cilantro lime rice

this rice has been sitting in the back of my mind, waiting for the perfect use, ever since i saw it a couple weeks ago. i know, i know, it's a replica of the rice used at some chain burrito restaurants. but i don't really care about that. let's be honest; cilantro and lime juice in a spicy burrito sounds like the perfect contrast.

it wasn't until this week when i was finally able to try it out as filling for vegetarian burritos (more on that later). it was a breeze to put together - make some rice, mix in some cilantrol & lime juice, eat. the recipe is really just a guideline for how much cilantro and lime juice should be added so feel free to play around with it and add more or less to your liking.

cilantro lime rice
get the recipe at annie's eats

pico de gallo

easiest side dish ever.

great in tacos. or on a chip.

even better on top of a soft boiled egg.

that's all i have to say about it.

pico de gallo
adapted from martha stewart
10 minutes prep, makes ~2 1/2 cups

4 roma tomatoes, deseeded, and chopped
1/2 small onion, chopped
~1/4 cup chopped cilantro
juice of one lime
~1 teaspoon kosher salt
for more spice, add 1 seeded, diced jalapeno

mix well. let sit about an hour before serving to let the flavors meld.

banana bars

whenever i have an extra banana lying around, i put it in the freezer for baking. sounds like a good plan, right, since it always seems like whenever i actually want a brown, mushy banana, i don't have any on hand.

except that right now, i have six - yes, six - bananas in my freezer. which is better than the nine i had last week.

when i overheard someone ask "where's those banana bars?" when we were camping last week, i tucked away the thought of aunt judy's banana bars and made a mental post it note to go through my recipes and make it when i got home.

only i couldn't find it.

anywhere.

not in my binder with all the others passed via email or hand written note.

not stuck in a cookbook as a bookmark.

not stuck in a pile with recipes i pulled out of magazines.

no where. i don't have it.

after sulking for a good five minutes, i went through every cookbook i have. not a single one had a recipe for banana bars. i hadn't realized what an exotic food they are. strike two.

strike three. i did a quick search on some of my favorite food blogs. nope. nada. nothing. doesn't anyone else eat these things?!?

i turned to my last resort: google. almost strike four. i wanted something that replicated aunt judy's recipe. no nuts. no sour cream. no butter. especially no shortening.

i had just about given up, until one last final thought crossed my mind: good old betty crocker. and she pulled through.



and let me tell you, they're as close to aunt judy's as i remember them to be.

banana bars with cream cheese frosting
adapted from betty crocker
10 min prep, 30 min cook time, makes 24 bars

1 cup mashed bananas (it was three for me)
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon

pinch of salt

1. heat oven to 350 and grease a 9" x 13" pan.
2. in a large bowl, mash the bananas and mix in the sugar, oil, and eggs.
3. stir in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
4. pour into the pan and bake, uncovered, about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
5. while the bars are cooking/cooling, make the frosting.

3 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup butter
splash of vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar

1. if the cream cheese and butter aren't soft (straight out of the refrigerator), microwave a few seconds at a time until soft.
2. mix in the vanilla. mix in the powdered sugar, half a cup at a time, until the desired consistency.
3. spread on the bars when cool.

2012.04.09 this was bluebonnets & brownies' pick for the secret recipe club!

2015.02.01 this was my hobbie lobbie's pick for the secret recipe club!

pork with pineapple salsa (and garden update)

before i get to today's dinner, i have tomatoes!

after last year's tomato fiasco (something, i suspect deer, ate my tomato plants down to nothing) it looks like i'm going to have some this year!

and leeks. this year's carrots look way better than last year's.



as long as i can keep the rabbits away, i'll have romaine in a couple weeks too.

i've also got peas, green beans, mesclun mix, potatoes, red onions, green onions, zucchini, and pumpkin working along nicely.

anyway, back to the pork.

i haven't been able to get a good red onion at the store for weeks. they're all mushy, dented, or have rotten spots in them. i don't know what the deal is, but it isn't good none the less. while this definitely would have been better with a red onion (and looked better in the photo), my vidalia worked fine.

here's a trick for those of you who don't want to fire up the grill, don't have a grill pan, or don't want to substitute a saute pan. use a george foreman grill. everyone i knew in college had one, so i'm sure many of you have one lying around too. i have an older model of this one, that's perfectly sized (big enough to cook 4 burgers at a time on it). my onion ended up in six slices, which i cooked first for four minutes. took it off and added the pineapple for four. took those off and cooked the pork for three, and cut up the onion and pineapple while the pork was cooking. it worked perfectly and was faster than heating up a saute pan.

and i bet this would be perfect with grilled apples and onions instead of pineapple. peel and slice the apple into rings, grill, and cut into bite size pieces, just like the pineapple.

pork chops with pineapple salsa
adapted from cooking light, march 2010
30 minutes start to finish (includes breaking down the pineapple), serves 2

4 thin cut pork chops
1/4 pineapple, cut into 1/2" thick rings
1 small red onion (or white onion if you can't find red), sliced into 1/2" thick rings
the juice of one lime
salt & pepper
non stick spray

1. in a bowl, add ~1 tablespoon of lime juice and the pork. let marinate while you cut up the pineapple and onions. don't worry about coring the pineapple slices when you cut them. it's much easier to remove them once they're cooked.
2. heat a grill pan over medium high heat (or see my foreman grill method above). grill the onion and pineapple about 4 minutes per side. remove from heat and when cool enough to handle, cut into bite size pieces. and place in a bowl. add the remaining lime juice and toss with the onion and pineapple.
3. cook the pork about 3 minutes per side.
4. serve pork with pineapple onion salsa.
   

food always tastes better outside

growing up, we spent a lot of time camping in the adirondacks. fish creek. rollins pond. golden beach. long lake. blue mountain. old forge. eighth lake. it's funny how i can picture every place in my head, yet if i had to tell you where they are on a map, i couldn't do it.

as a kid, i knew that you saw eighth lake out the right side of the car before you got to it. i knew water safari was on the main drag in old forge and that the adirondack museum is in blue mountain lake. but no idea what route the main drag is or what direction blue mountain lake is from eighth lake.

so last weekend we spent a long weekend camping at fish creek.

we drove up to lake placid and spent an afternoon walking around mirror lake soaking in the sunshine and lunch at the cottage.

on the way back to the campground, we took a couple detours. there were flowers...



and views of the olympic ski jump and bobsled tracks, and the mountains, of course.



and then there's the food.

steaks the size of my head.



last night's salt potatoes turned into this morning's breakfast potatoes.

sausages and pancakes to fuel a day of reading, canoeing, scrounging for fire wood, and catching up with family.

does everyone eat like this when they're camping!?

i don't know about you, but something magical happens to food when it's cooked and eaten outside. especially over an open fire. and it's best when served on a stick, and after a beer or two.



and now, after driving home via route 28, i realized how close everything is to each other.

and most importantly, the view of eighth lake is exactly how i remember it.