Couple days ago my favourite neighbour Wojtek sent me by email one of his latest creations. Wojtek likes to cook and actually does it really good. His greek fish is spectacular and his zurek even better 😉 I know cause Marta (his wife) and himself are the most hospitable people I know. Always having something to eat 😉 a beer and good laugh with their lovely little princess Balbina :P. Baaalbinkaaaa 😀
Thanks to them Mr. Dog is getting better.
As the year 2013 ended Cookies was looking at all the stats on Magda Cooks and figured out that this is my 100th post – I honestly didn't know I hit that much, but as it is, lets now go for 200!
As I mentioned many times before in the Burrow we eat a lot of vegetables and there is no meal without some. It may be cooked carrots or just simple salad or even just both. Though lately I have an incredible problem with eating certain veggies which makes me unhappy. And also it is hard to understand as well, cos older I’m I like more and more kinds of foods. I think the only one will be forever excluded is canned peas… Damn I hate it 0_o. I even can eat cooked spinach in little tortellini but definitely no peas. So honestly there is not too many veggies I've ate in last few weeks and it doesn’t help with the variety of new meals I can make.
But, as always I found something 😀 and it’s so simple yet so spectacular in flavour that I decided I will be experimenting with this idea a lot.
I still can’t imagine that I didn't think about it earlier, especially since Cookies is preparing a lot of meals straight from mexican cuisine. Probably because he is considered Master of Tortilla and Taco and we usually don't step into each others zones of expertise. I was looking for new way to prepare pork tenderloin and that it didn't include grilling 0_o. Soon though I wont be able to grill a thing 0_o cos Cookies will be moaning like: WHAAAT? Grilled …. AGAIN??? PHHHLEEEAAASSSSEEEE! So as I was searching I found this one promising idea for a very easy 0_o mexican spice marinade for pork and along side I found a recipe for simple fresh salsa.
When I asked Cookies why he never made salsa before, he said… “I simply didn't think about it”, well, thats kind of hard to believe because he OVER THINKS everything. Anyway…during the last couple weeks I utilized this idea twice, each time with a different piece of pork: tenderloin and neck, both according to you know WHO, found them to be awesome. The rub is easy and requires only 10-15 minutes rest before cooking. Both meats I prepared different way. I baked the tenderloin and grilled neck chops.
How was your Christmas? Did you traditionally over ate Mom’s prepared goodies? There is nothing better than my Mom’s pierogi with sour kraut and wild mushrooms… Though this year I can proudly state: I didn’t overeat… probably only cos I caught some nasty virus on Xmas Eve… Actually Cookies job – he was sick for previous week and this got him out safely from celebrating what he loves to call “Evil Xmas…” Anyhow, I haven't been cooking much lately, mostly baking – as I learned a recipe for the perfect banana bread and after the 5th time I can call myself officially the “Banana Bread Goddess” and I also, created a new recipe for little cheesecakes and yeah, I mastered the muffins recipe… Jeez Louise! It sounds like I was bunkered in the kitchen! Thankfully it was fun 😉 And I invented today, quite nice recipe for a weird 2 layer cheesecake… Will share next time when I will perfect it.
Today I want to share simple recipe for tasty light after feast snack – the next day like – I’m guilty of eating 43 pierogies and whole turkey leg 0_o. It will be Cookies Nemezis – evil SAAAAALAD.
Very easy – as usual – very tasty – as usual – very light – as most of the time 😀
As I’ve mentioned probably 43,000 times before, we are trying to eat relatively healthy and different. Because of that we have couple rules about weekly meals, like at least 1x vegetarian, 1x fish, 2x meat and definitely soup for 2 days. Mostly I can rotate the 5 traditional soups in a circle but there comes time when we don’t want oldschool and need new. This time I got the idea for the soup from one of weekly newsletters, that I get from cooking sites. The recipe was interesting enough to make me want to try it.
The first time I prepared it exactly how the recipe called for and as the flavor was great, the texture wasn’t that high on my pallet. I really don’t like mushy rice, which happened when the rice was cooked in the soup and also using chix corps made it very greasy.. OK, actually it was terrible and I almost never did it again, just as I was about to chalk this one up as “a forget it” Cookies reminded me that I can change things my way… The following recipe came into being after I gave it 2+ weeks, lets call it “sleep time”.
I changed most of the base preparations, instead of using chix corps for the base bouillon Cookies cooked his masterpiece of chix wings base. Which is full of flavor and not greasy at all.
Well, we are two different people, who got raised in two different traditions (and cultures) and we like different things. In the beginning I had to make a double effort to feed Cookies the way he got used to (thankfully his Mom liked a lot of polish dishes like bigos (hunter’s stew), pierogi, haluszki, which actually he makes much better than I do etc). For example, when I wanted my favourite sour pickle soup, I was cooking bouillon and dividing into 2 pots and in one making pickle soup for myself and in the other tomato soup for Cookies. Thankfully as the time passed he started eating more and more, of course it works both ways, though I will NEVER EVER NEVER EVER eat cooked peas and corn with ketchup!!!
Thanks to Cookies I started liking mexican food, even lately learned how to eat fajitas without tossing stuffing everywhere 0_o. (Cookies comment: And you have no clue how close to a miracle that, in itself REALLY is!)
So, with this long beginning just wanted to say, that sometimes I feel for something old school, which my Mom cooked when I was a kid. The other day it was little meatballs in dill sauce gravy.