Bacon, Baking and Everything in Between

Radish and Baby Turnip Salad

2011-06-03T09:58:00.002-04:00

I had no idea what to do with a the bunch of baby white Japanese turnips when I got them with the CSA bag this week. The vegetable raw tastes a little sweet then the end you taste the spice of ground black pepper. It was an interesting taste sensation. After some google searching I learned you could eat them raw or cook them. There were plenty of recipes for glazes with other spring veggies.

I decided to play up the natural flavor of the turnip by making a salad with radishes and green onions. I made a dressing that really brought out the natural sweetness and peppery overtones. Juice of a lime, white balsamic vinegar, honey, and a tiny bit of olive oil. I let the salad soak for for about 30 minutes in the fridge.

It turned out very refreshing as a side for dinner with chicken and green salad. Flavors that all together were full of zest and spice and yet cooling.

New CSA Season Begins

2011-05-08T12:51:00.001-04:00

I signed up again this year with a CSA. I like the idea of knowing where my veggies come from, supporting a local farm, and the really enjoy planning new meals around what's truly fresh and in season. The element of surprise is great. The box contains veggies id normally buy: onions, spinach, mushrooms....and then a surprise veggie...

This week the surprise veggie I would never normally buy at the grocery store was a pound of watercress. Watercress is a small leaf. That's a lot of watercress. This morning I made a schmear from cream cheese, feta, a handful of green onions and a cup of watercress. It was a great way to start the day on top of a bagel.Tonight I will be experimenting with a watercress apple stuffing for roasted chicken.

Last of the ham...

2011-05-03T08:55:00.005-04:00

With the last of the ham I made a potato ham soup and ham and cheddar biscuits. I've never made potato soup from scratch before. The soup is simple to make and so comforting. I didn't do anything extraordinarily, just threw potatoes (peeled and cubed), a chopped onion, and several celery stalks chopped in a pot with chicken broth and ham for an hour. Then added a roux of butter, flour, and milk to thicken the soup.

For the biscuits I made a simple biscuit recipe with flour, baking powder, butter, milk, and cream of tarter and added in a couple handfuls of cheese and cubed ham.

Both were a great way to use the last of the ham.

More ham.....

2011-04-28T19:47:00.001-04:00

Continuing with leftover ham I made mac and cheese with every cheese in sight. I make homemade mac and cheese frequently and honestly this might be the best on record.

I accredit the randomness in the fridge: Monterey Jack, swiss, sharp white cheddar, and cream cheese all thrown in the pan. Sprinkle in ham and a little cayenne and cumin and you found my dinner. Yummy!

The Great Easter Ham

2011-04-27T20:52:00.001-04:00

On Sunday I made an 11 pound ham. We like pork, leftovers make the week easy, and well, when I bought the ham there were only 2 left. Eleven pounds is a lot of ham for 3 people. We have had our fill of ham sandwiches this week. Last night I made ham topped pizza. Tonite a big bowl of pasta salad.

I made homemade chive and garlic pesto for the dressing and chopped up all the veggies in sight to add in for the pasta salad. It turned out quite yummy.

We still have a lot of ham. Quiche and potato soup with ham are certain to make an appearance soon, but I'm going to need to search for some more ham ideas.

Horses Naaaa, Pigs Oink, Fish do what?

2011-04-26T14:40:00.005-04:00

For my friend's son's 3rd birthday I was asked to make a red barn cake. My friend and I are both from small towns in Washington state and there was no way I was only going to make just the barn itself. Barns have animals (the best part). I made sure to include a pig pen with nutella and a pretzel fence.

Horses with bails of hay. The hay were cupcakes with yellow frosting and coconut mixed in.

Leading up the red barn I made a dirt road with graham cracker crumbs. A farm is not complete without water, so a pond with gold fishes helped with the landscape.

Ta da! Red barn cake complete! The cake itself was a loaf pan of red velvet cake and butter cream red frosting. Pretzels for the roof and graham crackers for the barn doors finished off the commentary of farm life in rural country.

Strawberry Shortcake

2011-04-07T10:24:00.002-04:00

When I was a kid my grandparents made our favorite meal for our birthdays with a special dessert. I always requested cheese raviolis with marinara and homemade fruit pie. My grandpa baked the best fruit pies.

I love my boyfriend. For his birthday he wanted homemade meatballs and strawberry shortcake. Ta da! Strawberry shortcake in the best way. Pound cake base, homemade whip and perfectly sweet strawberries.

Happy Birthday!

2011-04-04T09:08:00.002-04:00

To the Teej over at Gheorghe: The Blog. My sister and I had fun yesterday making him his birthday cake. Rich vanilla cake with butter cream vanilla frosting.

Egg Pie

2011-04-02T21:19:00.001-04:00

Quiche gets a lot of grief. But quiche with bacon, sharp cheddar, onion, broccoli, and cayenne pepper is rich enough to withstand any flack. Flavor depth perfection.

Where did Spring go?

2011-03-31T21:46:00.001-04:00

Back when it was Spring (ahem last week) and not winter like this week has been I made fresh fish. Today's weather screamed for heavy comfort food especially after freezing at the Nats home opener. If it ever warms up again I can vouch tilapia cooked at 400 for about 10 minutes is perfect hot for dinner and perfect leftover cold on toast for lunch.

The Incredible Edible Egg Meets My Pan

2011-03-30T10:16:00.001-04:00

I wish I could start every day with an omelette but it really just reserved for weekends.

A Night Off

2011-02-15T09:43:00.004-05:00

Since my sister moved here, I've been trying to plan out meals as a family on the weekend for the upcoming week. Looking at sports schedules, speeddating schedule (my second job), and anything else going on. Planning meals that work with time that evening and our budget. Having a plan going into the week is a huge time saver and saves a ton of money when I enter the store.

Most of time I'm in charge of cooking, but bring in the sous chefs for browning meat, chopping, and setting the table. For Valentine's the sous chefs let me have the night off and took over the kitchen.

My boyfriend over at Gheorghe: The Blog made an amazing meat lasagna-a project I have never tackled myself. Super cheesy, super rich, super delicious. I had no idea he could actually cook. He has been holding back. This has been added to the frequent rotation of meals.

For dessert my sister made Crazy Brownies. Brownies that she added Oreos AND peanut butter M&Ms to. Crazy Brownies! They were divine. She can make those anytime she wants. No holiday needed. President's Day is coming up. I think that needs a celebration of Crazy Brownies.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T11:30:00.003-05:00

Some things just belong together. Peanut butter and jelly. Cheese and crackers. Macaroni and cheese. Mashed potatoes and gravy.

The cupcakes are from a recent order for couple who really do belong together. The chocolate cupcake is from my favorite new recipe. Its moist and super chocolaty and melts in your mouth. Topped with buttercream frosting its sinfully good. The red velvet cupcake is a match made in heaven with cream cheese frosting.

I hope your Valentine's Day is wonderful and celebrated with love and something sweet.

Tins of Coffee

2011-02-09T10:46:00.004-05:00

I drink a lot of coffee. I am not one of those weekday drinkers who only gets a cup Monday through Friday as a pick me up. I drink coffee. Generally 4-5 cups by the time I get to work. Yesterday was a bad meeting day, which meant I had 7 cups by 10:30 am. My sister it turns out is the same. She doesn't drink quite as much coffee, usually 2 cups before school and 3 on the weekend when she has more time to relax and settle.

A few years ago, I used to grind my own beans in the morning and brew up Starbucks brand to sip on and pack a thermos. About two years ago, I shifted to preground coffee, still Starbucks or I'd be lazy and get coffee on the way to work. When my sister moved in, we shopped around for brands of bagged coffee on sale. By Thursday the bag was gone. We had used the entire bag. While, I could live with this, since there is a Starbucks in my building, this was close to anarchy for a high school student. She can't bring coffee into class.

Last weekend when I went grocery shopping, I fell prey to a good sale and bought a big tin of coffee. Its 10 days later. We still have half a tin of coffee. Out of realization mornings will always be tough and unorganized, I do my best to make the coffee the night before and do everything but turn the pot on. I'm the first to admit budget preground coffee does the job just as well as grinding my beans the minute before brewing.

Its the same way my grandfather prepped his coffee. He drank at least three pots of coffee a day. He would pack for work with 2 thermoses full of it. He saved some of the tins for his garage to organize different sized nails in each tin. I should have trusted what he was doing all those years.

Perfection in the Details

2011-02-08T08:30:00.001-05:00

My sister moved here via a red-eye from Seattle in December. She flew out on Tuesday night after completing her finals for the quarter that day. She flew in, unpacked her 2 suitcases and we registered her for school at 1 pm. After we met with the counselor at 8 am to find what classes she was taking, she started school. At noon, I got a call, she felt sick (wouldn't anyone after that 36 hours?) and wanted to come home. I told her to stick it out. I would see her at home in a few hours.

When I got home she was asleep in our bed (more on that later). I woke her up to tell her she could nap for another hour but had to get up then and eat dinner so it didn't completely destroy her getting adjusted to East Coast time. While she napped and slept off the stress of the past few days, I made her favorite comfort food dinner. Roast chicken breasts, edamame, and rice. While she ate, she talked about her new school, the teachers, the students, and really was a new person after a proper meal.

Roasted chicken is highly underrated. Its easy to make, takes all of 3 ingredients, but the simplicity should not be lost in the details. Roasted chicken fills the house with the aroma of warmth, love, and home. It has flavorful crispy skin and the juice from the chicken should be visible when you take the first bite and the last.

I only use bone in, skin on, split chicken breasts. Buying chicken or any meat with the bone provides the most juicy and tender cut of meat. The skin protects the chicken breast from drying out and of course allows for the tremendous crisp.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Rinse the chicken breasts and pat dry. Place them in a pie plate or small dish. Brush them with olive oil and cover them with your favorite spices or go simple and use a ready made spice blend. Put the chicken in for about an hour. Use a meat thermometer so you don't have to cut into the chicken to test when its done. All meat should rest for 5 minutes before cutting or lose all the juices.

I think roasted chicken has to have some magical restorative power if it makes a 17-year-old feel human again after a mid-week cross country move. It works wonders for me after a long day. Simple enough for the pickiest of eaters, but is appreciated by even the snobbiest of foodies, in its humble distinction.

Heaven in Dip Form

2011-02-07T10:32:00.005-05:00

I haven't posted in a very long time. There is a reason for my absence. I was on a 2 month long vacation in Italy. I took cooking classes and lived villa overlooking the water. Took long strolls and went to farmer's markets every day....

Ahem. Not really. My 17-year-old sister who is in high school recently moved in with me. I have been cooking more at home than ever before. My budget completely changed in a few short days after she moved here. Cooking at home is not only cheaper than eating out, but more fun, more delicious, and healthier even when eating junk food.

So this weekend after a solid JV girls basketball game, I made homemade chicken and rosemary pizza to celebrate. My sister was a scrappy player with bruises to prove it. I couldn't have been more proud when she tackled a girl for the ball. Girl had it coming.

On Saturday, it was crappy miserable weather. As my sis pointed out "Its too gross out to even rain." The day included errands and getting up at 8 am to take my sis to a SAT prep class. In the past, I probably would've laid in bed till 10 am, slowly gotten up and done the things that had to be done and finished the day at a bar with sliders. Sliders and beer were still involved but homemade, which in the end was brilliant. My sis and I made our's super spicy with red pepper flakes, bacon, onions, pepper jack cheese, and BBQ sauce and my boyfriend with cheddar, bacon, and ketchup.

Since I'm new to this parent thing "No, you can't do that" talks are new territory. The last time my sis lived with me she was in elementary school and when I said no, it was generally a "No, you can't have ice cream before dinner" or "Fine, don't brush your teeth, you're gonna lose those anyway". Far less emotionally involved conversations. When the talk was done, I headed to the store to pick up fun stuff to make for Super Bowl Sunday.

The menu included:

Queso

A dip I have labeled as: Heaven

Wings in the Crockpot (broil them after they cook and pour on more sauce to make them crispy on the outside with fall off the bone goodness)

Garbage Bread (a new recipe from the boyfriend's mom. Think calzone rolled into bread form. Wow.)

To make Heaven mix together:

2 avocados

1/2 cup blue cheese

1 bunch chopped green onions

1 cup sour cream

1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley

4 slices of cooked bacon

Juice of 1 lime

I was heavy on the avocado, you could cut it to 1, but I love the creamy butter fruit. The dip included a great balance of sharpness, creamy texture and zest. It was perfect with margaritas and a great start to the evening.

When in doubt, add cheese...and bacon

2010-10-15T08:15:00.000-04:00

I remember the first time I heard about a calzone. I was way too old to hearing about it. I was in college. Yep. College. I was meeting my then boyfriend's parents for the first time and they were talking about it. I thought it was strange, since they were in fact strange. Why eat a pizza that's folded into itself? Why not just eat a pizza? So I dismissed the idea and never tried it.

Until, about three months ago. A drunken night at the Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse, trying a a calzone sounded like a perfect plan. And it was. According to Wikipedia a calzone is in Italian means stocking or trouser. Odd, so I thought I'd throw that one in there. After trying it and loving it, of course I wanted to replicate it at home.

To make a calzone you gather the same ingredients you would a pizza. Pizza dough,

mozzarella cheese, sauce, and whatever toppings you would like. I added in some bacon I cooked up and pepperoni.

To make it, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. I used a pizza stone and preheated that as well. On a floured cutting board, I stretched out the dough into an oblong circle and spread the sauce all over. I added in the ingredients on one side. Layering cheese, then pepperoni, cheese, then bacon, and finally more cheese.

I then carefully folded the side of the calzone without toppings over onto it making a turnover. To seal the sides together just brush with water and pinch together. I used a fork to press them to get a better seal. I sliced a few holes in the top so the calzone can breathe in the oven and not puff up completely. Then sprinkled the calzone with oregano and rosemary.

I pulled the stone out of the over and carefully and quickly transferred the calzone over to the stone. I let the calzone cook for about 30 minutes total. It cooks at a lower temperature than a pizza and you want all the cheese to melt and bread to fully cook.

The result is a chewy outside, with a rich gooey filling. Heat up sauce to dip the edges in for an even more amazing dinner.

A bread for Fall mornings

2010-10-14T11:05:00.008-04:00

One of the best things about waking up in the Fall is waking up to cold mornings. Mornings when the heat of the summer has finally broken and you can breathe in the air instead of bathtub water humidity.

To kick off those mornings I made pumpkin bread. There are tons of variations of pumpkin bread. Add dried fruit, nuts, fresh fruit, top with icing or powdered sugar, anything goes. The bread I made is simple and a compilation of a few with added seasonings. The result was moist and flavorful. Its filling enough to keep you through till lunch and really is such a nice treat with your morning coffee. The added bonus of making the pumpkin bread? Your house smells amazing.

The recipe makes two loaves, which is even better. You can keep one for yourself and share with someone else, or wrap up and freeze the second loaf and defrost later. The next time I make it I'm going to play around with reducing the sugar and the substituting the oil for applesauce.

Here's how I got there:

Preheat the oven to 350. Butter and flour 2 9x5 loaf pans.

Mix together:

3 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

1 16 oz can of pumpkin

3 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1 1/2 tsp allspice

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp ground ginger

Pour the batter into the two pans and bake for about an hour and 10 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Bumper crop

2010-10-06T08:56:00.002-04:00

This year I had a bumper crop of herbs in my garden. It makes no sense given the hot dry summer, but they must like the weather. I grow the standards basil, rosemary, thyme, oregano, mint, and chives. Some years I mix it up and grow arugula or bib lettuce, but most I stick to the easy ones that I know I will use often.

One of the herbs that completely took off was chives. I like a good baked potato and eggs with chives as much as the next girl, but really there is only so much you can eat.

So, I experimented and made chive spinach pesto. It was pretty delicious and look at that amazing color. According to the reviews, it was earthy, packed with flavor and really zesty. Win. I made it for pasta, but I could see using it to spread on a sandwich or use it top fish or chicken.

To make it I threw into the food processor:

1/4 cup of toasted pine nuts

1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup of olive oil

3 garlic cloves

salt

1 cup of spinach

1 cup of chives

Give it whirl and you find this amazing color and a wonderful treat.

October is finally here

2010-10-04T10:37:00.002-04:00

I love Fall. I love the rain, the wind, the crunchy leaves (I even named my dog Maple), Oktoberfest, the sweaters and scarves, carving pumpkins, Halloween and Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday), the first fire of the season, pulling out the heavy comforter for the bed. But, really I love Fall food. Pumpkin spice lattes, comforting soup, chili, wings, pulled pork, pumpkin beer, and all the apple and pumpkin goodness in pie and cake and cookie form.

Last week I took a shot at making corn jalapeño chowder. It really did capture the essence of Fall in a bowl. I used a recipe from Kitchen Daily. With, just one change, adding the entire jar of canned peppers. I wanted my soup to run on the spicy side.

The chowder ended up hearty and filling, and was perfect for a meal in one bowl. The cream and milk in the chowder really cuts down on the spice from the peppers, so taste, then add more if you want it spicy.

I paired the chowder with Dogfish Head's Punkin Ale, which by far is my favorite pumpkin beer of the season. You can really taste the nutmeg and cinnamon in the beer, and it worked perfectly with the spicy comforting chowder. If you're looking for ideas for your rainy Monday dinner, this is a good one.

Hungry for the weekend?

2010-09-17T14:59:00.004-04:00

I have lots of recipes and ideas of brewing of things to make this weekend.

Kitchen Daily's jalapeno corn chowder looks pretty amazing. Especially with the tiny hint of Fall in the air in DC.

Mmmm....Fall makes me think of a good homemade apple pie. Like the ones my grandparents used to make. My grandpa would mix and roll out the dough on the counter, while my grandma made the pie filling at the table. Their kitchen was just barely bigger than mine, and its super matchbox tiny.

My chives are completely overgrown and I was going to experiment making a pesto from chives instead of basil. Maybe add in a little spinach?

Updates to come on what I end up making. But, those three seem like they might be winners.

Sweet Tooth

2010-09-16T09:58:00.003-04:00

I made these super cute cupcakes on Sunday for an order. They were birthday cupcakes for a party for a gentleman's lady friend.

Clockwise from top left, Raspberry Lemonade, The Traditional with chocolate cake and vanilla butter cream inside and outside, Chocolate Peanut Butter cup with peanut butter frosting filling too, and Trip to the Tropics a banana, pineapple, coconut cupcake with pineapple coconut frosting.

I learned a few tips for making cupcakes:

1. Have enough pastry bags for each flavor of frosting, so you don't have to slow down to wash them out in between.

2. Invite taste testers over, having Sunday Ticket helps to have male taste testers on the opening day of football season. Offer beer to wash them down with and burgers for dessert.

3. Cook the cupcakes early to allow cooling time. Lots of cooling time. Warm cupcakes, warm kitchen will make a frosting disaster.

4. If the cupcakes make more than the order, never fear, freeze the unfrosted cupcakes for a later date (like a going away party next week).

5. Set the timers, and don't ignore them cause you are making another batch. Nothing is worse than burnt cupcakes.

You really do want to see how sausage is made

2010-09-15T08:46:00.001-04:00

I may love bacon, but I have a true affinity for all things pork related, including breakfast sausage patties.

I have in in the past always just picked up the tube of sausage, brought it home and pan cooked it. It has always been good, but when you flip the tube over and look at the ingredients there are more chemicals and things I can't read then pork. So I decided to crack at making them myself.

It was heaven......

So easy. What you see in the pan is this:

1 lb of ground pork

Seasonings to taste.

That's it. The seasonings I used: fennel, chili powder, red chili flakes, crushed garlic, and rosemary, but you could use anything. You like the spicy kind add more spice, you like the maple kind, add maple syrup.

I shaped the pork into little patties, pan cooked them, and ate them. So simple. So pure in flavor. Delicious.

No Festival Can Top This

2010-09-14T13:25:00.009-04:00

On Saturday, I went to the Bacon and Beer Festival at Heavy Seas Beer with the staff at Dumbarton's Beer and one of Gheorghe's contributors. We are health food nuts, clearly.

It was heaven. I felt it was my obligation to this blog to try everything. I did. Its Tuesday, I'm still dehydrated. It fully lived up to expectations. Since all the bacon was amazing, the whole idea of reviewing it is kinda null. But, there were a few favorites so you can look forward to coming with me next year, and hopefully, give you some ideas of what to make in your kitchen.

The winners:

Cheddar pimento cheese with bacon

Pork filled with bacon, wrapped in bacon (as seen in the pic)

Crab stuffed in a puff pastry, wrapped in bacon

Duck bacon

Maple syrup bacon (you could smell the bacon in maple syrup from outside in line)

The still amazingly delicious, I will try to make at home:

Pulled pork flavored with jalapeños and bacon on grits

Bacon and beer cheddar soup

BLTs

Bacon sausage

Peppered bacon

Juniper bacon

Bacon jam

Bacon and sausage stroganoff

And the desserts:

Cocoa bacon (also in the pic above)

Chocolate truffle filled with beer, topped with bacon

Chocolate bark with bacon (the best of the bacon desserts)

Bacon caramel corn

I'm certain I forgot some of the wonderful delicious salty goodness I had, but you get the idea. Dumbarton's Beer covered the beers, but I loved the pumpkin beer and the Redsky at Night.

Can it be salvaged?

2010-09-03T09:09:00.003-04:00

Sometimes in the kitchen things do not work out. Too salty, burnt, too much sugar, too much butter. What you are hoping though, is that it can be salvaged.

I made cornbread last Sunday for dinner and was not paying attention. I doubled the recipe, but didn't double the oil. Then I turned around to make salsa, and let the corn muffins sit too long in the oven till they were quite burnt.

My first solution was trying to save the muffins by making honey butter to go with them. It was a short term solution, only good when the muffins were hot from the oven, and less good the next day.

Since I hate wasting food, I decided to save the muffins and make them into a bread pudding. Bread pudding reminds me of my grandparents. They made some version of it nearly weekly. I always remember the anticipation of it cooking while the whole house would smell like cinnamon and vanilla. Waiting, waiting, waiting because it takes a good hour for the custard to set.

I wanted to mix it up a little bit and make something unusual since I was already starting with a cornbread base and not the traditional white bread. Instead of the traditional brown sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla flavors, I went for honey and jalapeños. It was a great decision. The end result was spicy and savory and sweet. A good combination and a bread pudding I couldn't be happier to eat for the weekend.

How I got the end result:

Slice and butter 9 burnt corn muffins, layering them in a casserole dish

Drizzle honey on the muffins in the casserole dish

In a separate bowl beat:

3 eggs

2 1/2 cups of milk

1 chopped jalapeño

1/4 cup of white sugar

Pour egg mixture slowly over muffins in casserole nearly covering the muffins.

Make a water bath by putting about 2 inches of water in a larger pan and putting the casserole in it. This way the custard won't burn.

Bake at 350 for 65 to 70 minutes until the custard is firm.

Enjoy the aroma in your house and wait in anticipation for the deliciousness to set.

Keep it Hot, Hot, Hot

2010-08-31T11:02:00.006-04:00

Jalapeños are one of those fun foods to cook with. When you bite into anything with jalapenos that you flavored the dish with you know they are there. There is no subtley of flavor, no hint of it. It is strong and bold and wonderful for end of summer dishes.

I am still working through last week's CSA share and from it had 10 jalapeños. So far, I've added jalapeños to omelettes and cornbread and a stir fry. And everyone's favorite...salsa.

To make the salsa I went super simple and threw everything in the food processor. Its a great excuse to use it, just make sure the chopping doesn't get away from you. Everything here is to taste.

The ingredients:

5 juiced Roma tomatoes

2 seeded and deveined jalapeño peppers

1/2 red onion

1 bell pepper

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

juice of 2 limes

sprinkle of salt

dash of Tabasco

Remember when working with any peppers that the heat is in the seeds and in the veins so if you want it hotter, leave it in, if you don't out it goes.

The trailer for one of my favorite pepper filled cooking movies, Woman on Top. If you haven't seen it, its good fun.

My next experiment with the hot peppers will be in chocolate cookies. It looks like a fun recipe and I'm excited to give it a shot.

Natural state

2010-08-30T08:00:00.003-04:00

Some things should just be left in their natural state. Fresh late summer tomatoes are one of those things. You can see all the ingredients in the picture and that is what makes it simple, beautiful and so wonderful to eat.

What it really is....

4 sliced tomatoes

a drizzle of balsamic

a handful of chopped basil

feta crumbles

Could anything be easier?

Sunday Dinner

2010-08-29T11:22:00.002-04:00

I'm a big fan of Sunday family dinner. Family is a word I use that is all encompassing. Family could mean my neighbor, my friends, my gentleman, or family. It is just the people in my life and around me that I love and can't get enough of and love to cook for and cook with.

I think Sunday dinner is possibly the most important dinner of the week. Forget Friday when I'm brain dead. Saturday is for fun, surely. But Sunday dinner is the end of the weekend. The recap of the week and the kickoff of another week. A night when you can relax a bit, when the batteries have been recharged and you can focus on what is important and be able to cherish it at the same time. So Sunday dinner at my house always means a good hearty meal that is perfect for that occasion and provides leftovers too.

This was last Sunday's dinner. Grilled cornish game hens, with grilled yukon golds, and tomato salad (tomorrow's post).

To make the game hens I quartered them then marinated for about 3 hours them in:

chopped fresh basil

fresh oregano

olive oil

balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper

juice of 1 lemon

4 cloves of crushed garlic

I grilled the hens flipping them about 4 times and brushing on the marinade for each flip for about 25 minutes at 375 degrees.

The hens turned out perfectly crispy, juicy on the inside and with a lot of flavor from the marinade. The leftovers were equally delicious providing juicy sandwiches for the next day. A good thing for a Monday lunch.

Try, try, try again

2010-08-28T10:48:00.002-04:00

Until you like it.

Some things you just know you don't like. Brussels sprouts, asparagus, kale all fall onto that list for me. Bitter, nasty tasting vegetables that you know the only reason someone decided they were edible was because they were starving. There is no other sane explanation.

Except....

When you try a new recipe and realize you have been making it completely incorrectly the entire time.

I picked up the last bag of fruits and vegetables this week from my borrowed CSA share. Since its the end of August the share was enormous. In it....was kale. Eek. I grew up going to the food bank for food as a kid, and as a result hate wasting any food ever. So, I was bound and determined to find a recipe that was actually good. I hit a gold mine.

Last night, in warding off a cold that I have felt the inklings of coming on, but refuse to get, I decided to make salad two ways and get rid of the kale. The first one was a sauté of bok choy, red onions, garlic, and jalapeños.

The second salad was the kale. All of the recipes I have seen for kale have it cooked, not raw. But, I decided to counter my sauté to try this recipe from Aarti (who just won the Next Food Network Star and I am completely in love with).

I ate the bok choy first, completely avoiding the kale on my plate. Then when I got to it I was filled with complete and utter surprise. I loved it. It was nothing like the cooked gross kale I had in the past. It was refreshing and light and I actually went back for seconds.

Healthy and filling dinner and trust me with that power punch of vitamins no cold will be knocking on my door.

I didn't exactly follow the recipe, so here is my adapted recipe based on what I had on hand:

1 bunch of kale stalks removed, sliced thin

juice of 1/2 lemon

pepper and salt

1 peach chopped

1/4 cup of pine nuts toasted

dressing:

juice of 1/2 lemon

1/4 cup of olive oil

2 t honey

salt and pepper

I followed Aarti's instructions completely:

In large serving bowl, add the kale, half of lemon juice, a drizzle of oil and a little kosher salt. Massage until the kale starts to soften and wilt, 2 to 3 minutes. Set aside while you make the dressing.

In a small bowl, whisk remaining lemon juice with the honey and lots of freshly ground black pepper. Stream in the 1/4 cup of oil while whisking until a dressing forms, and you like how it tastes.

Pour the dressing over the kale, and add the mango and pepitas (Substituting in the peach and pine nuts). Toss and serve.

Cape Cod

2010-08-27T09:02:00.009-04:00

On my summer vacation...

I went to Cape Cod. I loved it. I vowed to have seafood for every meal and happily did. The scenery was amazing. The beaches were beautiful and the people were friendly and nice and welcoming.

My goal was to take pictures of everything unique seafood dish I ate. That completely fell by the wayside every time the plate came to the table, because I was so excited to eat it. I snapped a few pics of dishes that I remembered to.

This is one of those things I have never encountered before such as a quahog. Its a baked and stuffed clam on the shell. The clam version of a crab cake almost.

One of my favorite meals was at the Old Jailhouse Tavern, which literally used to be a jailhouse. I had the New England clam pie. It was literally a pie made out of clams and potatoes then topped with clam chowder. Amazing. I could have fallen asleep in my plate after that meal.

The seafood options were overwhelming. As a Seattle native I didn't expect to be surprised by fresh seafood, but that was just it. The seafood options were different than I was familiar with. Lobster, completely different fish chips, fish sandwiches galore, oysters in the raw, oysters made like Buffalo chicken wings, scrod Mediterranean style, scrod with a coconut lime sauce I almost licked off the plate from the Black Cat , ahi tuna cooked perfectly.

The drinks were plentiful and beautiful as well, like this dessert in a glass from Tommy Doyle's

I'm not going to lie, I'm sad to be home. I will certainly have to go back.

Bacon makes everything better

2010-08-11T11:37:00.003-04:00

I hated green beans. Growing up, I thought green beans were grown in a can. They were soggy and came in the liquid from the can. You were heated up and you were supposed to eat them. And sit there until they were gone. Gross.

I now know green beans are crunchy and fresh and actually can be delicious. Especially when cooked in bacon grease.

These green beans, I snapped off the ends with scissors, sautéed onions and garlic in bacon grease, then added the beans. When they were nearly done, I added slivered almonds. I like adding dried cranberries or raisins, too. It brings out the natural sweet with the beans.

The best tip is not to overcook the beans.

Baba Ganoush is fun to say

2010-08-11T11:35:00.006-04:00

When you look up recipes for baba ganoush you get a million different ways to make it, each from a different country. I fell in love with the flavorful eggplant puree in Turkey. Even in Turkey there were several different ways it was made. Some the eggplant was chunky and juicy, others it was completely pureed, and some served with yogurt that tasted like Greek yogurt with a hint of garlic. I was happy to eat all three in a meal.

I had never made baba ganoush till this weekend. Something about grilling or roasting the eggplant then peeling it, then pureeing it seemed like way too much effort. For the record, its not, and its well worth the effort.

I started with 6 very small eggplants from the CSA I'm borrowing from a friend. They were washed and went straight onto a grill at about 375 for 10 minutes until all the sides were charred. The peeling of the eggplants fell off in my hands. It was so easy.

I put the cooked eggplants in a blender with 3 TB of tahini, 1/2 cup of flat leaf parsley, the juice of 1 lemon, 2 cloves of garlic, and a bit of salt. Wizz, bang, it was ready.

In less than 24 hours the baba ganoush was was gone, with no one to credit but myself. There are a lot of variations to this super simple recipe. Add olive oil, cumin, chili powder, pine nuts, tomatoes, vinegar. Or keep it simple and enjoy.

Covet

2010-08-09T15:58:00.003-04:00

I had this in NYC last weekend. A little cupcake stand provided perfection at the High Line park. I'm certain if I had that right now, my day would be significantly better and it would bring a smile to any and everyone's face who tried it. Although, I'm certain if I was in the park right now I would be happier too. The park was created on, out of use, above ground railroad tracks. Innovative and beautiful.

I want to try making the cupcakes. It was an Elvis cupcake. The cupcake was banana, topped with peanut butter frosting and lil' marshmallows.

Burst of color

2010-08-07T10:02:00.000-04:00

My friend is in Africa for a month travelling and site seeing. I'm very jealous of her adventures, but very happy to take over her CSA for 2 weeks of the month. I picked up the vegetable and fruit share on Wednesday and was happy to find it filled with veggies I love and that looked amazing. I started nibbling on the tomatoes before I even got home.

I wanted to make a dinner that packed a nutritional punch and used the local organic veggies and got to it as soon as I got in the door. I started by washing the beets and brushing them olive oil and wrapping them in foil. I threw them in the oven to roast for about 45 minutes at 375.

Then I made a simple salad dressing with balsamic vinegar, mustard, honey, and olive oil. I diced half of a sweet yellow onion from the share and sautéed it. And quickly cut in half the cherry tomatoes.

When the beets were cooked, I pulled them out, and easily rubbed off the peel with the foil and chopped up the beets. I mixed them together with the tomatoes, onions, a little bit of Brie and the salad dressing.

So fresh, so healthy, and so many flavors and colors. Beets have a natural sweetness that comes out so subtly when they are roasted. I didn't actually know I liked beets until I made them fresh as an adult a couple years ago. Its a completely different vegetable than the canned smelly mess I had as a kid. Making a salad dressing with just a slight amount of sweet from the honey really plays up on the flavor. A great addition to the salad would have been candied pecans.

Lighten it up

2010-08-06T09:26:00.005-04:00

Zucchini is one of my favorite vegetables. Its versatile. It can be sautéed, baked, stuffed, grilled, fried. Made as side dish, the main event, or even put into sweets.

Zuke chocolate cake is one of my favorite cakes. I wanted to make something similar to that but lighten it up for a breakfast muffin. After a quick search I found this recipe from Smitten Kitchen. It sounded workable but I wanted to play with it to make sure I wasn't loading up on too much sugar and oil in the morning.

This is my adapted recipe from Smitten Kitchen's adapted recipe.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour or line muffin tins for 24 muffins.

Mix together:

3 eggs

2 1/2 cups grated/shredded zucchini

1 cup applesauce

3/4 cup granular sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla

3 cups flour

3 tsp ginger powder

1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 cup chocolate chips

For my oven the muffins were in for 2o minutes. I let them cool and had the first one with a glass of milk. The applesauce gives them a chewy taste and they are filling and more healthy for breakfast. Perfect way to start the day off right.

Nothing says true love like sharing the last meatball

2010-08-05T08:38:00.000-04:00

For me cooking is an emotional release. A release of creativity and way to share my love for anyone who is around to eat whatever I make...sometimes they may be sharing their love for me, by actually eating it.

On Monday, it was a Monday to top all Mondays. I was tired and grouchy not terribly pleased to be back at work. I had a wonderful weekend in New York for my birthday and a great week before with my mom and sister visiting, and the thing I truly needed most was sleep and time to recharge and process everything that had gone on in the past 10 days. What I did not need was to be trapped in a cubicle. So when jail time was over at 5 pm, I went home, turned on some fun music, and cooked--I was instantly myself again.

I was in need of comfort food. Something to make me feel whole again. So I made something I have never tried making before, but something I remember my grandparents making. Meatballs.

In the store I quickly searched for a recipe like I remember my grandparents making and couldn't find one that described how I remember them cooking their meatballs. So, I improvised. This is how I got the end result:

I mixed together a pound and a half of ground beef and pound of pork sausage, Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, chili powder, crushed garlic, about 1/2 cup of buttermilk, and 1/2 cup of bread crumbs.

I wanted the seasonings to really come through in the meatballs, so I ended up adding more seasoning to the meat. I shaped the meat into balls that were larger than golf balls, but smaller than baseballs. I ended up with 16 meatballs on a cookie sheet.

I browned each of the meatballs sides for about 1-2 minutes per side on medium heat in a frying pan. The kitchen already smelled amazing at this point. I knew the meatballs were not fully cooked, but I wanted to trap the moisture inside with a browned outside.

After the second batch of meatballs were done in the frying pan, I put them in a large casserole pan and topped them with about 6 cups of my favorite tomato sauce. I baked them at 375 for about 30 minutes.

My dog was sitting in the kitchen watching and waiting the entire time for something, anything to drop.The meatballs turned out amazing. My grandparents had the right way to cook them all along. Frying them first traps the moisture inside and finishing off in the oven with the sauce added even more moisture and flavor to the dish. I have a lot of leftovers frozen now for meatballs sandwiches or pasta and they will be perfect for nights when comfort food is a must and there is no time to cook.

Summer's Bounty

2010-08-04T09:20:00.002-04:00

Last week my mom and sister came to town from Seattle. They flew into Baltimore on a Friday night and by the time we finally made it to my house we were all tired and cranky and hungry. I wanted something fresh, faster than delivery, cheap, and super simple. Pesto.

I have tiny postage stamp of a yard, and love to grow my own herbs in the summer. Basil is my favorite. The smell is incredible and it grows like a weed in little pots. Before I know it, I have enough for another batch of pesto.

My pesto is super simple and versatile. Perfect for crostini, white pizza, and pasta. (I try to let the pasta cool just a bit before mixing the pesto. Basil does not react well to heat.)

I just throw into a food processor about 2 cups of basil leaves, 1/2 cup of olive oil, 1/4 cup of pine nuts (walnuts work too, but give a much different flavor), 1/2 cup of Parmesan, and 4 crushed garlic cloves. In 3 minutes you have dinner. You can add more or less of each of the ingredients to taste. I like mine heavy on the garlic.

The best part about pesto is often the leftovers. Cold pasta with pesto is delicious the next day. Sprinkle with a little Parmesan and chopped basil for good measure.

Sweltering summer

2010-08-03T10:38:00.004-04:00

Sweltering summer heat has taken over D.C. I can't stand it. I'm from Seattle. It gets to 80 maybe the last week in July, then it cools down into Fall weather. To beat the heat, I decided to make a refreshing and light fish taco. Coupled with a beer, you might think you are sitting near the beach in San Diego instead of trying to breathe the humidity outside.

I love fish tacos, but I don't like fried food, and eating fried food in this heat sounds too miserable even if you do like it.

To make them I started by making the sauce so it could sit and the flavors could develop while I assembled everything else. The sauce was a mixture of 1/2 cup of sour cream, chopped cilantro, the zest and juice of 1 lime, and some chopped red onion.

For the fish, I used tilapia fillets. You could use any fish really cod, halibut, mahi mahi if you really wanted a meal in one taco. I brushed them just slightly with olive oil then topped them with chili powder and onion. You want the fish itself to have some bite to it.

Instead of pan frying the fish, which you could do, I grilled the fish on a grill heated at 350 and lined with foil. Fish take very little time on the grill before they are rubbery. The fish were on the grill for about 1.5-2 minutes per side. You know when the fish is done, but not over done when the color turns from translucent to white and it becomes flaky.

I assembled the tacos with the fish, the sauce for more flavor, chopped cabbage for crunch, and cheese because its delicious. Squirting on lime juice really makes the flavors pop in your mouth.

Amazing summer treat.

Just a lil' bubbly

2010-07-23T10:24:00.003-04:00

I still have plenty of vodka from the Knockers, Taters, and Vodka party. This week's martini concoction is made with mango vodka.

To make it I took a shot of mango vodka and mango and pineapple juice and shook it over ice. After pouring it into the martini glass I topped it with champagne. Amazing decadent, very fruity and very sweet.

Pie in the Sky

2010-07-21T11:39:00.007-04:00

Somewhere in the last few years the idea of going out on a Friday night has disappeared. I used to go home and take a power nap or just load up on energy drinks and quad shot lattes at happy hour before going out. Now, I go home and see how quickly I can be out of work clothes, have dinner made and a movie playing. I'm not in the slightest bit ashamed of my behavior. Fridays are hard.

This Friday, I decided to take a second crack at grilled pizza. Its amazing. I'm not going to lie. The crust is first crunchy from the grill, but then is chewy and full of so much flavor. It is a completely different animal than homemade pizza in the oven, even if you use a pizza stone.

I preheated the grill to 450. You want it very hot because the pizza is on there for 5 minutes tops.

To make the pizza, I started with store bought, Harris Teeter pizza dough. I cut the pizza dough into two pieces to make it more manageable on the grill. This is a very important step and one I overlooked at my first trial at grilled pizza.

After stretching out the two pizza crusts into personal pan pizza sizes I brushed on olive oil to the top. The oil side will go on the grill first.

I prepared all the toppings into bowls: shredded cheese, pepperoni for one pizza, grilled zucchini for the other pizza, sauce, a little bowl of olive oil (I add rosemary and Italian seasonings) and carried them outside. You want to have everything ready to quickly add the toppings.

The oil side is plopped on the grill with tongs and your hands. You leave it on there for maybe 2 minutes time. You can leave the lid open. Until the pizza has grill marks and looks cooked. Then take it off.

Brush the side that was not cooked with olive oil. Very quickly, and it helps to have a second person there, put the crust back on the grill raw oiled side down. Moving swiftly, add sauce, cheese, and toppings. Its important with grilled pizza not to add too many toppings, especially cheese or it won't cook.

Since the grill temperature has probably dropped at this point, you can put the lid down and wait about 3 minutes. There is a very fine line between the crust being overcooked and the cheese not melting. When I cooked it the cheese was not fully melted on the grill, but I took the pizza off and let it sit for 5 minutes before slicing and the cheese completely melted. I topped the zuke pizza with fresh basil and red pepper to bring out flavor and the pepperoni was topped with grated Parmesan.

So much better than takeout pizza, a fun experience, and complete control of the ingredients.

Solution to the Age Old Question

2010-07-20T08:40:00.009-04:00

Savory or sweet for breakfast? Both. Bacon pancakes. I heard about bacon pancakes and thought they were just a myth. They couldn't be real. But, they are. And you can create them.

I started by frying up 4 slices of bacon. While the bacon was frying I mixed together pancake batter. I have to admit I've never actually liked pancakes. I thought they all had a bitter aftertaste. I discovered this weekend, that was taste was Bisquick. The recipe I used for pancakes was this super simple one below. If you have everything on hand, its cheaper than Bisquick and amazingly simple and no bitter aftertaste. This recipe made about 6 large pancakes.

1 cup of flour

1 egg

2 TBs melted butter

1 cup of milk (I used leftover buttermilk and regular milk)

2 TBs sugar

2 t baking powder

1/4 t salt

Once the bacon was done, I took the fat off, to add to my dog's food and only saved the good crispy pieces for the pancakes.

After draining the fat out of the pan, (BTW I save all bacon grease in a jar in the fridge to sauté veggies, shrimp, fish, and all things you want to beef up with a little bacon flavor. My grandparents would be proud.) I started making the pancakes on medium heat. Right before the pancakes got to the part where they bubble and you flip them I sprinkled in the bacon.

They came out amazing. Golden brown, full of flavor, but not overpowering with bacon. Just that bit of salt that went so well with maple syrup. If you really wanted to get crazy you could try with sausage, but because the pancakes are so light, you would really have to break up the sausage into smaller pieces. Or you could even top it with a fried egg to sop up your hangover.

Breakfast perfection.

Dear Friday: I missed you.

2010-07-16T08:54:00.003-04:00

I have tons of leftover vodka from the Knockers, Taters, and Vodka fundraiser I threw. I've been experimenting with martinis. This one is a shot of plain vodka, a shot of citron vodka, and pear pomegranate juice, shaken, not stirred. Amazing. Perfectly refreshing for the 100 degree temps we can't seem to shake.

The Frosting is Strong with This One

2010-07-15T10:13:00.009-04:00

When I was a kid, and by kid I mean this year still counts, my mom would make a special birthday cake for me and my brother. My brother's usually were vanilla and were shaped like Batman or Superman or even the Cowboys logo and were easy enough to make because there are cake pans for them. Mine, I was a difficult child, "I want a frog, no, a princess castle, just kidding, make me the Care Bears, with the cloud and the rainbow." Every year, my mom would express her creative skills and break out cake crafting.

By the time I turned 16 and still wanted a princess castle, the cakes became this elaborate construction with turrets and moats. This year, she only has to make me my favorite flavor, chocolate chip zucchini...maybe in the form of my pug.

As a result of all this cake crafting, I love baking cakes for people on their birthdays. Surprises are best, surprises that bring people nearly to tears even better. This week I decided I wanted to make a Death Star cake for an awesome friend and coworker, Sci Fi Sweetheart. I almost got legit tears.

To make the cake, I used a Wilton sports ball cake pan. Following the instructions that came with the cake pan, I used 4 1/2 cups total of my favorite cake recipe or box mix. I thought chocolate was the most appropriate for the Death Star. If you have extra batter, just make some cupcakes. You cook the cake at 300 for 30-40 minutes until the a toothpick/skewer comes out clean.

While the cake cools, mix up your favorite frosting. I used a cream cheese frosting recipe. Using black food coloring I made a light gray with 3/4 of the fro

sting and a darker gray

with 1/4 of the frosting. After letting the cake cool completely, pop it out of the pan.

If there is a 1/2 that is larger use that for the bottom. You want to take off just a small amount of cake to level it so it will sit on the plate and trim a small amount off the top so top half sits its on the bottom evenly, as well. I also carved out a small portion of the top for the laser.

Frost both halves with the lighter gray, and then coat the middle with frosting so the

halves will stick together. Once together on a plate, use a frosting bag to fill in the concaved portion, draw the line around the middle, and draw as many lines and squares until you get tired of it. Finally make sure you have something--a straw, peez candy, gummy worm on hand for the laser. Then watch as the Death Star blows up quickly as people eat it up. SO fun and tasty!

Zombie Mornings

2010-07-14T11:36:00.000-04:00

I'm a complete zombie in the morning. A drooling member of the walking dead. I'm barely wake up after showering. Sometimes after I walk my dog. Most of the time after all that and a pot of coffee, I'm awake by lunch.

The problem....I'm a big advocate of breakfast. Breakfast during the week is impossible. I leave no time to get ready cause I'd rather be in bed asleep. Where I should be. So, a few years ago I started making muffins and breads so I could grab them quickly and leave the house.

I love these blueberry muffins. They are packed to the brim with blueberries and are just the right size. (And they look pretty too.) To make them heat the oven to 375 and either butter and flour your muffin pan or use cupcake liners.

Set aside the 1/4 cup of the sugar, the nutmeg, and the lemon zest and mix in a small bowl.

Mix together your wet ingredients and your dry ingredients separately. Then mix those together. Do not mix in the blueberries until the very end. You want to lightly fold them in so they don't burst in your bowl. After you add the batter to your cupcake pan you want to sprinkle them with the lemon zest, sugar, nutmeg mix. Bake at 375 for about 30 minutes. Take them out when a toothpick comes out clean. It makes about a dozen muffins.

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup milk
2 cups fresh blueberries

Topping
1/4 cup of sugar
zest of 1 lemon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Love me tender, love me sweet

2010-07-13T13:55:00.000-04:00

I like to experiment in the kitchen. Usually I will eat the end result even if its horrible. Normally the end result is something edible and something other people actually would like, so thats a good thing. The downfall, is I never write anything down. And a secondary downfall, typically the man around the house does not want to know what is in it, just wants to eat it. This weekend's grilled pork loin is no exception.

I usually marinade pork loin in an apricot beer, some seasonings and herbs, a little mustard and olive oil and apples and onions. The apples and onions get thrown on the grill for a delicious side too.

This weekend I none of the above ingredients on hand....so I made a marinade with what was in my frig. The random list....half a leftover flat diet Dr. Pepper, Worcestershire sauce, lime juice, soy sauce, and some grape jam. No really. I also in my Sunday morning haze of, "oh Lord, I had too much wine with dinner last night" didn't mix the marinade first, try it then add it to the meat, rather just dumped everything on.

Trust me, I was worried about dinner time about what in the world it would taste like. The meat went on the grill at about 300 degrees for about 13-15 minutes per side. While it was cooking, I took the leftover marinade and boiled it (to kill all the germs from the pork) and to have a chance to actually try it and it was amazing. Salty, sweet, and bit of tart. And the pork? Cooked to perfection. Juicy with a crispy outside. Key to good meat is patience. Letting it rest for 5 minutes before cutting into it is essential. Otherwise you lose all the juices in the first cut.

I ended up using the marinade as a gravy and then reusing it the next night with leftover pork as an dipping sauce for sandwiches.

The only thing I regret was not making more so I won't be able to use it tonight with the last of the pork. I also had no idea Dr. Pepper sells a BBQ sauce?

Ain't sayin' she a gold digger...

2010-07-08T11:31:00.000-04:00

There are 4,000 varieties of potatoes in the world. My local grocery store has about 5, maybe 10 at the most. Yukon Golds are my favorite potatoes of those 5 to 10 I've tried.

The skin is golden and the inside when cooked almost tastes nutty in flavor. The skin is a one you would actually want to eat as opposed to a Russet where you'd rather feed it to your dog. Topped with butter, you only want more.

Last month, I hosted a fundraiser at my house to raise money for breast cancer research. My friend is walking Susan G. Komen's 3-Day walk. The party was potato themed (mostly because its a cheap and easy way to feed a lot of people) and I had a grilled potato bar, a stocked vodka bar with mixers, and mashed tater cupcakes.

To make the potatoes for 25 people my man friend took over the grill so my Fisher Price sized kitchen wouldn't get too hot. I prepped the potatoes and scrubbed them and poked holes all over them. I put each potato on a square of foil and added a splash of olive oil to each one, then sprinkled a seasoning mix (you can do any seasoning on hand from sweet to spicy to savory) on each, making sure each potato was coated before wrapping it up. They went on the grill for about 45 minutes each, flipping once at about 375 degrees.

The potatoes were perfect. The topping bar had everything....cheese, butter, sour cream, chives, salsa, broccoli, bacon, olives, wasabi horseradish, etc.

Perfection! We had fun and raised a lot of money for a very good cause.

The Summer's Freshest

2010-07-06T10:03:00.000-04:00

People fall into two camps....you love tomatoes or you hate tomatoes.

I love them. I'm totally fine if you hate them because I will take them right off your plate and eat them myself. I love tomatoes in a way that could be considered unusual. In high school everyday for lunch I made myself a sandwich. But, the sandwich didn't have peanut butter or jelly, no lunch meat, no cheese. It contained two large slices of tomatoes and mustard, on any type of bread. Raisin was my favorite. Yep, I was a strange one.

One of my favorite simple recipes I love to make in the summer is roasted tomatoes with shrimp and feta cheese.

To make them, I chop up about 5 tomatoes and toss them with crushed garlic and olive oil in a medium casserole dish. I put them in the oven at 375-400 for about 20 minutes.

I pull out the casserole and then top the tomatoes with shrimp (about 8 per person). After about 10 minutes in the oven or until the shrimp are nearly all pink (you can flip them at this point), I pull out the casserole again and top it with about 1/2 cup of crumbled feta cheese. After 5 more minutes in the oven, it is done and ready to eat. You can sprinkle with chopped basil and lemon juice or eat just as is.

I love to eat it with crusty fresh bread, so you can dip the bread in and sop up all the tomato juices.

Amazingly simple and casual summer meal.

Butter Me Up

2010-07-02T10:00:00.000-04:00

I love butter. I love the rich taste and the wonders it does to food from sauteeing to baking. I always have at least a pound of unsalted butter on hand, cause you never know when you will need it.

You can take butter in itself up a notch. A couple weeks ago I made a butter that bursts with flavor to add to the top of grilled steak and potatoes. I made too much and have been eating it on rolls for breakfast.

To make the butter I let a stick get to room temperature, then mixed in crushed garlic, freshly picked thyme leaves, a bit of Tabasco and some Worcestershire sauce. I didn't measure anything and really everything is to taste, but if you want to take your 4th of July corn on the cob up a level, topping it with this butter is a great way.

A couple weeks ago, I went to a friend's house for a grill out and she had made butter by adding crushed garlic and lemon juice. So amazing to dip bread into and top on corn on the cob.

When I worked at a dude ranch in the kitchen, we used to make a honey butter by just letting the butter come to room temperature and whipping in honey to taste. Delicious on fresh breads, especially corn bread.

Enjoy!

Take two...

2010-07-01T11:03:00.000-04:00

Everything in life needs a second chance, including this blog. Somewhere in the last three years, blogging about food went by the wayside. But I certainly did not stop cooking. So, let's revive it.

I was inspired by the New York Times annual article on summer easy cooking yesterday and decided I wanted to make everything in it. The article is 101 grilling recipes. It helped the weather in DC dipped below 100 to a comfortable temperature of 80 yesterday.

So last night after stopping at the store and loading up on ingredients I set out to grill burgers and strawberries. But not any kind of burgers.....burgers stuffed with cheese and topped with bacon. The end result was juicy burgers that oozed with cheese. Perfection.

To make the burgers, I started by frying the bacon up. I seasoned the ground beef with dry spices and shaped them like a regular burger. But then, I scooped out the middle of the top and added shredded cheese. Last night I had on hand a 4 cheese blend so in it went. I reshaped the burger, topped with more seasoning and handed them over to the master of the grill. They went on for about 4 minutes per side and we finished them off under the broiler.

For the strawberries, I skewered them, brushed them white balsamic vinegar and sprinkled them with sugar. Delicious and refreshing dessert. White balsamic is lighter and milder than regular balsamic vinegar, although next time I think I want to try it with regular balsamic to see how that works.

So good!

Salad Dressing

2007-11-05T12:26:00.000-05:00

I love salad. I am not a fan of salad dressing out of the bottle. Something about it just is completely wrong. You are eating a super healthy salad, of say, spinach, toasted pecans, cranberries, and feta and then dumping a bunch of chemicals right on top. The salad dressing should match the salad. Refreshing, tasty, full of zest and life. I think everyone should find their favorite salad dressing. There are a number of fats and vinegars and emulsifiers to use. Olive oil, peanut oil, sesame oil, etc. Balsamic, white balsamic, lemon juice, lime juice, orange juice, red wine, red wine vinegar, champagne, etc. Eggs, mustard, honey, etc. Sometimes if I feel creative I throw in some herbs or smashed garlic.

My favorite salad dressing and go to standard includes even parts of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, honey, and zesty mustard. For a salad for about 4-6 people I usually have 3 T of each oil and vinegar, and then 1 T of honey and 1 T of dijion mustard. I measure it and pour into a Tupperware container. Snap the lid and shake over the sink, wearing an apron in case it splatters. You should taste to make sure the vinegar is not too strong. If it is you can more oil. My vinegar is on the mild side. You can drizzle over the salad or add straight to it and mix up well before serving.

I always think salad should include a protein. Basically because I never get enough and it is a great way to add some into my diet.

For yummy toasted pecans, turn a burner onto medium heat. Add pecans, add some sugar, and kosher salt. Sprinkle with water to allow the sugar and salt to adhere to the nuts. Shake in the pan until they smell delicious. Less than 5 minutes. They should be a toasted brown color and not be burning. Let the nuts cool before adding to the salad.

A great salad for the holidays.

Enjoy!

Healthy Comfort Food

2007-10-25T09:52:00.000-04:00

Warm Butternut and Chickpea Salad with Tahini Sauce

I love food blogs. They are always seasonal. There are so many bloggers and everyone is always sharing new ideas and food finds. One of my favorite bloggers is Orangette. http://orangette.blogspot.com/ She lives in Seattle, my hometown, and frequently blogs about the weather, seasonal fruits and veggies, and of course has divine recipes! This recipe is from her site. I made it last night and was in heaven. It is called a salad, but really is a perfect rainy day treat. It was like a dream of comfort food come true, but completely healthy and good for you at the same time. Perfecto! I will certainly be making it again. The recipe is adapted from Casa Moro.

It makes about 4 servings and can easily be thrown together on a week night.

The recipe:
1 medium butternut squash (about 2 to 2 ½ lb.), peeled, seeded, and cut into 1 ½-inch pieces
1 medium garlic clove, pressed
½ t ground allspice
2 T olive oil
Salt

One 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
¼ of a medium red onion, finely chopped
¼ cup coarsely chopped cilantro leaves

For tahini sauce:
1 medium garlic clove, pressed
3 ½ T lemon juice (about one lemon)
3 T. well-stirred tahini
2 T water
2 T olive oil, plus more to taste

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine the butternut squash, garlic, allspice, olive oil, and a good pinch or two of salt. Using your hands, toss until the squash pieces are evenly coated. Turn them out onto a baking sheet, and bake for 15 to 25 minutes, or until soft. Remove from the oven and cool.

Meanwhile, make the tahini sauce. In a small bowl, whisk together the garlic and lemon juice. Add the tahini, and whisk to blend. Add the water and olive oil, whisk well, and taste for seasoning.

To assemble the salad, combine the squash, chickpeas, onion, and cilantro in a mixing bowl. Serve the salad warm and undressed, with the tahini sauce on the side.

Enjoy!

Fall Soup

2007-10-17T15:14:00.000-04:00

There is a slight chill in the air in DC, well, that is in the morning before, say, 10 a.m. But, I can feel fall coming soon. On Sunday night, I surrendered and decided I would make it fall, if the weather would not. Here is a recipe for a Butternut Squash Apple Soup.

Makes about 6 servings.

2 cups of onions (about 2 small) chopped
1 T butter
1 T olive oil
1 T curry powder
2 cups of water
2 lbs of peeled chopped butternut squash (about 1 medium)
4 peeled, chopped McIntosh apples
salt and pepper
1 cup of apple juice

Cook onions in butter, olive oil, and curry powder over low/medium heat for about 15 minutes. While cooking, peel and chop squash, discard seeds. It is really hard as a rock. Need a sharp knife. Peel and chop apples. Add apples, squash, salt and pepper, and water to pot. Bring to boil, turn down and cover. Cook about 30 minutes or so, until everything is really soft. Add apple juice. Can use more/less depending how thick/thin you want the soup. The recipe I used tells you to run the soup through a food processor or blender. I just mashed everything w/a potato masher. Pouring hot soup was not going to happen. I guess an immersion blender would work too, but I don't have one.

I also added chopped fennel to mine, because I had some on hand I wanted to use. If you wanted it richer, I bet you could add heavy cream, but as is it is really good and very healthy for you as is. I think this soup would freeze well, too.

Enjoy!

End of Summer

2007-09-20T10:11:00.000-04:00

Summer is coming to an end and fall is taking over in DC. Fall is my favorite season, but I will certainly miss the wonderful flavors of summer. My CSA is still delivering ripe, juicy, sweet tomatoes, but fewer are in the bag. As one last summer hurrah I made a pasta last night with juicy tomatoes, capers, chopped garlic, a lot of chopped basil, and some mozzarella cheese. The pasta was inspired by a lovely dinner at my friend's house this weekend. With a glass of wine and great conversation it was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon. The pasta was delicious. It was comforting. And I will have leftovers for a few days. For leftovers, you don't even need to reheat, just eat cold out of the frig. The ad hoc pasta is wonderful with a drizzle of good olive oil or just as is. I didn't cook the tomatoes, capers, or garlic and just added them straight to the pasta. It is as simple as can be. The only thing to remember is that basil does not like heat. To make sure you get the most out of your fresh basil, add after all the other ingredients, so the pasta is not too hot.

Enjoy!

Thursday night dinner

2007-09-07T09:41:00.000-04:00

Thursday night is tough. Week is coming to an end. No energy is left for making dinner when you come home. Your stomach is growling and you need energy so you don't fall asleep on the couch at 7. So, what do you have on hand. Last night, not much. A can of black beans, some fresh veggies, and rice...hmmm....black beans and rice. That will work. High in protein will fill me with energy, lots of fiber is great, healthy, and it is quick. So, put the rice on and get cooking. I used 20 minute jasmine rice. Here is what I used last night for the black beans:

Makes about 2 servings

Quick Black Beans
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 onion, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
2 sweet peppers, chopped
1 hot pepper, very finely chopped

Saute onions in a small amount of olive oil in a pot. After a few minutes add black beans, peppers, and tomato. Add a small amount of water, about 1/4 of a cup. Could also add stock or beer to this, instead.

Black beans will be done cooking when rice is finished. Top with sour cream or avocado slices and you are set.

Enjoy!

Moist Banana Pineapple Bread

2007-08-21T11:42:00.000-04:00

I have a confession to make. I don't typically like banana bread. It is usually dry and tastes a little stale to me. Sometimes it is filled with nuts, which I don't like in my bread, and screams for butter or honey or anything to make it moist. But, I always have too many bananas and typically throw them in the freezer until I get motivated to bake some bread. Yes, you can freeze overripe bananas. Some people peel them first, stick them in a freezer bag and freeze. I just pop the whole banana in, peel and all. To defrost for bread, just leave the bananas on the stove for 20 minutes or so.

Below is a banana bread recipe that is NOT dry. The secret ingredient....pineapple. I love this recipe. What I especially love is that it does not need butter on the slice to make it moist. And stands alone fine without nuts. The recipe is very flexible. At times, I have been short one egg or one banana or added too much crushed pineapple and it is still tasty. The aroma is wonderful while it bakes and with 2 loaves you can have one for home and share one with a friend. (Or freeze for later.) Enjoy!

Banana Pineapple Bread

MAKES TWO 8-INCH LOAVES

INGREDIENTS
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs, beaten
1 cup canola or vegetable oil
2 cups mashed very ripe bananas (about 5 medium bananas)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 can (16 ounces) unsweetened crushed pineapple, drained

Preheat oven to 350° F. Lightly grease and flour two 8-inch loaf pans. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In another bowl, mix together the eggs, oil, mashed bananas, vanilla and pineapple until well combined. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir just until moistened. Pour equal amounts into prepared pans. Bake for about 1 hour or until tester inserted in center comes out clean. Place on rack and cool remove bread from pans and continue to cool.

Crunchy, chewy, healthy

2007-08-10T15:49:00.001-04:00

Granola. Oh how I love you. Granola is one of those things that is so good to eat and good for you that you can eat it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert. With oatmeal, dried fruit, and nuts it is filling and healthy and provides you with plenty of energy to tackle the day. And it is incredibly easy to make. It is a lot of fun to play around with different combinations of ingredients until you get it just the way you want it. The smell of granola baking fills the house and smells better than any candle you can find. It smells, well, like holiday cookies baking in the oven. I try to make a batch every other week or so. It is so much cheaper than buying cereal in the store and incredibly versatile. The right combination for me is:

Granola
Makes 12 or so half-cup servings

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees

5 cups old fashioned oats (not quick cooking)
1 cup of coconut
1 cup of nuts (anything you have, walnuts, pecans, pine nuts, etc)
1/4-1/2 cup of honey and/or maple syrup (I like to use both)
dash of canola oil
1 teaspoon of cinnamon and/or nutmeg
1 cup chopped dried fruit (figs, apricots, raisins, cranberries)

Mix all ingredients, except dried fruit. Make sure that all the oats and nuts are coated by oil and honey or syrup. Spread onto jelly roll pan. Bake for about 30-40 minutes. You want the granola to smell lovely and be golden, but not get too dark. Let cool and then mix with dried fruit. Transfer to a sealed container. Will stay for 2 weeks, if it lasts that long.

I love it with milk in the morning sometimes with cut up fresh fruit. I love taking it for lunch to mix in with my yogurt. It is especially good with Greek yogurt. Also delicious sprinkled over ice cream. Try it! You will like it! Enjoy!

Cucumber Overload

2007-08-09T13:02:00.000-04:00

For the first time, my husband and I signed up for a CSA this year. We have been enjoying our veggies every week and have been trying so many new things. Purslane: crunchy, lemony, peppery small leaf. Lambquarters: similar to spinach, pretty great in a quiche. Kohlrabi: looks like an alien head but is pretty good just sliced as a snack or in coleslaw.

One thing that is not new is cucumbers. And we are getting a lot of it. There are only so many cucumbers two people can eat in a week. One night I made a big bowl of tzatziki with peeled shredded cucumbers, Greek yogurt, a little lemon, and handful of chopped mint. It was delicious on a hot night with pita bread for dinner. Very refreshing.

Last week I got creative. I like pickles, but I certainly don't want to can jars of pickles in a condo. I remember my grandparents using their basement, for what seemed like a week in the summer canning cases sweet and dill pickles to have all year and give as presents. The pickles were delicious, especially the dill pickles. Salty, garlicky, tart and so easy to pop out of the jar and snack on. Nothing like the rubbery pickles you find in the store. Since this was not an option, I began searching online for refrigerator pickles. Essentially, pickles not canned, you can throw together in a few minutes, pop in the frig, and eat for the next couple of weeks.

The first recipe called for sugar and crushed red pepper and was way too sweet and too spicy. A combo which is usually good, but was too much for the small cucumbers to handle at once. We ate them all, but were eager to try something new. With a little experimenting I came up with a combo below that is wonderful. Spicy, tangy, salty, and refreshing on a hot day. They were lovely last night with my turkey sandwich and white wine!

Frig Pickles
1 cup of white vinegar
1 cup of water
5 black peppercorns
5 cloves of chopped garlic
3 whole cloves
handful of marjoram
dash Kosher salt
2 large cucumbers, peeled and sliced

Heat first six ingredients until they come to a boil. Cool slightly. Pour over sliced cucumbers. Cucumbers should be submerged. Cover and place in frig. Let rest in frig at least 24 hours. Pickles should be good for 2 weeks. Enjoy!

New to blogging

2007-07-27T09:35:00.000-04:00

So, I have never done this before. I read plenty of blogs. Especially food blogs. I love them to find in-season recipes. And get ideas for new things to make. Some of the bloggers are very good about updating regularly. Others not as great. But, the ones who don't update as often usually have the most interesting and tasty recipes.

I realized the other day that I was emailing so many of the same recipes to people, maybe it would be quicker and easier just to post them somewhere and my friends could pull down what they wanted when they wanted. Besides emailing recipes, I am also a clip and send of hard copies. This morning I just mailed off a recipe packet to my sister who is tackling the kitchen head on in the hopes of becoming a great cook. She is well on her way.

A couple of weeks ago my friends and I hosted a fundraiser for the refugee children in Uganda. It was an amazing event and we raised over $1600. We well over reached any goal we had set and had a fantastic feeling afterwards that we had actually done something to contribute and help in a situation that is so dire. My friend paid for the food, which we were able to keep under $140 w/wine and I took charge on cooking. In raising the money, we did not do the typical reception where people could come and go, but had 2 seated dinners for 10 so there was more intimate conversation about Uganda, Darfur, and the Horn of Africa. All the proceeds were donated to the Invisible Children fund. Guests were able to choose their meal options:

West African Peanut Soup or Mixed Green Salad with Beets, Nuts, and Fruit
Penne pasta with kalamata olives or Pork tenderloin stuffed with blue cheese and figs w/braised brocolli
Brownie sundaes or Peach cobbler with bourbon pecan ice cream

The dinners themselves went extremely well. I have never cooked 2 dinners in a row for 10 people each before. Each person wanting different things and under a time crunch, knowing the next seating would be arriving shortly. Obviously, I did not do it solo. There were plenty of hands in the kitchen doing prep and serving. It gave me a small taste of what working in a restuarant could actually be like.

I picked recipes that I knew well, and had minimal number of ingredients. Among the requests for recipes, the most frequent is the pork recipe, posted below. It is from the Washington Post and where they got it from, I'm not sure. It is delicious and works well with greens. Tying the pork, once stuffed, is a little tricky, but once you do it the first time, it is pretty easy.

Stuffed pork tenderloin with figs and blue cheese with an apple glaze
Serves 2

Preheat the oven to 450.

Take a 1-pound pork tenderloin and cut it down the middle *lengthwise* -- but not all the way through. Open it up as much as you can. Lay on piece of plastic wrap.

Then put a piece of plastic wrap over it and, using the meat mallet, whack it down to a thickness of 1/2 inch.

Sprinkle a half-cup of crumbled blue cheese and a half-cup of chopped dried figs (I like mission figs) over the meat, roll it up lengthwise, tie it shut in several places along the roll, put it on a foil-covered jelly roll pan, and bake.

After 20 minutes, brush with melted apple butter (microwave 30 seconds), then bake 10 more minutes.

Remove, let rest for a few minutes, slice into rounds and eat. Enjoy!