Author Archives: Lucky Rhino

Appetizers vs Dodd Frank

I am often asked, why do you do the blog, how do you find the time, etc. If you would like to know why I find joy in talking about recipes or pretty tables or crafts or parties, then you need only click on the following link and then click on the chart:

SEC Chart of Regulation

Go ahead, click on it. I’ll wait. This is a chart prepared by a Commissioner at the SEC (the law one, not the sports one) showing every regulation imposed on a financial services company since 2010. Two-Thousand Ten. The original Securities Act was passed in 1933 – so there have been just a feeeeew regulations in between.

Now ask me again, “Why are you oven roasting tomatoes for pasta salad when you can buy them in a jar?” Answer: Because I know what I’m dealing with and it won’t change tomorrow.

All right, got that off my chest. So K went to a Little League meeting the other night and I had about 45 minutes before I had to pick him up and go get the boys from School of Rock. And the meeting was taking place near a store that rhymes with Ebay Tacks/Romehoods. Sooooooo, this happened:

New summer bench pillows.

New summer throw.

Oh and a couple of these Turkish style beach towels.

And I may have also purchased a bag that can hold the Surface, the Samsung camera and my phone. You know, because the other bags were lonely.

So I think we can all agree. Sports are bad for household economies.

So now that we won’t be eating out ever again, what’s on the menu?

Tecate Flank Steak Tacos from The Mission via Bon Appetit.

The only substitutions I made was flank steak (obv from the re-name) instead of skirt steak, parsley instead of cilantro (tastes like soap to me) and Queso Fresco for Cotija (because I couldn’t find Cotija).

And to drink:

Grapefruit Margaritas
Adapted oh so slightly from Cookie + Kate’s Best Margarita Recipe via A Cup of Jo

WHAT YOU NEED (for 4 margaritas)
1 cup agave tequila
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1/2 cup grapefruit juice
1/2 cup orange juice
4 tsp agave nectar
Salt, sugar and lime wedges for garnish

WHAT YOU DO
Combine first 5 ingredients in a pitcher and stir vigorously. Rub the lime over the rim of whatever glass you are using. Doesn’t have to be margarita glass if after 19 years of marriage you may have broken all but 2 that you got for your wedding. Place even amount salt and sugar on a dish and stir to combine. Dip the glass in the salt/sugar. Add ice to glass an pour that refresher in. Obviously this can be doubled/tripled if you have a big crowd.

As you may have seen on my Instagram, my dill plant was infested.

So, now obviously this army of creepy crawlies is on its way up the side of the house to come in upstairs and crawl over my face while I’m sleeping. YES, IT COULD HAPPEN. My cousin has a friend whose brother’s roommate’s ex-fiancee had them lay eggs in her ears in tiny dill nests. True story.

Stay ever vigilant, my resident bug killer.

Tomorrow – Hawks win video! Congratulations to the Stanley Cup winning Chicago Blackhawks!!!!!!

Rainy Days on Sundays Always Get Me Down

The rain, the rain. All games washed out yesterday (and for the foreseeable future). Thus, plans were torn asunder and I ended up going to my sister’s to get my hair done before the conference in D.C. But food was already purchased and prepped for dinner here. No worries, a traveling feast it is.

I forget I have this market bag. It is awesome and can be wiped down in case that dressing in the corner spills a little. In case.

But nonetheless, to honor summer I made:

Salad with Stone Fruit and Burrata
Adapted from Stone Fruit and Burrata Salad by What’s Gaby Cooking. Feeds 8

WHAT YOU NEED
Salad
4 ripe plums
4 ripe peaches
4 ripe nectarines
2 heirloom tomatoes
1 cup orange and yellow cherry tomatoes
3 cups baby lettuce from your garden (ok, just showing off that I actually grew lettuce!). You can also use a bag of Spring mix or baby lettuce)
1 container of burrata cheese (2-3 balls)
fresh mint
1 cup pistachio meats

Dressing — I pretty much used Gaby’s recipe completely except did every measure as “heaping” and a less red pepper — and still got complaints of “mouth on fire” from the kids!

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tablespoon Dijon Mustard
1/4 cup champagne vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons honey
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

WHAT YOU DO
Combine all dressing ingredients in jar and shake until emulsified. Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking. I like this just a touch sweet.

Wash fruits and slice stone fruits into thin wedges. Slice large tomatoes and cut cherry tomatoes in half. Place lettuce in bowl and toss with a couple of tablespoons of the dressing. Arrange fruit and tomatoes (I KNOW, tomatoes are fruit, but sometimes that gets confusing) on top of lettuce. Tear burrata into pieces and scatter on salad. Drizzle with another tablespoon or two of dressing, depending on your tastes. Top with chopped mint and pistachios.

Served with steak topped with roasted garlic butter that I had in the freezer, corn on the cob, and roasted Trader Joe’s Teensy Tiny Potatoes.

Today was the first day of summer camp. And the crew lived large, because it was also someone’s golden birthday, so they were picked up from camp in style.

PARTY BUS!!!!!!!!!!

And on another front, certain members of the household were not in the party mood.

Let’s Go Hawks!

Weather – Please Make up Your Mind I’ve Got Things to Do

And pick up your toys and dirty socks from the family room! Oh, no, wait, that’s the boys, not the weather.

Do you have tomatoes that are not up to par on the summer tomato bliss meter? No problem, just slow roast them. Yep, that’s right, I went right from pictures of dirty socks to food. No time for segues.

And add them to my new favorite Summer Pasta Salad just as Smitten Kitchen predicted it would be. She never steers me wrong. Do not fear the oregano amount. She’s right, she’s always right. I used white wine vinegar for a lighter taste and ricotta sallata as I sometimes find feta overwhelming.

Also did Garlic Roasted Potatoes from Ina Garten. With two luminaries of cookbooks like that, it can’t go wrong. And since we were straddling between spring and summer over the weekend, we grilled steaks but then sautéed some asparagus.

Asparagus with Pancetta

WHAT YOU NEED
1 tsp olive oil
1 lb asparagus, sliced on diagonal in 1 inch pieces
1/4 lb pancetta sliced thick and then diced

WHAT YOU DO
Heat olive oil in pan. Add pancetta and stir until crisp. Remove pancetta to a paper towel lined plate. Add asparagus to the oil in pan. Stir about 4 minutes. Add 1 Tablespoon of water, stir and cover loosely and steam for about 3-5 minutes or until asparagus is bright green and tender.

Remove from pan with slotted spoon and sprinkle crispy pancetta over the asparagus.

What’s up for dessert. How about giant Pretzel M&M Cookies from Two Peas and Their Pod via What’s Gaby Cooking? I really flattened them and thought that was better than when they puffed up. But to each their own.

Now it is June so hopefully we’ll see some solid summer grilling weather. I made some teacher gifts of candle holders with 150 sharpened pencils and tucked in Gerber daisies in their own test tube vials.

Fake Sister had her very last day at grade school.

So after today, she and Drummer Boy will no longer be in school together. Hang on, this computer keeps getting dust in my eyes. *misty*

Happy Last Day of School everyone!

Change of Dinner Plans

People. It is May 30th. It is 45 degrees outside. I had to get some wooly socks on because my feet were cold. Wooly socks!

The La Grange Pet Parade (sans dog pets – boo to dog flu) went on in the rain, and the temperature wasn’t bad.

But it took a mean, mean turn a couple of hours later. So, food plans that I had will be for another day. Sorry summer stone fruit salad. Sorry grilled chicken pesto pizza. Corn on the cob, I hardly knew ye.

I had cooked chicken, so I made Pioneer Woman’s Chipotle Chicken Chili. I made a couple of changes however. I doubled the tomatoes and reduced the beans by one can (the husband is not a fan). I used 2 chipotle peppers and it was pretty spicy. Served it with corn bread from TJ’s boxed mix. And over pasta. Drummer boy was pleased.

Skunk, however, is not pleased with this window-shutting weather and has retreated to his Christmas pillow.

It’s too cool for cats (name that band!).

At least with the windows closed we won’t be annoying our neighbors with the 4 second delay between the Blackhawks game on here versus there, thus pre-screaming the goals before they happen. Go Hawks!

Long Weekend Lookback

So it went like this. Pizza Night, soccer game, soccer game, a Communion Party for the Second Set at our house, birthday party, epic clean of Guitar Boy’s room, BBQ, epic clean of Drummer Boy’s room and Birthday BBQ. Yes, that’s right, it was only a three day weekend, but we shoved five days of living into it.

Not much in the way of original cooking as the Communion party was an empanadas and make-your-own-nachos bar. But we did enjoy this new twist on sangria from Foodie With Family: Cider Sangria.

However, with over 50 people at the house, I couldn’t make individual drinks for everyone so I converted Foodie’s recipe into a punch-like drink. Just fished the popsicle sticks out of the punch bowl. I know, fancy indeed.

I also made my standard sangria recipe.

Basic Sangria

WHAT YOU NEED
One orange, sliced and cut into quarters
One lime, sliced and cut into quarters
10 green grapes, halved
One apple, cored and chopped
1/4 cup brandy (the mini airplane bottles are about 1/4 cup)
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup orange peach mango juice (or sub whatever fun juice you have)
1 TBSP sugar
1 bottle red wine
8 oz club soda or lemon-lime soda (depending on how sweet you like it – I used 3:1 club soda to Sprite)

WHAT YOU DO
Combine all the fruit, brandy, orange juice, sugar and wine in a pitcher and stir. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Just before serving, add the club soda or soda. Serve over ice.

Also made Two Peas and Their Pod’s Black Bean Quinoa Enchilada Bake for the gluten free in our lives, though a nacho bar is pretty gluten free.

New favorite thing. Honey on the cheese tray. Dip cheese (or bread with cheese, or grape with cheese) in raw honey. Urf, it is so good.

Some flowers:

The Communicants (not their band name):

A cookie cake (you stay classy San Diego):

Once Communion starts, Communion don’t stop for no volleyball game:

Epic cleaning of Drummer Boy’s room. Before:

During the closet phase #nothelpful

After (still needs to be painted and sports pictures hung, but a work in progress):

Made Blogging Over Thyme’s Everything Bagel Cheese Twists for the birthday barbecue:

Happy birthday Baker Boy. He makes the best desserts.

Hope you had a great Memorial Day weekend and thanks to all who have served.

Now, back to work everyone! But first, season premiere of American Ninja Warrior. Wooooooo!

Stuff on My Kitchen Table

Hulk say, “Needs more salt!”

Captain America says, “But pepper also adds flavor and it won’t increase your blood pressure”

He’s such a Boy Scout.

Spring, a Surprise Guest and Mother’s Day

I have a perpetual problem when ordering spices of thinking, “Oh, 4 ounces doesn’t sound like much”. This mindset results in my owning an extraordinary number of light spices that don’t weigh very much. Like this, just one of my many, many jars of bay leaves (did I say many?):

And sadly, I’m not in need of a laurel. Anyone need a cinnamon stick? Just ask, call any time. And well, vanilla beans fall into that category too. However, I industriously turned 2 of them into vanilla sugar (scraping the seeds into a clean jar and adding fine sugar).

So now what to do with vanilla sugar? Since Spring began, I’ve seen a number of recipes for fools. LIke take 8 beers, combine with 2 frat boys, add a Family Guy episode, stir…. No, I mean like British fools…take 8 Pimm’s cups, combine with 2 muggles.. No, wait, I digress again. A fool is a English dessert that combines stewed fruit and cream. I have a lot of strawberries, so I thought I’d use my vanilla sugar and strawberries and make a fool.

Strawberry Fool

WHAT YOU NEED
4 cups strawberries, hulled and chopped
1/2 cup of vanilla sugar
2 TBSP water
1 TBSP vanilla extract
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar

WHAT YOU DO
Put strawberries, vanilla sugar, vanilla extract and water in a bowl and stir. Let sit anywhere from 15 minutes to 5 hours. Mash half the strawberries with potato masher or two forks until there are mushy bits and still whole pieces of strawberries.

Whip the cream with the powdered sugar until peaks form. Fold in half the strawberry mixture and stir just a little bit with a spatula. Then fold in the rest of the strawberries and only stir once. Garnish with a sliced strawberry and mint if you have it (I didn’t). Serve with Nilla Wafers or Lorna Doones.

Had a nice surprise visit from my nephew Joe before he departs to study and work in China this summer. So we made some steaks, following the directions from Serious Eats. I’ve mentioned in other posts, or maybe I just wrote it in my recipe binder, but yep, salting beef ahead of time works wonders. So we grilled NY strips, made Oh She Glows’ Smashed Potatoes with Avocado Aioli (yes, again) and a big ol’ salad with homemade ranch dressing from Foodie With Family.

This time I boiled and smashed the potatoes ahead of time, covered the baking sheet and kept it in the refrigerator. At dinner time I then cooked them in the oven a little longer, about 35 minutes, flipping them half way through so both sides got crispy. Worked great.

While I made dinner the boys and Fake Sister played soccer with Joe (sorry Joe, hope you didn’t think this would be a restful visit).

And games about football:

And music:

I didn’t host Mother’s Day, so there are not many recipes to report on. But who am I to let a holiday go by without an appropriate beverage? This year, it was Blueberry Bellinis from She Wears Many Hats.

Here they are in all their blueberry and bubbles glory!

Really couldn’t be easier. Just boil the ingredients, puree with a stick blender in the pot, bring to your sister’s house. Add to Prosecco and eat donuts. Done and Done.

Mmmmmmmh, donuts.

A leeeetle mishap involving Alvin’s face and Aunt Colleen’s windowsill of death. What would Mother’s Day be without a trip to the emergency room for 8 stitches on one’s lip? Al was a trooper, didn’t even cry.

Happy Mother’s Day everyone. May Father’s Day be stitch-free.

Because Brown Paper Packages Tied Up With String Only Get You So Far

Just a few of my favorite things this week:

Truth from a boy band.

Acca-76 Trombones? Trust me, stick with it until the end.

Three Cheese Pizza Bites – If it wasn’t already Pizza Night, I’d be making these.

Good save Khaleesi.

What if – a classic (p.s. it annoys Skunk when we do this to him)

Who knew a pastry was more litigious than Wall Street?

So here’s a drink for your “Southern state horse race” party.

Let your weekend begin.

Everybody Cut, Everybody Cut

Everybody cut Footloose! The movie Footloose** seems to have made a comeback with the tween crowd, so much so that Drummer Boy took it upon himself to learn the drums to the song on his own and play it for a friend.

So with slightly better weather, and since someone is upstairs playing my 1985 jam, I thought I’d be a little loose by going with no actual recipe for a big tuna steak. Not from a recipe? Jump back!

My favorite easy-peasy literal lemon-squeezy recipe when I don’t know what to do: Board Dressing. You can do this with whatever you can find on hand that goes well together and with whatever kind of meat or fish you have.*** I had a large lemon, 3 frozen crushed garlic cloves (yay Trader Joes!), 1/2 cup fresh parsley, a few stray basil leaves, 1 tsp dried oregano, 1 tsp kosher salt and pepper to taste. Chop it all up in a pile on a cutting board:

Juice the lemon into the pile and pour about a 1/4 cup of olive oil into the mix, Push about a quarter of the pile onto a plate where you will ultimately put the finished, grilled tuna. Take uncooked tuna steak and roll it around in the board dressing.

Then grill until desired level of doneness. For a thick one like this, it took about 18 minutes. While it is still hot, put it on the plate or new board with the remaining dressing and turn to coat. Try it and add additional salt and pepper if necessary. Or if you are my sister, just salt it without even trying it. You’re just that sure.

Served with mixed rice blend and carrots. Now go cut a rug or thrash about in a warehouse. Your choice.

** The real Footloose, not the remake. I love me some Blake Shelton on The Voice, but Blake, that song did not need to be re-sung. Let Kenny Loggins shine forever.

*** My husband believes that by my owning this book:

it makes me the equivalent level of nerd as he is, just a food nerd. I ask you, even if there were the food equivalent of the comic book store to hang out in on Saturdays with the boys playing Hero-Clix, and I created DIY my own food Hero-Clix figure, wouldn’t we just call that “a restaurant”? I know you guys are with me on this one, right?

We Had Pasta, Some Pasta, and Finished with Pasta

I promise you all, not in the same week. Well, mostly not all in the same week. Somehow in the last week these recipes all rose to the tops of their various lists, so, armed with a loaf of rustic bread, I took on the challenge to see if the family would eat pasta three times in 7 days. Disclaimer: Drummer Boy eats plain pasta every day, but that doesn’t mean pasta with actual sauce of any kind on it will skew the results here.

First up was Spaghetti All’Amatriciana from Blogging over Thyme.

I didn’t have the thick pancetta only thin in my refrigerator, but it still worked and was delicious. It’s a keeper.

Rating from the boys: It didn’t make me gag (so 4 forks)

Next up was this lovely Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo Bake from Bev Cooks.

This was really good, though a bit much to do on a weekday. I happened to have roasted garlic cloves that I had put in the freezer which was my original inspiration. If I were to do this again on a weekday I would precook and chop the chicken and the roasted garlic.

Rating from the boys: Dad already fed us before practice so we don’t have to try that, right? (So 3 forks it is).

And from Oh She Glows, Roasted Tomato Basil Pesto, a vegan pasta sauce that you really have to try.

As she notes in the recipe, it may not be the prettiest sauce, but it is good and rich. I would recommend using the nutritional yeast, it gives it that pesto-heft.

Rating from the boys: It was ok (call the MIchelin folks)

But sure, those are all carbs, but what if one needs more carbs with their carbs (to balance out all the vegan eating)? Well, if one is lured by the siren song of free samples at Whole Foods, one might walk away having purchased this:

Might spread it on some rustic bread add some fresh chopped parsley. Might even throw it under the broiler for a minute or two if one is feeling so inclined. And then:

Need coconut water and celery, stat!