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.

Green Pad Thai

After being away for the weekend, I came home to a veggie drawer with an awful lot of crunchy green goodness at risk of becoming mushy green badness. So....

1. I slivered my bunch of asparagus and about 10 baby bok choys, and finely sliced 3 scallions

2. I scrambled 2 eggs

3. I made some pad thai sauce: About a cup of near-boiling water, with tamarind paste, brown sugar, veggie fish sauce, some lime juice, a splash of Sriracha and a splash of soy sauce (Sorry, I'm clueless on quantities as usual, but you'll know when it's sufficiently delicious and don't scrimp on that tamarind!). Thicken with cornstarch.

4. I boiled up a pot of rice noodles.

5. I seared my greens quickly over high heat in very hot sesame oil, threw in some cherry tomatoes and cubes of super-firm tofu (already deep-fried at the local asian market)

6. I tossed it all together, crushed some pistachios (no peanuts on hand and anyway they added to the green-ness), put out some limes for squeezin, and it was pleasin. :)

Twice Baked Squash Potatoes and Basic Risotto

Roomie #1 and I just baked Twice Baked Squash Potatoes from my friend Melissa's blog, Extended Shelf Life. We replaced the cottage cheese with shredded cheese, and used acorn instead of butternut, but they were delicious! We paired this with the Basic Risotto that K posted previously for a spontaneously wonderful meal. :)

Sweet and Sour Pork Chops

For Christmas, I received several cookbooks from my sisters. Hooray! This recipe from Robin Miller at Food Network served as a delightful meal for myself and two of my friends over jasmine rice. She's also the creator of the previously posted Orange Oat-Crusted Herb Chicken, so I have a feeling I'm going to love this cookbook. :)

Parmesan Penne with Cabbage and Broccoli

I don't like to mix talk of food and finances, but in an unending quest--failure?-- to save money, I'm trying to buy produce that will bulk up our meals and keep us veggified. Cabbage was this week's bulky green of choice, and at 99 cents a head it really was a bargain.

What I really want to do is stuff it as Olga does here, but I am not so good at rolling things. Or stuffing things. Or really anything that requires precision or patience. So I started instead with a simple brown rice penne tossed with very thinly sliced (lengthwise) cabbage, broccoli florets, and broccoli stalks sauteed generously with butter, shallots, garlic, salt, and pepper. To finish, I tossed it with a bit more olive oil (enough to be coated) and plenty of grated parmesan. Although P was skeptical of cabbage in pasta, he was happy with the end result. Just don't overdo the cabbage -- you want it to bulk but not dominate.

Except for the parmesan, this one is really a budget saver. But don't skip the parmesan, or it won't be a palate pleaser!

Mom's Nom Nom Chip Dip

When I first got back to Phoenix, I had another group of friends over for yet another night of Rock Band. My friend D really wanted guacamole, so it turned into a night of chips and dip as well. We used just a basic recipe for guacamole, and I honestly don't even know what all went into it, but I made some of a dip that my mom taught me as well. It's really easy:

Take a brick of cream cheese.

Use a hand mixer to add sour cream, shredded cheese, garlic powder and onion powder to texture and to taste.

There. As D would say, nom nom.

Confetti Bolognese

Ever since I had a gluten free turkey bolognese at a hip new restaurant that a hip friend of P's took us to, I've been wanting to make a more veggie-rific version. We were rushed the other night, so this recipe takes some shortcuts (using jarred pasta sauce), but it was delicious, soothing, and nutritionally quite complete.

Brown 1 lb. of ground turkey in a skillet with a touch of olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Add minced garlic, 2 chopped yellow summer squashes or zucchinis, 1 chopped red pepper, some sliced mushrooms, green onions, and fresh basil if it is available to you.

Season with more salt, pepper, and Italian spices. Add veggies and turkey to a pomodoro sauce--we used Trader Joes's 3 Cheese Pomodoro sauce. If you wanted to make your own, pomodoro is basically olive oil, garlic, basil, crushed tomatoes, a bit of salt, and a bit of sugar.

Serve over brown rice or whole wheat penne pasta, cooked al dente, and sprinkle with a salty, hard cheese such as romano or parmesan.

Pillowy Crack

Er...crackers. That's right, pillowy gluten free crackers made using no expensive flours. Angela at ohsheglows.com calls these vegan chewy crackers. I've made a few adjustments, so here's my version of her recipe.

Pour 3/4 cup uncooked rice and 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa into a rice cooker or pot, and cook as normal. In the meantime, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

When rice and quinoa are finished, remove and cool for a bit. Then, process in a food processor or using your IMMERSION BLENDER. I have to admit, it is heavy going with the IMMERSION BLENDER but I just asked my arms to channel Michelle Obama's and they got the job done.

Once processed so it feels doughy, mix in:
4 T ground flaxseeds
2 T chia seeds
1/4 cup of a chia-water paste (Angela called for 1 t tahini, which I didn't have)
1 T water
1 T minced garlic (or more to taste)
2 T pepper (or more to taste)
1 t salt

Roll dough until flat on a large cookie sheet with parchment paper. I greased the pan, and these babies were almost unflippable, unstickable, so don't skip the p-paper. Cut the dough into desired cracker size and shape with a sharp knife so you at least have some separation once baked.

Bake until crispy. I flipped after fifteen minutes, then again after another ten. These took me a long time and I probably didn't get them crisp enough, so I'd recommend rolling your dough pretty thin! Separate along knife lines.

Red Cannellini Quinoa

A nice Italian-esque dish for those celiac sprue or gluten intolerant folks stuck in old hometowns with limited food resources. If mushy corn pasta ain't your thang, and if quinoa is not to be found, wild rice would be lovely. As for you gluten lovers? I say, enjoy with pasta if that's what you prefer.

Heat thinly sliced shallots, minced garlic, 1/2 T oregano, and basil, salt, and pepper to taste in 2 T olive oil. Add 15 oz. can of crushed tomatoes. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add 15 oz. can of (drained) cannellini beans, 1/2 cup of sherry, and 1/2 cup heavy cream or half and half. Simmer for another several minutes, then dust with parmesan.

The amounts here will serve three as an entree, so measure your grain accordingly. The red quinoa we used was perfection, but, it turns out, I didn't need to use three uncooked cups of it to feed, um, four.

Asparagus with...

...orange rind, lemon juice, agave nectar, cumin and a splash of soy sauce. Cooked in the wok over high heat. No biggie, but YUM.

Fondue and Finger Food

For my last night in Phoenix, several friends came over and we had a girls' night filled with Rock Band, trying on clothes, and of course delicious food. We wanted to try fondue because I in fact own a fondue pot, but realizing that we did not have the gel fuel for said pot chose to cook it in a good 'ol saucepan for the same results. I googled fondue recipes and found this cheese fondue
and this chocolate one. For cheese dipping items, we toasted bread with garlic, and laid it on a plate with crackers and pretzels. For the chocolate, we had bananas and the pretzels as well. We struggled with the cheese a little, as it separated because we cooked it too long, but with caution you will have yourself an excellent party menu.

Thai Kabocha Bisque

A sunny Sunday in December - good day to hit up an Asian market for the makings of this brightly flavored, colorful soup. (Especially since my co-bloggers are home with our mom being pampered, and I'm not there yet - time to spoil myself and some friends.)

I followed the (fantastic) recipe reasonably closely, though I do I recommend larger quantities of a lot of the key ingredients to really amp up the sunny flavor. (I also recommend skipping the heavy cream.)

2 kabocha squash

Group one:
2 tsp minced garlic
1 TB minced ginger
1 tsp grated galangal
Innards of 1 stalk lemongrass, minced & crushed
2 finely diced shallots

Group two:
2 handfuls of Thai basil leaves & one of cilantro leaves
2.5 TB red Thai curry paste
2 tsp sweet curry powder
1 cup water

Group three:
2 cans coconut milk
2 quarts stock
4 TB date sugar (I didn't have this & used brown)

Group four:
2 tsp fish sauce (you can get vegetarian fish sauce at Asian markets)
Juice of 6 key limes or 2-3 regular limes (maybe more)

Start by roasting the squash. Halve & seed them, then brush both sides (skin too) with oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until totally soft.

For soup broth, start by sweating Group One ingredients in a little oil for a few minutes. Then add Group Two ingredients and mix to dissolve curries. Add Group Three ingredients, bring to a boil, reduce heat & simmer for 20 minutes. Then add the squash (peeled, of course) and simmer for another 15. When soup had simmered long enough to blend flavors, add Group Four. Then adjust the overall flavor - it should be bright and tangy, with, as the original recipe says, a sweet-hot-salty-sour balance. (Adding sugar, curry, fish sauce, and lime respectively will balance these).

Finally, blend the soup.... never have I so sorely yearned for an IMMERSION BLENDER. I didn't bother straining out the little bits of leaves and lemongrass - they looked nice and weren't bothersome when eating.

This was my favorite new thing I've made in a long time - I just wanted to keep tasting it even after I'd had two bowls. The original plan was to whip up some pad thai or something as well, but the soup felt sufficient all by itself. (Read: I planned poorly and ran out of time! Still happy with dinner, though.)

Kicking off Christmas: Stromboli

My roommates and I had ourselves a little Christmas party, so of course good eats were essential. We chose this recipe for Stromboli from Roomie #1 and her family and it was heavenly. It keeps in the fridge for a few days, but make sure to put it in the microwave to maintain the delicious melty middle. Perfect for Christmas parties, Christmas morning or with some good friends and a cup of hot chocolate.

In a bread machine, place:

1 1/2 t. yeast

3 cups flour

1/2 t. salt

1 1/2 eggs

3 T. sugar

3/8 cup (not oz) cream cheese

3/4 cup milk

Start bread machine.

For filling, mix together:

8 oz. cream cheese

1 cup powdered sugar

Roll out dough into a rectangle on a floured surface. Spread cream cheese down the middle third. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup chocolate chips. Fold edges to the middle and ends up. Flip onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes. Call Mom and tell her how great it is.

The last line is my favorite. Either share with your mom, or call her and tell her Merry Christmas. :)

Ooey Gooey S'mores Cake

For my friend J's 21st birthday, a few of us made her this fabulous s'mores cake from Annie at Annie's Eats. It uses graham cracker crumbs as flour quite successfully. Annie discussed having problems with the fluff tearing up the cake when she spread it, but we just heated the fluff up right in the jar (made of glass, not plastic, Katie :) ) and that helped significantly. Beyond that, we made no changes, so THE END.

Simple Chinese Eggplant

Years ago when I was just learning to cook, I came home from college and grandly announced that I would be making dinner. I then quizzed everyone about their preferences and set off to the store, considering and rejecting numerous possibilities before I settled on Eggplant Parmesan. I got home and was just laying out ingredients when Katelyn came upstairs, took one look, and said "What are you doing? The ONLY thing I asked you not to cook was eggplant!"

Oops.


Anyway, fast forward a few years. Katelyn has happily learned to enjoy eggplant, and I thought I'd welcome her back to cold weather with a nice Chinese hotpot - always good for emptying out the veggie drawer.

Begin by peeling and cubing a large eggplant. Salt it heavily to draw out the liquid, and let it drain for about an hour in a colander so the water can escape. Then rinse off the salt and squeeze and pat dry. I added carrot strips, asparagus, and kale, but nearly any veggies could play a supporting role here.

Mix up the following in a glass bowl - I didn't measure anything so just taste:
Sesame oil
Soy sauce
Sugar
Vinegar (I had some white vinegar flavored with lemongrass)

Toss the veggies and sauce in a covered corningware dish - I wanted to use my clay pot, but it's only big enough for one portion - with a generous portion of sesame seeds and some sliced canned lemongrass if you've got it. Bake at 400 degrees for 1/2 hour to an hour, until eggplant is soft and silky. Serve over a nutty red or brown rice.

(I'm hoping I've redeemed myself for the Eggplant Parmesan...)

Biscuits (without gluten!)

My computer just pasted one copied paragraph so many times that my 20 page paper magically became 1,136 pages.

While I wait for it to undo that, I thought I'd share these amazing gluten free biscuits I made tonight. I've been making poor P fend for himself or cook dinner, so we've haven't been eating many vegetables.

Right, so to remedy that I made biscuits. [Ok, they did accompany large bowls of balsamic-roasted veggies.] And they were incredible, light, warm, buttery, everything a biscuit should be, with or without gluten. These were--you guessed it--without. I'd recommend these for breakfast, for your afternoon tea snack, with salad or soup, or as part of a good 'ol southern dinner.

Combine 3/4 cup brown rice flour, 1 cup cornstarch, and 1/2 cup gluten free pancake or baking mix. Add 1 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. xanthan gum, 1 tsp baking powder, and 3/4 tsp baking soda. Mix thoroughly.

Cut in 4 tblsp butter.

Add 3/4 cup milk, 3/4 cup water, 1 scant tblsp apple cider vinegar, and 1 beaten egg.

Bake at 350 on parchment paper for 15-18 minutes. When the biscuits look like they are begging for honey, remove.

Maple Cream Custard in an Almond Meal Crust

Mapley cream paired with a thick, buttery, almondy crust, this is one to make for breakfast on Christmas morning, or maybe to save until deep in February when nothing sounds good to eat at all.

Sadly, it's not really my own creation. This rustic tart is a combination of the geniuses of Deb at Smitten Kitchen and Karina at Karina's Kitchen. I've replicated the recipes below because melding the two involved a bit of trickery due to a fast-baking crust and a slow-baking custard.

Make a maple syrup reduction using 3/4 cup of syrup. No need to overdo, just simmer for 7 minutes or so.

Stir in 2 and 3/4 cup of heavy cream.

Whisk in 4 egg yolks and 1 egg. Whisk thoroughly, and add 1 tsp nutmeg and 1/4 tsp sea salt.

Pour into a greased pie pan and bake for 30 minutes at 350.

Meanwhile, mix 2 heaping cups almond meal, 2/3 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup melted butter, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Press into a greased pie pan. Don't try to flute the edges -- this will be a rustic tart, my friend, not a grandma's blue ribbon pie.

Transfer the custard to the crust and bake for another twenty minutes.

Let the tart (pie?) set up overnight in a refrigerator.

The custard was a bit grainy, disrupted by the transfer into its crust. My grandmother suggested giving the custard a water bath in both steps, so you may try that. You could also try to cover the edges of your crust, but that never seems to work for me. Really though, so long as you give it enough time to set, it was pretty attractive. A sprinkling of turbinado sugar might make the craggy surface look as rich as it deserves to look.

Warm Apple Cider Vinaigrette with Torn Spinach & Roasted Pepitas

This salad and dressing has received rave reviews from palates sophisticated and simple alike. The amounts here will dress a salad as a side for eight or ten.

1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
Apple cider to taste
Dry mustard (1 to 2 teaspoons, for me)
Sea salt to taste

Pair with torn spinach and pepitas that have been slow-roasted with a bit of sea salt and olive oil.

Shake, toss, and eat.

Love Your Spices

One week ago, my kitchen was the site of a near-fire. Near-fire, I write, meaning for you to imagine intense smoke and damage, without the flames. No paltry case of a little smoke that could be waved through with an open door, this was quite the event and required a professional fire response team, fancy ozone-ing equipment, a possible re-paint job, and industrial dry cleaners.

It also required that all spices, oils, vinegars, flours, sugars, teas, coffees, and general foodstuffs be thrown away. (In addition to vitamins, medicines, cosmetics, and toiletries, but that is inconsequential in light of...the foodstuffs.)

I did cry. I cried for me, but I also cried for my spices. In my sleep, I cried to P about how my spices didn't get to fulfill their potential to be a part of cakes and cookies and curries and hot chocolates and thanksgiving pie. No, I sobbed, they just ended up as trash. Apparently, spices have feelings.

Luckily, this story has a happy ending. P and I are both smarter now, and can tell you that aluminum and protein are the two worst things to burn. We also know how loved we are, having woken up one morning to an email list of tons of spices my mother is having delivered to our door, and then having the joy of going to a fancy grocery store and having my father and stepmother replace all of our flours, oils, vinegars, and sweeteners. Generosity has come from our friends, in the form of hugs and nice words and even some monetary help.

So, tonight P will be cooking, and not cooking beans. He's making homemade pesto to redeem himself and in an effort to convince me to allow him to guest post on the blog. I also made a delicious sweet potatoe and spinach gratin at P's parents house where we stayed while our place was sealed off, and that'll be up soon.

The lessons? Turn off your stove when you leave your house, don't cook in aluminum pans, and remember to love your spices.

Young Buck Stew

On Wednesday, my young buck and I had a rare weekday home together, so we, er, made young buck stew. Antelope stew, that is, inspired by Paula Deen's recipe for old-time beef stew. My variations were slight but possibly significant, so here they are:

1) Brown 3 lbs. of pronghorn stew meat in 3 tablespoons of heated olive oil.*
2) Add 2 medium onions, thinly sliced, and 3 cloves of garlic, whole.
3) Puree using your IMMERSION BLENDER...oh wait, not really. But I do love my IMMERSION BLENDER.
The real 3) Add 4 cups of water.
4) Add 5 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, 2 bay leaves, 2 teaspoons sugar, 2 teaspoons salt, 2 teaspoons paprika, 1 teaspoon allspice, and lots of pepper to taste.
5) Simmer for several hours.
6) Add 6 chopped carrots and 3 chopped ribs of celery. Simmer for another hour or two.
7) Remove bay leaves and enjoy! Paula suggests thickening but I suggest not thickening. Now you have to choose.


*P wants me to remind my readers that the first two steps are actually to:
1) catch your own antelope; and
2) butcher your own antelope.

An alternate is to:
3) Make friends with people who will do the first two steps for you. (That's us!)

Savory Butternut Risotto

My sister and I clearly think alike (see the post below). Here's another butternut risotto recipe for those who have a fear of pomegranates, developed in childhood. *Cough, *cough, P. Or for the more normal folks who may be looking for something that is more savory than sweet. The recipe below would serve 10 comfortably, so adjust the amounts as necessary.

Before you start, roast and cube two butternut squashes, and dress with a bit of sage, olive oil, and sea salt. Alternately, you could try to find pre-cubed squash at a fancy grocery store and steam it (Sorry to those without access to fancy grocery stores.)

Also before starting, roast a good portion of pepitas with salt and olive oil. These will serve as a salty crunchy topping to contrast to the creamy squashy risotto. I stuck mine in the oven at 350 for about 7 minutes, they roast quickly!

Saute 3 thinly sliced shallots and 4 minced garlic cloves in olive oil. Add 3 cups of arborio rice, and saute until transclucent. Cup by cup, alternate adding water and dry sherry, stirring until rice absorbs liquid before adding more. (I think that is Sarah's basic recipe, but for those who are too lazy to chase an old post, I've recapitulated here. Give all credit to her, though.)

Add in sage, salt, and pepper to taste as you stir. When the rice is almost at absorptive capacity, stir in the squash cubes, smashing slightly. Then, stir in 2/3 cup of thinly sliced parmesan, and add more sage, pepper, or salt if needed. Top with handfuls of roasted pepitas.

Butternut Risotto with Pomegranate

Nothing complicated, but man, this turned out velvety and comforting and not at all bland.

Before starting the risotto, cube a butternut squash into 1-inch cubes. Bake with butter at 400 until completely soft (this took about the same amount of time as making the risotto).

Start with this risotto recipe, using port instead of sherry. Once it's finished, toss in the butternut cubes and the seeds of a large pomegranate. Add a few tablespoons of apple cider and salt to taste.

P's Pumpkin Pureé

Although I am slowly starting to think about winter flavors (gingersnap and pepperment anyone?), this pumpkin soup is enough to keep me in fall forever. That, and the fact that it is still 93 degrees out and even for me peppermint feels a bit strange.

This is P's recipe, actually from Martha Stewart Living. We're hoping the change in number of shiitake mushrooms and garlic cloves means we can't be sued for copyright infringement. It would also work well using a squash.

Roast a sugar pumpkin, one that weights about 2 and 3/4 lbs, on a baking sheet with 2 cloves of garlic, 1 onion, and 6 shiitake mushrooms. Toss in 1/2 cup of olive oil and some sea salt before putting in the oven.

After roasting, move your veggies to a soup pot. With heat on medium, pour in 2 cups of vegetable broth (I was thinking this would have been good to make with wine and water, instead of broth). Use your IMMERSION BLENDER to puree the soup. As you slowly blend using the IMMERSION BLENDER, pour in another 3 cups of brothy. Simmer, and add salt and pepper to taste. P did sneak in a bit o' curry that packed a nice little punch -- I'd recommend, but I can't vouch for Martha.

Green Smoothie

Looking at this blog, one might think I only eat cookies and cheese. While those are obviously major food groups, I do, in fact, eat vegetables. In fact, I eat 2-3 cups of spinach every morning for breakfast. Blended into a delicious smoothie using my IMMERSION BLENDER, of course. And yes, I am always going to type that in caps.

2-3 cups steamed spinach (steaming your spinach helps with calcium absorption)
1 frozen banana
2/3 cup milk
2 tablespoons flax seed
optional: applesauce

Blend away & enjoy.

Hermit Thursday Cookies

Actually, today I cooked a gross broccoli dish with too much raw garlic that I'm not going to tell you about. How about these Hermit Thursday cookies instead? These are adapted--ok, completely changed--from the hermit cookie recipe on 101 cookbooks, and I made them on Thursday. On Thursday, I am alone all day, and bake to combat my growing anxiety over school. Not to combat my never ending desire for sweet treats. Right. :D

Gluten free cookies were elusive for a long time, and I have finally developed a gut instinct about what their batter should be like. Normally, it involves using about 1/2 cup of coconut flour and adding applesauce at the end until things get sticky.

Mix the dry ingredients:

1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 teaspoon xantham gum
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine grain salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice

Mix the wet ingredients. Start by creaming butter and sugar and then adding egg & vanilla.

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup natural cane sugar--I rarely follow Heidi's suggestions about sugar, but I did this time and the flaky-ness was definitely value-added
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup milk

Mix wet & dry ingredients together. Add in the following, or some variation upon the following (Heidi uses currants and walnuts).

1/2 cup dried cranberries, diced
1/2 cup uncrystallized dried ginger, diced
1/2 cup almonds, chopped & crushed (I use the handle end of my knife sharpener to crush almonds. It works!)

If your dough is dry (mine was) add, applesauce until sticky (about 2/3 cup for me this time). Refrigerate dough.

In the meantime, make your frosting. Here's Heidi's version, I actually had to make a bit more:

1 cup organic powdered sugar, sifted
4 - 5 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

After 30 minutes of cookie-chillin', preheat your oven to 350. I cooked these on a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Don't smoosh gluten free cookies down; they have a hard time stayin' plump as it is. Bake until they are ready to be taken out -- err on the side of golden, because coconut flour tends to absorb moisture more than you would like once out. Frost when cooled. Or immediately.

Apple Cider Doughnuts

Although I've never actually lived anywhere where a person follows up the fall's last apple-picking outing with a cup of steaming coffee and a sugary, fortifying apple cider doughnut for dunking, I've fantasized. Hell, I've never even lived anywhere where the leaves change. But, that doesn't mean I don't deserve an apple cider doughnut, right? Right.

After the success of these apple cider doughnut (holes) and this summer's old-fashioned doughnut (holes), I need to get a doughnut cutter. Feel free to make actual doughnuts, rather than holes, with these recipes. They are much more attractive to serve, and, well, better for the portion control. ;)

Before I give you the recipe, thanks to Deb at Smitten Kitchen for inspiration on making a reduction out of apple cider and for the tip on the apple cider glaze , and again thank the ladies at the Baking Beauties for giving me a basic dough to follow. Finally, this blog gave me some other ideas. My recipe is a play on all three recipes.

First, make an apple cider reduction. I used four cups of apple cider and boiled/simmered it down to 1/2 cup in about 35 minutes. I suggest taking extra time to reduce 5 cups to 1/2 cup, the flavor would be better.

Put in the fridge to cool. Next, mix these dry ingredients:

2 cups brown rice flour
*(I had to add more after mixing with wet ingredients. If your dough is too sticky to form into balls, add more)
3/4 cup potato starch
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup white sugar (wish I had tried brown)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. xantham gum
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg

Set aside. Beat together the wet ingredients:

1 egg
1/2 cup apple cider syrup from reduction
1 cup buttermilk (I make my own using 1 tablespoon of vinegar + milk to equal 1 cup)
2 tblsp of butter, melted

Mix all ingredients together. Add more flour if it is too sticky. I also let mine sit in the freezer for about 20 minutes, but if you are just going to use the 'ol scoop & roll to make doughnut holes, rather than cutting doughnuts this isn't really necessary.

While the dough gets its stickiness on in the freezer, mix 2 cups of powdered sugar with 4 tablespoons of apple cider. ALso, mix a whole bunch of sugar and cinnamon. That's right, these are glazed AND sugared.

Now, for the frying. I am ashamed to admit that I had to use SHORTENING and COCONUT OIL to fry these because I had nothing else on hand. Last time, I used canola oil + olive oil. Using a heat controlled electric griddle, I heated the oil to 350, about 3-5 inches deep. Start rolling small dough balls in your hands and dropping in. Turn every 30 seconds or so until deep golden brown. Set on a paper towel to control the grease, then lightly glaze and toss in sugar and cinnamon mixture.

ENJOY! This made about 30 or so doughnut holes? They are best the first day, so please share with friends.

Shrimp Quesadillas with a Creamy Peachy Avocado Dipping Sauce

In a heraculean effort, I tried to move away from obsession with the fall flavor palate and make some food that actually fits the weather this week. Ok, one day of this week. The result was stellar, and features an exciting NEW kitchen appliance!

To make these quesadillas, you will need sharp white cheddar or gruyere, some shrimpies, white corn tortillas, peach salsa, plain yogurt, an avocado, and a yellow onion. Since I share this blog with my sissies, neither of whom will eat a shrimp, let me also suggest brussel sprouts (!) or some good ol' chicken in place of the crustaceans. Are shrimp crustaceans? I digress. Let's hope those kind folks at the National SCIENCE Foundation who are funding my education don't read this blog.

Caramelize the onions in a little olive oil and salt. Add pre-cooked shrimp towards the end. In the meantime, place 1/2 an avocado, some peach salsa, and some plain yogurt into the mixing cup of your brand-spankin'-new-couldn't-afford-it-but-bought-it IMMERSION BLENDER! Zomg. Everyone should own one of these. If you are already an owner, proceed by blending these yummo ingredients into a dipping sauce. If not, well, as recently as Sunday I would have thought mashing this with a fork was acceptable. Feel free to proceed that way too. :D But think about saving up for this. I got a red Kitchenaid one for $49...pricey but I have used it 3 times in 24 hours.

Place as many tortillas as you want on a baking sheet; set your oven to a low broil. Shred the cheese onto the tortillas, add the shrimpies and their onion compadres, grate more cheese, and top with a another tortilla. Broil until ready & serve with dipping sauce. This dip is also an excellent salad dressing -- I paired the whole meal with a massaged spinach & corn simple salad that paired well with the sauce.

French Onion Cider Soup

Apples, onions, butter, cider, wine, broth, salt, pepper, crusty bread, gruyere. French Onion Cider Soup suitable for fancy guests or the most deserving guest of all, yourself. Marilyn at Simmer 'Till Done may once have been a pastry chef, but after this dish, she'll just be the goddess of good soup.

Guest Post: Potato/Kale/Butternut Mash

My life has had a lot more "Today I Didn't Cook" days than "Today I Cooked Days" lately - something I hope to remedy soon. But in the meantime, here's an email I just got from a friend in northern England:

"Oh my god, I just made this thing that I think you would really like (except I used bacon--but I'm sure you can find a way to make it without bacon but something else kind of salty & delicious). It was to use up the kale & the butternut squash in the vegbox.

Basically I mashed some potatoes, and stirred in some kale that I'd sauteed with onion, garlic & sage, and some chunks of cooked butternut squash, and some bacon. And some pepper & salt.

It's AMAZING!!! I'm in love with it. Maybe because I'm so hungry."

She notes that by "bacon," she means what the Brits call "back bacon" (known on this side of the pond as Canadian bacon), with the fat trimmed off.

Yummy Steak Rub, Fried Potaters and Chocolate Pomegranate Clusters

The boyfriend (M) is in town, and for our date night we decided to cook a not entirely healthful, but delicious, meal together. Here was the result.

1) M bought us two small steaks and invented his own steak rub to grill them. It involved worcestershire sauce, fresh oregano, chopped garlic, bay leaves, and a seasoning salt that contained black pepper, salt, onion powder, garlic powder and celery seeds to taste.

2) We then chopped up some potatoes into small, thin rounds and fried them in a frying pan with olive oil. Roomie 1 and I just bought some herb plants, so fresh rosemary was also added, along with the seasoning salt described above and salt and pepper to taste.

3) Since I know by now my sisters are quite concerned for my heart, it's ironic that the dessert was most likely the healthiest part of this meal. I bought pomegranates for fun today, and after reading through several dessert recipes online discovered that it pairs well with chocolate. I melted some dark chocolate chips in a saucepan, then transferred it to a bowl. Here I mixed in the pomegranate arils. The mixture clumped quite nicely, so I placed parchment paper on a baking sheet and used a fork to transfer the clusters to it. I then placed them in the freezer until the chocolate hardened. The pomegranate was a juicy surprise nestled within the bittersweet chocolate.

This meat-and-potatoes kinda gal was quite content with the combination of this meal, her boyfriend, Jack Johnson, fireworks from the football game and her balcony on a Phoenix October night.

Banana Chocolate Chip Oat Cookies

Adapted from Karina's Banana Cookie recipe. I changed the flours used and added liquid to make a softer, fluffier cookie (she says hers is crisp on the outside, so if you prefer that to a moist & chewy cookie, go for hers). I hate nuts in cookies, so I subbed for chocolate! :D These are obviously gluten free, and could easily be made vegan by substituting soy or almond milk for the 2 tablespoons of regular milk, using egg replacers instead of eggs, and opting out of the chocolate chips or finding a vegan version of those, as well.

Stir together:

1/2 cup of olive oil
2 tablespoons milk (if you are making these vegan, almond or soy would be fine)
2 eggs
2 bananas, previously mashed into a puree (I defrosted 2 overripe frozen bananas, they were easy to mash with a fork)
1/2 - 2/3 cup of applesauce, depending on how moist you want your cookies to be!

Add 1 cup of gluten free oats, set aside to soften.

In a seperate bowl, whisk together:

1 1/3 cup of brown rice flour
2/3 cup of coconut flour
1/3 cup of tapioca starch
1 teaspoon xantham gum
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups of brown sugar
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2/3 cup of chocolate chips (could use vegan version if you wish)

Slowly mix wet and dry ingredients; chill dough for 1 hour.

Before the hour is up, preheat oven to 375.

Bake on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. I made big cookies, and still got 30 or so! Cook for about 20 minutes, then enjoy with some hot tea.

Carrots and Corn and Lentils Oh My!

P and I spent last Sunday in Flagstaff, enjoying homey lunch places with exposed brick walls, pumpkin patches, beautiful canyons with Hopi cave dwellings, and oh yes Reeses peanut butter cup blizzards and Sunday football on a car radio.

Edit that. P tried to enjoy those things while I cried -- yes, in public -- on and off for Laramie. (Also a town that embraces homey lunch places, exposed brick walls, and chilly fall days. Plus I ate a lot of ice cream there.)

Needless to say, I needed some bolstering upon my return to Phoenix. So, while P went out on a run that led to him coming down with a violent flu, I innocently cooked red lentils in the rice cooker, steaming carrots and garlic in my handy-dandy steamer bowl thing that sits on top of the rice cooker, and went grocery shopping.

This worked SO well and was SO easy. I used 1 cup of lentils and 2 cups of water, but added a bit of water towards the end. On top I steamed about 5 carrots, chopped, and 5 cloves of garlic. At the store, I bought a box of some "natural" brand's creamed corn soup. Back home, I simmered the soup, added the lentils, carrots, and garlic, and stirred in several healthy teaspoons of curry powder and a pinch of sea salt.

The perfect quick, warm, ultra nutritious soup. Especially perfect if you are coming off a long day of sadness and headed into a long night of watching someone else have the stomach flu. I think the nutrients in this soup may have saved me from getting sick. That or the flu shot. Wash your hands, get your flu shot, and eat well people!!

...Caramel Apple Shortbread Crisp, or The Best Thing Since Apple Pie

Or maybe you don't have to wait that long. :)

This apple crisp is inspired and modified from this recipe from the New York times.

To start, the apples:

Chop up god-knows-how-many-freakin-apples (and yes, that is our technical term) into to super thin slices-enough to fill a wok to the brim. These will eventually release about a third of their volume. Put them in the wok over medium heat. Gradually add 2 cups of sugar as you cook, and add two tablespoons of butter when the apples begin to release their juices. Turn upon occasion, and cook until transparent and caramelized.

While cooking:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and coat a ten-inch square pan with butter.

The crust:
We crumbled store-bought gluten-free pecan shortbread cookies into a bowl. While I'm sure glutinous cookies would also do the trick, the gf ones seemed to crumble like magic. We then added brown sugar (small amounts) and butter. K showed me her expertise on making a coffee-cake like topping: Cut a half cup of butter into the sugar/shortbread, then break with hands into pea-sized amounts. "Toss" with sugar/shortbread and cut with flour until crumbly. Put in fridge until apples are finished.

To finish:
When apples are finished place into pan with crumble on top (and on bottom, too, if you like). Place in oven until top is browned, add cinnamon if desired. The result? Prepare your sweet tooth for a christmasy, crumbly taste meant to be shared with favorites. :)

Quinoa Cakes, Refried Roasted Squash and Canneli Beans, and an Apple Shortbread Crisp

Armed with hard cider and country music, I invited two favorites into my kitchen for some cooking remniscent of home on the windy range. We shared our evening with cakes of corn stuffed quinoa popping on the skillet, squash roasting in the oven, clicking keyboards on laptops, and oh-you-better-believe-it plans for an apple shortbread crip.

We were inspired to make the quinoa cakes from this menu at Herivoracious. I used more quinoa than he called for, and added 1/2 can of sweet corn kernels to the "dough". One of my partners in cooking is a genius of all types, but particuarly of the spice type. Because of her our cakes made space for the flavah of paprika, chili powder, sage, and salt. There was some basic veggie roastin', but the other highlight was really a roasted-creamed butternut squash with canneli beans that we tenderized with rubbed sage, butter, sea salt, and some soft swiss.

The apple shortbread crisp, well, for that you'll have to wait awhile.

Antelope Steaks, Roasted Squash with Corn Pudding, and Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

We had some of our favorite people over for dinner last night, and decided to break out the first of the antelope from P's successful hunt two weekends ago. The first game meat of the year clamors for a proper seasonal pairing, so I roasted acorn squash halves and filled them with corn pudding, following this recipe from 101 cookbooks.

The squash was delicious, but next time I would use fewer egg whites and add some polenta to the pudding recipe. The antelope, though, was tender and juicy, tasted like the best Wyoming has to offer. For those of you who need some helping dealing with game, here are our suggestions:

1) Shoot a young guy (or girl). They taste better. Especially if they are fat. I also believe they taste better if they are from Wyoming.
2) Marinade the steaks in soy sauce and some type of oil, and rub with salt and pepper.
3) Ok, I admit that's all I know. The rest involved fire, a charcoal grill, and a vigiliant eye (game meat overcooks easily because it is so lean). P had plenty of help from his niece and nephew, so I stayed out of the way.

What's that? You don't want to talk about hunting on National Vegetarian Day? How about pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, then? I am trying to use up a surplus of gluten free mixes, so I pulled a Bob's Red Mill Chocolate Chip Cookie mix out for the kids. While I love Bob's Red Mill in general, this particular mix always makes for a dry cookie. To fix that, I added in applesauce and coconut flour, mixing until it was nice and sticky like a proper cookie batter. Then, I added pumpkin pie spices. The result was a lovely plate full of very soft and chewy cookies.

The lessons? No one has to eat dry cookies, antelope is yummy, and it's all better with friends.

Roasted Corn and Tomato Risotto with Sharp White Cheddar

Fresh roasted corn kernels and tomatoes on the vine are my concession to 105 degree weather at the very end of September. They aren't pretending to be butternut squash, but not trying to be baby leafy greens and raspberries, either. When you add them to a pot of arborio rice that you've coaxed into becoming risotto using white wine and sharp white cheddar cheese, they manage to be comforting and hopeful all at once. And on top of having the right attitude, they're scrumptious.

To make:

1) Preheat your oven to 425.

2) Start heating a good portion of olive oil over medium heat in a soup pan.

3) Dice green onions and garlic, add to the soup pan.

4) Add arborio rice (or brown rice for the whole grain conscious) to the pot. I use 2 cups and make a hefty pot so we can have leftovers for a few days worth of lunches.

5) Saute onions, rice, and garlic for just a few minutes until translucent. Be careful not to brown!

6) Add liquid by the 1/2 cup, stirring each time until absorbed before adding more. I alternate water and white wine, or broth, water, and white wine.

7) Between stirs and pours, begin chopping vine tomatoes -- 6 or so will do. Put in oven on a roasting pan, drizzled with a bit more olive oil and sea salt.

8) Continue adding liquid and stirring until absorbed until the rice can absorb no more heat. Turn to low heat.

9) Add tomatoes and juice from oven. Also add 1 15 oz. can of corn kernels, well rinsed (or freshly roasted if you are ambitious!).

10) Stir risotto with corn and tomatoes and add a good 1/2 or 2/3 cup of grated sharp white cheddar cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Arugula Salad with Cantaloupe

This is a full-on rip-off of a salad I had for lunch at Gaia Bistro in Denver earlier today (yesterday? I'm posting dorkily late here!), but it was sooo good I want to be sure not to forget to make it sometime.

Salad:
Arugula, diced cantaloupe, mild goat cheese, thinly sliced red onion, chopped artichoke hearts

Vinaigrette:
A slightly salty, light-on-the-vinegar honey balsamic.

I think this would be good with some pepitas thrown in. (But then, I think that about most salads.) I also think I'll use white balsamic or maybe champagne vinegar in the vinaigrette when I do it. Ordinarily I don't much like red onion, but it was an awesome contrast to the cantaloupe. Least important ingredient: the artichokes.

UPDATE (9/20/09):
I made this for my book club tonight with the following variations, to positive reviews:

Salad:
Watercress, red leaf lettuce, diced cantaloupe, crumbled goat cheese, dehydrated onions

Vinaigrette:
sea salt, white balsamic, olive oil

Keep the dressing minimal as the onions and goat cheese are already a strong flavor counterpoint to the sweet cantaloupe and spicy watercress.

Chipotle Pumpkin Lima Soup

If you have a cold, or just need some warming, make this soup now. It is spicy and smoky and buttery all at once.

The original recipe for this soup comes from Super Natural Cooking, but I found it posted here by Heidi at 101 Cookbooks. I've adapted it slightly, including my favorite little gord, pumpkin, leaving in the softened garlic, and changing some amounts. If you aren't into pumpkin, you could use chunks of slightly roasted butternut squash. And if you love the original simplicity of a brothy soup with 5 ingredients (excluding water), then follow Heidi's suggestions instead of mine.

1 pound dried baby limas (don't use canned for soups...they get too mushy)
1 whole head garlic
14 cups of water
2 yellow onions
Chipotle peppers canned in adobo sauce
Sea salt
2/3 cup pumpkin puree (be careful -- I almost bought the pumpkin pie puree, what a disaster that would be)
OR 1 cup of roasted chunks of butternut squash

Soak 1 pound of baby limas for a few hours. Rinse. Throw in a pot with 10 cups of water and an entire head of garlic. Don't peel the garlic, just slice the top off and strip away the loosest layers. Simmer this until the beans are ready.

Meanwhile thinly slice 2 yellow onions and heat a good amount of olive oil in a skillet (I used 4 tablespoons, and added some in later, too). Cook on high, then stir with 3 chipotle peppers that have been canned with adobo sauce. Add 3-4 teaspoons of adobo sauce. Toss this into the broth and add 3 teaspoons of sea salt.

Follow with 2/3 cup of pumpkin puree or 1 cup of slightly roasted chunks of butternut squash. Simmer for another half an hour. Remove the garlic head, but squeeze all of the soft garlic out into the soup.

Slurpy Spicy Noodles

My body is thrashed from week two of marathon training, P is hunting in my favorite Wyoming prairie, and I am working hard hard hard on being worthy of being paid to go to school. All of which means that lately I require serious nourishment. And who doesn't feel better after slurping hot, spicy, slippery asian noodles?

Rice stick noodles
Orange pepper (I go with one pepper and one bunch of green onions per person you are serving)
Green onions
Thai curry powder (or really any curry powder, or paste)
Red pepper flakes
Garlic
Peanut oil or wok oil
Soy sauce (if you are gluten free and can't easily find gluten free soy sauce, you can just skip this)

Mince two or three cloves of garlic, and begin cooking on high heat in peanut oil. Add in thinly sliced orange pepper and green onions (slice both lengthwise). Dust the vegetables with the curry powder and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Put the noodles on to boil. Throw it all together, add more curry powder and a touch of soy sauce, and slurp happily away.

We also make this with snow peas and lime and crushed peanuts, and we might try it this week with thinly sliced pieces of antelope. Since I'll have 24 pounds of it on my hands upon P's return.

Cornbread Gratin with Sweet Potatoes and Summer Squash

Summer and Fall remain fused together here in the desert, and so for this delectable gratin I melded my seasonal vegetables, too. I find gluten free cornbread sours quickly (so strange -- any ideas on why?), so this is perfect for the last third of the pan.

Three yellow summer squash
Three medium sweet potatoes
1/3 pan of cornbread, torn into hunks and crumbs...probably 2 1/2 cups
Several cloves of garlic, minced
Feta
Olive oil
Butter
Fresh oregano (although dried will do)
Sea salt
Red pepper flakes, if you want some heat (I prefer all creamy mildness in this dish)

Slice summer squash and potatoes into thin rounds, unpeeled. Preheat oven to 400.

Toss sliced squash and sweet potatoes with lots o' olive oil, minced garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper if you prefer. Set aside.

Brown some butter in a frying pan. Add cornbread crumbs, wait until butter is absorbed, and remove.

Layer a baking pan with the dressed summer squash and sweet potatoes, and lots of crumbled feta. Top with cornbread. Bake for 30 minutes.

Penne San Tropez

P spent a year in Italy, and came home with a Penne San Tropez recipe from the women kind enough to expend their awesome culinary talents feeding American college kids.

Anyway, P makes the dish well, and now he makes it frequently because it is so amazing I have to have it at least every other week.

1 medium to large onion, finely minced
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
15 oz. canned crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup Swiss cheese
salt & pepper
1 lb. penne (we use Trader Joe's Brown Rice Penne)

Cook the onions in the olive oil and butter until they are tender. Add tomatoes, salt & pepper. Cook for 20-30 minutes over medium heat, then add the cream and toss with the pasta and the swiss cheese.

Creamy Stuffed Tomatoes

Playing on the toaster tomatoes posted earlier this month, tonight I cored and cleaned two tomatoes that we.had.to.eat.now. I stuffed them with everything good and fat, alternating slices of avocado and feta. A squirt of lemon juice, a cap of buttered, crumbled cornbread leftover from earlier in the weekend, and they were ready for the broiler.

Orange Oat-Crusted Herb Chicken

Last night, a friend and I baked this delicious orange chicken. We used more of the coating than the recipe called for, went heavy on the marmalade and also added some orange peel. Then we served it over jasmine rice. The result was a lighter, sweeter and healthier version of chinese orange chicken. YUM!

Roasted Fall Vegetables with Spaghetti Squash and Refried Butter Beans

Although the weather is not even hinting towards fall in this inferno of a city, I've moved onto fall foods, starting with pumpkin oats on Saturday (certified gluten free of course -- now found at Safeway!), cornmeal arepas on Sunday, and now the ultimate roasted goodness with squash.

Tonight, I loosely followed the plan for these roasted veggies and butter beans from the goddess of all things non-gluten, Karina at Karina's Kitchen. I roasted brussel sprouts (not a fall vegetable I know, but they were green and cute), cauliflower, carrots, sweet onions, and garlic with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, sage and salt. Served over spaghetti squash with a side of melty and creamy refried butter beans, which were cooked with more sage and garlic, it was enough to make me believe I was enjoying a chilly Wyoming fall evening.

And pssstttt, don't tell, but I mashed some cream cheese into the beans to increase their creaminess. Highly recommended.

Orange-Sriracha Stir Fry with Beets and Yu Choy

At the farmer's market yesterday I became attracted to some yellow-flowered greens sold by a Hmong family at their booth. They were labeled "Yu Choy" and tasted bitter, similar to mustard greens. (Turns out they're related, and yu choy is none other than rapeseed). I took a bunch home and decided I'd stirfry them alongside some beets - bitter greens + sweet, mellow roots - in a spicy, citrusy sauce.

1. I started by making the stir-fry sauce, since things happen so quickly once you throw vegetables on a wok:

2 TBSP Sriracha sauce
juice of 2 oranges
honey
red wine vinegar

2. Heated a tablespoon of sesame oil in the wok until nearly smoking, then tossed in:

2 large raw beets, sliced and cut into sticks
My bundle of yu choy, washed by soaking and chopped in half
Some diced fresh green beans
A can of rinsed chickpeas
several teaspoons each chopped garlic and ginger
the sauce

Don't let things get soft - turn off the heat as soon as the greens and beets darken a little in color, but while they're still crunchy.

3. Served over short-grained black rice, drizzled with a mixture of 1/2 coconut milk and 1/2 plain yogurt to balance out the heat. (The quantity of sriracha here would not be overwhelmingly hot for a lot of you, I'm sure, but I'm faint of heart. It made my nose run!)

Rustic Tomato Sauce with Peaches & White Beans

My portion of this blog so far might aptly be re-titled "Seven Million Ways to Eat Tomatoes and Peaches, Or, An Ode to Colorado Summer." The most recent iteration:


1. Chop a medium onion and slice up 6 cloves of garlic. Sweat these in a saucepan in just a little olive oil and a pinch of sugar.

2. Add the following:
6 sundried tomatoes, torn into chunks, and about 1 TBSP of their oil
10 or so small-to-medium, meaty summer tomatoes, chopped in large chunks
2 large juicy peaches, also chopped
Half a can of white beans for protein and texture (I used great northerns), drained and rinsed

3. Turn it all up to high and get 'er boiling - the tomatoes and peaches will produce plenty of liquid. I tasted at this point and the flavor was shockingly good already, so all I had to do next was...

4. Add a generous splash of good balsamic, a pinch more sugar, and salt to taste. Thicken with a teaspoon or two of corn starch (first dissolved in water, then added to the sauce).

I served this over farmer's market ravioli with corn on the cob. I <3 vegetables.