I Guess You Could Call This Meal Fajitas...

Hey Ma-

I've been craving Mexican food for a while now. There's this restaurant that John and I really love called Juan's Place in Berkeley that's a staple in the area. We used to go with our friends Mona and Martin pretty regularly a few years back. Anyway, with M around and school and work and all that that entails we haven't been in a while. They make reaaaaaally good fajitas, though, and this is what I've been particularly craving as of late.

Anyway, the other night with Juan's on the brain I threw together this dinner. It was totally edible and fine, but it was so decidedly not Juan's fajitas that I couldn't help but feel disappointed. Also, I forgot beans. Not cool.

To make this, I sliced up a bell pepper and an onion and set them aside. Then I sliced up one chicken breast and one chicken thigh. I've been really into the dark meat on chicken lately and thought the light and dark combo would be good. It was. I tossed the chicken in a little olive oil, salt, cayenne, dried orange peel and cumin and threw it in a hot skillet to brown before adding in the veggies. I made some rice and heated up a few tortillas and voila--a totally edible if less than exciting dinner.



So it goes. I was pretty pleased with the way the chicken tasted, just for the record.

Off to school. Tonight it's leftover thai take-out (yum).

XXOO
-R

Cookies That Command Ice Cream

Hey Ma-

So, the other day in some odd moment of lull I was thumbing through Real Simple when I happened to notice a cookie recipe that they called super easy. I'd had cookies on the brain what with the round-up from last week and the recipes everyone's (yes, ahem, EVERYONE...that means send us one if you haven't!) sending us for our cyber recipe swap. Plus, sometimes when I see the word "easy" I take it as a challenge. You know those days where easy seems just completely and utterly impossible? And then something has the audacity to label itself easy to spite you? I was having one of those days and I decided I needed to show these Real Simple really!-simply!-easy! cookies what's up. I even went so far as to go to the grocery store to buy the one ingredient I needed to make these pecan lace drop cookies, all in the name of validating my sense that NOTHING is actually easy.


Oh man was I wrong. This is the view down through my cooking racks. It took but a few ingredients, a pot and a bowl to get this pretty view. And less than an hour! For all of these pretty little cookies! And goodness these lacy treats are good. Sweet and nutty and oh so delicate they're pretty darn tasty on their own, but one bite and I just KNEW they'd be even better with some vanilla ice cream.

This was totally one of those days when I set out to let the universe know once and for all that it sucked and it boldly decided not to spit in my face (as I had so hoped), but to give me a sweet little surprise.

To top the whole ordeal off (because clearly this was an ordeal, albeit a really excellent one in the end), I couldn't get good enough light at night to photograph with. And so, the day after I baked, I had no choice but to make a little ice cream sundae for lunch. Oh, the things I do to share my life in recipes with you, Ma.


Anyway, in case it wasn't clear, you should totally make these. I'm going to make them again and again and again. Click here to follow my lead.

XXOO
-R

Books That Make Us Hungry: Happy Haulidays from Chronicle Books Giveaway!

Yes, readers, the holidays are upon us soon, and Chronicle Books, a real favorite of ours here at Life Told in Recipes, is having a lovely little contest where we can all win. Here's how it works. We create a list of books we would love to win (see below). Then you just comment on the books and why you'd like to be a winner. Then on Dec. 13 Chronicle picks a winning blog AND one reader from that blog who has commented. We both then get a happy shipment of the books on this list.

How great is that!!!! Could it be any simpler??? This is the proverbial win-win for us all so spread the word to your friends etc.

Without further ado our list of top faves:

Cake Pops by Bakerella (yes we already did one giveaway of this book but we had so many interested readers, that we would love to spread the love here some more)

Farmers' Market Desserts by Jennie Schacht (the more dessert cookbooks the better, we say)

Whoopie Pies by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell (ditto to dessert cookbook comment)

Savory Baking Pastries by Mary Cech and Noel Barnhurst (clearly a baking theme is emerging here)

Cupcake Kit by Elinor Kilvan (because the more cupcakes in the world, the better for us all)

The Big Book of Appetizers by Meridith Deeds and Carla Snyder (who doesn't love throwing a dinner party with lots of great appetizers?)

Delicious Dips AND Skinny Dips by Diane Morgan (we could go low or high-fat if we had both of these wonderful books)

Soup's On by Leslie Jonah and Frank Frankeny (nothing is better for warming the heart on a wintry day than homemade soup)

At Home with Friends by Michele Adams, Gia Russo and Victorial Peisor (tips for fab entertaining)

Blackbird Bakery's Gluten Free Baking by Karen Morgan (we're curious about this and what better way to try out the idea)

Time for Dinner by Pilar Guzman, Alanna Stang and Jenny Rosentrach (everything every busy parent needs to know to put quick, healthy meals on the table seven days a week)

Commonsense Kitchen: 500 Recipes Plus Lessons for a Hand-crafted Life by Tom Hudgens (appeals to our obsessive recipe collection natures)

Latin Grill: Sultry and Simple Food for Red Hot Dinners and Parties by Rafael Palomino, Arlen Gargagliano and Dan Goldberg (who doesn't love spicy food?)

Love in Spoonfuls: Fast and EAsy Ways to Make Nutritious Food for Your Baby (The Divine Miss M deserves this!)

Book of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks by Bethany Keeley (one of us is a grammar freak)

Mom's One-Line a Day: 5-Year Memory Book (one of us is a new mom who STILL talks about how her mother, the other one of us, didn't do a baby book about her; this is the revenge gift)

Baby Face Nesting Blocks (another gift for the Divine Miss M)

and a few Moleskins planners and notebooks because they are the coolest books ever for keeping track of life's stuff.

So that's it. We want to win because we want YOU to win! So comment below and spread the word.....

Happy Haulidays to all!

Janet and Rachel

tex mex anyone?

Hey Rachel
As the weather gets colder, Mexican inspired food is one of my go-to comfort foods. This recipe is adapted from something my friend, Arianne, served one night. She's an outstanding cook and as soon as I had it, I wanted to know how to recreate it. It takes a little time to create, but it is totally worth the wait.

Tex Mex Lasagne
serves 4

ingredients
2 onions
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 red pepper, diced
4 skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup oil
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
12 ounces beer
16 ounces refried beans--I prefer black
16 ounces salsa
12 small tortillas
2 cups grated cheese
cilantro to taste
sour cream

method

In a skillet saute the onion, pepper and garlic. Add the chicken and spices. Add the vinegar and 1 1/4 cups beer. Save the rest of the beer rather than drinking it :). Simmer.

In another pan, heat the beans with the rest of the beer and about 1/2 cup salsa until spreadable.

Heat the oil. Quickly cook the tortillas, about 5-10 seconds a side. Put on paper towels to get rid of excess oil.

Heat oven to 325 degrees.

In a 9 X 13 inch pan create your tortilla towers. Place 4 tortillas in the pan. Spread the 1/2 the bean mixture on all four, followed by 1/2 the chicken mixture and 1/3 the cheese and some salsa. Then place 4 tortillas on top of those and repeat. Then top with the remaining 4 tortillas. Place remaining salsa and cheese on top. Bake for 35 minutes.

C is for Cookies (and G is for Give Us Your Recipes!)

Hey Folks-

Rachel here. Remember a few days back when I wrote about wanting to collect recipes from all of you to create a little communal blogosphere cookbook (click here to read the post)? I thought that, to help get us all in the holiday baking mood, I'd do a round-up of our cookie posts from the past. Man have we--and our guest bloggers!--made a lot of cookies. Click on through and then let us know what your favorite cookie (or other foods!) recipe is.

Happy weekend!

XXOO
-R

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies and Glazed Molasses-Spice Cookies
Ultimate Ginger Cookies and Oatmeal Cookies with Raisins, Cranberries, Walnuts and Chocolate Chips
Emma and Sage's Oma's (Chocolate Chip) Oatmeal Cookies
Grandma Reynolds' Date-Nut Bars and Lemon Bars
Gigi's Veganized Carrot Sandwich Cookies
Homemade Honey Ginger Graham Crackers
Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies and Chocolate Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Mookies
Creamy Lemon Macadamia Cookies and Sugar Cookies

Help! My Magazines Have Fallen and I Can't Get Up!

Hey Rachel

There are many reasons to invite friends over for dinner. Obviously pouring over my many cookbooks and magazines to find interesting recipes to make is one. So, too, is the anticipation of good conversation and wine. But the other obvious reason to invite people over for dinner regularly is so I can rediscover my dining room table.

As the editor of a home and lifestyle magazine (shameless plug for you to check it out on Facebook at life@home magazine or online at www.timesunion.com/lifeathome), I know all about clutter and feng shui and how all our useless stuff gets in the way of our clear thoughts and emotions etc. I have written articles on it for God's sake.

But then the reality of my life hits, and I put things aside to read later and suddenly what began as a small pile of paper takes on a life of its own. This little foible is particularly problematic when it comes to magazines. I am a magazine addict and in particular magazines that feature recipes. I regularly turn down pages of recipes I want to try, and then place the magazine on the dining room table — where I promptly forget about it for the most part until it looks like this.



And this is just the magazines with recipes. The table also included my many (very organized in my head, thank you) piles of research for this book I was working on. Needless to say, we hadn't eaten there in a while.

Enter the dinner party. I was sick of looking at the mess and wanted to celebrate the fall and create a nice tablescape for the table, so I invited friends over and started tossing. I was conflicted about what to do with the recipes and decided to rip the pages out of the magazines. So now I have a nice (much thinner) pile of magazine pages. It's not the best organized concept, but at least it's a step. And the dinner party was a blast.

Does anybody have any suggestions for how to handle this magazine recipe addiction? How do you all organize your recipes? I could seriously use the help!

Sleet? Soup!

Hey Rachel

Oh, I feel your pain. That whole everyone-is-sick deal is absolutely awful, because of course as the parent — wait, I am going to amend that to as the mother — you don't actually get to be sick. Ever. Even when you are the only person in the house who aches and is throwing up, you still have to perform, especially when your children are the size of Miss M.

Remember that time when at least two of you and I had a stomach bug at the same time? I don't want to go into too many details or no one will want to read the rest of this food blog (and I have a delicious recipe coming), but it was grim. We'll just leave it at that and let everyone imagine their own nightmare. I do remember looking at the clock and wondering why the minute hand was not moving. Peter, I was sure, was never actually going to come home from work and I would be lying on that floor with you and G until we passed on. I was obviously delirious.

But soup is perfect for colds. It's also perfect for cold weather, which is what prompted me to create this wonderful soup I really recommend. I was inspired by some soup I had in our company cafeteria last week. They called it Baja Soup and it was definitely Mexican in its influences. My version isn't exactly the same, but it is damn tasty. I encourage you to make it when you are all feeling better.

Mexican Soup
serves at least 6

ingredients
2 skinless chicken breasts, chopped into bite size pieces
1 onion, chopped
2 cans petite cut diced tomatoes with jalapenos
1 15 ounce can black beans, rinsed
about 1 cup of frozen corn
1-2 teaspoons chili powder
salt and pepper to taste
red pepper flakes to taste
16 ounces or so of vegetable or chicken broth


method
Saute the onion in a couple tablespoons of oil. After a couple of minutes, when they are just beginning to get translucent, add the chicken and spices. Cook until the chicken is just done, stirring frequently.

In a large stock pot, add the tomatoes, broth, black beans and corn. When the chicken and onion mix is done, add to the pot and adjust the amount of liquid to suit your soup tastes. I like my soups thicker, but you might like yours brothier. Adjust seasoning as well. Serve with some good bread and cheese, and you're good to go.