2013 In Review: Williamsburg, VA

Trip to Williamsburg, VA in July with 2 grown ups and 2 kids (ages 5 and 8). 

The Williamsburg Outlet are in the area as well as other shops. There are plenty of places to eat and, if camping isn't for you, there are many hotels/lodges of varying prices in the area.

Lodging
Anvil Campground in a tent: this place was very close to the railroad tracks. These aren't little trains going by either, these were huge commercial trains that were 2-5 minutes long that ran several times a day including a couple times at night. But would we stay there again? Yes. For the price and location it was great. There was a pool and a playground, running water and hot showers. There was a camp office store, fire wood, and a place to do laundry if needed. Just bring ear plugs for the trains.


Places of Interest

Walk thru bird exhibit at Bush Gardens

Busch Garden - If you are in the military and have dependents you get free tickets! If not, like me, it is about $80. We were there on 4th of July so they had IllumiNights live performances and fireworks at the close of the day. During the day we we were able to go to many live performances, music shows, and animal exhibits. There was a water park the kids were able to go to and the lines for the rides were very short which was great. We spent the whole day there but staggered the performances throughout the day. Bring water bottles and you can fill them up at all the water fountains in the park. Busch Garden is open from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m..

Colonial Williamsburg

Colonial Williamsburg - is the nations largest living history museum and one of my favorite places. Start at the Regional Visitor Center where, with a paid ticket, you can park for free and take a shuttle to the Historic Areas. It is a short walk to the historic sights if you'd prefer to walk. The visitor center also has an orientation video and has maps/schedule of events for the day. If you don't have tickets yet you'll be there anyways. 
One day was enough for the kids but Anthony and I went back again later in the year without them. There are many different trades (weavers, dress makers, tailors, silversmith, several types of wood working professions, apothecary, gun smiths, armory, etc) houses that you will be able to find something of interest! One of the activities they have for the kids is RevQuest; See the Revolutionary City through the eyes of an undercover agent. You have clues and questions to ask the staff to find out the answers! Open Daily, 9-5; Single day tickets - adult (13+) 41.95; child (6-12) $20.95; VA Resident Pass

Historic Jamestowne - This is the site of the first permanent English settlement in America and it is an active archaeological dig site. With the 2 kids this was a solid day of activities (below). At the visitor center there are activities for the kids which we did toward the end of the day. We were there for about 5 hours. Open daily 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission: $14.00 for adults (16+); children (<16) Free (with NPS pass, $5/person); VA Resident Annual Special pass.The Nathalie P. and Alan M. Voorhees Archaearium - the story of Jane and the survival of Jamestown during the “starving time”. The museum is open from 9:30-5:30. The exhibit only took about 30 minutes to go through. It wasn't gruesome or explicit so it is ok for kids to see, but they weren't very interested and it was not a hands-on museum. 
In the Trenches Tour - $32; This was an awesome tour done by the archaeologist Dr William Kelso. You are walking through the active dig site and he describes in great detail how the dig was started, the thesis for why they picked that location and where they think they will find more artifacts. We were able to watch the archaeologists actively unearth horse remains and listen to a specialist come and speak to the workers about what they had found.

Savory Roasted Vegetables

Tis the season of summer bounty! Yay fresh veggies!! This will take about an hour to prepare and cook. The most time consuming part of this recipe is chopping up all of the vegetables.

Roasting veggies can be done in big batches with little effort and can be stored for a week. They can be served hot or cold, as a side dish or part of the main meal. I have served the veggies over rice or in a homemade tortilla flat bread. But also in a sandwich with hummus, on a pizza or in a quesadilla!

You can use whatever veggies looked good at the market, were on sale, or you had extra laying around! I used oregano because I like that herb, but you could also use parsley, thyme, basil, etc.  Also, the amount of oil will change based upon how many veggies you are cooking and need to cover.

PS Someday I will invest in a better camera beside my phone and I will work on my presentation skills! I swear this was tasty and I will be making it again!

Roasted Veggies
Serves 3 (as a main dish)
 
1 zucchini, circle slices
1 med eggplant, sliced into sticks, salted and let sit in a strainer for 30 minutes, rinsed
~1/2 cup Carrots, sliced into sticks
1/2 red pepper, sliced
1/2 orange pepper, sliced
~1 cups chopped broccoli, large chopped
1/4 lg onion, large dice or sliced

1/4-1/2 cup Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
1/4 tsp Oregano (optional)
1/4 tsp Red pepper flakes (optional)

Combine olive oil, salt & pepper to taste, oregano, red pepper flakes (optional).

Toss veggies in olive oil. Spread onto a cookie sheet in one layer.  Use more than one sheet if necessary. Roast in oven at 425F for 20-35 minutes. They should start to get a little crispy but not burning.

If you want the veggies to be softer and are at the amount of "crisp" that you want, continue to cook at 350F.

Tangy Asian Meatballs (Baked not Fried)

This is a great no stove top recipe. I was looking for slow cooker recipes, however many recipes need less then 6 hours, but more then 4 which is not ideal for a work day. So I took the meatball recipe from  here and baked it instead of 3-5 hours on low in the slow cooker.

After combining all the ingredients I thought the meat mixture was a little wet (i.e. not like cookie dough)... so I called my Dad! He said that meatballs are supposed to look like that and it would be fine once they are cooked. He was right! So if your meatballs don't quite look right, they might cook up just fine! He also recommends lining the baking dish with tin foil. This makes for a fast clean up and prevents all the sauces from baking into the dish and never coming off the pan.

I made a few changes, I used ground turkey instead of ground pork and I omitted the plum sauce since I didn't have any in the house. I was worried the ground turkey would be dry, but I didn't miss using pork (or a mix of meats) at all! These were very moist and flavorful.

If you use fresh ginger, you can peel the rest of the piece of ginger and freeze it in a zip lock bag. When you are ready to use it you can grate what you need and then store it back in the freezer.

Panko breadcrumbs are bigger flakes of breadcrumbs. You can use whatever plain breadcrumbs you have on hand.

I would make these again and freeze a few to see how they and I can pre-make them.  

PS It is easy to grow fresh scallions too. When you buy scallions from the grocery store, cut them down to just above the white part with the roots. Plunk it in about a half inch to an inch of water and keep place it in a semi sunny to sunny location. They should start growing in days!

 

Lil meatballs waiting to be cooked

YUM!

Tangy Asian Meatballs (Baked not Fried)

Makes approx 18 golf ball sized meatballs

 

1 pound ground turkey

1/3 cup Panko bread crumbs

3 scallions, white and light-green parts, chopped

1 large egg

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

3/4 cup barbecue sauce

2 tablespoons hoisin sauce

Preheat oven to 350F. Line 9x13 glass baking dish with tin foil.

Combine turkey, breadcrumbs, scallions, egg, soy sauce, ginger and garlic in a large bowl; mix until just combined – don’t over mix! The meat will look wet and not meatball like yet. Scoop into 1-inch balls and place onto the lined baking dish.

In a small bowl, whisk together barbecue sauce and hoisin sauce; put a spoonful over each meatball using up all the sauce.

Bake for 20-35 minutes, depending on the size of the meatball. They are done when the inside is no longer pink!

Served with rice and some roasted garlic carrots.

Cilantro and Garlic Lemon Pasta

You may have seen my previous post for Garlic Lemon Egg Pasta, and since then I have made this several times. We are trying to use up a big bundle of fresh cilantro - so you will see lots of cilantro in the next few posts! 

The cilantro adds a nice flavor and lightens up this pasta dish! 

Happy eating!

Cilantro and Garlic Lemon Pasta

makes 2-3 servings

1/2 box of pasta noodles
2 tbsp Olive Oil
1/4 cup white or red onion
5 cloves of garlic, smashed in the press
a few dashes of Salt and Pepper
1/4 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
Lemon (1/3 cup lemon juice)
1/2 to 3/4 cup Cilantr, chopped
3 eggs (3 egg whites, 2 yolks), "beaten in preparation for scrambling" 
1/2 bag of baby Spinach

Cook pasta according to directions. Once the pasta is cooked, drain but reserve about a cup or two of the pasta water.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a pan on medium. Add onion, garlic, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. Once onion is translucent lower pan to med low and add in eggs, cilantro, and lemon juice. Stir and let the eggs get to a soft scramble stage. Feel free to add in a small bit of butter at this point too. This should get wet puffy egg mixture. Add in spinach and wilt for a minute, it will continue to cook down once you add the pasta. Combine with pasta and add in a little pasta water to thin out the sauce.
Combine with pasta and add the pasta water a little at a time until the sauce is the consistency you want.

Yellow Cupcakes and a Classic Chocolate Butter Cream Frosting

The last two cupcakes...

Birthday Party! I made some yellow cupcakes and a chocolate butter cream frosting.

The cupcakes were dense, similar to a pound cake. I would use that for a short cake type of cupcake, but not for a frosted type cake... Because these cupcakes were so dense they did not rise a lot, so fill them 3/4 of the way.

However, since I made coffee cake with the sour cream, I think that I mixed the sour cream in too soon/over mixed the batter. The coffee cake was very light and fluffy, so I feel that the cupcakes should have been as well. Anyone want to be a taster for me for my next batch?

The chocolate butter cream was delish! However make sure the butter is softened and been at room temperature for at least an hour. Otherwise the butter pieces will stay chunky and the frosting won't be as smooth.

Perfect Yellow Cupcakes
(adapted from Can You Stay for Dinner )
makes 12 regular size cupcakes or 24 mini + 3 regular

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup sour cream
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12 cup standard sized cupcake tin with paper liners.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in the bowl of a standing electric mixer. Add butter, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla. Beat at medium speed until smooth and satiny, about 30 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl and mix until smooth and no clumps of flour are visible.

Evenly divide the batter among the cups in your prepared pan. Bake until cupcake tops are pale gold and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 20 to 22 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from the pan carefully and let them cool completely on a wire rack.

Chocolate Butter Cream Frosting

Adapted from Savory Sweet Life

Makes 3 cups

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks or ½ pound), softened (but not melted!) 

3 - 3 1/2 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar
½ cup cocoa powder
½ teaspoon table salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract or 1 teaspoon almond extract
4 tablespoons milk or heavy cream

Cream butter for a few minutes in a mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed. Turn off the mixer.

In separate bowl combine powdered sugar and cocoa into the mixing bowl. Turn your mixer on the lowest speed (so the dry ingredients do not blow everywhere) until the sugar and cocoa are absorbed by the butter.

Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla extract, salt, and milk/cream and beat for 3 minutes.

Note: If your frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add a little more sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add additional milk 1 tablespoon at a time.

Chicken Piccata

Are you ready for some restaurant style chicken piccata? In less than 30 minutes I couldn't believe that I made!  I read a bunch of recipes to determine how I would go about creating this dish.  I looked at Giada de Laurentiis's recipe and this blog.  

This tasted just like from the restaurant and was very straightforward to make.  This will be added to the regular meal rotations, as these are regularly stocked ingredients.

I tried to butterfly the chicken breast, but it wouldn't cut evenly. We had several smaller pieces that I tried to make flatter, but I didn't really understand what I was doing... Next time I will be patient and cut the chicken right. The flour parmesean breading was tasty and was nicely golden once I added in more oil. Before I added more oil the chicken was cooking but not getting any color or looking very moist.

I wanted to have some sort of green vegetable in the dish so I tossed in some arugula leaves at the very end so it would wilt.  This part took maybe 2-3 minutes as leafy greens can overcook very quickly.

I was reviewing recipes and they recommend using either a white wine sauce or chicken broth for making the lemon sauce.  Originally, I was going to use the chicken stock, but at the last minute, I went for the white wine sauce.  It was a great choice!

orig from 5/30/2013
updated 4/3/2015

Enjoy!

 

Chicken Piccata
Serves 2

~2 cups dried pasta
2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
3 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup flour
Fresh cracked pepper
4 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup white wine or chicken broth
3 Tbsp lemon juice (or a w hole lemon if you want)
1/4 cup brined capers
Arugula/Spinach

Start to boil the water for the pasta. Cook pasta according to directions.
Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium high heat.
Cut the chicken breast halves horizontally. Pound flat or butterfly them to about 1/4-inch thickness. 
Mix together the flour, pepper, and grated Parmesan. 
Dredge chicken pieces in the flour mixture, until well coated.
Add the chicken pieces, brown well on each side, about 3 - 5 minutes per side, depending on thickness. Remove the chicken from the pan and reserve to a plate. 
Add the white wine, lemon juice, and capers to the frying pan used for the chicken. 
Reduce the sauce, generally I let it cook until the pasta is done.
Melt in the butter, wilt arugula/spinach. 
Add the drained pasta to the sauce. Plate the pasta and add chicken on the top!

Spicy Cashew Stir Fry (Chicken, Tofu, or Tempeh)

Basic stir fry and not as spicy as I had hoped. Stir fry is a great way to use up lots of left over ingredients and will also cook really fast.

Next time I would include extra spice such as a Thai chili pepper. I also marinated tempeh in soy sauce while I was chopping the veggies. I put the Tempeh in the frying pan with the last 5-10 minutes to heat up and cook through. Firm tofu would have also been a good substitute as well.

Spicy Cashew Stir Fry
Serves 4

2 chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces (or diced Tempeh or Tofu)
4 Tablespoons soy sauce, divided

Chili Garlic Sauce

black pepper
2/3 cup fat-free, reduced sodium chicken broth
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 Tablespoons Thai chili garlic sauce
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons canola oil, divided
1 stalk celery, sliced thinly on the bias
1 large carrot, sliced thinly on the bias
2 cups broccoli florets
1 1/2 cups snap peas (or snow peas)
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup sliced water chestnuts
1/2 cup chopped canned baby corn
3/4 cup cashews
1 cup uncooked long grain white rice, (click here for no fail white rice, or use a rice cooker and follow those directions)

Toss together chicken (or tofu or tempeh), 1 Tablespoon soy sauce, plus a couple grinds of black pepper in a bowl then set aside. In a separate bowl, combine remaining soy sauce, broth, brown sugar, Thai chili garlic sauce, and garlic. Microwave for 20 seconds in the microwave, then stir and set aside.

Heat 1 Tablespoon oil in a frying pan over high heat. If using chicken...Add the chicken and cook until no longer pink on the outside, about 2-3 minutes. Otherwise, add celery, carrot, broccoli, snow peas, onion, and remaining oil if needed, then stir fry for 5-6 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender.

Add water chestnuts and baby corn (and tofu or tempeh if  using), then stir to combine.

Add the sauce and cashews to the the pan for a couple minutes. Serve over cooked white rice.

Homemade Ice Cream!

Summery ice cream recipes to try! We have a Cuisinart Ice Cream maker which will make ice cream in about 20 minutes.

We have tried different types of milk (coconut, almond, etc), but you really can't compare to the creaminess that heavy cream will bring to the ice cream. The other types of milk will create an icy ice cream.

You can use either heavy cream or whipping cream. Whipping cream is a bit lighter and creates a fluffier texture. You can also use less cream when using whipping cream.

2 cups of milk + heavy cream yields 2 pretty large sized servings for 2 adults. The ice cream is also richer than you would get at most ice cream places.

Directions
Combine ingredients then put into the ice cream maker for 20 minutes or until thickened to the right consistency.
  
Espresso Ice Cream
2 shots espresso
1 cup 1% milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 sugar (Stevia)

- Combine all ingredients and chill for about an hour

Peanut Butter and Dark Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup 1% milk
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
A smidge under 1/4 cup sugar (Stevia)
1/4 - 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (optional)
1 - 2 graham crackers (broken up, optional)

- This one reminds me of a Peanut Butter Ice Cream Pie!

Graham Central Station (adapted from Bruster's Ice Cream)
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup 1% milk
1/4 - 1/2 cup sugar (Stevia)
1/4 light brown sugar
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (pulse in food processor)
1/4 cup dark chocolate chunks / chocolate chips


Strawberry Ice Cream
1 cup 1% milk
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cups Strawberries, pureed/chopped small
1/4 - 1/2 cup sugar (Stevia)

The Easiest Flour Tortillas

I wanted to make some tortillas to go along with my salsa poached chicken and cilantro lime rice. I found the tortilla recipe here.

This took about 10 minutes to make the dough and another 20 minutes to make all the tortillas. While they were cooking I assembled the rice and the chicken. Very easy and worth making fresh. These also heat up well if you make them the day before.

The only thing that I changed was swapping butter instead of lard or shortening.

Enjoy!

Update 4/2/2014: Let dough rest 20-40 minutes before dividing and rolling out. The dough will roll easier after resting.

Dough ball

I made a half batch, each ball is a little
smaller than a lime

Salsa Poached Chicken, Cilantro Rice,
Homemade Yogurt, and Fresh Tortillas

Flour Tortillas

Makes 24

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder         

6 tbsp butter

1 1/2 cups water

Combine flour, salt, baking powder, and butter in a food processor. Pulse until the dough starts to look crumbly. Slowly add the water and mix until the dough comes together; Knead a few turns until dough comes together looks smooth and elastic.

Let dough rest 20-40 minutes.

Divide the dough into 24 equal pieces (break in half, break each of those halves into half, etc) and roll each piece into a ball.

Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Use a rolling pin to roll a dough ball into a thin, round tortilla. Place into the hot skillet, and cook until starting to get big bubbles (think pancakes) and golden; flip and continue cooking until golden on the other side. Place the cooked tortilla in a towel to keep warm; continue rolling and cooking the remaining dough.

Salsa Poached Chicken

I was looking for a new chicken dish to go along with the leftover rice, limes, cilantro, etc. I was inspired by the Salsa Poached Chicken recipe from here.

This took about 15 minutes to cook as I had sliced the meat up prior to poaching. I think next time I would use a similar technique... but saute the chicken in the pan with the salsa to see if it still brings all the taste with even less time. But poaching it in the salsa had great flavor for such a short cooking time.

I did add in some lime to the salsa while cooking the chicken to try and help tie the meal together.

I served the chicken with cilantro lime rice, homemade yogurt, and fresh tortillas.

Enjoy!

Salsa Poached Chicken
Serves 4-6

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, sliced
1 cup salsa
1/4 cup chopped onion
Water

Add chopped onions to a pot with a lid with about 1 tbl olive oil until slightly opaque. Add the salsa, chicken breasts, and water to cover the chicken, place lid on pot.  Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 30 min or until chicken is cooked.

Remove chicken from pot and set on a cutting board until cool enough to handle. With two forks, shred the chicken breast and place shredded chicken breast into the pot with the fresh salsa mixture.