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Coconut-Currant Steel Cut Oatmeal

Coconut-Currant Steel Cut OatmealCoconut-Currant steel cut oatmeal recipe From Anna's Kitchen (www.fromannaskitchen.com)
Have you tried steel cut oats? Sometimes also called "Irish oats", steel cut oats when cooked generally have a chewy, al dente texture and a nutty taste. They are oat groats, or oat kernels with no husk, that have been cut into smaller, coarse pieces using a steel blade. Size-wise, they remind me of tiny Acini di pepe pasta. Like their cousins rolled and instant oats, steel cut oats are a blank canvas for adding different flavors and ingredients. You can cook steel cut oats longer to make them a little more softer and creamier, as I usually do, but don't expect them to fall apart and turn to mush as instant oats would when cooked. Of course, adding a pat of butter or a touch of cream when cooking would help add creaminess and richness, as well. Much like my recipe for banana-pecan oatmeal, this one requires a couple more steps than just opening a package of instant oatmeal, adding water, and heating—but it's still very easy to make, and the results taste much better than what comes in a package. [caption id="attachment_1091" align="alignnone" width="900"] Raw steel cut oats[/caption]

Tropical Mango-Lime Party Punch

Tropical Mango-Lime Party PunchBrowse recipes, menu ideas and more From Anna's Kitchen (www.fromannaskitchen.com)
For anyone who has ever attended a college party or two in their time, flashbacks of overly sweetened "jungle juice" might instantly come to mind (along with memories of some crazy hangovers the next day after drinking the stuff, perhaps.) The recipe? It was always simple: combine assorted liquor with assorted juices to end up with a concoction that was potent to drink and seemed to always vary in color—sometimes orange if a lot of pineapple or orange juice was added to the mix, othertimes a greenish color from what had to be a healthy dose (a whole bottle?) of melon liqueur. Whatever you call it, it's was a great idea to serve for big, casual parties—and it's still a good idea today, with some modifications, of course. These days, I pair back the juices and booze so it's not a base of "everything and the kitchen sink" anymore. I also generally make mine with better ingredients, like organic juices and seltzer instead of soda which adds fizz without extra sugar. A base of mango and pineapple with a touch of lime juice make it tropical and flavored vodka provides extra kick of flavor.

May 2018 Update

May 2018 UpdateBrowse recipes, menu ideas and more From Anna's Kitchen (www.fromannaskitchen.com)
Well. It has been an interesting start to the year. I've been on the fence about how much "personal" content to post here, ever since I started this blog over a year ago. Not that I don't want my posts to be personal—certainly, I'm not a robot, and don't want to sound like one—but topic-wise, I've largely gotten away from daily journal, day-to-day posting that I did in the past on my blogs to focus exclusively on food topics here. I think everyone will excuse me for this particular deviation, though...

Baked Pimento Cheese Dip

Baked Pimento Cheese DipBrowse recipes, menu ideas and more From Anna's Kitchen (www.fromannaskitchen.com)
The Super Bowl is this Sunday and, well, I'm not a football fan. A red-blooded Patriot I still am, yes, but no, I don't have a favorite football team, and I don't care who wins or loses the game. As a marketer and foodie, though, I am sure you could've guessed that I do enjoy watching the commercials and eating snacks. In the kitchen is where I can be found during any given Super Bowl with a drink in hand, pausing to watch a funny commercial now and again. Works for me. It's basically a prerequisite to have some kind of pretzels or chips and dip to snack on during the game (or commercials.) If you ask me, chips and salsa gets boring after a while. Guac, even if given a healthy dose of lime juice, is bound to turn brown. And while I enjoy a good queso, it, too, comes with challenges. The first challenge is keeping it warm. (A Crock-Pot can take care of that quite nicely, true.) The second challenge is that it can be drippy and messy to eat. Pimento cheese, on the other hand, is absolutely divine, easy to make, and easy to eat. I wasn't born or raised in the South and I never ate it as a kid. I found it a few years ago by accident when looking for something at the grocery store, and, boy, am I glad I did.

Pantry Raid: Baked Penne with Vodka Sauce

Pantry Raid: Baked Penne with Vodka SauceBrowse recipes, menu ideas and more From Anna's Kitchen (www.fromannaskitchen.com)
Fact: Anything homemade is always better. Sauces, especially. "Alternative" (ha, ha...) Fact: There are days when ain't nobody got time for that. As far as I'm concerned, there's no shame in opening up a good boxed, canned jarred, or otherwise pre-made sauce from time to time. I've used many -- Italian marinaras and vodka sauces, Indian and Thai simmer sauces... -- for the makings of a quick, easy, and tasty meal on nights when the last thing that I want to do is stand by the stove and cook dinner and take-out isn't the greatest option either. It's true that many pre-made sauces have extra preservatives and salt added to them, which are usually essential in the commercial canning process to ensure taste is consistent over time or from batch to batch. I often check the labels and find the ones with the fewest ingredients (where possible). 9 out of 10 times, these ingredients are also things that I can also easily pronounce. ;) This baked pasta dish is an alternative to a traditional baked ziti with marinara sauce. It starts off very similar to another baked pasta dish that I posted about in the past and recently tweaked to include an easy Alfredo sauce in place of the jarred sauce (although it's perfectly fine to still use jarred in the recipe.) Onions and garlic, an essential foundation of anything that's bound to taste great IMHO, are cooked along with frozen spinach and sun dried tomatoes. A quality vodka sauce (I used Victoria) and cheese are added to cooked pasta in a large skillet, then the whole thing is topped with more cheese and baked. So, clearly the message here is this: baked pasta is extremely versatile and can never be bad. ;) Easy to make ahead and freeze or make the same day, a delicious meal is on the table in just an under an hour.

Product Review: Califia Farms Toasted Coconut Milk

Product Review: Califia Farms Toasted Coconut MilkBrowse recipes, menu ideas and more From Anna's Kitchen (www.fromannaskitchen.com)
Disclaimer: This is an honest review and not a sponsored post by Califia Farms brand for any blog website or service.  For me, coconut isn't just one of those summer-only flavors or scents. It's a year-round favorite of mine—even in the middle of January. Nope, there aren't too many coconutty things that I won't try. And for as crazy as I am about the stuff, I know two people on opposite ends of the coconut spectrum: one who flat-out can't stand it and one who's allergic to it. (Dave, fortunately, isn't either of those individuals.) I love the fact that there seem to be way more varieties of nut milk blends in the grocery store than there were in the past. Fortunately, almond-coconut milk is one of them. I think it has a much better flavor than its plain soy-, almond-, or coconut-only counterparts.

Meal delivery services for the home cook: A review of Plated

Meal delivery services for the home cook: A review of PlatedBrowse recipes, menu ideas and more From Anna's Kitchen (www.fromannaskitchen.com)

Disclaimer: although it may sound like it, this is not a sponsored post, just a review of the services based on my experiences using them. This was originally posted on fuchsia-revolver.org on January 12, 2014.  You know those ads on Facebook? The ones that have migrated from the right sidebar to your timeline, increasingly targeted to your likes, so much that it can be scary? The algorithm changes recently made to Facebook are decreasing the reach of organic posts made by businesses, driving business owners to paid advertising via Facebook in the hopes of increasing exposure to potential customers. The…