Spinach and goat cheese stuffed chicken breast

Inspired by the Lazy Baked Greek Chicken at Not Rachael Ray

Preheat oven to 425.

Saute in olive oil:
1/3 large onion, small dice
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 red bell pepper, small dice
1/4 t. red pepper flakes
(should be about twice as much onion as pepper or more)

Mix sauteed onions/peppers/garlic with
1 10-oz package frozen spinach
2 oz goat cheese, crumbled

Butterfly 3 chicken breasts (about 2 lbs).

Drain a can of fire roasted tomatoes and pour 2/3 of the can in a 9x9 pan. Salt and pepper tomatoes.
Stuff the chicken with the spinach and cheese mixture and lay in the baking dish. Pour remaining tomatoes around edges of chicken. Liberally salt and pepper chicken.

Bake for 40 min at 425. Sprinkle with parmesan when it comes out of the oven.

Delicious roast beast and gravy

Rob bought a 2 lb beef chuck roast labeled "mock tender roast." I put it in the crock pot with most of a Bud heavy. I covered the roast with Montreal steak seasoning and a crumbled Telma vegetable bouillon cube. The roast cooked for a good 7 hours - probably 2 hours on high and the remainder on low. After we scooped the roast out of the crockpot, I made gravy. First, I made a roux with 2 Tbsp butter and 2 soup spoons of flour (about 2 Tbsp) and cooked it until it was light brown. We poured in the beef drippings (and what little fat there was), about 2 cups worth, and cooked about 10 minutes until the gravy coated the back of the spoon (a la nappe).

Note: If we want enough leftovers for sandwiches, we need more than a 2 lb roast! There's less than 1/3 of the roast left!

Dublin Dash

Though it's not much to brag about, my 5K PR is 31:44! Not bad for my first 5K!

Hiking and skiing bentos

Where does time go? Honestly. I'm not sure how the month of January has escaped so quickly. I guess research and writing will do that. With only one class this semester, I don't have much of a schedule to keep up with. I almost never need to pack a lunch or a snack, because I'm never at school long enough to warrant it. There were a couple of days when Rob and I were getting a lot done and we ended up ordering food to campus, but for the most part, we've been eating at home.

I have done a few fun things this month, besides research. Last weekend, after lamenting to my physics friends that my girlfriends were too busy to do something, I ended up going skiing with K- and hiking with J-! Skiing happened purely by accident. I ran into K- at the coffee shop on Friday night when Rob, Mark and I were doing physics in public (PhIP). She said she was going skiing with the kids tomorrow, but wouldn't have anybody to ski with. I've skied all of once, but decided to go along anyway! It was a blast! I was super tired by the end of the day, both physically and mentally, but it was worth it. My awesome bento lunch kept me full too. (More about the food in a minute...)

The next day, J- and I decided to try and hike Harney Peak in the snow. I've never hiked Harney when there was snow on the ground. After spending an entire day in the Northern Hills playing in snow, I was convinced that we would have to snowshoe the entire thing and it would be too snowy to get very far. As it turns out, the Northern Hills and the South-Central Hills get VERY different amounts of snow fall. We had WAY more gear than we ever needed. Seriously, I think we had enough stuff that we could have slept overnight and still been okay. Maybe a little cold, but probably no worse for wear! We made it about two miles (on the three mile trail) before deciding to turn around.

So, what did I pack for these outdoor excursions? Tomato soup and sandwiches. I know, it's not the best "bento" food, but it was still a delicious packed lunch! I made two sandwiches on hearty wheat bread: turkey with mustard and pepperjack, and hard salami with mayo, mustard and pepperjack. Both sandwiches stacked nicely in my EcoLunchbox container, and I had just enough room to tuck a square of Ghirardelli chocolate along the edge. I bought a 10-ounce Thermos which held the perfect amount of tomato soup for both dunking and drinking. I didn't finish the tomato soup either day because I packed way more food than I can usually eat in a sitting. But I figured, in the cold, extra food is better than not enough food!

I was impressed with the new little Thermos. I pre-warmed it with hot water while I was making the soup. The soup was heated much hotter than I would ever consider eating it off the stove, but by the time I got to it 4 or 5 hours later, it was the perfect temperature! With such a tiny Thermos, I was afraid it would be cold or worse, leak. At the end of the day, my soup was nice and hot, and my bag stayed dry. Yay!

Crockpot Wheat Berries and breakfast

Rapid City was predicted to be in a huge snowpocalypse (to steal a phrase from BoB). During a blizzard, I always feel compelled to bake and cook comforting meals that are best eaten with a cup of coffee or cocoa while watching the snow blow out the window. Rob went out yesterday morning to get groceries and stocked up on great ideas for supper: pot roast with potatoes and carrots, goulash, and ham and scalloped potatoes. He even got us jalapeno-cheddar cream cheese from B&L Bagels, so we can have delicious grilled ham and cheese sandwiches with soup ... but what about breakfast? Nothing tastes better on a wintery morning than oatmeal. It's thick, warm and filling, and delicious with a whole bunch of "additives" like dried fruit, nuts, milk, etc. The only problem is that we had maybe 1/4 c. of steel cut oats left. Crud. I rummaged through the cupboards looking for a good alternative. What about wheat berries?

I vaguely remembered seeing a breakfast wheat berry recipe on one of the many blogs I read. After a few minutes of searching, I found the one I was thinking of, from 101cookbooks: Wheat Berry Breakfast Bowl Recipe. I didn't have all of the ingredients she calls for, but I can certainly improv if I have a good starting idea!

Crockpot Wheat Berries

2 c. wheat berries
6 c. of water

Combine in a 3 quart crockpot. Cook on low for about 7-8 hours.

Although I don't know for certain, I suspect that the wheat berries should be thoroughly rinsed before cooking to remove residual starch (much like you do for sushi rice). The wheat berries were cooked after 7 hours, but they were "gummy" and had a lot of residual starch in the pot. Before making the rest of breakfast, I rinsed the starch off about 1 cup of the wheat.

Wheat Berries with cooked apples, cranberries and pecans
A modification of Heidi's recipe at 101 Cookbooks.


1 cup cooked wheat berries
1 apple, granny smith, cut in 1/8" slices
1 Tbsp. butter
1 1/2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 c. cranberries
1/4 c. orange juice
1/2 c. pecans

Pour the orange juice over the cranberries and let them soak while you are preparing the rest of the ingredients. Toast the pecans by placing them in a non-stick skillet over medium heat and tossing periodically until they are fragrant. Meanwhile, slice the apple. When the pecans are done, chop them and mix with the wheat berries. Wipe out the skillet and add the butter. Toss apples with brown sugar and cinnamon in the melted butter. Cook over medium heat, stirring periodically so the sugar doesn't burn. When the apples are tender, mix with the wheat berries. Wipe out the skillet and cook the cranberries and OJ, just until the OJ reduces slightly and the cranberries are warm. Drain the remaining OJ and all ingredients together. Divide between two bowls. Enjoy!

Breakfast was delicious, but I cooked WAY too many wheat berries. My next task is to find a wheat berry salad recipe!

Cranberry-Apple Preserves

I made my second batch of preserves last night - all by myself! That is, I didn't have to ask Mom to stay up way too late to teach me how to can orange marmalade. =)

My inaugural batch was cranberry-apple preserves from the Ball Blue Book. The Blue Book doesn't have the same robust directions that Alton Brown provides, but this recipe was fairly straightforward. A couple of notes: Be sure to chop the apples to a small dice, or about 1/3-inch cubes; otherwise, they take a long time to break down. I peeled the orange and chopped the segments; I did not bother to cut supremes.

Cranberry-Apple Preserves
Ball Blue Book, pg 39

Yield: 9 half-pints (and some change)

2 pounds cranberries
3 green apples, cored, peeled, chopped
1 orange, seeded and chopped
3 cups sugar
2 cups water
1/2 cup honey

Combine all ingredients into a large saucepot. Bring slowly to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Boil gently almost to gelling point. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary. Ladle hot preserves into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Adjust two-piece caps. Process in boiling water canner 15 minutes.

It tasted like a richer, sweeter version of the cooked cranberries we always have at Thanksgiving and Christmas. I love cranberry sauce anyway, but these sweet preserves were an even better way to keep the Christmas-sy feeling all year.

This was a great recipe. Delicious on an English muffin!

Orange Marmalade

On Wednesday, I made two batches of orange marmalade to give away as Christmas gifts. Mom helped me to keep the "candy" from burning all over the stove and to make sure I canned it all correctly. We started with Alton Brown's recipe, but lacking a good scale and a lemon zester, we had to make a couple of changes.

Orange Marmalade
by Alton Brown, tweaked by Erin Handberg

1 3/4 lbs oranges, 3 large or 4-5 medium
1 lemon
6 c. water
3 lbs + 12 oz sugar

10 (8 oz) canning jars with lids and rings
Canner
8 quart stainless steel pot

Wash the oranges and lemon thoroughly. (I used warm soapy water and scrubbed them with a vegetable brush.) Cut the oranges and lemon with a mandolin, removing seeds as you go. Stack the slices and cut into quarters (I preferred pieces smaller than quarters.) Place the oranges and lemons into an 8-quart stainless steel pot. Set over high heat and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to maintain a rapid simmer and cook, stirring frequently, for 40 minutes or until the fruit is very soft.

Sterilize the jars and rings, canning funnel, ladle and tongs using a boiling water bath or the hot cycle on the dishwasher. Use a small saucepan for sterilizing the lids - they cannot be boiled as long as the other tools or they won't seal.

Place two small plates in the freezer. Increase the heat under the orange mixture until it returns to a full boil. Add the sugar and stir the mixture continually until it reaches 222 F or 223 F on a candy thermometer, and darkens in color, approximately 15 to 20 minutes. You may need to adjust the heat in order to prevent boil over. (This is important - especially if you're using a glass cooktop!) Test the readiness of the marmalade by placing a teaspoon of the mixture on to the chilled plate and allowing it to sit for 30 seconds. Tilt the plate. The mixture should be a soft gel that moves slightly. If the mixture is thin and runs easily, it is not ready. (We ended up heating until about 225 F before the marmalade set on the plate correctly.)

Once marmalade is ready, remove from heat and place next to filling station. Place a canning funnel onto a hot, sterilized jar. Fill with marmalade to just below the threads on the jar (or leave about 1/4" headspace). Repeat until all mixture has been used. Wipe the rims and threads of the jars with a moist towel and top each with a lid. Place a ring on each jar and tighten thoroughly.

Process jars for 10 minutes in a water bath canner.

Our first batch yielded 9 jars and the last batch was an even 10. We got 19 jars of preserves in about 4 hours... not bad for an evening's work!