Category: FOOD!!!

Marching Band Contest Schedules

Well, we’re in October and I’m not sure how much cooking I’ll be doing. Life gets pretty busy and even on Sundays, there isn’t a whole lotta time to cook. :/ I did find a good website for healthier cooking called Eat Better America and made the Chicken Pot Pie recipe from there last night. No pictures but goodness, it was YUMMY!!

Back to marching band – I have our contest times to post. Hopefully, you can make it to the UIL Region Marching Contest on October 17 and support the SPHS Tiger Band. We perform 3rd – warm up is at 4:20, with the performance at 5:00 pm. This contest will be at the RRISD Athletics Complex (The Palace). Hopefully, the rest of the marching schedule will be on the UIL Region 26 website soon. We just got the schedule in our emails yesterday….

Our final marching contest for the season will be the Sam Houston State University Marching Festival in Huntsville. We decided to go because there will be some great bands there and its format is much like UIL Area (prelims/finals). We are really trying to change the mindset of our band that it’s not over at UIL Region so on our “off years”, we’ll be participating on contests post-Region like this one. If you’re in the Huntsville area and can come support us (we’ll probably have a very small following with the distance from home being as it is), we’ll be performing in prelims on Saturday, October 24 at 5:15 (warm up at 4:30).

We did host and perform the CenTex Marching Showcase last weekend. It went well again and we got lots of positive feedback from the participants about the showcase. Had fun hanging out with the judges as well. Our rating was Superior and our percussion won a Outstanding Percussion award. Because we host the contest much like a UIL Region Marching Contest, we are able to perform as a full participant, not just exhibition. Good times!

Seafood Spaghetti

I’ve been going to Whole Foods on Sundays to see my mom (and get a wonderful massage!!!) and while I’m there, I find something to inspire Sunday night dinner, which always leads to yummy leftovers for lunch later in the week (or freeze for later later). This particular Sunday, I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to make so I wandered Whole Foods (and the internet) for a “secret ingredient” that would inspire the recipe for dinner. My first thought was cioppino but once I looked up a recipe or two online, I decided it was too much for a spur of the moment meal. I still wanted the seafood so I decided on seafood spaghetti. Here’s how I made it:

I started by chopping and sauteing an onion and several cloves of garlic.

From there, I cleaned the shrimp, cut the hallibut into bite sized pieces and made sure my scallops were all nice and clean.

In extra virgin olive oil, I saute the seafood.

I added in some more flavorings, including white wine, red pepper flakes, Italian seasoning and of course, butter. 🙂

I had a beautiful heirloom tomato so I chopped it up and added it in for a bit of color and added flavor.

And here’s the final product over noodles and topped with fresh grated cheese.

If you try it, hope you enjoy it as much as I did!!
~C

BBQ Chicken

This is my favorite way to BBQ chicken.

First, I season the chicken with smoked paprika, garlic powder, salt, pepper and cumin.

Then I include the juice of 4-6 limes (depending on size and juiciness) and let sit in the fridge.

When the BBQ is hot enough (smokin’ hot), I let the chicken cook until it’s ready and that’s it.

Like I said, smokin’ hot!

There’s the chicken on the grill.

All done!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Meri Krause sent me this recipe recently so I thought I’d give it a try. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do! You’ll notice that I did make a few changes/additions…mostly in homage to other tortilla soups I love so much (Grin’s).

Meri Krause’s Chicken Tortilla Soup

1 tsp canola oil
1 onion
1 green bell pepper
2 garlic cloves minced
3 c. reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes with mild green chiles
1 10 oz. package frozen corn kernels, thawed
1 teaspoon chili seasoning mix
1 1/2 c. chopped cooked chicken breast
1/4 c coarsely chopped fresh cilanto

I cheated and used rotisserie chicken and boxed broth – I would normally make the broth by boiling a chicken and just taking the bones and skin out. That would take entirely too much time today. I also substituted the seasoning mix with seasonings I had in my spice cabinet. I also added hominy in honor of the Grin’s tortilla soup.

Heat the oil in a large nonstick saucepabn over medium-high heat. Add the onion, bell pepper, and garlic; cook, stirring frequently, until softened and lightly browned, about 5 min.

Add the broth, tomatoes, corn, and chili seasoning mix; bring to a boil over high heat.

Add the chicken and cilantro. Reduce the heat and simmer until heated through, about 2 min. Serve with tortilla chips.

Veronica approved!

Arroz con Pollo – Cuban Style

I picked up a copy of “Edible Austin” at Whole Foods Market a few months ago and inside, found a recipe for Cuban style arroz con pollo. I’d always wanted to make it but never took the time to find a recipe so when this one pretty much fell into my lap, I took advantage and finally made the recipe for my girlfriends and took left overs to the guys. Everyone seemed to really enjoy the recipe. 😛 I would include a picture but it was gone before I could take one. So, here’s the recipe:

Cuban-Style Arroz Con Pollo

  • Servings: 6-8
  • Difficulty: moderate
  • Print

Ingredients:

  • 1 whole chicken, cut up, skin on
  • 2 T. olive oil
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • 2 c. Arborio or sushi rice
  • 1 8-10 oz. jar of olives stuffed with pimento
  • 2 c. chicken stock or bouillon
  • Dash of chipotle chile powder (or more if you like it spicy)
  • 1-2 bottles of dark beer
  • 1 unch fresh asparagus (frozen organic if none available), cut into bite-sized pieces

    • Directions:
    Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
    Salt and pepper the chicken pieces on both sides. In a large, oven proof pot or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Brown the chicken pieces on both sides (about 7-10 minutes per side).

    Once the chicken is browned, pour the rice over the chicken, and add the entire jar of olives (including the brine). Add the chicken stock, chile powder and one of the beers.

    Cover, place pot in the oven, and cook for approximately 2 hours, stirring every 20 minutes. If it gets too dry, add more beer and/or chicken stock. In the last 15 minutes of cooking, add the asparagus.

    I ended up using 2 bottles of beer and of course, I used sushi rice (I had it on hand). I didn’t have a pot that was large enough for all the ingredients and could go from stovetop to oven so I browned the chicken in a regular frying pan and moved the meat and juices to the crock when it was all browned. Give it a try…hope you like it as much as we did!