Apricot-Mustard Glazed Chicken

Recently, I bought the Cook's Illustrated Light and Healthy 2010 magazine. I’ve had it for a few months but have yet to make a recipe from it. This is mostly because I have been feeling ill lately and have not felt like trying out a new recipe; I’ve just been sticking to easy recipes I’m familiar with.

Finally, I decided it was time to try a new entrée recipe. I wanted to use up the apricot preserves I had from the fresh fruit tartelettes I made awhile ago, and this recipe sounded perfect; it would allow me to use up the rest of the jar of preserves that has been in my refrigerator for months. The original recipe uses 4 chicken breasts, but since there are only 2 of us, I used 2 breasts. I kept the sauce amount the same because I figured I’d just glaze the heck out of the chicken as it grilled.

I was only able to eat about ¼ of my piece, and Mr. Surly ate the rest of it. He wasn’t feeling very hungry that night (probably due to the intense heat we’ve been experiencing) so he only ate the rest of my chicken along with some fresh corn on the cob and a baked sweet potato. He didn’t comment too much about the chicken that night, other than to mumble it was “pretty good.” However, the next night he reheated the other breast and could not stop raving about how good it was, both during and after his meal. Maybe the glaze had a chance to soak in the chicken as it sat in the refrigerator, I’m not sure. I thought the chicken was really good; the glaze kept the chicken moist and the preserves added a nice sweet flavor, setting it apart from other mustard glazes I’ve used on chicken. Next time I’ll try marinating the chicken in the glaze to see if that makes any difference in flavor.

Fresh Fruit Tartelettes

I made these a while ago and debated on whether or not to post the recipe, mainly because it’s long and I’m lazy. This recipe was really involved and I just didn’t feel like typing it all out. But these have a fantastic taste with the berries and the cream, and they look beautiful when assembled. I will definitely make them again, so I finally decided to bite the bullet and post them. It's not really hard, it just takes a lot of time to put together.

I made the pastry cream and tart dough in advance and assembled the tarts the next day. It was my first attempt at making pastry cream, which is why I chose a Cook’s Illustrated recipe; they take a lot of the guess work out of things.

I wound up with A LOT of extra pastry cream. I froze it, so it wouldn’t go bad until I could think of a way to use it up. I ended up just making some fruit parfaits with Grand Marnier whipped cream and quinoa clusters.

The pastry cream tasted fine after being frozen for a week or so; the texture was a bit off, but mixed with fruit and whipped cream you couldn’t really tell. Next time I will scale down the pastry cream recipe so I don’t have so much leftover.

Oatmeal Buttermilk Bread

We’re not big bread eaters. Not because we are concerned about counting carbs, but simply because we just don’t eat it. I stopped buying bread because we’d eat a few slices and the rest went to waste (well, I’d just tear it up and feed it to the birds).

Ever since I starting having GI issues I’ve stopped buying premade and packaged foods. Now I make almost everything myself, so that I know exactly what is in the food I eat. This way I ensure there are no surprise ingredients that could possibly cause abdominal distress. Recently, I started making my own bread, slicing it up and freezing the slices, so we can thaw slices as we need them. I found many recipes for bread, and this is far and away my favorite. Most homemade bread is dense and heavy, but this one is so light; I love it. I made this loaf to go along with my curried carrot soup. Whatever was leftover the next day I froze. This bread freezes really well. After slicing, I wrap each slice in aluminum foil before placing them in freezer bags and freezing. This method prevents the frozen slices from sticking together, making it easy to just grab one or two slices as needed. You can make it in a mixer, but I like to knead it out by hand; I find kneading to be relaxing and therapeutic.

Curried Carrot Soup

I’ve been making this soup for a long time; it’s one of Mr. Surly’s favorites. A few times he has eaten the entire pot of soup in one evening (he ate nothing else but this soup and bread). When I made this recent batch, he came home from working out and declared he would probably eat the entire pot of soup. Fortunately I made a huge salad for him to eat, so I have leftovers of the soup. I am amazed at the amount of food he eats. Granted, he works out every day, but still. When we first moved in together it seemed like I was always running out of food. But now, 2 years later, I have learned how to gauge his appetite better to make sure I feed him enough for dinner, so he isn’t foraging for food an hour later.

This is a great soup to make if you don’t feel like being in the kitchen; there is little prep work involved and it cooks quickly. It’s also pretty spicy, so I usually have naan, pitas, or some other type of bread to serve along with it. The greek yogurt helps to cool down your palate from the spiciness of the soup. Of course you can use sour cream instead, but greek yogurt tastes similar and is much healthier.

Shooting Star

Ugh, it’s been awhile since I tried a new recipe; in fact, I haven’t really been cooking much at all lately. Once again, I’m having trouble digesting solid food, so my diet recently has consisted of mostly liquids—weight gainer shakes, smoothies, soups, etc. I keep trying to add small amounts of solid food, but so far these attempts have been unsuccessful. This drink has been my lunch almost every day for the past couple weeks. It’s based off a beverage served at one of my favorite restaurants from when I lived in Ohio, North Star Café.

Sometimes I miss living in Ohio. I had a quaint little apartment downtown, in the Short North, with gorgeous exposed brick walls and a garden soaking tub in the bathroom. The neighborhood was awesome, too; I could walk to amazing restaurants, bars, shops, art galleries, etc. I lived 2 blocks away from the original North Star Café in the Short North (it became so popular now they have opened at other locations in the area). Anytime I had a guest visitng from out of town I took them to North Star for a meal. I miss their food: wonderful flatbread pizzas, the Buddha bowl, cloud nine pancakes, and the veggie burger. Mmmmm, I’m still trying to recreate that burger. I’ve almost got it, I just need to tweak it a bit more before I post it.

Anyway, this post isn’t about that delicious burger, it’s about my favorite drink there, the Shooting Star. The summer before I moved south, Mr. Surly and I would go to North Star almost every weekend for brunch. I’d order the Cloud Nine pancakes and a Shooting Star. He’d usually get the Big Burrito and coffee. We’d eat, do the daily crossword, and people watch. This is my attempt at recreating the Shooting Star drink. At North Star they put all the ingredients in a juicer. I don’t have a juicer, instead I bought some carrot juice at Trader Joe’s (which is delicious on its own). Mixing that with orange juice, fresh squeezed lemon juice, and freshly grated ginger I was able to make my home version of the Shooting Star. It may not be as good as the original, but it’s pretty close.