Hearty Fava and Kale Soup with Polenta Croutons (Instant Pot)

Ingredients

For Soup:

Group One:

1 small white onion, diced

4 cloves minced garlic

2 TB herbs de provence 

Pinch kosher salt 

Pinch crushed red pepper 

Group Two:

1 lb dried fava beans 

4 cups broth, 4 cups water

Group Three: 

1 bunch of kale, washed and torn

For Croutons:

1 polenta log (the firm kind)

Olive oil, salt

More garlic if you like 

To top:  

Hard white cheese and good olive oil

Arugula dressed with olive oil, salt and lemon juice

Cook the onion and garlic in olive oil in a skillet.  (You can do this in the bottom of the instant pot on "saute," but I've had that cause a "burn" error often enough that I prefer to use a separate pan.)  After about 5 mins when the onion softens, add the herbs de provence, salt, and red pepper flakes.  

Put the Group Two ingredients in the instant pot, then add the contents of the skillet (Group One).  Set to cook at high pressure for 20 minutes.  

Meanwhile, make the croutons:  cut the polenta into cubes, coat skillet in olive oil, heat to medium, throw the cubes in, add salt and garlic or whatever other herbs you like, cook (tossing periodically) until browned.  

When the instant pot is done cooking, use the quick release method and stir in the kale immediately, then use an immersion blender or potato masher to get the consistency you prefer.  Top with the polenta croutons, dressed arugula, a swirl of olive oil, and grated hard white cheese.

Guest Recipe: Granola Template

My roommate Lili makes granola on a regular basis to prepare for the week ahead, and after a couple weeks of our house being filled with toasty warm coconut smells, I begged her for the recipe.  She typed up the recipe - more of a template, so it's flexible - via text, and I've written it out here to save it for myself.  I've since been making it regularly myself, and love having it in the morning with any mix of kefir, fruit, milk, yogurt, or nut butter.

Dry Ingredients
3 cups rolled oats
1 - 1.5 cups nuts (sliced almonds, pecan pieces, walnuts, etc)
1/2 tsp. salt

Wet Ingredients
1/2 - 3/4 cup honey, molasses or maple syrup
1/4 - 1/2 cup oil (coconut, olive, etc)

Optional Add-ins
1 -2 cups seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, chia, etc)
1 cup Coconut
1-3 tsp. spices (Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Other Spices)
1/4 - 1/2 cup pumpkin (warm in saucepan before adding if using)
1/4 cup cocoa or 1 cup chocolate chipes
1/2 tablespoons uncooked quinoa

Preheat oven to 350.  Cover baking sheet with foil or baking mats. Mix all dry ingredients in bowl (including add-ins).  Add wet ingredients.  Mix, taste and tweak to preference. Bake for 30 - 40 minutes total, stopping to stir 15 or 20 minutes in. Stop when looks toasty brown and smells incredible!

Vermicelli Bowl

Except with no vermicelli (just rice) and many many items from my fridge allowed to join the party:

- At base of the bowl are some black kale, snow peas and firm tofu slices cooked in the skillet with soy and peanut oil (the only hot item)
- Then cold leftover rice on top
- Then vermicelli sauce (lime juice, mirin, and fish sauce with finely chopped scallions)
- Then toppings!  Avocado, radishes, sprouts, mint, cilantro, leftover baked sweet potato, peanuts, fried garlic, these chickpeas, and the best part....... quick pickled watermelon!

Guest Post: Bacon and Bell Pepper Quiche

It's high time my long-ago college roommate turned BFF, Tori, was invited to guest post.  Our freshman year of college, we would haul all the kitchen items she had stored in her dorm room down the stairs to our sad dorm kitchen and make elaborate things that the kitchen was not built for, like lemon olive oil muffins. Her kitchen skill and dedication was an important starting point for my own love of cooking. Most importantly, she's a kind soul who on a recent visit to the sisters' childhood home made our loving Mum some of this in mini-quiche form to freeze for breakfast for the coming weeks:

Crust:
1 ½ cups cold salted butter cut into small pieces
3 cups flour
1 egg
5 tablespoons cold water
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon salt

Filling:
Onion, thinly sliced
1 ½ bell peppers, chopped
8 slices bacon, fried and chopped
2 tablespoons butter
8 eggs
1 ½ cups milk
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Any crust will work for the quiche. I made an extra crust awhile back and had stuck it in my freezer so I used it for this quiche.

Here’s what I did to make the crust. In a large bowl, combine the cold cubed butter with the flour using a pastry cutter (or forks if you don’t have a pastry cutter) until the mixture is crumbly. Beat an egg in a separate bowl. Add the beaten egg to the flour mixture. Then add the cold water, vinegar, and salt. Stir all ingredients together until combined. Divide the dough in half and put each half in its own gallon sized plastic bag. Slightly flatten each ball of dough until it forms a disk about ½ an inch thick. Seal the bags and place them in the freezer. If you want to use the crust right away, pull it out about 15-20 minutes later. Otherwise pull the frozen crust out and leave it on the counter for about 30 minutes before rolling it out.

Preheat the oven to 400°. To make the filling, melt the butter in a pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and bell peppers and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5-7 minutes. Remove the sautéed vegetables from the heat and allow them to cool. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, pepper, and a bit of salt. After it is whisked well, add the vegetables, bacon and cheese to combine. In a pie dish, place your crust and then pour in the egg mixture. If you have extra egg mixture, you can spray a muffin tin with cooking spray and then fill the tin with leftover mixture. These will bake faster than the quiche, but will still taste really good. Also you can freeze them after they are cooked. Cover the quiche lightly with aluminum foil, and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and cook for an additional 10 minutes.

making mini quiches for the Mom! These had spinach and tomato, and you can use crust for the mini form as well.

food allergies and considerations: Could easily be made crustless, just be sure to grease the pan really well. Filling additions are easily adjusted, so you could leave out the bacon to make this vegetarian, but otherwise...bacon!

Apricot Butter

Boozy, salty, sweet, fruity butter.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped
1/4 cup cognac or other brandy
2 TB brown sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
Salt

Equipment:  Long match or stick lighter.

Soak apricots in cognac in a small saucepan for 10 minutes.  Then turn on heat and bring to a boil.

Once boiling, ignite! Whee! The alcohol will shoot some tall blue flames into the air and will burn for a good little while.

Once the flames die off, turn heat to medium, add brown sugar, and stir until sugar is dissolved.

Take off heat, scrape into a food processor, and allow to cool.  Add the butter and process.  Salt the mixture to taste and eat on bread.

Look how fun!!

Baked Apples

Last night a few friends and I had a nice evening hanging out at home, for which I attempted to make butterbeer (be honest, sometimes you wish butterbeer was real more than magic when reading Harry Potter).  The butterbeer, unfortunately, was a giant fail.  Perhaps some things in life are better as fiction.  My friends were so sweet and pretended to like it, but I felt an urgent need to redeem myself with a dessert to more accurately portray my skills in the kitchen.

Immediately when thinking of fall treats, a memory popped to mind of our mum pulling a tray of baked apples out of the oven when I was a kid.  She used to sometimes throw them together as a spontaneous sweet treat - easy to make, and not terribly bad for you, as desserts go.  I texted her for the recipe, and in less than an hour we had perfect bowls of warm, sweetly spiced apples, the puddles of their juices melting into scoops of vanilla ice cream.  For me, it was a lovely serving of nostalgia and also kitchen redemption ( ;) ).  I immediately felt like I was sitting at our kitchen table with a cozy snack before bed.  I hope that they can bring you the same sentimentality, or help you to create new autumn memories.

4 apples
1//4 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup nuts (pecans or walnuts, most likely)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons butter
Drizzle of maple syrup
Vanilla Ice Cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Carve out center of apples with a paring knife and spoon, removing all seeds and leaving bottom somewhat thick (about a 1/2 inch).  In a small bowl, mis brown sugar, nuts and spices.  Feel free to play with different spices (allspice, pumpkin pie spice), or to add some dates or currants to the mix.  Pack the mixture into the apple cores.  Put a small pat of butter on top of each, roughly 1/2 tablespoon.  Drizzle a little maple syrup on top if you like.  Bake for 30-45 minutes, until soft.  Pour the juices from apples from pan on top before serving, warm from the oven with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Kaycee's Organic Raspberry Princess Muffins

Meet our youngest sister!  Kaycee, age 7, loves singing, dancing, science, and animals (and being an Alaska girl, that means not only cats and dogs, but also eagles, whales, porcupines and arctic foxes).  This is her first recipe on the sororial cooking blog, but it surely won't be the last. 

Adapted from The Disney Princess Cookbook

Kaycee's Adaptations:

Substitute raspberries for blueberries
Substitute organic gluten free flour
Substitute organic brown sugar and butter

Eat with your Dad on a chilly Sunday!

Chris's Foolproof Cold-Brew Coffee

My spouse has spent I-don't-know-how-many hours tinkering with his cold-brew, which is now my favorite coffee anywhere.  He finally typed it up for us:  

There are two great things about making cold-brew coffee. First, this method results in a very low-acid brew. The coffee is sweet and chocolatey, and great for mornings or before a long run. Second, once you make a pitcher of this, you've got coffee in an instant for at least a week. 

The key here is the nut-milk bag. I've tried this just pouring the coffee through a filter or cheese cloth, and it takes forever and creates a big mess. With the bag, this is no harder than making a pot of tea.

Ingredients/equipment:

2 cups dark-roast coffee, medium grind

4 cups cold water

1 nut milk bag

1 large bowl

1 large pitcher

(Optional) large coffee filter or cheesecloth + mesh strainer

This is a coffee-inefficient brew method, but fortunately you can use an inexpensive preground coffee. I usually use a store brand french roast.Eight O' Clock works great, too. There's no reason you can't grind your own, but I don't think it is really worth the effort here.

Here goes nothing:

1. Put the coffee in the nut milk bag, and the nut milk bag and the water in the bowl.

2. (Optional) Put something heavy on the nut-milk bag to keep it below the surface.

3. Put the coffee (in the nut milk bag in the water in the bowl) in the refrigerator for 12-18 hours, You can stir it up once or twice if you remember.  Set a phone alarm so you don't let it sit too long.

4. Remove the nut milk bag from the bowl, giving it a good two-handed squeeze to get the last of the good stuff out.

5. Ladle or pour the coffee concentrate from the bowl to the pitcher.  A bowl with a spout makes this easier.

6. (Highly optional) If you want to be really persnickety about this (like me), put a large coffee filter or cheese cloth in a strainer and pour the coffee through that into the pitcher to remove any fine sediment that got through the nut milk bag.  

Now you've got a coffee concentrate that will last for a week in the fridge, probably two if you get a hermetic pitcher.

The recipe can be scaled as long as you maintain the water-to-coffee ratio.

Again, it's a concentrate, so when ready to enjoy, pour over ice and add an equal amount water. (Or, if your name is "Sarah," about 2 parts water to one part concentrate,) Milk and simple syrup are optional but delicious. 

Light & Fragrant Gluten Free Zucchini Bread

Light & Fragrant Gluten Free Zucchini Bread

Slightly adapted to be gluten-free from Elise's zucchini bread, at Simply Recipes

1 cup gluten free all-purpose flour (I recommend Pamela's All Purpose Artisan Flour Blend or Cup 4 Cup Original Flour Blend)

1/2 cup slightly heartier gluten free flour - a biscuit mix would work fine here, as would almond meal or gluten free oat flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 heaping teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 heaping teaspoon nutmeg

1 egg, beaten

1/2 heaping cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1.5 to 2 cups grated zucchini, drained

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Grate your zucchini and press into a colander to drain. I use a nice zester to get a really fine grate. Pat dry with paper towels and set aside. 

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. In another bowl, beat your egg, then pour in melted butter and vanilla. Fold in the sugar and grated zucchini, then slowly stir together with your flour mixture.

Butter the bottom and sides of a regular loaf pan and pour in batter. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until golden brown on top and fully set. 

Food Allergies and Ethics

Vegetarian and gluten-free. 

Buttermilk Pudding

Straight from Mom, to our inboxes, to you:

I bought buttermilk to make muffins last weekend which i totally screwed up & tossed :(   I used this recipe to use some of the buttermilk left over but I did not make it chocolate because I wanted something to go with blackberries (on sale!). I zested a lemon into the hot mixture & the juice of said lemon because mixture was already tart from the buttermilk. I had intended to make vanilla pudding but lemon seemed ideal with the tart flavor. I did add a tsp or so of vanilla at the end. YUM

Heidi Swanson's Millet Muffins

This recipe is from Super Natural Every Day.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these muffins and promised my Mom I'd share the recipe with her.  Putting millet in a baked good it gives this wonderful little bit of crunch.  These are not oversweet, but also not bland in the slightest.  They are perfect with butter and tea for breakfast or in the afternoon.  Bake them!

Dry:
2 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/3 cup raw millet
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Wet:
1 cup plain yogurt
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup coney
1/2 cup unsalted butter, barely melted
Grated zest and juice (2 TB) of one lemon

Preheat oven to 400.  Mix together dry ingredients in one bowl and wet in another.  Add wet to dry and combine.

Divide batter into a greased standard 12-muffin tin and bake for 15 minutes.

Guest Post: Sweet Potato Biscotti

Our Mom called last week to brag about eating these awesome, tender biscotti, so of course, we commissioned a guest post from her fabulous colleague Tammy, a librarian, blogger, and maker of tasty treats.

Merry Christmas and Happy Eatings, Everyone!  I am honored that these sisters have graciously agreed to allow me the opportunity to share with you a recipe I just recently tried.

Knowing this family is very good about eating healthy, I was a little concerned as to how my horribly UN-healthy fare filled with full-fat, refined sugar, gluten and plenty of “vitamin C” (cholesterol) would be received.  But my fears were alleviated when I scrolled through these culinary delights and occasionally found my old friends, “cheese, butter, and heavy cream.”  And even the party twins, “BOOZE & PIE”!

So here goes…enjoy!

SWEET POTATO BISCOTTI

For The Biscotti:

3 C all-purpose flour
2 t baking powder
½ t salt
1 t cinnamon
¼ t nutmeg
½ c butter
½ c sugar
½ c brown sugar
3 whole eggs
½ c sweet potato puree
½ c chopped candied pecans

For The Icing (optional):

1 bag white chocolate chips
1 T shortening


Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Mix together all dry ingredients and set aside.  In a separate bowl, cream butter & sugars together, then add eggs and puree.  Next, add the dry ingredients into the wet.  Fold in pecans.

Place dough onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or silicone mat.  Shape into a 15”x16” log and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove from oven and place log on a cooling rack.  Let cool for 30 minutes or more.  Slice into ¾” to 1” slices* and return the slices to lined cookie sheet, bake for 8-10 minutes.  Flip slices over and bake on other side for 8-10 minutes.  Remove from oven and cool on cooling racks.

These are good without the icing, but for extra scrumptiousness, melt chips and shortening in microwave in 30 second increments until melted.  Dip one side of biscotti slices in white chocolate and let dry on cooling racks until firm.

*Slices may then be sliced in half lengthwise for a more authentic biscotti size.

Early Winter Breakfasts: Spiced Butternut Muffins with Bittersweet Chocolate

At some point during the Thanksgiving grocery shopping bonanza, I sent my husband out for a butternut squash. He returned with the largest gourd known to man, which, he informed me very grouchily, cost $9. A $9 squash?! Adding insult to injury (no, really, I tore my rotator cuff during the Thanksgiving festivities and am sure lifting this sucker didn't help) I ran out of time to make butternut soup on Thanksgiving day.

We're determined that $9 is not going to go to waste, so we've since had squash in our chicken soup, squash cooked into quinoa polenta arepas, and now squash in these perfect. not-too-sweet breakfast muffins. 

This recipe seems a bit fussy, but it's only because I was using up other leftover holiday ingredients, like buttermilk and heavy cream. You don't need to follow my lead here, and could definitely substitute plain old milk. And if you're not gluten free? You can sub the brown rice flour for whole wheat and use a regular all-purpose flour. The almond meal would still be a nice touch, or just increase the amount of one of the other flours by 1/2 cup. 

Adapted slightly from this lovely recipe:

Spiced Butternut Muffins with Bittersweet Chocolate

Adapted a little from this lovely recipe at Making Thyme for Health

1 1/2 cups brown rice flour

1/2 cup gluten free all purpose flour (I use this mix)

1/2 cup almond meal

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1 cup roasted and mashed butternut squash** 

2 eggs

2/3 cup maple syrup

1/3 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons butter, melted

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3/4 cup chopped bittersweet chocolate

In a large bowl, sift together your dry ingredients. Set aside and preheat your oven to 350°F. Fill a 12-muffin pan with liners.

In a separate bowl, mix together all of your wet ingredients, including the squash. I did this by hand with no problem, and my squash was pretty dry. 

Slowly fold the contents of your wet bowl into the dry mix. Don't overdo it. Fold in the bittersweet chocolate last. 

Pour into muffin tins and bake at 350°F for 25 minutes. 

**You can either pre-roast your squash or puncture its skin and then microwave the heck out of it. You might get some more depth if you roast it, but for muffins I found the microwave a very acceptable cooking method.

Don't forget to roast and enjoy the seeds!

Food Allergies and Ethics
Gluten-free, vegetarian

Perfect Oven-Fried Potatoes

Easy peasy perfect oven-fried potatoes. Picture says it all, right?

Ingredients
Yellow potatoes (4-5 good-sized, could also use a larger number of tiny fingerlings)
Butter (1-2 Tbsp)
Salt
Pepper

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Put somewhere between 1-2 tablespoons of butter in a glass baking pan and place on the top shelf of your oven so that the butter heats with the oven. (You can do more or less butter depending on the size of your potatoes and your personal butter preference.)

Puncture your potatoes with a fork and place them together on a plate, then microwave for 5ish minutes or until tender. The first time you do this, stop halfway through and check. Watch not to turn them to mush, you want them to be cooked through, soft, but holding their shape. Sometimes if I have bigger potatoes, I flip them halfway through, too.

Next, quarter the steaming potatoes with a sharp knife. You could oven-fry 'em whole or halved, too, but you'll get a better crisp if you quarter them.

Pull out the baking pan and add your potatoes to the sizzling butter. It's ok to do this even if the oven isn't at 425 yet, you'll just have to watch your baking time. Don't be alarmed if the butter has browned a bit, then you just have brown butter fried potatoes and what's not to love about that! Toss with salt and pepper. Add more butter if you need after you see how coated the potatoes are. I go for a nice coat but not dripping.

Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. I like to finish off with a quick broil to get them even crispier. Flip them halfway through if you want, though sometimes I'm too lazy and it's fine.

Obviously, you can do this with more than 4-5 potatoes, I have just found that to be a nice size to serve alongside breakfast or lunch for P and I and have some leftovers. These are also delightful with a little grated cheese and a glass of red wine. Which I think counts as a reasonable working gal's dinner.

Heidi's Zucchini Agrodolce

I just wanted to say that I made this and it was amazing.

I love that Heidi's recipes always have unique flavor profiles that you can still meddle with.  Besides her ingredients:

a dressing of vinegar, salt, garlic, honey and olive oil;
mandoline-sliced zucchini,
blanched red onion also thinly sliced on the mandoline,
toasted walnuts
toasted coconut flakes, and chopped dates...

...I also added:

mandoline-sliced carrots,
kernels of corn,
green beans chopped into tiny green bean coins,
finely chopped black olives, and
finely chopped parsley.

I served the resulting crispy salad on a bed of lightly dressed greens, just to give our jaws a break from chewing.  Take that, CSA box!  

Guest Post: Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins

An email from our momma:  

i made these this morning & they are YUM! left out the cloves & chocolate chips. Upped the nutmeg & ginger slightly, added ground flax seeds - tablespoon or 2, and chopped walnuts. I tossed some raw pepitas with a small amount of raw sugar & sprinkled on top of muffins before baking. The pumpkin seeds really added a nice crunch :D

XOXOXOXO

Cotija Tacos

The main point of this post is to note that it's easy to make a delicious, salty, soft-and-chewy round of griddled cotija in the toaster oven.  Make some little piles of crumbled cotija on the metal toaster tray.... toast them.... et voila! Plunk each one on a warmed corn tortilla and top it as you please.  I used crema, pickled onion, and some corn and nopales (finely diced and browned in butter, lime juice, paprika, cayenne, cumin and salt).

Perfect Kale Breakfast Tacos

When P isn't around to make his famous scrambled eggs on corn tortillas, I like to make myself cheesy kale breakfast tacos. (Also fantastic served with tomato soup for dinner or lunch.)

I've written the recipe to serve one person; multiply accordingly.

2 corn tortillas
Several thin slices of a sharp white cheddar
1/4 bunch of kale (you can substitute spinach if you don't have kale on hand)
Olive oil or butter
Salt

Plain greek yogurt
Salsa

Place a skillet on your burner over medium heat, with a thin pat of butter or layer of olive oil in the bottom. Clean and de-stem your kale, then add torn pieces to the pan. Sprinkle salt and let cook until quite tender.

Add both corn tortillas to the bottom of the skillet. Let fry in the remaining butter or oil. Add thinly sliced cheddar to each, then place kale on top to melt cheese. Fold each tortilla over and let fry on each side until crispy. Serve with plain greek yogurt and a bit of salsa.


Food Allergies and Ethics: Vegetarian and gluten free.

Caramelized Kimchi Scrambled Eggs

For about a week now, as everyone has probably heard, it has rained like I've never seen in Denver.  It's like the summer of 2005 in New York when the subways kept flooding and the whole city was just streaming with water.  (Needless to say, things are a lot worse than just rainy in a lot of the communities surrounding us, and I'm grateful that the rain has stayed out of our basement, our roof has held up, and we've been home safe and dry throughout.)

The extra moisture has apparently led to some oversized veggies from our CSA, like last week's giant cabbage, which I took as my cue to finally make kimchi (I also included cucumbers, peppers, young leeks, and easter egg radishes from the CSA).  

When it was ready to eat, I wanted to do something a little more special than just rice (even though I'm sure that will be a frequent meal till we eat it all).  This was just the ticket - flavorful comfort food on a rainy night:

Ingredients: 

1-1.5 cups kimchi, plus more on the side 

Black rice 

4 eggs

1 TB milk

4 TB sugar

2 TB white vinegar

1 TB soy sauce

All you do is:  Mix the kimchi (1 to 1.5 cups - eyeball it; it depends how tightly packed they are and how much you like), sugar, vinegar and soy sauce.  In another bowl, whisk up 3 eggs and the yolk of the fork, plus the milk.  

Heat a frying pan up to high heat, add the kimchi mixture, cover with a lid, and watch it carefully for the liquid to caramelize - about 5 minutes (don't let it burn!).  

Once sticky, pour the egg mixture in, and scramble, stirring constantly until the eggs seem just a little bit runny.  (My brother-in-law, who makes the most amazing scrambled eggs, taught me the trick is to stop then, because they'll keep cooking once you turn off the heat.)  

Eat with rice and more kimchi.  Amazing.

Tomato Cucumber Salad with Middle Eastern Yogurt Dressing

Chop up 2 cups each cucumbers and tomatoes.   Dress with:

2 finely chopped chiles 

skin of 1/2 preserved lemon, finely chopped

chopped parsley and mint

juice of 1 lemon

1 cup good plain yogurt

plenty of salt
dash of olive oil