Thursday, August 4, 2011

TUNA FOR TWO

As we were sitting down eating dinner tonight I was reflecting back on our awesome day and I thought "I wonder what Jackie is going to write about on the blog for today". I started thinking, well what is my role going to be with all this... as I was eating... one of my favorite things to do... eating delicious food. So here is my update on today... today's food.
Breakfast was nothing special, but lunch was one of our favorites, Grama's Goodies! If you have not gone there yet, seriously plan a trip there for lunch this weekend or next week. Get the brown bagged lunch and you will not be disappointed! In your lunch you get a thick meat pile of a sandwich (choice of meat, cheese and bread), chips, bottled drink and choice of dessert (I highly recommend the brownie). This is true experience like one you would get in a Jersey Deli...not a big surprise since "Grama" is from Jersey.
This brings us to dinner, the inspiration behind the blog title. For a tad over 24 hours I have been marinating some tuna steaks. I had found a recipe in one of Jac's healthy recipe cook books and wanted to give it a try. The meal consisted tuna steaks, quinoa and a tasty mixture of spinach, minced garlic, onions, artichoke hearts, sliced olives and goat cheese. So I'm going to give a rough outline of the recipe along with my tuna steak marinade.
Marinade:
1/4 cup of Teriyaki sauce
2 spoons of minced garlic
couple dashes of sesame oil
couple dashes of ginger
couple dashes of orange mulling spices
dash of light salt
Dump into a zip-lock, lightly kneed into the tuna and refrigerate.
Quinoa:
1/2 cup Quinoa
1 cup water
Boil. Reduce to a simmer cover and cook for 10-15 until water is gone and you can fluff with a fork. Once you get it covered and simmering start on the mixture.
Tasty Mixture:
2 cups of washed spinach
1/2 can of quartered artichoke hearts
1/2 can of sliced black olives
1/3 cup of diced onions
3 spoons of minced garlic
dash of goat cheese
Wash spinach and toss into a pan with a dash water and diced onions (med-low heat). Once the spinach is cooked, toss in in the artichoke hearts, olives and garlic (low heat). When you have this on low, start the tuna.
Cook the tuna steaks on a grill around 300 degrees for 4-5 minutes on each side.
Assemble and serve... possibly with a glass of red wine... I'm just saying.
So there you go. Our food for today, we will see what tomorrow has to bring!
Evan

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Day One of "Staycation"

Evan and I love to travel, but this year our travel plans hit a bump due to Enzo's leg surgery. We decided to make the best of the situation and do a "Staycation." We are sticking around southwest Virginia and making a deliberate effort to take advantage of all that this area has to offer: berry picking, local restaurants, visiting a new winery, the New River, Stepping Out (http://www.blacksburgsteppinout.com/), catching up with friends and most importantly- slowing down.



Day one of Staycation involved sleeping in, chocolate chip pancakes, crafting for me and fun car stuff for Evan. On Evan's way back from his annual "Man Day" camping trip he picked up some peaches from a roadside stand outside Berryville, VA (the one in the Wendy's commercial:). So, we're ending our day by making one of our favorite desserts - Peach Kuchen (coo-ken).

I went to a small Presbyterian church growing up in Chester, NJ and each year they had a Peach Festival in early August that draws in the masses. Here's a local news report of the event. My mom is the redhead in the hat in the beginning http://www.dailyrecord.com/VideoNetwork/51471930001/Annual-Chester-Peach-Festival. The ladies in the church work for weeks making homemade peach ice cream (never had better), peach pies, and peach kuchen. Each year my mom and I would bake and work the day of the festival. It always shocked me how quickly the pies went. People went nuts over them!

This year, I'm not able to go up to Chester for the event so Evan and I made some kuchen here. It's a very simple recipe.

Peach Kuchen
1/2 cup butter
1 pkg. yellow cake mix
1/2 cup coconut (don't worry if you don't like coconut, it's hardly noticeable)
1 (29 oz.) can of peaches or 5-6 fresh peaches
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup sour cream
1 egg

                                       
Cut butter into dry cake mix until crumbly, mix in coconut and press into pan along bottom and sides. Bake 10 min. at 350 degrees. Then arrange drained peaches over base. Mix sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the peaches. Mix sour cream and egg and pour over top. Bake 30 minutes.

Monday, August 1, 2011

God's Grace

Today I had a real need to hear from God, and I was driving home from Salem and I heard two songs that soothed my heart.


I Am by Jill Phillips



Wait and See by Brandon Heath