Quick Hatch Green Chile Sauce

Every summer, I countdown the days until the Hatch Green Chile Festival… It’s usually at the end of August, and my Market Street brings out the big chile roasters to celebrate!  I end up buying bags of hatch chiles to freeze for the year… it’s probably  my favorite weekend of the summer (wow, I *MIGHT* be lame), but I truly love the chance to stock up on the hatch chile deliciousness!

Since I constantly have a stash of green chiles on hand in the freezer, I’ve really mastered the art of the “easy, qusauceingredientsick, hatch green chile sauce”.  It’s great for topping chicken or fish, or tossed in pasta too!  It’s unbelievably fast and easy, so it’s the perfect addition to any weeknight meal.  Just how I like it – Unique, spicy, and super easy!

Quick Hatch Green Chile Sauce

(this recipe serves 2-4, depending on how much sauce you’re using.  It takes less to top chicken or fish and more if you’re tossing in pasta)

1/4 cup onion, diced

1/4 cup hatch green chile, dicedaddflour

1 T. flour

1 + cup Chicken stock

kosher salt and pepper

Heat a small skillet over med-high heat and add a dash of extra virgin olive oil.  Add diced onions and cook for approximately 2 minutes.  Add the diced green chiles and cook for a minute more.  Add the flour in batches, stirring in with the onions and chiles constantly.  Add chicken stock, a little at a time, scraping the bottom of the pan with a spatula.  Reduce heat to medium and occasionally stir the mixture.  When it thickens, add chicken stock as needed to reach the desired consistency. thicksauceI like the sauce to be thick enough to leave a “streak” when I break it apart with a spoon…  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Spoon over your protein or pasta and serve!  Enjoy!

sauceonfish

Hail Caeser… Salad!

Hail Caeser… Salad!

When the weather warms up, nothing beats a crisp, delicious bowl of greens!  I love Caesar Saladdressingingredients sm, but I’m not a big fan of store-bought Caesar Dressings ( some preservative in them gives me the shakes)… Instead, I like making my dressing from scratch, and this version is a lot easier than others I’ve found (who has time to coddle egg yolks?  Not this gal! ).  I also really like Greek yogurt, so I think this recipe is pretty fantastic.

Creamy Caesar Salad Dressing

1/3 c. lowfat Greek yogurt

2 anchovy fillets, mashed

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 T. fresh-squeezed lemon juice

2 t. Worcestershire sauce ( or “woo sauce” as my grandmother used to say)

2 T. extra virgin olive oil

1/4 c. freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheeseanchovies

kosher salt

fresh ground pepper

For the Salad

1 large head romaine lettuce, roughly chopped

1 French baguette, cubed into bite-sized pieces ( this time I opted for larger slices, but you can do whatever works best for you)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

grater2Loosely chop the anchovies and then mash them.  As you can see in my photo to the right, I like working the anchovies into a paste by applying pressure with a knife (it just mixes better in the dressing).  In a small bowl, combine the yogurt with the mashed anchovies, garlic, lemon juice and “Woo sauce”.  Whisk in the olive oil and half of the cheese.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Spread the bread cubes on a non-stick baking sheets and lightly drizzle with olive oil.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake for 5 minutes or so until golden brown.  Remove from the oven and set aside.  saladtoss

** Side bar:  I freaking LOVE my cheese grater.  It’s got this removable measuring cup that attaches to the bottom and makes measuring freshly grated cheese SUPER easy.  It’s awesome.  End side bar. **  In a large bowl, toss the romaine with half of the dressing and remaining cheese.  Add the croutons and serve, passing the remaining dressing at the table.

caesarsalad

Recipe adapted from Jamie Oliver’s in Food & Wine, March 2011

Grapefruit Margaritas

margarita smShake things up this Cinco de Mayo weekend with a tart and delicious Grapefruit Margarita!  This version is perfect for spring – easy, delicious and refreshing!

I made these using the fabulous Mason Shaker, and I think its Southern charm added just the perfect, festive flair!  The recipe for this batch yielded enough for two glasses (plus a little top off for each).  If you want to double the recipe, I think it would definitely fit inside the Mason Shaker (it’s a great size)!

If you need even more ideas for planning your May 5th Par-tay, check out my board on Pinterest!

Grapefruit Margaritas

Serves 2

1 c. Simply Grapefruit juice (If you want a sweeter taste, go with fresh-squeezed juice from two Texas grapefruits)

1/4 c. fresh-squeezed lime juice (3-4 small limes)

3 T. Grand Marnier

1/4 c. silver Tequila

1 t. light agave nectar

ice

Margarita salt (or Kosher salt) to rim the glass

1 lime, sliced into wedges for serving

Use a lime wedge to moisten the rim of the glass.  Roll the rim in margarita salt (or kosher salt).  Trust me, you’ll want the salt – it goes very nicely with the tartness of the grapefruit!  Add a little ice to each glass.

In the Mason Shaker, combine the grapefruit juice, lime juice, Grand Marnier, Tequila and agave.  Give it a good shake and divide the delicious liquid between the glasses.  Enjoy, and happy happy  Cinco de Mayo!

Lunchbox to Mail Organizer

Lunchbox to Mail Organizer

DSC_0529I found this “mailbox” lunch box at an antique store in town and instantly snapped it up…  I especially love the “Mr. Zip” on the side (hehe).  While I don’t take my lunch to work much these days, I did think that this could be the perfect vessel for housing outgoing mail…  DSC_0504We often write “thank you” notes at work to customers, and having a way to organize them seems pretty perfect.  I’m just excited that now I have a cute way to do it!

This adorable little mailbox only cost me $14 (but honestly I would have paid more).  I completely love the graphics on it, as well as the overall design.  With the “mailbox” look on both sides (including the flag), I think it’s a pretty special piece.

To act as a divider for the outgoing mail, I cut some kraft cardstock and added Avery tabs with the name of each month.  I love that these tabs are self-adhesive and the title can be changed easily too!  To keep with the colors of the box, I only used the red, white and blue options from the package, and I think it works well.

Here’s a shot of the inside, showing the monthly tabs and a few cards already filed in place.DSC_0539

My grandmother, who sent a birthday card to EVERYONE she knew (maybe that’s where a love of paper), taught me a pretty cool trick when I was in college.  She used to label each envelope (in the top right corner) with the date that it should be mailed to get to the recipient ON their birthday.  If all of the cards are filed away nicely, all you have to do is pull out the card to be mailed (on the date listed), place a stamp over the written date, and drop it in the mail!  DSC_0543Such a simple (but totally genius) idea that has stuck with me for YEARS…  It’s been really helpful!

I’m so excited to have this little treasure as my “mail organizer”.  It’s WAY better than a boring office filing system, don’t you think?  🙂  Happy mailings, all!

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