Tag: family

My Old Kentucky Home

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Okay, so I’ve never actually had a home in Kentucky, but as a kid I was obsessed with all things Kentucky. I was convinced I was going to live there – on a horse farm of course – and I had plans to loyally attend the Derby every year. In fact as a kid, I was rather obsessed with the Derby too. I’d watch the race day coverage for hours and I’d make sure to get all the local newspapers from the weekend so that I could scrapbook the event.

Flash-forward 25 years and I’ve still yet to attend the actual Derby, and I have no desire to own or live on a horse farm, but the first Saturday of May still holds a special place in my heart – even if I don’t have time to sit down and watch the entire coverage. So you can imagine my smile when Mr. N picked Kentucky for our state night this week. Good timing. Now while I was tempted to make that bourbon sirloin steak again and call it a recipe from Kentucky, I didn’t think you all would buy it.

Instead we did some digging around for Derby Day recipes. That’s when we came across a recipe in Southern Living Magazine for Kentucky Hot Browns. We opted for the less caloric version and began by making the Parmesan cheese sauce. Ingredients include butter, flour, milk, Parm, salt, pepper and paprika. Feel free to add hot sauce if you like as well – we left it out for the kids’ sake. Continue reading →

Heating Things Up

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We’re back with our final recipe from Mozambique today. This one is brought to you by Mr. N. Aside from a little roasting and the skillet work toward the end of the recipe, he pretty much whipped up this meal on his own. It’s simple, it’s quick and oh yes, it’s very, very good. As we were reading about Mozambique foods and recipes we kept coming across dishes with a piri piri sauce. Piri piri is a type of African birds eye chili pepper commonly grown in Mozambique and it’s used as the basis of a spicy sauce for flavoring meats and seafood. I’m sure you can probably guess, we opted to go the seafood route and created our version of Piri Piri Shrimp adapted from an Aida Mollenkamp recipe on The Food Network.  Continue reading →

Ok! Ok! Ok!

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No, that’s not a rolling the eyes, placating “ok” which you might hear Mr. N mutter when it’s time for bed. Nope, that’s a cheer for Oklahoma! **Spoiler alert!** This is another good one from the Sooner State. To learn why Oklahoma is the Sooner State, check out this link from Sally, an OK resident over at the Bewitching Kitchen. See, don’t you feel smarter already?

So what could we possibly have found to top our Oklahoma Bourbon Steak Quesadillas with Peach Salsa? Well, the Made in Oklahoma site came through for us again, this time in the form of a bread pudding. A Citrus Raisin Bread Pudding to be exact. Continue reading →

The Sooner the Better

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It’s time once again to return to our state night adventures and while we thoroughly enjoyed our time with Hawaiian cuisine, it’s time to head back to the mainland. For these next few recipes, Mike is taking us to The Sooner State, Oklahoma. We’ve driven through Oklahoma a few times, including once during a terrible storm complete with tornado warnings. The wind was so intense that it was blowing the rain sideways and we had no choice but to stop and ride out the storm (I’ll have you know it’s taking all my will power not to include another 70’s song link here). Oh, and did I mention that we were in the process of moving across the country in a rental truck packed full of all our earthly possessions, our car hooked up to the back and our only cat riding shotgun? Talk about a hair-raising experience. Despite our brief and harrowing stay in Oklahoma, we have no memories of the food. In fact, I’m not sure we ever took the time to eat while we were there.

Fortunately we came across several websites in our search for Sooner cuisine, including the Made in Oklahoma Coalition which inspired this recipe for our Bourbon Steak Quesadillas with Peach Salsa. We started the recipe yesterday by preparing the peach salsa with peaches, a Serrano pepper, a tomato, a bit of red pepper and green onions. Continue reading →

Hakuna Matata

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Hakuna matata. There are no worries – especially with today’s dish from Mozambique. Seafood is predominant in this coastal nation which is fortunate since all four of us enjoy it. This time we selected a clam and peanut stew called Matata.

We started with our bag of unsalted and raw peanuts. The kids were both super excited – as in asking over and over if it was time to make dinner – to crack the peanut shells.

Now you might be wondering why cracking peanuts would garner such excitement, well it’s probably because I told the kids they could toss the shells on the floor like at the ballgame. Hakuna matata!  Continue reading →

It Ain’t Easy Being Green

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Well, here we go! It’s time for our next international adventure. This time we’re heading back to Africa for a culinary visit with Mozambique. Mozambique is in southeast Africa and borders the Indian ocean. Now what I was surprised to learn is that the official language of Mozambique is actually Portuguese; and like the language, the food is infused with Portuguese influence.

For our first recipe, we went with one that had a high chance of success around here – Shrimp Mozambique. Not only did it promise to be simple, but we’re all big shrimp fans. We started today’s recipe by melting some butter in a large skillet and then tossing in some diced shallots. Continue reading →