Hey guys! It’s Scott’s (my husband…otherwise known as the “.com” of Steamy Kitchen) first post! ~Jaden

When Jaden brought home 5 fluffy new friends in July of last year, I knew a chicken coop was in our future. I wanted to design and build it myself as a fun exciting project. Little did I realize that 5 months go by very quickly when you move into a new house! When November 1st popped up on the calender, we had less than 2 months before we were expecting fresh eggs for breakfast.

When I first started doing research on our new coop I spent a great deal of time on Back Yard Chickens looking for ideas and suggestions. We owe a great deal of credit to the people who were willing to share their coop photos. All of them gave me tips, ideas and inspiration. We are grateful for their willingness to share their passion and work. Our girls would not have such a lovely home if it were not for the sharing of these people!

In that spirit, I wanted to create a pictorial showing how we made our coop. If you have any questions on how something was done, please ask and I will try to answer to the best of my ability.

Design Phase

We wanted to make sure our coop met the following requirements:

1. It had to be aesthetically appealing as it would be highly visible.
2. Easy cleaning and maintenance (including being able to stand inside & have easy access to clean coop).
3. Sturdy to handle those occasional tropical storm conditions here in Florida.
4. Designed to use Deep Litter Method in coop and run.
5. Resistant to Summer Rain Flooding that occurs in that part of the yard.
6. Good ventilation and air movement.
7. With adequate room for 5-7 hens (I figured we would be adding one or two later ).

I probably spent the better part of two weeks of late night web surfing to gather ideas and develop a plan of attack. I checked, double checked and cross referenced everything from space per bird requirements, Deep Litter Method (DLM), nesting box sizes, roost length, building codes, roofing solutions, predator proofing, waterproofing, drainage ideas, working with concrete, to using explosive nailers. I must admit the internet is a wonderful tool.

At this point I would like to add my *** Disclaimer ***: I am not, nor have I ever been an architect nor structural engineer. The plans and designs I created are from my understandings of things required to meet the objectives of my coop. They have not been approved by a certified engineer to meet certain hurricane, earthquake, volcanic, flooding, nuclear blast or other natural disaster sized forces. While every effort to make a safe environment for our chickens, some things may have been overlooked as we are novice chicken coop builders. Please note that no chicken was harmed during the making of this coop and all testing was done in very controlled manner were no chicken was ever placed in danger. 

I spent a fair amount of time looking for plans online. It seemed I was unable to located any free plans that seemed to meet what we needed. So I decided to use Google’s 3D modelling tool SketchUp to create a working model for our coop. It allowed me to spin the diagram in any direction and adjust it as I saw fit. It did take a while to get used to it, but the time spent in the learning curve was more than worth it during the construction phase. I can send you two files from SketchUp with the plans for the coop if you are interested. The first is the rough framing, while the second is the finished framing after the hardware cloth is installed. Please leave a comment or send me a private message and I will email them to you.

Click here for a zip file containing the SketchUp plans.

I decided on the following features for our coop:

• 5 – 7 egg laying hens (standard size)
• 10 sq ft of run space per bird
• 3 sq ft of coop space per bird
• 1 ft of roost rail per bird
• 1 nesting box per 3 birds
• sloped coop and nesting box floors for water drainage during clean outs
• sloped metal over wood roof that added stability as well as way to gather rain water.
• minimum 6 ft height so I could stand up inside.
• strength of construction to ensure durability and stability
• easy access doors for cleaning as well as egg harvesting
• raised foundation to help prevent flooding
• 1/2″ hardware cloth used for screening

The entire structure is 12 ft by 6 ft. The coop measures 4 ft by 6 ft. The roof has a 1 ft overhang on all sides which gives us a 14 ft by 8 ft roof. The coop floor is approximately 30 inches above the run floor.

Foundation Phase

One of the biggest concerns I had was dealing with the potential flooding of the area surrounding the chicken coop. This past summer we had so much rain that the ground in the area became completely saturated. The ground was like a sponge and when you walked on it, you would sink an inch and water would flow around your boots. There was a concrete pad already poured where we wanted to build the coop, but we wanted to use that for a future shed or work area for the garden that is part of the same area. I made the decision to pour a footer attached to the existing pad to build the coop up on. This would raise the coop about 6 inches higher leaving room for drainage, even if the ground became completely saturated again.

It’s important during this step to make sure everything is square and level. After framing the footer I added rebar and drainage stones to help facilitate water flowing out of the chicken coop.

I mixed and poured the concrete using a mixer rented from Home Depot. If you’re wondering, the footer was 6 feet wide by 12 feet long and 6 inches across. The 24 linear feet took over 1/2 ton of concrete. Mix it with a mixer, or better yet, call a concrete company and have them deliver your required concrete premixed. Your back will thank you!

When I went to remove the forms, I noticed this in the concrete.

It seems Jaden let the chickens out some time after I poured the cement before it had cured sufficiently. I found the guilty party not to far away with her concrete shoes. Even to this day she is claiming her innocence and blames it on Chicken Little.

Before I poured the concrete I had inserted a four foot section pvc pipe on the lowest part of the coop. I cut, drilled and assembled pvc pipe to act as a drain if a sever downpour occurred. The holes are about 2 inches apart.

Another view of drainage system.

I ordered a 1/2 cubic yard of gravel and a cubic yard of sand from a local aggregate company. They were kind enough to deliver it right to my driveway much cheaper than buying a huge number of bags at the local home improvement store (not to mention the numerous trips it would have taken to carry the weight). I used the gravel to build up the floor of the coop. Later it will be covered with weed prevention cloth and then the sand will be added. This put the “floor” of the coop at least six inches higher than the surrounding ground. Hopefully this will keep the ladies’ feet dry.

Framing Phase

Framing was new to me. I had a general idea on how things were supposed to go, but no real framing experience. I did spend some time looking for nailing requirements and and how best to secure the coop to the foundation. During this research I came across a great deal of information on basic framing. I printed out images from the sketch-up and used them as a reference to cut all of the framing pieces. After cutting, the family pitched in to help pre-stain all the pieces. We used a good water sealant stain and made sure we had good coverage on all the pieces, especially the ones that would have direct contact with the concrete.

I was fortunate enough to have family help stain the wood.

The process of cutting and staining all the pieces took much longer than anticipated. Painting or staining after assembly might have been easier and faster. Might be something to consider.

Framing took several days. Keep in mind if you are working by yourself use numerous clamps and braces to keep everything where it is supposed to be.

After getting the initial walls and roof beams up, I used a powder activated nailer to secure the kick plates to the concrete putting a fastener about every foot. Probably more than I needed, but I was enjoying the process so a few extra fasteners never hurt. I had to vary the loads of powder if I was nailing into the concrete pad or the footer.

And another view from the opposite side. From this angle it is a little easier to see the coop floor is tilted towards the side where the door will go.

I cut the coop floor from plywood and then started installing the 1/2″ hardware cloth.

It’s a pretty straight forward job of measuring, cutting and then installing the hardware cloth. I used an automatic stapler to secure the cloth to the framing. Later it will be sandwiched between the framing and the finish framing piece. An automatic staple gun is an absolute must during this phase.

I then installed the finish framing pieces that were designed to hold the cloth in place.

These pieces help secure the cloth on the inside of the coop.

I also installed the roof sheathing at this time to help keep some of the rain out. I left some of the finish framing pieces off till after installing the walls.

Framed out where the hen door was going.

And also the nesting boxes. The boxes themselves measure about 14 inches across, 16 inches tall and 12 inches deep. You can’t tell from the picture, but the floor of the nesting boxes is tilted towards the coop so water will flow out when cleaning. Notice the gap between floor of nesting box and the retaining board. You can also see the sloped coop floor pretty well in this picture. Also note that the nesting boxes are up about 6 inches off the floor to allow for the DLM.

General Construction Phase

I picked up some very inexpensive vinyl flooring tiles from the local home improvement store. They were quick and easy to install and hopefully will help when cleaning out the coop.

Here is a picture of the removable stopper blocks.

And with them removed as if we were cleaning the coop out.

Built and mounted the main access door.

Other side of door.

I also built the access ramp.

It is secured using four eye bolts. The two on the bottom of the ramp have been cut using a hack saw to make hooks. The ramp can be removed and washed off with a hose. I didn’t install this till after I had the walls up on the coop, but I wanted to show it to you here.

Coop Phase

The coop walls are built with simple siding sheets found at Lowes. They are shiplap boards that have an overlapping edge on them. I decided to build the panel, install them on the coop, trim and then stain the boards. Most of the trim pieces are 1 x 4 strip. I choose the strip over the normal 1 x 4 boards because they were much cheaper and already had the rounded edge. Surprisingly the strip boards actually had very few knots and were fairly straight. I had to cut two of the finish framing pieces to install the ventilation and siding above the coop door. I had forgotten the roof would hang down and interfere with the door opening. Using a skill saw set at the appropriate depth this wasn’t a major issue.

I also secured a 2×4 to act as my door stop as well as my support for the siding. The ventilation holes were created using a 2″ hole saw and covered with 1/2″ hardware cloth.

Next, I built the coop door and trimmed it.

Here is a close up of the back of the door showing the hardware cloth sandwiched between siding and trim pieces.

Then installed it on the coop.

Then the same process for the rest of the sides.

Back coop wall installed.

Nesting box side.

Chicken ramp side wall.

Stained inside and out. Seems Nathan decided he liked to pretend he was a hen checking out the new coop.

Built the nesting box cover out of siding and some trim pieces I had laying around. I used an extra trim piece that will attach to the wall to create an overhang. Hopefully this will help reduce or eliminate water leaking into the coop from the nesting boxes. I will also put weather sealing around the rim to help make it water tight. There is also a lip on the bottom of the siding around the nesting boxes, but it might be hard to see in this picture.

Installed the missing finish framing pieces under the coop. This is a good view of where the concrete pad and footing are connected. Using the pre-existing pad helped reduce the amount of concrete in this project. The coop height also gives the chicken’s adequate headroom.

Run Floor Phase

I put weed block cloth down to prevent weeds from growing up through the floor and more importantly, preventing the sand from washing down through the rocks. It will also allow water to seep through into the drainage system.

Put sand around the edges to hold it in place.

Then I moved this cubic yard of sand…

Into the coop. In the end I think I ended up with a little less than 6 inches of base sand on top of a four inch rock base.

Roof Phase

Built and painted the gutter. At fourteen feet, the gutter was going to be multiple pieces. It was pretty straight forward as far as assembly goes, but it did give me reason to pick up a pop-rivet tool. I always enjoy picking up new tools!

Installed it on the edge of the coop. I debated about building wedges to make the gutter parallel with the ground, but decided the 10 degree difference between roof and ground could be accounted for in the mounting. When I mounted the gutter to the coop I realized the lower end would be below the drip edge from the roof. I cut a piece of aluminum from the unused portion of gutter and painted it. It was installed overlapping the back of the gutter but will be under the drip edge from the roof.

Then I papered the roof and put down the 1×4 stripping to give breathing room.

Following a suggestion from this post on how to install a metal roof, I laid the metal roof out on the lawn to determine where the ribs would be in comparison to where the edge would be. I trimmed the roof on both side edges to ensure I would not have a rib where the edging would be.

Then installed the roofing on the coop. If you have never installed any type of roofing, plan for some extra time in this step. Be careful and think safety. Winds can be dangerous when handling these large metal sheets and the edges are very sharp.

Finishing Details

The final stretch was finishing the nesting boxes and installing the roost bar. The chickens seemed to enjoy the temporary bar I was using for their roost, so I rounded the edges a little and left it unstained. No real reason why, I just liked it that way. I also think it was easier for the chickens to see. Seems they were having trouble accurately judging a stained one I had in there during hours of low light.

I used some trim pieces to give the nesting boxes a little more cozy feel. I am pretty sure the girls didn’t care one way or the other, but I like the look of them with the trim in place.

Here’s a view from the outside showing the trim pieces. My wife and kids added the fake wooden eggs to give the girls a hint of what they are supposed to do and where to do it.

Built and installed the coop door. The rope is pulled from the front to open the door and is hooked on to a cleat to keep it open. We leave it open most of the time, closing it during very windy  or cold nights. I used some furniture slides on the door inside the track to help it move easily.

Close up of the door. When the door is closed it does extend a bit below the door opening to help prevent little racoon fingers from trying to open the door (in theory at least).

Here is the cleat for holding the door open.

We also hung a little child’s rake on the outside and use this to help turn under the poop or spread new wood chips in the coop. Very handy!

We moved the girls in and they seem very happy.

You can read about our first egg-perience here: Our First Egg.

And here is one of the recipes she used our fresh eggs in: Crepes with Salted Lemon Butter Caramel.

Lessons Learned

1. Double check length of your lumber, especially the longer pieces. The 12 foot and 14 foot pieces I got from the store were longer by almost two inches. Without catching this, the coop would not have fit on the footer.
2. When squaring the footer use either the 3-4-5 triangle method or diagonal corner method. Both of these methods assume that your opposite sides are equal in length for the rectangle to be square.
3. Getting help framing is always nice. Having an extra pair of hands makes holding things in place much easier. If you are going it alone, then don’t hesitating in generous use of clamps and temporary alignment guides.
4. The chicken coop ramp’s rungs are made of 1×2 on 6 inch centers. The girls seem to skate down between rungs, maybe a little closer together would have been better. They don’t seem to mind and go in and out the coop all the time. I’ll keep an eye on this to see if it becomes an issue. If you are moving your chickens when they are smaller, then build a ramp with closer rungs. After they mature you can swap out the ramps.
5. I did add a removable board across the coop door to hold the shavings in when we open the door. It’s held in place by a piece of 1×2 on each side of the coop and it slides up for removal.
6. Don’t think that because someone works at a big box home supply store they know everything you need. I ran into issues when ordering the roof for the coop. I went in and asked their special projects desk person for assistance in ordering everything I needed for an 8 x 14 foot metal roof. After I picked up all the parts I went online to the manufactures web site to see if they had any special instructions. After finding their installation guide, I quickly realized I was missing half the parts required to complete the roof they way I had explained it to the salesperson. It’s better to take some time and research exactly what you will need before you go to the store than it is having to wait 2 more weeks to get the rest of the parts delivered.
7. Pre-drilling holes for nails and screws makes things much easier when you are working on top of a ladder.
8. If you have young children like we do who want to collect eggs from the nesting boxes, then top opening boxes may not be the best bet. We had to put a step stool out by the coop so the kids could open the boxes and reach the eggs. I wouldn’t lower the boxes any, but I might consider making a back door instead of the top opening. Just a thought.
9. I love the slanting floors of the nesting boxes and the coop. Remember to factor that slope in when building your walls. Double check all your measurements and calculations. Also installing the walls is another great time to ask for a little assistance.

I’m really happy how things are going so far. I’ll keep you posted as we progress.

©Steamy Kitchen Recipes, 2012. | Permalink | 46 comments

This is a recipe I’ve published last year for TLC, and I thought since Easter is coming up, you might want to see an exhaustive step-by-step recipe for making ham. This recipe is only 5 ingredients – it couldn’t be any easier.

Ham usually comes in a couple different sizes, a whole ham (like this one here) half-ham or ham steaks. What they do have in common, is that they’re all fully cooked already. What you are really doing is warming up the ham. The best way to do this is low and slow in the oven, then brushing on a glaze and returning it back to the oven at high heat to caramelize.

When you’re buying ham, look for “Ham with Natural Juices” or just plain ‘ol “Ham.” There are several grades of him, and it all has to do with how much water is injected (which keeps it moist). Ham labeled “with water added” or “ham and water product” in the lower quality, and and it’s something that I don’t recommend. There’s so much water added to the ham that it becomes tasteless and its texture spongy. Spongy ham is not good eats, especially for celebrating Easter. Here’s a good article about the ham grades.

Surprisingly, ham is incredibly cheap when you purchase it whole or half. This 11 pound ham was only $31.00 and it will feed 20 people.

Of course, if you aren’t feeding an army, buy a smaller ham, like the Semi-bonesless half ham and follow the recipe, just changing your baking time (15 minutes per pound)

The first step is to remove the plastic surrounding the ham. I’m not just talking about the plastic bag either, look carefully and sometimes you’ll see a very thin membrane-ish layer that can be easy to miss.

Then use your knife to score the surface of the ham all the way around in diagonal lines, about 2-inches apart.

Then score the other way, opposite direction. Basically, you’re making diamond-shaped scores to a) make it look pretty once it’s cooked b) help release some of its fat c) allow the glaze to stick to the ham

Place the whole thing in a big roasting pan. Make sure that the roasting pan isn’t too big.
Continue reading Cola-Pineapple Glazed Ham (5 Ingredients!)...

©Steamy Kitchen Recipes, 2011. | Permalink | 18 comments

My friend Matt Wright of Wright Food is one of the best self-taught food photographers I know – his seafood shots are some of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen!

He’s a charcuterie fanatic (one day I hope he has a chance to write his own charcuterie cookbook)

Matt has just launched a self-published Food Photography Manual that includes some of his very favorite photos with illustrations on lighting and equipment setup. All profit goes to the relief effort in Japan. If you’re interested in food photography how-to, I hope you consider getting a copy of this book.

Here’s the book, in his words:

I wrote a short book on food photography. It covers everything you need to know to get yourself taking great food photos in your house. Examples of how to use scrims, bounce cards, natural light, artificial light. Everything to get you going.

I wanted it to be more than that though. So, what I did was include a bunch of examples. On one full page you see the food photo I took and on the page next to it you get a detailed description of the setup, along with an illustration I did showing exactly how the scene was setup. Where the light was coming from. Where the bounces are. Where the camera is – AND WHY.

There are examples for both natural and artificial light. I talk about lenses, cameras, tripods all that good stuff. I even give advice on composition, scene setup and all that stuff.

By the time you finish this short book, I want you to be able to take really great shots of your awesome food at home. No studio stuff, just a camera and some light, and a few doodads that you can buy at an art supply store.

Buy WrightFood Food Photography Book

©Steamy Kitchen Recipes, 2011. | Permalink | 4 comments

me and Julie from Alkaline Sisters who came all the way from Canada

No, it’s not just one big party (though we sure did party the night before and the night after the seminar). The main purpose of these food blogging events is to spend an entire day teaching blogging, tech and photography skills and ideas to an audience hungry to learn.

Special speakers Jeff Houck of the Tampa Tribune and Heather McPherson of Orlando Sentinel joined us to speak about how to get on the food editor’s radar; Pete from Izea school us on SEO and my dear friend Lindsay Landis of Purr Design walk us through web design and usability best practices.

Lindsay is the designer behind Steamy Kitchen website and logo and I just adore her and her husband Taylor. I’ll be honest though, I do have mixed feelings about “sharing” my beloved and talented web designer. The more clients she has the less time for me! Well, she did so well in her presentation that I think she scored 20 new projects.

Which means that Steamy Kitchen probably won’t be revamped any time soon.

Which probably is a good thing, since I just spent all weekend lecturing that “There’s comfort in consistency.”

Lindsay in center, husband Taylor behind her

Since Diane and Todd were unavailable to come, I was lucky enough to lure a special someone to come teach food photography and styling.

Can you tell who it was?

Oh, maybe this angle?

How about now?

It was Helene of Tartelette!

We kicked it off in high style at our opening party that Whole Foods Market graciously and generously hosted. They simply know how to party in style, with a custom creme brulee station.

And what looked like a pretty wedding cake:

Were we celebrating something I didn’t know about!? Who’s gettin’ married at Food Blog Forum!?

I scootched over to the other side of the cake, saw the piece missing — and thought it was a wedding cheesecake.

SURPRISE! It really was a cheesecake….a Brie cheese cake sponsored by KerryGold.

There’s only one person in the world I know who I can call the night before and say, “Hey wanna go to Mexico with me? We leave tomorrow!” and she’d be packing her bags before we even hang up. That’s Rachelle!

Whole Foods also lavished us with wine – we had these itty bitty wine glasses that held like 4 ounces of wine. The bartender probably thought I was such a lush, as I ended up coming back to him for a refill ever 5 minutes.

Edit: Scott’s version: “No, the glasses were 6 ounces and you lost track after the 21st refill.”

Oh. Was that why I wanted to do karaoke in the middle of Whole Foods’ cheese department?

Okay, so we partied well that night, but the very next morning…we started Food Blog Forum – the learning section-  fast and furious.

Everyone was listening so intently!

I even got Scott to join in on the teaching….I love hearing him speak.

Until the moment he started telling the audience how large my butt is.

Just kidding. I have NO IDEA what he was talking about. Apparently, part of Scott’s public speaking routine involves massive boobie grabbing hand gestures to illustrate his point.

Behind Scott is the table packed of goodies we gave away, courtesy of KitchenAid, Cooking.com, America’s Test Kitchen, KerryGold, Le Creuset, West Bend, Chicago Metallic, EdgeWare and Calphalon. Almost everyone walked away with a prize.

All these lovely lovely food bloggers. Don’t they look like college students?

The after party was even more fun – McCormick and Schmicks seafood restaurant went all-out. They closed their entire restaurant for us! YOU ROCK McC&S! They fed us their house sangria and sushi.

I won’t scare you. After 6 large glasses of sangria and 4 plates of sushi, this photo definitely was better in black & white instead of color.

I just want to say that Food Blog Forum Orlando was just amazing. Big thanks to Julie and Dawn for organizing the entire event (I know from the looks of it I just showed up to drink and party….heh heh). I got to meet so many fab food bloggers. I got to share some of the stuff that I learned in the past 4 years of blogging. Best of all, I made 100 new friends.

Love ya!

p.s. Food Blog Forum is headed to Nashville October 8th hosted by Lindsay! I’ll have more details soon.
The Little Kitchen – Food Blog Forum Orlando – Connecting with some awesome food bloggers
Wicked Good Dinner – Food Blog Forum Seminar Recap
The Domestic Mama & The Village Cook – Food Blog Forum Orlando
the merry gourmet - sharing our passion – food blog forum orlando
My Life as a Mrs - Inspired
Fork Spoon Knife – Gluten Free Peanut and Almond Chocolate Brownie Pots and the Food Blog Forum Orlando
Aggie’s Kitchen - Food Blog Forum Orlando
Return to Sunday Supper - Food Blog Forum Seminar – A Wonderful Experience
Wordflux - Orlando Weekend with Food Blog Forum
Dinners & Dreams - Rabbit and Faisselle Flan
Creative Kitchen - Food Blog Forum Orlando ~ An Unforgettable Experience
inspired taste – Breakfast Rolls
What a Healthy Family Eats – My Experience at Food Blog Forum Orlando
My Sweet Zepol – Food Blog Forum in Orlando, Florida

©Steamy Kitchen Recipes, 2011. | Permalink | 55 comments

It’s taken every ounce of willpower not to buy every one of these!

I’ve just discovered these – though perhaps those of you with girls in the family have probably heard of or seen these String Doll Gang figurines.

They’re made from string – each figure is wound, twisted, looped and wrapped in one continuous piece of string, handmade in Thailand. They company behind this cuteness is Kamibashi, owned by an American couple who used to teach English in Thailand. They maintain Fair Trade practices and the artisans who make the String Doll Gang is based in rural farming villages in Northern Thailand. You can read about The Making of a New String Doll Character.

Each doll has a fabric tag that states their power, for example, Gigi the Giant Panda’s tag reminds you to not squander our precious natural resources.

The dolls are $10.00 each on Kamibashi’s website.

©Steamy Kitchen Recipes, 2011. | Permalink | 5 comments

To me, cabbage, beans and potatoes are the best Western comfort food ever (just in case you’re curious, at the top of the list of my Asian comfort food are: white rice and ramen). And to have cabbage, beans and potatoes all in one dish that only takes 15 minutes to make? Triple Score.

Last week, I received a copy of 101 Cookbooks Heidi Swanson’s brand new book, Super Natural Every Day ($12.77 on Amazon) and that very night, couldn’t wait to make this dish called White Beans and Cabbage.

Heidi’s book is filled with 100 of her very favorite everyday recipes, “Well-loved recipes from my natural foods kitchen.” If you’re looking to eat a little more healthful, this book will be your go-to book. When you pick up this book and browse through the pages, you really get a sense of connection with Heidi. Her food photography is peaceful, soothing and textured.

Simply put, Heidi is helping change the way people eat with wholesome recipes that are simple – most of the recipes in the book are no longer than a couple of paragraphs.

I know you’ll love this book as much as I do.

White Beans and Cabbage Step by Step

Slice your cabbage as thin as you can. Cut your potatoes in super-tiny dice, about the size of frozen peas ‘n carrots. Yes, that small!

You can use any type of canned beans, I used canned cannellini beans. Just make sure you drain the beans well and give them a good rinse to get rid of any of the liquid they were sitting in inside the can. The onion (or use 1/2 shallot) should be minced.

We’ll cook the potatoes first – make sure you spread them out all over in the pan and cook on all sides until browned.
Continue reading White Beans and Cabbage...

©Steamy Kitchen Recipes, 2011. | Permalink | 62 comments

While we were in Mexico for Food Blogger Camp back in February, I got a sneak peek at the photos that my good friends, Todd and Diane of White on Rice Couple shot of Cristina Ferrare’s new cookbook. I’m sure you heard of Cristina – she’s got a cooking show, “Big Bowl of Love” on the Oprah Winfrey Network.

Diane and Todd shot all the recipe photos as well as “lifestyle” shots – i.e. a dinner party with friends – if you have a chance to pick up this book, please do. Not only is it chock full of gorgeous food shots (every recipe has a photo) but the recipes featured are non-fussy — what I call “easy sophistication.”

I’ve got so many recipes bookmarked that this book will keep me busy for a while. Today’s recipe, Flank Steak with Goat Cheese on Toast, is inspired from the book. I had originally planned these for a Spanish Tapas party my friend, Wendy was hosting, but we ended up with an obscene amount of food, so I kept the marinating steak in the refrigerator and made the dish the following day.

***

Our Spanish Tapas Party

While Tom’s prepping his dish, Wendy and her sister in law, Kelly are the background with Spanish cookbook in hand reading the recipe.

Tom and his wife, Patty – right here smiley-happy next to the cheese – own the Tae Kwon Do studio that the boys and Scott go to. And yes, the boys can kick mama’s butt.

This was just appetizers….by the time dinner was ready, the entire table was full of food. Most of the dishes were Spanish tapas – we had some wonderful Spanish Tapena wine to go with our dinner party, courtesy of the winery. Tapena wines has recently gotten some amazing reviews and awards – the 2011 Monterey Wine Competition awarded them Import Wine of the Year.

While boys were outside fishing, the gals hung out by the apps and wine.

Tom made these crispy-light rice cakes topped with manchego cheese. I never knew he had this cooking talent!

Even Andrew loved the Manchego Cheese wrapped with Jamon Serrano  — hungry after fishing!

After dinner? A single malt scotch tasting in the ultimate “man cave” – complete with leather chairs, cigars, deer heads (Shawn goes hunting once a year) and bull-horn chandelier.

I encouraged Scott to write a post on Scotch tasting, it would be his first-ever post on Steamy Kitchen. He declined until I told him that if he starts a “Scott’s Scotch Corner” on Steamy Kitchen, all his scotch would be a “business expense”

Look for a post from him soon.

***

Flank Steak on Goat Cheese on Toast

The flank steak is marinated in red chili flakes, smoked paprika, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Toppings included goat cheese, roasted red bell peppers and a balsamic fig and onion “jam” that I found at the market.

You can substitute with any sweet-savory jam or chutney. Mango chutney would be wonderful too. I have a list of recipes for jams at the end of the post.

Slice the roasted red bell pepper thinly.
Continue reading Flank Steak with Goat Cheese on Toast...

©Steamy Kitchen Recipes, 2011. | Permalink | 30 comments

Introducing the McGowan family! Angie and her family are fellow Floridians and they publish the popular Eclectic Recipes blog and the fact that she has a recipe category called “Spanglish” wins my heart. Oh and that cute little boy, Julien, she’s got there wins my heart too. I love Angie’s blog – her recipes are simple and happy – check out these colorful Springtime Flower Treats perfect for kids and the Nutella Mug Cake!!!!

This week, Angie is my guest on Steamy Kitchen, featuring her Greek Style Mac ‘n Cheese recipe — packed with olives, spinach, sundried tomatoes and feta cheese.

Enjoy!

Jaden

Greek Style Mac and Cheese

by Angie McGowan, Eclectic Recipes

I was just tickled when Jaden asked if I would like to guest post on Steamy Kitchen. I have been following Steamy Kitchen ever since I started blogging, and have picked  up many tips and tricks not only about food and cooking, but also about photography, blogging and all the other aspects of social media. Jaden is such a huge inspiration to me, and always there when I need a bit of advice in this much to complicated world of food blogging.

So I guess your wondering who I am.  My name is Angie and I have been blogging for about 2 years now. My blog is Eclectic Recipes, and I am also a daily contributor to Babble’s Family Kitchen. I grew up in rural north Florida, which is very southern and much more like rural Alabama or Georgia than south Florida. I grew up eating very southern foods. We raised catfish, chickens, goats, pigs and cattle (although not all at the same time). We had pecan trees, fruit trees and a prized persimmon tree. We had a huge garden with just about everything, and what we didn’t grow, we would get at local u-pick type farms.

I currently live in Orlando, Florida with my husband and three year old son, Julien. Although we don’t have any space for a garden yet, I try to plant as many herbs as I can in containers. I can’t wait until we have a good-sized yard where I have room for at least a small garden. When I’m not in the kitchen, I enjoy crafts, movie night with my family, and outdoor family activities like hiking, boating and skiing.

My family loves macaroni and cheese any way they can get it, but I get tired of doing the same old same boring recipe over and over. I like to experiment with using different cheeses, adding different vegetables, bits of ham or chicken, and even sometimes tuna. This is my Greek style mac and cheese. I used feta and  creamy havarti with dill to make the cheese sauce.

I got the havarti with dill in the deli section of my supermarket, and just asked them to cut my a half pound slice so I could shred it. I also added some good pitted kalamata olives, a few capers, a bit of sun-dried tomatoes and lots of fresh spinach. This made the perfect quick fix vegetarian meal, and since it’s mac and cheese, it will even satisfy your little picky eaters.  I served this as a main dish, but you could add some grilled chicken and a small Greek salad if you’d like.

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The item in my pantry that runs out more often than rice is instant ramen. It’s the perfect midnight snack — well — it’s the perfect hangover breakfast too! Serious Eats has a list of 30 Ramen Noodle Hacks – from adding baby spinach and hard-boiled egg (common for traditional Japanese ramen) to using it as a topping for shephard’s pie.

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Most of the items that I knit is cutesy girly scarfs or stuff for the kids, I haven’t done much “manly man hand-knitting” though there are a ton of patterns and books for man-knits. When I hand-make an item for someone, it’s an all-encomassing experience. I go overboard in the whole “personalization” thing, with the philosophy that there’s a PERFECT yarn for the perfect project for the perfect person and to discover that magical combination, I need to drag you to the yarn store with me.

The men in my life would rather change smoke detector batteries for the entire neighborhood than go yarn-petting with me.

I’ve had to adopt a new tactic to match yarn-pattern-people….I take my best guess on what someone would like, make it and if they don’t wear it (i.e. gets stuffed in back of a drawer or throw in the “regift” box) I’ll take it back and wear if myself

I recently learned how to knit the herringbone stitch from a book called Last Minute Knitted Gifts (book features a big poncho pattern) – I thought the the criss-cross “V” shaped stitch made into a scarf would be perfect for my Dad, who just celebrated his birthday last week.

The herringbone stitch is actually pretty easy (a how-to video is below) and I chose a very plush-soft but thick yarn – Cascade Eco Duo is made in Peru from 70% undyed baby alpaca / 30 percent undyed merino wool. It’s the type of yarn that you’d wish your bean bag was made out of and comes in a variety of natural shades.

While the front of the scarf features the herringbone design, the back of the scarf is a beautiful horizontal knit pattern.

And if Dad doesn’t wear it, I certainly wouldn’t mind snagging it back for myself!

How to Knit Herringbone Stitch

Knit Herringbone Scarf Pattern

Yarn used: Cascade Eco Duo (3 hanks)
Gauge: 4.5 stitches per inch
Needle size: US 8 (6.0mm)
Finished measurements: 11 inches wide x 56 inches long (If you want to make a skinnier scarf, decrease cast-on stitches, but keep it an odd number of stitches)

Cast on 49 stitches or to your desired width of scarf: 2 stitches on each side for the border and 45 stitches for the herringbone pattern. You should have an odd number for the herringbone pattern.

Row 1-3: Knit 3 rows garter (knit every stitch)

Row 4: (Right Side) Slip 1 purlwise, k1, *K2tog through back loops, but slip only the first stitch off the needle, leaving the
second stitch on the left needle*. Repeat to end until you only have 1 stitch left before the border stitches. Knit this last stitch through back loop, k2 (for the border)

Row 5: (Wrong Side) Slip 1 purlwise, k1, *P2tog, but slip only the first stitch off the needle, leaving the second stitch
on the left needle*. Repeat to end until you only have 1 stitch left before the border stitches. Purl this last stitch, k2 (for the border)

Repeat rows 4 & 5 until desired length of scarf

Last 3 rows: Knit 3 rows garter (knit every stitch). Bind off and weave in ends.

©Steamy Kitchen Recipes, 2011. | Permalink | 13 comments