The Van Diaries: 08.2009

Per request, some of my recipes.

Grilled Chicken Pasta Salad (for Kattie)

1/2 lb pasta (I use fusili)
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tablespoons McCormick grill seasoning (such as Montreal Steak Seasoning)
2 teaspoons hot sauce
3 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
5 tablespoons red wine vinegar (or any vinegar)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1large onions (sliced 1in thick)
6 chicken breasts (thin cut cutlets, or whatever chicken meat you prefer)
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/4 cup romano cheese, grated (or parmigan if you prefer)
1 Small bag arugula (washed and coarsely chopped)
1/4 cp fresh parsley, chopped
2 cups fresh basil (about 20 leaves, coarsely chopped)
3 celery ribs, thinly sliced
1 fresh mozzarella ball
1 pint grape tomatoes (left whole if small, cut in halves or quarters if larger)
salt (to taste)
pepper (to taste)

Marinate the onions and meat. In a small bowl mix the garlic, grill seasoning, worcestershire, and 2tbsp vinegar. Whisk in 1/4 cup EV olive oil and then divide the mixture between 2 shallow bowls. Marinate the onions in one and chicken in the other.

Wash & chop your vegetables, herbs, and mozzarella.

Cook the pasta but make sure to have the next step done before its finished.

In a large bowl combine the mustard and 3 tbsp vinegar with a little salt & pepper. Whisk in remaining 1/3 cup EV olive oil slowly. Add the grated romano cheese. Drain the cooked pasta when its done and add it directly to the large bowl to coat with the dressing and melt the romano.

Grill the onion and chicken on a grill or on the stove. After cooked let them cool on a cutting board for 5. Coarsely chop the onions and chicken. Add them to the dressed pasta. Add the arugula, basil, parsley, celery, mozzarella, and grape tomatoes. Season with a little salt & pepper if desired.

From Rachael Ray
Express Lane Meals

Quinoa Salad (for Kerri)
Kerri, I do not have a cous cous recipe that is particularly inspiring, but this is a great little summer salad that you can make for snacking on mid-day or as a great cool side for an entree. This was in serious rotation for me summer '07.

1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup sesame oil
3 scallions, white bulb and a few inches of the green
1/2 cup unsalted roasted peanuts (buy roasted or roast on broil for a few)
1/2 cup canned mandarin orange sections, drained
2 tbsp fresh chopped mint
2 tsp grated orange zest

Chop your scallions and mint and zest that orange.

Combine the quinoa and water in a large saucepan and bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 mins. Then add raisins and continue cooking until all liquid is absorbed ~5 mins. Remove the pan from heat and spread mixture out on a baking sheet to ch-chill yo. Cool all the way.

In a large bowl combine the quinoa and raisins with scallions, peanuts, mandarins, mint, zest, and sesame oil. Toss & serve.

from Julee Rosso & Sheila Lukins
The New Basics Cookbook
(Love this cookbook)

I did not reckon the Burton sale to be anything in magnitude to the scale I witnessed upon arrival with Ivy today. Naively, I believed that the sale would take place in the factory retail store and would require no crowd corralling, no free distribution of water to fight dehydration amongst customers in queue, no offsight parking. How wrong I was.

Prior to arrival at the store, Ivy and I got a little creative ourselves, with some help from Emma. Elizabeth sent us a Sunlight Print Kit to learn some of the basics of photography. Here's what we turned out with a little help from nature, the sun, water, and lemon juice.