Casa Hagg is pleased to announce

our newest family addition....

YAY!! She arrived  Tuesday  afternoon and although it was touch & go there for awhile, (installation horrors) she is now up & running & doing us proud :)

( I obviously still need to paint behind where the previous stove had a higher backsplash)

Her first special job was to bake off some chocolate chip cookies, but due to the length of her arrival,  I had to hold the dough overnight & just make our planned dinner, chicken parmesan.

Ok, so this was not THE chicken parm that I made Tuesday night, ( same recipe, however) this is a picture from the birthday dinner that I made for Scott's 40th 'space themed' party ( he was born 10 days after man first walked on the moon. Had he arrived those measly 10 days earlier, he could have gone to space camp for free.)

He has talked about this for his whole life, so we threw him a space party.

Here is the cake that Ali baked & decorated for him

Anyway.... I will post my chicken parm recipe soon, with photos as it is definitely a favorite here :)

I baked the cookies the next day & they came out perfect.

Basic chocolate chip cookies :

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar (packed)
2 large eggs at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup oats
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

preheat oven to 350

Line  cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Finely chop the oats in a food processor. Mix in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugars in a large bowl until fluffy. Scrape down sides of mixing bowl. Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture in 3 parts and stir just until blended. Stir in the chocolate chips.

For each cookie, drop 1 rounded tablespoonful of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing 1-inch apart. Bake until the cookies are golden , about 13 minutes. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for 5 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.

They baked beautifully!

Here is a picture of my sister, Jodie eating one right out out the oven

and lastly, one of my favorite variations of this recipe

Mint chocolate chip cookies

I'm off to clean out the fridge... tomorrow's CSA day!!

oxoxo

~shel

Thai Chicken & Coconut Rice!!

I love the flavors of Asian-style food, but since I have a seafood allergy, I hesitate to order it out.  I often look for recipes with the flavor profiles that I like, and adapt them so that I can eat them without any adverse effects.

I made this marinade  using Tamari in place of fish sauce. If you like fish sauce, feel free to substitute the fish sauce back in, just don't invite me for dinner that night ;)

I based it on This recipe.... making my own changes


1/2 can of coconut milk  ( I used Trader Joe's light coconut milk)
2 heaping tablespoons curry powder
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon Tamari
juice & zest of 1 lemon
2 jalapeno peppers, chopped
juice of 1 lime
2 tablespoons brown sugar
Salt & pepper

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

I placed all of the ingredients ( except the chicken) in the small bowl of my food processor & whirred until blended. Presto! you now have a flavorful marinade!

Pour the marinated over the chicken in either a tupperware-type container or a reseal-able zip lock baggie.

Marinate for at least 4 hours ( I did mine overnight)


prepare grill; discard any leftover marinade  ( or an indoor grill pan, as I did since that first night that I made these it was almost 100 degrees out )

Place chicken on the grill & let it set for a few minutes ( don't play with it, let the grill marks do their job) If the chicken sticks to the grill, then it's not ready to be moved ; then, using tongs, rotate each chicken breast a half turn to get those oh-so-pretty grill marks.

  flip each chicken breast over & do the same on the other side.

Grill until you reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees.  Remove from grill & let rest for 5 minutes.



The perfect accompaniment for this dish was a spicy Thai rice

1/2 cup water
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 cup jasmine rice
1 teaspoon butter
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground tumeric ( that's what gives the rice it's beautiful color!)
salt & pepper
juice & zest of half of a lime

2 Tablespoons chopped cilantro

bring all ingredients except for ,lime juice & cilantro to a boil in a 2-3 quart saucepan. Stir a few times to make sure that everything is combined then  reduce heat, cover & let cook until all of the liquid is absorbed into the rice.

Using a fork, fluff the rice & add the lime juice.

Garnish with cilantro and devour!

I grilled some zucchini rounds and voila! dinner!

This chicken was unbelievable. Ali could not stop talking about it.  I've made this again, and grilled it on my charcoal grill & it was just as wonderful. This is a must-try dish ;)

on another note..... here is a get well card that a good friend sent to me. I think that it is self-explanatory

the inside reads,

 " It won't be long until you're back doing all the things you shouldn't be doing.
get well soon"


and the little girl in the pink dress? classic!

thanks C~ smooch!

oxoxo ~ michelle

homemade creamed corn with bacon

Look at the beautiful rainbow of goodies that we received this week!  I am having so much fun coming home with our treasures & deciding what to do with all of them!

I saw Rachael  Ray make a corn dish on Food Network last week & with our freshly picked corn on the cob,  I knew that I had to try it.  Summer Corn Fettucini.

I didn't actually make the fettucini part, just the creamed corn. It was OUT OF THIS WORLD!! not only did I make it once, I made it again the very next day. If you like sweet corn, this is a recipe to try...

it is so simple to make , yet the flavors are incredible together. Trust me, this one's a keeper!

I also made a pan- fried squash & tomato salad.

I sliced the squash into 1/4 inch circles, then used a standard breading procedure ( seasoned flour, egg wash. bread crumbs) I used panko because I like the texture, and I shredded some parmesan with the bread crumbs.

I sauteed each round in a little bit of olive oil, just to get a light crust, then transfered them to a foiled-lined cookie sheet with a baking rack on top, and baked at 375 for about 20 minutes.

I sliced up a ripe tomato & layered with the squash a squeeze of lemon juice & a drizzle of olive oil.  Finally, a shaving of parmesan cheese.
.

I actually decided after  I took this picture to make 2 layers to this. So each serving had 2 squash & 2 tomatoes, but I forgot to take a picture ;(  But no worries.. I'll be making these again very soon, so I'll sneak a  complete picture.

This week we also picked beans at the farm. There were purple & green. I found  a recipe from Paula Deen Green bean bundles

I wrapped them into cute little packages & placed them along side of my charcoal (under the grate) for about 12 minutes. I can't begin to describe the flavor of these. They were light, slightly smokey, tangy form the lemon and sweet from the butter.  And overall, just plain fun!!!


Even Ryan who isn't overly crazy for green/ purple beans, ate every last one.

Now here is an interesting fact that we learned last night, the purple beans actually cook to green ! Go figure!

These were out side dish to go with our Ultimate Chicken Kebobs. I didn't make the salad part, and changed a few things. I used both sweet & spicy Italian sausage & I par-boiled them for a few minutes, and let them cool before threading. I also grilled some of the bread on it's own, which was good, because the bread on the skewers  was just a little bit too well done ( no worries, not so bad that we didn't eat it)

Even thought the bread on the skewers was a cooked a little much, I would still do it again because the flavor & juices form everything together made this just wonderful!

my ONLY complaint was that there weren't any leftovers ;(

I leave with with some flower pics from the farm this week.....

oxooxx~ michelle