Pureed Kohlrabi

While at the farmer's market this weekend I decided I wanted to try out some new vegetables. One of the most interesting veggies was the kohlrabi; it looks like a little green heart with it's ventricles shooting out into leaves. It was so interesting to me I had to purchase it. I had never seen or heard of kohlrabi before and the person working the stand couldn't tell me much about it, but I knew that Google could. So into my canvas bag it went.

While searching for kohlrabi recipes I found many of the recipes used the kohlrabi only as an addition to a salad, soup or stew. I wanted it as a side dish, but I wanted it to play the main part. That's when I happened upon this recipe from Farmgirl Fare. She even says "For the only thing you should ever be doing with kohlrabi is turning it into puree. Trust me." I trust you Farmgirl, I do. So I began the process of pureeing kohlrabi.

Ingredients:

4 kohlrabi bulbs with leaves

2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil1 large onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 c cultivated mushrooms (I used cremini and oyster), quartered

3 Tablespoons cream (or milk, chicken stock, olive oil, or water) I used skim milk

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

*Trim the kohlrabi bulbs, peeling them if the skins seem tough. Rinse the leaves (discarding any that are yellow) pat them dry, and coarsely chop. Set aside. But the bulbs into 1-inch chunks.

*Bring a saucepan of lightly salted water to a boil, and add the kohlrabi chunks. Reduce the heat and simmer until tender, about 15 minutes.

*Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a skillet. Add the onion and saute over medium-low heat until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, another 1 to 2 minutes. Do not let garlic brown.

*Add the mushrooms and the reserved kohlrabi leaves to the skillet. Cover, and cook 5 minutes. Then uncover, and cook, stirring, until all the liquid has evaporated, 3 minutes. Set the skillet aside.

*Drain the kohlrabi chunks and place them in the bowl of a food processor

At this point she suggests blending everything together, but I blended the chunks alone and they turn into this beautiful light green puree with a lovely mild broccoli taste.

Then I added the dark green leave and mushroom puree mixture

*Transfer the puree to a saucepan and reheat over low heat, stirring, 2 minutes.
*Makes 6 portions

I will definitely make kohlrabi again. I think that next time I will use the leaves as greens and just use the bulb for the puree because it really was so tasty.

Spinach, Mushroom, and Sun-Dried Tomato Salad

My husband and I have recently started harvesting vegetables from our tiny home garden. We're still waiting for green beans, tomatoes and zucchini, but we have tons of spinach, collard greens, and herbs. So last night I made a wonderful spinach salad from our home grown harvest.

Spinach Salad
Ingredients:
2 c Spinach
1/2 c sliced mushrooms ( I used cremini, oyster and button)
1/4 c chopped onions
1/4 c halved pecans
1/4 c sun-dried or oven-dried tomatoes (see oven dried tomato recipe below)
1/2 T olive oil

Dressing:
3 T balsamic
3 T olive oil
1/2 t brown sugar
1 t seeded mustard
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Heat a saute pan to medium and add olive oil
Saute mushrooms and onions until golden
While mushrooms saute, whisk all ingredients for dressing
Place spinach in bowl and add mushroom mix while hot so spinach slightly wilts
Add tomatoes, pecans and toss with dressing

Note:
I called the tomatoes in this salad sun-dried but they are actually oven-dried. Oven drying tomatoes is a great thing to do with tomatoes that are on the edge of going bad; just at that wrinkled stage, if there is any rot present, they're toast. Keep in mind the drying process is low and slow so it can take 8-10 hours. I put them in an hour or 2 before I go to bed and just turn off the heat and let them sit in the warmth of the oven until I wake up.

Ingredients:

3 Tomatoes

1 T olive oil

Pinch Salt

Cooking spray

Parchment paper or tin foil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees

Place parchment on cookie sheet and spray with cooking spray

Slice each tomato in 6 or 7 slices and place on parchment

Brush with olive oil

Sprinkle with salt

Cook for 1-2 hours then turn off heat (if they still look plump after an hour keep in longer)

Keep in oven 6-8 hours longer with heat off

These keep in the refrigerator for about 2 weeks. I put them in an old mason jar with extra olive oil.

Blue Cheese Souffle...and Reconstructed Buffalo Wings

So what I was really craving for dinner on Saturday night was buffalo wings with celery sticks and creamy blue cheese dressing. But buffalo wings does not a meal make. Especially when it was my husband's first night home after his long project. So I decided to reconstruct the essentials of wings into a meal.



I decided to translate the blue cheese dressing into a blue cheese souffle.



The wings were a more literal translation; I stuffed a a chicken breast with a crunchy celery stuffing and sauteed it in butter and hot pepper sauce. I served it along with a baby green salad with a refreshing raspberry vinaigrette.

The blue cheese souffle was absolutely amazing and surprisingly easy to make. I have heard horror stories about souffles but I threw caution to the wind and gave it a whirl anyway. I think patience is the key to a good souffle. Keeping the heat low and slow seems to be really important. Also, not worrying about completely incorporating the fluffy egg whites into the yolk and milk mix is important. I didn't even really fold them in too much, just a quick flip over and figured it was enough...and it was. The souffle held it's height and it was fluffy and creamy and just plain wonderful.

Ingredients:

3 T unsalted butter, plus more for greasing ramekins
2-3 T grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese ( I didn't have this so I just used flour)
3 T all-purpose flour
1 c milk (I used skim)
5 egg yolks, lightly beaten
½ tsp. salt
freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 tsp. dry mustard powder (I was all out of this, so I used 1T prepared mustard, it was fine)
6 oz. blue cheese, crumbled (I used 4 oz blue cheese and 2 oz aged white cheddar)
5 egg whites

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare the ramekins by rubbing the insides all over with butter. Divide the Parmigiano among the ramekins, holding them sideways and spinning them around to get the cheese to adhere to the sides. This gives the souffle something to cling to. ( This is where I used the extra flour)

In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. When it is completely melted and the foam subsides, add the flour as you whisk constantly to form a smooth béchamel sauce. Cook for about two minutes, whisking constantly, to remove the raw flour taste. Slowly add the milk as you continue to whisk until incorporated and slightly thickened. Remove the saucepan from the heat.

Whisk a small dollop of the hot butter-flour mixture into the egg yolks so they don’t cook when you add them to the saucepan. Now add the tempered yolks to your saucepan, whisking to incorporate. Add the salt, pepper and dry mustard. Whisk in the blue cheese.

In a large bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until they hold soft peaks. Add 1/3 of the egg whites to the saucepan and gently fold them into the cheesy mixture with a spatula. Add the remaining whites in two more additions, folding them in gently. It is not necessary to fully incorporate the egg whites. Since the goal of folding is to preserve as much of their volume as possible, it is okay to see small bits of whites in the mixture. Divide the souffle mixture evenly among the prepared ramekins. Bake, directly on your oven rack, for 25 minutes. The tops should form golden brown, jagged plateaus and the centers should jiggle ever so slightly. For the most beautiful presentation, serve immediately.

This recipe was adapted from Tyler Florence but I found it at aminglingoftastes.com. Also, I used 1 2 quart souffle dish, but according to A Mingling of Tatses, you can use 4 8oz ramekins or 6 6oz ramekins.

Pizza Hack

I thought this was a really great idea for a pizza box. If you're ordering a pizza, it seems like this would be a good box to get it in. It breaks down into 4 plates and a smaller storage container for leftover pizza. Thanks to Slice.seriouseats.com and ecoincorporated.com for this cool item.

Yogurt Honey Chocolate Bars

A few days ago my husband requested I make some cookies for him to take to work. He was going to take left over grapefruit cake but because of its girth, there was nowhere to store it. I wanted to make something fun and tasty that a bunch of dudes would like but I also wanted to try something a bit unconventional, so that's where the yogurt and honey got mixed in with the chocolate.

Okay, so this is basically a brownie with a yogurt custard on top. But when it bakes, the middle stays so moist, it's like a layer of cookie, a layer of fudge and a layer of custard. MMMMM.

Ingredients:

8 oz semi sweet chocolate chips
1 c butter (2 sticks) in pieces
1 1/3 c sugar
4 eggs
2 c flour
2 t vanilla extract
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt

1 1/2 c plain nonfat yogurt
2 eggs
3 T flour
1/4 t vanilla extract
1/2 c honey
2 T sugar

Directions:

Line a 9 x 13" cake pan with parchment paper going up all sides and spray with cooking spray
In a double boiler or sauce pan, melt chocolate and butter over low heat
Preheat oven to 350
Remove from heat and beat in sugar, eggs and vanilla
Mix in flour, salt and baking powder until incorporated, but not over mixed
Spread into the lined pan

In another bowl mix yogurt, honey, flour, vanilla, sugar and eggs until smooth and creamy
Pour on top of brownie mixture
Bake for 45-55 minutes

I was making a large amount for a group of people but I imagine this can be halved and baked in an 8x8 pan for 25-30 minutes.

I think I might try lavender honey next time, just for kicks

S. Pellegrino 50 Best Restaurants 2009

And the winners are:
The 50 best restaurants in the WORLD

Easy Grilled Potatoes in Preparation for National BBQ Month

When it's as hot as it's been I don't want to be heating up the house any more than it already is with cooking and baking. I think we get a little reprieve today; with the mercury rising only to the 80's, but it's good to have yourself armed with a variety of recipes that don't require a lot of heating...or that can be prepared outdoors. Also, May is National BBQ Month, so it might be a good idea to have some grill recipes up your sleeve to get ready for the celebration.


You can grill pretty much anything; vegetables, meats, breads and some fruits all do pretty well on the grill. Potatoes are really easy and they look so pretty when they're done.

Ingredients:

2 potatoes
1 T olive oil
Fresh herbs (rosemary, thyme, basil, sage...whatever you have on hand)
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat grill to 300-350 degrees or medium (if charcoal grill make sure the coal has started and it seems reasonably hot)
Scrub potatoes to clean
Don't completely slice the potatoes, but slice them 1/2 way in 1/2 inch increments
Microwave on high for 4-6 minutes (the potatoes should be nearly cooked but not completely)
Allow to cool for 5 minutes and slice completely
Brush slices with olive oil (or toss in a zipper baggy)
Season generously with fresh herbs
Cook on open grill 5 minutes on each side
Remove from grill and season to taste with S&P

The microwaving makes this go much quicker because potatoes can take a long time to cook. So if you're doing burgers or steak on the grill as well, you don't have to have the grill running for an hour before you put the meat on.

Cold Broccoli, Asparagus and Green Bean Soup

People don't normally think of soups when it's 100 degrees and sunny outside, as it is in Los Angeles this week. There are a variety of yummy soups that are great for warm weather such as gazpacho (tomato and cucumber) and vichyssoise (potato and leek) that are served cold. These soups are also fantastic accompaniments to salads and sandwiches.

I had a fantastic asparagus soup at a bridal shower over the weekend. Butter, cream, and asparagus, yummmm. I loved it so much I wanted to make it but with a bit of a variation, I wanted it cold. I also had a bunch of other green vegetables that needed to be eaten soon and I figured soup was a good way to use everything up.


Ingredients:
1 lb asparagus
1/2 lb broccoli
1/2 lb green beans
1 brown onion chopped
6 c low sodium chicken stock
1 c skim milk
1 1/2 T flour
2 T olive oil
1 t fresh thyme
1/4 lemon or 1 T vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Heat large pot or dutch oven over medium low heat with 1 T oil
Add chopped onion and cook for 5 minutes until onion starts to become translucent
Remove ends of asparagus and toss, remove tips and set aside 10 for garnish
Chop remaining asparagus into 1/2" pieces and add to pot
Cut green beans in 1/2" pieces and add to pot
Cut broccoli into small florets and add to pot, cook for 5 minutes
Add chicken broth and thyme and cook for 20 minutes
Remove from heat and blend soup in batches, transferring to another pot
Once soup is blended set aside
Heat a small sauce pan to medium low heat with remaining T of oil
Mix in flour, salt and pepper
Cook for 2 minutes but do not let it brown
Whisk in milk until dissolved and creamy, remove from heat
Heat vegetable puree back to medium and stir in milk mixture
Once the soup is slightly thickened remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice or vinegar
Allow to cool at room temperature for at least an hour then cool completely before serving
Garnish with asparagus tips

I wanted my soup right away, so I put a bowl in the freezer for 30 minutes, worked great. But if you are serving more than yourself, this is better made a day ahead. It also freezes well. Also, I had collard greens and spinach and I tossed those in the soup as well. It was pretty darn good.

Los Angeles Grilled Cheese Invitational

This is where you should be on Saturday
Grilled Cheese Invitational

Free Ice Cream Cone

Tomorrow is free cone day at Ben and Jerry's. Thanks to www.seriouseats.com for the tip. Here is a list of the locations offering free cones tomorrow.

The Lazy Gourmet

One of my new favorite sites is http://www.wisebread.com/. You can see why when you read the article:
Seven Simple Solutions For The Lazy Gourmet
There are some fantastic ideas in this article. I love the towel bar idea. I love to have all my utensils out and ready at my fingertips, so this is such a great idea. I used to have a utensil rail from Ikea in my old place, but have yet to put one up in the new one. I guess it's about time. And the canning jars as blenders, AMAZING. I never would have thought of that.

Sandwich Bread

I've been doing a lot of baking lately; breads, cakes, tarts. All that yummy stuff that's full of butter, eggs, and other fattening things. I almost always try to sneak in some whole wheat flour, substitute sweetener or egg whites instead of yolks. But I was dying for a soft sandwich bread, so gave in to the temptation of just using white flour.

It was perfect, I highly recommend this recipe.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 c skim milk
1 pkg yeast
4 c all purpose or bread flour ( I used ap and it was fine)
2 T butter, melted
2 T sugar
1 t salt
cooking spray

Directions:
Heat the milk in the microwave for about 2 1/2 minutes or until the temp is 105-115 ( I usually start at 2 minutes and then check and reheat in 15 second increments)
Stir in the yeast and let it dissolve for about 5 minutes
Put the dry ingredients in a stand mixer or bowl and mix until everything is incorporated
Slowly add in the milk
Then add the butter
If the dough is too dry add extra milk 1 t at a time, if it's too moist, add flour 1T at a time
Turn the dough out on a floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes and roll into a ball
Coat a large bowl with cooking spray and add the dough ball and cover with plastic wrap
Allow to rise for about 90 minutes or until doubled in size
Punch down the dough in the bowl and form back into a ball
Allow it to rise again for an hour
Take a 9x5" loaf pan or cookie sheet and coat with cooking spray
If you are using the loaf pan, roll out the bread into a rectangle and place in the greased loaf pan to rise for 1 hour. Then slice down the length of the bread with a sharp knife
If just using a cookie sheet form the dough back into a ball and and place on greased cookie sheet to rise for 1 hour. Then slice across the top in a cross hatch pattern
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
Spray top of bread with cooking spray
Bake for 45 minutes, or until golden and allow to cool before slicing

This is a great yeasty bread that slices really well. It's fluffy and light, and perfect for sandwiches or toast. I used this recipe from recipelink.

Brown Derby Grapefruit Cake (or 4 hours and a bottle of wine)

I'm really lucky because my boss cooks lunch for me every day, so not only do I get free food, but I get free, AMAZING food. I don't know many people that get lamb stew or pork with cherries, sweet potatoes and Guinness for Lunch.

When I first started working with her, my husband, boyfriend at the time, said "That's awesome that she feeds you, but does she now how much you eat?" Ass. Anyways, she's also a culinary inspiration for me. She's always going through recipes and offering me copies of whatever she deems best. I often pass on the recipes because, although amazing, a lot are quite fattening and there are things I just don't need to be making.

Yesterday, however, I decided to take home a cake recipe, because sometimes you just need to bake a cake. Because the recipe is copied, I'm not sure where she got it from, but there is half an article attached, some cut off by being copied a few times and other parts continued on other pages. I tried to decipher it and one of my favorite parts in the article is:

"One of the most famous (recipes) was the Brown Derby's grapefruit cake. Owner Bob Cobb conceived it when gossip columnist Louella parsons threatened not to return until he put a non- fattening dessert on the menu. He told his cooks, "Put grapefruit on something, because everyone knows it's slimming."

This cake isn't slimming, just so you know. It's a lot lighter than a few cakes I've made, but it still has sugar, flour, oil and egg yolks, so I don't want anyone thinking this is healthy.


Oh, and did I mention this cake is fabulous. It's also a fabulous nightmare. I will post some tips at the end for fleshing or pithing a grapefruit, because that can be a lot of trouble. That is actually why I titled the post 4 hours and a bottle of wine. It took me 4 hours to make this cake and the pithing took close to an hour and drove me to drink. And I never do cakes like this; that require more than one bowl, lots of whipping, and lots of trouble. It was worth it though because it is a beautiful cake. I think next time I may do a whipped cream topping because the cream cheese is a tad too rich for this feathery light cake.

Brown Derby Grapefruit Cake

Ingredients:

2 1/4 c sifted cake flour ( I used regular flour and it worked just fine)
1 1/2 c sugar
1 T baking powder
1 t salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
5 eggs yolks
8 egg whites
2 t vanilla
3 tablespoons grapefruit juice
2 t grated grapefruit rind
1/4 t cream of tartar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325º F. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into mixing bowl. Make a well in center of dry ingredients.
Add oil, egg yolks, grapefruit juice, and rind. Beat until smooth.
Beat egg whites and cream of tartar separately, until whites are stiff but not dry.
Gradually fold egg whites into the cake batter, folding gently with a rubber spatula until just blended. Do not stir the mixture.
Pour into 2 greased and floured 10-inch cake pans. Bake at 325º degrees for 45 to 55 minutes, or until cake springs back when lightly touched with a finger. Invert pan on cake rack until cool. Run spatula around edge of cake. Carefully remove from pan.

Grapefruit Cream Cheese Frosting

3 eight oz pkgs cream cheese
2 t grapefruit juice
1 1/2 t grated grapefruit rind
1 cup powdered sugar (sifted)
2 grapefruits peeled with pith and membrane removed
*crush 6 sections for frosting and reserve the rest for topping

Let cream cheese soften at room temperature. Beat cheese until fluffy.
Add grapefruit juice and rind.
Gradually blend in sugar. Beat until well blended.
Add crushed grapefruit and blend into frosting.
Frost Bottom layer of cake
Frost top and sides
Garnish with remaining grapefruit sections

I had major problems pithing the grapefruit, it all fell apart. I was able to salvage some so don't make the mistake I did on pithing the grapefruit. Here are instructions on doing it correctly

How to flesh a grapefruit

The original recipe actually used canned grapefruit slices, which I will definitely use in the future. Try this, you'll like it

Wonder Box and Vanilla Beans

For almost every holiday my mother in law sends me an awesome care package. When I was growing up my grandmother used to send these too, filled with toys, games, candies and odd yard sale finds; my parents always referred to them as "wonder boxes." I hadn't received one for more than 10 years, but then I married my husband.

My mother in law has a great eye for things and she seems to know exactly what I like. For instance, this package included new tongs (which I really needed), a citrus zester, a hand towel that perfectly matches the decor of my bathroom, some vegetable seeds, and dried spices. She also put in some sugar free peeps that were surprisingly delicious, but the spices are the reason I'm writing this post.

One of the containers she sent holds 2 Madagascar vanilla beans.

I have never used a vanilla bean in my life. I love vanilla bean ice cream and vanilla bean cake. I mean, come on, how could you not? But since I've only used vanilla extract, I'm a little worried about using the bean itself. I searched for a bunch of recipes, but they were a little mundane and if I'm actually going to use the bean, I want it to be for something reallllllly tasty.

So, I was looking for a really tasty recipe and what caught my eye instead, was an article on making your own vanilla extract. And it uses VODKA. If there's Booze, I'm so in.

Thanks to KitchenProject.com for the full recipe and step by step instructions:

How to Make Vanilla Extract

Ingredients:2 Cups (16 oz.) vodka You may also use Brandy, 6 Vanilla Beans
You can easily cut this recipe in half and use 3 vanilla beans and 1 cup of vodka, brandy or rum.
You can use any kind of bottle you want, but I do recommend glass.

Cut the vanilla beans the long way with a scissors except the last inch. This way the bean stays intact.

Pour the vodka into the container you will be making your extract in. Here you see a quart mason jar.

I like to use clear glass, so I can see how the extract is developing. The darker it gets the stronger the extract is. There is no exact time that the extract is done. I like to wait at least 8 weeks.

Put the cut beans in the vodka and push them down until they are completely covered. They usually won't go down completely on their own as you see in this picture, so they need to be pushed down even farther.
Cover the vanilla extract and let it sit in a cupboard out of the light. You will start to taste some vanilla flavor even after a few days. How long you let it sit is how potent your vanilla extract is.

After 8 weeks the vanilla extract has the nice amber color and I am pouring it into small bottles for gifts.
I like to put a vanilla bean in each bottle. This way the extract will keep gaining in flavor and you can tell them that by adding a little vodka when it is halfway used up will replenish your supply of vanilla. It will dilute it for a while but it will regain strength quickly.
Some people will add some simple sugar syrup to the extract to sweeten it. . This is what they do in most commercial varieties so it has a nice sweet aftertaste. I like to use a little dark rum in my extract instead.
(1 teaspoon per cup of vodka)

How to Dry Herbs In the Microwave

It's actually really easy and all you need is paper towel and a plastic baggie or air tight container. Last week when I was cleaning my oven I found some bay leaves I had dried in my lower oven a few months ago and totally forgot about. I wouldn't have forgotten them had I used the microwave. And now they're useless, damn it! Oh and using the microwave for 3 minutes uses much less power than having your oven going for 4 hours.

Here's the full article via tipnut.com:
How to Dry Herbs With a Microwave

Basic BBQ Tips

Here's an oldie but a goodie from The Onion

*Marinate your ribs in bourbon before barbecuing. The best way to do this is by pouring the whiskey down your throat.
*One safety tip to keep in mind while barbecuing is that you should never, ever light your house on fire.
*It's important that you choose the right kind of fire for grilling meat. Class D magnesium-based fires are not the right kind of fire for grilling meat.
*Whatever you do, don't shout the phrase "Johnsonville brats!" at the top of your lungs. Don't let your neighbors do that, either.
*Do you have an entire set of tableware designed with a playful, summery watermelon-slice theme? Well, isn't that adorable. Let me see that spoon! Even the spoon is a little watermelon. Honey, come here and look at this spoon.
*Don't forget to repeatedly baste your cooking pork in barbecue sauce, which will "mask the spoiled taste."
*The endangered Cebu cinnamon tree of the Philippines is the best firewood for grilling. Use anything less, and you might as well be cooking your food on top of smoldering raccoon shit.
*For optimal flavor, raise your own animals, make your own charcoal, and distill your own vinegar. For passable flavor, head on down to Smokey's Ribs & Things out by the airport.
*When barbecuing veggie burgers, be sure to tie your long hair back. That will keep it away from the flames, you stupid hippie

The Ratio of Ingredients

Check out this chart! It's a recipe breakdown of basic ingredients such as eggs, flour, water, sugar and how much you need of each to get the recipe outcome you desire. It's from Michael Ruhlman's new book, Ratio:The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking. How awesome is that? I like the bare basic approach to it. Knowing the fundamentals allows for experimentation. You can read an interview with Ruhlman by Lifehacker.com here.

New Life and a New Camera

Man, it's been a busy weekend. Not seeing my husband for a week means we have to cram in 7 days of stuff into 2. Then it was also a holiday weekend so that added a little stress with entertaining and such. There's also been some excitement, my husband works in music and one of his projects' release dates was announced on Perez Hilton. Good news because Perez is great marketing especially to a crowd that may not have otherwise been introduced to the musician, Regina Spektor.

The excitement for me is that I got a new camera, well it's not exactly new, but new to me. And, although I'm a firm believer that it is the artist and not his tools, this camera takes such good photos. Way better than the old camera, anyways, so yay.



That is a baby green bean plant, less than a week old. A few months ago, late February I think, my husband and I started germinating seeds for vegetables. Our first attempt was halfway successful, we got a bunch of zucchini, a few onions and one lettuce plant going. But the carrots and chives didn't make it. It must be the warmer weather, but the plants are literally exploding. I am so excited to post new recipes and dishes made from our home grown vegetables. Stay tuned.

A Taste of Spring...and spring cleaning

It's sad to say how little I've been cooking, but I'm looking forward to cooking tomorrow for my family. It's supposed to be a beautiful day which calls for being outdoors, grilling some meat and drinking some good beer.
I plan to make a a loaf of white bread which I never do; something light and airy and wonderful. And I'm extra excited because I just cleaned my oven. And I love my oven!! It's one of those necessary evils of spring cleaning, but it's so nice to see the usually crusty greasy enamel surface glistening.

Our house was last remodeled in 1966 and the age is visible in our oven alone.



I thought about painting it but have decided instead to remodel the kitchen around it. It's not just retro, it's a great effing oven. The temperature is perfect which is amazing, but it also has a rotisserie, which is crazy and awesome...and yet to be used.

I digress.

For the menu tomorrow I plan to do filet mignon, some grilled vegetable skewers, and perhaps a pasta salad. Nothing too difficult, but tasty all the same. I want to do something fresh that actually tastes like spring. If anything turns out especially good I'll post the recipes.
Enjoy your Sunday

Empanaditas

So yesterday was National Empanada Day, so it made sense to me to whip some up for dinner. I made cheater empanadas because I'm lazy. Real empanadas, which are just a hand pie, are made with a yucca flour crust or a pie crust type crust; I used won ton wrappers. Here is a link to make some more authentic empanadas.

Empanada Recipe

Here are mine:

INGREDIENTS:
1 pkg won ton wrappers
1 chicken breast
1/2 c salsa (I used verde, but any will do, and the less chunky the better)
1/2 c shredded cheese
2 T olive oil
1/8 t garlic powder
1/8 t onion powder
1/8 t chili powder
1/8 t cumin
pinch of salt

DIRECTIONS:
Heat 1 T oil in saute pan to medium
Season chicken with all spices and saute until nearly cooked (5 minutes)
While chicken is cooking remove won ton wrappers from package and cut into circles
*I used a large biscuit cutter and cut about 6 at a time
After 5 minutes remove chicken from heat and cut into tiny pieces
Add salsa to saute pan and cook with chicken until chicken is cooked and most liquid is absorbed Remove chicken mixture from heat and allow to cool slightly
Put about ½ t of shredded cheese in the middle of each won ton round
Then about 1 t of chicken mix on top of that
Wet the edges of the won ton wrappers slightly with water and fold over to make half circle pockets
Use a fork to crimp the edges and get a good seal
Brush the tops of the pockets with the remaining olive oil
Place in oven for 7-10 minutes just to let the empanaditas get golden, crispy, and warm

These were super tasty, but definitely a better appetizer than dinner. And, they're obviously just baked won tons that look like emapnadas. But they are so easy. It looks like a lot of directions, but you just fill them and bake them. I think it could make a really cool dessert accoutrement too. Maybe fill them with chocolate or cherries...Yummy, Dude.

Tetris Ice Cubes

This is so cool. Not super practical though. And to tell you the truth, I probably won't ever do this because I'm super lazy. To find out how to make your own Tetris ice cube tray go to www.instrucatbles.com

365 Reasons to Party

So it blows my mind that every day is "National Insert Food Day." Here is a list:
Food Holidays
Not only are there daily food holidays, but food months too. For instance, today is national empanada day and it's grilled cheese month.

Snacking Chef Grilled Cheese - also, the snacking chef proposes that May be Led Zeppelin Month, I'm in.

I just found out January 23rd was national pie day, and I'm pissed I missed it. At least I have national cake day to look forward to on November 26th. And my birthday falls on national Kahlua day and national strawberry day, too bad I didn't celebrate this last birthday with either.

But whatever day it is, there is a food to enjoy. Here is another link for other reasons to party, besides food.
365 Reasons to Party

Pantry Staples

I wrote in my previous post that I've been living out of the pantry and haven't been to the store, which was a lie because I totally made a beer run. But I haven't done any real shopping.

Last night I was totally craving bread to have with my dinner, and of course, had nada. I love to bake bread and I have a little baking station so I whipped some up. I used a sandwich bread recipe.



Bread Recipe
I switched it up a bit

INGREDIENTS:
1 T brown sugar
1 package dry yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)
1 c warm skim milk (100° to 110°)
1 1/2 T butter, melted and cooled, divided (1 T for the dough and 1/2 for the top)
2 c AP Flour
1 c whole wheat flour
1 t salt
cooking spray ( I use an olive oil sprayer) Misto Olive Oil Sprayer

I mixed and let it rise per the instructions, but I always do a second rise, I think it helps with the flavor. Also, I decided to do a boule instead. I put corn meal on a baking sheet and dumped the risen ball on it. I let it rise again for 30 minutes and cut a diagonal pattern with a sharp knife. I preheated the oven to 450 but lowered it to 375 immediately when the bread went in. Then baked it for 30 minutes( I always check after 25.) It was totally yummy, I never make white bread, but I think I may try soon with this recipe because itwas delicious.

Dinner For One

So one thing about not having my husband home for meals is that I don't feel the need to go to the grocery store as often. I'm basically living off pantry staples and frozen foods, which is good because it's time for some new stuff.

For instance, last night I had the ends of all my pastas mixed together( farfalle, penne, black rice elbow macaroni...) aglio e olio with sauteed chicken and broccoli. It was nice and colorful and totally decent tasting. Also, aglio e olio is one of the easiest dishes ever. You actually feel like you're cooking something, but it takes just a few minutes, and the outcome is always superb.



Aglio e olio is basically garlic and red pepper flakes fried in oil...mmmmmm. It's so easy to make, you don't really need a recipe. You just heat 2T olive oil in a saute pan on medium heat. Add one clove chopped garlic and a few pepper flakes and saute until the garlic is golden and remove from heat.
Cook your pasta per package directions and reserve 2T of the salted water. Add salted water to the garlic oil, drain pasta, and toss everything together. Voila! That's pretty much just a one serving recipe, but you can multiply it to fit your needs.

More Eggs for Easter

This chick actually Tie Dyed Easter Eggs!!! Check it out:

Tie Dyed Easter Eggs

Obama Fooodorama

If you haven't seen this site yet, you must. Whatever your political inclination, this site is great. It's much more than food, take a look:

Obama Foodorama

And here is the direct link to Michelle Obama's Shortbread Cookie Recipe

April is Grilled Cheese Month

So I may try one or two grilled cheese recipes out, but check out www.pithyandcleaver.com because they plan to devote themselves to grilled cheese this month. Fantastic, I'm so in to it! I'm dying for apple and cheddar grilled cheese.

Rainbow Cake

I love all my geek gadget sites and am always so excited when they post about food, especially when it's NOT BACON.

Today the Geekologie writer posted a rainbow cake. It looks so awesome so here's the recipe via Omnomicon

How to make a rainbow cake

Italian Sausage and Corn Chowder

I haven't been doing a lot of cooking in the past week. When my husband works, he's not home for dinner (actually he's not really home at all) so I don't really cook. Cooking is a big part of my life, but this week has been more about home improvement and eating easy salads.

Instead of cooking, I painted the front porch railing. It had been black and peeling so I did a nice aged bronze kind of finish.

And just so you guys know, painting is a huge part of my life as well. And not just painting canvases. My motto is "I can paint that." And I can and have. We painted every surface of our new house when we moved in. I even painted the kitchen counters and floors. It works pretty well if you have any type of unbearable laminate. So if anything isn't aesthetically pleasing to me, I paint it.

On to food...

I actually did finally prepare something from scratch last night and it was kind of accidental. I initially planned to make turkey burgers but to make them super scrumptious I was going to mix in some hot Italian sausage with the ground turkey. Instead of defrosting the sausage, I cooked it so I had to think of another use for it. I also bought frozen corn at the store without realizing I already had a full bag in the freezer so I found myself with these extra ingredients and thought a corn and sausage chowder would be delicious.

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/2 c frozen corn

2-4 links Italian sausage (depending on how sausagey you want your soup)

2 potatoes, peeled and chopped into small chunks

8 c chicken or vegetable stock

1 sm onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 red pepper, seeded and chopped (I had a frozen bag of chopped peppers from trader Joes, so I used that)

1 c skim milk

1/4 c flour

1 T olive oil

1 T fresh parsley

1T fresh rosemary

1/2 T fresh thyme

1/8 t salt
1/4t pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Heat a dutch oven or large pan with 7 c stock, potatoes and herbs to high heat, allow to boil then reduce heat to medium and cook, covered, for 30 minutes

Heat saute pan to medium high and add 1c stock, olive oil, and sausages, let boil then reduce to medium

Cook sausages until liquid evaporates and sausages are browned, about 10 minutes

Remove sausages, cool

In same pan add onion, garlic and pepper and saute for about 5 minutes, onions should be golden and they should have absorbed some flavor from the sausages

Remove from heat and add the flour to the onion mix and stir to coat

Add corn to stock and cook for 5 minutes

Add milk to stock and cook another 5 minutes

Add all additional ingredients and cook for an additional 10-15 minutes, until theickened

This soup was super yummy. I think it is more appropriate for the cooler seasons, but the vibrant pepper and sausage and sweet corn were a yummy combo. It was a nice accompaniment to the turkey burgers, so I think I may freeze some of this to have the same meal again.

Easter Eggs

Tell me those aren't some of the coolest dyed eggs you've ever seen. My husband just sent me this link and I had to pass it on. I want to talk more about dying eggs and I will try to in the upcoming week, but I think I've had one too many beers...And, Revenge of the Nerds is on so here's the link to read about it for yourself:

Barefoot Kitchen Witch

Old Storage Containers Become Self watering Tomato Planters

I first found this post on lifehacker.com but here's the link to full directions on growing tomatoes in old storage containers. How cool is that? Not only does it conserve water, but you don't even need garden space; just a piece of concrete.
I'm already growing some tomatoes, but I'll definitely try this next year. I'm wondering if I can try this with some other veggies or fruits, maybe strawberries?

Frosting Recipes

So here's some more from tipnut.com. I am so in love with them lately. All these frostings are made with condensed milk, something we should always have in our cupboards. As soon as I saw the peanut butter frosting I knew I had to post this. I can't wait to try it.

Frosting Recipes

Grilled Ravioli

I totally forgot to post this! I recently made grilled ravioli and it was amazing. I posted my ravioli recipe a while back. I left out the butternut squash and used ricotta and mozzarella instead (about a cup of each.) I boiled the ravioli as normal, then drained them on a towel, sprayed them with olive oil and stuck them on the grill for 4 minutes on each side at medium heat. I just sprinkled a little parmesan and called them done.
HOLY MOLY!!!! It's sinful and great and oh boy, you better make these, but not too often or you know you'll get a huge A*#.
Enjoy

Garden Trellis For Small Spaces

My back yard is a good size but I have a small garden area and just today I was struggling with the issue of what vegetables to plant to make the most of the space I have. I happened upon this little tip at tipnut.com. If you lack horizontal space go vertical with a vegetable trellis! Such a great idea, I'm totally gonna get started on it this weekend.

And More bacon

Oh man, I thought canned bacon was scary.... Check this s#*t out!

Squeez Bacon


Thanks to ThinkGeek via Geekologie for that