The Lederman Kitchen

After last week's  Mediterranean Vegetable Couscous with Grilled Chicken Breasts and Yogurt Sauce  the Wife asked me to make her a Greek Style Salad for lunch with the leftovers.  It's a great way to use up the extra yogurt sauce and vegetables.  For the salad you will need: 1/4 small red onion 1/2 red pepper 1/2 green pepper 1/2 a small cucumber 1/3 cup olives (any type is fine, I had a Greek mix left over from Whole Food's olive bar) 1 tomato 1/4 cup feta cheese This salad is super simple, just roughly chop the peppers, cucumber, and tomato.  Thinly slice the red onion, and cut the olives in half.  To finish just mix the vegetables with some feta cheese.  We had plenty of yogurt sauce  left over for the dressing from dinner.  The Wife likes the dressing on the side, and like any salad that you are not eating right away, hold off on adding the dressing so your salad doesn't get soggy. That's it, quick l...

We had our first dinner guest tonight since starting the blog.  Christina is in town from Boise and is always craving good Mexican food when she visits California.  We kicked off her trip with homemade Steak Fajitas.  It's one of my all time favorite Mexican dishes and super easy to make at home.   After seeing Carlos Santana play at the Bridge School Benefit on Sunday, I thought that it was only appropriate to break out the vinyl copy of Abraxas to help my fajitas conjure up some Mexican goodness.  It's amazing how much better guacamole can taste when it's made while listening to "Oye Como Va".   Tonights dinner was somewhat of a feast.  I made the traditional fajitas and to join them we had Mexican rice, refried beans, guacamole, salsa, and pickled onions.  Needless to say there will be no blog post tomorrow as the wife and I will be enjoying the leftovers. For the pickled onions: 3/4 cup of white vinegar 2 ...

It's clear that I am not the cook in the Lederman household.  And now that you've seen a glimpse of what I eat, you can understand why I'm really in no rush to take over. What I am good at, and do love, is baking.  My Mom is an amazing baker, so was my Grandma.  I grew up eating only homemade cookies and dipping my fingers into real cookie dough. Tonight, I decided to ring in the Fall Season with some Pumpkin Cookies.  My friend Christina is coming to SF for a work trip tomorrow, and will be joining us for dinner, so no better time. This recipe is huge, I halved it, and it still made 33 cookies!  Some lucky co-workers will also get to try these out. Ingredients for the full recipe: 4 cups flour 2 cups quick oatmeal 2 teaspoons baking soda 2 teaspoons cinnamon 1 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 cups butter, softened 2 cups packed brown sugar 1 cup sugar 1 egg (this one is a little tricky to halve, but I make it happen) 1...

I love couscous but only when it is kicked up a bit with good mixings.  I think of the couscous more as a base than anything else.  It's just screaming to be mixed with something else.  Tonight I made a Mediterranean inspired meal that was kicked off by finding this great recipe on Epicurious .  To go along with our veggies and grains I grilled up a chicken breast.  To keep with our Mediterranean theme, I topped the chicken with a really easy yogurt sauce. For the couscous you will need: 1/3 cup sliced almonds  1 tablespoon olive oil  3 cups mixed cup-up vegetables (I used zucchini, carrot, celery, red onion, green and red bell pepper )  1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin  1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander  1 cup dry white wine  1/3 cup golden raisins  3/4 cup broth (I used chicken, but the original recipe called for vegetable) 2 tablespoons feta cheese 1 cup dry couscous For the yogurt sauc...

It's easy enough to buy a box of Bisquick, add water, and make pancakes.  This is how I had homemade pancakes for my first 27 years of life.  I finally started making my own from scratch though and will not be buying the mix anytime soon.   Since it's just the wife and me, I halve the recipe, but here is the full list of ingredients in case you are making pancakes for a crowd: 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 2 cups milk 4 eggs, separated 2 tablespoons melted butter 2 tablespoons sugar More melted butter or cooking spray (for the pan) Maple syrup (it's a lot better if it's heated up) This recipe is really easy and only takes a few minutes, the only down side is that you have to dirty 3 bowls.  I don't mind though since the wife gets stuck washing the dishes.  The key to fluffy pancakes is mixing the wet and dry ingredients separately, and whipping the egg whites. Since it takes some ...