Obama remembers victims of Colorado shooting

President Barack Obama took time off from politics on Saturday and used his weekly address to remember the victims of the Aurora, Colorado shooting. At the midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises movie, a man walked into a theatre and shot more than 70 people, killing 12 and wounding more than 50.

Chipotle herb chicken

I DID IT!!! I'm a chef! OK, well, maybe not a chef but I feel safe in saying I'm a really good cook. Tonight's meal I made from my own head and based it on recipes I've made before. I just grabbed ingredients from the shelf and started cooking. The end result was a fantastic meal that I most definitely will cook again.

Review: Tonight's meal was thought of on the fly and I just kept putting in flavors I remembered from previous recipes. The result: a great meal that was HEALTHY, flavorful, moist and mouthwatering (at least in my opinion). I will say I didn't use any exact measurements other than 1 cup of chicken broth but when I put the recipe below I will try to approximate how much of each ingredient I used, but really it doesn't matter. You can just pour in the ingredients as you see fit. I also added chipotle/chili powder to the meal but you couldn't really taste it. I put in cornstarch to make the "sauce" a little thicker but if you don't like that kind of thing (as my dad apparently doesn't) then you can leave out the cornstarch and just let the liquid be. If you make the green beans with it the timing for both the green beans and chicken should work out to where they are finished at the same time, roughly 15-20 minutes. I have made the green beans before and you can find that recipe in a different post but I'll go through the steps to make it below as well. I also would say that even though I poured in the ingredients as they were cooking it might be easier to mix the chicken broth and the corn starch in a separate bowl before pouring them in the pan. It'll be easier to mix that way for sure.  I also marinaded the chicken for about 20 minutes or so but next time I make this meal I might marinade them a little longer as well as add in some basil and parsley during the marinating process. It doesn't have to marinate at all though. Other than those few comments this meal was simply wonderful and I'm extremely proud of myself for making my FIRST "own" recipe. I can't wait to do it again!

Recipe:

• 4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 6 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
• 2 tablespoons chipotle or chili powder (I actually used chili powder)
• 4 teaspoons garlic powder, divided
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 tablespoons basil
• 2 tablespoons parsley
• 1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon corn starch (add more if the sauce doesn't thicken to your liking)
• 2 teaspoons Kosher salt, divided
• Fresh ground pepper for taste
• 1 pound of fresh green beans

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Mix 2 teaspoons olive oil, chipotle or chili powder, 1 teaspoon Kosher salt, 2 teaspoons garlic powder and the chicken in a bowl. Set aside while you prepare the green beans (if you choose to make them).

To prepare the green beans, rinse and snap the ends off them. In a bowl mix 2 teaspoons olive oil, 1 teaspoon Kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, green beans, garlic and 2 teaspoons garlic powder in a bowl (I add the garlic powder to make it extra garlic tasting but you don't have to add that ingredient). Once everything is mixed together, cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil then pour the green beans from the bowl onto the foil. Spread the green beans out so they form a flat layer on the pan and then stick them in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until they are soft to your liking. Serve immediately.

While the green beans are cooking, put 2 teaspoons olive oil in a pan and heat. Place the chicken you set aside in the pan and cook until each side is done, about 3-5 minutes. Once both sides of the chicken look finished, pour in the chicken broth. Let cook for another 5 minutes. Mix in the cornstarch to thicken the broth (this is where it might actually be easier to mix the chicken broth and cornstarch in a separate bowl then pour into the pan). After about another 5 minutes of cooking, put in the basil and parsley (I put 1 tablespoon of basil and parsley on one side of the chicken, let it cook for a minute or two then flipped the chicken and poured in the other tablespoon). Let cook for a couple more minutes then serve immediately. The "thickened" sauce in the pan is meant to be scooped on the chicken, but it doesn't have to be.

***TIP: You want to make sure the chicken is cooked thoroughly. Cooking time for this meal varies depending on how long it takes your chicken to cook but it shouldn't really be longer than 15-20 minutes. Mine was that long and it was still very moist. Any longer and you might overcook the chicken. Any less and it might be undercooked.

Shrimp with broccoli

I've been craving Chinese for a while but also have been looking for a recipe that did not require soy sauce or a bunch of other oriental ingredients to make it healthier. After a couple weeks of searching I finally found one and it was really good. I will definitely be making it again and I'll be making it again soon. The original shrimp with broccoli recipe as well as its nutritional information can be found on the Eating Well website here.

Review: Let me just say this recipe was to die for. It was really flavorful, extremely healthy and quick to make. We didn't have any leftover and I'm sad about that because I actually wanted seconds. This recipe was nice too because I actually had all the supplemental, "flavoring" ingredients so I just had to buy the shrimp and the broccoli. It is a little spicy because of the crushed red pepper so if you don't like spicy food you can leave that ingredient out. If you do then I'd say use the 1/2 teaspoon amount (it's what I used) and then after you eat it if you want it hotter you can add more the next time you make it. The only thing I changed with the recipe is instead of florets I used broccoli spears but the type of broccoli you use is up to you. I also added an extra teaspoon of cornstarch at the end to help thicken the sauce. The amount the recipe calls for did not thicken it so I added another teaspoon and that did the trick. It also says to use 2 tablespoons of basil or parsley but I actually used 1 tablespoon of basil and 1 tablespoon of parsley. Also, I used the chicken broth instead of the clam juice and on the website it shows it being served with rice but we didn't serve it with anything; however, it would work really well with rice or some type of pasta noodle such as spaghetti or even penne. Finally, even though the recipe calls for shrimp I think it would taste wonderful with beef or chicken especially if you use the chicken broth with the chicken or beef broth with the beef. Honestly this is a fantastic substitute for "fast food" Chinese food and with it taking roughly 30 minutes to make is one that could be whipped up in an instant.

Recipe:

• 2/3 cup bottled clam juice or reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch (I actually used 2 teaspoons, divided)
• 3 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1 pound raw shrimp, (21-25 per pound), peeled and deveined (get however much shrimp you want)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt, divided
• 4 cups broccoli florets (use however much and whatever type of broccoli you want)
• 2/3 cup water
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil or parsley
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• freshly ground pepper to taste
• lemon wedges (I didn't use these because it's just to garnish)

Combine the clam juice (or broth), cornstarch (1 teaspoon if you do double the amount) and half the garlic in a small bowl. Whisk until smooth then set aside. Heat 1 1/2 teaspoons of oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the remaining garlic and crushed red pepper to taste. Cook, stirring, until fragrant but not browned for about 30 seconds. Add the shrimp and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Saute until the shrimp are pink for about 3 minutes then transfer to a bowl (use a different one than the juice/broth mixture). Add the remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons oil to the pan. Add the broccoli and the remaining 1/8 teaspoon salt. Cook and stir for 1 minute. Add the water, cover and cook until the broccoli is crisp-tender for about 3 minutes (I just cooked them until they were thawed and soft). Transfer to the bowl with the shrimp. Add the reserved clam juice/broth mixture to the pan and cook, stirring over medium high heat, until thickened for about 3 to 4 minutes (this is where I added the additional 1 teaspoon of cornstarch to help with the thickening process). Stir in the basil (or parsley or both) and season with lemon juice and pepper. Add the shrimp and broccoli. Heat through and serve immediately with lemon wedges (again, it can be served with rice, pasta or on its own).

Obama presses Congress to pass tax cut extension for middle class

In recent weeks President Barack Obama has called on Congress to extend the Bush tax cuts only for those families making less than $250,000 as soon as possible. He said he recognized there would be a debate on extending it for the wealthy but Democrats and Republicans should do what they both agree on and extend it for the bottom 98 percent of Americans now.

Buffalo meatloaf

This meal is another one courtesy of Allrecipes.com. The original recipe can be found here but like always, I'll post it below as well along with a review.

Review: Tonight's meal was fairly quick to make and even though it has a recipe it can be made anyway you usually make meatloaf. The biggest difference with it is that it calls for using buffalo or bison meat, which can be found in the same area as regular beef, instead of ground beef to make it healthier. In fact, all the ingredients make it healthier than probably the typical meatloaf you make. Still, it was very good and flavorful. I wanted to add some green peppers in it because I like the flavor of cooked green peppers but dad doesn't like them so I left them out. I also doubled the amount of meat even though buffalo meat is expensive (when I bought it, it was $9.19 for a pound); however, I left the rest of the ingredient amounts as written. Next time though I think I'll leave out the diced tomatoes because I'm not a big tomato fan and I will cut the amount of onion in half. It seemed like a lot of onion for twice as much meat so using one whole onion and just one pound of meat like the recipe calls for would be quite excessive. Finally, I did not cover the meat once it was in the oven. The recipe didn't call for it so I didn't do it, but honestly it wouldn't matter if you did cover it with aluminum foil or if your pan has an oven-proof cover then with that.

Recipe:

• 1 slice multigrain bread (I used 100% whole wheat)
• 1 pound ground buffalo meat
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon mustard powder
• 3/4 cup canned diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 dash ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup ketchup

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Crumble the bread slice into crumbs and set aside. Grease an 8x8 inch baking dish. Thoroughly mix ground buffalo meat, onion, egg, ground mustard, tomatoes, salt, pepper and bread crumbs in a large bowl (when I crumbled the bread slices I put them in the large bowl to start with). Form the meat mixture into a loaf shape about 8x4 inches and place into the middle of the baking dish. Apply ketchup to the top and sides of the meatloaf (I put the ketchup in the mixture because dad can't really eat it so that way it bakes in instead of just being on the top). Bake in preheated oven until meat is no longer pink and ketchup forms a glaze over the meatloaf, 1 1/2 hours. Let stand 10 minutes before serving (I cooked it for 1 hour and served it immediately).

Obama touts recent legislative accomplishment to help jobs, economy

On Friday the Labor Department released its monthly jobs report showing the United States added a dismal 80,000 jobs in June and the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 8.2 percent. One day later, President Barack Obama released his weekly radio address where he touted a piece of legislation that would help the economy. One aspect of the legislation would help keep construction workers on the job and allow for other projects to begin. The other part would keep student loan interest rates from doubling, which would have affected more than 7 million students nationwide.

Had Congress not been able to work together to get the measures passed, thousands of construction workers would have lost their jobs and the extra amount of money each student would have had to spend on the economy would have gone instead toward paying off their loans. Still, President Obama said those items were not enough and in light of the latest jobs report, it was imperative that Congress did more to help the economy and job growth pick up speed. He said to do that he wanted to take half the money we were no longer spending on war and use it to build roads, bridges and wireless networks in our own country. He also wanted to expand financial aid to 2 million students so they could have the opportunity to learn the skills that businesses need right now.

Whole wheat spaghetti with lemon, basil and salmon

I haven't had salmon in a while so this meal satisfies that desire. I would recommend this meal for a warm, summer day (although it could be eaten anytime) and it only took about 30 minutes. I got the recipe from the Food Network website here. Giada De Laurentiis made it so all credit should go to her.

Review: This meal was quite tasty, flavorful and one I will absolutely make again. All the ingredients went well together and the pasta in itself could be its own meal. The only thing I didn't include in it that the recipe called for was lemon zest and that was because we didn't have any lemons. I honestly don't think that the lemon zest would have added much more to it, though. I also used about 1/8 cup of dried basil. I rarely use fresh herbs because it's cheaper and more economical to get dried and you should use about 1/2 the amount of dried herbs as fresh. Sometimes I don't and use what the recipe calls for but on this one I used less. While the recipe calls for adding capers it is definitely something that does not have to be added and one I will not add again. Capers can be found in the aisle with the olives and they pretty much taste like olives, which I don't like. If you enjoy olives you might like capers but if not you probably won't. Still, I always recommend trying stuff you haven't had before so if you've never had a caper it won't hurt to add them. They are whole pieces so you can always pick them out if you don't like them. Chef's note: be sure to rinse them with water before serving. They come in a small jar with a white vinegar and salty liquid so that makes them very salty tasting if they are not rinsed. I also used half a box of spaghetti and there was plenty left over. The recipe is enough for 4 servings so if you are going to serve this to more than 4 people you might want to add more pasta but honestly we had enough left over that half a box would be enough pasta for about 8 people.  Other than that the salmon is how you would expect salmon to taste and the pasta tastes like pasta but with the olive oil, basil and touch of lemon juice it packs a nice flavor to mask the bland taste of regular pasta.

Recipe:

• 1/2 pound whole wheat spaghetti pasta (about half a box)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning
• 1 tablespoon olive oil (I just used extra-virgin so I guess it'd really be 3 tablespoons of E-V oil)
• 4 (4-ounce) pieces salmon (or however many and whatever size you want)
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves (at least 1/2 as much if you use dried basil leaves)
• 3 tablespoons capers
• 1 lemon, zested
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 cups fresh baby spinach leaves (just use however much you want on the plate or in the bowl)

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta and transfer to a large bowl (I put it back in the pot I cooked it in to save on dishes). Add the garlic, extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss to combine. Meanwhile, warm the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Season the salmon with salt and pepper. Add the fish to the pan and cook until medium-rare, about 2 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of the fish. Remove the salmon from the pan. Add the basil, capers (optional), lemon zest (optional) and lemon juice to the spaghetti mixture and toss to combine. Set out plates or shallow bowls and place spinach in each. Top with pasta and top each mound of pasta with salmon (you also can put the salmon to the side as I did). Serve immediately.

Chipotle chicken fajitas

It's that time again: a day off from work so a night of cooking. The past couple of times we have gone to our favorite restaurant in town Mom has gotten fajitas. I've had a couple bites of her meal before and they are fabulous. Since then I've been wanting fajitas so I decided I would just make them myself on my next day off so tonight was the night. I got the recipe from Aida Mollenkamp on the Food Network website here.

Review: Tonight's meal was one of those where the prep took longer than cooking the meal itself. I didn't really change anything about the recipe except I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts instead of the thighs it called for and some of the measurements I just did on my own. I also added some cilantro and 2 Tablespoons of cornstarch to help thicken the sauce a bit and I used olive oil instead of vegetable oil. Other than those few minor things I followed the recipe as written. First I want to say that the chipotle en adobo can be found in the Hispanic food or international aisle depending on how your grocery store is set up. If you can't find it I'm sure someone could help you but check wherever Mexican ingredients are. If you are wondering what it is, it's a type of pepper that sits in a red sauce. It also says to mince the chipotle but I just kept them whole and then threw away some of the big pieces. The recipe also does not clarify what color bell pepper you should get but I got 1 green and 1 red to add some color. Finally, it said to use 1/2 cup of low-sodium chicken broth or water but I knew that would mean I'd just throw away the rest of the broth so I just poured the whole can into the pan. That might have kept it from reducing as much as it should have but oh well. The sauce will be runny and that's why I added the cornstarch but if you use a slotted spoon or spatula that will help drain some of the liquid before you put it on your plate. If you serve it over rice or potatoes the sauce won't matter as much but if you use a tortilla like I did then you won't want as much juice. Oh, and I also covered the skillet once I put in the bell peppers in and then again when I put in the chicken that way it would help keep the heat in and cook them faster.

Now, on to the flavor. After reading some reviews I was expecting it to be quite spicy because of the chipotle but honestly it wasn't that bad. Maybe it was because I didn't mince the pepper so it wasn't as prevalent in the meal. Regardless there was a little kick to it and I could still feel a little warmth in my throat when I was finished but if you like really spicy foods you could either add more than 1 tablespoon of chipotle in adobo or you could add some crushed red pepper flakes. I would suggest though trying it as written or tasting it before you serve to see if you need to adjust the spice level. Remember though, if you have enough to serve as a leftover it will be a touch hotter the next day just because the flavors have had more time to settle and mix together.

Recipe:

• 1 pound (about 6) boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut lengthwise into strips about 1-inch wide
• 1 chipotle en adobo, minced (about 1 tablespoon)
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, divided
• 1 medium red onion, quartered and sliced crosswise 1/2 inch thick
• 3 medium clove garlic, thinly sliced (about 2 tablespoons)
• 2 medium bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, quartered lengthwise and sliced into 1/2-inch strips
• 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth or water
• 2 teaspoons roughly chopped fresh oregano
• 6 to 8 flour tortillas, warmed, optional for serving
• Pico de Gallo sauce, optional for serving
• Guacamole, optional for serving
• Sour cream, optional for serving

Place chicken in a bowl, add the chipotle, salt and toss until the meat is well coated then set aside. Heat 1 teaspoon of the oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. When it smokes add half of the chicken and cook until golden brown on both sides, about 1 to 2 minutes per side. Remove to a plate and return pan to the stove and add 1 more teaspoon of the oil. Repeat with the second batch. Add the remaining 1 teaspoon of the oil, add the onion and garlic and cook until golden and soft, about 2 minutes. Add the bell peppers and cook until softened and golden brown, about 3 to 5 minutes. Return the chicken and any accumulated juices to the pan, add the broth and cook until the sauce is slightly reduced, the chicken is cooked through and the peppers are soft, about 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in the oregano and taste to see if the seasoning needs adjusting. Serve immediately over steamed rice or potatoes. You also can serve it on tortillas or on its own in a bowl or on a plate.

Best. Scene. Ever

Last week a show premiered on HBO called "The Newsroom." Aaron Sorkin, the same man who wrote the "West Wing," wrote this show. Being someone who graduated with a degree in journalism and someone who has always strived to seek the truth even from an early age, this show certainly hits the nail on the head. Below is the opening scene to the premiere episode and as the title of this post suggests, is one I consider to be the best scene ever written (at least the best scene ever that I can remember). If more people spoke the truth like Will McAvoy did, whether it be journalists, politicians or just everyday Americans, our country might be better off. Problems might actually get solved and we might actually once again, be the greatest country on Earth. It's not too late and I hope more and more people watch this show because it truly is fabulous.

On a side note, I also want to say that I love how the show incorporates real news events. I know there are a lot of people who don't follow the news, which I think is part of this country's problem in that the American people are an uninformed electorate not only because of the issues of the media but also because they choose to be apathetic toward practically everything except themselves and those closest to them. Still, for those people who don't follow the news but happen to watch the show, it will give them a little more perspective and education about what has been happening not only in the country but also in the world over the past couple of years. So, I encourage you to check out the clip and then watch the show! It airs at 10 p.m. on Sunday.