Father’s Day Ribs

Posted on July 8, 2015 by chatty

I asked the husband what he wanted for dinner on Father’s Day. He started talking about the BBQ, grilling this or that.

“Yes, we could do that,” I said. “Or, I could throw some ribs into the slow cooker and –”

“Oh yeah. Let’s do that.”

Happy Father’s Day. Not the greatest pic, as I nearly forgot to take it before the last of ’em was gone.

Good choice. And so easy. I used a Hawaiian BBQ sauce I found at the store, complementing the trip to Kona Kitchen we had done the day before, and the Spam Fried Rice the husband cooked up earlier in the day for lunch. Obviously we were in a Hawaiian stae of mind. Sauce + Ribs + 8 hours on low. Set it and forget it.

That time we met a young gun

Posted on July 5, 2015 by chatty

This one time my friends and I ended up at Brimmer & Heeltap. It was our lucky day as the Bartender-in-residence was a Young Guns semi-finalist. Willi had a knack for mixing and came up with some delicious concoctions for us. I tried Willi’s Hard Lemonade and it was perfect for the hot happy hour we were having.

I also ordered their seasonal fish, black cod, if I recall (and I couldn’t possibly tell you anymore, except that it was “all right”)

Then this happened: Strawberry Chamomile Semifreddo and Peanut Butter Chocolate Layer Cake. Two desserts (shared! Two desserts to share) because, hello! Dessert!Definitely need to go back here. Maybe coordinate with Willi dropping by, too.

Seattle Restaurants Old – Chandlers Crabhouse

Posted on April 13, 2015 by chatty

For Easter the husband’s parents treated us to Chandler’s Crabhouse on South Lake Union. This place has been there forever. It is the restaurant the husband’s parents treated us to in celebration of our engagement, like, 12 years ago or something. Yeesh.

I ordered the special, this ahi tuna dish from their “fresh sheet”:

Ahi tuna, Chander's Crabhouse Lake Union

“Crispy on the outside, rare on the inside, served with Napa slaw, honey-ginger soy, serrano ponzu”.

I was going to get a mixed greens salad, but the waiter, a very nice dude, suggested I get the “Chef’s Seasonal”. Radish, I remember, plus some other vegetable whose name I can’t remember. Whatever. It was really tasty.

Have you seen this vegetable? What is it?

As a dessert the grandparents ordered a brownie a la mode, and the look on the kid’s face, after a day of eating Easter treat after treat, was priceless. I only let her have a few bites. I’m such a meany.

https://instagram.com/p/0yLnxxoueu/?taken-by=cacha02

Hoppy Easter!

Happy Pi Day

Posted on March 15, 2015 by chatty

Filed under days we celebrate now that are just awesome. National Doughnut Day, Cupcake Day, Pancake Day, etc etc all days that, I guess were created by savvy marketers intent on getting Americans fatter (I mean, do they celebrate Pancake Day overseas?). But Pi Day, I mean, you can’t get upset with Pi Day, as it’s a math thing. It teaches you math. It forces parents who haven’t thought about the circumference of a circle for ages, to try to explain to a 6-year old pi, and radii, and circumferences and all that stuff (Here, watch me hand off this question to the husband!).

By now you know this particular Pi Day is a little more special than others, because not only was yesterday 3.14, it was 3.14.15. And at around 3.14.15, at approximately 9:26 and 53 seconds (yes, approximately), we were at the store. So I took this pic:

https://instagram.com/p/0NxBkFIuY4/

Much better than a previous Pi Day (way back in 2013)…

Empty shelves at Metropolitan Market!

The husband, fortunately prepared for this year’s momentous occasion and we had a slice of apple and a slice of chocolate cream, that we had a little bit of earlier in the day.

So I didn’t feel like doing a dessert pie, but felt like doing something. Quiche? Nah. I know! Chicken Pot Pie! Yes, of course.

It took a while to do, I study up on this stuff. Also, I used ingredients I’m not proud of. Those All-American processed foods that, I certainly wouldn’t be caught dead eating. You know, unless it’s Pi Day …

So here it is. I got tired near the end and, creative juices at its lowest, didn’t manage to make the actual pi sign. I even saved crust dough and everything, just didn’t get it done. Next time.

Happy Pi Day!

As the recipe was a combination of a few, I’m jotting them down here so I don’t forget:

Ingredients:

(1) 9-inch pie crust (I use this crust recipe. Make it easier with a ready-made crust, but I don’t have much success with those)
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 can (10z) “Cream of Chicken” condensed soup
Approx 2 oz cream cheese (more if you like that kind of stuff)
(1) 10z bag of mixed vegetables (peas, carrots, corn, green beans)
Seasoning: Italian seasoning, Salt, Pepper

Biscuit Topping (I guess yo could use another pie crust, but I don’t press my luck. One homemade pie crust is good, for me)

1 1/2 c Bisquick
1/2 c milk

Instructions:

Pre-heat oven, 400 degrees

Pie Crust. Make it, chill it. Roll it, Place it.

Filling: Cut chicken up into bite-sized chunks. Season with S&P. Heat olive oil in a pan, medium heat, add chicken and saute or whatever until fully cooked (Diced onion might be good here, too). Once cooked add Cream of Chicken can and mix well. Season again with your favorite herbs and spices. Add softened cream cheese and frozen vegetables and and continue stirring until the cheese is smooth and well-incorporated. Add all of this into the pie crust.

Topping: Combine the Bisquick and milk and mix until you get a nice sticky dough. Create a ball of dough and on a floured board knead 10 times (this is the biscuit directions on the box). Instead of making biscuits, roll it out into a nice circle to lay over the pie. Create holes/slits for venting. Lightly cover with aluminum foil

In the oven, for 20-25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 10 minutes. Remove and let it rest for 5 minutes or so before cutting up.

Enjoy.

Discuss mathematical equations.

Smashing pumpkin (pancake egg sandwich)

Posted on November 5, 2014 by chatty

A few pumpkins watch as I eat, yup, some pumpkin pancakes. Sorry, guys.

The husband makes a terrific egg sandwich that we like to call, the Greg McMuffin. What, you didn’t know the husband’s name is Greg? Who exactly is reading this, anyway?

He recently added to his menu the McGregle Sandwich. Yes, the name needs some work. It’s essentially egg, ham and cheese nestled between two pancakes.

So for dinner one desperate Sunday night I decided to one-up him, and pull out the always popular pumpkin pancakes, and turned them into an egg sandwich, though, now I need a name for ’em.

Egg McCha-gle? No. Egg Pumpkin Pancake Sandwich? Boring. Chattycha’s Most Eggs-cellent Adventure?

A little help here…

Some summer fails

Posted on September 22, 2014 by chatty

Post the goods with the bads, right? I made these paleo muffins. Why, I don’t know. I don’t care for paleo baking, as I’ve mentioned over and over again. But the photos in The Paleo Kitchen are soooo purty. The kindergartener was looking through the book and first asked if we could make chocolate cayenne brownies from the book. I said no. Then she showed me the Lemon Raspberry Muffins and I said maybe.

These didn’t swirl so well. And, oh yeah, they are paleo so they are a bit eggy. Right out of the oven they were pretty okay. The next day, only edible when smeared with freezer jam. And, yikes, they do not look all that pretty:

WYSIWYG

Fail 2: Not a huge fail, but sorta. The kindergartener and I make vegetable kebabs for the husband to grill. We kinda did it wrong, I suspect. Too much space between the pieces of vegetables, maybe a little too small pieces. Maybe shoulda used whole mushrooms. So, he tried, but they kinda just fell apart. Better luck next time…

sorta veggie grill

Sorta veggie grill. Sorta cooked on one side, sorta not on the other. Plus, there’s a little pineapple in there. Not a veggie. Still, pretty tasty. That grill is fun.

Easy Sushi Supper

Posted on September 19, 2014 by chatty

Here is one of the reasons why I might decide to try a recipe. I bought flat seaweed this one time, because I couldn’t find the seaweed snacky stuff that L likes to eat. So I bought the stuff you make sushi rolls with, figuring I’d cut it up and get them cripsy on the stove with a little sesame oil. Then the next day I found the snacky stuff, and bought it because, you know, so much easier.

So, then I had a package of seaweed leftover in the cupboard. Let’s make sushi! Which means buying a whole lotta ingredients just to use up a $3 package of seaweed. Which still isn’t completely used up, incidentally.

I bought bulk sushi rice from PCC. You are supposed to cook the rice, then mix in a rice vinegar/sugar solution to the cooked rice. I used too much sugar, or the rice vinegar had lost its potency, because it ended up being sweeter than I wanted. Also in there, sliced cucumber, fake crab meat (“krab” meat), avocado. They were fun to make, but the seaweed was too chewy. Plus, one cup of rice makes a LOT of rolls. I haven’t eaten that much rice in a long time. And, man, boy did I pay for it.

Above you’ll see the fine shrimp salad I made to accompany the rolls.

Just in case it didn’t turn out, I also bought a package of sushi from the store. The real stuff. I didn’t eat it, but the rest of the family did.

Grill King

Posted on September 3, 2014 by chatty

The crown goes to the husband. Evidence: This grilled corn-on-the-cob. We used to soak then foil wrap then grill. Nope. The correct way to do it, the way they must do it at those state fairs, is to peel and grill with the husks open. So good. A kid favorite.

I missed this, all those years we didn’t have a grill. Sigh.

Turkey Veggie Muffins

Posted on September 2, 2014 by chatty

Sometimes it takes forever to get around to doing something and when you finally get around to doing it, and it’s pretty successful you wonder, why the heck did I wait so long? Having a kid, for example. Who knew it’d be so awesome? And, in this case, turkey muffins.

Paleo peeps rave about this idea. It’s quick! It’s on-the-go! It’s blah-blah-blah. I told the husband this was my plan and he kind of gave that “um, okay” noncommital answer. Just in case I bought him a little container of chicken salad. Turns out he didn’t need it.

First of all, it IS easy to make. Cuisinart some veggies (in this case, red pepper, onion, zucchinni). Season the heck out of some turkey (Worcestershire, salt/pepper, TJ’s Everyday Seasoning, onion powder). Add some panko breadcrumbs. Combine it all and scoop into a muffin pan. Spoon barbecue or teriyaki sauce on top.

450 degrees + 20 minutes = 180 internal temp on a meat thermometer = DONE.

I based the recipe on this AllRecipes one. Keeper. You can paleo-ize it by skipping the breadcrumbs and replacing with something paleo-friendly (I dunno, maybe almond flour or an egg? I’m trying to shift my focus away from Paleo for a bit so why don’t you try it out and tell me how it goes)

Served with ripe avocado, cherry tomatoes from our garden and some sauteed green beans.

Some good healthy eats after a month of not-so-much.

Like that time I (finally) went to Kingfish

Posted on September 1, 2014 by chatty

When I first moved to Seattle (which, incidentally, was Labor Day Weekend 1997), my first apartment (once I was done sleeping on my brother’s couch) was in North Capital Hill, around 23rd & Aloha. I shared this apartment with Minnea, and I vaguely recall talking about this restaurant called The Kingfish Cafe, which was some popular soul food restaurant that was just amazing. At the time, it was also always crowded, and, you know, for a recent college grad, kind of pricey. So, yeah. Never got around to going.

Fast-forward 16 years and look at that, I finally made it out there. The packed crowds are a thing of the past (at least on the day we were there, which was on the early side, because that’s how I roll), but the creole food remains, now surrounded by a ton of new stores and condos. So it goes. Here’s some Kingfish Cafe goodness.

Welcome to Kingfish Cafe.

Frog legs. Taste like chicken.

Gumbo

Slice of crazy chocolate mint cake that was bigger than my head. The mint was the frosting. It was good, but seriously, too much. Even for me, a devoted lover of all things sweet.

Finally.

Chatty Cha

dessert first

Category Archives: dinner