What I've been Cooking Lately...

It's a peculiar thing, cooking for another family daily. But it's all part of the job description. And although I was at first a little daunted by the task of cooking for a family that has not only travelled & lived all over the world, but has also grown up eating authentic indian cuisine, and one that frequents fine restaurants. AND on top of that, the mother of the family authors a food blog with her sister. A family that truly loves and appreciates good food...I realized that I can start with the basics and work up...and I slowly have built my confidence in the kitchen and have improved a lot!

When I began working for this family (a YEAR ago!), the mother would leave me recipes for the week and I would just cautiously follow them to a T. But shortly after she found that I was capable of not burning dinner or her home down, she gave me a little more free reign. The only stipulation being that the meals are healthy in nature. From then on out I have been able to decide on the recipes for each week and make a grocery list for the things I will need. What I love about this family is that there are no limits. They have this attitude that I can try whatever I please. "The kitchen is mine! (well, until 7pm)" I could write "live lobsters" down and they would deliver. So, needles too say, I have been able to make a lot of different dishes over the past year and really explore tastes, combinations and exotic flavors; a task I don't believe I would have been able to do with a budget like mine & stu's at the moment.

Every week I look through all kinds of sources for recipes. I seriously have hardly repeated a recipe (unless I get a large ovation from the family) over the past year. I enjoy the challenge of trying new things. I have taught myself, either by trial and error or through the aid of "youtube," many techniques including everything from how to cut a butternut squash to the best way to de-seed a pomegranate. The mother of the family has an entire library of cookbooks, from all kinds of cultures, so my menu usually ranges in nationality each week. I also use websites like pinterest, allrecipes.com, cooks.com and epicurious (app) a lot.

I also use a variety of meats, fruits and veggies. I use the standard rule of a protein, a vegetable and or fruit and a starch as the base for my menus. Their family is very health conscious for a number of reasons, so I hardly use red meat. I cook a lot with chicken breasts, ground turkey, pork and fish (all kinds). They make good money so they always buy the "fancy" organic chicken which I LOVE. It makes life easy, it's always very clean and I hardly even need to cut it up. One time I put "salmon fillets" on the grocery list, thinking they'd just buy like frozen fillets and I ended up having to skin fresh salmon from the butcher...an interesting experience.

I also put down on the grocery list what extra produce I will be needing. I say "extra" because this family is part of an organic produce delivery program. Once a week a company called "absolute organics" delivers a cooler full of fresh, organically-grown and might I add, gorgeous, produce. Right to their door. They leave a cooler out in the morning, and I bring in the filled cooler when I arrive in the afternoon. For around $30 a week they get a variety of fruits and veggies. All of it organic, all of it fresh, and all of it IN-SEASON. People forget that strawberries in December should not be available. Sometimes grocery stores carry things that have been chemically altered so that they may be sold out of season. Gross....So, I love this "absolute organics" company and want to belong to this kind of thing when we have kids. You get a lot for your money! For example, this past week (for ~$30) they delivered like 5 pears, 5 apples, a package of blueberries, 1 bunch of lettuce, 6 carrots, a head of cauliflower, a bunch of kale and 4 potatoes. Pretty good huh? And it changes weekly. I'm sold. And this has introduced lots of produce to me that I was not familiar with; like all kinds of chard and kale, acorn squash and delicious pluots (part plum part apricot).

Ok, so I've been rambling. I just have really grown to love my daily cooking life. And I just find food so interesting now. So, here are some recipes that I have cooked lately that I found especially delicious. And easy! I never make something that overwhelms me because I have a lot to do in a little amount of time at work.

1. Spanish Tilapia from food.com--I served this over orzo and sauteed up some lacinato kale in a bit of olive oil with minced garlic and salt and pepper. Simple, but yummy!

2. Glazed Chicken Drumsticks from cooks.com--I served this with brown rice and edamame. The family has lived in Singapore & Hong Kong, so they love asian food. They also have a lot of asian cookbooks and ingredients like rice vinegar and sesame oil. It opens a lot of doors...

3. "Mexican" Chicken--the kids really loved this one--I served it with spanish rice that I cooked from a box (it was a busier night) and added a little avocado and black olives to the chicken when I served it. I also used less cheddar than called for on the chicken (it doesn't need a whole lot--this dish has a lot of flavor).

4. I love quiche and it's way easy to make so I tried this quiche last week: Quiche Lorraine--although quiche is a little on the heavier side, this one uses milk rather than heavy cream so it helps a little. You could also use a whole-wheat pie shell. I added broccoli florets to this as well to get a green veggie in there. Bacon is a good fat according to Dr. Oz (haha) but I still tried to cut up the leanest parts of it when adding it. Also, I didn't serve anything in addition to the quiche because it is so filling by itself, although a salad might have been good. (The kids I nanny hate salad so I hardly ever make one.)

5. Baked Salmon. The kids I nanny LOVE salmon?? How random is that. So I made this the other night and sliced up some potatoes, drizzled them with a bit of olive oil and added salt and pepper. (I cook a lot of things this way--it's simple, quick and delicious. Asparagus with olive oil, s&p is the way to go!! Put it in the oven for a few minutes where it is still cripsy but has had time to soak up the flavor is the only way I eat asparagus anymore!) I cooked up some kind of vegetable, I can't remember what though...

Luckily they haven't demanded any indian food. Thank goodness...it always looks a bit complicated. Although I LOVE indian food and wish I knew how to make it. They probably wish I wasn't so white and could do them a favor and cook like they were at home...however, I did learn one trick from one of their indian mothers who came to stay. She told me that a simple base to many indian dishes is 4 ingredients: cumin, curry powder (either fish or meat curry powder), tumeric and ground fennel. I used these 4 one day and just rubbed some halibut fillets in the mixture and flash-fried them in some canola oil for a minute or so on each side and then baked them...they were SO SO good. This combination is AWESOME. Try it!!!

 I also cook a lot with teriyaki sauce. Either pre-made (light) in a bottle or I make my own with soy sauce, a little brown sugar & mirin (chinese cooking wine): easy and super yummy. I make lots of stir-fry dishes with chicken or shrimp, veggies, sometimes I add noodles. I love woks! I don't make a lot of pasta...if I do, I use whole-wheat. I wasn't the biggest whole-wheat pasta fan until recently. But if a recipe is done right, you can't really tell the difference. Spaghetti happens every now and again though because its so dang easy. I add lots of veggies to the sauce however. I love to use cauliflower. There are a lot of good recipes for it and it is a good replacement for a starch like potatoes.

So anyway, I just thought this would be an easy way to share some recipes and keep them for my own remembering. I enjoy cooking now although I don't feel much like cooking when I get home from work...haha! If you have any healthy and tasty recipes, please share! Email me: juliebriggs09@gmail.com or leave me a comment. Bon appetit!