February Food Adventures

I hadn't made something new in a while, so here is a log of what I attempted recently:

1) The first was Chicken Cacciatore in the slow cooker for our friends who just had twins! It's always nice to be able to use the slow cooker since it is a weekday and I don't have too much time after getting home to make a nice dinner for friends. I actually did it over a course of a few days since the flavors meld and get better over a few days. Plus I had to debone the chicken, skim some of the fat, and adjust the flavor as necessary. I added multi grain pasta to it and everybody seemed to like it- success! The recipe I used was the one below (I'm becoming a bigger and bigger fan of the simply recipes website), but in true Amy style I adjusted a few things:
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/chicken_cacciatore_hunter_style_chicken/

2) The second was Shephard's Pie, which I like but in all honesty, I made it because we need to use up some potatoes. I blended a few different recipes with what my Mom used to make, and it actually came out great! I used ground turkey to make it a bit healthier, and flavored it with some Mrs. Dash for a low salt flavoring option, plus chicken stock, tomato sauce, and a few other adds to add flavor complexity. Topped it with mashed potatoes, and a lot of cheese on Jeremy's side, and voila! I really liked it, and Jeremy really liked it since he ate about half of the 9 x 13 finished product... it may have been because we went for a run and I didn't feed him until after 1pm! I'm starving my husband apparently, oops!

3) The third was Okowa or Japanese sticky brown rice (pictured next to the lemon bars below). I cooked it like any "takikomi gohan" or mixed rice, with chicken stock instead of dashi, mirin, soy sauce for flavoring, and for vegetables I included shiitake mushrooms, carrots, gobo (burdock) root, and konnyaku noodles. It didn't come out as sticky as I thought it would, so I'm not sure if I didn't add enough liquid, or too much, or if it was a different issue... it still tasted good though! Jeremy didn't like the flavor but oh well can't win them all...

4) Finally, I made Lemon Orange Bars courtesy of Rachael Ray's recipe to take tomorrow night for our girl gathering :) I halved the amount of crust since I don't like too much crust on my lemon bars, hopefully others share that preference! I used a 9 x 13 pan like it called for but it came out pretty thin, so I may have overcooked it, but the edges that I tasted (as I scraped the pan) tasted good so hopefully everyone else likes them too.
http://www.rachaelraymag.com/Recipes/rachael-ray-magazine-recipe-index/dessert-recipes/Golden-Lemon-Orange-Bars

It felt good to try new things in the kitchen again... I'm considering doing another experimental project to get myself trying new things again, and maybe inviting more people over this time to test these dishes out!! If you read this, suggestions are welcome for the next Amy cooking/baking project!

Anniversary- Rok Bistro

Happy 1 year wedding anniversary to us! We made it :)

After a rough week of migraines for me, a weekend flight down to SD for a wedding, and the super bowl, somehow planning something for our wedding anniversary had slipped our minds. We knew we wanted to go out for dinner to celebrate so I was put in charge of finding a place and making a reservation... it was kind of a random choice, but Rok Bistro in Sunnyvale was the chosen one.

We weren't really sure what to expect, but we ended up selecting the 4 course meal similar to a fondue place, except with a grilled entree on a super hot "rok" so you can cook your meat to exactly how you want it. Apparently they heat it to 700 degrees, and it will maintain heat for about 45 minutes so you can cook the meat the whole time you eat. We went with all the recommended choices for each course: a half salad, cheese fondue, entree meat, and a chocolate fondue. The half salad we chose was the "citrus salad" which was spinach with strawberries, tangerines, and candied pecans with a sweet vinaigrette dressing. It was really good, but if I got picky, I wish they had left the dressing on the side as I had asked...

For the cheese fondue, we went with the recommended "California Dreamin" which had a blend of 3 different cheeses with herbs. They provided bread, crisp veggies, and apples to dip, but Jeremy and I both agreed that the bread was the best. The fondue was okay but definitely my least favorite of the courses. Of course I would choose a dessert fondue over a cheese fondue any day so maybe I'm not the best evaluator...

For the entree, I chose the NY Steak and Jeremy got the buffalo. We both chose a side of garlic mashed potatoes to go along with the maple glazed veggies, which were both delicious, even though I know both are not healthy at all... The hot rock for our entree was quite interesting and although you have to work for your food, it's nice to be able to cook each bite to your liking! I liked both meats- the buffalo was very tender and juicy, and the NY steak was flavorful but not as tender as I would have liked- and the chimichurri sauce they served with it was a nice change to lightly dip it in.

For dessert was the Snickers fondue- dark chocolate, crunchy peanut butter, and caramel sauce mixed with a little cream. We were pretty darn full by then, but I was out of control on that chocolate! It was ooey gooey chocolatey goodness! They served bananas, strawberries, apples, pretzels, Rice Krispies Treats, pound cake, and cocoa dusted marshmallows with the fondue. Although in the end I took the "find you lost item" spoon and turned it into a "try to finish the fondue" spoon! You know we're really full when neither one of us can finish a chocolate fondue!

To finish it off, they brought us vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup on a cold rock slab with a candle to celebrate our wedding anniversary. They sang their usual birthday celebration song for us with "anniversary" switched for "birthday" which was quite cute for trying. Overall, we had a good time, good food, and even though we had to be rolled out from being stuffed, thankful that we are blessed to be able to splurge every now and then for restaurant outings!