Dinner tonight... French Toast, Apple Cider Donuts, Orange Slices and Free Trade Hot Cocoa

Mr. Fritz loves french toast. He loves it so much that he had it every day during our honeymoon back in June. (I didn't try it until the last day of our trip and boy was I mad at myself - that was some amazing french toast!) Luckily for me (and Mr. Fritz, come to think of it), my sweet mother is a pro at making french toast. She taught me how to make it when I was just a kid, so whipping it up is second nature to me at this point and tonight I went a little wild and served it for dinner.

The secret to really good french toast, in my opinion, is adding a dash of vanilla, a splash of cream and a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar to the eggs before dipping the bread into them. Those additions elevate the flavor profile from bland to bodacious (sorry, couldn't think of another good "b" word. Also, I'm a little punchy tonight). In terms of preparation, I usually melt a little butter in a skillet, then dip the bread piece by piece into the egg bath before transferring to the pan. Then I cook the french toast on medium high for a few minutes per side -- basically to the desired level of golden brown. And I serve it with more cinnamon sugar, butter and maple syrup.

Tonight Mr. Fritz also noshed on couple of apple cider donuts from The Apple House in Linden, Virginia. These donuts make me think of the ones we used to eat when we visited the cider mill during field trips when I was in grade school. Michigan is known for its apples and where there are apples, you can be sure to find apple cider donuts. Apple House donuts are rolled in cinnamon sugar and are wonderfully dense and moist all at once. My donut connoisseur of a husband looks forward to getting his annual fix each fall.

And to finish off the breakfast-as-dinner theme, I cut up a navel orange into slices and served up a cup of Fair Trade Organic Hot Cocoa from Trader Joe's. This hot cocoa, along with Nestle's Double Chocolate Meltdown (available at most grocery stores) wins my pick for best instant hot cocoa mix. Both are rich, smooth, and call to me with their chocolately goodness when the temperature drops the way it has in the past few days.

What is your favorite breakfast-for-dinner meal? Share your picks in the comments!

Dinner tonight... Calzones Stuffed with Pepperoni and Mushrooms

This weekend we went away to the country with friends and I was responsible for making dinner Friday night. Since I wasn't sure exactly how many people would arrive in time for the meal, I overbought on pizza ingredients from Trader Joe's. That meant that tonight, when it was time to make dinner for me and Mr. Fritz, I had leftover dough, pepperoni, mushrooms, cheese and sauce to play with. Instead of making yet another pizza, I decided to try making individual calzones -- basically big pockets of dough filled with pizza fixings.


The process was simple. I divided the dough in half and stretched each piece into a big oval. Then I layered the following over half of each oval, leaving about a half-inch bare around the edge: sauce, cheese, pepperoni, mushrooms (on mine only, since I know Mr. Fritz avoids them when possible), more cheese and a couple more dollops of sauce. Then I folded the non-toppings-laden half of each oval over the fillings, pinched the edges all the way around to seal the toppings inside, pricked our initials in the top of each one so that air could escape as they baked (and so that I could remember which was which when I went to serve them), and put them into the oven at 425 degrees for 10 minutes. Pretty soon they were lightly browned and steaming hot. A complete meal which took all of 5 minutes to prepare. Simple, hearty, and perfect for a cold evening at the end of a busy, fun weekend!

PS: If you've never tried Trader Joe's fresh pizza dough, I must insist that you seek it out the next time you are thinking of making homemade pizza. It has a sweetness to it that makes it truly spectacular.

Dinner tonight...Spicy Apricot-Glazed Chicken, Jasmine Rice and Steamed Green Beans

Tonight's meal came together in about 20 minutes -- can't beat that. I started by getting a pot of jasmine rice cooking on the stove. The kitchen almost immediately began smelling wonderfully fragrant, which put me in a happy mood as I continued to prepare the various parts.

Next, I set a steamer over an inch or so of water in a saute pan and steamed the green beans for five or so minutes. As soon as the green beans were on the stove, I put the chicken in the oven.

By the time the rice was finished (it takes about 15 minutes to simmer to completion), the chicken was nearly there (I roasted it for 10 minutes at 350), and the green beans were finished steaming, just waiting to be plated (and once they were plated, I sprinkled them with powdered ginger and spritzed fresh lime juice over them, along with salt and pepper). Easy peasy. An all around tasty meal and one I would definitely make again.


A couple of notes: the recipe for Spicy Apricot-Glazed Chicken is pretty simple, but I simplified it even more by roasting instead of broiling, and by spreading the apricot jam onto the chicken before sliding it into the oven, versus midway through the cooking process.

Dinner tonight... Braised Chicken with Dried Figs plus Parmesan and Pepper Polenta

Tonight's meal was good but not spectacular, possibly because my salt grinder (which arrived full with Mr. Fritz in May) is just about empty. Plus, I made a couple of changes to both recipes, some for better, some for worse. For instance, the polenta recipe, from the September issue of Everyday Food, is actually called Pecorino and Pepper Polenta, but since I was lacking Pecorino, I subbed in Parmesan instead. Pecorino is possibly a little nuttier than parm, so perhaps if I'd followed the recipe more closely, the end result would have yielded a fuller taste. It was also, to be fair, my first attempt ever at making polenta from scratch (corn meal, water, butter, salt, pepper and cheese) and perhaps with practice I could bring out the flavor. In any case, it really is easy to make and I will probably give it another try at a later date.


I also altered the recipe for the chicken, but in this case, for the better I think. The recipe, Braised Chicken with Dried Plums, calls for bone-in, skinless chicken thighs. I used boneless breasts instead. And I subbed in dried figs for the dried plums because the idea of prunes wasn't as appealing as figs to my palate. I followed the recipe just the same, which calls for browning the chicken first, then removing it from the pan and sauteing some onions, a little flour and then deglazing with white wine before returning the chicken to the pot, covering it and letting it simmer for 15-18 minutes before tossing in the dried fruit. The technique of braising left the chicken nice and tender, and the gravy that it cooked in made for a lovely sauce over the chicken and the polenta. I'd definitely make it again.

Also, a tip: miniature bottles of wine come in very handy when you generally only use wine to cook with. (Wow. Poor sentence structure there!) I picked up a four pack of pinot griegio at the Teeter a couple of weeks or so ago and have since used a couple of the 2-cup bottles in recipes such as this one as well as a reprise of the Tomato and Sausage Risotto that I made for Mr. Fritz for dinner Sunday night. Very handy and a relief not to have to open a whole bottle of wine when only a small portion is needed for a dish.

Dinner tonight... Grilled Salmon with Ginger-Orange Mustard Glaze

Another Tuesday, another new-to-us salmon recipe. This time, I tried a recipe from the Complete Cooking Light Cookbook, Grilled Salmon with Ginger-Orange Mustard Glaze. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it in the CookingLight.com database, so I've included it below, adding in my own notes. If you happen to have this cookbook (the one with the purple cover), you can find it on page 225. It was worth typing in because it was really tasty - enough that Mr. Fritz remarked about its tastiness without provocation. (Always a good sign!) I paired it with sugar snap peas sauteed in a little olive oil, sesame oil and sesame seeds. And I rounded out the meal with dilled orzo. The whole thing came together in around 25 minutes, and clean up was pretty snappy, too, since I broiled the salmon on a baking sheet covered with foil.


GRILLED SALMON WITH GINGER-ORANGE MUSTARD GLAZE
Source: The Complete Cooking Light Cookbook
Prep: 5 minutes
Marinate: 30 minutes (I skipped this step and just brushed it on before broiling)
Cook: 10 minutes

1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup tamari or soy sauce
1/4 cup cream sherry (I skipped this because I didn't have any)
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
2 Tbs grated peeled fresh ginger (I used the bottled kind)
2 Tbs honey
4 (6-ounce) salmon filets (about 1 inch thick), silver skin removed
Cooking spray
Green onions and lemon slices (optional)

Combine first six ingredients in a large ziptop plastic bag. Add fish to bag, seal and marinate in refrigerator for 30 minutes. Remove fish from bag, reserve marinade.

Prepare grill or broiler.

Place fish on grill rack or broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Cook 5 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork, basting frequently with reserved marinade (note, I didn't turn the fish over -- just let it broil the whole time on the same side and it worked just fine. I also didn't bother to baste while cooking. Instead, I spooned the marinade over the fish after I'd set the fish on the baking sheet and moved on.)

Place reserved marinade ino a saucepan; bring to a boil. (I skipped this step as well, because I didn't allow the rest of the marinade to come in contact with the raw fish. Since no contact means no worries about bacteria contamination, I was able to just pour the reserved marinade into a couple of sake cups and serve it as it was.) Serve with fish; garnish with green onions and lemon slices if desired. Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 fillet and 3 Tb of glaze)

Dinner tonight... Orange-and-Thyme Grilled Shrimp, Couscous with Carrots and Cilantro, Shitake Mushrooms

We were delighted to have the newly-married Mrs. Palmer join us for dinner this evening. She's visiting from New York City and this is the first time we've seen each other for a non-wedding-related event (hers or ours) since sometime in 2007. Mrs. Palmer and I have been friends for more than a decade and although it was wonderfully fun to share our engagement seasons together after all these years, we both agreed that it was thrilling to just relax and catch up, relieved to have all manner of wedding festivities behind us. It was also fun to have the chance to cook for her. When she arrived, the first thing she said to Mr. Fritz was: "Tonight, Mr. Fritz, she's feeding me!"

And feed them I did. Tonight's meal consisted of two Everyday Food recipes plus a repeat of the shitake mushrooms first attempted a few days ago:


Orange-and-Thyme Grilled Shrimp is a very simple and flavorful preparation. Marinate shrimp in a little orange juice, orange zest, olive oil, garlic and fresh thyme, skewer (I used metal skewers) and grill or broil for 3 minutes per side. Couldn't be easier.

Couscous with Carrot and Cilantro is great in that it takes about 10 minutes to make, yet tastes fresh and bright. To make, bring one cup of water to a boil, add 2/3 cup couscous, cover and remove from heat. Let it sit for 7 minutes, then fluff and mix in grated carrot and chopped cilantro, plus a little olive oil. The hardest part is grating the carrot, but a box grater does the trick nicely.

Shitake mushrooms with lemon and parsley rounded out the meal. I stir-fried the mushrooms in olive oil, then once they were softened, added a pat of butter, some chopped parsley and fresh lemon juice. Mrs. Palmer remarked with surprise that the mushrooms and the shrimp tasted better together than she expected. To which Mr. Fritz noted that shrimp and mushrooms are two of my favorite foods. To which I thought silently to myself: he's starting to actually pay attention to what I like to eat. Sweet! In all seriousness, the next time I make the mushrooms, I think I'll add a sprinkle of sesame seeds to finish them off.

This was, in all, a great meal to make on a night when I wanted things to come together quickly while also being able to enjoy time with our guest.

Baking for Mr. Fritz: Cranberry Bread

The title of this blog post will be amusing to those who know me, because the truth is, I don't really bake. Unlike my sisters -- who can bake cookies, cakes, fudge and more at what is basically a professional level -- I did not inherit my mom's baking gene. I don't have the patience for measuring things carefully and, well, I guess that's my main problem: I don't have the patience to measure things carefully, which is the key to baking success. Nevertheless, I feel like I ought to at least try to satisfy Mr. Fritz's active sweet tooth with something more than just his daily ration of two Entenmann's donuts. So, I decided to give this Everyday Food recipe for Cranberry Bread a try.

It's a fairly simple recipe: mix up the dry ingredients (flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt) in one bowl and the wet ingredients (melted butter, one large egg, and some whole milk) in another. Add the wet to the dry, fold in a bag of fresh cranberries, pour into a buttered and floured loaf pan and bake for 350 for an hour and 15 minutes.


I will admit, the freewheeling cook in me surfaced briefly while I was pulling it together and I ended up modifying the recipe just a bit: I had some leftover light coconut milk from another recipe, so I subbed that for the whole milk. I thought it might cut some of the tartness of the cranberries, plus I just didn't want to waste it. Hopefully it will work similarly to regular milk. I guess when it comes down to it, you can take the cook out of the kitchen but you can't take the kitchen out of the cook. Or something like that. Verdict on my Frankenloaf? Very tasty! Maybe I should try this baking thing more often. Or perhaps I shouldn't push my luck...