Seared Sesame Ginger Tuna with Curried Quinoa

Just so you know, in my house, I'm always the adventurous eater. I'm constantly trying new things that I see in stores, especially when I come home from Whole Foods. It's a magical place for me, that Whole Foods. Just standing in front of those bulk bins makes the wheels in my head start turning, and I always think of the things I can make with the contents. Then I spied the quinoa.

For those inquiring minds.... quinoa is a grain. People think it's like cous cous (which is a pasta), but it's actually not. Quinoa is gluten free, and has a very high protein and fiber content, making it popular with the Vegan crowd. It's great option for those that are looking to eat healthier, and works as a good substitute for white rice or cous cous! But enough on quinoa.... let's get to the cooking.

I also picked up a bag of frozen yellowfin tuna steaks when they were on sale at Whole Foods a few weeks back. Dad's been nagging me to cook the last one from the freezer since then. I thawed the tuna steak for about an hour before it was ready to cook. I patted the fish down, removing the moisture from the outside. Then I started pressing on this "Sesame Ginger Crusting Mix" that I picked up at TJ Maxx in the gourmet foods aisle. I used it previously on my Seared Tuna Salad recipe. I seared it in a hot pan for about 45 seconds to a minute on each side, including the sides of the steak! Remove from the pan and set aside.

Before you use the quinoa, make sure that you give it a good rinse or a short soak.. Quinoa is covered in a bitter coating called Saponin that you will need to remove if you bought it in bulk. Most of the Quinoa that is in a box has been pre-rinsed.

You will use a 2 part liquid-1part quinoa ratio. I used a cup of quinoa, so I use 2 cups of low sodium chicken broth as my cooking liquid for more flavor. I also added a teaspoon of curry powder, a small bit of chopped shallots and parsley, and garlic pepper and salt to taste. Cook until the liquid has been absorbed into the quinoa, and it is tranluscent.

Martha Stewart's Perfect Roasted Chicken

Consider this one an essential recipe. Everyone should know how to make a roast chicken. It's such a simple meal, most everyone will love it and the directions couldn't be any easier. And you can make it YOURS just by changing the flavors.

What you'll need:

• A roaster chicken ( these were on sale for 2.99 each at Target a few weeks back!)
• 2 TBS of unsalted butter, softened
• salt and pepper
• 1 lemon
• 3 garlic cloves, smashed
• herbs of your choice ( I used rosemary and thyme)

Once thawed, let your chicken come to room temperature by letting it sit out for 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the size of the bird. Pre-heat your oven to 425°. Wash the chicken, and then you will need to dry it. Why dry it? Because meat browns better when it's dry!

Your next step is to remove any of the giblets, etc party favors inside the chicken. Then salt and pepper the cavity. Throw in your lemon wedges, garlic, and herbs. Then you'll need to truss the chicken. (Click here for a video showing you how to do that) Once trussed, grab that softened butter and give the chicken a good rub down all over. Liberally sprinkle the buttered surface with salt and pepper, and place the bird breast side up in a roasting pan.

I like to have some sort of root veggies cooking along with the chicken, so I found some yellow creamy new potatoes, chopped them in quarters, tossed in olive oil, salt, pepper, and thyme. I put them in the pan surrounding the chicken, and added a splash of white wine. Sounds weird, but trust me on this, it's a great step not to miss.

Roast the chicken in your 425° until the skin is golden brown and the juices run clear when pierced, and that took me about an hour and a half. If you're not sure, use a thermometer and the breast should read at 180° and the thigh should be 190°.

As tempting as it may seem to cut right into that chicken, WAIT. Let that beautiful bird sit for 10-15 minutes so the juices have time to re-distribute throughout the chicken. This is a mistake many people make after cooking meat and they wonder why it's dry. Remember this step!

Slice and enjoy, and turn your leftover chicken into a delicious chicken salad the next day :)

Recipe was from Martha Stewart's Cooking School, which I HIGHLY recommend if you're a new or semi-pro home cook!

Easy Grilled Pizza

Recently, a close friend invited me over to visit while she was housesitting. She warned me before I got there, that the kitchen was something of dreams. Well I didn't believe it until I saw it for myself.

Walking into the kitchen, my mouth dropped and I started to drool. DUAL OVENS. GAS COOKTOP. WALK IN PANTRY. Be still my heart. And what's even sadder is that most people that have kitchens like this don't even COOK IN THEM. For shame.

Well I decided to put it to good use. I was inspired by my gal pal Ina Garten to make a grilled pizza. It turned out so perfect and it honestly was so simple!

Things you'll need:

Package of pizza dough from your supermarket (mine sells it in the bakery)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Toppings of your choice

Preheat your grill to a medium-high heat. Make sure your grill is clean, because you'll be placing the pizza directly onto it.

Prep your dough by letting it sit out for an hour before using, giving it time to rise. Once the hour is up, shape into individual sizes.

Place it down on the grill. Cook for 1 minute on the 1st side. While it's cooking, brush the uncooked side with EVOO.

Flip the bread over and start to layer on your toppings. I used tomato sauce, caramelized onions, pepperoni, fresh buffalo mozzerella, and fresh basil. Cover grill for 5 minutes to let cheese melt. Remove and enjoy!

I tried it for my mom's birthday the following week and expiremented with pizza toppings. The crowd favorite was the BBQ chicken pizza made with caramelized onions, leftover roast chicken, cheddar cheese, and BBQ sauce.

The Hills are Alive.... with the Sound of Americans

Just wanted to share some pictures from our Sound of Music Tour today in Salzburg!

Across this lake is the back of the house they used in the movie, many scenes were filmed here, including the children coming out of the lake!


The famous "16 Going on 17" Gazebo! One of my absolute favorite scenes in this movie! They had the doors locked and you can't get in :( I wanted to leap from bench to bench like Leisl did in the movie!


The inside of the church where Maria and Captain Von Trapp got married, it's so beautiful inside!



The Pegasus fountain that Maria and the children march around while singing Do Re Mi


The stairs that Maria and the children hopped up and down in the ending of Do Re Mi

Apologies!

So sorry for the lack of updates, my wi-fi locations have not been available as I once thought. Right now I'm writing this from Munich, Germany and we're having such a great time!

I'll just update with a few pictures for now, just so you can see what I've been up to. We had two great days in Gothenburg, a night out in Stockholm, and we're on our way to Salzburg tomorrow!

Stockholm Day 4

Tuesday morning, we woke up and Joakim told us that he would take us to a bigger grocery store to do some of our shopping for our American dinner, since we may not find what we need at his local store. He said that "It's just around the corner, not that far" Well, 45 minutes later we were still walking around, and happened to be in the same spot that Jennah and I were at playing on the playground on Sunday! Joakim was so excited to find this huge hill with stairs and stuff, so he's like "There's an observatory on top, let's go explore!!!" Um, let me think. I've got a dress on. With sandals. Not necissarily climbing/exercising clothes at all. After a little huffing and puffing, we all finally made it to the top, and we were rewarded with such a wonderful view. I guess the few minutes of pain was worth it in the end. All of a sudden, we felt drops of rain, so we headed down to the grocery store.



The grocery store was an adventure in itself. We partly had a menu planned out with some things we wanted to make, so Joakim helped us find what we needed. I had orginally wanted to make some BBQ pulled pork, but pork is really expensive in Sweden, so we settled for BBQ chicken breasts. We purchased a huge block of cheese from the huge cheese section, they are VERY into cheese here. We couldn't find a good cheddar, so we had to settle with a white traditional Swedish cheese. This cheese would end up going into the baked mac and cheese. We headed over to the other side of the Dairy section to pick up some butter and heavy cream, because hey, nothing screams American like a pound of butter and a gallon of cream, right?

Stockholm Day 3

When I woke up, I had a momentary freak out, because I forgot where I was at this point. Just a little early morning confusion! After I had shuffled sleepily into the kitchen we fixed a great breakfast of Special K Dark Chocolate and Strawberries.... something they don't have in the States but is seriously yummy. We even sliced a few fresh strawberries to put on top for an extra boost of deliciousness. I sat down with a mud of hot tea and the girls and I planned out our day of shopping. Ange wanted to find some walking shoes, so that was the mission of the day.

We headed back to the Central Station area to check out some more of the shops in the area. We went in all kinds of great little and big stores! It's crazy because the stores are multi-level and you have no idea what is on each floor. Bottom level could be accessories, shoes, basically anything. We just keep cracking up at the insane fashions here. I keep pretending to be the Fashion Patrol and take pictures of the out there fashions.



The girls and I stopped for lunch at a Thai Buffet called Pong on Drottning Gatan. They had some great choices like Pad Thai, Coconut Chicken Curry, Spring Rolls, Chili Chicken, glass noodles, and some great shrimp wontons. Included in the price of our meal were big bottles of icy cold water that was so refreshing to us after walking around the stuffy stores downtown.We ate our fill, and drank all that delicious water we could before heading back out to the shops.


Ange finally gave in and purchased the 1995 kickback White Keds that everyone seems to be wearing here. They seem really clean and bright compared to everyone else's shoes, haha. When we got back to Joakim's place, he ended up making a taco dinner for us, with help from Daniel. It's great having a Taco Bar for dinner because it's very socialble and we had a lot of fun sitting around the table chatting about everything in general.



The girls and I got all cleaned up and we went out to Gamla Stan to go out to a lounge/bar. Since it was only a Monday night, the place was not that crowded. We still made it a fun time and had a blast while enjoying a few drinks. We got back to the flat and called it a night. The next night we would be hosting our All American Dinner.