air bubble blog

because i live for the bubbles.

Monday, June 30, 2008


last thursday's dinner menu was garlicky grilled chicken, portobello, and radicchio salad. it's basically just brushing with a marinade and grilling all of those three ingredients, and tossing them together with some watercress. the grilled chicken was my favorite part, had a nice taste to it. then the portobello. the radicchio was okay too but it was my first time having it and i think having it grilled may have to be an acquired taste. the watercress, on the other hand, was not the tastiest. i'm not sure if that's just the strange taste watercress always has to it, or if we had bought it a few too many days in advance. it also had a lot of stems, which tended to interfere. so while i probably wouldn't make the recipe again, i would make simply the chicken and/or portobello portion of it, and add another side.

friday i ventured to make the
peachtree pork salad again. it was still different from the original recipe because, if you r
ecall, i had already made the vinaigrette with raspberry jam. all in all, it was a pretty easy recipe and tasted good. i liked the raspberries the best, they were so sweet! katie, who was in town for the weekend, wanted to know what kind of chicken was in the salad.

saturday i successfully made my first batch of gnocchi. they were actually really easy to make. i made
lemon gnocchi, using potatoes and GF flour. dough doesn't always hold up with GF flour as well as with regular flour, but thi
s came together very nicely. probably because of the potatoes. fresh lemon zest and juice made it smell wondrous while cooking and eating them. the sauce was tasty too, but quite rich; it was basically butter thinned with chicken broth and lemon juice. i served the gnocchi with some fresh oven-roasted green beans. i tossed the beans with chopped fresh basil and rosemary and olive oil. after roasting, i tossed with a little of reduced balsamic. finally, i made cranberry walnut bread, and it tastes really good! it holds together very well, especially for being gluten-free. i'm starting to believe that you can make anything gluten-free and have it turn out just as nice. it's just all about experimenting with and learning about the different substitutions for flour and in what proportions to use them in. it's quite fun, i must admit!

sunday i decided to whip up a loaf of multigrain bread in the breadmaker since we were out of sandwich bread. besides, homemade bread always beats out everything else. for dinner we had a late father's day dinner. guava ribs (from jen and bryan's cuban cookbook) were the main character, where were delish. the barbecue sauce is supposed to contain guava paste, but the mexican market was all out! so jen picked up a jar of guava jelly from the grocery store, and i just simmered the sauce for as long as i could, which helped thicken up the sauce.
i also reduced the vinegar to cut down on liquid content. coconut rice with black beans and fried plantains were the supporting actors, and let me tell you, they did a good job. i love coconut rice, and black beans too. oh and plantains haha. basically i just love cuban food, okay? for dessert jen made an assortment of empanadas. mango, chocolate, and guava (and cream cheese of course). and some a combination of two. seeing a guava empanadas require guava paste (and recall there was none to be found), bryan suggested buying guava nectar and reducing it. well, it turned out just like guava paste! the 33-ounce box of nectar didn't turned out much paste at all, but hey, that's what happens when you reduce something. so nice job, team, we made it work!

i work these next two nights, but wednesday for dinner i am planning on chilled tomato-tarragon soup with croutons. i can't decide if i actually want to serve it chilled or warm. the croutons are actually slices of baguette, and i will be making a GF one. the recipe i have calls for a few flours that i don't have and pick n' save doesn't either, so i will either make substitutions or try to find them at a specialty store.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

don't let the jam bugs bite


so monday for dinner we had cashew chard "burritos," but i used napa cabbage instead of swiss chard, so really, they were cashew napa "burritos." lentils, tofu, carrot, and cashews, with some good seasoning--cumin and others. that dish has such a great flavor. mom and i liked it, but it wasn't dad's type of dish.

today for dinner i was supposed to make peachtree pork salad, but when i opened up the jar of peach preserves, there was a little brown bug in it! and mind you, that was a brand new jar that had never been opened. as i looked closer, i noticed that mr. bug was on his back, with little legs moving! how it survived living in a sealed jar, who knows?! all i know was that it was very gross. so then i found a jar of raspberry preserves from the farmer's market. since there were already raspberries in the salad, i figured i could substitute these preserves into the marinade. so, i make the marinade. then i go to get the other salad ingredients, and the raspberries were moldy! we had just got them a few days ago. as mom said, this salad was just not meant to be. so, after me not being able to decide what to have for dinner, mom and i ended up at panera, which was pretty tasty.

right now i'm baking GF banana bread with pecans. tomorrow for dinner i plan on making garlicky grilled chicken, portobello, and radicchio salad. let's hope
that doesn't end up failing too!

Monday, June 23, 2008

let's get real here, does the food ever suck?

so! i think saturday was nice weather, so we grilled out. jen and bryan came over, and figured they'd bring the baby as well. mom made chicken thighs with some sort of hickory-smoked barbecue sauce. we also grilled zucchini and pineapple, and i made grilled sweet potato and scallion salad. it has a balsamic-type vinaigrette with grilled sweet potatoes and scallions. it was tasty! for dessert mom made strawberry shortcake with whipped cream. i didn't have any, but it looked as thought it turned out pretty good.




sunday for dinner i made korean bulgogi over jasmine rice. not only did it taste awesome, but it sure did make the house smell great! the dish is basically a thinly sliced beef in a marinade of honey, chili sauce, soy sauce, garlic, and ginger. it's then stir-fried and you add bean sprouts and onions to the stir-fry. mmm! i also made a salad with fresh greens from the peters garden, fresh sweet peas, radishes, and scallions from ours, and alfalfa and tomatoes.






today mom and i are babysitting oliver. he took a great 2-1/2 hour nap this morning, and then we just got back from a w
alk to the park. we put him in the baby swing and he wasn't sure if he was scared or if he liked it. i guess the swing is like twice his height off the ground. i'd be scared too!







what's cooking
tonight: cashew chard "burritos." gotta love tofu and cashews all in one!

Thursday, June 19, 2008


wow, it's been ten days since my last post! well, i've been busy. and plus, mom and dad left for vacation starting on tuesday, so i didn't cook anything of note for a few days. but! it all started back up again when david came to visit on thursday night. for dinner i made an awesome pizza with sweet italian sausage, roma tomatoes, marinated artichokes, sauteed red onions, provolone, and a red sauce. i ventured to create a new red sauce (i always use the same one). i sauteed red onion, garlic, and garlic chives, then added a bit of white wine; i added canned whole tomatoes and simmered that for a while. then i pureed it and returned it to the pan, seasoning it as necessary (i think i added sugar, pepper, some more white wine). it was a really tasty and flavorful, yet lighter than my normal, sauce! definitely a keeper.

friday for breakfast we made
crispy waffles with salted caramel coulis.
oh-my-gosh were they good! and i have to credit jen with the coulis, as she did most of the work (she and bryan surprised stopped by). however, the coulis does get a little rich after a while. we then went to eh mall, and came back for lunch--thursday's leftover pizza. after lunch we went to the art museum, then to alterra on the lake--had to show him my favorite coffee shop. :) we then drove along lake drive so david could see the cool, fancy, old houses. he was totally impressed with them. then, we drove around milwaukee so he could see what it's like. we started searching for a place for dinner and decided on rock bottom brewery. it was a beautiful night out and we got to sit out on the patio, next to the river. for an appetizer we had the asiago cheese dip with with homemade beer bread. *so* good! i had the tuscan smoked chicken salad (chicken, red peppers, carrots, granny smith apples, and candied walnuts on a bed of green); he had the grilled mahi-mahi but wasn't real impressed with it.

saturday morning i had to run 3 miles so david biked along with me. it was a nice morning for it. we then had a late breakfast/
brunch of bananas foster french toast. i tell ya, the boy knows how to make french toast! (i was in charge of the bananas foster part) for lunch we met jen and bryan at singha thai. david and i shared the cashew chicken (one of my favs), and i don't remember what jen and bryan had, except that jen's was tasty and bryan's looked like cat food. they also had some spring rolls, which they love but i'm not too crazy about. david and i went to the zoo for the afternoon, and let me tell ya--it takes a lot less time when you're older and don't go with kids! i think we did the whole zoo (minus the farm animals, cuz really, we live in the midwest. farm animals, not that uncommon) in like an hour or hour and a half. for dinner we made pierogi and potstickers (we combined parts of a few planned meals because turns out, we had more meals planned that days haha). david showed off his polishness with blueberry, strawberry, and apple pierogi. the potstickers were good but kind of unsightly. the wrappers got very thin (i think the filling was too wet), but nevertheless they were able to be steamed and eaten.

for breakfast on sunday david made his famous oatmeal that i had been waiting a month for! it was fabulous. d
avid was then supposed to leave to go home after church, but long story short, he ended up staying until monday due to part of 94W being closed (compliments of the crappy weather). we went to family parties for the afternoon, then finished up with dinner at singha thai, once again. he had the pad thai with chicken and tofu (that tasted like cheese)---it was super good. i had the rama beef, beef in a peanut (curry?) sauce with vegetables. mmmm! you can never gone wrong with that place!!

david did end up leaving on monday morning (despite my eff
orts to get him to stay oh you know, the whole summer haha). for dinner i made corn on the cob (with corn from david's mom--it's the best) and sun-dried tomato burgers with balsamic-glazed onions (both with the help of mom doing the grilling). the burgers were good, especially because the balsamic with real stuff from modena (compliments of the boy).

tuesday's dinner with chicken salad with peanut-lime vinaigrette. mom simmered some chicken with vegetables to get our cooked chicken. i left out mayonnaise, and topped it with salted peanuts instead, and it turned out well. however, the recipe made a ton of vinaigrette, so i would definitely recommend halving or quartering that portion of the recipe.

for dinner tonight, i made island pork tenderloin
salad. it was super fab. the pork was very tender and moist, and the glaze was good, too--it would be good by itself, not only just on a salad. oh and i left out the avocados cuz yuck! :p phew.

i think that's it. i work tomorrow and saturday so won't be cooking, and i haven't decided on sunday's dinner yet. i think i'll work on that now!

Monday, June 9, 2008

smoke in the water


let's see...last wednesday was barbecue pulled pork salad. it was delish. corn, black beans, tomatoes, the pork, and cornbread croutons (made from the leftover cornmeal pancakes by breaking them into pieces and tossing them in melted butter and honey), all on a bed of mixed greens (spinach, red leaf lettuce, and some baby lettuce from jen and bryan's garden).

THEN, saturday we planned to smoke some pork in jen and bryan's electric smoker. jen, oliver, and i decided to hit the mall for a bit before dinner. all was going well until a crazy storm began and boston had us on lock-down. they made us all go into one corner of the store and stay there for like an hour, until the tornado warning had passed. funny thing is, though, while talking to mom on the phone a while into this whole event, she said said the news said there was no longer a tornado warning, only thunderstorm warnings. boston store also announced that a tornado had touched down in elm grove, but again, nothing reported on the news. so idk where they were getting all their info from, but we *may* have been kept there unnecessarily long. it was great for their women's clothes and shoe department business, though. well, we were finally released and we went home. there we found out that the smoker had shorted out or something in the storm, and so the meat hadn't been cooking and wasn't nearly done. just when we were out of ideas for dinner, mom realized she had some sausages in the fridge she could cook up. thus, she saved the day (once again)! so, we served the sausages with golden sweet cornbread that i had made to go with the pork, which was delicious as always (good job jen for discovering that recipe ;) ). we boiled the ears of corn rather than grilling, and the sliced apples, which i had originally intended for the smoker, were baked in the oven. i tossed the apples with brown sugar and cinnamon and dotted them with butter, and baked them in foil. for dessert we had rhubarb pie with a gluten-free crust and fresh rhubarb from the peters garden. all in all, it turned out alright. not as planned, but we still managed. :p

so on sunday, we sliced the pork and heated it up for dinner and served it with barbecue sauce. it was really good. i made some mashed potatoes, and also served the leftover cornbread and some leftover coconut lemon squares.


today i was supposed to go to work, but my boss karen called me and is not able to get into the office. our office is right near the fox river in waukesha, and due to all the rain, the water level rose so high and the streets are all flooded, and you can't get in them. sooo, hopefully that gets cleaned up soon.

oh, it's always an adventure!

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

breakfast for dinner



it's foggy and cold out. booo!

i think i forgot to share the pecan roulade i made last friday. i got the recipe from my gluten-free cookbook. it's basically a chocolate buttercream frosting rolled inside a chocolate and pecan sponge cake. both the frosting and the cake called for rum, but i didn't want to use it (especially in the frosting, since that didn't get cooked). so i just used milk instead (all the while fully knowing that milk is not a traditional substitute for rum :p), and hey, it worked out just fine. it broken a little while rolling it, though.

monday night for dinner i ventured to make cornmeal pancakes, a dish that i've always wanted to try but, while dining out, never wins against the other scrumptious-looking pancakes. i substituted corn flour for all-purpose flour, so that they would be gluten-free. also, when reading the recipe beforehand, i thought that 2 cups of buttermilk (in this case, vinegar in lactose-free milk) seemed a bit much. the batter was quite runny, so i ended up adding some more corn flour. maybe it was the lactose-free milk, but it could be that the batter does not need that much milk. from what i had read, they are often served with just regular pancake syrup. i tried to think of alternative, and contemplated topping them with a black bean, tomato, and scallion salsa. but, i figured i would just do them the traditional way. because i like syurp. and you know what? they were actually pretty awesome! the bottoms of the pancakes stuck to the bottom of the pan (even though i was using cooking spray), and it took me a while to surpass this obstacle. so, the first couple batches looked more like crumbs and pieces of pancakes (although still tasty); the second half of took more of a pancake form.


what's cookin tonight:: barbecue pulled pork salad. i think i will turn some of the leftover pancakes into cornbread croutons to top it off.

Monday, June 2, 2008

so, saturday night for dinner i had planned chicken fajitas with crunchy lime cabbage and avocado. i had to go into work, so i missed dinner, but mom made it. i guess they turned out quite delicious. i had the leftovers on a salad on sunday. and it twas tasty!

on sunday i decided i needed to make coconut lemon squares, a recipe fro
m my gluten-free cookbook. they actually turned out quite nicely. the crust on the bottom wasn't as crumbly as gluten-free crusts and doughs usually tend to be. they look pretty fantastic, and i saw a bar or two missing from the pan today but have not yet heard the verdict. i'm sure they are awful. :p

for dinner i made
cashew chicken, a tried and true recipe. i added green peppers, cremini mush
rooms, and broccoli to the mix. i served it with white rice. delicious! it's finally 80 degrees out, and i was able to go running in a tank top and shorts this morning and was hot! summer has come! (i hope it's here to stay..) i started running again yesterday after a 3-week break. i only had to run 1 mile yesterday but i was kind of sore this morning. then, after running 2 miles then lifting (which i hadn't done in a month, and some exercises longer ago than that), i am pretty sore. you know, when it's kind of difficult to walk regularly? :p can't wait for what soreness tomorrow will bring haha.


what's cookin tonight: cornmeal pancakes! i've always wanted to try them. :)