Pico de gallo

Oh man, Cinco de Mayo is coming and you know what that means....my wedding anniversary! Also Mexican food I guess. Well Monday was my first day as head chef at my parents house. They are leaving for two years and my family will act as stewards of the house and my parents had signed up to feed the missionaries. I decided to make a copy cat Cafe Rio night and took a fabulous picture of the Pico de Gallo.

No mexican meal seems complete without it. Simple and refreshing it is the best.

Pico de Gallo

5 roma tomatoes, diced

1 onion. diced

1 bunch cilantro chopped

2 jalapenos, diced

1 lemon, juiced

1 tsp kosher salt

Toss everything to combine and let sit for a minute or two to combine. Taste for if it needs more lemon or salt.

I will try to do a big post with all the Cafe Rio recipes before Cinco de Mayo but no pics probably. 

Cashew Chicken

Cashew chicken is a popular dish at our house. I usually end up making two batches one the regular way and another without the cilantro and lime. It not the kids it is my husband who is one of those people who just doesn't like cilantro. So sad because I love it. It is just one of those food that people either love or they don't.
I also like this recipe because like most stir-frys it cooks up quickly. You can prepare all the veggies and meat and sauce in advance and the longest thing to cook is the rice to serve with it.

Cashew Chicken
1 lb chicken breasts, sliced into matchsticks
1 1/2 Cups carrots, julienne
1 1/2 Cups asparagus, 2 inch lengths
1 Cup cashews
1 Cup oil
marinade
2 Tbsp fish sauce
1 Tbsp lime zest
1 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp sesame oil
2 Serrano chilies, diced
2 Tbsp cilantro
sauce
1/4 Cup vegetable or chicken broth
2 Tbsp rice wine
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp sesame oil
2 tsp Cornstarch
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp pepper

Directions:
1. Combine the chicken and all the marinade ingredients. Let sit 20-30 minutes.
2. Heat the wok, swirl in oil and stir fry the chicken until opaque. transfer to a plate and keep warm.
3. Combine the sauce ingredients. wipe the wok and return to high heat. Swirl in oil and add vegetables. Stir fry until crisp tender. return the chicken and add the cashews. Heat and add sauce. stir until thickened. Serve over rice.

salsa

I really like the composition of this salsa picture that I took but the salsa was in the shadows a but and wasn't the star.

So I took it to photoshop and adjusted the light and brightened the salsa.

Now you can see the salsa.

Summer Barley Salad

So with summer coming I am very excited for the return of all the summer fruits and vegetables like corn, tomatoes and the like.
This recipe I found on pintrest and changed the dressing and such to suit my tastes.

I did not include this in the picture but I would usually serve this with grilled chicken or fish.

  

Summer Barley Salad

3/4 Cup barley

2 ears of corn

1 Cup grape tomatoes

4 slices bacon

1 lrg avocado, diced

1/2 tsp salt, plus more to taste

4 tsp lemon juice

1/4 Cup red onion, diced

3 Tbsp Olive oil

1. Prepare the barley according to the package directions and set aside.

2. In a skillet cook the bacon. pour out most of the fat leaving behind just enough to sauté the corn.

3. Slice the tomatoes, set in a colander over a bowl. salt the tomatoes and let drain. press lightly to get mote juice.

4. Make a dressing from the tomato juice, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.

5. Combine the barley, corn, tomatoes, crumbled bacon, avocado and red onion. Toss with the dressing. Season to taste and serve.

strawberries in the gutter

My sister Sarah had the ingenious idea to plant strawberries in a rain gutter suspended from the overhang on the garage. It's great. The berries avoid rotting on damp ground and eaten by slugs as so often is the case here in the humid south. Already they have a bunch of strawberries in the works and the kids will have so much fun picking them.

This was one of the first pictures I took with my new lens for the camera. It as a larger aperture getting all the way down to 1.8 f stop. The large aperture gives that nice blurred background, hence even though the wall of the garage is less than a foot from the strawberry is has a nice soft blurred appearance while the strawberry and leaf are in sharp focus. So fun! 

Bread

So I was trying to come up with my own basic bread recipe to use and I based it on what I have learned. The first one did not have enough salt and was really bland the second was much better.

This is my first time editing my photo in Photoshop. I shot the pictures in raw format so I could do more with them. I was able to adjust the color slightly as well as darken the background and lighten the loaf. It also allowed me to sharpen the look of the loaf. There is so much to learn and even some stuff I was trying and didn't figure out.