Beef and Broccoli Orange Stir-Fry over Soba Noodles

Don't let the pictures scare you away. That's totally the photographer's fault. She's a really fun, smart, extremely cute girl, but she's still lacking the skill to make brown food look appetizing! But she works cheap, so she'll be sticking around!

I don't cook a lot of Asian dishes around here and other than sushi, we don't normally go out for Asian food. Maybe because I always feel like the Michelin Man the next day. Sodium overload.

But when I saw this recipe in this months Clean Eating magazine, it spoke to me. Maybe because the picture was so good???

Clean Eating's version is very healthy and low calorie. I made a few additions/substitutions which upped the calorie content a little, but it's still a great choice! This was my first time cooking with Soba noodles and be warned, they cook very quickly! I may have overcooked mine a little. They're made from buckwheat, so they have a nice nutty flavor and are a healthy alternative to the typical white rice that is normally served with a stir fry. I'm going to be using these more often!

Here's the original recipe along with my changes!

Beef and Broccoli Orange Stir-Fry over Soba Noodles

Clean Living, March/April, 2010

Serves 6

Ingredients:

12 oz soba noodles

Olive oil cooking spray (I used 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil and 1 tsp hot chili oil)

1 lb lean round steak, pounded to 1/4 inch thickness and sliced into strips (I used a London Broil and just sliced it into strips)

1/2 cup white onion, diced

2 cups fresh broccoli florets, separated into bit-size pieces

1/2 red bell pepper, julienne cut (I used the whole pepper)

3 tbsp low-sodium tamari soy sauce

Juice of 1 medium orange (I didn't have an orange so I used a lemon)

1 tbsp orange zest (again, lemon)

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp raw organic honey (I just used whatever honey I had in the pantry!)

2 tsp whole wheat flour (I always have whole wheat flour in the pantry, but I'm sure you could use regular if you don't)

Instructions:

Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and set aside. (Keep your eye on these!!)

Heat large nonstick or cast-iron skillet over high heat for 1 minute. Reduce heat to medium-high, mist pan with cooking spray (This is where I added the sesame oil and hot chili oil) and saute steak for about 5 minutes or until cooked through. (For medium doneness, the steak will still be slightly pink in the middle.) Remove steak, leaving juices in the pan.

Mist same pan again with the cooking spray. Add onion, broccoli and pepper and saute over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes or until cooked through.

In medium bowl, whisk together soy sauce, orange juice and zest, garlic and honey.

Add steak back to vegetables in pan and pour in soy sauce mixture. Saute steak and vegetables over medium-high heat for about 2 minutes, then whisk in flour to thicken, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add noodles to pan and cook until warmed, about 3 more minutes. Remove from heat and serve.

Nutrients per 1 cup serving:

Calories: 270

Total Fat: 2 g

Sat. Fat: 0 g

Carbs: 51 g

Fiber: 4 g

Sugars: 6 g

Protein: 14 g

Sodium: 520 mg

Cholesterol: 10 mg

TWD - Honey Wheat Cookies

For this week's TWD, Michelle of Flourchild chose Dorie's Honey Wheat Cookies. Sounds scrumptious, right? Yeah, I didn't think so either. Main ingredient? Wheat Germ. Oh yummy, yummy, yummy!

I admit that I have wheat germ in my freezer. I've been known to add it to smoothies, or my oatmeal on the rare occasion I feel like being ultra 70's hippie chic. It's the same day that I wear my tie-dye and bell bottoms and poke a flower in my hair. No, really. My tennis friends love it when I show up on match day like that.

Suriously, I do have wheat germ and I do use it. I just never thought about putting it into a cookie. I don't think it really has much flavor. (Which I guess is why I can add it to my oatmeal and not vomit.) And I don't really think these cookies have a lot of flavor. Some subtle hits of lemon and honey, but that's about it. For me it had the taste and texture of a sugar cookie. Not good but not bad either.

I doubt these get made again here at Casa Buker but try them for yourselves. They took about 5 minutes to throw together and then you can refrigerate the dough and bake whenever you feel like it's a bell bottom day!

Make sure you check out Michelle's blog for the recipe.

Pool House Updates

Last Friday a big old dump truck backed up the driveway and dumped this huge pile of stone.

I left to go run some errands and work out and came back a couple of hours later to this....

Damn. Fast workers. It's fun to watch them. It's like putting together a puzzle.....

Only harder. They have to take each stone and make it fit. And keep it level. So there's lots of hammering and chipping involved.

Plus they have to make it look random.

I don't think I could do it. I'll leave it to the experts.

And someone had to move a huge pile of those suckers inside. I'm glad I wasn't around to help with that. I would have faked an injury.

There's a lot of stone left to stack. It's going on the fireplace, the pizza oven, the outside walls, some of the inside walls. Everywhere.

Makes me tired just thinking about it.

I'm gonna go lay down.

Chicken Salad and Junk

I promise I'll get to this amazing Chicken Salad in a minute but I'm still trying to recover from last night's Olympics. Admittedly, I haven't been watching much of these games. I'm just not that into winter sports, but hubs channel flipped over last night to watch Apolo Anton Oh-yes skate. Which was fine. Until they switched over to Men's Bobsledding.

While there's nothing about a man in a "form" fitting lycra body suit that turns me on (in the least), I can handle a speed skater in one......at least these dudes are in shape.

But when I have to look at John Belushi and Chris Farley reincarnated into an Olympic Bobsledding team I draw the line. Men with figures like NFL lineman SHOULD NOT WEAR LYCRA!!! I've got to live with that image burned onto my retinas for a lifetime. And for the love of all things optical (?), boys....TUCK YOUR JUNK.... puhleeeze. Or wear a cup. Or something???? It's bad enough I have to see your huge belly hanging out, but I've got to look at THAT too?

Jeeesh.

So, all I'm asking is for Nike or Ralph Lauren or Omar's Tent and Awning to please, please, please design something a little less "form" fitting for these poor dudes. You've got a whole four years to get this done.

Thank you.

Now....for this Chicken Salad. I've made this recipe in some variation for quite a while. I found it over at Smitten Kitchen (who adapted it from Gourmet) and have adapted it to fit my tastes and more importantly, what I have in my pantry at the time!!

I love the combination of the crunchy walnuts (or pecans), sweet dried cranberries (or cherries) and tangy dressing. And it's a perfect use for my weekly rotisserie chicken (or leftover chicken breasts).

I know everyone has their own favorite chicken salad recipe, but if you're looking for something easy and different, try this one!

Oh and go USA Hockey. Beat Canada!!! (At least hockey players don't wear lycra!)

Cranberry-Walnut Chicken Salad

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen who adapted it quite loosely from Gourmet!

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

1 rotisserie chicken, skin discarded and meat removed from bone and cubed into bite size pieces
1 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped
1 celery rib, diced into small bits
1 tablespoons finely chopped shallot
1 cup chopped, dried cranberries
1/4 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons dijon mustard
3 tablespoons tarragon vinegar, if you have it, or champagne or white wine vinegar works well, too
Salt and Pepper to taste

Combined the chicken, walnuts, celery, cranberries into large bowl

Combined the mayo, mustard, vinegar, and shallots in another bowl. Stir together well and pour as much as you need to coat chicken mixture. I don't always use it all depending on how much chicken I have. I don't like it overdressed.

Red Snapper with Capers and Tomatoes

Have I mentioned recently how flippin cold it's been in Alabama? Forever. Like, not a sign of global warming ANYWHERE. Al Gore???? For months. And it's snowed 37 times in three weeks.

OK, now all of my Ohio relatives are going to be calling bitching about my bitching because it has actually snowed 37 times in three weeks up there. And they tell me it's still there. At least ours is gone and it's FINALLY supposed to be in the mid-60's and sunny here this weekend. That's going to feel like 95 degrees after the winter we've been having.

And you know how when it's cold outside you tend to eat heavier dishes likes meaty stews and hearty soups? Well last week when it was miserable outside, I was in the mood for something that tasted like Spring and was light and healthy. And Whole Foods had some fabulous looking red snapper.

I found this recipe on Epicurious.com and it sounded like just what I was looking for. Except the original called for olives. I've said it before....I hate olives. So I left them out, but if you love olives, by all means keep them in here. It will be delicious either way.

This is an easy to pull together weeknight dish or absolutely fancy enough for guests. I served mine with some roasted potatoes and some crusty bread, but this would also be great with some brown rice. If you don't like snapper, I'm sure tilapia or even chicken would work.

Here's the recipe:

Red Snapper with Black Olives, Capers, and Tomatoes

Epicurious | September 2006

Michael Schlow

Ingredients:

25 black, salt-cured olives such as Gaeta or Kalamata, rinsed, pitted, and roughly chopped (I omitted these)
2 1/2 teaspoons bottled capers, rinsed
2 tablespoons plus 1 1/2 teaspoons red onion, finely diced
8 ripe plum tomatoes, cut into medium dice (I used cherry tomatoes)
10 large basil leaves, roughly chopped
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper plus more to taste
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
10 (6-ounce) red snapper fillets, skin on (I had two large filets)
1 cup canola oil (I used about a tablespoon of olive oil and a non-stick pan to cut down on the fat)
6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from 2 lemons)

In large bowl stir together olives, capers, red onion, tomatoes, basil, 3 tablespoons parsley, and olive oil. Add 2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and red pepper flakes, and let stand at room temperature 30 minutes.

Holding very sharp paring knife at 30-degree angle from fillets, cut 2 diagonal slits through skin and partially into flesh, making slits 1/2 inch apart.

In large heavy skillet over high heat, heat 1/3 cup canola oil until hot but not smoking. Working in 3 batches, sprinkle fillets with 1 tablespoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper and place skin-side down in hot pan. Saué until skin is rich golden brown, about 3 minutes, lowering heat if necessary to prevent burning. Turn fillets over and cook 3 minutes more. Transfer to platter and loosely cover with foil to keep warm. Cook remaining two batches in same manner, wiping pan clean between batches and starting with fresh oil for each batch. (I only had enough fish for one batch.)

After removing last batch of fish, (at this point I added a couple of cloves of minced garlic and then...) pour lemon juice into pan and swirl around to combine with pan juices. (I then added the tomato mixture to the pan just long enough to heat it through, about 3-5 minutes. I then poured it directly over the fish. In the summertime I may not heat it.) Drizzle over fish, then sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup parsley. Garnish with tomato-olive mixture.

TWD - My Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Dorie starts off her description of these cookies by calling them "Toll House cookies' kin". Well, for me, Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies have no relatives.....no cousins, no nieces, no nephews, no aunts or uncles.....no one.....no kin. Toll House cookies have reigned supreme in my house my entire life. It was the only thing I was allowed in the kitchen to make growing up. In fact, most days that was on my list of chores in the summer. It looked something like this......

Jill - Before you can go to the pool today, you must

1. Mow the yard - all three acres with a pushmower....the old fashioned kind that didn't take gas

2. Weed the entire garden

3. Dust the woodwork

4. CLEAN YOUR ROOM

5. Wash the house (not the inside.....the outside!)

6. Seal the blacktop driveway

7. Rake the leaves

8. Ride your bike uptown (13 miles) and get a gallon of milk

9. Mix up a batch of chocolate chip cookies

10. Wake your brother up in time to go to the pool with you but make sure he gets some cookies first.

Oh yeah. I had it rough.

So, Toll House cookies have a special place in my heart. I still make them for hubs. Have them perfected. I don't even need to look at the back of the package for the recipe anymore. Got it memorized. He loves them. So when I told him I had to make a different kind of CCC for TWD, he was all "Well, I'll try them, but I'm not gonna like them. But go ahead a waste your time."

I did but I opted for the "playing around" portion. I added some instant espresso powder to the dough. I think I just wanted to make them different enough that I wouldn't have to make comparisons.

I have to say.....even though these may not (repeat, may not) be the best CCC ever......by dog that dough is. I could eat the whole bowl of raw dough in one sitting. I keep imagining espresso cookie dough ice cream made with that stuff. Yum Yum Yum.

Oh and the cookies were pretty good too! Not at all like my cakey Toll House. These are a much flatter, crispier version but I love the combination of the bittersweet chocolate and the espresso powder. Oh an hubs has had half a dozen so far!

Head over to Kait's Plate for the recipe.

Bet's on how long it will take my mother to call me after she reads this post?? I'm thinking about 2 minutes!

Al forno

Here's how Wikipedia defines "Al forno".....

"In cooking, al forno is an Italian phrase describing food that is "at/from the oven". Baked pizza, breads and pasta dishes are often part of this genre.

Al forno is a term that described cuisine in Northern Italy which has the tradition of using wood-burning ovens and open-flame grills. Wood-fired pizza ovens have often been constructed by Italian restaurants that offer "al forno" or "furnace" to continue this tradition. This style has spread all over the Mediterranean in terms of becoming a bread, pasta, dough cooking technique. The brick oven has become a kind of symbol for "al forno" with its arched oven door and a wooden board upon which the food was put in and taken out, the wood acting as a kind of insulator."

I'm not sure when I first became enamored with al forno cooking, or pizza ovens, as they're commonly called. We've all seen them over the years in restaurants/pizza shops but I think I first started paying attention while sitting at the chef's counter at my favorite restaurant in Birmingham, the Hot and Hot Fish Club. Over the last several years of sitting there and watching them use their oven, I've become fascinated at all they use it for.

It ain't just for pizzas, baby! They used it for steaks, mini-casseroles, breads, etc. I don't think they even have a pizza on their menu!

But I really became hooked after our trip to Exclusive Resorts Tuscany properties in November of 2007.

In this beautiful Italian home was an authentic wood fired oven. I was so excited that we asked the chefs to dedicate a special night to teaching all of us how to make pizza's in that oven. They taught us how to light it, how to manage the coals, and most importantly how to make pizzas. I was sure I had taken a picture of the oven, but when I went back through my photos, I couldn't find one. The closest one I had is the one below.....the oven is directly to the left of the table.

I owe these two for convincing me that if I ever built an outdoor kitchen, I was absolutely installing a pizza oven.

And it arrived last week. All 1,300 lbs of it!!!

Of course, the contractor building the pool house had picked up the fork lift the day before, so we had to get creative getting it from the delivery truck up the driveway! Let's just say it took a village!

But we managed and were able to get it unpacked.

How freaking handsome is that??

Looks like a miniature igloo.

Can't you just smell the pizzas, breads, steaks.........

I'll keep you posted on it's progress!

Happy Valentines Day said with BB Coconut Cupcakes

First and foremost, Happy Valentines Day to my Valentine!

I said "I love you, man" with Ina's Coconut Cupcakes. He said "I love you, woman" by eating two large and three mini's as fast as I could frost them.

Here's where I show my amazing prowess in the kitchen by admitting that the "coconut" part of the cupcakes was, well, lacking you might say. I, genius baker, forgot to put the coconut in the batter. I didn't realize this until I had filled 12 regular size and 10 kabillion mini size cups with the batter and thought, "what the hell makes these coconut......just the frosting?" So I re-read the ingredient list again and oopsy......was supposed to fold 14 oz of coconut into the batter before filling cups. Too late.

I can't imagine how decadent these are made correctly because they're freaking amazing screwed up! It's just a great basic batter. Personally, I think the addition of the almond extract in both the batter and the frosting is why I love them so much. Such great flavor.

And if you happen to be in the Birmingham area and would like to try one, I have them coming out my ears. Halve the recipe unless you have an army to feed. I hope my skinny tennis team likes coconut!!

Here's the recipe:

Coconut Cupcakes

1999, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, All rights reserved

Ingredients:

3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
5 extra-large eggs at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons pure almond extract
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk
14 ounces sweetened, shredded coconut

For the frosting:

1 pound cream cheese at room temperature
3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
1 1/2 pounds confectioners' sugar, sifted

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs, 1 at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and mix well.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In 3 parts, alternately add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the batter, beginning and ending with the dry. Mix until just combined. Fold in 7 ounces of coconut.

Line a muffin pan with paper liners. Fill each liner to the top with batter. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove to a baking rack and cool completely.

Meanwhile, make the frosting. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, on low speed, cream together the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla and almond extracts. Add the confectioners' sugar and mix until smooth.

Frost the cupcakes and sprinkle with the remaining coconut.

Thanks to Jamie of Jamie's Green Kitchen for this week's pick. Fabulous!!

Pool House Updates

Even through some freakishly cold and rainy Alabama winter weather the pool house is making progress. We got a lot of things accomplished before we left for vacation.

We picked out our spa.

We ordered the wood-fired pizza oven. Soooooo excited about this.

And we decided on the pool decking. Actually we changed our mind on pool decking/pool house floor. We were originally going to go with Peacock pavers, but decided we liked the look of the flagstone better.

They were busy putting up the roof trusses before we left for Hawaii, so this is what it looked like before....

And this is what we came home to a week later!!

There were a few minor framing mistakes, but nothing that's hard to fix.

I can really start to see what it's going to look like now and I'm ready for them to hurry up and finish.

And for the weather to WARM UP. Please.

TWD - Yummy, gooey, Rick Katz brownies

Before we start talking about these brownies, I like to give a big FAT thank-you to the lady that sat in seat 2D on my flight from LA to Hawaii on Jan. 31st. That would be the Delta flight that also lost my luggage, but I digress. The fine lady in seat 2D hacked up a lung for the entire 6+ hour flight (yes, I said 6+ hours.....thank you very much head wind). She sniffed and blew and coughed and I'm sure contaminated the entire first class cabin. I can personally attest to the fact that those germs made their way to seat 4C with no problem. This woman was so scary that the poor Asian couple seated in 3C and 3D pulled out their little white SARS masks and wore them for the entire flight. I giggled at the time, but am now kicking myself for not politely seeing if they had an extra one.

So on top of having some beastly jet-lag, I also get to battle a really stuffy head. Which means I'm moving a little slower than usual so I didn't get this week's TWD posted on time.

But, ohhhhh mamamama, if anything could make me feel better, it's these. These just kicked Ina's brownies to the curb. Sorry, Ina. These are ooey and gooey and chocolatey and salty(?). Yeah, for some reason you can really taste the salt in these....in a good way. There's only a teaspoon and I used unsalted butter, so I don't quite understand, but whatev. It works.

There's an extra step in making these that involves combining the eggs and sugar and then separating that mixture in half. You add one half directly to the chocolate mixture and you whip the other half in your stand mixer for three minutes and then gently incorporate into the chocolate mixture. Understand? A little confusing but I think that's what made the texture of these so amazing.

Thanks to Tanya of Chocolatechic (can you imagine.....someone who's blog is named that picking this recipe? hehe) for this fabulous pick. Head over to her site for the recipe. I happen to love her blog, BTW.

Exclusive Resorts - Ho'olei

If you've been stopping by here looking for TWD or BB recipes, you come to the wrong place this week! The only baking going on here is me by the pool. Actually, I may have over-baked. If you're thinking of exploring any caves in the near future, you may want to take my forehead along to light the way! Jeeesh. It's gonna be precious when it starts to peel.

But I'll take burnt foreheads as opposed to, well, just about anything if I get them here.

Hubs and I are in Hawaii celebrating 20 blissful years together. Well most of them were blissful. Okay, a couple of them. I swear at least two of them were. Just kidding. He's the love of my life (except for Raffie) and he knows it.

We're staying at Exclusive Resorts He'olei property and that's our view. If you're an ER member, we're in 55-1 which, according to Danny, the concierge-extraordinaire, is his favorite unit and also the largest. I can't personally confirm that so we'll just take his word for it. I can personally confirm that it's very nice, has a great view and I like the location.....about 100 steps to the pool!

Nice spacious kitchen and great room combo with two walls of glass that slide completely out of the way to allow for some great island breezes to come in. It also allows for birds to fly right in, too. Which freaked me out, so we mostly left them closed! Don't like birds in the house.

Nice little outdoor kitchen area.

The master bedroom is huge and has it's own walk-out patio, but it's located a floor below the main level which would be my only complaint regarding the layout.

Nice, large master bathroom. The water for the tub comes out of the ceiling. Not sure why, but it does. A little strange if you ask me. And you did.

This is the junior master and it's on the main level.

The third bedroom (next to the master on the lower level) is a bunk room for the chitlins. We didn't bring any of those.

ER members staying at Ho'olei have full access to all of the amenities across the street at the Grand Wailea, including all 3,754 of the swimming pools. No seriously, they have that many. And they were all pretty crowded. We went over there every morning to walk the path along the ocean and I saw all the people getting out there early to get their chairs.

Your other choice is the pool right there at Ho'olei. I think the crowded day there were about 10 people there. Once, we looked around and WE WERE THE ONLY ONES THERE!!! Saweet. There's a couple of waterfalls for ambience......

a fake beach for the little ones.....

and LOADS of space.

So that's the skinny on ER's residences, but let's get to what I really came for. The mai-tai's!! I love mai-tai's anywhere but never as much as in Hawaii. And the fruit. OMG the pineapple. I've OD'd.

And the beaches.....

At sunset......

Is there anything more beautiful than a Hawaiian sunset?

Stunning.