Obscenely Good (Barefoot Contessa Roasted Chicken with Compound Butter)

Have you ever made something delicious, but almost felt embarrassed sharing it because it looked a little pornographic?  No?  Oh, ok then, I guess it is just me.  I made the most delicious roast chicken a while back, and the resulting picture looked a little like a chicken in a highly provocative "come hither" pose, but that could just have been my imagination.  You be the judge:

This chicken was stuffed with fresh herbs and slathered with a delicious compound butter.  The recipe (located HERE) was one I found on Pinterest (titled Ina Garten's Perfect Roast Chicken).  At the time I made this I didn't have any lemons, and if you know me you know that I avoid trips to the store at nearly all costs, so I used an orange I had on hand instead.  The flavor was just terrific, a little sweet but still citrusy, and it played very well alongside all the thyme and parsley.  I just wish that the final result didn't look so.... slutty.

My Triumphant Return to Swans Eat Everything (Vietnamese Breakfast Banh Mi)

It's been months... MONTHS... since I posted, and today I happen to be home with a sick little girl so I thought "What better time than now, on an unexpected day off, to write some blog posts about some of the lovely things I've eaten lately".  There hasn't been a huge amount of nothing going on in Casa de la Swan, just living the dream while getting ready for a summer of camping and fun.  We have a new tent (a Kelty Air Pitch) which I anticipate will make our camping experience 500% faster and less stressful *fingers crossed*  Our first trip happens to be Elora's last day of school, so we are going to hit the camping season hard and fast, with some good friends by our side.

So back to the food!  A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of hosting my good friend Matt for brunch, and since I knew he would appreciate something a little out of the ordinary so I decided to take a culinary trip to Vietnam.  Another good friend of mine (Adriennit, holla!) introduced me to banh mi sandwiches a couple years ago, and they are so fantastically good it's difficult to believe, but they do require a little work (and a good crusty baguette) so I don't make them very often.  But this is what a real banh mi should look like:

The breakfast banh mi is very similar, but with less pate and more eggs and bacon.  I used this Serious Eats recipe and used some jalapeno bacon we got out at Project Meats in Huntley Project, MT (buy local, folks).  I nixed extra jalapenos, as the bacon was spicy enough for all our palates.  The finished project looked like this little slice of fried gold:

We ate the shit out of this sandwich, it was very filling and exotic on a Sunday morning, especially with a spicy Absolut Peppar Bloody Mary as accompaniment.  If you are looking for something new to try I would definitely recommend doing some research into banh mi and trying one out for yourself.  Or just have Adrienne make you one!

Six Dinner Pile-Up (Freezer Cooking with LG)

No, LG does not refer to the cell phone manufacturer (who I guess makes other things, like washers and dryers and such).  LG is Laura G., one of a handful of lucky dames to have made it to my inner circle.  Please note: being a member of the inner circle guarantees that you will see me without a bra on, and I may or may not brush my teeth for the occasion.

Laura is one of several highly motivated friends of mine.  These are very important people in the delicate ecosystem that is my life.  I am plagued by laziness and procrastination, so it is a blessing to have folks that kick my ass into getting up and DOING (and sometimes just making decisions for me when there are too many choices for my indecisive little self to handle).

Laura suggested we craft over the weekend, but I ixnayed that suggestion in favor of freezer cooking, in hopes that having a freezer filled with healthy meals would make it easier to work out.  Lo and behold, I have worked out 4 days in a row, and tonight I was rewarded with a delicious meal that took me as much time to make as pulling it from the freezer, adding chicken stock, and setting my crock pot light timer before I went to work.  The recipe for tonight's dinner will be posted shortly.

We took a trip to Costco Saturday (awful), got a ton of ingredients (I summarized them below, some might be missing) and made a plan.  I knew I wanted to make My Favorite Lasagna, a variation of Slow Cooker Beef & Barley Stew using quinoa instead of barley, and Laura wanted Slow Cooker Chicken & Dumplings.  Along with these we decided on White Chicken Enchilada Slow Cooker Casserole, Slow Cooker Chicken Alfredo, and a variation of this Slow Cooker Chicken Tortellini Soup.  And to top it all off, we got 2 pot roasts and Laura transformed hers into a moist roast, while I decided to reserve mine for French dips in the near future.  We had a plan.  Now we had to get crackin'.  And crack we did.

I had several frozen chicken breasts, and Laura did as well, so the only chicken I purchased at Costco was thighs (which were called for in the enchilada casserole).  I also had a couple bags of mozzarella, so we split those.  The rest of the ingredients we got at Costco consisted of:

Potatoes

Carrots

Celery

Onions

Mushrooms

Shredded Parmesan cheese

Tortillas

Chicken thighs

2 chuck roasts

We also each made individual trips to Walmart, mostly for items we couldn't get at Costco or didn't remember to buy (like ricotta cheese).  A couple of the items we had to get outside of Costco were:

Fresh Italian parsley

Ricotta cheese

Cream of chicken soup

Cream cheese

Black olives

Spaghetti Sauce

Shredded Monterey Colby cheese

Lasagna noodles (oven ready)

And pantry items we already had:

Diced tomatoes

Frozen spinach 

DIY Bisquick (for the dumplings)

We spent about 4 hours prepping and bagging all of the meals, and ended up with the sight you see before you.  We had wine to celebrate, and went to sleep satisfied with the knowledge that our families would not go hungry for quite a while.

Up next: Slow Cooker Tortellini Soup!  Super delicious!

New Year, New Recipe (Not Yo Mama's Tuna Casserole)

Thursday night I came home from work with no dinner plans, but knew I had everything to make a tuna casserole.  But then I realized that I was looking at a can of sweet peas in the midst of my ingredients when I had some broccoli and cauliflower resting (nay, languishing) in the crisper and decided to get creative.

Not Yo Mama's Tuna Casserole
3 cups egg noodles, cooked in salted water and drained
3 cups steamed broccoli and cauliflower florets (I steamed in the microwave while the noodles cooked)
1 can tuna, preferably packed in olive oil
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 c sour cream
1/4 c white wine
1 small can evaporated milk
1 tbsp dried minced onion
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp celery salt
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1 cup shredded cheddar
crushed potato chips for topping

1. Combine noodles, veggies, and tuna in a large bowl.
2. Combine soup, sour cream, wine, milk, onion, salt, pepper, and celery salt and mix until creamy and blended.
3. Mix noodle mixture and cream mixture together until everything is coated.  Place in a greased baking dish and top with shredded cheeses and potato chips. Bake for 20-30 minutes, uncovered, until cheeses are melty and delicious.
Enjoy!

This is how little was left by the end of the pan.  And I ate that last bit, oh yes I did.  Should have saved it for leftovers but it was too good to resist.  The white wine really kicked up the cream mixture a notch, and I really loved that there were as many veggies as their were egg noodles.

The kids even ate theirs, which is always my barometer for how delicious a meal was.  Elora cleaned her plate, which is good because I don't know when she'll be eating again after losing both her front teeth in the last 7 days.

Ewwwww.  Still love her little face, just can't wait for the spaces to fill in with chompers :)

Back to the Grind (Eggnog Baked Pancakes)

So we are back in the non-holiday swing of things, and I am both saddened and thrilled that the holidays are over.  Sad because Christmas carols are no longer in season.  Thrilled because every other part of Christmas is no longer in season.  I'm not really one to make my resolutions public knowledge (because then I'm accountable to see them through), but if I did have resolutions I was willing to share at least one of them would include homemade breakfast for my kids all year long.

I've shared the baked pancakes recipe previously (see HERE for a gorgeous reminder).  If you haven't already tried it I strongly encourage that you do so.  They are so quick, so easy, and so delicious you will wonder why you haven't been making your pancakes like this for years.

The flavor combinations are endless.  I've been known to mix up two batches of batter at once and bake two pans in one day so I can freeze the extras and eat them all week long.  This weekend my batches were pumpkin chocolate chip (my kids are in love with this combo) and EGGNOG.  I needed to get that delicious elixir out of my fridge before it went bad, and this was just the ticket.

I used the standard Baked Pancake recipe from Six Sisters' Stuff and replaced the milk with eggnog and a little milk (I only had a little over a cup of nog, so the milk was just to measure it out to 1.5 cups the recipe calls for).  I also added a little cinnamon, and WOW.  These were divine.  As you can see in the picture they are cut into nice size rectangles, and I love that they puff up nice and thick, so it's like you've got a little stack of flapjacks to call your own.

Baked pancakes have really been the most versatile breakfast recipe I've found in a while.  It is such an easy recipe to follow (so much so I've pretty much got it memorized) and with the endless variations of delicious add-ins, plus the ability to freeze the leftovers to enjoy all week long.  If you haven't tried these out yet I STRONGLY urge you to do it today.

This post is in memory of a dear lady, Ms. Lisa Frank, who passed away peacefully on Monday night.  She loved the pumpkin baked pancake, which thrilled me to no end.  She was as funny as she was shy and kind, and my thoughts and prayers go out to her family and friends who are hurting right now.  Wish we would have had a chance to say goodbye, L2F, but in lieu of goodbye I'll just say "see ya later".  You will be missed.

Happy New Year!!! (Bahn Mi and Goop's Vietnamese Salad)

Happy first birthday to this crazy little blog!  I only had 16 posts in 2013, so my goal this year is to double that number by 12/31/14.  Technically two recipes in one post should count as 2 posts, but whatevs.  I have a 2nd and 3rd blog post for 2014 right up my little sleeve, don't you worry.

This year was a very low-key New Year's in our neck of the proverbial woods.  It feels like the older we get the more appealing it is to be in bed by 12:30 (if not earlier), which allows one to wake up early on New Years Day and plan a sumptuous early afternoon soiree.

Our New Years crew over the years has evolved, as well.  In our 20s the folks we hung out with were the folks we went to bars with.  We drank, we smoked, we puked, and usually we spent the night at a beautiful cabin on Rock Creek, just outside of Red Lodge.  There are probably pictures hidden on an external hard drive of our first New Years at the cabin, back in like 2001 or 2002, that include me wearing some type of pelt like a New York socialite whilst Thad played dj and had the whole place bumping to Tha Dogg Pound.  Aw, the good old days.

Now, in our 30s, we hang with a crowd that prefers to celebrate New Years on 1/1, rather than trying to make it to the ball dropping.  I've never been good with the pressure for holidays to be awesome, so I like to celebrate them a day or two late, then the pressure to perform is lowered considerably.

I made pho a couple years ago for NYE, and it turned out surprisingly good for my first attempt at a rather long and involved international recipe.  This year I decided to spare myself the hours of preparation making my own stock and go with another Vietnamese staple: bahn mi.  I was first introduced to this dish by a dear friend who made a wonderful home version for me on a trip back to my hometown.  Tis a glorious concoction of meat and mayo, cilantro and slaw, crunch and chew.

I decided to try the Bon Appetit variation of the sandwich using meatballs and, on the suggestion of the same dear friend I mentioned above, saved myself the trouble of rolling a crap load of meatballs by turning the meat mixture into an Asian inspired meatloaf.  Once cooked I laid slices of meat in the sandwich  and it was just as delicious, if not more so, than the balls.  I made two full sandwiches, one with ground turkey and one with ground pork... both were delicious.

Since I was buying a crap-load of fresh herbs for the sandwiches I decided to make a slightly bastardized version of Goop's Vietnamese salad (no watercress, no shallots, no fresh ginger.... replaced with green onions and a tiny amount of ground ginger).  Whoa nelly, the flavor explosion from all the fresh herbs in this dish was just dynamite.

All in all New Years Day was a rousing success.  We played some games, ate up all the food, had some uh-mazing desserts, and everyone was home by 6!  A perfect way to spend New Years Day!

Portland: The Almost-Forgotten Trip

Hello, my name is Mary Rose and I am a procrastinator.  The only reason that I am currently blogging is because I drank too much caffeine today and feel too stimulated to sleep.  I have failed to record an important moment in time this year and I would be remiss if I didn't get this rectified before 2013 draws to a close.

Thad and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary on 8/30/13, and in April I got us two tickets to Portland for a pretty good deal and told him we were visiting our friends Jen and Rick (who had both been present at our wedding, as we had been at theirs in Vegas years later).  I love Jen, and she just happens to live in a place that I would probably move to if I had any inclination to put my belongings into a box and move anywhere.  

Portland is such an amazing place, vibrant and diverse with a melting pot of cultures in plain sight to all who enter.  The food is amazing, the various things to see and do are staggering, and the idea of just running around town with no kids in tow was too appealing to pass up.  

This was the ADORABLE haircut I got prior to leaving for our trip

This is a big bowl of chicken pho (Vietnamese chicken noodle soup, and it is AMAZEBALLS)

Have you ever just needed a big plate of mint and Thai basil?  If so, Vietnamese is the way to go.

Strawberry mojito, courtesy of The Alibi

Dark & Stormy, courtesy of The Alibi

Good times and karaoke, courtesy of The Alibi

Check out the cool ceiling at.... The Alibi (it's a tiki room, and one of the coolest places in town)

I love this lampshade.  This is Jen's.  That is all.

The Flavourspot is one of the places I tell people about whenever I gush about my love for Portland.  That's smoked gouda, ham, and maple butter all up in that waffle.  I'm moaning while typing this.

Thad and I posing on the steps at Multnomah Falls.

The Multnomah Falls

Look at my hair!  This is one of the reasons I adore the humidity in Portand, instant finger waves!

This is a mossy tree.

Another pose from the happily married couple

After the falls we lunched at McMenamin's Edgefield, a sprawling local eatery/winery/distillery/brewery/concert venue/hotel with amazing artwork and the coolest gift shop I may have ever encountered.... this is the distillery

Thad, enjoying a $9 rum and Coke (the rum was made at the Edgefield distillery)

Edgefield blossom

This thing was as big as my head

This is just a door to an electrical room, but this is the type of artwork you find all over the grounds

Edgefield wines (we immediately had to take cover from the rain after this picture was taken)

I love this guy

Stopping for a slice downtown

Breakfast at the Mock Crest Tavern... I'm seriously in love with the local dive bar scene, they serve the best breakfasts I've ever wrapped my face around

The Baowry

Spy style

The sun was so bright

Pbbbbbbbbbbbt.

Baowry cocktails

Baowry Bahn-Mi

A variety of baozi

I have no idea where this bar was, but they had a variety of liqueurs infused with flavors (like anaheim chilis)

The Mac&Cheesery, this was Thad's "build your own mac" creation

Good old fashioned tuna casserole

I didn't take pictures in the Shanghai Tunnels, but we did take an underground tour that was pretty intense.  

Farewell Bloody Mary's at the Mousetrap (best bacon I've ever eaten in my life, at the diviest dive bar of them all)

Parting shot, right before I rubbed myself down with fresh rosemary from a bush and jumped on a plane

The optical illusion in the Portland airport

In summation, we had a really fun trip, got to do some fun things, eat some amazing food, and spend time with good friends....... until next time, Portland!