One of those mornings where everything goes wrong, everything happens at once, and I was happy to get ANY lunch out the door, even one this ugly!
Ham and cheese flower sandwiches, babybel cheese, carrots, forelle pear, mini banana, raspberries, carrots and a small japanese pastry thingy from the asian market.
Time taken: 5 minutes
 Week 11 – Daisy Martinez
This week’s Food Network Chef Cooking Challenge features Daisy Martinez. Although fairly new to food network, she also has a PBS show, and her own website. Her own personal site had a lot more recipe choices than the Food Network listing. Still, I ended up choosing my recipe from a Food and Wine Magazine article. For some reason, several there spoke to me, which didn’t happen looking on food networks site.
I narrowed it down to Salmon Fillets with Leek Fondue (hubby would like this, but its not at all Latin, and since that is what she is known for, I really wanted something with those flavors), Peruvian Beef and Noodle Stew (I thought this sounded the best, but knew the boys wouldn’t like the big chunks of peppers and things, and the one I finally chose: Hearty Braised Chicken Legs. Â
I made a couple of small changes. First I used thighs only instead of whole leg quarters, because they were on sale and I’m not a big drumstick fan anyway. Second, I used sliced baby bella mushrooms because I just wrote “mushrooms” on my shopping list and didn’t realize that I needed them whole in order to quarter them. I don’t think either substitution made a substantial difference.
Miracle of Miracles, my camera actually functioned properly and I have pictures to go with my post this week!Â
Hearty Braised Chicken Legs
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Recipe by Daisy Martinez
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3 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 whole chicken legs, cut into thighs and drumsticks (2 pounds)
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
3/4 pound white mushrooms, quartered
3 garlic cloves
1 medium onion, quartered
1/2 cup cilantro leaves
1 cup tomato sauce
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This was more than 4 pounds of chicken, I only used half
In a very large skillet, heat the vegetable oil. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and add to the skillet, skin side down. Cook over high heat, turning once, until browned, about 8 minutes.
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Transfer the chicken to a plate and pour off all but 3 tablespoons of the fat. Add the mushrooms to the skillet and cook them over moderate heat, undisturbed, until they begin to brown on the bottom, about 2 minutes.
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Meanwhile, in a food processor, puree the garlic cloves with the onion and cilantro leaves. [I didn’t want to dirty the big food processor, and since DH does dishes and whines when I do anyway I just used the little magic bullet. For pureeing, it works fine]
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Add the garlic and onion puree to the mushrooms and cook over moderate heat until very fragrant, about 1 minute.
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Stir in the tomato sauce. Return the chicken legs to the skillet and bring to a simmer.
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Cover and simmer the sauce until the chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes.
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Season the braised chicken legs with salt and pepper, transfer them to plates and serve with the sauce.
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Serve with white rice.
I thought it was delicious. The sauce on the rice was so good! I would use it as pasta sauce, over grits, on any meat. YUM! I don’t think you could make it without the chicken though, as the rendered chicken skin fat is used to cook the mushrooms, and there is a subtle (but definitely there) meaty chicken flavor throughout the sauce.Â
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The kidlet is still refusing to eat meat of any kind, and didn’t want to brave the sauce on his rice. Picky DH wouldn’t admit that he liked it (he objects to new recipes by rote I think =p), but since he went back for seconds, I think even he found the flavor appealing. He didn’t use much sauce, but then he never does. He doesn’t dress salads or use gravies or anything.
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It took a little longer than 15 minutes t be cooked through (I use a meat thermometer to check for chicken doneness), but not ridiculously so, about 5 extra minutes is all. As you would expect, the chicken skin after braising is quite slimy and mushy and no longer crisp as it was after browning. I don’t like that texture so I removed it before eating, but I wouldn’t recommend cooking the recipe without the skin.
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All in all a very economical (especially if you find chicken on a good sale as I did) and very tasty.Â
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Be sure to check out the linky over at I Blame My Mother for more Daisy recipe reviews!
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The original plan today was a Sesame Street bento. As you probably know, today is the premiere of the new season, and they are celebrating thier 40th anniversay. I had grand plans for a turmeric colored quail egg bert, a cheddar cheese ernie, a babybel elmo, a grated cheese big bird and a street sign with a pretzel stick pole.
Alas, Baby L was not normal last night and took forever to fall asleep (after she projectile vomited at least twice the volume of formula she’d just taken, I swear!) and I was so tired when she finally did I just wanted to lay like a slug. This morning, she cried inconsolably for several hours. No time for elaborate bento prep at all!
Instead I made the next one on my plan for the week. The unit this week turned out to be “hibernation”, so I have a sleeping polar bear.
Sleeping polar bear (eggplant skin eyes and nose) and snowflakes from havarti cheese, snore Z’s from cheddar, sausages underneath. Organic blueberry mini waffles, grapes and raspberries.
Time taken: It was very quick. I cooked the waffles and sausage and left them to cool to try and quiet the baby. The bear is hand cut, and took only a few minutes. Oddly enough, the snow flakes took the longest. It was a total bear (pun intended!) to get them out of that tiny little cutter. In total I probably spent 15 minutes (not counting cooling time).
I asked what the new unit theme for this week was going to be when I picked him up on Thursday last week, but Kidlet’s teacher couldn’t remember off the top of her head. So, not unit themed yet, just a generic piggy bento for the day.
Quail eggs make an appearance. However, I didn’t want to decorate them or dye them or do anything funky until I am sure he realizes that these are just normal eggs, but smaller.Â
Ham and cheddar on a butter roll with cheese and ham accents, 2 quail eggs, lemon pepper, tiny forelle pear (halved and the core scooped out with a small melon baller), rapberries, peas and corn, carrots, daikon sprouts, a little round fruit bread thing (I don’t know what its called, the package is written in Japanese!) and a sickeningly sweet marzipan pig.
Time taken: 20 minutes. I didn’t make the marzipan pig, it was store bought.
I learned that I have almost no piggy bento items. A huge pile of animal picks, but no pig! No piggy soy sauce container, no piggy baran. What’s up with that!
He loves to make silly faces for the camera!
I don’t let her sleep on soft things like that when I’m not there. She just won’t nap on her back, at all!
I did not stick well to my plan last week. I ended up not getting my shopping all done for the things we needed. But on the plus side, I didn’t actually shop for anything that wasn’t on the plan either. We had pizza one night (mom was in town), and went out one night (had a birthday party to attend) and otherwise cooked from the pantry and freezer, so I can’t beat myself up. Too much.
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Monday:Â Â Â Shrimp with Remoulade, Pasta, Green Beans
Tuesday:Â Â Hearty Braised Chicken Legs from Daisy Martinez for the FNC Cooking Challenge, Rice, Broccoli
Wednesday: Soft Tacos (typical — flour tortilla, beef, lettuce, tomato, cheese, etc), Tortilla Chips, Lightened Up Guacamole
Thursday:  Roasted Salmon with Chili-Lime Sauce, Barley, Creamed Spinach
Friday:Â Â Butternut Squash, Sausage and Bow Ties, Green Salad, Fruit
Saturday: Dinner Out
Sunday:Â Spaghetti with Meatballs, Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Green Salad, Garlic Bread
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For breakfasts we always have oatmeal, cold cereal, scrambled eggs, toast, freezer muffins, yogurt, cottage cheese and fruits to choose from. Â I also keep us stocked with lunch meats, cheeses, fruits, veggies, etc for bentos. Â Â Â Even when not specifically listed, I usually have a mixed greens salad and fruit available for dinner.
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This post is linked to Menu Plan Monday at Organizing Junkie.  Check out the hundreds of other menus posted.
The morning “preschool” hours on Disney channel contain no normal commercials. They have ads for thier own shows, and small (usually educational) shorts to fill the space at the end of programs until the next hour. A few years ago, they aired a series called “This is Daniel Cook“. Daniel is a cute little red head that explores the world and has little mini adventures. He might be making paper one week, learning to fly an airplane the next, riding with police officers in the following, etc.
In one episode (“This is Daniel Cook Trying New Fruits”), we are introduced to the Dragon Fruit. After that, kidlet wanted to try it, but we could never find any. Until this week!
I didn’t realize that there were multiple varieties available. I thought that they all had white flesh with little back seeds, but apparently the fruit comes in 3 colors: 2 have pink skin, but with different colored flesh (one white, the other red), while another type is yellow with white flesh.
Ours happened to have flesh that is a lovely shade of pink.
I think it was a little overripe. It was juicier than I would have expected. There is no way it was grown around here, and I guess the fruits do not ship well or have a long shelf life. I don’t know if that affected the flavor, but for the most part, I found the flavor to be at odds with the exotic appearance of the fruit. I expected it to be a bold, bright flavor, which is not the case. It is sweet, with a very subdued flavor. It’s hard to describe — sorta like a cross between a kiwi and a pear, but more muted in flavor, like a melon. I do like the crunchy texture of the seeds with the flesh.
Kidlet and I liked it. I don’t think I would spend the money on it as a snacking fruit, but for a change of pace, a shot of color (or not?) in a bento box, I would buy them again if they show up at the market.
As I have mentioned before, finding quail eggs has been a perpetual thorn in my side. I have been to over a dozen stores, from local asian markets, gourmet groceries and “world foods” vendors to chain stores like Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and the like. Although I didn’t find quail eggs, I did go back a few times to Uwajimaya. They have a small bento box section, and while mostly they sell adult laquer type boxes, or belt-required two tier boxes (cute designs for kids, but 25$+ boxes, they aren’t cheap plastic), I occasionally have found some cute picks, small containers for dressings and dips and so on.Â
Wednesday I dropped by to see what they had (I graze the bento section, eggs, produce and a snack aisle – kidlet likes those little Hello Panda cookies). I had made a few good finds, and then at checkout I was asked if I had found everything, and I admitted I had hoped they had quail eggs. But we do! I was told.
See! Quail eggs! *happy dance* For some reason, instead of being kept with the rest of the eggs (and they have normal chicken eggs, fertilized ones, duck eggs, century eggs, and a couple other unusually colored eggs that i didn’t recognize, and couldn’t read the package), quail eggs at Uwajimaya are kept in the seafood department. Apparently quail eggs are used in sushi applications, so they keep them with the sushi grade fish.
Boggle. I never would have guessed that or checked there. I’m kinda afraid of buying seafood or meat there because I don’t know if they are inspected or whatnot. I know that’s probably just too paranoid, but I can’t help it!
So she called and had some brought up to the checkout for me. Happy Dance! Although now I have to figure out the perfect way to cook them. With chicken eggs I just cover them with water, bring to a boil, immediately remove from heat and allow them to stand in the hot water for 10 minutes. This produces fully hard boiled (no squishy yellow, yuk!), but not over boiled, no green ringed center, lovely eggs. I can only assume that quail eggs will cook faster. I suppose I will try 5 minutes to start.  Any quail egg users have tips for me?
I also found some small side car boxes that will be perfect for kidlet’s morning snack. I had wanted a few more containers for this (I really only had 2 the right size) but they are so overpriced online, and then when you add in shipping I would still be paying two to three times as much for ONE box as I paid for all three of these (4.50 total).
The last find was a dragonfruit. I’ve always wanted to try them. They looked a little bedraggled. I have no idea what is normal, should they be firm? Smell like something when ripe? I just picked one with smooth flesh that had a little give to it when pressed lightly with a finger and hoped for the best!
Elephants were requested by Kidlet today. The box is a new lock and lock that I picked up from Uwajimaya yesterday. I want to post about that trip, it was a good one! Probably tomorrow. There’s no school, so most likely no bento to post anyway.
PB and honey on whole wheat, a lunchmeat (hand cut) and cheese baby (cookie cutter) elephant, fresh mozzarella, broccoli, daikon sprouts, carrot (underneath), mandarain oranges in the foil cup (which has cute zoo animals on it, shame you can’t see them in the picture!), raspberries and dragonfruit. The little stars that the elephant is shooting out like water are those dissolvable puffs for an infants first finger foods by Gerber.Â
Dragonfruit are a first for us. Another find at the Asian market yesterday. I talked about it to the kidlet, so hopefully he will try it and not ignore it because it looks different!
 Time Taken: 25 minutes. I think I spent at least 5 of that staring at the dragonfruit and trying to figure out how to open it though 😉