Mint Green Smoothie

I can't believe I forgot to put this concoction up when I first started making it - heaven knows I broadcast its delicious + virtuous qualities to everyone who would listen. So anyway, the best smoothie I personally have ever made:

2 frozen bananas, several scoops mint chocolate chip ice cream, half a package of spinach and a splash of soy milk.

Summer Ratatouille, with Harissa

[..... is really hard to spell.]

I guess oven dishes are not ideal for summer, but the result was light and fresh, with that sweet-savory vibe I can't get enough of. Woulda been great with a glass of chilled white wine.

Chop up the following into bite-sized chunks and put them in a small casserole dish:

Half a large eggplant / 1 small eggplant, peeled
1 small zucchini
2 large tomatoes
2 large peaches

Top with a can of harissa, bake for 25 mins at 400, serve over fusilli.

I realize it's not likely that any of us has home-canned harissa hanging around the shelves at a given moment, but harissa recipes and commercial pastes (or spice blends) are pretty easy to find. The rich tomato-and-chile flavor was amazing on all these veggies, and especially with the peaches.

Pulled Pork Green Chile Stew

After a trip to New Mexico, a trip to a local butcher and a trip to Safeway where New Mexican green chiles were on sale, pork green chili stew seemed inevitable even in the dead heat of a Phoenix summer. There is likely nothing authentic about this recipe, but it was delicious and gave us about 12 big servings (!!).

Cook a 3 lb bone-in shoulder blade of pork with several tomatoes, 3 chopped Anaheim chiles, and 2 cups of water for 8-10 hours in a slow cooker. Season well with salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder, and cinnamon. After cooking remove fat and pull pork apart with a fork.

Chop several potatoes and a large onion. Brown with garlic, cumin, olive oil, cilantro, and chili powder. Add 2 cans pinto beans and 2 cans stewed tomatoes (we only added stewed tomatoes because we didn't use enough tomatoes with the pork).

Combine the contents of the slow cooker with the potatoes and beans. Add more spices to taste, let simmer for a few hours and enjoy. It was quite tasty with a bit of sharp white cheddar cheese.

**I use Black Canyon Chile Powder (linked to above) from the Savory Spice Shop in Denver, Colorado. You can order their spices online for a reasonable price. If you are ambitious and like to mix your own, this particular chile powder is made using "chile peppers, cocoa powder, garlic, toasted onion, Saigon cinnamon and Mexican oregano" and is salt-free.

Really Good Classic Cookies (gluten free!)

Since returning from Guatemala, I see to have lost all of my desire to make exciting foods and all of my ability to come up with clever blog posts. Now that I'm home, I just want to eat my favorite foods and then tell you about it. That's it. Soon enough I'm sure this will wear off and I'll get around to those Italian doughnuts with cherry sauce that I've been thinking of, or to that buttermilk granita, but for now, you are getting some Really Good Cookies. According to P, they are my number one or number two best cookies, ever. And, they taste more like cookies with gluten than any others I've ever made.

This is because I'm using oat bran flour, and oats, which we are used to eating in baked goods with gluten. I of course used gluten free oat bran flour and gluten free oats. You could try these using brown rice flour if you can't find gfree oat bran flour, but they won't be quite as good.

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 egg
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 cup oat bran flour
1/4 cup almond flour
1 1/4 cup oats
1 Tbs almond butter (a generous tablespoon...)
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Melt the butter and mix with the egg and sugar. Add the dry ingredients and let chill in the refrigerator for awhile. Bake at 375 F for 12 minutes. Enjoy!

Cold Tomato-Melon Soup

OK, wowzers!

You go, Militant Carnivore.

(I used apple cider vinegar, and ate with fresh dill and goat cheese on top. I'm sooo glad I still have a few bowlsfull b/c that is some tasty semi-liquid eating!)

***Ed. 8/24/13 - This blog post was taken down at some point, to my great dismay.  Here's the recipe in full!***

This makes a bright, velvety gazpacho with intense flavor - perfect for the part of summer when tomatoes are plentiful and amazing.

Ingredients:
Olive oil
1/2 cantaloupe
10-12 tomatoes
3 TB apple cider vinegar
Salt
Fresh herbs (I like chives & dill)
Goat cheese

This makes a BIG batch, but you'll want it!

Supplies:
Largest frying pan
Tongs
Blender
Fine seive
Large Bowl

1.  Slice the cantaloupe and halve the tomatoes.  Heat some olive oil in the largest pan you have.  Then place as many cantaloupe slices and tomato halves as can fit facedown in the pan.  (In my largest pan, I end up having to do this in 2-3 batches).  Brown on one side for 3-5 minutes, until the cantaloupe gets a little brown and starts releasing a LOT of juice into the pan.  Flip and do the other side.

2.  Blend in blender (the tongs will help get all the hot pieces in there) with 1 TB vinegar until liquefied.  Place seive on bowl and dump blender contents into it.  Repeat for rest of the cantaloupe and tomatoes, reusing the same oil each time, but dumping the entire contents of the pan into the blender with the last batch.

3.  Once everything has strained into the bowl, add salt to taste (remember as this gets cold it may need more salt - you may want to retest once chilled), and apple cider vinegar to taste - I find about 3 TB total including however much you used during blending is about right.

4.  Serve chilled, garnished with chopped herbs and goat cheese.  (That crappy picture is my tupperware of work lunch from yesterday; it's much prettier before the cheese starts to sink and whatnot!)

Summer Cookies

Chop and haphazardly mash a peach with a bit of brown sugar. Let it sit a few moments while you flip through classic cookie recipes. Select one with chocolate or notes of brown sugar or caramel, then replace a bit of the butter with the syrupy peach bites. The peach flavor will break through the cookie's prominent flavors subtly, but deliciously.

Bright Lemony Curry

The Veg, all thinly sliced:
Carrot
Daikon Radish
Broccolini
Apple
Mushroom*

The Sauce:
1 6 oz can coconut milk
Juice of one lemon
3 TB brown sugar
2 TB veggie fish sauce
2 TB tamarind paste
2 TB of this blend

The Rest:
Diced extra-firm tofu
Shredded fried egg
Pepitas

Stirfry veggies in very hot sesame oil till just cooked but still crispy. Toss in sauce and serve over rice noodles. Sweet, tangy, yellow and cheery.

*(I included some kale but with the radish and broccolini that made the veggie mix too skewed toward bitter. If I did it again I'd add some canned corn, I think, and maybe some golden raisins.)

Asparagus Quiche

This post is mostly just to say: HEY I MADE A QUICHE!

Unlike my intrepid gf-flour-throwing sibling, I am kinda terrified of baking. It's just such a precision activity, and I'm more of a "little this, little that" kinda gal. If I get distracted and go start rearranging furniture or something between steps 3 and 4 of a recipe, I like it to be waiting forgivingly when I wander back, all happy to see me, not preparing to throw a big nondelicious hissy fit.

But....... ahem.... I MADE A QUICHE! Two cute individual quiches, actually!

I used Deb's flawlessly simple crust, but although I parbaked it as she instructs, I didn't even try to remove it from my little corningware dishes to make freestanding quiches. I think my dishes were 4-inch rounds, and her dough recipe made more than enough to make the 2 crusts.

For filling, I made something similar to her recipe but very much simplified. I beat 3 eggs with 1.5 cups 2% milk, and added a good dose of herbs plus some thinly sliced onions & mushrooms and leftover asparagus, sauteed in butter and (of all things) vermouth, the only workable alcohol I had on hand. Poured the filling almost to the top of each crust and covered it with sharp white cheddar, baked half an hour, and that was that! It was shockingly good. Possibly the best quiche I've ever had, to be forthright.

(You'll notice Katelyn's spinach and pepita salad on the side, too.)

Cranberry Chutney

This one's from our stepmother - great with a warm brie wheel at a party - and I remembered it when I threw up the post about canning chutney last weekend:

Cranberry Chutney

1 16 oz package of cranberries

2 cups sugar

1 cup water

1 tablespoon grated orange peel

1 cup orange juice

1 cup golden seedless raisins

1 cup walnuts, chopped

1 cup celery, chopped

1 medium apple, chopped

1 teaspoon ground ginger

In a 3-quart saucepan over medium heat, heat cranberries, sugar and water to boiling, stirring the mixture frequently.

Reduce heat to low and simmer 15 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in remaining ingredients. Serve.

Canned Rhubarb-Orange Chutney (and Harissa)

Last Saturday had longstanding plans with a friend to can her surplus CSA-delivered rhubarb and my leftover-from-pie rhubarb. I have a weakness for clever tools (not to mention a weakness for tangy chutneys) and had never canned before, so I was pretty psyched. Then a heatwave hit Denver/Boulder. Not to be deterred, we decided to can in swimsuits, with frequent breaks to go outside hang out in some cool water while things boiled.

Anyway, since you can't very well mess with canning recipes all willy nilly, this post is mostly just an excuse to put up a pretty picture, and a tip to check out this book if you want to make a habit of canning.

We made the orange-rhubarb chutney and the harissa paste. Et voila!

Food from New Zealand

When I first sat down to write this post, I was at the end of one month in New Zealand, where I was teaching 35 undergrads about health, environment, and justice. Yep, you can do that in just one month. Needless to say, I hadn't been cooking, but I certainly had been eating. New Zealand is full of gluten-free deliciousness. (As evidenced by the picture above, which is a peaches and cream muffin procured at a regular cafe for a non-elevated price.)




I'm now in Guatemala for four weeks, learning Spanish. Yep, you can do that in just one month, too (haha). I only had one week to recover between trips and didn't cook anything special, so instead of recipes I can only offer New Zealand food in all of its glory.

Summer Solstice Pasta

It's peaches and tomatoes time again! Meaning my diet is about to telescope itself into one happy parade of peaches and tomatoes, eaten together whenever possible! Here's another way:

Boil up a large box of bowtie pasta, and toss with:

3 diced tomatoes
3 diced peaches
2 diced avocados
Corn from 4 cobs
juice of one lemon
cashews
lemon pepper

Serves... oh, a ton.

Suspiciously Healthy Stuffed Peppers

Filling:

Sautee in olive oil:
1 medium mild white onion, chopped
2 chopped garlic cloves
1 bunch curly green kale, torn
handful pine nuts
lemon juice

Add these to 2 cups cooked barley.

Layer into 2 red peppers (microwaved briefly to start taking the crunch out), alternating with grated cheese (a nutty white - I used parrano). Bake at 400 for 20 minutes.

Orange-Coconut-Garlic Guacamole

It's been raining cold rain for 3 days in Denver, so for a friend's b-day dinner tonight, I just wanted big pots simmering on the stove and warm, heat-your-bones flavors. So I made a pot of Katelyn's Red Hot Posole - see my comment on her recipe for some additional notes.

To make it a proper dinner-party meal, I also made some very tasty vegetarian refried beans (tomato paste will work in place of diced tomatoes and as always I recommended upping most of the spices in the linked recipe, but it was basically great), and a bright crunchy jicama salad. And for an appetizer, I tried something similar to Rick Bayless's tropical take on guacamole:

Mash 5 avos, and add:

1. 6 large garlic cloves, halved and broiled in the toaster till soft, then mashed into a paste
2. Insides & juice of 1 orange (cut out the fruit from inside each little section to avoid any membrane) + a squeeze of lime juice
3. Splash of lite coconut milk
4. handful of freezedried shallots (grilled onions would be better)
5. Salt to taste

....and now everything's shipshape and I can kick back with tea until people show up. That's a rare outcome when I try to cook a whole dang meal. ;)

Tomato & Artichoke Bruschetta

Sitting at my sunny table with 2 slices of lightly toasted sourdough, topped with:

Tiny baby farmer's market grape tomatos, halved
small cubes of drunken goat cheese
shredded artichokes from a jar
EVO, balsamic, salt, garlic paste.

Summer!!

Gluten Free Product Round Up

Generally, this is a recipe blog, and not an all gluten free blog either. However, an old childhood friend of mine just wrote to say she had been diagnosed with Celiac last month, and it got me thinking about a gluten free product round-up. Generally, my Celiac philosophy has been to not eat with a lot of bread or pasta, but since moving in with P that has changed a bit and I know that's not for everyone. So, for those struggling with Celiac, here's a product round up, because it is always disappointing to spend money on things that taste bad. For those who are lucky enough to live life with gluten, please excuse us for this one post!

Cornbread
Bob's Red Mill's gluten free cornbread mix is great if you are seeking a fluffy cornbread. It goes rancid quickly though, so I always freeze half of the batch after baking. This recipe also makes great cornbread muffins. If you are looking for homemade cornbread recipes, go visit glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com. Karina is a wonderful chef and writer and has amazing variations on cornbread.

Store-bought bread
The only brand of store bought bread that I can eat without toasting is Udi's. It is not as dense as other brands and the texture mimics bread with gluten. It is available at Whole Foods, and is actually much more affordable than other brands. Find it in the freezer section.

I also like millet bread and brown rice bread for toasting, which is frozen even at a lot of mainstream grocery stores. Typically the brand is Food for Life. Safeway normally carries it, and so do some Walmarts, Smiths, Albertsons, and Targets. Trader Joes has brown rice bread that is cheap and unfrozen, but I personally don't enjoy it.

Finally, if you really love bread, I recommend getting a bread machine with a gluten free setting and investing in some Bob's Red Mill mixes. If you have time and don't want to pay for mixes, Karina at glutenfreegodess.blogspot.com has good recipes, as does Elena at elenaspantry.com and the Gluten Free Girl and her Chef at glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com. Even though I make most of my baked goods from scratch, I prefer to make bread with mixes just because it is easier and less likely to fail.

Pasta
The best and cheapest pasta out there is Trader Joe's brown rice pasta. If you don't have a TJ's, look for any brown rice pasta. Corn based pasta's tend to be mushy. The key with any brand though is to watch it carefully and only cook to al dente. It is very easy to overcook and end up with a pot of mush. I also love soybean spaghetti noodles, but can only find them at Whole Foods, which is out of my budget typically. Other spaghetti noodles, even the brown rice variety, aren't as good as shells, macaronis, elbows, and so on.


Baked Goods
My number one recommendation on this front is to learn what flours you like and stick with them. I find baking with brown rice flour, coconut flour, and almond flour is easiest for me. I also like to bake without using a lot of xanthan gum and other expensive gluten mimickers. The bloggers I've already mentioned each have their own special flours. Elena uses blanched almond meal and coconut flour, but I have followed her recipes using unblanched Bob Red Mill varieties with success. Shauna at Gluten Free Girl uses a whole variety of specialty flours, and Karina uses a lot of sorghum and quinoa. Experiment a bit, then find what works for you and stick with it. It may take a year or so, but your kitchen will eventually be stocked and it will become less expensive.

My other recommendation is to buy mixes, but add your own touch to it. For instance, I almost always add 1/2 cup coconut flour and more liquid (almond milk or applesauce for me) to the Bob's Red Mill cookie and cake mixes. Same for Betty Crocker mixes. Bob's Red Mill brownies are awesome as prepared on the package, though! And generally speaking, I recommend Bob over Betty, but she is cheaper. Finally, TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS! Bob's chocolate chip cookies are terrible if you follow the package, but you should know that from the moment you are done mixing because the batter is crumbly and dry. That's not what cookie batter is like! So follow your gut and adjust as necessary. Don't, however, be worried if the batter doesn't taste good. Lots of gluten free flours are a bit bitter when raw, but that taste bakes out.

That's a start. If people enjoy this, I'll do another product post in the future, and would also love to do a gluten free lifestyle post that generally covers what I eat.

Sweet Corn with Roasted Radishes

As simple as it sounds and as beautiful as it looks, especially when paired with sweet cream butter and grated radishes on toast. Roast your radishes at 450 with olive oil and sea salt, some herbs of your choice, and don't look back.

Creamy Cracked Pepper Pasta

After a long hiatus, P and I are back in the food cookin' game. Actually, we've been back for awhile, but since I've never been in the technology knowin' game, it's taken me weeks to figure out how to get all the pictures of new and good food off of my new and good camera.

When you see this picture, you are likely to scoff and wonder if in fact I lost my recipe mojo while finishing up year one of the Ph.D. I can assure you I didn't (and actually this is P's recipe). But I can also assure you I didn't acquire a photography mojo during spring semester either. Talk to the little sis about that.


The light was bad, ok? But the cream. Ohhhh the cream was good. Every dollop of the 1/2 cup. Especially paired with the pepper, and the parsley, and the grape tomatoes, and the cheese.

1) Fill a small ziploc baggy with peppercorns. Pound away-er, gently crack-with a hammer. Unless you have a mortar and pestle like real grownups. In which case, ditch the hammer and ziploc scenario. P would like for me to admonish you here that however you do it, "you have to crack the peppercorns yourself."

2) Rinse a bunch of grape tomatoes and parsley.

3) Cook a bag of gluten free brown rice pasta (or pasta of choice) until al dente.

4) Combine parsely, pepper, and tomatoes with 1/2 cup of heavy cream and 1/2 cup of pecorino romano.

5) Hurriedly take a bad picture and let the moaning commence.

Tomato Kabocha Coconut Curry

This roasted-tomato goodness was loosely inspired by a soup from Watercourse restaurant here in Denver, though I took it in a richer and creamier direction (partly with the addition of squash.... I love squash):

1 Thai kabocha squash
10 Roma tomatoes
1 medium onion
1/2 can lite coconut milk
1/3 cup shredded coconut
1 tsp tamarind paste
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp turmeric
pinch asefoetida
Veggie bullion

Halve and seed both the squash and the Romas. Brush them with a little olive oil and bake at 250 for about an hour until thoroughly roasted and getting a little black on the edges.

Peel the squash, and puree it with the tomatoes and coconut milk in the food processor.

In the meantime, thinly slice the onion and sautee it over medium-low heat with the cumin in a tiny bit of oil.

Once the onion is cooked, add 4 cups water and whatever quantity of your bullion goes with 4 cups (4 tsp for the brand I had on hand).

Once this is boiling add the (gorgeously deep orange) squash/tomato puree. Then add the shredded coconut, tamarind, turmeric, and asefoetida. Taste, adjust, etc.

French Onion Cream of Mushroom Soup from Mom

A typical phone call in our family goes like this:

Daughter: HiMomHowareIstheweathercrappythereIt'sreallyhothereandPeterissogrumpybecauseofitandsoamIbecauseIhavetoparkatA'sapapartmentandthenwalkandIneednewsandalsbutIamtoobusytogetthosebutohImadethisgreatdinnerIwantedtotellyouaboutbutIdon'thavetimetoputitontheblogbutanywayshoware?

Mom: hihunnyjustatwalmartitisCOLDherehowareyouIsentyouthatpackagewiththesocksandtreatsIsurehopeitgetsherebecausethepostofficewasaMADHOUSEfullofnutwingsyouknowandIhadthedoginthebackofthecarsoIhadtohurrybutIjustreallywantedyoutohaveyourgoodiesifIhadwaitedyouknowthemailtakesthreedaysitissoslowfromhereespeciallywithallthissnowsoIhadtodoittodaybeforeIwenttofaceathousandpreschoolersandthententhousandteenagersatRockBandthelibraryisjustnutsgoshIhopeyouaregoodyousoundsickareyousickbettertakesomeZicamhoneyusethatstashupohbythewaywhenyouaretravelingthissummermaybeyoucouldseeifsomeofthoseothercountrieshavetheZicam.

More on that in a minute. The blog has been a bit neglected since our spring-fever-induced frenetic production of recipes in March. (Although biggest sis S has prevented us from failing to post altogether.) In a turn on Mother's Day, we thought our mom, who's a wonderful cook, could help us out with a guest post. Somehow, between wrangling hoses and overweight cats and shoveling snow back home, she managed to create this magnificent soup. After the telephone call preview, it shouldn't surprise you that our coveted guest post came in the form of a rushed but sweet email from our eternally busy mom.

caramelized one small onion in butter, added about 12 oz. of FREE sliced mushrooms - sauteed them in the butter and onion with black pepper, a bit of nutmeg and a bit more paprika, splashed some sherry in the pan which caused quite the sizzle. In soup pot I warmed 2 cups (or less) of milk and about a cup & a half of chicken broth, added onion/mushroom mixture and more sherry to taste then thickened the soup with cornstarch in milk. The end result tasted like French onion cream of mushroom soup which I served with crusty bread toasted and fruit as a side. LOVE, MUM xoxoxo

Note that if you can make this soup with FREE mushrooms it will taste even better!

Costa Rican Lemony Rice

It's "old staples" time again! This was the rice that powered my college career (well, that and a much-more-embarrassing dish involving: Make white rice. Grate cheddar. Mix so cheddar melts. Eat.). It's simple, brightly flavored, and filling - great for work lunch, a side dish, etc.

Power up the rice cooker and make about 6 cups (cooked) long-grain white rice. Then mix in 2 TB butter, 1/3 cup lemon juice or more if you like, 4-6 diced Roma tomatoes, and lots of freshly ground black pepper (plus salt to taste).

(PS - I claim that it's "Costa Rican" because some little cookbook I had back in those college days claimed the same - no idea of the veracity of that claim!).

Oatmeal-Peach-Chocolate Squares

Wanted cookies, had no eggs, did this instead:

1/2 c butter (1 stick)
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 cups oats
1/2 can canned peaches, chopped
1/2 tsp ea. almond & vanilla
1/4 tsp ea. cinnamon & cloves
1 cup chocolate chips

Melt the butter in a saucepan, add sugar & melt. Take off heat, add remaining ingredients except the chips. Press into an 8x8 baking pan. Bake at 350 till browned (25 mins). Spread chips on top & let 'em melt. Mmmm.

Massaman Curry Hotpot

This is the kind of peculiar thing I end up eating when I'm left to my own devices with just the already-existing contents of my kitchen. I'm gonna go stream-of-consciousness here....

(1) What veggies are gonna be bad when I get back from out of town on Sunday night?

1 small eggplant
3 tiny summer squash
generous handful sugar snap peas.

Chopped these and put them in a casserole dish.

(2) What would taste good for a sauce? (Considered and rejected: Something tomato-based, something tamarind-based, something lemongrass-based, but settled on....)

A small can of masaman curry paste

(3) Do I have any coconut milk? No.
But I just found a can of lychees (which, now that I think about, I've had for at least 3 years) and a can of pureed pumpkin! And half and half is about as full of fat and creaminess as coconut milk. To reiterate:

1 can lychees (with juice)
1/2 can pureed pumpkin
1/2 cup half & half

Mix and pour all of this over the veggies; bake at 350 for an hour.

Now the casserole is waiting in my fridge, ensuring that I won't end up eating cookies from my paralegal's drawer for lunch on Monday. Awesome.

Insane Egg Salad

5 hard boiled eggs
1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/8 cup spicy brown mustard
splash pickle juice
Heavy doses of paprika & dill
Salt & pepper to taste.

(This also gave me a chance to gobble up some homemade pickles a friend gave me. Homemade pickles! Wow!)

Unbaked Almond Butter and Sesame Power Bars

Satiating, almond buttery goodness mixed with flax and sesame has quickly made these my favorite post-salad treat at lunch. The recipe is quite flexible to suit your tastes. I've thought of using sunflower seed butter with dark chocolate and coconut oil, but these are just so good I can't yet make alterations.

1/2 cup almond butter
1/2 cup almond flour (I think I added a bit more at the end...maybe closer to 3/4 cup?)
1/2 cup gluten free oats
1/2 cup ground flax meal
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon agave nectar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate chips (still on my easter kick, I used white. judge me if you want to)

Mix altogether in a mixer or by hand. Press into an 8X8 glass baking pan (greased). Shower the pan with sesame seeds, pressing them in with the back of a spoon.

Cover and freeze for a few hours. I stored these in the refrigerator, cutting them and wrapping them in plastic wrap to go when I needed to.

Homemade Ravioli (Featuring Ricotta, Smoked Mozzarella, Spinach, and Green Garlic)

After learning how to create homemade ravioli in this guest post, and about papaya salads and chayote quesadillas in her last posts, I think you'll agree with me that my friend H should really be vying for a spot in Phoenix's growing restaurant scene. Or at least that she knows how to create some epic meals.

NOTE: Firstly, apologies to K for this gluten-heavy post. She very nicely invited me to talk about cooking, and I barge in dropping G-bombs all over the place, which is not proper guest behavior. I will endeavor in the future to not gloat about how awesome foods with gluten are.

Secondly, this post is LONG. Pasta making is not for the faint of heart, nor the faint of kitchen, nor the faint of reading long blog posts.

So, make-your-own pasta. It's actually fairly painless, should you have the following:

1. Plenty of time
2. The right equipment

Time becomes less of an issue if you're just making flat pasta, but ravioli won't stuff themselves, so be prepared to spend some time filling and sealing lots of little packets of cheesy goodness.

The equipment is more important, and by equipment, I basically mean a pasta roller. As I am about to demonstrate, you can do this completely by hand (with just a rolling pin, some elbow grease, and an almost masochistic need to finish what you've started), but it's not easy and my hands are still a little sore.

CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED.

Pasta
1 1/4 c. flour + 1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs

The Proper Method (taken from Mario Batalli's Molto Italiano)
Mound flour/salt in the center of a large wooden board. Make a well in the center of the flour and add the eggs. Using a fork, beat the eggs and incorporate the flour, starting with the inner rim of the mound. When half the flour is incorporated and you have a lump of dough, use your hands to knead and mix in the rest of the flour. Once you have a cohesive mass, scrape up and discard any dried, unused dough.

My Method
Mound flour/salt in the center of table. Make a well in the center of the flour and add one egg. Get concerned that well is not deep enough to contain both eggs. Try to make a deeper well by pushing the flour into a larger pile. Add second egg and watch as it slides down the edge of the flour pile and on to the table. Grab fork and frantically try to beat flour and rogue eggs together. Give up on fork and use hands to mush flour and egg bits into ball, then use said ball to sop up rapidly escaping egg matter. Mix in flour, adding water to make up for the missing egg moisture. Upon creating semi-cohesive mass, discard dried dough and egg remains.

Once you have your ball of dough (however it was attained), lightly flour your work area and start kneading. It will be hard at first, but once the gluten starts breaking down, it will become much softer and easier to work with. Continue kneading for 10 minutes or so, adding flour as needed, until the dough is elastic and tacky (but not sticky). If you've ever made bread, you'll know what I'm talking about. Wrap in plastic wrap and set aside for at least 30 minutes.

Filling
Mine was a ricotta, smoked mozzarella, spinach and green garlic mixture. You can basically make any filling you'd like (just make sure that if you used any other vegetables/meats, that they are cut small enough to fit inside your ravioli).

Construction
Once the pasta dough has rested for 30 minutes, you can start the rolling. If you paid attention earlier and acquired a pasta roller before embarking on this little adventure, follow the instructions for the roller and roll the dough out to the thinnest setting.

Otherwise, I separated the dough into four pieces (keeping the unused pieces covered until I needed them). The dough should have soften considerably; if not, let it rest a bit longer. Roll each 1/4 of the dough into a short rope (like if you were making a snake out of clay), and, using a rolling pin, roll out lengthwise. Continue to roll until the dough is as long and thin as you can get it; if the dough starts to resist, let it rest for a minute or two before trying again. Once it is rolled to your liking, hang the piece of dough to slightly dry (over the back of a chair works) and proceed to do the same to the other three pieces.

After your hands have gone numb, but everything is rolled out, use a pizza cutter or knife to cut the dough. Ideally, if they are rolled into rectangles, you can cut the dough into squares. Mine dough was more...abstract, so I cut it into 1.5-2 inch wide strips. With a wet finger, moisten the along the edges of the dough strip and add a small spoonful of filling to the center (this amount will change depending on the the size of your ravioli). Fold the dough strip in half lengthwise, and press the edges together to seal the filling in. If filling started spilling out, use the spoon to scoop out some of the excess and try again. Fortunately, you'll have lots of raviolis to practice on, and you'll soon figure out what comprises an acceptable amount. Place finished ravioli on a kitchen towel or plate that has been dusted with flour.

After all the raviolis are stuffed, heat a well-salted pot of water to a boil and add the raviolis (just don't overcrowd the pot). Return the water to a gentle simmer (a rollicking boil could cause the raviolis to burst) and cook until tender, about 3-4 minutes. Drain and serve with the sauce of your choice (ours was a simple San Marzano tomato sauce with basil, oregano, parsley and marjoram). Leftover ravioli should be cooked shortly after making, but can be kept in the fridge (add either some sauce or a bit of olive oil to prevent the pasta from sticking together).

Roasted Squash Soup

I took a quick (and overdue) trip to see family in the Northwest last weekend and gave my aunt's shiny new kitchen a spin. A wiser cook would have checked the exact equipment in said kitchen before planning a blended soup (no blender/food processor was to be found). I'll take a leaf from Katelyn's book and call the result "rustic." ;)

This was kind of an absurd quantity of soup, btw---there were 6 of us eating it as a first course and we barely made a dent---but why make soup and not fill the pot?

1. Start by roasting the following in salt and oil in a 350 degree oven for an hour or more:
4 acorn squash, halved, seeds removed, brushed with oil and roasted facedown in a pan
1 large or 2 small onions
4 large carrots
2 apples, halved and deseeded
1 head garlic cloves

2. If you don't have a way to blend it later, mash these once they're roasted. The apples, garlic, and squash will mash up no problem. For the onions and carrots, fine chopping might be necessary.

3. Heat 6 cups broth and add the veggies. (If you do have a blender, blend about half the soup now.) Then add about 2 TB finely chopped fresh sage and several handfuls of golden raisins. Season with salt and white pepper. Boil awhile to blend flavors. That's it!

(And yes, this is kinda just a soup version of this, and I've been wanted to turn more squashes into soups ever since this. Not only that, but I served it with this and this - a shitake/sweet white wine/nutmeg version to be exact. Nothing new under the sun...)

Basil White Bean Citrus Salad

After two days full of bratwursts, canned soup, s'mores, peanut butter, beer, prickly pear ice cream (!!) and tortilla chips, P and I needed something light for a post-camping dinner.

Flecked with basil and lightly dressed with white balsamic, olive oil, agave, salt, and mustard powder shaken and poured from a mason jar, the beans, torn spinach, grapefruits, and oranges made a perfect spring salad.

Several large handfuls of spinach, torn
3 ruby red grapefruits, thinly sliced into rounds
3 oranges, thinly sliced into rounds
1 can white beans, rinsed well & drained
Several basil leaves, torn

Toss & dress. I served with hunks of warm cornbread.

"Burmese" Green Papaya Salad

Guest post number two from our favorite bread-bakin', scone creatin' vegetarian! This time she brings us a crispy crunchy citrusy salad delight. I'm personally excited about the prospect of incorporating deep fried chickpea flour batter or fermented tea leaves!! Thanks Heather!

In DC (or, more accurately, Silver Spring, MD), there is a delightful little Burmese restaurant called Mandalay that figured prominently as a date night location while The Husband and I were courting. All the food is delish, but I was always most impressed with the salads, which were huge and tasty and crunchy. While doing my weekly-ish gigantic Asian grocery store run, I spied a bag of pre-sliced green papaya, which in turn lead to this dish. It's nice and fresh and crisp, perfect for summer (or an Arizona winter). I added tofu to make it more of a main dish sort of salad; other things that would make nice additions include sliced tomatoes, gram fritters (essentially deep fried chickpea flour batter), fermented tea leaves, ginger, bean sprouts, etc. And because it's (mostly) raw, it comes together quickly once all the ingredients are assembled!

Ingredients - Salad
green papaya, sliced into thin strips (I honestly have no idea how to purchase papayas, underripe or otherwise. If you can find the pre-sliced variety, so much the better.) I ended up using two or three handfuls, but adjust based on personal preference.
cabbage (green or red is fine), thinly sliced (I used about 1/4 a head for a two-person salad)
thinly sliced carrot (or just take a peeler to it) - I used roughly half a carrot
thinly sliced daikon (see carrot) - about the same amount as the carrots
thinly sliced (sensing a pattern, here?) red onion - about 1/4 onion
pan-fried crispy tofu, cooked with a little garlic

Ingredients - Dressing
juice from four limes or one lemon (technically, it should be lime juice. But if you screw up the first batch of dressing and find yourself out of limes, a lemon makes a good enough substitute)
a couple of splashes of soy sauce
4 tbsp. of raw sugar (or, to taste)
a 1-2 inch piece of peeled ginger, grated
crushed red pepper (optional)

To make the salad, fry up some tofu. You can add other Asian-inspired flavors if you'd like - I tossed in a bit of soy sauce at the end. While the tofu is cooling, mix together the rest of the ingredients.

For the dressing, whisk together the citrus juice and sugar, adjusting the sugar amounts as necessary to get a slightly sweet, but still tart, blend. Add the soy sauce and the juice from the ginger (just squeeze the ginger over the bowl). For an extra kick, add some crushed red pepper.

Add the tofu to the raw veg, then mix the dressing with the salad, letting the whole shebang sit in the fridge for an hour or so to let the flavors meld. Or eat it right away if you are hungry and impatient.

*"Burmese" is in quotation marks because I don't actually know what goes into a real green papaya salad, and the dressing was pinched from a Vietnamese Green Mango salad; consider this an homage to my bygone salad days.

White Chocolate Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

March sings of Easter candy, of white chocolate bunnies and peanut butter eggs. I loved Easter as a kid, probably, as Mommy Blogger pointed out today, because a typical nasty Wyoming snowstorm makes pastel bunnies perched on a typical Wyoming Walmart shelf seem more darling than they really are.

To avoid artificial crap and get the most out of my sugar highs, I decided to do some Easter candy makin' myself, inspired by Averie's sweets on loveveggiesandyoga. This is not fancy, and doesn't even really count as homemade since I still relied on store-bought white chocolate. It does eliminate the weird non-peanut butter stuff in peanut butter fillings, though. Averie's base recipe with slight modifications below.

Melt 1 bag of white chocolate chips (I lurve Trader Joe's variety). Line a six tin muffin pan with muffin liners. Pour white chocolate into the liners, coating the bottom. Set aside the rest of the chocolate; you may have to heat it up again.

Mix 1/4 cup natural peanut butter with a scant 1 T of dark chocolate cocoa powder, 2 Ts of maple syrup or agave, and vanilla extract + sea salt to taste.

Spoon filling into the muffin tins, then pour more white chocolate over the top. Make sure the filling doesn't touch the edges of its chocolate base, you want the two layers of white chocolate to meet and meld and crinkle.

Freeze to set the chocolate, then store at room temperature.

Coconut Almond Flour Pancakes

To me, these were a dense coconutty-almondy dream, but P's gluten-adjusted palate was less pleased. If serving to those looking for typical pancakes, I would sweeten a bit more, add a banana to the batter, and go a little heavier on the almond flour.

Part of the reason I love them so is because of the nutritious nature of coconut and almond flours. Coconut flour is very high in fiber and protein, and almond flour is very high in protein and good fats. Perfect pre-hike or pre-bike ride meal.

3 eggs
3 T melted butter
4 to 5 T milk or milk substitute (I used almond milk...but was wishing I had heavy cream on hand!)
1.5 T raw sugar
3 T coconut flour
2 T almond flour
drizzle of maple syrup

Whip the eggs thoroughly before mixing the rest of the batter. Cook in 1 T butter. I served traditionally with maple syrup and real butter, but they would have been wonderful with jam, granola, yogurt, or almond butter. These are very, very filling -- Peter and I could barely finish the batch, which made 4 mid-sized cakes.

Brothy Tomato Pesto White Bean Soup

Gluten free broth is expensive and gluten free stock is near impossible to find, so I make all of my soups without either of those flavor-helpers. This is by far the best broth base I have ever created.

Cover the bottom of a large pan with a generous pour of olive oil. Thinly slice 1/2 of a red onion, mince 5 cloves of garlic, and add to olive oil with a generous--no wait, enormous--sprinkle of Italian spices, salt, and pepper.

While the onion and garlic soften, halve cherry tomatoes. Toss in after onions and garlic are transparent.

After cooking for a few more minutes, add 3 8 oz. cans of basic tomato sauce. Stir in several tablespoons of pesto and 2 15 oz. cans of canellini or other white beans, with their liquid.

After a few more minutes, add water, tasting the broth until you hit that sweet spot of slurpy goodness. Add more seasonings as needed, and let simmer. After awhile, stir in several large handfuls of spinach.

Serve with an extra drizzle of olive oil.

Roasted Beets & Carrots with Cumin Chickpea Puree

More having people over, more racking my brains at the store, not having planned ahead, for a recipe I've made enough times to remember everything I need. Luckily, my memory scan hit upon this slightly quirky duo that I dug up some time ago on Epicurious. As usual, I've tweaked (also as usual, mostly by upping spices and simplifying steps), so here it is. There are 3 components so getting it all to be done at the same time is mildly challenging. Also, you'll almost surely have leftover puree, and that is a glorious thing for future snacking - I make it by itself all the time.

Ingredients - roasted beets & carrots:
6-10 beets (some golden if available)
Baggie of baby carrots
Thyme, salt, pepper
1/2 c olive oil

Ingredients - vinaigrette:
1/2 c olive oil
3 TB red wine vinegar
1.5 tsp toasted cumin seeds
.5 tsp ground cumin
4 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/3 of a red onion, or 3 shallots, very thinly sliced (if no mandolin use veggie peeler!)
large handful chopped cilantro

Ingredients - chickpea puree:
1 can chickpeas
1 can kidney or pinto beans
4 large cloves garlic, chopped
2 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp cayenne chili powder
1.5 tsp toasted cumin seeds
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 c olive oil

1. Get your beets and carrots roasting.
Trim and wash your beets and maybe chop the big ones in half. Throw em in a baking pan with 1/4 cup olive oil, cover with foil, and stick in a 400 degree oven. (They need 45 minutes or so to get good and soft.) Throw the carrots in a second baking pan with the other 1/4 cup, plus salt, pepper, and thyme. (They need 20 minutes, so add them after beets have been in for 25.) This recipe is REALLY amazing if you have fresh beets and carrots from the summer farmer's market, especially if you can get those really deep red carrots. Mmmmmm.

2. Get your puree simmering.
After you toast the cumin, heat 1/4 cup of oil and throw 1.5 tsp cumin seeds and the chopped garlic in there for about a minute. Then add the chickpeas and beans, reserving their liquid in a bowl. Throw in spices and stir till the chickpeas start to darken. Then, add the liquid from the can back in - just enough to reach the level of the tops of the chickpeas/beans. Turn down to medium and simmer. We'll come back to this in a bit.

3. Make your vinaigrette.
Put the vinegar, lemon juice, and cumin in a bowl. Whisk in the olive oil till it emulsifies. Toss in the paper-thin onion and the cilantro so they'll soak a bit.

4. Puree the puree.
When the beans seem totally soft - nearly ready to fall apart - and the cooking liquid is getting thick, pour the beans in a strainer and again, retain the cooking liquid in a bowl underneath. Put them in a blender or food processor with 1/4 c olive oil and 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid and puree like crazy. You want this thick, velvety, and totally smooth.

5. Veggies in vinaigrette.
After all this frenzied activity, your beets and carrots should be good to go. Peel the beets (when I do this, I inevitably burn my fingers and turn them red, so you're on your own as to technique) and cut into chunks of comparable size to the carrots. Then toss beets and carrots into vinaigrette.

6. Serve.
I sometimes serve the veggies over a base (tonight, acini di pepe - cute!) - it will turn charmingly/frighteningly purple, as so many things do when beets are introduced. Put a dollop of chickpea puree on the side and serve with some store-brought crispy flatbreads or crackers (a rosemary flavor goes nicely). Oh, and cross your fingers that your guests like beets, since you forgot to ask, you jerk.

Risotto Again! ....With Barley

Just a quick note. As often happens, I ran late on planning dinner for some folks last week and figured I'd just make a risotto. Didn't realize until too late that I was nearly out of arborio, so I threw in a cup of quick-cooking barley with the cup of rice I did have. Score! Cheaper material, same result.

Guest Post: Monastery Vegetables

Hey readers, meet Kay, a wizard with veggies and parentheses:

Hello, all! My name is Kay. I live in England (though I am an American, in case you start wondering where all my extra letter "u"s have gone), and I'm in a constant battle to Lose Weight (cue the Cathy comic strip sweat beads), and I'm madly in love with my veg box (which is this lovely thing they do here where they deliver organic vegetables directly from the local farm to your doorstep--with the dirt still on them!--be still my pretentiously beating heart). Thus, my cooking is pretty much oriented to the following goals:

1) Use up the 987872983767689576234 pounds of vegetables that arrived in the veg box this week.
2) DO NOT GET ANY FATTER! (i.e., eat food that is low-fat yet still tasty enough to help me abstain from the delicious and DEADLY takeaway curry)

Here's something I've made twice now, and I think it is my new favorite. I'll call it Monastery Vegetables, because it is inspired by a recipe for Monastery Lentils in the 1971 cookbook "Diet for a Small Planet" by Francis Moore Lappe. The beauty of this recipe is that, as long as you adjust the seasonings to avoid blandness, it can take as many root vegetables (and probably any other kind of vegetables) as you care to throw at it--so it's a great way to use up extras. It makes a nice chunky stew, especially delicious if you make sure not to cook it to the point of mushiness. It's also very low-fat, especially if you go lightly on the cheese.

Ingredients:

THE VEG, which is very flexible and can include some or all of the following:
Carrots (sliced into large-ish bite-sized chunks)
Turnips, Swede/Rutabaga, Parsnips, Jerusalem Artichokes, Celeriac (peeled and diced)
Onions, chopped
Zucchini/Courgette, quartered and sliced into large-ish chunks
Kale, stringy ribs removed and sliced into thin strips
Mushrooms

EVERYTHING ELSE:
Chicken or vegetable stock (3 - 4 cubes or to taste)
Chopped tomatoes (3 cans)
Marjoram (1 Tbsp. or to taste)
Salt and pepper (to taste)
Very dry sherry (about 1 cup)
Minced fresh parsley (a good-sized bunch)
Emmental cheese, shredded (to taste)

Directions:
Put the onions and the hard root vegetables in a large stock pot with just enough water to cover them. Bring to a boil and then simmer until soft, topping up water if necessary. After 10 - 20 minutes when the root vegetables are about halfway cooked (depending on the size of your dicing) add the stock cubes, tomatoes, marjoram, salt and pepper, and start adding the faster-cooking veg, beginning with the zucchini/courgettes and moving on to the kale and mushrooms. The goal is to wind up with all the vegetables tender but not mushy. Simmer until kale is tender, and adjust seasoning to taste if necessary. Remove from heat, stir in sherry and parsley, and serve in bowls with little piles of emmental cheese on top. Goes great with crusty brown bread.

Variation: add cooked lentils for a more hearty stew.

Toasted Maple Quinoa

I can't eat yogurt without a crunchy topping. The plain greek variety is a staple at our house--mixed in equal parts with pumpkin to spread it out because it's pricey! For the last several weeks I've been nibbling away at some amazing gluten free granola that my father sweetly bought me, but it's gone and doesn't have a place in the weekly grocery budget. I tried to make my own this weekend, but got distracted and burned it.

Luckily for both of us, I have a slight addiction to fitness blogs written by twenty-somethings devoted to healthy living. It's like my version of suscribing to Runner's World or Women's Health. Anyway, I ran across this gem this morning, created by Caitlin of healthytippingpoint.com. I'm happily crunching on some now, and am thinking it would be excellent on salads, or on top of a creamy asparagus or cauliflower soup, or maybe...in a cookie?

Rinse 1/3 a cup of quinoa. I never rinse quinoa, I'm lazy. But because this isn't cooked, I did rinse it and my guess is that it was a good idea to do so.

Spread onto a cookie sheet with 2 T flax seeds and 1 T maple syrup.

Add cinnamon or other spices to taste.

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes, stirring once.

Crunch. Crunch.

White Chocolatey Almond Flour Cookies

These wonderful cookies are fluffy even though they have no gluten, hold together well even though they have no eggies, and are buttery even though they have no butter. I'm like a magician. If you want a vegan cookie, trade the white chocolate for vegan dark.

2 1/2 cups almond flour--Despite blog-world insistence that blanched almond flour is the only kind that works, I use regular almond meal for $$ reasons. It's fine.
1/3 to 1/2 cup coconut flour--Start with 1/3 and add more if the dough is too wet.
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Mix dry ingredients and add the following wet ingredients:

1/2 cup olive oil--Any light cooking oil would work.
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk--Any type of milk or milk substitute will do.


Add 1/2 cup of your chip, nut, seed, or dried fruit of choice. The dough base is rich and buttery but not too sweet, so a sweet addition will pair well.

Bake at 350 for 12 minutes.

Greek Phyllo Pizza

I've made variations on this crispy "pizza" for years, starting from a recipe in one of Mollie Katzen's cookbooks, but I feel like tonight's version (cooked in a friend's kitchen) kinda hit the nail on the head. Or maybe it just looked extra pretty on her red and yellow plates. At any rate, here it is:

1. Chop a small red onion and a small, waxy red or purple potato into small dice and sautee in olive oil, a generous dose of lemon juice, and a bit of balsamic. When they've softened, add a bunch of kale torn into small pieces (or chard, or spinach). Season with Italian herbs, salt and pepper.

2. In the meantime, grease a cookie sheet with olive oil. Then begin layering your (already-thawed, I hope!) phyllo dough leaf by leaf, brushing each leaf lightly with olive oil, to make your "crust." Layer it roughly up to the edge of the cookie sheet - too thick and it will be hard to get it crispy in the oven. Ballpark a thickness of 10 sheets (?).

3. Spread the onion/potato/greens mixture evenly over your crust. You want plenty of crust showing through - don't let the toppings overwhelm the phyllo or it will stay soft and mushy and not crisp up.

4. Add a sprinkling of shredded mozzarella and high-quality sheep's milk feta. Follow this layer with chopped Kalamata olives and halved cherry tomatoes. Sprinkle with pine nuts and perhaps more herbs.

5. Bake at 350 for about half an hour. It's done when you can poke the center with a knife and it crackles. (The edges may be pretty brown by this point - all the better).

I wish I'd taken a picture of the bright confetti of veggies atop the pretty, curly-edged pastry crust, but make it yourself and see!

North African Couscous Soup

Another Bittman adaptation, though I have seriously adjusted his levels of flavoring and used my own veggie additions, so hopefully I'm justified in reposting. Warmly spiced, deeply comforting, colorful soup for a not-quite-spring evening.

You'll need:

2 quarts veggie stock
1 cup uncooked couscous
1 small, finely chopped onion
1 baked and chopped sweet potato
2 cups finely chopped green veggies: Mine were green beans and purple kale.*
1 6 oz can tomato paste
3 TBSP za'atar**
olive oil, salt, pepper.

Just soften your onions in some olive oil in your soup pot, then add the za'atar and chopped greens and soften those a bit as well. Throw the couscous in and cook for a few minutes till it darkens, then add the tomato paste (I used a little less than the whole can). Add the stock and sweet potatoes, get 'er boiling, and season to taste - I added salt, pepper, and more sumac (on top of what was in the za'atar blend).

Boil until you get a thick, creamy-textured soup with fully softened veggie bits, deep red spiked with green. Serve with bread and perhaps some strong, sweet mint tea.


*Note: If you don't happen to have an Alaskan relative who can pick you up an ulu knife for all your fine choppin' needs, get one here posthaste.
**Za'atar is a blend of sesame seeds, sumac, and thyme. I mixed some up long ago; not sure of my proportions but it's probably advisable to decide that for yourself anyway!

Seaweed Chips

Cleaning out the kitchen cupboards today, I found a forgotten packet of nori sheets. When faced with excess nori, there is only one thing to do, people: Toast in a heated skillet till they shrivel and lighten in color, to a shimmery translucent green like a mermaid's tail. Then cut into squares with a pair of kitchen scissors.

This will leave you with crispy, melt-in-your-mouth bites that you will barely see on account of how fast you will gobble them. (Even better, toss in a plastic bag with a little sesame oil and sea salt.) Eat your sea vegetables!!

(By the way, I think I stole this idea from Mark Bittman a long time back, but it's become such a habit that I can't be sure....)

Carmelized Polenta Quiche

This would make a wonderful brunch dish. For P and I, it was just a nice dinner.

Boil 2 and 1/2 cups of water, and stir in 1 cup of polenta (actually, I just used basic Quaker's fine grain cornmeal. It's degerminated, and thus not super fibrous/nutrious, but it is also quite cheap). Stir until water is absorbed.

While the water is boiling, saute your veggies of choice in olive oil. I'd recommend kale, garlic, red peppers, and red onions.

Season the polenta generously with salt and pepper, and stir with 1/2 cup of a grated hard salty cheese. Spread this "dough" into a greased pie pan.

Break 4 eggs over the sauteed veggies, add 1/2 cup of milk, season with salt and pepper, and whisk vigorously. Pour over polenta-based pie crust.

Cook at 400 for 45 minutes.

Dilled Zucchini & Tomato Sautee

This is barely even a recipe, I know. But it is what I cooked tonight, and it's a nice simple thing if you're ever stumped by excess zukes and tomatoes (likelier in July than February, I know).

When I was 18 and first living in NYC, broke as could be, my roommate Laila and I were the masters of cheap, simple vegetable dishes. (We also ate a lot of potatoes, but I try not to remember that part.) We had a huge bag of basmati rice given to us by another roommate's mom---it lasted four of us for a whole semester---and we split the cost of an ENORMOUS can of olive oil from a local italian deli. Then we found one of those mysterious vegetable bodegas in NY that seem to sell produce for half what it costs at any other store (what ARE the economics of that?), and we were pretty much set. I think I made this particular combo about once a week....

Thinly slice an onion, and slice up few zucchini and/or summer squash. Sautee these in olive oil with a little diced or sliced garlic. When they've softened, add chopped tomatoes. Douse generously in balsamic and sprinkle with dried dill. Cook until quite soft and serve over rice (or pasta - tonight I've gone with Acina de Pepe). Just a nice, savory hot dinner for a sleepy evening.

(In another food-memory from the same time, I remember one particular day when Laila and I splurged on a trip to the Union Square farmer's market and bought basil and pine nuts for fresh pesto. That was the weekend of 9/8 & 9/9/01. That Tuesday we found ourselves chopping our pesto ingredients by hand in a daze, huddled around a sporadically-working TV with the 20 young people in our international affairs program, which has just commenced the prior week. It was enough pesto to feed everyone, and a more sober semester than any of us had planned on.)

Simple Sunday Sweet Potato

I always hesitate to post simple meal ideas, but then again the simple things are sometimes the hardest to conjure up in a moment of hunger. So I give you the Simple Sunday Sweet Potato--roasted (ok, nuked for 4 minutes then put in the oven at 450 to get the carmel factor without the time), then topped with 2 T almond butter. The almond butter melts into a thin swirl of richness. Complemented with a huge pile of torn chard and spinach wilted with olive oil, sea salt, and garlic, this was everything it needed to be. Any type of nut or seed butter would be delicious.

Guest Post (!!): Una Fiesta Mexicana! Chayote Quesadillas and Black Bean Soup

To spice things up a little, and to compensate for any gaps in our own cooking creativity, we're startin' up some guest posting! After a bit of begging, a good friend here in Phoenix who is a master of scones and all things veggie agreed to do a few guest posts. Here's installment one!

Hello! My name is Heather, and, in lieu of a real job, I spend my days cooking. I am a vegetarian, which I realize has already been done here, but I am also a Bitter Vegetarian (bitter about life, not vegetables), so maybe that means I bring a different perspective? I'm also short, so maybe that'll be my angle. Who knows?

I would also like to thank the lovely blogmistresses for letting me ramble here.

Well, enough with the pleasantries - let's get to the food!

Since I thought The Husband would be at meetings all night, I invited my friend A over for dinner. But then The Husband never left, so it was dinner party time! I made black bean soup (mostly taken from here, without the salsa and with a few changes I'll mention) and chayote quesadillas (with inspiration and chayote-cooking tips from Rick Bayliss's Mexican Kitchen). For the soup, I used probably twice as much smoked paprika, and added a partially de-seeded dried chipotle pepper (I basically just snapped off the stem and shook out most, but not all, of the seeds) and a few sprigs of cilantro (both removed, along with the bay leaves, before blending), and let the beans simmer for about an hour (instead of 15 minutes). I also forgot about the bell pepper, because who buys yellow bell peppers? Honestly.

For the quesadillas, first, heat up a cast iron pan (or similarly heavy pan, I suppose) and roast two anaheim chiles (or any chile of your choice - I don't work well with heat) and four cloves of unpeeled garlic until they start to blacken. While the chiles and garlic are roasting, peel, de-pit and thinly slice two or three chayote squash. [HOT TIP: chayote squashes, when peeled, secrete a sticky substance not unlike that of okra, which, when dried, forms a thin film on your skin. Kind of like when, as a kid (or in college, like my roommate), you would put glue on your hands and let it dry and peel it off. Except that it sort of just makes your hands feel dry and you have to scrub a lot to clean them off.] Also, thinly slice half a red onion and the roasted chiles, and dice up the roasted garlic (after peeling). Saute the onions in a large pan with some oil, adding the squash after a minute or so. Once the onions have begun to soften, add the garlic and chiles, plus some salt, pepper and cumin (or a good chili or fajita mix, if you have one, or whatever spices you'd like). Cook until the squash in crunchy-tender.

Heat up your cast iron pan again. Spray two corn tortillas (the outsides only) with cooking oil. Place one on the heated pan and cover with cheese (I used a colby-Monterrey jack blend), then add some of the squash/onion/chile mixture. Add some more cheese, then add the other tortilla. Cook until the cheese melts and the tortilla begins to develop little brown spots (about 5-10 minutes, depending on how hot the pan is). Serve warm with salsa verde.

Also, serve entire meal with cheap wine and wonderful people (one of whom, incidentally, brought Meyer lemon ice cream from Sweet Republic for dessert!!).

Mean Mean Meat Sauce

On my birthday, some friends and I got together to eat some spaghetti. One of the boys requested that we make meat sauce, as opposed to just plain tomato sauce because "that's how his mom does it". Accepting that direct challenge, my friend A and I proceeded to combine our cooking experience to make the following, excellent meat sauce.

First, we sauteed one large onion, diced with olive oil, fresh herbs and garlic in a small frying pan. In a large cast iron pan, we browned half a pound ground turkey and half a pound ground beef with some italian seasoning. Once the meat was browned, we drained the grease and added the onion mixture and a jar of plain store-bought tomato sauce, then allowed it to simmer.

Voila. Nothing revolutionary, but it passed the mom challenge and was rather delicious if I do say so myself.

Red.Hot.Posole.

This should read [so damn hot and undercooked its inedible posole],but luckily for you, I'm stubborn and willing to boil and boil for seven hours while laboriously adding pint after pint of water to the pot just so I can give you a recipe that, while flawed, doesn't end with a pound and a half of giant white corn kernels, 3 New Mexico chiles, and 1/2 cup of ground chile in the garbage can.

So now, I give you a fierce and flowered posole. A posole that's not only edible, but delicious when eaten with scoops of avocado, feta, and crusty tortillas. But clearly, a posole with a recipe that needs tweaking. I followed this recipe to a T, which caused problems, so below I'll just illuminate the adjustments that are necessary for success.

First, if you can only find giant corn kernels that haven't been lime-treated, and you don't want to lime-treat them yourself (which can be dangerous if you accidentally source lime that isn't pure, as it can be contaminated with heavy metals) you will need to simmer the corn in its broth for AT LEAST eight hours. This will require more water than originally recommended, so I'd also recommend adding another New Mexico Chile and pinches of extra spice.

As for that chile sauce that calls for 1/2 cup of ground red chile? Heidi recommended adding it to the brothy kernels by the 1/2 cup. I only added two small ladlefuls and it took four more pints of water to dilute it enough to eat. And it still packs a punch. So, I'd suggest just using less ground chile in the sauce, and still reserving some for freezing. Add slowly, tasting as you go. Someone who isn't as lazy as I am could also do some research on chiles and report back so I can feel a fool when told I bought the absolute hottest variety on earth. Because I swear I must have.

I know, it's too much trouble, right? Luckily for you, again, I'm obsesed with the way the kernels pop and flower, and how the dish is a winter and summer dish all at once, and how it can be delicious with tender pieces of pork or with corn standing on its own. I'll be back with a better recipe, and soon.

Seville Orange Butter Cookies

Or rather, today I tried to cook orange butter cookies, but the result was a disaster. I spent a few hours in the kitchen to have cookies that tasted both bitter and overwhelmingly orangey. :( My first major fail. I'm licking my wounds here and misery loves company, so what's your kitchen disaster story? Please comment and share. :)

Betty Crocker Meets Coconut Flour: Meyer Lemon Frosted Cupcakes

Cupcakes were trendy, and now they're overdone. I know. But, you see, I don't know how to make a double-layer cake. (Well, not neatly. A and I did it one time for a long, long ago boyfriend, and it turned into gluey crumbs.) And I don't have any skill when it comes to frosting. And single layer cakes with messy frosting are just so depressing.

So cupcakes it is. Lemony frosted yellow cupcakes, made from Betty Crocker's gluten free yellow cake mix, prepared as recommended on the box + a little less than 1/3 cup of coconut flour + a splash of almond milk. To frost, I squeezed the juice of 1 Meyer lemon and used my stand mixer to combine that with some heavy cream and powdered sugar and vanilla extract. The juice of one whole juicy desert-irrigated lemon = the amount of liquid required for a 2 ton tub of frosting, so I'd cut back here.

As for the Betty Crocker g-free mixes? I'll give you a more formal review if you request it. The mixes may not be spot on-perfect, but I always tinker with mixes. In the name of food accessibility for those celiac sufferers and parents out there who face serious health concerns coupled with income limitations, this is a cheaper and still yummy option for a treat.

Frozen Sweet Potato Fries...

...but I made them delicious.

I feel kind of bad wasting our 100th post on something like this, but oh well.

I baked them with lemon olive oil, lemon juice, thyme and oregano on top, then dipped them in ketchup. Perfect to pair with a salad, making perhaps the one lunch these three sisters all enjoy.

You could also slice and bake your own sweet potatoes. Give me a break, I'm a college student. :)

Israeli Couscous with Preserved Lemon

Last year sometime (yes.... last year), in a fit of creativity and good cooking intentions, I preserved a lemon. Since then, the lemon has moved from one apartment to another with me, waiting patiently in its tupperware. Then, a few weeks (fine.... months) ago, a friend sent me this recipe. I admit I tried it mostly for the sake of finally using my poor abandoned lemon, but I have to say the result was a pleasant surprise. Sometimes a recipe is so much more than the sum of its parts. Try it and see!

I haven't changed much, except using a sweet potato in place of a butternut, but here it is for your convenience:

1. Bake a sweet potato for about 10 minutes (don't forget to poke holes) - till it's just beginning to soften, but nowhere near mashing softness.

2. For the same 10 minutes, boil 1 & 3/4 cups Israeli couscous - that's the large-grained, pasta-like variety - in salted water with a cinnamon stick. When done, drain it and put it in a large bowl, tossed with 2 TB of olive oil.

3. While those things are cooking, chop a large onion. When the sweet potato is done, skin it and chop it into small dice. Cook it with the onion in another TB olive oil over medium heat.

4. Once the onion is cooked to golden perfection, toss in 1/2 cup of pine nuts (so they'll toast a bit in the oil).

5. Toss all of this into the couscous, along with:

The finely chopped skin of your preserved lemon
1/2 cup of golden raisins (plump these up by covering them with water and microwaving)
1 cup chopped fresh parsley
A shake of cinnamon
salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste
If needed, a squeeze of the juice of the innards of your lemon.

It's probably no secret that I love a good sweet/tart/savory mix of flavors, but man, this blew me out of the water. It's a keeper.

Canh Chua Chay

Before we get started here, I would just like to pause and say that this is what this soup tastes like to me:



Yes, that's right. MOUTH UNICORNS.*

I've had it twice now at a local Vietnamese place and, for fear of quitting my job and taking up residence there, decided I'd better learn to make it at home. I perused 3 or 4 different recipes to come up with this one, taking what I liked from each plus some thoughts of my own. (Like asparagus, which is tasty and was present in my fridge this evening.)

OK, then. Your ingredients:

Group One:
2 thinly sliced yellow shallots/small yellow onions
1 TB butter

Group Two:
2 tsp salt
2 TB date palm sugar
4 TB vegetarian fish sauce
12 c water
3/4 c tamarind concentrate
2 TB Vietnamese Sour Soup Mix**
juice of 1 lime

Group Three:
1/2 to 1 bunch asparagus, bottoms snapped off, stalks cut into thirds, on the bias ifyouplease
An equivalent quantity of okra, stemmed and cut into 1-in pieces
An again-equivalent amount of baby bok choy leaves
1 stalk sliced taro stems
Halved cherry tomatoes
Very firm tofu squares
1 12-oz can pineapple + a splash of the juice
Bean sprouts

(OK, pause again: Chopping taro stems is about the most fun I have EVER had that did not involve bubble wrap. I think I will chop my leftover stalk tomorrow just for recreation.)

So, start with Group One: Soften the onion in the butter in the bottom of your pot.

Then add Group Two, taste, adjust, etc, till, you know.... (see photo above). Bring to a boil.

Then add Group Three, starting at the top with the crunchiest ingredients and moving down as they cook, to throw in the bean sprouts just before taking off the heat. Don't let anything get too soft; just cooked through.

That's it. MAN IT IS SO GOOD I burned my mouth tasting it.


*Siblings, please don't kill me for cluttering up our blog. Come on... MOUTH UNICORNS! I'm hilarious. www.cornify.com.

**Yes, I picked up this helpful cheat at Saigon Market. If you can't run off on a whim to markets that import amazing s*** you can't even pronounce and sell it to you for cheap, make up for it by increasing the existing flavors to taste and adding some chili paste.

Adzuki Beans with Squash and Apple-Miso Vinaigrette

After dinner Saturday night I went and joined up with some people at a bar. If you go dancing and do it right (read: so much dancing there's only time for one drink), you wake up hungry enough to eat a horse.... or, in my case, a.... toforse?

Anyway, looking for a nice substantial dinner, I eyed my lineup of grains and legumes, and scolded myself for letting them sit in their pretty jars for months on end.


So, the remedy for hunger + legume guilt:

Cooked up about 1 cup of lil' red adzuki beans (this takes over an hour), and roasted an acorn squash and an apple in the oven - not too soft - in just a little butter.

Chopped those, mixed 'em into the beans, threw in a handful of well-chopped walnuts for crunch, and added a dressing of:

Miso
Apple cider vinegar
Sugar
Salt
Olive oil
Tiny dollop of garlic paste

Nutty, sweet, tangy, and hearty. Mmmmmm.

Bitter Melon, Daal, & Mango Raita

Mulling over what to feed some dinner guests yesterday, I decided that I pay too little attention to some of my very beautiful cookbooks---you know, the type that are in hardcover with breathtaking photos, so you sort of feel like your messy, frazzled dinner-makin' self shouldn't be allowed anywhere near them. Well, my copy of Mangoes and Curry Leaves definitely has some oil splotches that it didn't have yesterday morning, but I have no regrets. I tried 2 recipes from the book, then made up a side dish at the last minute to balance out the flavors on the table.

Bitter Melon

Most exciting thing first: BITTER MELON! I read the recipe first, and realized only later that bitter melons are the funky green cucumber-lookin guys with skin like a crumpled ribbon that you see every so often in Asian or Southeast Asian markets.

Step One for cooking these guys is to slice them open lengthwise to remove the big, bright red seeds:



Slice them paper-thin (a mandolin would be helpful here), and, to draw out some of the bitterness, use a technique similar to how you'd cook an eggplant: Salt them well and let them sit in a colander (so liquid can drain out) for at least 45 minutes. Then rinse them thoroughly and squeeze 'em dry with paper towels. I don't think I got the salt out quite well enough, leaving my final results a little too salty, so be vigilant.

Anyway, here's the recipe (page 159) once they're prepped.

2 Tb neutral oil (eg grapeseed)
1 TB mustard oil, or replace w/more neutral oil and 1 tsp hot mustard powder
2 tsp garlic paste or finely chopped garlic
1/2 tsp cayenne powder + 2 thinly sliced green cayenne chilis (I had no chilis so increased the powder)
1 cup thinly sliced onion
1 tsp sugar (I increased to taste to counteract the bitterness)
1/2 tsp salt (unnecessary if you fail to rinse well enough!)
And, my addition: 2 tsp garam masala.

Heat the oil in a wok. Stir-fry the garlic and spices for 15 seconds, then add the onion and
sliced chilis; stir-fry until very soft. Add the bitter melon, reduce heat to medium, cook for 15 minutes - until very tender. Add the sugar and salt; once these are blended, you're done.

As I mentioned, I increased the sugar and added garam masala to counteract the pungent bitterness (and oversaltiness in my case) of the melon. The final flavor is delicious in the same way a very stinky cheese is delicious... logically, it tastes kind of foul, but you want just a little bit more. I wouldn't sit down and gobble up a bowl of bitter melon all by itself, but as part of a meal with a mild daal and cool, fruity mango raita, it was yummy.


Udaipur Daal

This is going to be a quick, go-to Daal recipe for a long time. The beauty is that you can cook your lentils ahead of time, and then throw in the flavorings right before eating. It's incredibly flavorful and just a teeny bit spicy. In the book, this is "Udaipur Urad Daal" (page 189 - Udaipur = the Rajasthani town where the authors were given this recipe), but I didn't leave myself time to cook Urad daal, so I used my usual pink lentils.

If you have 3 or 4 cups of cooked lentils sitting around, so much the better. I didn't, so I put 2 cups pink lentils on to boil, with enough water to rise about 2 in above the lentil-line. (This made about 6 cups cooked, but the spices stood up to even this quantity).

As for the flavorings:

1/4 cup sesame oil
1 tsp black mustard seeds
5 black peppercorns
1/2 cup minced onion
1 minced green cayenne chili (I used 5 minced tiny Thai chilis, as I already had them around)
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cayenne powder (left it out - the chilis were enough for me!)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/4 cup coarsely chopped cilantro leaves

Heat the oil over medium high heat. When hot, throw in the mustard seeds and heat, covered, till they pop. Add the peppercorns, onion, and chili. Cook over medium heat for 10 mins, till the onion starts to brown. Add the turmeric, salt, and cayenne, then pour the mixture into your cooked daal (which should be very, very tender and broken down). Add the garam masala; simmer to mix flavors; and throw the cilantro in before serving.

I served this over long-grain red rice.



Mango "Raita"

Finally, I decided we needed a cooling agent on the table. I had a very ripe mango (intended for another cooking project that never quite happened), so I chopped it into small cubes and mixed it into some good Greek yogurt. A teaspoon of cumin, squirts of lime juice and agave nectar, and this made a lovely, sweet-tart-cool counterpoint to the bitter melon in particular. (In fact, I'm thinking of using my remaining bitter melons and mangos and trying to make some kind of chutney, as they really set each other off beautifully).

As I couldn't find any naan or flatbread when I did my shopping, I picked up some plain white pitas, and fried them a bit in a skillet with a little ghee, some minced garlic and chopped cilantro.

Altogether it made for a colorful table... and will keep me very happy all week in the fridge at work.

Whipped Goat Cheese Infused with Agave and Lemon

I have a shiny new candy-apple green kitchenaid artisan stand mixer that can do magic things.

There, it's out. I've been holding this wonderful news to myself, hoping to find time to make something incredible with said mixer to give it its proper heralding into the blog world. Sadly, no time could be found. So, while whipped goat cheese isn't really what I had in mind, this was a scrumptious dip for a lemon (and sloe gin!) themed party, especially when served on sweet potato crackers.

I bought two logs of goat cheese, and to defray costs/add to the creaminess, some whipped cream cheese, then added the juice of two freshly plucked lemons, several squirts of agave, two tablespoons of raw honey, and whipped. You could also do this with a hand mixer or, of course, an immersion blender. Which, I'm a little shamed to say, has been demoted from all caps now that I have a new candy-apple green machine.

I'll leave you with some Loretta Lynn wisdom on sloe gin, as well as a recommendation to have a sloe gin fizz.

Well Portland Oregon and sloe ginn fizz/If that ain't love then tell me what is...

Sudanese Couscous

This is one from memory - something I used to make ALL the time and had utterly forgotten. "Not forgetting recipes" is the name of the game around here, so I'm jottin' er down.

Back when I lived in Salt Lake City and worked in the nonprofit world, I was always running into an entrepreneurial group of Sudanese women. Among other endeavors they had a vending license and would cook up this sweet-and-savory couscous dish every weekend at the farmers' market. This is just my loose interpretation, faded by a couple years of studying law in between, but here it is:

1. Sautee some chopped apples and onions (and green peppers if you like 'em - I don't) in just a little butter or ghee, and season with salt, cumin, cinnamon, and sugar. Add a heap of spinach and let it cook down.

2. Make yourself a generous batch of large-grain couscous - sold in the US as Israeli couscous. (I think this is made with a slightly different process than the hand-rolled semolina couscous made in Sudan and elsewhere, but it's what they always used and I think it holds up better to the spinach mixture.)

3. (Because it's not a list if there are only two items): top 2 with 1 and EAT.

And if you are like me and eat at the computer way too often, check this out.

Ed. 8/23/13:  The link is gone!  Here's another.