any 'garlic oil' that Kay called for, and I failed to find any. I believe its an Asian ingredient, but Owensboro's brand new little Asian grocery store didn't have any. (No, there really is an Asian grocer in Owensboro. For real real! Miracles do exist.) So, I went to TJ Maxx and found this. Thought I'd give it shot. Stuff smells amazing when opened, and the chicken came out tasting great. Works for me!


Place the oil in the pan and heat it to medium high. When the oil starts to shimmer, add the chicken.

Cook the chicken for about two minutes, then dump the onion and red pepper right on top and around the edges. The chicken will need about 5 minutes each side - once you've hit that mark on the first side, flip it. Stir the vegetables occasionally to prevent burning, although YOU WANT DARK BROWNING OF THE ONIONS AND PEPPERS. This stuff that gets stuck to the bottom of the pan is an important part of your sauce.

Once the chicken is thoroughly cooked, add the water, herbs, sugar, bouillon and lime juice. I actually added more sugar than the original recipe called for, because I'm an American and we like things sweet. (Don't deny it, Americans!) Ditto for the lime juice, the original recipe called for only 1 TBS, and I added about 2.

Let the sauce simmer for few minutes, scraping some of the stuff off the bottom, creating a very unique and scruptumpulicious sauce. John loved it! Put this one in the 'make again and again' pile.

Fried Chicken BLT Grilled Cheese

The Surgeon General ordered me to post this warning before the rest of this blog: This sandwich is SEVERELY bad for your cholesterol, triglycerides, waist line, thigh size, cellulite fighting efforts, and everything else you might be worried and/or vain about.

Oh, but it is so good.

I mean, look at that. Look at it. Who comes up with stuff like this? KFC ain't got nothing on John and me. (The chicken came from Lee's Famous Recipe, fyi.) This sandwich was largely John's idea, so I give him credit. In all honesty, I was reluctant to make the thing. I value my figure. I'm supposed to be getting in shape for a wedding! 

A bit about assembly - place mayo on one bread piece, and then cheese slices on the other piece. Set bacon on top of cheese, stick chicken to mayo. Then add tomatoes, lettuce. Try to keep the lettuce away from the heat. Look at them towering out of the fry pan! Sheesh. Was not easy to flip, but I got her done.

 I used the same pan I made the bacon in to fry the sandwiches. Dumped most of the grease out, and then wiped it down. This is a very fried sandwich, no? Fried chicken, fried bacon... Technically the grilled cheese is a type of fried sandwich. I didn't butter the outsides of my bread, but instead placed the butter slab straight into the pan. Oh, yeeeeaaaaaah. You know you want some!

I swear, I sweat grease afterward. At least no one will wonder why I've gained weight.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

Katie, where have you been?? Or so I like to think people think. Reader's could be thinking 'Oh look, another blog entry from that woman that likes to talk about what she occasionally cooks/bakes. How nice. Pffft.'

Truth can be so painful.

I've been busy, okay? I've got a wedding to plan (September of next year, y'all), and, for those of you who don't know, I have another hobby which I'm obsessed with, writing fiction. I'm sure there are some people rolling their eyes about now, but I've been PUBLISHED. And that's kinda like a big deal, m'kay? A new story of mine will be released soon in The Realm Beyond #5, titled 'Ugly Roses'. Buy a copy! Buy one for your Mom! Your Dad! Your dog! It's Sci-fi! That's right, I write SCI-FI. And Fantasy. And Horror. My coolness factor just climbed by like, 3 massive points.

So, who here has had pumpkin something-or-other mixed with chocolate before? In the foodie world, this is a popular combination. Really big last year. Why? Because its AWESOME. Pumpkin hot, pumpkin cold, pumpkin mixed with chocolate just one day old!

This is a quick bread recipe, adapted from Taste of Home. The recipe on TOH seemed a bit lacking to me, as if it wouldn't come out pumpkin pie-y like it should. Called for cinnamon only in the spices, and no brown sugar. A pumpkin pie uses so much more. So much more!

So, I left the original amount of cinnamon, but also added some nutmeg and pumpkin pie spice. (There are those who say you don't need cinnamon or nutmeg when you use pumpkin pie spice. Me no care. Me no listen to anyone, anyway.) Gave it a very nice spice kick, and the brown sugar adds that caramel flavor that underlies a good pumpkin pie.

A beautiful, sweet and spicy combination. Maybe next time I'll add pecans?

The BLT

Anyone need some tomatoes? I planted 3 bushes this spring. Just 3. And I've got so many tomatoes they are going to waste! It's criminal.

However, someone, or should I say, SOMETHING, has been helping itself to what I'm not using. I noticed there were big holes in some of my roma tomatoes, like someone had opened up the side and eaten just the guts. Weird, I think to myself. Birds, maybe? I've seen the local cardinals going in and out of the bushes. But you wouldn't think they'd be so messy. I mean, they're just little birds, right? But I've found the gutted bodies of tomatoes dragged out to the front yard! How mysterious.

Well, low and behold, I come home one day early from work, and guess what I see? Squirrels. Squirrels, resting on the tomato cages, having themselves a grand old time! I got out to ask if they'd like some basil and mozzarella to go with that, make a nice caprese salad. Afraid they took off before I got the chance to ask, however. Oh, well. I'm not going to put nets over my plants to keep them out. Apparently they do that for water. Can't begrudge 'em, if they're thirsty. And I've got plenty to share.

So, BLTs. The Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato. A jewel of a sandwich, that summertime essential.

Hard to mess this one up. Bacon, (done extremely crisp as John likes it), lettuce, and fresh tomatoes, either from your garden, somebody else's, or from a local farmer's market. The taste of summer, as far as I'm concerned. Look at that deep red color!

Mine sandwiches were made with Nature's Own Oatnut toasted bread. Have y'all ever had that before? Very good stuff. I highly recommend. A little light mayo on both pieces of bread. (If your having bacon, might as well go for broke and put plenty of mayo on, too.) Then cut it down the center. Serve.

Ugh, the mouth is watering right now, and its 10 in the morning!

Buffalo Chicken Salad

It's been a long time since I've blogged! Not since the end of June... I should feel bad about that. But, I've been busy, busy, busy. All kinds of things happened in July, including John and I getting engaged!

I can't tell you how excited I am about that last bit. It was a wonderful surprise, and I'm thrilled to exchange vows with the man I love, committing ourselves to something bigger.

On to food! I've done some cooking over the past weeks, but not much. Too much summer fun going on around here. John and I have been boating quite a bit. Hard to argue with going out on the boat on a hot summers day.

This recipe - Buffalo Chicken Salad - is one I found and adapted from Pinterest. Who doesn't love Pinterest? I used to laugh at friends who couldn't stop talking about things they discovered on the site (the fools!!), and then, what do you know, I've become just like them! 'Do you see this? Yup, found the idea on Pinterest!' Karma. She always comes back around.

I love me some spicy food. The spicier, the more I tend to like it, too. I'm a glutton for punishment. If you want less spicy salad, use less buffalo sauce. I used Texas Pete's Buffalo Sauce, but I'd also highly recommend Tabasco's Buffalo flavor sauce. Good stuff, either way.

Instead of using just mayonaise, I've substituted half of it for no-fat Greek yogurt. Also added bits of celery and carrots, like you'd get with you chicken wings. (Plus, vegetables are good for you. Sneaky, sneaky.)

Cracked pepper, some green onion, and two cans of pre-cooked white chicken meat. This is actually a fairly lazy recipe. Perfect for hot summer days, when there is so much to do, and the warm weather only lasts so long!