Sweet Corn Chowder with Shrimp and Red Peppers

I love this soup. It's called Sweet Corn Chowder with Shrimp and Red Peppers. Tae ate two and a half bowls. Puddleglum ate two large bowlfulls. Jax ate maybe three or four bites (but he did eat all of this shrimp). Baby made a pretty good dent in his bowl. I had Puddleglum pick up some hot French bread again on his way home from the office. It's not the best French bread in the history of bakeries, but atleast it's fresh. Remember Tuesdays and Wednesdays are my days to stay home and Puddleglum's days to work. I work Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Here are the ingredients;

2 TBS olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 large potato, peeled and diced
1 whole bay leaf
1/2 tsp dried marjoram, crumbled
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
2 cups chicken stock or broth
1 can (17oz) cream style corn
1 can (17oz) sweet corn
2 cups milk
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 jar (7oz) roasted red peppers, thinly sliced
1 lb large shrimp, shelled and deveined
"Sweat" the onion in the olive oil. Add the potato, bay leaf, marjoram, nutmeg, and chicken stock and bring to a boil. Lower heat and cover. Keep at a gentle boil for ten minutes or until the pototo is just tender. Add all the corn, milk, and black pepper. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat then add the peppers and the shrimp. It takes maybe three minutes for the shrimp to cook. Be careful not to over cook the shrimp. Serve immediately. Puddleglum did pick up some O'Douls Amber which is surprisingly good for non-alcoholic beer, and it's only 90 calories! I can't get over that.

Skins or No?

When I was a kid I definitely didn't like pudding skins, so we'd put Saran Wrap on top after we poured it into cups. Now that I'm an adult, I like pudding skins. My boys are just happy to get pudding. They don't care either way. We happened to have some Pocky and some Korean cookies. Have you been to a Korean market lately? There are tons of cool cookies and candy. They have candy that looks like real rocks! Why is that cool? I don't know.

Spanish Rice

Tonight was the first time I made Spanish rice that turned out right. My childhood best friend was Yvette Fierro. We were stuck together like glue, and I spent camping trips and dinners with her. I have never been able to make Spanish rice or fideo or sopa like Mrs. Fierro or the other ladies who would bring food to parties and gatherings. I've tried the stuff in a box and the stuff in a can. Both are terrible. I've also tried recipes that turned out tasting okay, but didn't taste like what I remember as a child. This recipe on allrecipes.com was close. It wasn't too wet like some other recipes. The rice was fluffy. It was also one of the easiest recipes I've tried.

I also found this excellent recipe for enchilada sauce. I put a full 1 ounce block of semi-sweet chocolate in it, and it tasted like mole. It was spicy, but not too spicy for the boys. It calls for five full tablespoons of hot chili powder, and I have a huge bag of chili powder that a friend made and gave my mom. I did use Gebhardt refried beans from a can, but it tastes as good as homemade.

I used arm roast for the meat that I got from Alan at Pai Dom. We buy organic beef, chicken, lamb, and eggs from him. I marinated it in lime juice (from one lime), picante, a little soy sauce, a little olive oil, and a tiny bit of apple cider vinegar. It worked because I could pull the meat apart with my hands it was so tendy and juicy. I just roasted it in the oven on low. Baby ate a bunch of the meat before I began to make the enchiladas. He loved it. Tae ate everything but the beans (he's never liked beans). Jax ate more than he usually does. Baby loves beans and rice mixed together.

Foi Gras?

Puddleglum got sandwhich fixins last week, so we had some extra ham and baby swiss slices from the deli. So on one of my cooking nights (Tues, Wed, Sat, and Sun) I made chicken cordon bleau. We had one left, so for lunch today I thought I'd try our new Kitchenaid chopper (that we got free along with a hand blender when we bought our new fridge) and make chicken salad. In goes onion, carrot, celery, mayo, mustard, and the chicken cordon bleau. Not having any experience with this chopper thing, I just kept pulsing until all the chicken was chopped. What resulted was far from what I was imagining.

What resulted was like baby food. I told myself that it was like chicken pate, and since we had some baguettes, I presented it that way to Puddleglum. It's not really like pate. It's like something you would make for your great granpa because he refuses to wear his teeth. But, not liking the idea of that last chicken cordon bleau going to waste, I imagine that I am in France eating fancy duck liver pate.

So this is not deviled chicken and Welch's. It's foie gras and French champagne (in my imagination anyway).

Cool Cooking Site

You should check www.spise.no out. This Norwegian site has video of actual cooking set to jazzy music. The camera is on a closeup of the cooking the entire time. The measurements are metric, but you get the idea. You have to make a best guess at some of the ingredients, but most of them are obvious. Each recipe lasts for a minute or so, so you don't have to sit through a 30 minute show. If you have any cooking skills or experience at all, you could cook something from this site.

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Found 'im!

I know this image has probably been seen by thousands, but I've never seen it. I was looking for some ideas on Japanese Bento boxes, and I saw this.

Gingerbread CSI

Here are some ornaments I made for the boys;

At first when I look at this picture, I think,"ahh. How cute they look!" But then I look at it again, and I think, "it looks like a gingerbread crime scene."