Amytacular

For Real?

2011-06-03T09:37:00.000-07:00

Just a quick follow-up to my last post. My brother, his family and my mom came over for the Memorial Day weekend and we had a great dinner. Threw some steaks on the grill for the carnivores, some salmon burgers for my mom and me the pescavores along w/ some asparagus and potatoes.

I was testing the waters with the whole raw asparagus thing to the family and my mom then threw out eating raw asparagus would cause kidney failure. Not sure where my mom got her medical degree or whether she was moonlighting at med school when we were kids but she is getting crazier than ever.

And Gabe wonders why I'm as crazy as I am.

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Love you, mom!

Raw Asparagus Herbed Quinoa Salad

2011-04-18T12:37:00.000-07:00

My mom is a great lady. She's one of those sweet, caring (sometimes overbearing) Chinese ladies that likes to shop and go have weekend dim sum. Being an only daughter, she always had advice for me - whether I wanted it or not. My mom always means well but her well-meaning advice comes off sometimes misguided and often in the form of crazy Chinese superstitions and old wives' tales. Some of her gems of advice I endured as a confused child (which has definitely bled into adulthood):

Don't go to bed w/ wet hair

Don't drink anything cold when Aunt Flow is in town

Don't wipe your face w/ a kitchen towel

Don't sleep w/ anywhere where there's a draft blowing air directly on you

Don't sweep your front door during Chinese New Year

Don't laugh too hard before sleeping

Don't look out the window after dark

Don't eat meat on your bday

Don't let men eat leftover eggs (Gabe had a field day w/ this one)

I always ask her for a justification behind the crazy Chinese advice and she always just pacifies me by telling me she doesn't know and she heard it from her mom or grandmother. She also told me not to eat raw veggies and actually entertained me by providing a rather ominous consequence that it could make you grow unwanted facial hair . What sort of crazy person tells all this insane advice to a child?

For the aforementioned reasons, I never really grew up eating any kind of raw veggies. I have however, seen a slew of raw asparagus recipes (including this one - delish!) and all I have to say is, I'm a FAN. Bring on the facial hair.

Raw Asparagus Herbed Quinoa Salad

1-1/3 c. quinoa (cook according to package instructions)
8-10 stalks asparagus (about 1/2 inch diameter if possible)
2 tbsp. flat leaf parsley, chopped
2 tbsp. cilantro, chopped
1 scallion, chopped
1/4 c. sliced almonds, toasted
1/4 c. dried cranberries
1 meyer lemon (about 1/4 to 1/3 c. juice, you'd be surprised how much the quinoa absorbs)
2 tbsp. EVOO
1/2 tsp. salt
pepper to taste

Cook quinoa according to package instructions (I always use my rice cooker and cook it w/ the same 1:1 ratio) - don't forget to add a dash of salt to the stuff before you hit the button. Wash and thinly slice the asparagus on the bias.

After the quinoa is finished cooking, add the chopped herbs to let them mellow slightly (unless you like the punch of fresh fresh herbs). After the mix comes to room temp, add the rest of the ingredients, toss and serve immediately. If making ahead, leave the almonds out until just before service so they don't get soggy.

I've been out of commission w/ the blog for several months! It's sad. I wish I had more time to do it and promised I would after getting acclimated w/ the new job. We'll see how consistent I can be. Thanks for stopping by!

Roasted Beet & Tomato Salad

2010-08-30T00:39:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posting. And I'm also sorry that the few posts that I have put out, they're all about salad. I hate salads as you may know.

Anyhow, I'm really truly trying to get back into my blog but the summer's here but it's hard getting motivated to look at a computer after staring at a computer for 9 hours a day. If you're living in the Northwest, we use the word 'summer' pretty loosely considering it's been mostly cloudy and cool..but far better than being in the heat wave and flooding the rest of the US has been encountering). I love summer. It means farmers markets, sun dresses & tanned skin (no fake n' bake, please).

I hit up a farmers markets with a few girlfriends a few weeks ago and was inspired by these gorgeous bright yellow-orange beets. Yes, beets. I've never cooked beets but they claimed it was very easy to do..and they were right! After a rather long day of eating dim sum, baseball food at a Mariner's game and other various junk, I felt like Gabe and I should redeem ourselves w/ a light dinner. This is the lovely little ditty is what resulted.

Roasted Beet & Tomato Salad

makes 2 dinner sized salad portions

4 beets (mine were between a large egg and a baseball sized)
1½ c. grape tomatoes
3 tbsp. crumbled feta cheese (blue cheese would also be excellent)
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil (more for roasting beets)
2 tbsp. fresh basil
salt & pepper to taste
1 thinly sliced red onion, optional

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Wash and dry beets to remove excess dirt (do not peel). Drizzle w/ 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle w/ ½ tsp. kosher salt. Wrap in a foil packet and roast for 1 hour. Depending on the size of your beets, you may have to adjust cooking time. Beets act like potatoes, when they're done, they are fork tender. Remove from the oven and allow to cool - skins should slide off easily. I just made the beets ahead of time and threw them in the fridge.

Peel and slice beets, arrange on the bottom of the plate. Slice tomatoes and pile on top of beets. Sprinkle w/ feta (add red onion) - salt, pepper, EVOO. Slice basil in small ribbons (stack leaves, roll like a cigar and with a very sharp knife slice thin ribbons) and sprinkle on top - enjoy!

Another note about the beets - as you may or may not have heard, they bleed and stain everything. I just used a dark cutting board and did all the skin removal in the foil packet. Even when you are washing, if you scrub the skins too hard, they'll start bleeding so be careful & try not to use a light colored porous cutting surface. These were even the lighter colored orange beets - if all you can find is the dark red ones, be especially careful!

New Fave Salad

2010-07-01T12:45:00.001-07:00

I never thought I'd post about a salad, let alone one that I would actually use 'fave' in the title but this one's really yum. I'm kinda at work on my lunch break and I'm feeling super guilty that it's already July and I only posted one recipe last month. So this one's a little half post.

Sorry for the iPhone photo. This salad would be really yum w/ a piece of fish or some chicken too but the beans and almonds give it a lot of body. Enjoy!

Feta Almond White Bean Salad

serves 1

2 c. arugula (romaine works well too)

1/2 c. sliced cucumber (I use hot house)

1/2 c. cannellini beans (drained and rinsed thoroughly)

1/4 c. crumbled feta cheese

1/4 c. slivered almonds, toasted

2 tbsp. The Family Dressing

I didn't think you needed instructions on making a salad either. Enjoy friends!

Baked French Toast - Two Ways

2010-06-13T20:12:00.000-07:00

Is there anything that screams Sunday morning more than french toast? I'm dying. I die at the thought of french toast on Sundays. Mostly because I can't sleep in and do whatever on Sunday morning.

There's always Saturdays though, right? Wrong. There is baked french toast though. Genius.

How about some niiiice baked black berry french toast. Now that summer is just around the corner I can stop hoarding the last of the blackberries Gabe picked last summer. We made it, hon. Let the hoarding begin.

Start with some lovely sourdough or challah bread. Day old is good. A few days old is best. If you were lucky enough to have some house guests bring you a lovely loaf of sourdough from Brown Bag - you can't do much else than make them a lovely baked french toast with it.

So I made the blackberry french toast for them. Thoughts? It was a little runny. I like bread pudding just like anyone else but it seemed just a tad soggy for my taste. Still good, but I needed more bread.

More carbs.

The answer to life is more carbs.

And butter. Butter the baking dish. I used a 9" x 13" glass dish with sides about 2" high.

If you like your baked french toast a little on the..softer side, use 3 - 1" thick slices of bread, cubed. If you like a little more texture, use 4 slices.

Then eggs.

Beat lightly.

Milk.

Whisk.

This is the real stuff. No fake syrup please.

Now, if you're doing all maple walnut, you can skip the lemon zest. I didn't mind the lemon zest in the maple walnut, but I hardly consider my opinion normal. That's just me.

I definitely wouldn't skip this if I was making a completely blackberry (or whatever other fruit for that matter) baked french toast.

It really cuts through the richness of the custard - brightens the whole thing up.

But for me, I like raisins and nuts. Gabe? Not so much. So I did what any diplomatic person would do. I made 1/2 for him, 1/2 for me.

Walnuts and raisins for Mrs.

Oops - almost forgot the cinnamon in the milk/egg/syrup mixture.

Then pour the mixture over the bread.

Try to coat everyone evenly, people. Let's be fair to all the pretty little bread cubes.

And don't forget to press the bread down into the mixture. If you don't soak all the cubes, some may end up burning on the top.

There are those blackberries. Just a tad bit of freezer burn got them. They were probably happy to fulfill their little berry destinies. Sprinkle over the other half.
Then make the cinnamon/sugar mixture.
Mix.

Sprinkle over the whole thing.

Then? More butter. You knew that was coming though.
Dot the whole thing w/ little bits of butter.

This thing baking makes the whole house smell amazing. But you have to be patient..you're looking at about an hour's worth of baking and cooling time.
Grab a crossword puzzle or something.

Gabe's bite.

My bite. Mmmmmm.

And another one for Gabe.

Baked Two Way French Toast

makes 6-8 servings

If you want to do all berries/fruit or all raisins/nuts, just double the below topping quantities and omit the one you don't want.

Butter, for greasing
8 eggs
3 cups whole milk
1/2 c. buttermilk
3/4 cup maple syrup, plus extra for serving
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 lemon, zested **
4 (1-inch thick) slices day-old challah or sourdough bread, cut into 1-inch cubes

Toppings for Two Way version:

1 cup (12 ounces) fresh or frozen, thawed, and drained blackberries

and..

1/2 c. raisins
1/2 c. walnuts

lastly (for sprinkling)..

3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

1/2 stick butter - cubed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter your 9x13" baking dish. Cut 4 - 1" slices of sourdough or challah bread into 1" cubes. In a large bowl, crack eggs and mix lightly with whisk. Whisk in milk, buttermilk, maple syrup and 2 tsp. cinnamon. Zest lemon and add to mixture, whisk until incorporated.

Pour mixture over breadcubes. Make sure to press bread down into egg mixture. Spread berries on half and raisins and walnuts on other half. Sprinkle sugar/cinnamon mixture over entire pan. Dot with cubed butter evenly. Bake for 45 minutes or until set - enjoy!

**If you're doing raisins/nuts version, you can omit the lemon zest. Or keep it in - it's a free country, right?

Not Dead (I don't think)

2010-06-07T15:23:00.000-07:00

Hi friends! I've been a bad blogger. I've been neglecting this blog and using the new job as an excuse. Boooo.

No worries! I will definitely kick my butt into gear and post something this weekend. Keep the faith.

My Pizza Obsession

2010-05-12T21:05:00.000-07:00

Hi friends! Sorry I've been out of commission for a few weeks. New job, company, sleep deprivation! All worth it though. I've got a backlog of recipes to share but for now, here's my absolute favorite thing I've learned since being on PW's website: making homemade pizza.

This pizza is seriously the easiest thing you've ever made. You can make it in advance, let it sit in the fridge, stick it in the freezer, whatever.

I haven't made the version that's in these photos for a while, but no matter - it's super versatile.

We almost always make this pizza with:

fresh mozzarella
feta cheese
fresh garlic
baby portabello mushrooms
proscuitto
fresh spinach

..but it's super versatile. My suggestion is to keep 'wet' ingredients to a minimum: tomatoes, onions, peppers, etc. Since it's such a thin crust it can get soggy. Carrie suggested caramelized onions one night we made this and it was awesome.

I'm actualy more of a thick crust pizza girl but this pizza is seriously deee-lish. It's basically PW's pizza recipe, I just like to use a mix of whole wheat as well as AP flour.

If you have time, roasted eggplant is really yummy. Just slice into 1/4" slices, drizzle w/ some olive oil and roast at 425 degrees for about 25 minutes until they're nice and caramelized.

That's only if you have time. If you don't, just go w/ some easy ingredients you have laying around. Sorry I haven't taken photos of the dough making process, it's just so easy. Plus, PW has step-by-step instructions too.

Bake at 500 degrees for about 20 minutes.

Doesn't that look good?

It's about to get better..wait for it..

Basil.

Basil makes everything better.

Pair it w/ a good salad to make yourself feel better about eating the whole thing.

Pizza. Side salad.

Here's a proscuitto, garlic, feta and spinach.

And pepper.

The proscuitto is awesome. Gets nice and crispy like bacon.

You can see the little bits of fresh garlic. It gets super fragrant and crunchy.

And the feta adds so much flavor.

I think I may have drooled on my keyboard a little there.

I hope you make this soon. Then don't blame me for putting it into your repertoire. It's been in heavy rotation at my house since PW posted it in February.

Pizza Dough

makes 2 balls of dough, each enough to fit a half sheet pan

adapted from The Pioneer Woman's favorite pizza dough

2 c. AP flour
2 c. whole wheat flour
1/3 c. extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp. kosher salt
1.5 c. extra warm water (about 110 degrees or so)
1.5 tsp. dry active yeast (can use 1 tsp. if using all AP flour)
1 tbsp. cornmeal for sprinkling on bottom

Dissolve yeast in water and set aside. In a stand mixer, mix flours and salt. While the mixer is going on low speed, drizzle in olive oil. Then stir water/yeast mixture and pour into mixer on low speed. After all is poured, continue to mix for a few minutes. If the dough looks too wet, sprinkle in 1 tbsp. of flour at a time.

Note: PW suggests using the paddle but I find using the dough hook works fine too, just requires a little more flour. Keep some on the side and sprinkle in 1 tbsp. at a time until the dough comes together in a ball.

If your making for the week: divide the dough in half and drizzle with about 1 tbsp. olive oil, rub to coat. Place in separate containers (I use clean 32 oz. containers that my cottage cheese or sour cream came in from Costco). I usually just put the top on, put it in the fridge and wait at least one day for it to rise slowly as PW suggests.

If you're making day-of: just leave it on the counter or some warm, non drafty place to rise for at least an hour.

If you want to use one and store the other for later, just wrap tightly w/ plastic wrap and place in the freezer until the day-of. Take it out in the a.m. and put on the counter at least 6 hrs. before baking.

When you're ready to bake, preheat oven to 500 degrees. Flatten out the dough onto a half sheet pan (don't use non-stick pan, the oven temp is too hot so that coating would burn right off). Flattened dough should be about 1/4" thick. Instead of more olive oil, sprinkle cornmeal liberally on the bottom of the dough for easy removal and added texture.

Toppings:

1 1/4 c. fresh mozzerella
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp. crumbled feta cheese
4-5 thin slices proscuitto
3/4 c. sliced baby bella mushrooms
2 c. fresh baby spinach
1 tbsp. olive oil
fresh basil for garnish

Add toppings (I like to put toppings on in this order from the mozzarella to spinach. Bake at 500 degrees for about 20 minutes until cheese is golden and bubbly. Garnish w/ red pepper flakes.

Quinoa Pudding w/ Strawberries

2010-04-29T22:33:00.000-07:00

Has quinoa become the next big thing? I kept hearing more and more things about it. Curiosity finally got the best of me and I decided to get a cup at Top which happens to have a super bulk food section. Then the quinoa proceeded to sit in my pantry for 2 months.

Normally, I don't associate quinoa as a sweet dish. I've only ever seen it prepared as a savory side dish so of course, nothing would motivate me more than hearing about some creamy dessert w/ quinoa.

Isn't it pretty? You can cook it up like rice too - 1:2 ratio. I cooked it in the rice cooker and it came out beautifully.

For this, you'll need 1 c. quinoa.

Then the good stuff. 1 c. heavy cream.

Add that to 3 cups of milk. I used 2%. In fact, I always use 2% milk when cooking and baking.

Whisk together and bring to a simmer.

While that's coming up to temperature, get your vanilla bean and split & scrape the pod.

With the back of the knife, folks. Don't learn the hard way like me.

Mix them into the milk mixture. Throw the emptied pod in there too for good measure.

Then some of the sweet stuff. Just a 1/4 c.

Then take your 1 c. strawberries and slice.

And add about 1 tbsp. sugar, mix. Let them start getting all yummy.

Macerating. That's the technical term for it. Thank you Food Network.

When the cream mixture comes to a simmer, whisk in your quinoa.

Now be patient. This stuff needs to lightly simmer for about 30 minutes.

And you need to stir occasionally.

Look at those pretty vanilla bean seeds. I love them.

After about 30 minutes, your strawberries will have made this lovely syrup.

30 minutes later, you'll get a tapioca like result. Only more healthy than tapioca. I imagine there's a good amount of protein in quinoa compared to tapioca.

Fish out your pod. Nobody wants to eat that.

Portion into 5-6 half cup portions. Sprinkle w/ macerated strawberries.

Quinoa Pudding with Strawberries

I had to try this recipe from this awesome blog

Hope you try it!

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

2010-04-26T08:15:00.000-07:00

I have a hard time buying foods I know how to make. I'm just cheap that way. The girls at work are forever eating hummus and I'm always mentally commenting, "Ooh, hummus. That sounds good." But then I never make it. I'm also lazy that way.

I'm also a strong believer in putting better ingredients into foods so I'm not eating all that processed crap. Don't get me wrong, I still love processed food (Doritos will be in heaven if I get there), I just want to eat less and less of it in our diet. Lord help me when this summer rolls around though. I'm planning on making my own ice cream.

I forgot to include the e.v. olive oil in the photo. Whoopsie.

Some people use that liquid in the dip. I don't know, I just don't like the thick consistency or something.

And I've rinsed these before and this foamy stuff always appears...just unappetizing to me.

There. Much better.

Dump into the food processor. Do you see that little green thing out of focus? I don't know what it was. Probably an unripened bean or something. And that's why you rinse.

Costco sells these big jars of fire roasted red peppers. Yes!

Some tahini, gotta have it for hummus.

I just chop the garlic clove into some smaller pieces, just to give the food processor a head start.

Salt & pepper.

Then I was wondering why it was so thick & it wouldn't blend.

Duh, I forgot the olive oil.

There we go.

Now we're getting there.

Now scrape down the sides.

Preferably w/ your customized spatula. Tien rocks.

Adjust for seasoning. Pulse to blend.

I like to put it in a jar and cover w/ a little olive oil.

So pretty. Enjoy!

All I had was tortilla chips but normally I'd eat w/ pita.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

makes about 1.5 cups of hummus

1 10 oz. can garbanzo beans, rinsed & drained

1 large roasted red pepper

1 1/2 tsp. tahini

1/4 c. lemon juice (the juice of about 1 lemon)

1/3 c. extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1 clove garlic

Rinse beans until the foam disappears. Put all ingredients into a food processor and process until smooth. Enjoy w/ veggies or pita chips as a dip.

Indonesian Ginger Chicken

2010-04-23T08:15:00.000-07:00

Are you sick of me blogging about how much I love Barefoot Contessa? Gabe always tells me if I love her so much I should just marry her. Too late for BC, honey - I already married you. Besides, you're waaaaaay cuter. ;)

Her food is just so..awesome. This super simple Indonesian Ginger Chicken is SO GOOD. A great prescription for my chicken hoarding problem. I hoard whole chickens when the price dips to anywhere around $0.70/lb. Hoard, friends. Just stick them in the freezer. I wish I had an extra freezer but I have no room for it. Therefore I can only hoard 2 or 3 max since my freezer elicits gasps of horror from my sister-in-law and mother at the sight of how gorged it is w/ food. I'm getting better.

Tell me you don't want to eat this for dinner:

Told you.

Let's begin.

I've been on a ginger kick lately too. Ginger is really good for inflammation and I have rheumatoid arthritis, so it's supposed to help.

Tip: I've said it before folks, peel and freeze your ginger. It grates up so nicely straight out of the freezer. Like ginger snow. Super finely grated ginger. And you don't waste a bit if you peel with a spoon. It just barely scrapes the paper thin skin off the ginger. Double bag it and it lasts in the freezer forever.

Dump the honey in a saucepan.

Soy sauce to follow.

Ginger, grated on a microplane.

Lots of garlic.

All the kids get dumped in the pool.

Bring to simmer, take off the heat.

Let cool.

Meanwhile, get the chickens butchered.

Set yourself up for success here. Have your sheet pan nearby and your meat cutting board ready to put into the dishwasher.

Remove the neck bones, liver and/or gizzards. Lisa loves that part. Then cut the backbone out. Just use the little chicken butt as a guide to cut about a 1" wide spine out of the chicken.

Use some heavy duty kitchen scissors if your knife isn't working.

I leave the thigh and drums together as well as the breast and wing. Big big meaty pieces.

Then take your cooled marinade and dump it on the chicken. Skin side down.

I made the mistake of not lifting the pieces up so the marinade could get underneath the chicken.

Get it all over the chicken. I'm an equal opportunity marinader.

This sauce smells awesome.

Everyone happy?Happy.

Cover and refrigerate overnight.

This is what they look like after a little sleepover in the marinade.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and put this thing in the oven (foil on please).

After 30 minutes, you're going to remove the foil and it'll look like this. Freaky 1/2 cooked chicken. Calm thyself.

Flip it over so the skin side faces up. Now crank up the heat to 375 degrees and bake for another 30 minutes.

Then you'll get this.

Glorious golden sweet gingery garlic goodness.

Leftovers were amazing. I ate both hot and cold. Both awesome.

I loved the charred pieces.

That skin. Awesome.

BC's Indonesian Ginger Chicken

a direct recreation from this Barefoot Contessa recipe

makes 6-8 servings

1 cup honey
3/4 cup soy sauce (I used low sodium)
1/4 cup minced garlic (I just put a full head of garlic)
1/2 cup peeled and grated ginger root
2 (3-4 lb) chickens, quartered, backbones removed

Put the honey, soy, garlic & ginger in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Immediately after it comes to a boil, remove from the heat, let cool.

Butcher your chicken into eight large pieces. No sissy pieces here, friends. Put the chicken skin side down on a baking sheet - something w/ sides, I used my trusty half sheet pans.

Pour the cooled marinade over all the chicken, slather. Make sure the skin side is down but the marinade gets all underneath as well. After all the chicken is coated, cover with aluminum foil and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. When heated, put chicken (still covered with foil) into oven and bake for 30 minutes. The chicken will look half cooked, it is. Don't worry. Flip everyone over so skin side is up and turn oven up to 375 degrees. Bake for another 30 minutes until skin is nice and golden. Some of the little wing tips may be a little charred, delish! To check for doneness make sure all the joints don't have any blood and there isn't anymore pink flesh.

My Hero & My Hunky Hubby

2010-04-19T20:40:00.000-07:00

Saturday was a whirlwind of a day. I had the tough job of going to a fantastic chocolate tour to celebrate my friend Lisa's birthday. I know, boo hoo for me. Then we headed to this great bar for more celebration festivities. What could possibly tear us away from celebrating the birth of one of my favorite people I've met since moving to Seattle, a perfectly good party w/ hilarious & entertaining people, yummy bar food and a light beer buzz?

Answer: The Pioneer Woman.

I'm not going to go into detail. If you want to know about her, I suggest you visit her website. Millions of people already have. Her pizza has changed my life. And don't start reading her love story unless you want to get hooked. She's a great writer, seriously.

Back to Saturday, we left the bar half an hour before the book signing started thinking I wouldn't be too late.

We get there right as the signing starts.

Pandemonium.

There are TONS of people. There appears to be a line but lots of other people (read: women) standing around w/ books in their hands. I mill around and catch a glimpse over a bookcase.

It's Ree! And her daughter too. Her daughter is TALL. Like, Amazonian tall. She walked past me and I caught the eye of another starstruck PW groupie and whispered loudly, "Was that her daughter?!?"

By the time I realized I had to go to the cashier and get a ticket to get in the queue, I was holding a ticket w/ the letter "I". Group I. Ok, that can't be that bad - only eight groups ahead of me. Right?

How much longer until I was handing her my book? Posing for a picture w/ the fantabulous Ree Drummond?

At hour 2, Gabe's patience was wearing thin.

This is Gabe putting his foot down. Just you wait, honey. Your patience will be worn to the brink of lunacy. That's saying a lot for Gabe.

I wouldn't leave this chair. Having a chair at this crowded bookstore was like having some sort of beachfront real estate in Hawaii or something. My butt didn't leave the plush leather chair for anything.

Half an hour later..the meltdown begins.

Oh, the drama.

Gabe's foot down, for the 2nd and final time. Notice the pointing. All for dramatic effect. This is some time during group E. Group E was filled w/ a bunch of aholes. They took nearly an hour.

Arms swinging impatiently. I swear, sometimes I think I married a child.

The signing started at 5 p.m., mind you.

Ooh! There's PW's Amazonian daughter. Rockin' the side ponytail. I even ran into here when I got there and told her, "Wow - you're so much taller than I thought you'd be!" She smiled and walked by. I felt like a maroon.

This photo? It's my knee. This is what hours of waiting and trying to calm your impatient hubby down drives you to do.

And this.

Hour 4.5. Evil Gabe rears his (ugly) handsome head. No worries honey, they're on group "H" already.

I've gotta say, my patience was wearing a little thin too. Gabe was knocking over books, talking in a super loud voice and doing generally annoying things. I stood in line thinking to myself, had I known I would've been waiting for 5 hours to get PW to sign my book, I wasn't too sure I would've done it..

Then finally, we met. I made some stupid comment about how I couldn't believe her hand was still attached to her body after 5 hours of signing. Then she replied that she was fine and that she only had an indentation in her thumb. Hahaha. You're funny PW.

I made a comment about how Gabe was cranky and she took our picture - just like the couple ahead of us. Bye Ree, you're my hero and I love you. And Ina. I love you and Ina equally. But Ina doesn't go on book tours.

I left and felt TOTALLY redeemed. Gabe was muttering something about how he had to get home and take the dogs out and how I had to wake up early to volunteer the next morning. No matter. I was in a blissful post-PW haze.

Then it was Gabe's turn for redemption. PW posted our picture on her post in a very apropos post. Thanks hon, for being so patient - I love you more than you'll ever know. And judging from most of the comments - most people agree, my hunky hubby sure can melt butter.

Tien: if this blog post is any indication of how crazy GLD's signing will be, we'll have to get there earlier. :D

Sesame Ginger Steak Salad w/ Ginger Dressing

2010-04-15T08:15:00.000-07:00

This blog is making me fat. Did you see the past 3 posts? I have way to any baked goods in this house. Dessert and treat blogs are more fun but now it's time for some sensible food.

This steak is so yum.

Sesame Ginger Steak

this was enough to marinate a flank steak a little over 1 lb.

2 tbsp. sesame oil
2 clove garlic, grated
1" garlic, grated
1/4 c. low sodium soy sauce
3 tbsp. rice wine vinegar

I like to peel and freeze my ginger so it's super easy to grate on a microplane (Rachael Ray tip, love). If yours isn't frozen, no worries. Just grate about 1 tbsp. of ginger, grate garlic and mix the rest of the ingredients together. Pour over steak in a ziplock bag and refrigerate for at least 3 hours - overnight is better.

Preheat a cast iron skillet on high heat. Take the steak out of the marinade and discard the bag. When the skillet is smoking, put the steak on. My steak was about 3/4" thick. Cook for about 4 minutes on first side and about 3 minute on the other for a medium rare steak. After cooking, let the steak rest for 7-10 minutes before slicing. Slice and serve on top of your favorite salad greens and ginger dressing (recipe follows), sprinkle w/ sesame seeds. I imagine it would be fantastic as lettuce wrap fodder as well.

Ginger Dressing

makes 2-3 servings

1/4 c. low sodium soy sauce
1" ginger, grated
1 clove garlic, grated
1 tsp. lemon zest
1 tbsp. sesame oil
2 tbsp. honey (or agave nectar)
2 tbsp. lemon juice (or rice wine vinegar)
2 tbsp. canola oil (any light flavorless oil works)
1 tsp. toasted sesame seeds
dash white pepper, optional

Mix everything together and serve over the steak and your favorite salad mix. This dressing is great on chicken or shrimp too. This is a total guideline, make sure you taste the dressing before you dress the salad - add whatever you like if it's not quite to your liking. Enjoy!

Pain au Chocolat

2010-04-12T12:30:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite results from starting my blog is seeing exactly how many other people are out there doing the exact same thing. I see all these bloggers that have been doing this for years and years and you can certainly see it reflected in their blogs. Now, I'm not going to get all self-deprecating and harp on how my blog compares, etc. I recognize I'm new at this and it can only get better w/ time, right? (Right, honey? How about that new fancy camera?)

This post is directly from one of my favorite vegetarian blogs - she's local too. I feel like I could run into her somewhere on the street (and no, I probably wouldn't have the nerve to introduce myself). It would be like spotting a reality star while you were out running errands..Snooki at Target buying hairspray or something. Not that I would peg her to have anything in common w/ Snooki. Is that weird? Don't answer that.

Anyways, every time Gabe recalls this trip he took as a child to France (here he is celebrating his 3rd bday one his first trip there - is he picking his nose?), he's forever telling me about how much he loved these pain au chocolat. Gabe's lucky enough to have some family from France and he had the opportunity to visit them for a summer and eat tons of real French bread and pains au chocolat. I never repeat that in person, by the way. I always say 'chocolate croissant' because, well: 1) I'm not French, 2) I don't live in France, 3) I don't speak French, and 4) I've never visited France. I took Spanish in high school. Thanks, Mrs. Gavilanes.

Another awesome thing blogging has forced me to do is branch out and cook things I probably wouldn't have tried to make without explicit instruction. Not because I was lazy (or maybe so, there will have to be a pretty good reason to ever spend my day making one of these again) but because I don't want to mess things up and throw away all that food. I'm cheap. And having a blog recipe w/ step-by-step instructions (something this blogger is famous for) takes some of the mystery and unknown out of the equation. Worse comes to worst, I can always ask somewhere out there in the blogging community and I'm sure I'll get some help.

Preheat oven 400 degrees. Best thing to do is get everything ready then take start working w/ the puff pastry. Get the chocolate cut up, sugar in a bowl, egg beaten w/ a splash of water. Have a baking sheet w/ parchment paper or silicone mat standing by too.

Then bust out the puff pastry - found in frozen foods section at the grocery store. Make sure the puff pastry is 'defrosted' overnight in the fridge. This isn't something you can cheat, you have to defrost overnight in the fridge. Flour work surface lightly and roll out to about 1/8".
Use the creases where the folds were and cut into 3 equal sections. Then cut each piece in half, then half again. Then brush each piece with egg wash.

Place chocolate on one end of the puff pastry. You can use your favorite chocolate. This batch is made w/ some Dark Midnight Espresso Theobroma chocolate my mother-in-law always gets us from her (and Gabe's) hometown of Sitka, AK. Love.

You can use chocolate chips if you want. Another variation is using fruit preserves. I've done fresh blueberries and sprinkled sugar on them too.

You may have to play w/ the position of the chocolate. You ideally want to end up with the seam side on the bottom.

Like this.

Brush w/ egg wash again and sprinkle w/ Sugar in the Raw (which, I didn't know is also know as turbinado sugar). Just any coarse sugar.

Aren't these little things cute? You can make both sheets if you're bringing someplace special.

Bakey bakey.

And 15 minutes later? These gorgeous little nuggets of joy (to quote Carrie).

So adorable. Enjoy!

Pain au Chocolat (Chocolate Croissants)

makes 12 mini croissants

Found on this post.

Make sure to thaw out the puff pastry overnight in the fridge.

1 sheet puff pastry

8 oz. dark chocolate

1 egg

2 tbsp. turbinado sugar (Sugar in the Raw)

Preheat oven 400 degrees. Get all ingredients ready. Beat egg with 1 tbsp water, have a pastry brush handy. Cut your chocolate into 2" by about 1/2" pieces. Oh, get the sugar in a bowl ready for sprinkling too. You want to work quickly with the puff pastry so it stays cold.

Unfold and roll out one sheet of pastry and sprinkle w/ flour. I rolled out a little thinner than how they come in the packaging - maybe a little thinner than 1/8"? Cut into 12 equal squares, they'll be a little rectangular. I just use the creases as guides. Cut there first, then cut each of the remaining 3 pcs in half, then half again. Brush with egg wash. Lay the chocolate on one end of the pastry and loosely roll. It's best if the seam ends up on the bottom. Place on baking sheet and brush with more egg wash. Sprinkle w/ sugar. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Almond Blueberry Lavender Lemon Biscotti

2010-04-05T19:15:00.000-07:00

Back in the day (almost a decade, yikes) I worked as a barista for Starbucks. I can still vividly remember the 4:15a alarm clock trying desperately to keep me on time to punch in at 5a. Carrie, my roommate and later bridesmaid slept through the alarm, luckily. That or she was too polite to let on it woke and annoyed her.

I'd get ready and drive to work (half asleep Asian woman driver, very dangerous), it was only about 7 minutes away, I timed it. Those busy mornings (brace yourself, this is cheesy) were some of the best times of my life. No mortgage, no responsibilities, nothing.

Here's a picture of Tien and me at our store. Geez Tien, go wash your apron. Haha, she hates me.

Biscotti always remind me of that time. We had these big glass jars full of vanilla almond and chocolate hazelnut biscotti. After I found a great biscotti recipe I changed it a little to use ingredients I had in my pantry and the result?

Almond Blueberry Lavender Lemon Biscotti.

They're awesome, the lavender and lemon combo really work well together. Seriously though, someone please find a shorter name for these.

Ready? Let's roll.

Start w/ my favorite ingredient: butter. One stick (i.e., 1/4 lb. or 1/2 c. - I think I finally have it now) at room temperature.

I used my stand mixer but you can use a hand mixer or just do it by hand and skip the gym that day. Cream the mixture w/ 3/4 c. of sugar. The only reason I deviated from the full cup in the original recipe was simply b/c that's all we had left. It's embarrassing to admit you went through the whole 10 lb. bag of sugar you got from Costco.

Forget I just said that. Moving on, lemon zest.
Zest of one lemon. Smells like summer to me. Add to the butter an let it go for a sec.

Scrape down the butter/sugar mixture.
Look at all that sugar on the side of the bowl. It needs to socialize w/ everyone else.
Eggs. Original recipe calls for two eggs. You can probably get by w/ just two eggs in this recipe too. It just wasn't written clearly that the last egg white is only for the egg wash. So I just dumped an extra egg in, what the heck. I get eggs from Costco too.
Add them in one at a time and scrape down again (w/ your personalized spatula - ok, promise that's the last time I bring that up).
Then add your flour. 2 c. of the fluffy white stuff.
1 tsp. of each of these characters. You can use almond extract too. I thought of that too late.
Then you get this pretty wet dough.
2/3 c. raw almonds.
1/2 c. dried blueberries, all purchased at my favorite place to shop, Costco.
Mmmm. Why don't I use these more?

All the kids in the pool.
Then, my true stroke of genius: lavender. Just a tsp. please, it's very strong.
Fold all the aforementioned things into the dough. Here's also where you can get creative - dried currants, apricots, dates, peanuts, pine nuts, whatever. Try your own nut/fruit combo. Go ahead, I dare you.

See what I mean about being a super wet dough? Flour your hands well or else you'll end up w/ mallet hand.
Form into logs. Give these guys a little room to grow too, they expand while they bake.

Brush w/ egg wash.

Sprinkle w/ coarse sugar, I used raw sugar. You can get that other fancy turbinado sugar. Oh, the pretense.

It sure is pretty.

15-20 minutes later, here you are. A strange looking cookie log.

Then while the logs are still warm (I didn't wait to let them cool) slice these guys up. I guess try first w/ a serrated knife, then if that doesn't work, use a chef's knife.

It didn't make sense to me anyways when I read that other recipe, the almonds are going to be hard to cut through. I need to write Anne Burrell.

Ok, lay flat and bake again. I had to bake mine for about 20-25 minutes to see any golden brown action.

But then they were. And the seas parted and Moses said.. Oh, wait. NM.

While these were still warm I poured myself a cup of tea and had a nice little break to sit back and admire the handy work.
Check out that blueberry!

Almond Blueberry Lavender Lemon Biscotti

adapted from this Anne Burrell recipe

makes about 20 biscotti

1 stick butter, room temp (about 1/2 cup or 1/4 lb.)

3/4 c. sugar

3 eggs

2 tsp. lemon zest (about the zest of 1 lemon)

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. vanilla extract (almond would work well too)

2 . AP flour

2/3 c. whole almonds

1/2 c. dried blueberries

1 tsp. dried lavender

1 egg white

2 tbsp. Sugar in the Raw

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cream butter and sugar until light & fluffy in a stand mixer. Meanwhile, zest lemon and add to the butter mixture. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and put the mixer on low speed. Crack in one egg at a time until combined - scrape down in between egg additions. Add vanilla extract, flour and baking powder until combined. Fold in almonds, blueberries and lavender - make sure to fold in by hand so almonds and blueberries stay whole and in tact.

Divide the dough in half. The dough will be fairly sticky so flour your hands and form into a log. I used a half sheet baking pan and the log ran about 2 inches shy on each side of reaching the edge of the pan. Separate an egg and mix the white w/ about 1 tbsp. water and brush the tops of each log. Sprinkle w/ coarse sugar.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until set and cooked through, it won't be browned but that's ok. And if you really have a problem w/ it, just bake it for 25 minutes. While warm, remove logs to cutting surface and cut logs on the bias at about 3/4" thickness. I had to cut with a chef's knife (instead of the serrated knife the recipe recommended) since my biscotti were crumbling pretty bad when I got to the almonds. Lay flat (either cut side down) and bake for another 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden.

Remove and place on a cooling rack until completely cooled before storage in an airtight container.

Chocolate & Vanilla Bean Crème Brûleé

2010-04-03T14:47:00.000-07:00

Ever since I got these vanilla beans from Costco, I've been faced w/ a dilemma. How do I use up all these vanilla beans before they all dry out? Damn you, Costco.

Let's see..I have a dinner w/ friends tonight. How about some creme brulee? Everyone can have a turn at caramelizing their own sugar, love the interactive factor (and if they burn theirs to hell, they have to eat it themselves).

The only thing I added was the chocolate option for people like Gabe. Plus, there's that whole saying about variety being the spice of life?

Start w/ eight large eggs.
Separate egg yolks from whites.

Save the whites for omelets or something.

1/2 c. sugar. You can use vanilla sugar here too. I didn't think of making vanilla sugar until after I started. Duh.

Sorry the pictures aren't so good - it's always a struggle to take pictures when I have to use both hands while cooking.

So whisk the egg yolks to break them up.

Then add the sugar and blend until smooth.

Heat the cream in a saucepan until just before simmering.

Split the vanilla bean in half and using the back of the knife (thanks Ashley & thank your dad for me too! :D) gently scrape out the vanilla beans.

Blend into the egg mixture.

You can tell when the heavy cream is about to simmer by the little tiny bubbles on the side of the pan.

Temper the eggs by whisking in the hot heavy cream a little at a time. I used my 1/2 cup measure just so I wouldn't have to dirty anything extra. Gabe cried a tear of joy.

Whisk in. If you're using a hand mixer like me, just use the low setting. I had all these annoying bubbles. I was worried they were going to ruin my pretty creme brulees but you have to put the sugar on top anyways. No worries.

Ladle the vanilla ones into the ramekins. If you want to make chocolate ones too, hold back on dishing the rest of the mixture.

Get about 1 tbsp. of cocoa powder in a bowl.

Mix in 1 tbsp. very hot (I used boiling) water to melt the cocoa powder.

Mix until nice and glossy. Get all the lumps out!

Whisk the chocolate back into the remaining creme brulee mixture.

I got so annoyed w/ the foam I skimmed it off. All wasted energy.

Place the pan into the heated oven then pour the water in.

Easier to transfer stuff w/o spilling water.

40 to 45 minutes later, this is what you have.

Ooooh.

Yuuuuuum.

Chocolate tooooo.

I need a bib.

Then you get one of these. And if you don't have one, I wrote directions for how to do this w/ your oven in the recipe below.

Vanilla sugar. About 1 tsp.

Sprinkle on.

Torch until nice and golden.

Oy.

Take a big spoonful. For quality control purposes only.
And then try not to feel guilty about eating 10 more bites.
It's SO yum.
Check out the vanilla bean action.
Hard candy sugar coating. Enjoy!

Chocolate & Vanilla Bean Crème Brûleé

makes about five 1/2 c. servings

inspired by Kirkland's Best Rodelle Vanilla Bean packaging

8 large egg yolks
1/2 c. sugar
2 c. heavy cream
1 vanilla bean
2 tbsp. cocoa powder
1 to 1.5 tbsp. boiling water
5 tsp. vanilla sugar (or regular sugar)

Make sure your creme brulee dishes all fit in a pan with a rim so you can put water to about 1/2 way up the side of the dishes.

Preheat oven 325 degrees. Pour heavy cream into small saucepan and turn on medium low heat. Meanwhile, separate egg yolks from whites. Mix sugar into egg yolks until just smooth. When the cream is just about to simmer, remove from heat. Split a vanilla bean and gently scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean pod. Mix into the egg/sugar mixture. Temper the eggs with the hot heavy cream a 1/2 cup at a time. After about 1 1/2 cups of the heavy cream tempering the eggs, pour the egg mixture into the rest of the cream.

Dish up 2 or 3 of your vanilla creme brulees now. If you want the chocolate versions, in a separate bowl mix the cocoa powder and 1 to 1.5 tbsp. of hot water until the powder is smooth and glossy. Add back into the mixture and mix until combined. Continue to dish into ramekins.

Make sure you have at least 4 cups of hot water nearby. Place the ramekins in the pan/baking dish they will be baked in. Ladel the mixture into the ramekins. I had enough for about 5 1/2 cup servings. Place the pan in the oven then pour the water into the pan. This makes it a little easier to transfer the pan into the oven without spilling water overboard - or worse, INTO your creme brulee.

Bake for about 40 minutes. Allow to cool completely and refridgerate until about 30 minutes before you are ready to serve. Take them out of the fridge and let them come up to room temp. Spoon 1 tsp. vanilla sugar in each ramekin and either set under the broiler on the top rack of your oven (about 3 minutes, watch carefully) or use a small culinary torch to caramelize the sugar until a golden crust is formed. Serve immediately, enjoy!

Wacky-mole

2010-03-29T15:36:00.000-07:00

I made this mistake of setting a bunch of unripe bananas on top of my unripe avocados. The result? Super ripe avocados and bananas. If you ever find yourself in the same conundrum, I have answers for you my friend.

What to do w/ all those bananas? Make this.

And the avocados? How about some guacamole? I call it 'wacky-mole' since I mostly use lemon juice. It's traditionally made w/ lime juice but I just don't carry limes in my fridge. Don't hate.

You're thinking you'll be relegated to dipping chips or topping Mexican food w/ this condiment, right? Wrong. A pretty popular sandwich chains makes this awesome sandwich. I had all the stuff to make my own version of the Turkey Bacon Guacamole and that's exactly what I made.

Remove flesh from the skin and depit this thing. Is that even a word? Spellcheck says no, but I'd like to petition.
See all those brown spots? These avocados were on death's door. I had to do a little surgery to remove all the brown stuff.

What makes this guacamole wacky - lemons.

Ok, so it's not that wacky. Sue me. I was having some blog writer's block.

Cilantro - classic.

Makes me think of summer.

Smashy.

Isn't the color weird in this picture?

Ooh, that's better. I only mash for a sec. Then I switch over to the knife so I get some really nice large chunks of avocado.

See that big chunk? Slice it instead of mashing.

I've made this guacamole w/ the slicing method only and it's super good. My pretty.

Ok, weird color again. And I'm too lazy to fix it in Photoshop.

It's so time consuming. Right, Tien?

Tien, are you there? It's me, Margaret.

I finally had to take one w/ the flash to make sure my eyes weren't funny.

But my eyes are funny.

Ok, I'm not writing up a recipe for a sandwich b/c that's just plain dumb.

So, take some bread. I've started liking these little sandwich thins. Only 100 calories.

So I feel less guilty about piling on the cheddar cheese.

Spinach. Guilt diminishing.

Tomatoes. Gorgeous gorgeous tomatoes. Or 'tomats' as Momma Sally likes to say.

I like to salt & pepper my tomats. It's just how it should be.

Turkey.

Bacon, one slice only. I didn't eat any bacon that morning.
Then a big shmear of wacky-mole.

Whoa. Yes friends, those are Doritos and I make no apologies.

Wacky-mole

makes roughly 3 cups, depending on the size of the avocados, about 8-10 servings

4 avocados (I had med to large sized, a little extra ripe)

1/2 c. lemon juice (about the juice of 2 lemons)

1/3 c. chopped cilantro

4 cloves garlic (this makes it SUPER garlicky, which I love)

2 tsp. salt (trust me, you need it)

1/2 tsp. pepper

Start by mincing garlic finely - I used a microplane to get an almost paste-like consistency. Split avocados lengthwise by running your knife along the round pit. Twist halves to split. Carefully remove the pit. Scoop out contents of the avocados. Immediately pour lemon juice on to the avocados to avoid browning. Add remaining ingredients and mash with a potato masher. If you like super chunky guacamole, use a knife only (in a glass or metal bowl) to slice the avocados. If a more creamy texture is desired, keep mashing or put everything in a food processor. I like mine somewhere in between if not more on the chunky side. Serve w/ pita or tortilla chips or use as a sandwich spread instead of mayo!

This stuff can turn brown pretty quickly so I say if you're not planning on using it right away, cut the recipe in half or else you'll have a bunch of Wacky-Moldy (bu-dum-chhh).

Strawberry Tart

2010-03-24T08:15:00.000-07:00

For the few times we go to an actual grocery store and not Costco, Gabe sure does zero in on these fruit tarts (odd since he's a self proclaimed chocoholic). He regresses back to being an adolescent and starts jumping up and down and making frowny faces. I'm reminded of a kid in the cereal aisle. But the child is my grown husband. My standard response is, "Hon, we're not paying $5 for a freaking mini fruit tart, I'll make you one."

After several promised tarts, I finally decided I'd make this my Monday baking assignment.

Needless to say, next time Gabe begs for one of these when we're grocery shopping, I may just fork out the $5. While perfectly delicious, these damn tarts took all morning. In my opinion, there are too many steps. But I suppose, the payoff is this yummy strawberry tart. You can definitely make this w/ any berries, peaches would be great too.

The only thing I did differently than Anne Burrell is that I glazed the top w/ some warmed up apricot jelly. I thinned it out w/ some water and heated it up, brushed over the top to help keep the fruit moist. If anyone tries this out, I'm dying to hear from you!

Her recipe also calls for sliced almonds, I only carry whole in my pantry.

They need to be ground up anyways, so it's not like I ruined anything by changing that specification.

Mmm. Almonds.

Grind grind grind.

Flour & salt.

Looks like this when you're done.

Then the butter - 1 1/2 sticks, cold & diced.

One egg yolk.

Add butter and pulse until it is a coarse meal texture.

Then some ice water - 3 or 4 tablespoons. It's really important that it's ice water. That way it keeps the dough nice and cold, butter doesn't melt, etc.

Egg yolk added here.

And some water. Start w/ 3 tbsp and pulse.

It looked like this after 3 tbsp. of ice water, so I stopped adding anymore. The crust was pretty crumbly so I may just add the 4th tbsp. next time.

I'm not blessed w/ a marble counter top, just this slate tile of some sort, so it's hard to get the flour out of the cracks when I'm cleaning. I just use this cotton canvas mat Gabe's mom & aunt got me when they taught me how to make pie crust. Super handy!

Dump the dough out and sprinkle w/ a little flour. I was reading some food blog and the girl kept spelling flour "flower". It annoyed the crap out of me.

Knead 3 or 4 times. Then stop! Leave the dough alone for heaven's sake.

You don't want to melt all the yummy butter. Form into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap.

Set it in the fridge for about 30 or 45 minutes to take a little nappy nap. You can actually make the crust in advance and freeze until you're ready to use it or leave in the fridge for a few days. If you freeze it, just let it thaw in the fridge overnight.

Now the pastry cream filling.

Heavy cream - 2 cups.

1/2 cup sugar, whisk and put over medium low heat.

Make sure you whisk all the sugar until there are no lumpies.

Vanilla bean. Yes, they're a little expensive. But Costco has them and they were pretty cheap (relatively speaking). If you don't have this, you're pastry cream is going to taste significantly less delicious. Actually, I don't know that for a fact. It's my first time using real vanilla bean in anything.

If I didn't have vanilla bean I would've just substituted some vanilla extract. No big whoop.

But if you do, split this guy down the middle to expose the little beans inside the pod.

Good vanilla beans are a little moist, sorta chewy texture. Not that I would ever chew on a vanilla bean.

Use the blade to scrape the 'beans' out. I think I scraped too hard though b/c I got some of the little inner membrane - read: NOT the little beans or seeds or whatever the heck they are.

Again, first time working w/ a vanilla bean pod. I was overzealous.

Whisk the contents into the cream/sugar mixture and throw the pod in too.

In a separate bowl, crack 4 eggs.

Add in the other 1/2 cup of sugar and whisk until all the eggs are broken and the sugar is combined.

In another separate bowl (lots of dishes w/ this tart), get your milk and whisk in the cornstarch. If you've never worked w/ cornstarch, you HAVE to whisk for a while. There are lots of sneaky little lumps on the bottom of the bowl, trust me.

Whisked egg/sugar mixture.

Whisked milk/cornstarch mixture.

Now, you have to bring the cream/sugar/vanilla mixture to a slight boil. When it comes to a boil, fish out the pod. Take it off the heat.

Then temper the egg mixture with about 1/2 cup of the hot cream mixture, whisk the eggs vigorously! In fact, I get so paranoid about scrambling the eggs, I whisk before I start adding in the cream. Scrambled egg strawberry tart just sounds plain nasty to me.

After you bring the eggs up to temperature a little, then you'll add it back into the cream.

Add the tempered eggs into the hot cream mixture and whisk again.

When everyone's combined, put the mix back on the med/low heat to slowly heat back to a simmer.

Watch it carefully, because when it comes up to a simmer, slowly add in the milk/cornstarch mix.

Again w/ the paranoia, I started whisking immediately and added all the milk. Kept whisking.

As this mixture comes up to a boil, you've gotta keep stirring so you don't get lumps. Just be sure this absolutely comes up to a boil and simmer it at that heat for a few minutes. If not, apparently it can get gritty instead of staying creamy.

I was a little surprised at the texture of the cream too. I thought it was super thick. Anne Burrell compares it to pudding which seems pretty accurate when it's hot. But when it cools down, it's really thick. Almost gelatinous. After it cooled, I was a little worried I wouldn't like the texture but after you put a layer of strawberries and the apricot glaze (if using) it's perfectly fine. Any thinner and it would've leaked out everywhere.

Place the pastry cream into a bowl to cool and put some plastic wrap directly on the surface so it doesn't form a skin. I forgot about it for a sec and surely enough it formed this nasty skin. Luckily it was hot enough that when I stirred it the skin went away. Heed the warning, friends. Pastry cream skin is evil and will eat your children. Not really. But you don't want to waste all that cream and sugar.

Now the crust. First preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

If you froze it, just be sure it thaws overnight at least. If you made it in advance, and it's been sitting in the fridge for a while, let it rest at room temp for 10 minutes to take the chill off. Mine only sat in the fridge for a shy 30 minutes so it was rested but still easy to roll out.

I rolled it a little thin - I'll make it thicker next time but roll out to about 1/3" to 1/2" thickness. Then again, I like a thick crust.

Lay into your false bottom tart pan - mine's about 9 1/2"

The recipe suggests using some excess crust dough and ball it up and use it to press into the corners of the pan.

As you can see, my tart pan has some handles, so I couldn't just roll a rolling pin over the top and it be all pretty. I had to trim w/ a knife.

And only after that did I realize how thin I rolled it. I took some excess piece of dough and pressed them into the sides of the crust so it would be a bit more substantial.

Get some foil and put a layer on your crust. Then dump a bag of dry beans on top (or pie weights if you're a fancy pants).

I just had some kidney beans in the ol' pantry.

Extra crust, what to do?!

Why, make little mini tarts of course! Then I realized all I had was a bag of 15 bean soup. I don't think the mini tart noticed though.

Ok, after baking for 12 minutes or so, I took the foil off and put them back in the oven for 5 minutes. When I pulled them out, they looked like this. Disgraceful.

The minis were a little puffy too.

But that dang big tart. I had to poke a hole in it I was so annoyed. Then I remembered the pastry cream was going to forgive the crust all its sins. Let these cool for as long as it takes until they're room temperature. The pastry cream too!

Now, COOLED pastry cream into the COOLED tart. Watch out too - this crust is SUPER crumbly. I'm thinking for a few reasons - first, I didn't add enough water; second, I rolled it too thin.

Slice your strawberries.

And arrange. I did circles. Anne Burrell did lines. Whatever you want.

So the tart works perfectly fine if you want to eat it like this. I didn't eat mine right away and I was a little concerned w/ the strawberries and pastry cream drying out so I did the old apricot preserves glaze.

But if you're serving right away, you won't notice a difference.

This version is super fresh. Naked, if you will.

I had enough dough and cream to make two mini tarts.

And if you're making this ahead, mix up some apricot jelly if you can find it. I can't ever find jelly so I had to use my standby apricot preserves along w/ some water. Heat it up in a saucepan until everything is simmering. Turn the heat off and let cool. Just break up some of the chunks w/ a fork or whisk.

Glaze these bad boys.

So pretty! And such a crowd pleaser.

I made these in honor of the first day of spring!

Strawberry Tart

makes one 9" tart*

Adapted from this Anne Burrell recipe.

Crust
1 1/2 sticks super cold butter (I freeze mine), diced
1 cup flour
3/4 cup almonds, toasted
Pinch kosher salt
1 egg yolk
3 to 4 tablespoons ice water

Pastry cream
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup sugar, divided
1 vanilla bean, scraped
4 eggs
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup milk

Topping
1 quart fresh sliced strawberries
1/4 c. apricot preserves (apricot jelly is better, but I can never find it)
2 tbsp. water

Crust: Start by grinding almonds in the food processor until they resemble a coarse meal. Add the flour & salt to the almonds and pulse to combine. Then add the butter, pulse until coarse meal texture. Add egg yolk and ice water - 3 or 4 tablespoons. It's really important that it's ice water. That way it keeps the dough nice and cold, butter doesn't melt, etc. When the crust comes together into a ball in the food processor it’s done so don’t add the full amount of water (or add more if your ball isn’t forming after several pulses).

Dump the dough out on to a floured surface and knead 3 or 4 times. Form into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Set it in the fridge for about 30 or 45 minutes to rest. You can actually make the crust in advance and freeze until you're ready to use it or leave in the fridge for a few days. If you freeze it, just let it thaw in the fridge overnight.

Pastry cream filling: Pour heavy cream into a saucepan, whisk in ½ cup of sugar and put over medium low heat. Split the vanilla bean pod and scrape out the beans. Add the beans and pod into the cream mixture.

In a separate bowl, crack 4 eggs. Add in the other 1/2 cup of sugar and whisk until all the eggs are broken and the sugar is combined.

In another separate bowl, pour in milk and whisk in the cornstarch. Whisk until thoroughly combined.

Bring the cream/sugar/vanilla mixture to a slight boil. When it comes to a boil, fish out the vanilla pod and take it off the heat. Then temper the egg mixture with about 1/2 to a full cup of the hot cream mixture, whisk the eggs vigorously! After you bring the eggs up to temperature a little, then add it back into the cream and whisk together. Put the mix back on the med/low heat to slowly heat back to a simmer. Watch it carefully, because when it comes up to a simmer, slowly add in the milk/cornstarch mix.

As this mixture comes up to a boil, keep stirring to avoid lumps. Just be sure the mixture absolutely comes up to a boil and simmer it at that heat for a few minutes to avoid a gritty texture instead of staying creamy.

Place the pastry cream into a bowl to cool and put some plastic wrap directly on the surface so it doesn't form a skin.

First preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

If frozen, thaw the crust overnight in the fridge. If you made it in advance and it has been sitting in the fridge for a while, let it rest at room temp for 10 minutes to take the chill off. On a floured surface, roll the crust out to about 1/3" to 1/2" thickness. Lay into your false bottom tart pan. Using some excess crust dough and ball it up and use it to press the dough into the corners of the pan. Roll a rolling pin over the top to cut off the excess or trim w/ a knife.

Get some foil and put a layer on your crust. Then dump a bag of dry beans on top (or pie weights). Bake for 12-14 minutes and remove the beans/foil. Bake for another 5 minutes until golden brown and cooked through.

* Since I rolled the crust too thin I had extra crust. I just made little mini tarts with the extra ingredients.

Cool the crust and pastry cream until both are at room temp. The original recipe advises to use an ice bath to cool the filling down quickly. Fill the tart shell (s) and add sliced strawberries to the top.

So the tart works perfectly fine if you want to eat it like this. I didn't eat mine right away and I was a little concerned w/ the strawberries and pastry cream drying out so I did the old apricot preserves glaze.
Mix up some apricot jelly if you can find it. I can't ever find jelly so I had to use my standby apricot preserves along w/ some water. Heat it up in a saucepan until everything is simmering. Turn the heat off and let cool. Just break up some of the chunks w/ a fork or whisk.

Glaze the tarts, enjoy!

Comfort Food - Eggs & Rice

2010-03-22T12:06:00.000-07:00

Growing up, I had pretty specific tastes. I never liked eggs or milk. My mom said I didn't like eggs because I was born in the year of the chicken. She tells me lots of crazy things that don't make much sense. I can't explain why I didn't like milk as a child either. Maybe because Allen (middle brother) always stole my bottle and I never got the chance to get used to cow juice. I know I drank apple or orange juice - which I'm thinking he liked as well. My mom says he really loved milk though. He used to steal my bottle and hide behind the sofa with it.

Exhibit A:

Notice the coy, "She'll never notice if I'm super stealth and quiet" look on his face.

I only had one exhibit.

My taste for eggs didn't actually change until I was an adult though. I love milk now too. To me, rice & eggs are comfort food and this is one of my favorite things to eat. Did you really need a recipe to cook this up? Probably not. But maybe you have all these ingredients in your house but never thought to put them all together? Maybe?? What absolutely makes this dish is the sesame oil. If you don't have any or haven't ever used it, go get some. It's used as a condiment, not as a cooking oil or anything. It's very fragrant and nutty - I loooove sesame oil. Mmm!

Make sure you already have some leftover rice or cook some rice up and have it standing by. Once the egg is done, this comes together pretty quick.

Heat skillet. Crack egg.
I put a little pepper on mine, you don't need salt since you'll be adding soy sauce for seasoning.

Egg is cooked, sides are browned.

Serve over rice.
Sprinkle w/ sesame seeds, totally optional.

Sprinkle w/ green onions.
Add soy sauce

Add sesame oil.
Voila.

Rice & Eggs

serves 1

1 c. cooked rice, I prefer Jasmine

1 egg (more if you're hungry!)

2 tsp. soy sauce

1/2 tsp. sesame oil

1/4 tsp. sesame seeds, optional

1 tbsp. green onions, sliced & optional
pepper to taste

Fry up an egg - if you don't like the sunny side up, over easy works great too. To serve, put the cooked egg on the heated rice. Garnish with soy sauce, sesame oil, sesame seeds, green onions & pepper. When mixing the sesame oil, egg yolk and soy sauce, it makes this great sauce that compliments the fragrant rice really well.

Hope you try it and leave a comment!

Chinese Onion Pancakes

2010-03-18T12:00:00.000-07:00

My mom lives a few hours away. Since I got married, we've become really close. One of the things I absolutely love doing is cooking with her. Not only do I get to learn the recipes I grew up on, my mom dishes about all our old family secrets - and I love hearing about our family dirt.
In my opinion, family recipes are one of the most important ways to preserve family tradition. There are countless recipes I remember from my childhood - some of which I'll never taste again since they weren't written down and lost with passing relatives. This blog is another way of preserving family traditions so they don't get lost when someone passes on. My mom and I started this new thing where we teach each other how to cook things. She teaches me Chinese food, I teach her American food. It's been a lovely partnership.

My mom's always been the type to mock me when I ask for a recipe of hers. She's old school. No measurements. Everything goes by feel and taste. A bowl of this, a sprinkle of that. But since I started teaching her how to make things - some baked goods in particular, she's turned a new leaf realizing that just because you don't go by memory, doesn't make you any less legitimate of a cook.

One of my favorite things to eat - and one of Gabe's proclaimed "Absolute Favorite Foods" (which I swear he says about everything), is my mom's dumplings. This obviously isn't a post about those dumplings but every time we get together and make them, we always make these Chinese Onion Pancakes with the leftover dough. Yes, they're a little bit of work, but we have nothing better to do on those weekends where we've already had dim sum, visited the mall and the Macy's One Day Sale is just NOT doing it for us.

Here's what you'll need:
We got a wild hair that day and added cilantro to the mix. My mom doesn't care for the taste of fresh cilantro but the flavor definitely mellows when you fry them up in these pancakes. If you don't like, just omit.

The dough. Super simple: flour & water. Mix in a stand mixer for a few minutes. It's a pretty tough dough - dryer than normal bread doughs. We shape into about 4 oz. pieces. Think hockey puck size. It's just a general measurement, no need to bust out a scale.

Flour.

Roll out.

Rolling, rolling, rolling..

Takes a little elbow grease, but it's worth it!

Almost there, Mom.

Roll it out to about a 1/8" thickness, super thin. Try going as thin as you can w/o tearing it.

Then, sprinkle w/ some sesame oil, about 1 tsp. per pancake. Spread it around to cover the entire surface of the dough then sprinkle w/ salt - about 1/2 tsp.
Sesame seeds..

Scallions. 1/4 to 1/3 cup per pancake.

Cilantro. 1/4 cup per pancake.

Then start rolling up as tight as you can w/o tearing it.

Roll it up, like a cigar.

Start rolling the whole thing up into one large roll, as tightly as you can w/o tearing. And if it tears a little, who cares?

Then take one end and roll into the center and wind this thing up all around.

Like a little pinwheel.

When you get to the end, tuck the outer edge under the pancake and press the whole thing down.

You want to flatten the whole thing out to about an inch or less.

The flatter you make it, the quicker it will cook.

I wrap in wax paper. You can use parchment or even plastic wrap if you like.

You can freeze at this point. After they're frozen solid, put them in a plastic zip top bag and freeze for up to 1 month. You want to cook right away, heat a skillet to medium high heat and about 1 tbsp. light oil - I like canola.

When it's hot, place the pancake in the pan and if frozen, cover with a lid along with a splash of water. Turn the heat down to medium low.
After about 4 minutes, uncover and flip.
Leave for another 5 minutes on medium low, flip and it should look like this.
Mmmmmmmmmm.
Me likey.
Let it sit for another 5 minutes and it should be nice and golden brown on the other side.
The crust is nice and crispy. Inside is moist because of the onions and sesame oil.
The water and covering w/ a lid helps keep the pancakes moist.
Cut into wedges, and cook more - these things are addictive!

Chinese Onion Pancakes

makes roughly 4 pancakes

3 c. flour
1 c. water, lukewarm (about 110 degees F)

2 c. scallions, chopped
1 c. cilantro, chopped - optional
4 tsp. sesame oil
4 tsp. sesame seeds - optional
salt

Mix the flour in a stand mixer and slowly add water. The dough's consistency should be fairly tough. When pinched, the dough should spring back pretty quickly. You may need to adjust more water or flour as you go.

Divide the dough into roughly 4 oz. pieces, keep dough covered under a damp towel if the air is dry. Flour your work surface and roll out the dough to about 1/8" thickness. Drizzle about 1 tsp of oil on your rolled out dough. The round should be about 12-15" in diameter. Sprinkle w/ sesame seeds and salt - I added about 1/2 tsp. of each. Add about 1/4 - 1/3 c. chopped scallions and 1/4 c. cilantro (if adding). Start at one end and start rolling like a large cigar. Then when it's all rolled up, wind the log like a pinwheel, tuck the end under the roll. Flatten to about 1" thickness.

Heat a skillet on medium high heat with about 2 tsp. light oil. When the oil starts to ripple, place the pancake in and reduce the heat to medium low. Let a crust form - about 4 minutes, then flip. Cook on the other side for another 5 minutes with a lid on. If the pan is too hot, add a few splashes of water in before covering with a lid. After the 5 minutes, flip again and let cook uncovered for 5 minutes. This last 5 minutes can be skipped if cooking fresh and not from a frozen state.

If you want to serve several, cook in batches and keep in a warm oven until ready to serve.

Enjoy!

BC's Easy Sticky Buns

2010-03-15T11:14:00.001-07:00

If my food blog is starting to look like one big shrine to Auntie Ina, you're not the only one that thinks so. I can't help it though. Every time I try one of her recipes, I'm blown away. These sticky buns are another example. Do you know about these? They should be illegal.

I had a leftover piece of puff pastry in my fridge that was about to go south. I halved the recipe and I'm lucky I did - or else I would've had 12 of these little cellulite bombs to navigate my appetite around.

I had seen B.C. make these on one of her shows and thought I'd give it a try. Not only until I had these things sitting in the pan did I decide I could possibly put them up on the old blog. I took a picture of them in the muffin tin before baking as a little insurance, luckily it paid off.

Look at those gorgeous mounds of fat, sugar, butter and nuts.
So, what's underneath the buns is about a tablespoon of a butter/brown sugar mixture. And pecans..about 1 heaping tsp. full of chopped pecans.

Phew. She's a beaut.

After about 20-25 minutes of baking - an impossible amount of time given the intoxicating smells your oven will emit during the baking, you get this:

Golden, bubbly, flaky, sinful sticky buns.

Let them cool for 5 minutes, and dump them out on some parchment paper.

But not before you stare and sniff them for several minutes.

I'm sure the buns were pretty uncomfortable with all the starting at this point.

Why yes, that is caramelized sugar on your innocent muffin tin. I told you these things were dangerous.

Dumping out..

I scraped the insides of the tins w/ a rubber spatula to make sure all the caramelized pecans got out and landed on top of the buns.

I had to walk away for a few minutes. Calm down.

Then I had to write a note to myself that I could only eat half of one since I hadn't gone to the gym that morning.

Make sure when you bake these things, you line your baking sheet w/ some parchment, or else, you'll have a big mess.

Here was the first bit.

I died right there in my kitchen right after I took it.

Hope you try the recipe! Make sure to update all insurance beneficiaries before you do!

Recipe at Food Network website: Easy Sticky Buns.

Lemon Bars

2010-03-08T14:51:00.000-08:00

When Gabe and I first started dating, he made these lemon bars for me.
He's never made them for me since. That's not his fault really, I don't let him in the kitchen to make any meal other than breakfast. The man can cook a mean sunny side up egg.

Lucky for me, the recipe's his mom's and he wrote it down (however illegible the handwriting). It comes together pretty easily and they're YUUUUMMY. Hope you give them a go.

Start w/ some flour. I saw some post last week that spelled 'flour', 'flower'. This was some chick who claimed to love baking. I'm a bit of a spelling nazi. It annoyed me.

Flour.

Powdered sugar:

Now, let it be known that I regularly think one stick of butter is only 1/4 cup - it's not. ONE stick of butter is 1/2 cup. Say it again: ONE stick of butter is 1/2 cup. I've corrected myself several times but I failed today and made the same mistake again. The real recipe only requires ONE stick of butter, which is how much, class? 1/2 cup.

I was clever enough to use the butter wrapper to grease the pan - which, let's face it people, when you use a whole CUP of butter when only 1/2 is required, the greasing of the pan is ridiculously redundant.

See how clever I am? Thought I was being smart.

That extra stick of butter is shamefully rich. But I have a bit of a secret: it made them even better. I'm going to continue writing the recipe and pretend like I made it w/ the correct amt of butter, but you'll know the truth. It'll be our dirty little secret.

Cut the butter into the flour and powdered sugar until it resembles a coarse meal texture.

One of these helps:

Wow..that crust looks pretty buttery, doesn't it? It is.

Press into an 8 x 8" pan:

If it sticks to your fingers, dust a little flour on your fingertips.

Should look something like this. This is the point where I did a double take on the recipe and realized my mistake. I thought about making another crust but then I would've just wasted TWO sticks of butter. No. I shan't. Charge forward. Stay the course. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 10-12 minutes until golden brown.

For the filling:

Two room temperature eggs.

Beat until incorporated.

Whisk in sugar.

Juice a lemon - you'll need 3 tbsp.

Meyer lemons, I'm having a love affair w/ them.

This lemon produced about 4 tbsp. and I just used all 4. I already screwed up the recipe, I thought. Go big or go home.

Mix 2 tbsp. flour and 1/2 tsp. baking powder.

Slowly add the flour mixture to the egg mixture.

I did it in a few batches.

This is what it looks like when it's all mixed. A little foamy on top - don't be alarmed.

It's actually a pale yellow - here's a picture w/ flash to show the color. Pour this on top of the baked crust (no need to cool) and bake for another 20-25 minutes.

I was so annoyed w/ myself at the butter ordeal, I didn't take a photo of my crust of shame. This is what it looked like:

Cut into about 12 squares.. ..and sprinkle w/ powdered sugar to make them SUPER pretty.

Mmmmm.

The crust was SUPER buttery.

In fact, you can't tell where the crust and filling end and meet.

Then I ate one and had to slice up some lemon slices to cover up the empty spot where I just ate one of the bars.

Lemon Bars

Crust:
1/4 c. butter (ONE stick, people)
1 c. flour
1/2 c. powdered sugar

Filling:
2 eggs
3/4 c. sugar
3 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix the flour and sugar together, cut in the butter (room temp is fine) until the mixture resembles a coarse meal texture. Try not to overwork the dough. Press the dough into an 8x8" square pan. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden brown.

Beat the eggs until incorporated. Whisk in sugar until melted - about 5 minutes. Mix in lemon juice. Mix flour and baking powder together and sprinkle in slowly to egg mixture. When the crust is finished, pour the egg/lemon mixture on top and put back in the oven (still at 350 degrees) for 20-25 minutes until filling is set.

Let cool and cut into 12 squares, sprinkle w/ powdered sugar. Enjoy!

The Family Dressing & My Salad Diatribe

2010-02-28T21:25:00.000-08:00

I've gotta be honest, salads are NOT my thing. Now, grits...grits are my thing. Bacon, yes please. Anything w/ cheese? Where do I sign? Yes. Salads? Eeh [shiver]..salad. It may as well be a four letter word in my book. No. No likey the salads.

That is until I married into this family and they introduced me to The Family Dressing. I feel like I'm referring to a big Italian family when I say that. But they're not Italian.

All kidding aside, I really had to change my mindset about salads.

• First, I cannot stand iceberg lettuce. It has absolutely NO nutritional value and it's flavorless. Well, until you dump some ranch dressing and a heap of bacon. Then I'll eat the hell out of some iceberg lettuce. But that just defeats the whole purpose of salads. It took me a long time to convince myself that salads don't need to include iceberg lettuce. In fact, they don't need to have any lettuce at all. I can tolerate spinach or arugula as a leafy base - but most of the time, I make chunky veggie salads (and I add an obscene about of homemade garlic sourdough croutons to the point that you can almost call it a panzanella but in my mind, it still counts as a salad).
• Second, I really only started eating salads to make myself feel less guilty about this pizza I tried of PW's. The pizza has changed my life. Seriously. We've had it for about a week straight and nobody's complaining. I'll blog about my own personal spin on it some time, but for now - stick w/ me on this salad stuff. Whenever I make this pizza, I make a huge salad. While I'm at work, I look forward to it when I'm thinking about what I'm going to be eating for dinner, it's sick. The pizza. It consumes me.
• Third (and skip to the next bullet point if you're squeamish), if you're anything thing like me, sometimes my erratic eating habits throw my..system into disarray. You people know what I'm talking about. The pipes. The pipes..they get upset. And I was watching this segment about colon health on the Rachael Ray Show. Bottom line - most of us (yours truly included) don't get enough fiber. And don't front - we all want a clean and healthy colon. I told Gabe I want his colon to be a picture of health. Ours will be the colons of 'healthy' people those posters in the doctor's office next to the 'unhealthy' colons. This bullet is especially poignant to me since unhealthy colons run in my family.
• Forth, well. There is no forth. To sum up bullet #3 in case you skipped it, eat more fiber!

Needless to say, this dressing is the only way you'll get me to eat a salad. I always have all six of these ingredients in stock so I never really have an excuse to not make my own dressing. That and this dressing is gooooooood.

Here's all you'll need:
Set up my little station over here..
Grate the garlic. Add more if you like just make sure you grate or mash into a paste. I love a strong garlic flavor as much as the next person, I don't, however, enjoy biting into raw garlic pieces.
There we go.

Adding the salt.

Love kosher salt.

Dijon mustard has definitely grown on me since I was a kid. It's a strong flavor too but such a small amount in this dressing means you can barely taste it. I like it now though so some days if I get a wild hair, I throw in an extra tsp.

10 or so cracks of freshly ground black pepper, about 1/2 a tsp. or so.

Doesn't this look like a tangerine? I know. I thought about adjusting the color but it truly is an orange-ish yellow. They're Meyer lemons and the difference is, they've cross a regular lemon with a mandarin orange. The result is a less acidic lemon with all the lemon flavor. But even when I squeeze these things, they smell like mandarin oranges to me, it's the strangest thing.

They're SUPER juicy too - they yield much more juice than a regular lemon. Downside? The zest. As I mentioned before, the true lemon essence is gone - this thing smells like a mandarin orange. I can't use the zest to make lemon simple syrup anymore. Regardless, I still love them.

Are you weirded out by the color as much as I am? I'm having to focus on the mustard to gauge the true color of the lemon.

This is the juice of only 1/2 the lemon.

I like to go full tilt with the acid. Focus on the mustard. It's just my crappy camera. I'm not squeezing an orange.

Glad that's behind us.

Baby whisk.

Then I looked over at my little garbage bag I keep while I'm cooking and thought of how great it would be if I had a little compost bin... Then I started thinking of all those worms and how I'm afraid of worms. And slugs. How am I going to grow those tomato plants I promised myself I would last year after visiting Momma Sally & Sarah and seeing all their gorgeous produce?

Back to the dressing. Focus, Ng.

Extra virgin olive oil. Has to be EV. First cold pressed. Then your dressing will taste nice and fruity..NOT oily.

Whisk, whisk, whisk.

Looks good. Check for seasoning now..

I personally like a little extra salt in mine. I like salt.

Another 1/2 tsp. should do.

5 more cracks of pepper too.

Top your favorite SALAD with this and thank me later.

And I couldn't resist. Here's that damn pizza I'm obsessed with.. Eggplant, fresh garlic, prosciutto & fresh basil. That's right folks. I have access to fresh, cheap BASIL in February. Take THAT old man winter!

The Family Dressing

makes about 1 cup of dressing

2 cloves garlic
1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. fresh pepper
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
juice of 1 lemon (about 1/4 c., I prefer Meyer lemons)
2/3 c. extra virgin olive oil

With a microplane, finely grate 2 cloves of garlic or mashed into a paste with chef's knife. You can definitely add more garlic if you like, sometimes if I feel like vampires are following me, I'll grate in an extra clove. Add in salt, pepper mustard and lemon juice, whisk until combined. Slowly drizzle olive oil while whisking vigorously until blended. Enjoy!

Banana Oatmeal Muffins

2010-02-27T22:27:00.000-08:00

It's amazing to me just how many kitchen gadgets exist out there. I admit, I'm a bit of a collector myself but my lack of space (storage, counter, etc.) really limits me to how many kitchen tools I can justify buying. That is, until my brother and his girlfriend drop in to town and present me with this guy:
His name is Marshall Green. His official job title is potato masher but his inaugural assignment in my kitchen was mashing nanners for these delicious muffins.
Start by sifting dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder & salt).
Here are some of the other things you'll need. They all happen to be staples in my fridge & pantry. These things make your house smell so good.
As I was beginning to mash the bananas w/ a fork, I thought to myself, there's gotta be a better way to do this. I looked up, saw Marshall and heard the angelic choir music going off. Marshall! Of course.

Ey mon, I'm op for dee job.

Yeah, mon.
I approve.
You show those bananas who's boss, Marshall.He seems to be enjoying it.Mission accomplished.
Hey, mon. You've got some butter and banana bits in your dreads.
Perfection!
Mix into flour mixture slowly until just combined. Mix eggs (room temperature, extra large), milk and vanilla extract.
Mix into flour/butter mixture until just combined. Make sure you scrape the bottom just in case there is any annoying dry ingredient stuff at the bottom.
Diced bananas. I love biting into banana chunks in the muffin.
Throw in.
Oats, coconut & walnuts go in too.
There's that spatula - it's there to FOLD this stuff into the mixture. So as not to mash the bananas. You want chunks. Not more mashed nanners, or else we would've just let Marshall do his job on all the bananas.Lined muffin tins, I made a combo of both regular and mini muffins.
Then I got so excited to get these in the oven I forgot to take a picture of the filled tins, whoops.
Anywho. Fill to the top, sprinkle w/ your garnish of choice. If you use different sized tins, make sure you put the small ones on the outside, logistics people.
Muffins rising..
I love watching baked goods rise in the oven.
Oooh! Lookey here.
15 minutes later.. A-dorable.
So cute! I want to pinch it's little muffin cheek! If muffins had cheeks.

Big brother muffins.
These were insanely good. I hope you make them and let me know about it. It's my Christmas wish.

Banana Oatmeal Muffins

adapted from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

3 c. flour
1/2 lb. butter (2 sticks, melted & cooled)
1 1/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2.5 very ripe bananas, mashed
1.5 very ripe bananas, diced
2 eggs, room temp
3/4 c. milk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. walnuts, chopped
1 c. sweetened shredded coconut
1 c. rolled oats, extra for sprinkling

Preheat oven at 350 F. Melt butter and set aside to cool. Sift flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder & salt. Peel bananas and mas into butter. In an electric mixer, stir dry ingredients until blended. On low speed, slowly add in butter/banana mixture. Be careful not to over mix. With a fork, mix together eggs, milk & vanilla until blended. Slowly add to flour/butter mixture until just combined.

Fold in walnuts, coconut and oats. Spoon into muffin tins lined with paper cups and sprinkle with oats or raw sugar (or both!) for decoration. Regular and mini muffin tins were filled to the top or maybe just below the top of the liner.

Regular muffin size yields 18-20 muffins, bake for about 25-30 minutes. I baked for 25 minutes and turned the oven off to let the tops brown for 5 minutes.

Mini muffin size yields about 108 mini muffins. Bake for about 15-20 minutes.

They're ready when a toothpick inserted down the middle come out clean.

Enjoy!

Asian Beef Stew

2010-02-21T22:20:00.000-08:00

Still alive here, sorry for the delay - I just had company in town. After a wonderful week with family, here's the new post. This stew is amazingly intoxicating. It perfumes the house w/ this awesome rich and spicy smell of anise and szechuan peppercorns.

I know the spices may be a little exotic and if you want to find them, check out your local spice market or if you're lucky enough to have an Asian supermarket nearby, they should have them. If not, just come and visit me. I'll make it for you.

Not sure why this photo loaded portrait instead of landscape. I don't know how to fix it, so turn your head clockwise.

I don't know that I've seen beef flank this thick at the traditional supermarkets so while you're at the Asian supermarket, look for it. It's super affordable.I cubed into about 1" pieces

The beef needs to have some fat and maybe even tendon. Any good slow cooker beef cut would work well, lots of connective tissue and a little bit of a fattier cut is best. You can always skim off the fat in the end (which of course, I do).

Heavy bottom pot, preheating..check.

Try browning in a few batches if necessary - you need the carmelization. Carmelization is key, friends. Season the beef before you start, salt & pepper.

Then take the garlic, ginger, anise and szechuan peppercorns

After all batches are browned, throw everyone back into the pot (there should be some juices accumulated from the beef sitting) and add the aforementioned ingredients.

Let them cook for a few minutes.

Try not to pass out from how good it smells.

Add oyster sauce

Soy sauce..

Toss to coat everyone

Throw in potatoes an radish

Add water..

Looks like this..mmmmmmmmmm.

But wait! It gets better. Simmer for 2 hours minimum. The longer the better. This dish is best on the 3rd day or so.

Serve over noodles (egg, ramen, spaghetti, linguine, whatever you have).

If you want to be nice, skim the fat off the top. If you want to be super nice, pick out the anise pods and ginger. Leave the peppercorns, they're too small to pick out. You'll need a magnifying glass and a lot of patience. If you want, use a little cheese cloth or even a large tea ball so you can fish them out easier. I don't mind tasting along the way when I yank the spices out. It's my reward.

Ya..skip the tea ball.

Asian Beef Stew

Serves 6-8

3.5 - 4 lbs beef flank
2 lbs potatoes (waxy ones work best: Yukon, red skinned, etc.)
2 lbs radishes (I used daikon if you can find them, if not, use the little red ones - two bunches)
5 garlic cloves, smashed & peeled
2 oz. ginger (about the size of your thumb, peeled and sliced)
3 star anise
1/2 tsp. szechuan peppercorns
1/4 c. oyster sauce
3 tbsp. soy sauce
4 c. water
*serve with fresh cilantro

Cube the beef into 1" cubes. Leave the fat and tendons on. Get a heavy bottom pot heating. Brown the beef in a few batches, be careful not to crowd the pot so you actually sear the meat.

After the meat is seared, set aside. There should be some leftover drippings in the pan from the meat, if not, add about 2 teaspoons of light cooking oil. Throw in the garlic, ginger, anise and szechuan peppercorns to season the oil slightly. Add in the beef with any drippings that have accumulated on the bottom of the pan. Stir in the potatoes and radishes. The whole time this is going, make sure the heat is cranked high. Add the oyster and soy sauces, stir everyone to combine. Add the water and bring everyone to a boil. The 4 cups of water is an approximation. Just make sure there is enough liquid to cover everything well.

Then let this simmer for 60-90 minutes. The longer the better. Make sure to skim off the fat from the top before serving, it's a rich dish as is so that added grease needs to go.

Serve with noodles or rice. And a salad or something green.

Maple Brown Sugar Bacon Oatmeal

2010-02-08T21:15:00.000-08:00

Another one of the habits I kept from the SBD was definitely using steel cut oats instead of regular rolled oats. The good doctor had some explanation about how the steel cut oats took longer for you to digest therefore it didn't spike your blood sugar as much. If someone tells me something is better for you, I usually switch if it tastes about as good or better. In this case, steel cut oats definitely taste more like oatmeal to me. I love the chewy texture too.

If you're not one of those dash-out-of-the-house-with-wet-hair-and-finish-getting-ready-in-the-car type people, this probably isn't the right recipe you'll want try, but they certainly are tasty. It's not as labor intensive as the breakfast pizza, but it's just as good and good for you.

Now, we didn't start adding in the bacon until one morning, Gabe had a hankering for some bacon w/ the oatmeal. Then I launched into a story about how I grew up on savory oatmeal. That's right, my mom ONLY cooked savory oatmeal. None of this maple syrup, brown sugar stuff. I had oatmeal w/ ham. Chicken. Salt. I think the sweet oatmeal thing is NOT popular in the Chinese culture therefore, I didn't even know about sweet oatmeal until I was in high school or something like that.

Anyhow, Gabe heats himself up a slice of bacon and hangs it off the side of the oatmeal bowl. It falls in, he eats it w/ the oatmeal, and the rest is history.

These are what we call steel cut oats.

I toasted them this particular morning. Was feeling frisky. Notice the salt. Definitely don't forget that salt.

Add the water to the toasted oats.

After it comes up to a boil, crank the heat back to low and put a tight fitting lid on it. For this particular instance - one of the hundreds of times I've made this, I tried out the blue agave. It's better than sugar since it doesn't spike your glucose levels as much..allegedly.

The oatmeal is going to cook for about 20 minutes so depending on whether or not you have raw or par cooked bacon, start accordingly. This precooked bacon that I use on every post will only take a few minutes to heat up.

When the bacon looks like this..

Try not to drool. Or just cook another piece if you can't control yourself before the oatmeal's done.

If you can control yourself, blot the excess fat off (or don't) when the bacon is heated and crisp and chop it up.

This is what it looks like after 20 minutes. If you remember, the last 5 minutes of cooking, take the lid off to let the excess liquid evaporate a little.

Plate up.

Agave or maple syrup now. And the agave in my opinion, doesn't have nearly enough flavor. But if it is better for you, whatever. If I had to pick one to go on a desert island, I'd go maple syrup hands down.

Mmmmmmm.

Raisins

and cranberries for the Mr.

Mine gets some walnuts. My mom says they make you smart. In fact, she says a lot of things that don't make much sense.

Then..the bacon. If this looks at all weird to you, it's that whole sweet/salty thing.

Mr.'s gets bacon.

Then a sprinkle of brown sugar.

Mr.'s too.

Excellent.
Mix it up.
Going...
..going...
After this bite, it's gone. Take my word for it. I forgot to take a picture but who wants to see an empty bowl?

Maple Brown Sugar Bacon Oatmeal

makes 2 servings

2/3 c. steel cut oats (*I think Irish oats are the same thing)
2 c. water
1/2 tsp. kosher salt

Toppings (this is per serving, depending on your taste - this is what I like on mine)

1 tsp. brown sugar
1/4 c. chopped toasted walnuts or pecans (or both)
1 tbsp. raisins
1 slice bacon
1 tbsp. 100% pure maple syrup

Bring water to a boil and add salt. Stir in oats and simmer for anywhere from 15-30 minutes, depending on your preference of texture. I like mine on the chewier side so we do about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

You can also add whatever toppings you like instead. Gabe doesn't like nuts in his oatmeal nor does he do the maple syrup (crazy). He adds dried cranberries in his but you can certainly add a number of different dried fruits or nuts, even granola if you want.

Another variation would be to just use some maple glazed bacon which would be fantastic. Just try with the bacon. It's DE-lish.

Barefoot's Cheddar Dill Scones

2010-02-03T14:30:00.000-08:00

I absolutely was not going to post this recipe. Then I cut up the 3 sticks of butter this recipe calls for and said to myself, "I have to post about this." No matter what you throw 3 sticks of butter into, it's going to be amazing. These scones didn't let me down.

I don't know how many of you know about Barefoot Contessa, but from my inaugural post, you know I love her. This recipe is one of her classics that she has featured in her newest cookbook as well as on the Food Network website.

I just made them and loved them so much, I thought I'd take some pictures of the whole thing. Just for giggles. I really hope you try - they're SO good. They make the house smell amazing and freeze really well.

Three glorious sticks of cold, cold butter. Diced. This, people, is the inspiration for the post. You could throw 3 sticks of butter on a rollerskate and it would be delicious.

Measure out your dry and mix together quickly in the mixer. I sifted..it's not necessary.

Buttermilk. And if you don't have any, I've heard from a certain Pioneer Woman you can mix regular milk and some white vinegar together as a substitute. Voila!

Blend the butter/flour mixture until it looks like wet sand. The butter should be in about pea sized pieces.

Send your eggs on a date w/ the buttermilk. Whisk together..

Dill. You need about 1 cup. A whole cup! I get some cheap herbs from H Mart (a Korean grocery store) and a huge package of dill was less than $2. This recipe makes a TON of scones so cutting the recipe in half is no big deal. But make the full amout, they freeze super well.

Freshly grated sharp cheddar cheese w/ flour mixed in..

Then mix the dill into the cheese.. Dill smells so good. Almost floral to me. I never use dill but I should. And I can eat the hell out of these scones. They're great w/ soup.

Then mix the buttermilk/egg mix into the flour/butter mixture. I took the flour/butter mixture WAAAAAAAAAAAAY too far. I came back and it was almost all stuck together..NOT wet sand. Needless to say, the scones still turned out fine, just be a little more careful. I think I was busy petting the dogs or something..

Not so pretty after you add the buttermilk/egg. But don't worry! Everything will be fine.

Mix the cheese/dill mixture into the first mixture. It's going to be a pretty wet dough. I added lots of extra flour so they wouldn't stick when rolling.

Dump onto your kneading surface and make sure it's well floured. You'll have some scone stuck to your counter for a year if you don't.

Roll that puppy out and admire all the wonderful flecks of dill in the scone. Fantastic.

I could print this out and make it the wallpaper in my kitchen.

Cut into 4" x 3" rectangles, then cut diagonally to make these pretty triangles.

Brush w/ eggwash to make so pretty.

Just beautiful!

Bake in the oven and try not to mash your face against your oven door.

They smell SO good. They made the house smell fantastic. Make these instead of buying one of those air fresheners.

The scones were intoxicating enough to lure even the most savage of beasts into your kitchen.

Actually, it doesn't take much to lure these savage beasts.

Golden brown bubbly deliciousness.

The recipe directly from the Food Network Website:

Ingredients

4 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, divided
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
3/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced
4 extra-large eggs, beaten lightly
1 cup cold heavy cream
1/2 pound extra-sharp yellow Cheddar, small-diced
1 cup minced fresh dill
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water or milk, for egg wash

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Combine 4 cups of flour, the baking powder, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the butter and mix on low speed until the butter is in pea-sized pieces. Mix the eggs and heavy cream and quickly add them to the flour-and-butter mixture. Combine until just blended. Toss together the Cheddar, dill, and 1 tablespoon of flour and add them to the dough. Mix until they are almost incorporated.

Dump the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead it for 1 minute, until the Cheddar and dill are well distributed. Roll the dough 3/4-inch thick. Cut into 4-inch squares and then in half diagonally to make triangles. Brush the tops with egg wash. Bake on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper for 20 to 25 minutes, until the outside is crusty and the inside is fully baked.

Home Alone Husband Penne

2010-01-30T20:51:00.000-08:00

My mom once told me this old Chinese story about a wife that left on some trip away from home and baked a big cookie to tie around her husband's neck so he wouldn't starve while she was gone. She came home to find him dead anyways - starved to death. The cookie was half eaten but only to top part that he could reach. He never flipped the cookie around to eat the bottom side.

Last weekend I took my mom to Vegas. The trip only lasted 3 days but in those short days, if left to his own vices, I may have found my own hubby dead of starvation. Or at least severely emaciated and malnourished. He would have been forced to consume what's left of the stale saltines, sniff out the hidden Oreos in the back of the cupboard or gnaw off his own arm.

Ok, I kid. Maybe not that last one, but there certainly would've been more than one trip to those famous golden arches. It's certainly not that Gabe can't feed himself, he just doesn't make very healthy choices. This pasta is good for fooling him into thinking he's eating some 'man food'. Joke's on him, there's tons of zucchini and whole wheat pasta in it.

We came home a few days later and..........he was still alive! Perfectly well fed with several balanced meals. He even made himself a little salad.

No he didn't. Salads = immediate loss of man cards.

No matter. He's alive. That's all that matters.

Love you, Boo.

Home Alone Husband Penne

Serves 6-8

3 zucchini, large
1 onion, large
4 garlic cloves
1 lb. sweet Italian sausage, bulk* 1 lb. fresh mozzarella
1 32 oz. jar marinara sauce
1/2 c. grated hard cheese (parmigiano reggiano or pecorino romano)
1 lb. box penne pasta (or any other short cut pasta)

* If you don't have Italian sausage, be crafty & make your own:

1 lb. pork shoulder
1 tsp. fennel seed
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. red pepper flake, optional
salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven 350ºF. Start some water boiling for the pasta and preheat another large heavy bottom pot on high to saute veggies and brown sausage.

Now, let's start paring the veggies. I use a large dice on both the onion and zucchini:

Put about 3 tbsp. oil into the bottom of the pan. When it starts to ripple, get the onions in the pot and turn the heat down to sweat the onions. Sprinkle with salt & pepper.

Chop garlic.

When onions are nice and translucent, toss in zucchini and garlic.

I didn't happen to have the sausage on hand so I just ground some pork shoulder up in the food processor and added some spices.

If that's the route you're going, cube up the pork and pulse in the food processor until it's ground up.

Season w/ some salt & pepper.

What makes sausage taste like sausage..fennel seeds!

After the veggies cook down and look like this:

Put them aside on a plate:

Using the same pan on the same heat, put about 2 tbsp. light oil (I use canola) in the bottom and toss in the ground pork.

Now, don't crucify me - I didn't have any paprika. But if I did, I'd add it in here. I put some oregano and steak seasoning in instead. Just for fun. Gabe can't tell when things taste crazy.

Keep it stirring.

Water should be boiling at this point. Throw in a handful of salt.

Add in your pasta and boil a few minutes shy of whatever it says on the box.

You don't want the Sausage going too far so turn the heat down when the sausage is almost all the way cooked.

Cut your mozzarella into large 1" cubes. Boys LOVE this.

Rolling boil, good good.

Dump pasta, good good.

Dump the onion/zucchini mixture back in.

If you have your own marinara, you're an overachiever. I use my favorite jarred:

Pecorino Romano:

Dump the sauce in the pot.

Add in the chunks of mozzarella:

Use a spider and add in the pasta directly into the sauce..

Mixy mixy.

Stand back and admire. Try not to drool in the pot.

Transfer to a 9 x 13" pan.

Sprinkle w/ cheeeeese!

Yum.

Bake at 350ºF for about 30 minutes.

Ooey gooey mozzarella.

Those big chunks of cheese really make it.

Greek Breakfast Pizza

2010-01-27T15:15:00.000-08:00

Gabe and I got married a few years ago. Just like any other bride-to-be, I had what may be the most motivating factor in weight loss: wedding photos. Dun-dun-DUUUUUN!

So, just like anyone who's getting ready to do the weight loss thing, I jumped on the fad diet. My poison of choice? South Beach, baby!

I fell off that wagon not but a few months after the wedding but, I will say that I took away several habits from the South Beach Diet that I still follow to this day. This breakfast pizza is hands down my absolute favorite thing I learned from the book.

Of course, I jazzed this puppy up with some bacon and mushrooms which the original recipe does not, but you can definitely omit. Gabe won't eat it w/o the bacon though so that's my excuse for using the bacon.

Greek Breakfast Pizza
Adapted from The South Beach Diet book

Serves 2

1 whole wheat pocket pita
3 slices bacon, optional
1 c. mushrooms, sliced
4 c. pre-washed baby spinach
1 green onion, sliced
1 Roma tomato
2 oz. feta cheese
2 eggs
garlic powder, optional
salt, pepper, olive oil

*Note: pitas freeze really well!

Slice the pita in half horizontally. Put the cup sides up and toast.

I use my toaster oven.

Bacon. The root of all that is good in this world. We use three slices in our household.

Cut the bacon into little pieces - about 1/2"

Throw them into a cold non-stick pan to render a little bit of grease. The pan should be on medium to medium high heat.

If you're using uncooked bacon, just brown and drain off the grease into a bowl and whatever sticks in the pan, just leave it. Cut up the bacon and proceed as follows!

While the bacon heats up, get the mushrooms sliced. I use criminis, as always!

There we go. Give up that yummy porky goodness.

Throw into the pan and toss until the mushrooms get slightly browned.

I like using some green onions, just a small handful for flavor.

Then we have the triple washed baby spinach. You can use frozen chopped if you have it.

When the mushrooms look like this:

Go ahead and add the spinach:

Looks like a lot of spinach, but you know how spinach wilts down to nothing.

Going..

Going.....

Wilted. Add 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. pepper and a dash of garlic powder.

Here's the pita all toasty and a little crunchy.

Golden brown edges. Look for those, people. Creates a nice texture contrast.

Throw in those green onions and toss.

So put the spinach mixture onto the pitas and throw into the toaster oven to warm.

I use the same non-stick pan. Dish tyranny, remember?

Crack the egg. Crack iiiit.

Look at those pretty eggs.

Slice the tomato, 1/4" thick. Thicker if you like.

Pretty.

Then the feta. Yummy yummy feta. Please don't use the crumbled stuff, it's so bland compared to the blocks.

Don't forget to salt & pepper the eggs, for the love of god. Gabe's been cooking eggs for years and still can't remember that very important step.

Put the slices onto the pizzas and then..

Crumble the feta on top of the tomatoes and throw it back into the toaster oven to get warmed through.

Cook your eggs how you like, but I like when the edges get a little crunchy but the yolk is still runny.

Bonus: Use the top of the toaster oven to warm your plates!

That cheese gets all warm and the tomatoes too. DE-lish.

Then, throw the egg on top.

Add some orange slices.

Gabe calls them the Sydney Opera House oranges.

See the resemblence?

Dig in. Thank me later.

Make this for a brunch party - they'll love it!