Sunflowers and Oranges

I have been kinda jealous and gastronomically suppressed, living here in Provo. You all know I have a sophisticated palate. When a recipe calls for a unique cheese or an exotic ingredient, I get really unhappy when I have very little choice at boring stores like Macey's or Albertson's. I have been watching and reading about everyone in America shopping at Whole (paycheck) Foods. Well ha! We have a Sunflower Market just up the street now!!! Yippee. I got shrimp at 4 dollars a pound. Free Range eggs were only 2 dollars a dozen. (I have a PETA member/vegetarian in my household). Fresh Italian Sausage 2.99 a pound, they had Chicken Basil, Chicken Apple, Chile Verde, Chapotle Jalapeno sausages too. Almonds were only 3.99 a pound. Other than going to Sam's Club for essentials like TP or bulk chocolate chips, and an occasional book, I plan on spending a whole lot of time and money at Sunflower Farmer's Market (they even have an olive bar!!!. )

One of Christina's birthday guests brought this pineapple from Sunflower Market. A Great gift.

Orange Chicken with Scallions
Fine Cooking October/November 2007

1 large navel orange
1 TBs. soy sauce
1TBs. rice vinegar
2 tsp. brown sugar
1/8 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I used thighs cut into 1 inch cubes
3/4 tsp. kosher salt
2 large egg whites
1/3 cup cornstarch
3 to 4 Tablespoons canola or peanut oil
4 scallions, trimmed, and thinly sliced. I had some greens, and I used shallots too.

Use a paring knife, to shave the zest from the orange in long, wide strips. Juice the orange and mix in the soy sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, and red pepper flakes, in a small bowl and set aside.

Sprinkle the chicken with 1/2 tsp. of the salt. In a medium bowl whisk in th egg whites and the remaing salt, until smooth. Toss in the chicken.

Heat 2 Tbs. of the oil in a large skillet or large stir-fry pan over medium-high heat until shimmering hot. (one of these days I will blog about my cast iron wok and my special wok burner on my stove). Add half of the chicken and let it sit for about 1 or 2 minutes for it to develop a crust. Then turn it and let it develope a crust on the other side. Then break it up and toss it around. Remove it from the skillet or wok. Repeat with the remaing oil and chicken.

Put the orange zest strips in the skillet and cook, stirring until they darken in spots 30 seconds. Add the scallions whites, stir for a minute. Add the juice mixure and the chicken and stir until the sauce thickens and the chicken is cooked through. If you need to you can add a tablespoon of water at a time. Serve with Jasmine rice and scallion greens on top. My family loved this.

Confessions of a Foodie

Macey's is my favorite grocery store. It is not the most convenient though is it? I wish it could trade places with Albertson's. One of my favorite past-times is reading the food ads. I subscribe to the paper for the Macey's food ad and the coupons.(I am cleansing my soul, by finally confessing my secret addiction.) I am probably the last person to know, but I couldn't believe how easy it was this week to plan my shopping.Normally, I sit down with about a dozen of my recent favorite cookbooks and various recipes I have copied from the Internet, and then I write down the items I need to purchase for the weekly menu I have created. THIS IS ONE OF MY ALL TIME FAVORITE THINGS TO DO!! When people ask me about my hobbies, I am ashamed to admit that I love to plan menus and shopping lists, so I lie and say, "crafts". Why the heck do you think I am so fat? My life revolves around food; in every single aspect!! Reading about it, (600 cookbooks), cooking it (fancy appliances and gizmos), now I am admitting:

I love to shop for it.
(Any Grocery Store).

Somebody out there is reaching for the phone, right now, to call the mental hospital up the street to have me committed. (Ask my mother... all my life.. loved the store.) Okay, back to the shopping. You can go to maceys.com

and they will take you to a cool html of the current Provo store ad, where all you have to do is grab the item you want and it will create a shopping list for you. You can even put in any other ingredients, and you can select the coupons you want to use and they will price it for you.

Now if we can only get a Wholefood's Market in Provo....