I never would have thought of using tunafish in tacos. But when Rick Bayless made some on his show, I knew I had to try it. I had some Sweet & Spicy tuna packets (Aldi’s generic competitor to the StarKist brand) that, to be honest, I was kind of terrified of, and they’d been living in the pantry for far too long. I had made some questionable tuna salad with it and had no idea what to try next; now I knew.

I didn’t have the canned chiles that Rick used in his recipe for Tuna in Jalapeño Escabeche, but I figured this would do in a pinch. I sautéed the tuna with some onions in olive oil until heated through. I chopped up a roma tomato, some more onion and a handful of fresh cilantro, and I shredded some chihuahua cheese. On some fresh white corn tortillas I picked up I spread some crema poblano (Mexican sour cream) and topped it with all the goodies.

I also made my favorite guacamole, which is basically just an avocado, onion, tomato, cilantro, some crema poblano, juice from half a lime and Penzey’s Salsa Seasoning.

Mexican grocers are an amazing place, and I especially love my local Farmers Best Market. Not only are things like tortillas and peppers fresher than you’ll find anywhere else (simply because they move faster there), but they’re authentic and inexpensive. The queso chihuahua found at other stores for $5-$6 for a pound can be bought in bulk for only $3 a pound. There are tons of authentic sour creams, cheeses, salsas, meats and more. We stop at Farmers Best about every other month to load up on authentic Mexican goodies because while Old El Paso is fine if it’s all you have access to, there’s just nothing to compare to the real thing.

Sorry, the photo of this just didn’t come out. I need to develop a new technique for taco photos!

CONFESSION: So often lately I come home from a particularly rough day at work with absolutely no desire to cook. It’s one of the reasons I keep a pantry stocked with convenience foods.

Aldi’s made great strides in the quality of their convenience side dishes, and I was astounded at the amazing flavor and texture of the Lemongrass & Ginger Rice from their Asia Specialties brand.

The chicken potstickers I made came from my Asian grocer. I pan-fried these according to the package directions (be careful to get a bag with English instructions if you’ve never made potstickers before) with some sesame oil until cooked thoroughly and browned. I served this with some Tamari sauce for dipping, and in just a few minutes we had an amazing meal, even on a night where I really, REALLY didn’t want to cook.

There’s something kind of great about bringing a lunch in to work and having people ask where you ordered it from. It happens a lot when I make stir fry, probably because the sauces I get are so aromatic. My trusted brand of sauces is Lee Kum Kee, available in Asian markets and some grocery stores, and their new line of Ready Sauces is just to die for.

One of my very favorite authentic Asian dishes to make is Spicy Garlic Eggplant. The recipe can be found on the back of the Spicy Garlic Eggplant Ready Sauce, and it’s super simple.

Start with 4 center cut pork chops, an onion, some garlic, and two packets of Lee Kum Kee Spicy Garlic Eggplant sauce. I also like to add sweet corn and baby peas to this to add some sweetness.

First, chop an onion, some garlic, and peel and slice a small eggplant into cubes. I prefer regular eggplant to Chinese eggplant, but either works well. Sauté the onion, garlic and eggplant with some sesame oil and a bit of soy sauce until the onion is caramelized and the eggplant is soft; letting it char a bit also adds a bit of flavor. Set this aside in a bowl.

I then take 4 center cut pork chops and cut them into cubes; these will be sautéed in the same pan. Brown the meat and add one packet of garlic sauce. Toss with the meat and let the meat cook thoroughly. When the meat is done, add back the eggplant and onion and the remaining packet of sauce.

Toss until combined and heated thoroughly. Serve over rice; I used Chinese brown rice this time, a new favorite.

I can’t wait to tell everyone tomorrow that yes, I made this. It’s outstanding and smells incredible!

Chicken Saagwala is one of my favorite quick and easy meals. I pulled it from the archives to post here when I opened the blog and today, after spending 2 hours on a drive that usually takes 40 minutes (thanks, flooding!) quick was necessary.

Kitchens of India’s Palak Paneer makes it super simple to have something totally satisfying. Plus, the new multi-grain pita bread I found at the grocery store makes a great naan substitute. I got my Indian food fix without having to be at the stove for 45 minutes.

Artichokes are a giant pain in the ass. This did not come as a surprise. I mean, look at them. Even from the outside they look intimidating, and once you find out about their fluffy “choke”, it’s even scarier. But darn if they’re not pretty and delicious. So when they were 40¢ apiece at the store, I decided it was finally time to try them.

I’m not sure if I’ll do it again.

My discouraged attitude comes from the fact that I’d already been burned by the frozen discount salmon I pulled out of the fridge yesterday, all fishy and questionable. A stop at the grocer on the way home from work fixed that, so victory was close. I sprinkled the salmon with some Penzey’s magic, their Trinidad Lemon-Garlic Marinade and some dried dill, then broiled it for about 15 minutes, and it was simply perfect.
QUICK TIP: Place a layer of wax paper on your baking sheet before baking or broiling salmon. It keeps the pesky skin from sticking to the pan, making cleanup infinitely easier.

The artichokes were another story altogether. I prepared them according to Mark Bittman’s instruction in How to Cook Everything, and I did everything right…Until I didn’t. Instead of steaming the artichokes for the full 45 minutes, I removed them with about 15 minutes to go, figuring I’d just sauté the quarters with the leftover pasta, butter and garlic that would become my side dish. Bad idea. The artichokes that were fully cooked were remarkable and tender; the ones that weren’t (most of them) were a little on the spiky side and a disappointment.

But boy were they pretty!

Sticking them back in the steamer helped, but still: giant pain in the ass. However, the flavor is very different from canned artichoke hearts, and that’s pretty spectacular. Worth making again? Oh, who am I kidding; probably.

Tonight’s weekly Farscape night went the direction of many Farscape nights lately, filled mostly with eating and visiting until it was too late to get a proper episode in. But at least dinner was good! I love hosting dinner for friends, so when it’s our turn to host for Farscape it’s always a treat figuring out what to make. Since I had the leftover Zantho Zweigelt 2002 wine, and we picked up some great chicken breasts on super sale, I decided to make Chicken Cacciatore.

This recipe is deceptively easy, and the key is in the simmering time.  It made plenty for our group of five (including one who had seconds) and yielded four meals of leftovers! I bet the leftover sauce would freeze very well, too. Like many of my recipes, it’s sort of slapped together, but here’s what I do, in a nutshell:

INGREDIENTS (makes 6–9 servings):

• Chicken Breasts (about 3lb), cut into chunks
• 1/4 cup of flour, with some Italian herbs and pepper mixed in
• 1 very large or two small onions, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 cup chopped baby carrots
• 6 sundried tomato halves, chopped
• 1 tbsp sundried tomato paste (regular would work too)
• 1 can/jar spaghetti sauce (I used Hunts Garlic & Herb, but remember not to add ANY salt if you use a canned sauce)
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 3/4 cup dry red wine
• Italian Herbs to taste
• 1-2 bay leaves

Heat about 3 tbsp of olive oil in a large sauté pan. Dredge chicken breast chunks in flour/herb mixture and place in the pan to brown on all sides (about 10 minutes). Add onions, pepper, sundried tomatoes and carrots and cook until the onion is translucent.

Next add the sauce, tomatoes, wine, herbs and bay leaves. Let this simmer, loosely coverd and stirring occasionally, for about 45 minutes. Serve over spaghetti or, as I did, angel hair pasta.

I love cooking with wine, but neither my husband nor I are big wine drinkers, and we rarely finish a bottle at a sitting. So when we saw the Houdini Wine Preserver on super sale last Black Friday, we were really excited.

The rubber stoppers seal the wine, and the vacuum pump easily pumps out excess air. It’s always fun to punk out the air and then tap the little valve just to hear the “Pssssssst” of the seal releasing (even though it means we have to just seal it up again).

The vacuum sealer allows me to use a bottle of wine over a course of a couple meals without destroying its integrity, and best of all it encourages me to buy and try more wine because I know the leftover won’t go to waste. I think ours is a slightly different (more deluxe) model than the one at Target, but it’s a great buy for everyone who likes wine and hates to see it go to waste.

CONFESSION: I know nothing about wine. Not even a little. I just know that red wine is good for cooking with red meat, while white wine is better for cooking with lighter meats and seafood. The good thing about this is, I’m totally not a snob. This allows me to try all sorts of new things. And most of those things live in the discount wine bin of our local Binny’s Beverage Depot.

Cheap wine for cooking doesn’t always have to be crappy wine. Last time we stocked up I picked up some Zantho Zweigelt 2002, which I know now is a nice red Australian wine, and it was quite delicious. Added to this sauce, it was simply to die for.

So what’s in this mysterious but delicious sauce? Well, back in July I made some Alfredo Sauce from scratch and had plenty of leftover sauce. It’s Mustgo week here, and that was pulled from the freezer to be used this week.

I took some thin-cut ribeye and cut it up. I sautéed it with olive oil, one onion and a huge bag of brown mushrooms I bought at the Farmer’s Market last weekend. To this I added about half a cup of the red wine. When the meat was cooked, I removed it from the mixture to keep it from getting tough. I then let the rest of the wine cook down to a glaze.

I reconstituted my alfredo sauce with a bit of milk and soon it melted beautifully in a small saucepan. When this was good as new, I dumped it in with the wine and mushroom sauce, then tossed it all with the steak. I served it over Barilla Whole Grain Spaghetti and it was unbelievably good.

Not bad for a bunch of leftovers and a glass of $2 wine. Oh, did I forget to mention that? The wine, that usually goes for $12 a bottle, was $2 in the discount wine bin. Lucky me!

Heavens it’s good to be home! Extensive work and traveling have put the blog on hold, but I’m finally back home with time and resources to cook! Shopping for fresh ingredients isn’t the best idea when nobody’s going to be home to cook them, so I’m thrilled to finally be able to shop for the goodies I need to get back to eating homemade!

To celebrate my 6th anniversary with my husband (our first date was 6 years ago today), I wanted something elegant. Tonight’s dinner was simple, with produce from the farmer’s market and my husband’s uncle and some leftover kalamata olive pesto from when I made the Mediterranean Shrimp Pasta. I sautéed a juicy red and a purple bell pepper, a sweet onion, a sliced small white eggplant (leftover from the produce bounty from weeks ago — still plenty good!) and some diced chicken breasts, all in Basil-Garlic Grapeseed Oil. I tossed some farfalle (bowtie) pasta with the olive pesto, then topped it with the chicken and veggies and some freshly grated parmesan.

My god it’s good to be home and cooking again! This was delicious, and a great way to celebrate our anniversary!

When I discovered Pastoral Artisan Cheese, Bread and Wine, a wonderful cheese shop / sandwich shop near where I was working recently in Chicago’s Loop, I was ecstatic! I’d been searching for a great source for my favorite serrano ham and manchego cheese for awhile to make a really special treat. We enjoyed it today for lunch. A hefty price tag at $27 for a 1/4lb of ham and a hunk of absolutely breathtaking Rosemary Manchego, but luckily thanks to the FoodSaver (and the wonderful staying power of well-aged ham), this will last for another special meal as well! We also picked up a loaf of fresh ciabatta bread from Panera, where we learned my husband’s old college roommate is now a baker (small world!).

QUICK TIP: Don’t be afraid to treat yourself to excellent but expensive Artisan cheeses. Save the leftovers in a FoodSaver bag and it’ll be good for at least 6 months if sealed properly! It’s always a worthwhile luxury!

The tomato spread was made using a recipe I found on Sass & Veracity, a favorite food blog. I eyeballed it mostly, using the last of my delicious orange tomatoes (oh, how I will miss these!), four small cloves of garlic, a couple tablespoons of Spanish olive oil and some French Grey Sea Salt. We spread this on the slices of ciabatta (which I prefer to the hard crusts of artisanal french bread), topped it off with a slice of cheese and a slice of ham for a luxurious light lunch.

Thanks to a super hectic schedule and working lots of weekends, today was our first trip to the Oak Park Farmer’s Market this year. Soon after we arrived, however, we remembered why we love it so. We often settle on a theme — tiny food, abnormally large food, speckled food, things we haven’t tried — but today the theme was Produce That’s the Wrong Color.

In the bounty we have:

• Purple Bell Peppers
• Purple Fingerling Potatoes
• Orange Cauliflower
• White Eggplant
• Tiny Purple Cabbages (yeah, red cabbage isn’t THAT weird, but still, these are TINY purple cabbages!)
• Purple Basil
• Sweet White Onions (sweet onions are supposed to look like Vidalias… not pictured
• And a perfectly yellow spaghetti squash that just looked pretty in the picture

This week is going to be quite the cooking adventure. I can’t wait to try some fun, strangely colored recipes!

Fajitas are tricky to photograph, especially when toothpicks are hard to find. Luckily we still had these bizarre jungle friend martini markers (they dangle on the martini glass like wine charms), so with a little stab at least these stayed put.

I prepared these fajitas using Lawry’s Tequila Lime Marinade that I included with some chicken strips in a FoodSaver bag when I froze them. I served this with some red and green pepper, sautéed with sweet onions, some spinach, V&V Supremo Foods Crema Ranchero (by far the best authentic Mexican products), and some chopped orange tomatoes and shredded sharp cheddar.

Fajitas are always a favorite in this house!

And since I’ve been asked countless times about these cups… It’s from the 2008 Mardi Gras parade, procured for us by our friend Angela. We have a whole great collection!