Check it Out

Just dropping by to share a link- my new friend Meagan posted a review of a dinner we shared at The Green Elephant- an awesome vegetarian restaurant. Check it out!

Veggies are beautiful

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, I was able to go to the Farmer's Market again on Saturday! I think that the fresh vegetables there are always so beautiful and appetizing! I bought more than I really needed because everything looked so delicious.

Delicious Carrots

I forgot to take a picture of my green onions until after I chopped them up

Beautiful Kale- my favorite!

Red Potatoes

This Cabbage is about twice the size of my head- and it was only $1.50!!I've managed to work my way through two of these big tupperwares full of cabbage so far this week

I've also been snacking on Satsumas

Is there a Farmer's Market where you live?

You might be a foodie...

• If you've ever been late to work b/c you were opening a pomegranate when you should have been drying your hair....
• If your cat is addicted to Greek yogurt.... (it's like having a small, sharp toothed food critic yowling at your feet whenever you go near the fridge)
• If the thing holding you back from vegetarianism is your love of pâté.... (and if you google pâté so you can copy and paste it to get the proper accents on the word)
• If you've ever made a vegetable dish for your non-veggie loving family and found out that they planted that very vegetable in their garden the next week....(I guess they liked my chard!)
• If that same family still complains about the time you made them eat "paper" and "foot cheese".... (the paper in question was rice paper wrapped around pork and shrimp spring rolls, and as for the cheese- they were on the Atkin's diet so I took them out for Charcuterie plates!)
• If everyone you know asks for recommendations about where to go for dinner....
• If you come up with an awesome recipe to blog about then realize that you're going to have to make it all over again so you can actually figure out what quantities of ingredients you used... (I'm officially promising you a healthy shrimp and grits recipe of my own devising- I made it last night and it was awesome- but I'll probably have to put off my re-do until after the holidays)

Do you have any weird quirks related to your hobbies?

Meringues

My darling fiance's mother gave us a KitchenAid mixer as an early (and greatly appreciated) wedding gift. I wanted to try it out today, so I decided to make meringues! I've never actually had meringues (although I love lemon meringue and key lime pie), but I thought they'd be the perfect thing to make in my mixer since they are so difficult to make by hand. Luckily, they turned out to be simple and delicious with the help of my mixer.
I used a recipe posted by Jenna at Eat Live Run, and added mini dark chocolate chips because someone in her comments suggested doing so. I'm glad I did because the rich chocolate was the perfect counterpoint to the airy sweetness of the sweetened egg whites.
Basically, I just mixed 3 egg whites, 1/4 tsp of cream of tartar, and 3/4 of a cup of sugar until the egg whites formed stiff glossy peaks, then folded in 1/2 a cup of mini-chocolate chips. I used two spoons to plop little meringue clouds onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper and baked them at 200 F for nearly two hours. Mine took longer than Jenna's recipe called for and I think it's because mine were bigger meringue blobs rather than the little meringue kisses she made- so adjust your time according to the size of your meringue. Just don't open the oven for a least an hour if you don't want your meringues to crack!
When the meringues were done, they were hard on the outside, and they got slightly harder as they cooled. The insides were spongy and full of air. (and chocolate!) They're so good that I'm not sure I'm going to be able to take them to work to share!

Hello, Gorgeous

Egg whites and cream of tartar

Let's get this party started!

Something's Happening!Wow! All that delicious fluff from 3 little egg whites!

Adding Chocolate Chips
Happy Little Clouds
The finished meringues. I ate two of them right after I took this picture!

What's your favorite dessert?

Ottolenghi

My friend Kristi gave me the Ottolenghi Cookbook for my birthday and I promised to let her know how the recipes were. I decided the best way to do so would be to blog about it!
I wanted to make my darling fiance a fancy dinner and this seemed like the perfect excuse. After pouring through the cookbook several times, I decided to make two of the side dishes and serve them alongside roast chicken (b/c for some reason, side dishes and apps are always more appealing to me than entrees).
I decided to make roasted golden beets (the recipe called for mixed golden and red beets, but there were only golden ones at the store) and caramelized endives with Serrano Ham (I used prosciutto instead though though).
I made these dishes over the course of two nights. On the first night, I peeled and roasted the beets in foil and caramelized the endive halves in sugar and butter. The next evening, I assembled the roasted beet salad (using the herb mix from Whole Foods, along with sunflower seeds, and the recipe's maple dressing) then topped the endives with cream, cheese, thyme, breadcrumbs, and ham and baked them for 20 minutes.

Golden Beets Look Cool

Especially When You Peel Them

Halved EndivesCaramelizing Away- I Can't Even Describe How Great This Smelled

Ready to be Topped and BakedCompleted Salad with Beets, Sunflower Seeds, Baby Greens and Herbs

Endives Out of the Oven

Dinner is Served!

A few notes:
1) I washed the skillet after Pancaked stepped in it prior to cooking my endives. :)
2) The lighting in my kitchen is lousy, I cook at night, and my camera is old, so please excuse my picture quality.
3) The recipes I picked out were easy to follow and resulted in an excellent meal. My only issue with the cookbook is that all of the units are Britsh- so Celcius, ml, and grams. I did conversions for the stuff that seemed important but I was a little too lazy to figure out how many grams of salad I should have used and just winged it on things like that. Everything turned out fine, but if you are nit-picky converting everything could prove to be time consuming.

Overall I loved these recipes and I'm excited to cook more things out of this book. (I have my eye on mushrooms with barley and preserved lemons for this week.) Thanks for the awesome present, Kristi!

Quick Dinner Formula

I want to post something of substance since my past 3 entries are so link-tastic. So in the vein of being busy and tired, yet still craving substance, I thought I’d post my quick, nourishing dinner formula.

It’s really easy. Basically, I opt for a fast protein like beans or eggs, a quick cooking whole grain (generally whole wheat spaghetti or quinoa), veggies (Like sauteed fresh spinach, or frozen broccoli that can be quickly cooked), and extras (any combination of olive oil, lemon juice, cheese, garlic and onions, spices, herbs, and hot sauce spring to mind).

So, for example: last night I stumbled into the kitchen, started a pot of water for some frozen Brussels sprouts, and another for some quinoa. Both cook in about 10 minutes. When they were done, I put them together in a bowl, drizzled in some olive oil and lemon juice, then sprinkled on Parmesan cheese and lots of black pepper. Finally, I topped the whole thing with 2 sunny-side up eggs, which take about 2 minutes to cook. My meal went from the freezer to the table in about 15 minutes.
The platonic ideal of this meal would have involved roasting the sprouts and adding some sautéed garlic and onions to the mix, but those steps are certainly optional. I opted out and still really enjoyed my dinner.

Tonight, I’m planning to cook some frozen broccoli, and combine it with some canned white beans, garlic (thrown in the pot when I heat the beans), lemon juice and goat cheese. This will be eaten on top of whole wheat spaghetti.

What’s your go-to formula for a quick, satisfying meal?

Blueberry Braided Bread

Last week, I was having a stressful day and decided to let off some steam in a completely normal way- I decided to embark on a 4 hour baking project after work. And of course, I decided that the best thing to do would be to combine two recipes I'd never tried before. I mean, isn't that what everyone does on a weekday? So clearly not, but baking bread on a weeknight can be done without cramping one's schedule too greatly because there are big spaces of free time built into the process. And, amazingly enough, this project turned out to be a fantastic success.
I wanted to make a braided blueberry cream cheese bread, but most of the recipes I found called for an overnight rise. Finally, I found a recipe for a braided lemon curd and cream cheese bread on Smitten Kitchen that could be accomplished in one night. Ultimately, I chose to combine the bread from the Smitten Kitchen recipe with the filling from a recipe I found on Fresh Loaf, but I ended up making a few changes to both recipes. The bread recipe needed more liquid and a longer baking time for me, and I simplified the cream cheese filling recipe a bit.

Sponge

6 tablespoons warm water
1 teaspoon sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

Dough:
Sponge (above)
6 tablespoons Greek yogurt
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs, 1 for the dough, 1 beaten with 1 teaspoon milk and set aside for brushing the bread
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Filling

2 cups frozen blueberries
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 tablespoons lemon juice

8 oz. softened cream cheese

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

First, combine the ingredients to make the sponge. Then set it aside and allow it to rise for 15 minutes. (During this time, I walked the dogs and got ready to go to the gym.)

Next, whisk together the yogurt, egg, sugar, vanilla, and salt. Mix in the sponge, then slowly add the flour. The original recipe called for 2.5 cups of flour, but I only used 2 and 1/3 cups and added a little milk at the end so that all of the flour would incorporate. Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes, place it in a lightly greased bowl, cover it with saran wrap and allow it to rise for 60-90 minutes. (During this time I went to the gym, and stopped by the grocery store to get some cream cheese. I also made my fillings.)

While the bread is rising, heat the blueberries, sugar and lemon juice on the stove until the blueberries are thawed and boiling. Add the cornstarch and allow the berry mixture to thicken while it simmers.

Soften the cream cheese, then combine it with the sugar and vanilla.


Once the bread has risen and the fillings have been made, roll the bread out into a big rectangle on a piece of aluminum foil (this is crucial). Spread the cream cheese in a long strip down the middle of the rectangle, leaving plenty of dough on either side. Carefully spread the blueberries on top of the cream cheese. (I had some leftover blueberry sauce- I saved it and had it on my yogurt the next day- Yum!)
To make the braid, cut inch wide strips down the sides of the dough on either side. Make sure to cut the same number of strips on each side. Then fold the strips over each other over the filling to form the braid. (Please excuse my blurry camera- I'm not sure what happened...maybe some cream cheese on the lens?)Transfer the braided bread to a baking sheet (just carefully pick up the foil by holding either end, and then lift it onto the sheet. Allow the bread to rise for about an hour. (During this time, I made and ate my dinner, and cleaned up the kitchen.)


Brush the egg wash over the bread and then bake it at 375 for about 40 minutes. Allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before you slice it.

Crescent City Farmer's Market

For the past three weeks, I've made a point to go to the Crescent City Farmer's Market every Saturday and buy my veggies for the week. I love going there for so many reasons. There is usually a band playing, everyone is relaxed and happy to be there, there is a large selection of veggies, and the veggies themselves are gorgeous. There are other offerings besides veggies of course- like baked goods, fresh juice, cheese, flowers, potted plants, meat, eggs, seafood, milk, jams, and coffee. This time when I came home to put away my food for the week, I remembered to take pictures so I could blog about my haul!
Ironically enough, I've definitely been getting my 5 veggies a day without really trying lately because I don't want anything to go to waste. I've also been eating a lot of meatless meals (basically out of laziness- eggs and beans are so fast!) which has freed up room in my belly for more veggies.
So without further ado, here is my haul for the week!

First, I got some fresh farm eggs! I love the two little blue eggs that came in this dozen. (I totally ate them first!)

Up next is pattypan squash, sweet potatoes (I top them with chili for lunch), blueberries, and green beans. Some of the blueberries were used the next day in a mixed greens salad topped with blueberries, chopped hazelnuts, and goat cheese.
Rye bread! I get this for my darling fiance because he loves dark German bread. Also, Mr. Mueller, the little old German man who sells the bread is an absolute treat. The first time I bought the bread he suggested that I pair it with butter and tomatoes and maybe a little bit of onion. He then advised me not to kiss my fiance after eating onions!
You can read all about his breads on his website. I normally don't care for dark bread, but I think that this loaf is really amazing- so flavorful!
Beets! You can't tell, but the beets are longer than my forearm. I'll probably be having beets and beat greens (which are totally edible, in case you didn't know) with walnuts and goat cheese over some amaranth tomorrow for dinner.
Kale- my favorite. I eat a bunch of kale every week. I also bought some shrimp that I didn't take a picture of because I didn't want to take them out of their bag. I had them for dinner on Sunday, grilled on kebabs (along with some tomato chunks) and topped with pineapple salsa, along with the aforementioned salad. And finally, I picked up a couple tamales for lunch. One is cheese and jalapeno and one is tomato, black bean, and corn. So yummy!

Deconstructed Guacamole

My mom's best friend, Doris, is one of my favorite people on the planet. She's an Italian New Yorker (with the temper to match!) who has found herself transplanted to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. She wears tons of jewelry, curses like a sailor when she drives (to the amusement and shock of my mother) and is the sweetest, funniest, most devoted friend you could ever hope to have. I'm terribly fond of her- and happy that she doesn't mind that I tag along with her and mom when I'm on the coast.
Doris sends me recipes, and I've gotten a lot of mileage out of one recipe in particular. It began it's life as an avocado tomato salad, but over the past couple of years, I've slowly altered it. The version I make now, in my opinion, is perfect. I love it because it tastes wonderful, and is a great healthy option to bring to a barbecue or picnic.The first time I made this, I followed the recipe and intended for it to be a salad. I set it out on the table, alongside salad bowls and tongs, only to watch aghast as my friends dug into it with some chips that happened to be nearby. I haven't bothered with the salad bowls since.
The first change I made after that was to omit the bacon- I guessed, correctly, that serving this as a dip with blue corn chips would provide the same satisfying salt and crunch.
Next, I fiddled with the proportions. These days, when I make a big potluck sized batch, I use 2 large tomatoes, 2 avocados, and 1/2 a red onion. (The batch I made today used 1.5 Roma tomatoes, 1 avocado, and about 1/4 of a red onion- and will be enough for two people to munch on for a day or two.)
Finally, I noticed that while the dip tasted wonderful, it always looked a little brown. I solved this problem by switching from balsamic vinegar to brown rice vinegar. Be sure to add plenty of hot sauce to adjust for the milder taste.The last time I served this, my friend Katy dubbed it "deconstructed guacamole" which sounds better than my name for it: "tomato avocado dip that is supposed to be a salad."

Deconstructed Guacamole (serves a big group as an appetizer)

2 ripe avocados
2 ripe tomatoes
1/2 red onion
salt and pepper to taste

Chop the onion, tomatoes, and avocado. The onion should be chopped finely, but the avocado and tomato should be fairly chunky. The chunks are kind of the point of the recipe, but you want to avoid getting a big bite of nothing but onion on your chip-- that can be a little overwhelming.
Mix the chopped veggies together, then add salt and pepper to taste.

In a small bowl, mix together the following:

2 T olive oil
2 T brown rice vinegar (I found mine at whole foods- regular rice vinegar would work just as well)
hot sauce to taste (I use about 1/2 a teaspoon of Louisiana Hot Sauce)

These amounts are pretty approximate. I've never liked the classic 3:1 oil to vinegar ratio in most dressing, and to be honest, I tend to mix mine up, taste it, and add more vinegar and hot sauce as needed. As for spiciness- I add hot sauce until I can taste a little heat in the back of my mouth. You don't want the spiciness to overwhelm the dip, but you do want it to have a little kick.

Once the dressing is mixed up, add it to the veggies and let it rest in the fridge for at least half an hour. Serve with blue corn chips. I also think this would be great with grilled chicken or shrimp.