Dr. Food

Lighter Chicken Pot Pie

2010-02-06T21:07:00.000-08:00

I don't own ramekins. I know I should, but I don't. A few years ago, a friend of mine asked to borrow the 6 gorgeous ramekins I had stocked away in the cabinet of kitchen-crap-gathering-dust, and then she moved away rather abruptly and I wasn't able to get them back before a trail of Palouse dust gathered behind her U-Haul.

Sigh.

When the middle of winter blahs take over, I start craving chicken pot pie, and oddly enough, I start thinking about those ramekins. Since my two-person household can rarely finish off a massive chicken pot pie casserole, I've always wanted to make something like this. Since there's no crying over spilled milk (get it? the linked blog is aglassofmilk? I crack myself up), I went ahead and made a whole casserole.

The lucky part is that it was eaten within minutes....the whole thing. The recipe is yet another I adapted from Eating Well, and for convenience purposes (seriously, I had a stack of papers whining at me from my office desk, conveniently located within view of my kitchen--GRADE ME! GRADE ME!), I topped the casserole with store-bought buttermilk biscuits. My heart always flutters when I pop one of those tubes open--it's like Prince Albert in a can. It may be healthier and tastier to follow the homemade biscuit recipe in the original recipe, but as the Pioneer Woman might say about cutting corners on a busy night, it's really the only right thing to do.

Chicken Potpie Casserole
(original recipe at Eating Well)

3 teaspoons canola oil, divided
1 cup frozen pearl onions, thawed
1 cup peeled baby carrots
10 ounces cremini mushrooms, halved*
2 1/2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth, divided
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 1/2 cups diced cooked chicken
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream**
1/4 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper, to taste

Directions
1. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onions and carrots; cook, stirring, until golden brown and tender, about 7 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.
2. Heat the remaining 2 teaspoons oil in the pan over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring often, until browned and their liquid has evaporated, 5 to 7 minutes. Return the onions and carrots to the pan. Add 2 cups broth and bring to a boil; reduce heat to a simmer. Mix cornstarch with the remaining 1/2 cup broth; add to the pan and cook, stirring, until the sauce thickens. Stir in chicken (or turkey), peas, sour cream, salt and pepper. Transfer the filling to a 2-quart baking dish.
3. Top with biscuits and bake the potpie until the topping is golden and the filling is bubbling, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

*I used baby bella mushrooms because it's what I had on hand
**I substituted fat free sour cream and it didn't make much difference in consistency

The Naughty Blogger's Southwestern Salad

2010-02-06T20:09:00.000-08:00

I've been a little absent from the blogosphere as of late, but in lieu of the usual "teaching is taking over my faculties" excuse, I'll just admit it: I've been naughty. If you all were my animals, you'd be standing by the front door with a leash in your mouth and soft eyes pleading for attention.

I haven't been naughty in the kitchen, however, and in my attempt to eat more healthfully during the winter months, I've been darn successful. When I eat fresh and healthy, I have more energy to grade, prepare for lecture, read, and every now and then, BLOG!! Here's hoping that energy keeps on coming.

I have a lot to catch up on this blog, so I'll start with one of my favorite light dinners, adapted from Eating Well. The original recipe called for beef, but I've used everything from leftover shredded chicken and ground chicken, to my favorite, ground turkey. I've listed the specific brand/type of ingredient where necessary, but it's pretty versatile. I had some feta to use up, and my husband prefers cheddar to top, but the saltiness of the feta is a lot like queso fresco (and in this neck of the woods, feta is a lot cheaper).

Southwestern Ground Turkey Salad
(adapted from Eating Well's Tex-Mex Taco Salad)

1/2 cup + 2 tbsp. Muir Glen Black Bean and Corn Salsa
1/4 cup fat-free sour cream
1 tsp. canola oil
1 yellow onion (preferably sweet), diced
1 large clove garlic, minced
1-14.5 oz. can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 lb. ground turkey
2 plum tomatoes, chopped
2 tsp. cumin
2 tsp. chili powder
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste
Large handful chopped, organic cilantro
Small head organic romaine lettuce, shredded
Garden of Eatin Blue Corn Tortilla Chips
Crumbled feta to top (optional)

Directions
1. Mix salsa and sour cream together in a small bowl, and set aside. Heat oil over medium heat and add onion and garlic; cook until fragrant and then add ground turkey. Once cooked through, add tomatoes, spices and kidney beans. Cook until tomatoes are tender. Remove from heat.

2. Add some of the salsa-sour cream mixture and the chopped cilantro to turkey mixture, up to 1/2 cup. Toss salad greens with the remaining salsa-sour cream mixture and arrange among 2-3 plates. Top with meat mixture and arrange tortilla chips around the plates. Sprinkle with feta and enjoy!

Veal Piccata = HEAVEN

2010-01-03T16:27:00.000-08:00

First things first: 2nd wedding anniversary celebration!! Woot woot!

Now that I have that out of the way, wait--let me put away the balloons and streamers, and get down from this chair.

Okay. Veal Piccata. It's heaven.

I found some lovely veal cuts and immediately decided on this one. I even crossed off an already planned meal and a handful of ingredients I was going to buy about 30 seconds after I spotted them. I usually make this dish with chicken since it's cheaper, but I decided a little celebration deserved a little splurging. This isn't the rich, sinful version since I prefer a lighter sauce, but it's still pretty darn indulgent.

Veal Piccata
(adapted from Eating Well)

4 veal cutlets or around 1 lb. (see note below)
2 tbsp. + 1/4 cup flour
1 3/4 cup chicken broth
Salt and pepper
2 tbsp. olive oil
10 oz. baby bella mushrooms, quartered
2 tbsp. chopped fresh garlic
1/3 cup white wine
2 tbsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
2 tbsp. capers
2 tsp. butter
6 oz. whole wheat pasta

Directions.
1. In a bowl, whisk 2 tbsp. flour into chicken broth and set aside. Season veal cutlets with salt and pepper and coat with flour, shaking off excess. Cook cutlets in a large skillet coated with olive oil, about 2-3 minutes each side. Remove cutlets from the pan and keep warm.
2. Add mushrooms to skillet and cook until browned, about 4-5 minutes, and transfer mushrooms to another plate. Meanwhile, bring a pot of salted water to boil and cook pasta until al dente while mushrooms cook.
3. Add white wine and garlic to skillet and cook over medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes. Stir in broth and flour and lemon juice. Season with a pinch of salt to taste, and simmer until sauce thickens.
4. Stir in the mushrooms, butter, parsley and capers, and then toss cooked pasta with about half of sauce. Serve chicken on pasta and spoon remaining sauce over chicken.

Forget Take-Out: Healthy Lemon Chicken at home for a healthy New Year

2010-01-01T21:28:00.001-08:00

Entering a new year, I rarely ever make resolutions because they just don't seem plausible. I am, however, making one resolution: save money and eat out less. This is an easy resolution to keep since I don't eat out often and I budget my meals carefully every Sunday. But...I have an occasional addiction to kick.

I think I've mentioned my weakness for Chinese takeout before a number of times on this blog, but it deserves reiterating. I LOVE CHINESE TAKEOUT. Tortilla chips are my kryptonite and takeout is my secret love (not to be confused with my crushes on baby bok choy and mini muffins).

In my quest to reinvent a healthier version of takeout, I once again looked to my trusty friends at Eating Well. If you haven't checked out their recipes, you should. They're awesome.

Lemon Chicken Stir-Fry
(reprinted from Eating Well)

1 lemon
1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
3 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
10 ounces mushrooms, halved or quartered
1 cup diagonally sliced carrots , (1/4 inch thick)
2 cups snow peas , (6 ounces), stems and strings removed
1 bunch scallions, cut into 1-inch pieces, white and green parts divided
1 tablespoon chopped garlic

Directions
1. Grate 1 teaspoon lemon zest and set aside. Juice the lemon and whisk 3 tablespoons of the juice with broth, soy sauce and cornstarch in a small bowl.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, until just cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate with tongs. Add mushrooms and carrots to the pan and cook until the carrots are just tender, about 5 minutes. Add snow peas, scallion whites, garlic and the reserved lemon zest. Cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds. Whisk the broth mixture and add to the pan; cook, stirring, until thickened, 2 to 3 minutes. Add scallion greens and the chicken and any accumulated juices; cook, stirring, until heated through, 1 to 2 minutes.

Comfort Food for a Restful Break

2009-12-30T16:51:00.000-08:00

Ahhhhhhhhh. Allow me to catch you up. After I submitted grades, I went to bed. I slept in without waking up at 2, 3 or 4 AM in a cold sweat, without even waking up when my cat meowed in my ear all morning. I logged into my email and didn't see 50 pleas or beggings for forgiveness, I drove to my office and didn't encounter a single student. It looked like a ghost town, and my blood pressure never rose once. Is it? Could it be? BREAK??!!

Yes, oh yes, it is break. I watched a line of cars the length of a football field head out of town from my little valley, and with their vacancy came the loud proclamation from the depths of my soul:

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

It isn't that I dislike the presence of students. I just relish the quiet. Pullman is a tiny town, and without the student population the whole town slows down. No rush, no bustle, just silent calm.

To commemorate my final winter break in Pullman, I decided on comfort food. Comfort food is stick-to-your-ribs delicious, but it doesn't have to stick to your waistline. Pork chops are lean enough that a simple pan sauce can be downright satisfying, and even though mashed potatoes have been given a bad reputation in recent years, without adding a pound of butter, the potato is one of the most nutritious vegetables around (they possess the highest amount of protein that any vegetable has to offer). Rounding out the meal with a big ol' pile of steamed broccoli and a salad, my version of "comfort food" was every bit as comforting as a steak and loaded baked potato dinner. Take that, end of semester!

Pork Chops with Sage Apple Sauce
(Adapted from Eating Well's Pork Chops with Apples & Thyme recipe)

3/4 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth, divided
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons canola oil
4 4-ounce boneless pork chops, 1/2 inch thick, trimmed of fat
1 small onion, sliced
1 Fuji apple, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup apple cider, or apple juice
2 teaspoons whole grain Dijon mustard
1 tsp. crushed sage

Directions
1. Mix 2 tablespoons broth and cornstarch in a small bowl.
2. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over high heat. Add chops and cook until browned, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate.
3. Reduce heat to medium-high and add onion to the pan. Cook, stirring often, until it starts to soften and brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Add apple and cook, stirring often, until tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in the remaining broth, cider (or juice), mustard, sage and the cornstarch mixture. Bring to a boil, stirring, until thickened and glossy, about 1 minute. Return the chops to the pan and heat through. Serve immediately with mashed potatoes.

Lighter Chicken a la King

2009-12-20T20:13:00.000-08:00

When I was a kid, I loved sleeping over at other people's houses. There was something so exciting about sleeping in another bed and playing video games until the wee hours. However, the one thing I was always leery about was eating someone else's cooking. I was so used to my mom's cooking that sitting down at a different dinner table made me incredibly nervous.

Despite my apprehensive eating tendencies, one night at a friend's house I discovered what I can only describe as both the most disgusting and the tastiest meal ever: Chicken a la King IN A CAN. Yes, a can. Creamy chicken, tender mushrooms, salty and tangy pimentos: I had found my kryptonite.

Years later, I still have a taste for this comfort food now and again, but I tend to not eat meals from a can these days (I'm looking at you, ravioli and spaghetti o's). This lightened version was the answer to my craving, and I have to say it far exceeded my taste memory of its canned counterpart. Served over flaky biscuits or whole wheat egg noodles, I'm in heaven.

Chicken a la King
(Reprinted from Eating Well)

1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast, trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons canola oil, divided
10 ounces white mushrooms, quartered
1 large green bell pepper, diced
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 cup dry sherry, (see Note)
1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 cup low-fat milk
1 4-ounce jar sliced pimientos, rinsed
1/2 cup sliced scallions

Directions

1. Toss chicken and flour in a medium bowl until coated. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Reserving the remaining flour, add the chicken to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, 2 to 4 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate.
2. Reduce heat to medium and add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the pan. Add mushrooms, bell pepper, salt and pepper, and cook, stirring often, until the mushrooms are softened and starting to brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Pour in sherry; bring to a boil and cook, stirring to scrape up any browned bits, 3 minutes.
3. Whisk broth and milk into the reserved flour until smooth. Stir the mixture into the pan. Bring to a simmer, stirring often. Stir in pimientos and the chicken and return to a simmer. Reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook until the vegetables are tender and the chicken is cooked through, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in scallions and serve immediately.

Note: Sherry is a type of fortified wine originally from southern Spain. Don't use the “cooking sherry” sold in many supermarkets—it can be surprisingly high in sodium. Instead, purchase dry sherry that's sold with other fortified wines in your wine or liquor store.

Chicken Cacciatore, or the last slow cooker recipe you'll have to endure for a spell

2009-12-16T00:30:00.000-08:00

I'm beginning to think this blog should be renamed Dr. Slow Cooker. It would be much more fitting considering I'm not a medical doctor and I'm only doing a PhD in English, but frankly, I don't give in easily. Ask my husband.

Ian isn't a mushroom fan. He picks around them usually, but I decided that every now and then a gal has to recreate her favorite dishes to keep happy. Luckily, Ian was receptive and ate up his plate in just a few scarfs. I'm a lucky, happy almost doctor of philosophy. Spring graduation here I come! Er, except I'm not walking.

Chicken Cacciatore
(adapted from All You, October 2005)

1 tablespoon olive oil
3 garlic cloves, smashed
1 (14 oz.) Spanish onion, sliced into 1/2-inch wide strips
1 green bell pepper, sliced into 1/2-inch wide strips
1 yellow bell pepper, sliced into 1/2-inch wide strips
1 (8 oz.) package baby bella mushrooms, quartered
1 (4 lb.) broiler chicken, quartered
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 (28 oz.) can crushed tomatoes
1/2 pound uncooked whole wheat egg noodles
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley

Directions
1. Heat oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring, until golden, about 2 minutes; transfer to slow cooker.

2. Add onion, bell pepper and mushroom. Put chicken on top; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pour in crushed tomatoes; cover and cook for 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low. Chicken should be very tender.

3. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook whole wheat egg noodles according to package directions until al dente. Drain and transfer to a large serving bowl.

4. Transfer chicken to 4 plates. Skim fat from surface of sauce and discard. Stir parsley into sauce. Spoon some sauce over chicken. Serve remaining sauce with pasta and cheese.

Lentil Chili and the End of a Very Busy Semester

2009-12-12T19:57:00.000-08:00

Ian graduated today, so we spent most of the morning and a good portion of the afternoon in an uncomfortable coliseum listening to speeches and recitations of names and chants and songs and...my butt still feels numb.

The one thing I didn't anticipate was that I would see so many previous students of mine graduating at the same time. I might preface this with the warning that I'm the type of person who cries at Discover Card commercials, and I'm pretty sure Rita Wilson was mocking my waterworks in that scene in Sleepless in Seattle. Needless to say, seeing students who were doe-eyed freshman ready to set the academic world on fire with their words (please, no Freedom Fighters references here) matriculating and moving on to greener pastures was entirely too much for this sappy teacher.

So what better way to celebrate than to make lentil chili? Yes, I'm the queen of the non sequitor. I may be done tearing up, but here comes the grading and advising. Sigh.

Lentil Chili
(adapted from Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook)

1 onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, choped
1 jalapeno, finely diced
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 carrots, diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. chili powder
1 tbsp. cumin
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. dry mustard powder
2 1/2 c. dried brown lentils, rinsed
8 c. vegetable broth
3 tbl. olive oil
Salt to taste

Directions
1. Combine all ingredients in slow cooker, except olive oil and salt. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Add olive oil and salt in the last half hour.

2. Serve with cheddar cheese and green onion toppings.

In which I exhaust my slow cooker: Chicken Tagine

2009-12-11T20:59:00.000-08:00

Yes, I'm addicted to my slow cooker. Yes, I probably need an intervention at this point. But really, why would you want me to quit easy cookin' at a time like this?

*Announcement alert*

Ian is graduating tomorrow morning, 12 December 2009 from Washington State University. He began his degree in 2000, the same year I began my undergraduate degree. He has taken a few classes at a time while working, and all of his hard work and perseverance is finally paying off. I couldn't be prouder of my love, my best friend, my everything. I know you're reading this, Ian. You rock.

Now that I'm done being cheesy, back to the food. I wanted to make this recipe the second I saw it in Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook (all the excitement around here has also meant a lack of creativity--sorry folks), but I didn't want to make the massive serving size outlined in the recipe, so I've adapted it to fit a two-person dinner without cutting out the flavor.

I also forgot the very last step, which is to stir the peanut butter into the cooker. I've made this recipe once before on the stove in its entirety, so I know what I'm missing, but it was still a fantastic way to end a rather hectic final week of classes. Can I just blame my gaffe on the excitement around these here parts as well? And exactly how far can I stretch this excuse? Not very far, you say?

Fine. Here's your recipe.

Slow Cooker Chicken Tagine
(adapted from Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook

1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed
1 can whole plum tomatoes, drained and chopped
1/2 medium red onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 tbsp. tomato paste
2 tbsp. water
2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
2-3 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 tbsp. peanut butter

Directions
1. Place the first 8 ingredients in slow cooker, and arrange chicken pieces on top. Cook on low for 6 hours.
2. Stir in the peanut butter and serve over couscous.

Note: I cook my couscous in chicken broth with a soup seasoning (separate post one of these fine days) and a tiny pat of butter. Toasted pine nuts and a handful of chopped fresh Italian parsley complete the base for this wonderful tagine.

Easy Breezy Chicken Posole

2009-12-10T21:54:00.000-08:00

I've been making a lot of soups and stews lately, mostly due to the cold and partly due to the fact that one pot is easier on crazy work days than four or five different pots. Feel free to use whatever meat you have on have that's cooked and ready to use up. I've used turkey and pork tenderloin for this recipe as well.

Chicken Posole
(reprinted and adapted from Real Simple)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
salt and black pepper
1 32-ounce container low-sodium chicken broth (or sub homemade stock like I did)
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
1 dried ancho chili, thinly sliced
2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
1 15-ounce can hominy, drained and rinsed
Lime wedges

Directions
1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and 1⁄4 teaspoon each salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and beginning to brown, 10 to 12 minutes.
2. Add the broth, tomatoes, and chili and bring to a boil. Stir in the chicken and hominy and simmer until heated through, 3 to 4 minutes. Serve with the lime.

See how easy that was? Now go cuddle under some blankets and forget about the frigid weather outside. Bring a furry friend:

Acorn Squash and Black Bean Chili

2009-12-06T17:55:00.000-08:00

Here's another very simple, very filling vegetarian recipe. I love black bean chili, and after a lovely day of grocery shopping and tidying up around the house, Ian and I decided the fiber-filled dish was perfect for a cold, lazy day.

I couldn't resist the gorgeous acorn squash from the Moscow Co-Op, and even though I can eat acorn squash simply roasted with a pat of butter straight out of the shell, I figured adding it to the chili might be a welcome twist to the evening. I'm so glad I did: this was fantastic!

Acorn Squash and Black Bean Chili
(Loosely adapted from/inspired by the NY Times)

2 tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 15 oz. cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can Rotel diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained
2 chipotle chilies in adobo sauce, chopped
2 tbsp. tomato paste dissolved in 1 1/4 c. chicken stock
1/2 tbsp. cumin (or add a lot more...like I do)
1 tsp. Mexican oregano
Black pepper to taste
1/2 cup frozen corn
1 acorn squash, roasted and cut into chunks

Directions
1. Heat olive oil in a 2 quart pot and add onions and garlic. Saute until onion is translucent, then add next 7 ingredients, through black pepper. Turn heat down to medium low, and cover. Simmer for 25 minutes or until chili thickens.

2. Add acorn squash and frozen corn to pot and simmer for another ten minutes, uncovered. Serve with sour cream, chopped green onions and/or shredded cheddar cheese.

Pumpkin Lasagna with Italian Sausage

2009-12-06T12:44:00.000-08:00

Last year you may recall I made a butternut squash version of this recipe.

After a repost on Foodmayhem's site of this marvelous recipe, I decided I should make it with pumpkin this time, but husband unit isn't too fond of lasagna and he objected to anything sweet, so I did in the end tweak the recipe to include one of his favorite meats: Italian sausage. I removed the casings and cooked the loose meat until crumbling. In the end, I was elated and somewhat sad that I didn't make this with pureed pumpkin last year--it's truly worth it!

Pumpkin Lasagna with Italian Sausage
(Adapted from Foodmayhem.com)

4-5 Italian sausage links, casings removed
1/2 a small onion, chopped
1 tsp. sage
1 tsp. oregano
Fresh ground black pepper to taste
21 oz. fresh mozzarella
1 1/2 c. part skim ricotta
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut in a few pieces
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 3/4 cups pumpkin puree
1/2 c. chicken stock
1/2 tbsp. each oregano and sage
1 tsp. kosher salt
16 oz. box lasagna

Directions
1. In a skillet, cook the sausage over medium high heat. Once the sausage is almost cooked through, add the onion, sage, oregano and pepper to taste. Cook until onion is translucent.

2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix ricotta with 12 oz. of fresh mozzarella, shredded. Set aside for lasagna assembly.

3. In a saucepan, melt butter and add pumpkin puree, along with chicken stock. Gently heat through (watch for too much heat--pumpkin splatters pretty easily!). Remove from heat and set aside for assembly.

4. Smear a thin layer of pumpkin mixture on the bottom of a 9×13 glass baking dish.

5. Place 3 lasagna sheets across. Spread a thin layer of ricotta mixture on the sheets, then a layer of pumpkin mixture. Sprinkle a layer of Italian sausage on top. Place 3 lasagna sheets across and repeat layering process until you reach the top. The final layer should be ricotta and pumpkin mixture--do not cover final layer with lasagna sheets.

6. Slice the remaining fresh mozzarella and arrange on top. Bake covered with foil in preheated oven for 35-45 minutes (I baked for 45 mins.) and another 5 minutes uncovered. Let the lasagna rest a few minutes before serving. Enjoy!!

Slow Cooker Shrimp and Andouille Sausage Creole Stew

2009-11-15T17:34:00.000-08:00

I've really been putting some mileage on my slow cooker these days. I work from home three mornings a week (the perfect time to assemble a meal-to-be while grading papers and writing that pesky dissertation), and the later afternoon has been spent at another job, so it's great to be able to walk into a house filled with aromatics at the end of a hurried day. Stews, chowders, casseroles, poached chicken for tacos...there isn't anything this lovely little contraption can't handle.

Friday happened to be the first day of snow here on the Palouse, and I figured that with the added driving time up the Lewiston valley grade (seriously, there's nothing scarier than limited visibility and a giant cliff next to your car), I wouldn't have much time to whip up dinner before meeting the husband unit on his dinner break. On cold days I crave soups and stews, and to me there's nothing more comforting than eating a steaming bowl of stew while watching the snow fall and the deer take shelter in the evergreens outside my picture window. Perfection.

Shrimp and Andouille Sausage Creole Stew
(Adapted from Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook)

1-14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes with juice
1-14.5 oz. can chicken broth (or homemade, preferably)
1 1/2 c. chopped onion
1 cup chopped green pepper
1 cup chopped celery
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. paprika
Pinch of salt and fresh ground pepper
1 tsp. hot pepper sauce (I use Louisiana Hot Sauce)
1 bay leaf
1-6 oz. can tomato paste
10-15 large raw shrimp, peeled
2 links cooked andouille sausage, sliced into coins
3 green onions, chopped
1 tbl. file powder

Directions
1. Combine first 10 ingredients in slow cooker. Add tomato paste and stir to combine. Set slow cooker on low for 5-6 hours (or on high for 2.5-3 hours).
2. Remove and discard bay leaf. Add shrimp, sausage, green onions and file powder to slow cooker and cover. Cook for 5 minutes, or until shrimp is cooked through. Serve with white rice.

Another day, another fast and delicious lentil recipe

2009-11-11T20:11:00.000-08:00

I love lentils. This is perhaps not surprising given I live in Pullman, Washington, the home of the National Lentil Festival, but what is surprising is that I've never, ever actually been able to get a bowl full of free lentil chili at the festival. I've gone every year for 6 years now, and every time they've run out before I can get to it.

Perhaps this is why lentils make their tasty way into many of my recipes. The festival mascot, Taste E. Lentil, would most likely agree with me.

For a few more awesome lentil recipes (I recommend the Rhubarb Lentil Crisp), follow this link to the Lentil Fest webpage.

Lentil Sauce for Pasta
Adapted from Diana Shaw's The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook

1 tbsp. olive oil
1 sweet yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 large carrots, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 tbsp. oregano
2 cloves
2 tbsp. tomato paste
2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 cup lentils
3 cups vegetable broth
Fresh ground black pepper

1. Heat oil over medium heat. Add onion to pan and cook until almost translucent, then add garlic, carrots, celery, cloves and oregano. Cook 2-3 minutes more and then add tomato paste and vinegar. Stir to combine.
2. Add lentils to pan along with vegetable broth. Simmer on medium low for 15-20 minutes, or until lentils are tender. If sauce is thin, add 1-2 tbsp. tomato paste. Season with fresh ground pepper. Serve ladled over whole wheat farfalle along with an over easy egg.

Yes, I am still alive. Now have a bison french dip sandwich with me.

2009-11-11T19:40:00.000-08:00

No, really. I am alive. It's been an insane couple of months here, and I'm in the eye of the tornado at this point, so before things get really insane, I thought I'd actually update this blog. Even though my schedule has been hectic, I'm still carving out time to cook. I just can't give up that part of myself.

Ian and I spotted a 3 lb. bison shoulder roast not long ago, and I decided this would be the perfect time for a french dip sandwich dinner. With the temperature dropping and the fog taking over my commute down the Lewiston, Idaho grade, this turned out to be just what my overextended self needed. While I haven't sacrificed my peaceful time in the kitchen, the beauty of the slow cooker is that on a day I can't even carve out 30 mins. for dinner, I still have options.

Bison Shoulder Roast

3 lb. bison shoulder (I'm sure beef would work just fine if you can't get your hands on this)
1 can French Onion Soup*
3 cups beef broth, preferably homemade
2 tsp. peppercorns
Crusty french bread
Sliced, fresh mozzarella

1. Place shoulder roast in slow cooker and cover with the soup, broth and peppercorns. Set cooker on low 7-8 hours.

2. Remove from slow cooker and let sit for ten minutes; keep reserved juices warm. Meat should easily fall apart. Place shredded meat on split French bread. Place fresh mozzarella slices on top of meat and broil under melted. Serve with au jus.

*I used Wolfgang Puck's Organic French Onion Soup with 30% less sodium.

Braised Lamb Shanks and Polenta

2009-09-27T16:04:00.000-07:00

I've been on a bit of a lamb kick as of late (I still have a lamb chop recipe to blog). Since Ian has never had lamb shanks before, when I found a good deal I jumped at the chance. I consulted the backlog of recipes I've had sitting in my online recipe file but I couldn't find anything that would really showcase the flavors I was craving. I also don't have a roasting pan with a lid, so I had to account for the foil I had to use instead.

I was going to add cannellini beans but at the last minute I decided to serve it with polenta. This was stick-to-your-ribs good.

Oven Braised Lamb Shanks

4 lamb shanks
1 small onion, sliced
5 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup red wine
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1 can diced tomatoes with juice
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tbsp. oregano (preferably fresh)
2 tbsp. chopped fresh basil
1 lemon, sliced
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Layer onions in roasting pan, placing crushed garlic cloves on top. Pour wine and vinegar over onions and garlic.
2. Add tomatoes on top of onions and garlic and sprinkle with basil and oregano.
3. Arrange lamb shanks on top, and drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper. Place a lemon slice on each shank. Cover loosely with foil.
4. Place shanks into a preheated oven at 375 degrees. Cook for 2 hours, or until meat is falling off the bone.

Polenta
(from Anne Burrell's recipe on foodnetwork.com)

1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups water
1 bay leaf
Salt
1 cup long cooking polenta
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano
1/4 cup mascarpone cheese

1. In a medium size saucepan, bring the milk, water and bay leaf to a boil. Season generously with salt, almost to the point of over seasoning. How do you know that you are there? TASTE IT! When it has reached a boil, slowly whisk in the polenta in small sprinkles. Once all of the polenta has been incorporated, reduce heat to medium and immediately switch over to stirring with a wooden spoon. Cook the polenta for 30 to 40 minutes, adding water if the polenta becomes too thick to loosen it up.

2. When the polenta is thoroughly cooked, it should look creamy and not feel gritty on your tongue. Remove it from the heat and stir in the Parmigiano and mascarpone. Serve it immediately, or place a sheet of plastic wrap right on the surface of the polenta to prevent a skin from forming on the top.

Lamb Meatball Soup with Lentils

2009-09-26T15:01:00.000-07:00

Despite the fact that it's the end of September, summer has decided to stick around. The temperature has been in the 80s and 90s, but the mere utterance of the word 'fall' makes me incredibly happy. When the leaves start to turn orange, only one thing can be eaten in my household: soup. Ian hadn't been feeling particularly well, so this was the perfect time to trot out a new comfort recipe that I'm happy to say will be a staple once the colder months set in.

I've been wanting to make this recipe from Foodmayhem for quite awhile, but I haven't had any ground turkey on hand, and I had to use the ground lamb up before I could even think about buying more meat. I followed this recipe exactly using the lamb, and the only changes I made were low sodium bacon and I added 1/2 cup of lentils to the soup in the last 25 minutes of cooking. The result was fantastic.

I'm reprinting the original recipe below but have renamed it to reflect the changes I made.

Lamb Meatball Soup with Lentils
(adapted from Foodmayhem)

2 strips low-sodium bacon, cut into 1" pieces
3 1/2 cup leek rings
1 1/4 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 cup diced carrots
4 cups chicken broth
4 cups water
1/2 cup lentils, rinsed and soaked

For the meatballs:

1 1/2 pounds ground lamb
1 cup plain breadcrumbs
1 cup chopped onion
5 cloves garlic minced
1 egg
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat a large dutch oven over high flame. Add the bacon and stir until it gives off fats.
2. Stir in the leek and onion and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in carrots and cook for another 2 minutes. Add broth and water and bring to a boil.
3. Reduce to a simmer and cover. Cook for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. While the soup is cooking, make the meatballs. Mix ground meat with bread crumbs, onion, garlic, and egg. Season with salt and pepper. Form 1 1/2″ balls (makes about 43).
5. Heat a large skillet with the vegetable oil and brown the meatballs on all sides (they don’t need to be cooked through). Place them in the soup along with the lentils, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook covered for another 20 minutes.

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

2009-09-20T15:37:00.000-07:00

Now that we have the mouse situation under control, I can finally use my stove again (that's a lot of scrubbing and bleaching--phew!), and I decided to try out a recipe I've been dying to give a shot since I saw it on For the Love of Cooking.

I love lasagna, and I love roasting vegetables, and combining these two elements together made for one perfect dinner. With a salad on the side, I was able to get a full day's worth of my vegetable intake in one meal.

The only changes I made here were to sub yellow sweet onions for the red onions and I used a mixture of crumbled tofu and ricotta in the ricotta layer. Tofu adds protein and isn't detectable; it absorbs the other flavors and its texture mirrors that of the ricotta. I also cooked my noodles beforehand and used leftover homemade marinara sauce in place of the jarred.

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna (from For the Love of Cooking)

Roasted Vegetables:
8 oz button mushrooms, quartered
1/2 red onion, quartered
2-3 orange, red or yellow baby bell peppers, sliced
Broccoli florets
1 small handful of shredded carrots
6 cloves of garlic, leave the skins on for roasting
1 green zucchini, sliced
1 yellow squash, sliced
Olive oil
Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
Dried basil
Dried oregano

For the ricotta layer:
1 16 oz container of fat free ricotta cheese
3-4 tbsp mozzarella cheese, grated
3-4 tbsp parmesan cheese, grated
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 egg
Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
Dried oregano, to taste
Dried basil, to taste
Dash of nutmeg

Additional ingredients:
Lasagna noodles
Marinara sauce
Mozzarella cheese, shredded
Parmesan cheese, grated
Dried basil

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with tin foil (for quick and easy clean up) then coat the tin foil lined baking sheet with olive oil cooking spray. Clean and slice the veggies and layer all but the zucchini and yellow squash on the sheet. Drizzle a bit of olive oil on top, season with sea salt, cracked pepper, basil and oregano to taste. Toss to coat and place in the oven for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, add the zucchini and yellow squash to the roasted veggies, toss and return to the oven for an additional 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside. Once the garlic cloves cool down, carefully peel the skin off and slice. Add sliced garlic back in with the rest of the veggies.
2. Combine all the ingredients for the ricotta layer and set aside.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a large glass baking dish with olive oil cooking spray. Pour a bit of marinara sauce on the bottom of the dish then place a few lasagna noodles down to completely cover the bottom of pan. Add half of the ricotta mixture and spread evenly over the noodles. Next add half of the roasted veggie mixture. Cover the veggies with lasagna noodles then sauce. Add the last of the ricotta mixture then the remaining veggies. Cover with lasagna noodles, more sauce then sprinkle the top with mozzarella, parmesan and dried basil. Bake covered for 30 minutes; remove the cover and bake for an additional 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted and golden brown.

Nutritional goodness

Ready to roast

Ready to bake

One thing most food bloggers won't EVER talk about

2009-09-17T23:09:00.000-07:00

I live in a field outside of town, in a valley with no neighbors and plenty of wildlife. Most of the time, I post about the beautiful deer and my wonderful dogs/splendid cat.

Trust me, it isn't all wine and roses. We have mice.

Yes, I know this isn't the most appetizing topic (particularly when blogging about food), but this past three weeks has been a testament, a serious test as to what a human can handle when faced with blood sucking rodents carrying nasty diseases.

I'll start with this: we have one electronic mouse trap, 12 (some gone once bitten, some still waiting) glue traps, two plug-in noise emitters (worthless) and two bait-and release traps (also worthless because we have to kill the mice ourselves once they're caught). We have plastered, steel wool-ed, and cemented every last inch, and they still keep coming. It's like Arachnophobia for mouse phobics.

We've had mouse infestations in this house in the past, but this year has been horrible. To all food bloggers, a warning: scroll down or risk reading the dirtiest, most disgusting details EVER.

They got into my stove. While working in the living room one day (otherwise known as my impromptu office) I noticed a tiny mouse head poking through the burner on my stove range. It popped its head out and *raised its ears* (an image that still makes me shudder just thinking about it). After screaming, jumping up and down and taking a shower, I set traps that led to the demise of NINE mice in three days. Nine. That's not a minor infestation.

Needless to say, now that we've pretty much gotten things under control (we think, fingers crossed) I can return to my kitchen temple and sanitize. Stay tuned--I've really missed cooking and blogging!

Chili Relleno for recovering from the Miss Piggy Flu

2009-09-06T20:18:00.000-07:00

So my institution is famous. Not for anything noble or medal-worthy this time. Just a little touch of the swine flu, or rather, 2000 students or 10% of the student population becoming sick within two weeks of school starting.

After a high fever for a few days and a desperate longing to get back on my feet, I decided it was time to get back into the kitchen wearing cute vintage shoes. 1940's reconstructed vintage shoes, to be exact. I can't tell you how in love with them I am, and how much more cheery they made me feel in the midst of a wave of aches and shivers.

Once I had the duds on, I did some victory rolls to my hair and realized that sometimes if you build it, wellness may come. I extended this optimism to my favorite Mexican food, the chili relleno. I've made a slow cooker version in the past that was more like a casserole than anything, but since I'm not anywhere near Chicago and can't simply order out in this college town/petry dish, I decided to take the plunge. In fact, the last time I ordered chili relleno in Pullman, I got a chili stuffed with cheddar cheese wrapped in an egg omelet. Gah.

This proved to be the best activity in which I could partake whilst in recovery. You know, since I really wasn't well enough to produce any meaningful work yet. Sometimes being ill is a slightly unfortunate euphemism for vacation.

So here's your first step: buy some peppers. I picked up some peppers from the farmer's market the week before that needed to be used, and even though they weren't the traditional poblano variety, they had a sheen to them that screamed natural oils. Perfect for chili relleno.

I had four peppers total, so I broiled them in my electric oven until they charred on all sides, turning them over once.

Once charred, I let them steam in a Zip-loc bag for about twenty minutes, or just long enough that the charred skins were easily removed. When I tugged lightly on the pepper stems, most of the seeds came out along with the stem. I used a spoon to scoop out the rest of the seeds. I've seen people wash out the seeds under running water before, but that seems like a waste to me. Keep those natural oils that get released during the broiling process!

Next, I separated about three eggs and beat the egg whites until stiff. Fold the three beaten yolks into the egg white mixture.

After stuffing the chilies with some panela cheese (you can use chihuahua or the blasphemous monterey jack) and then securing my poor torn chilies with toothpics, I dipped them in egg batter and then added them to a preheated frying pan with about 2 tbsp. of olive oil

After browning the chilies I added them to a sauce pan filled with a mixture of tomato sauce, a bit of water, very finely minced onion and garlic.

Once they had a little simmer time (I'm talking less than 5 minutes) in the tomato gravy, they were ready to be eaten.

Here is hubby's portion:

I served these with warmed corn tortillas, guacamole and refried black beans. A perfect feast for someone clinging to the shirt tails of health. Yay for Tamiflu.

Shrimp Feta Pasta Bake

2009-09-05T21:03:00.000-07:00

I'm in love with this dish. Quick, easy and full of flavor, particularly when chock full of in season heirloom tomatoes. With the new semester in full swing, I'm too exhausted to even think about improvising. In fact, I'm surprised if I even make it past this post. Remember the swine flu? Yeah, it's alive and well, and 2000 WSU folk have already reported flu-like symptoms. Including me. The only change I made was from orzo to whole wheat penne.

Of course, Kevin's photos are much more appetizing, but I have an excuse this time: I was typing job letters while making dinner. Huzzah!

Shrimp Feta Pasta Bake
(from Closet Cooking)

Baked Shrimp and Feta Pasta
(makes 4 servings)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 cup orzo
1 tablespoon oil
1 onion (chopped)
2 cloves garlic(chopped)
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 cup white wine
1 1/2 cups tomatoes (peeled and chopped)
1 teaspoon oregano
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup fresh herbs (chopped, parsley, basil, dill, mint, etc.)
2 green onions (sliced)
1/2 pound shrimp (peeled and deviened)
1/2 cup feta (crumbled)

Directions:
1. Cook the orzo until al dente.
2. Heat the oil in a pan.
3. Add the onion and saute until soft, about 5 minutes.
4. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
5. Add the white wine, tomato and oregano and simmer until the sauce thickens, about 5 minutes.
6. Remove from heat and stir in the herbs and green onions.
7. Mix the sauce, orzo and shrimp, place in a baking dish topped and top with the feta.
8. Bake in a preheated 425F oven until the shrimp is cooked and the sauce is bubbly, about 10-15 minutes.

On Faux Calzones and the Start of a New Semester

2009-08-24T22:27:00.000-07:00

They're back. It seems like it was just yesterday that the howling from the campus hill died down to reveal the more peaceful whisper of wind blowing in the trees and the faint sound of deer munching on foliage behind my house. I still remember sitting on my front porch in my little valley in Pullman with a cup of coffee (still in my pajamas because I don't have neighbors and hell, I love PJs), waving to the long line of U-Hauls headed out of town toward Colfax, Seattle, Bellevue and beyond. From that day for a few months, I parked anywhere I wanted, enjoyed shopping at grocery stores without being hit by errant carts driven by young adults too busy to look up from texting their friends in the next aisle to notice the human being bent over the produce, I even enjoyed long walks down my road with no sidewalks without jumping into the bushes to avoid SUVs barreling down the roadway well over the speed limit.

Ahhhh. Those were the days.

They started arriving in small groups, really only venturing out during the daytime to purchase ice cream cones from Licks during the heat wave or scour the campus looking for their assigned fall classrooms, but one day last week, as my dogs did their final business of the evening, I heard them. At first a howl that sounded like the coyote that plagued the valley for most of the summer, and then suddenly increasing into a cacophony of voices screaming "Go Cougs."

The students are back.

I've been a bit of an online and real-life ghost since they appeared, struggling to meet some important deadlines for writing the dissertation, tweaking the syllabus I created over the course of the summer and getting ready for the academic job market this fall, but part of me needed a little comfort food once I realized they were here to stay in my final year at WSU. There's no escaping them--the police blotters alone can attest to the sharp spike in DUIs and alcohol offense arrests.

With all the sadness of a little kid headed back to elementary school, I picked up a loaf of Salted French bread from the Moscow Co-Op like it was my lunch box and decided to use it for a most unorthodox meal: the faux calzone. The meal was less well thought out and put together than it was third grader-with-rubber-cement-and-confetti caliber, but it hit the spot of my soul that cried out for salty, cheesy comfort in the face of losing a prime parking spot at the local Safeway.

After scooping out the insides of the bread and freezing the breadcrumbs, I layered a quick pizza sauce made from tomato paste, water, fresh basil and oregano, garlic and olive oil inside the bread, along with freshly cooked and crumbled Italian sausage removed from its casing, and a mountain of provolone and fresh mozzarella. After a half hour in the oven, I drowned my back to school sorrows in the sweet and savory warmth of pizza bread.

Stuffed and feeling better about the state of my lost summer, I took solace in the finished syllabus before me: it's the best I've ever engineered. I have missed teaching, despite what this post may have indicated, and I can't wait to get back into a classroom to talk about books.

I mean really, who wouldn't give up a front row parking space to discuss books for a living?

Naked bread

No longer naked, just saucy

Some crave chocolate. Not I. Bring on the cheese!

Eat a slab. Just don't tell your cardiologist.

Once you're fully stuffed, grab a kitteh and cuddle off the calories.

General Tso's Chicken

2009-08-14T14:59:00.000-07:00

Hi, my name is Erin, and I'm addicted to General Tso's Chicken and Hot and Sour Soup. [*hi erin*] Whenever I get sick, you can bet the first place I call is the local Chinese restaurant, sometimes even before I call a doctor when I'm really sick. This week I was craving the old General standby, so I decided to recreate one of my favorite takeout comforts at home. After finding a number of promising but very fattening deep fried versions via Tastespotting, I came across La Table De Nana's version, which called for a quick pan fry instead of deep frying. After adding sugar snap peas so I could at the very least claim to have eaten some veggies, this was one of the best mock takeout recipes I've ever tried at home.

Crispy Golden Chicken Pieces

Spicy Sauce

General Tso's Chicken, adapted and reprinted from La Table De Nana

1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp. hoisin
3 tbsp. white vinegar
3 tbsp. ketchup
2 tbsp. soy sauce
1/2 cup water
3-4 tbsp. cornstarch
1 lb chicken breasts, cut into 1" cubes
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. sesame oil
4 green onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced.
1 1/2 tsp. ground ginger (use fresh if you have it on hand)
Hot red pepper flakes, to taste

1.In a bowl mix first 6 ingredients.
2.Dredge your chicken cubes in cornstarch. Shake off excess.
3.In a large skillet heat olive oil and fry chicken until done.
4. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.
5.In the same skillet heat sesame oil and quickly stir fry green onions, garlic and ginger.
6.Add the sauce mixture you have made and simmer until heated through.
7.Return chicken to pan and toss to coat with sauce. Continue cooking until heated through. Serve with rice.

Crab Bisque and Apple Brie Panini with Homemade Bread

2009-08-13T19:40:00.000-07:00

Thrift stores are a wonderful thing. While the current fashion is to think of them as places where one can "upcycle" materials such as clothes, housewares and appliances, I have always relied on thrift stores since I am a perpetual student with no money. I've been in college for literally a decade this year, so I'm no stranger to the 50 cent cardigan. As I wandered around the Palouse Treasures thrift store a few days ago, I ended up in the kitchen section, where I inevitably find all kinds of interesting gadgets and drink/serveware that have seen better days. I was amazed to find a bread machine, still wrapped and in the box, for only ten dollars! Of course, I bought it. I've used a bread machine before, but at nearly a hundred dollars, buying one of my own has just never been an expense I could muster.

After playing around with it for hours, I ended up with a loaf of whole wheat bread that just begged to be panini'd (not a word, you say? bah!). After arranging Fuji apple slices and some brie on the freshly baked bread, I spread on a honey mustard mayonnaise and went to town.

Honey Mustard Mayonnaise

1 tbl. mayo (I used my Vegenaise)
1 tsp. stone ground mustard
1 tsp. honey

Directions
1. Mix the ingredients in a small bowl until ready for use. Serves 1.

After wandering around Tastespotting for awhile last week, I fell in love with the Tomato-Crab Bisque from Eating Well, Living Thin's blog. While I didn't have tomato juice on hand, I did have a big bottle of R.W. Knudsen's Organic Very Veggie juice that was a wonderful replacement. Lower in sodium than most juices (or even low sodium tomato juice), the veggie juice was already wonderfully complex in flavor, so mild, tender crab meat was its match made in heaven.

In other news, Zander the Howlin Wolf made it onto ihasahotdog (the sister site to icanhascheeseburger)! He was thrilled to hear the news, and would like to thank the academy. See Zander in all his glory here: http://tinyurl.com/pz2bsf Or just look below....

Summer squash: or, the most vibrant side dish ever

2009-08-12T21:56:00.000-07:00

I love summer squash, but I get a little tired of gratins. In fact, when it's as hot outside as in your preheated oven, it's best to find a way to grill it instead. While BBQ'ing a few chicken breasts and preparing a salad, I sliced up the summer squash and added it to the saute pan insert for the grill. As a side dish, the summer squash had a nice bite to it but was mild enough that it didn't induce a lemon face.

Grilled Summer Squash with Mustard Vinaigrette

1 medium summer squash, sliced into coins
1 tbl extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp stone ground mustard
Pinch of salt and pepper

1. Place sliced summer squash into a pan on grill. Cook for about 6-7 minutes, or until tender. Remove from grill.
2. Place grilled squash in a bowl and add remaining ingredients. Toss lightly.

Fresh Tomato, Shrimp and Cannelini Bean Pasta

2009-08-12T21:19:00.000-07:00

I adore summer pasta dishes given the incredible quality of produce, but at times the outdoors call my name a little too loudly for me to whip up anything that showcases the fresh ingredients. In this instance, I decided that summer tomatoes just needed to be utilized. After parboiling four huge heirloom honkers in water and then peeling, I downed a few cups of watery tomato juice and sauce, and then added the fresh tomato chunks to a couple tablespoons of olive oil and five cloves of chopped garlic. I didn't write down a recipe here since it's a pretty straightforward endeavor. After simmering down the tomatoes and the juices they released, I added a can of cannellini beans, a handful or two of shrimp, a few servings of cooked whole wheat pasta, a little salt and pepper, and a couple tablespoons of chopped basil.

The result? Fantastic. What to do after dinner? Return to the outdoors.....

My absolute favorite potato salad

2009-08-02T22:03:00.000-07:00

I've been making this recipe since I first saw it in an issue of Bon Appetit, and I remember thinking at the time, why the hell didn't I think of putting my yearly bounty of fresh herbs into what is usually a boring, tasteless side dish at BBQs? I've already lamented my hatred for pasta salads, but my hatred for the mayo-saturated, overcooked potato salad has only been able to find solace in this recipe.

I don't follow it to a T since I generally tend to add more herbs than are called for or sub out ones that I don't have on hand for those that are about to wilt, but this is another great way to not only clean out your surplus of fresh summer herbs but satisfy a hungry crowd.

Ian and I used the fresh red potatoes we procured at the Farmer's Market to make this dish, and it made a wonderful accompaniment to the quick frozen burgers we threw on the grill on one of the hottest days of the year for the Palouse. With Romano broad beans and fresh garden sugar snap peas, as well as fresh strawberries and blackberries rounding out the meal, I almost forgot that I have been hot and miserable for the past few days. Almost.

Creamy Potato Salad with Lemon and Fresh Herbs
Bon Appetit 2007

3 pounds baby red potatoes
3 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar
3/4 cup mayonnaise*
3 medium green onions, thinly sliced
1 celery stalk, cut into 1/3-inch cubes
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley**
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel***

Directions
1. Bring potatoes to boil in large pot of water. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 17 minutes. Drain; let stand until cool enough to handle, about 20 minutes.

2. Cut potatoes into 3/4-inch pieces. Place 1 layer of potatoes in large bowl; sprinkle with some of vinegar and salt and pepper. Continue layering potatoes with vinegar, salt, and pepper. Add all remaining ingredients; toss. Season with salt and pepper.
1. Bring potatoes to boil in large pot of water. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 17 minutes. Drain; let stand until cool enough to handle, about 20 minutes.

2. Cut potatoes into 3/4-inch pieces. Place 1 layer of potatoes in large bowl; sprinkle with some of vinegar and salt and pepper. Continue layering potatoes with vinegar, salt, and pepper. Add all remaining ingredients; toss. Season with salt and pepper.

* I used Vegenase
** I sometimes use cilantro or a mixture of both
*** I throw a little lemon juice into the mix

Curried Coconut Lentils with Chopped Baby Spinach

2009-07-30T21:37:00.000-07:00

A little disclaimer: Sorry about the blurry pics; I don't own a tripod and I still have no idea what I'm doing with a digital camera. I don't even have cable so I probably won't be figuring it out anytime soon...

Ian isn't a big fan of spinach or kale, two of my very favorite greens, so I often have to find creative ways to sneak the ingredients into dishes without him knowing. At times he doesn't even know he's eating kale (the puree is my best friend) but with spinach, I've found a better way of getting him to eat his greens: chop it into tiny, unavoidable pieces. That's right folks, back the haters into a corner and force them to down the very ingredient they despise.

And then watch in surprise as they eat it without complaint.

I make a couple of vegetarian items a week, and this particular meal is one of my favorites. There's something comforting and hearty about lentils, and in this heat, the no-fuss prep for this meal is hard for me to pass up. I could call this a dal since it's close to many recipes I've seen, but I can't really vouch for its authenticity since I really just slap it together at the last minute and then return to sitting in front of the fans with an ice pack.

The particular lentils I used are from the local Pacific Northwest Farmers Cooperative in Genesee, Idaho. I was happy to see that the lentils were great quality and didn't have any grit or grime all over them as is so often the case.

Curried Coconut Lentils with Chopped Baby Spinach

1 1/2 c. lentils
2 3/4 c. vegetable broth (or chicken broth)
1 tbsp. olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 Walla Walla sweet onion, minced finely
1 tsp. turmeric
2 tsp. garam masala
1 tsp. cumin
2 cups finely chopped baby spinach
1/2 cup light coconut milk

Directions
1. Soak lentils in cold water for 20 minutes. Rinse.
2. In a dutch oven or heavy skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and spices to the pan and cook until fragrant. Pour in vegetable broth and lentils, and bring to a boil.
3. Turn heat down to simmer and cook until lentils are soft and broth is reduced (anywhere from 20-35 minutes).
4. Stir in spinach and coconut milk and heat for about a minute. Serve with rice or naan bread.

Garden Update: Flowers and Ornamental Plants

2009-07-27T20:45:00.000-07:00

The yucca is back (well, now there's three of them!)

A variety of zinnia, caladium and other various bulbs that started their own little jungle in the side garden

My newest hen has not only more than a few chicks, but a big, juicy bloom too!

New Zealand begonias and blue marina

Coleus and begonias
(excuse the mess--it was plant care day...)

My beautiful vine, trailing this year to another hanging pot in the garden

Voodoo stonecrop

Beeler's Natural Pork, Fontina and Mizuna Panini and Arugula Salad with Grilled Peaches

2009-07-27T20:15:00.000-07:00

It may be quite pricey, but this past Sunday shopping trip, Ian and I couldn't resist buying half a ham of Beeler's All Natural Pork from the Moscow Co-Op. They don't have a deli slicer in the meat area, so we used Ian's trusty work slicer to slice up some of the best deli meat I've had in a long time. Sometimes I forget that deli meat actually tastes like meat, and without all the preservatives that make deli slices slimy (shudder) I couldn't resist taking tiny bits from the fridge all night.

The Co-Op also sells a wonderful salted French bread that I just knew would be perfect for panini. With the help of a little Fontina, some of the very fresh mizuna I picked up the farmer's market, caramelized local Walla Walla sweet onions, a dab of Veganase and stone ground mustard, I had a serious monster of a sandwich on my hands.

I also picked up some very juicy local peaches at the farmer's market and decided to grill them up and serve them on a bed of arugula, along with chopped fresh almonds, cherry tomatoes, and a mixture of balsamic vinegar, honey and olive oil (which I basted the peaches with after grilling).

This was one fantastic, almost entirely local meal on a beautiful summer day!

Chicken, Cherry Tomato and Baby Spinach Whole Wheat Penne Pasta Salad with Creamy Parmesan Basil Dressing

2009-07-24T15:27:00.000-07:00

This is one of those true clean out the fridge and pantry recipes that only happen by accident. With a little leftover buttermilk, a ton of fresh garden basil, a container of leftover shredded chicken, and a handful of dried whole wheat penne, I decided to make one of those perennial American salads that so often grace the tables at outdoor BBQs and potluck soirees.

I don't really like to admit it, but I love pasta salads, even those swimming in fake "Italian" dressing or covered with bits of salami and cheddar cheese cubes. There's something comforting and familiar about them, even if I would never make them myself. This recipe is an ode to the great American side dish often found next to the potato salad or good old apple pie.

Creamy Parmesan Basil Dressing

2 tbsp. buttermilk
2 tbsp. nonfat Greek yogurt (Chobani, Fage, etc.)
1 tbsp. finely chopped basil
1 tsp. lemon juice (I also added a tiny pinch of zest)
1 small clove garlic, minced
1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. salt

Directions
1. Combine all ingredients in a small bowl or food processor.
2. Chill before tossing with pasta salad ingredients. Yields about 1/2 cup.

Chicken, Cherry Tomato and Baby Spinach Whole Wheat Penne Pasta Salad

3/4 cup dried whole wheat penne pasta (farfalle or rotini also works)
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes (I used mixed variety heirlooms)
1/2 cup torn baby spinach leaves
3/4 cup leftover shredded chicken
1 batch Creamy Parmesan Basil dressing

Directions
1. Cook the pasta according to package specifications and let cool before tossing with rest of ingredients.
2. Combine remaining ingredients (except dressing) with pasta.
3. Pour dressing over pasta mixture and toss to combine. Chill before serving.

Peach and Raspberry Galette

2009-07-23T20:53:00.000-07:00

I love making pies, but I'm not very good at making them. In fact, unless someone helps me make the dough, it turns into a miserable mess. I've always loved making galette because it's easy, it's elegant.....and no one knows you can't bake to save your life.

With a million pounds of fresh fruit on hand, I decided the peaches and raspberries would be the first to spoil. The finished product turned out lovely; sweet but not too sweet, a bit tart but not too tart, and the dough didn't overpower the fresh, local fruits. If you aren't a baker, you might try this recipe, from Use Real Butter's archives. The only changes I made were to very light dot the fruit with butter (I think I only used about a tablespoon, shaved thinly) and then a very light sprinkle of organic raw sugar over both the fruit and the dough (I'm talking less than two teaspoons--just the right amount of sweetness for me). Seriously, try it: it's easy as pie.

Peach and Raspberry Galette Recipe from Use Real Butter

Roasted Garlic and Red Pepper Hummus

2009-07-22T20:38:00.000-07:00

I love homemade hummus, but every now and then I get a little sick of the plain old Jane recipe and I just have to start playing. While still pretty traditional, a roasted head of garlic and fresh roasted red peppers really a go a long way to jazz up a simple snack.

I don't have a gas stove, so roasting red peppers is a little tricky but if I slice and arrange pepper slices on a baking sheet and then broil them in my electric oven for around 30-35 minutes, they blacken just the same as fire roasted peppers. Even though it takes significantly more time, I usually just pop them in the oven whilst performing other tasks around the house. If you also share my electric stove problem, this might be the solution for you.

As for roasted garlic, I almost always roast the garlic before adding it to the hummus as I'm not always a fan of fresh garlic in a snack. I mean, I just don't think I'd like to be around students with garlic breath. I may not mind, but I would rather not end up with an eccentric nickname amongst a group of 18 year olds.

Roasted Garlic and Red Pepper Hummus

1 fresh roasted red pepper, sliced
1/2 head garlic, roasted
1 15 oz. can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 tbl. tahini
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper

1. Place all ingredients up until olive oil in a food processor and pulse until mostly broken up. Add olive oil and pulse until mixture is smooth. Season with salt and pepper, then refrigerate and serve.

Southwest Chicken Salad with Homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

2009-07-21T18:52:00.000-07:00

I've never been a big fan of bottled ranch dressing, or really any dressing for that matter. There's something really fake about it...well, that's because it is fake and full of preservatives that make it taste like the salad condiment version of Twinkies. Bleck. When forced to order salad dressing or purchase it, I generally opt for blue cheese, but I don't keep salad dressing on hand.

With store bought salad dressings seriously disappointing me, I threw out all hope a long time ago and began making my own. I adopted my mom's light rice wine sprinkle or I add a little balsamic, olive oil and pepper in a pinch, and while pureed roasted red pepper and olive oil with fresh basil is fantastic, but what to do when I crave the mother of all American salad dressings?

I've adapted Elise's wonderful recipe for Buttermilk Ranch dressing below, and after arranging leftover grilled chicken, corn, black beans, a hardboiled egg, and an assortment of fresh vegetables, this recipe was just what the grad student ordered. This, my bloggy friends, is comfort in a food processor.

Ingredients ready for a quick whirl around to a certain absent valley

Presto!

Buttermilk Ranch Dressing
Adapted from Simply Recipes

1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup Veganaise or light mayo
1/4 cup non-fat Greek yogurt (such as Chobani or Fage)
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. mustard powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
2 tbsp. fresh chopped flat leaf parsley
1 tbsp. fresh chopped chives
1 1/2 tsp. fresh chopped dill

Directions
1. Place all ingredients into food processor and pulse a few times until smooth.
2. Serve immediately or refrigerate for up to one week.

Egg-less Egg Salad Sandwiches

2009-07-21T18:21:00.000-07:00

I adore egg salad sandwiches. If it weren't so bad for me, I would eat them every single day. I would even happily eat them twice a day, although I'm sure too much of a good thing might not be as appealing as it is in my mind.

Nonetheless, a long time ago I started experimenting with mock egg salad and was excited to find so many different recipes and tips online. After gathering advice from all over and trying out a few dozen recipes (and with some serious tweaking) I settled on a recipe that I can't really credit to any one source.

If you're like me and really enjoy a good egg salad but are concerned for nutrition, give this recipe a shot. Silken firm tofu perfectly replicates the texture of hard boiled egg whites, and to be honest, I don't even miss real eggs anymore. Another plus is that when made with Veganaise, the sandwich is a nice filling vegan snack.

Egg-less Egg Salad

1 package silken firm tofu, carefully diced
1 1/2 tsp. mustard powder or 2 tsp. whole grain mustard
1/2 tsp. turmeric
2 tbl. pickle relish
4 tbl. Veganaise or Extra Virgin Olive Oil mayo
1 tsp. minced fresh dill
1 tsp. lemon juice

Directions
1. Combine all ingredients carefully in a medium size bowl, gently folding with a spatula so as not to break tofu pieces.
2. Cover with plastic wrap or move to container storage, and refrigerate for at least one hour before eating.

Summer Watermelon Refreshment

2009-07-20T22:34:00.001-07:00

So let's say you buy an awesome organic watermelon and you have an overgrowing basil plant that needs to be used up. What's the next logical step. A salad? A salsa?

If you don't have central air conditioning and it's nice and hot out, your answer is a smoothie. A washer and dryer to the person who guessed. Okay, not really.

The smoothie is a result of the above conditions and Ian's sweet tooth, which meant we sweetened it with honey. Sugar or blue agave would work just fine in this concoction. I've seen some people strain this concoction so it's like water, but really, what's the point? It's blended fruit, what can be better? You can adjust the honey to whatever sweetness suits you, but we ended up with just a dab.

Watermelon Basil Fruit Puree

1/2 organic watermelon, seeded
1 tbsp. chopped fresh basil (dried just won't do the trick, so don't bother)
1 1/2 tsp. honey (adjust as needed)

Directions
1. Remove watermelon from rind and place in blender along with basil and honey
2. Add ice if you want to dilute, or pour into container for refrigeration.

Pork and Chinese Chive Wonton Bites

2009-07-20T18:39:00.000-07:00

When I was in college, I was a potsticker junkie. I used to buy those giant, bulky bags of pork dumplings and fry them up while pulling all-nighters, and at times I still get nostalgic for them. Even though I generally don't eat a lot of fried food (or sweet food for that matter--notice that I don't blog about cakes or cookies very often?) every now and then a little indulgence can't be a sin, now can it? Quiet, cardiologists in the corner.

So what do you do when the time comes to indulge a little?

First, make your husband fry up 3/4 lb. of natural pork. Make sure he makes the cutest silly faces whilst in the process. Once it's almost cooked through, make husband add about 1/2 a head of finely diced bok choy, 1/4 cup finely chopped Chinese chives, 2 tsp. grated ginger, 3 tbsp. finely minced onion, and 2 finely minced garlic cloves.

Next, instruct husband to remove the pork mixture from heat and let cool.

Once cool, make your husband assist you in placing about a tsp. (no more than 1 1/2 tsp.) of filling in the middle of each wonton wrapper.

When closing the wrappers, take the opposite corners of the square and squeeze together so the wonton is sealed, and then do the same with the opposite corners. This is just how I do it; if you want alternative wrapping methods or photo tutorials, I would recommend this site. I'm not too good at the wrapping technique, but go ahead and hone your chops.

If you won't be pan frying these babies for awhile, place a damp paper towel over them so they won't dry out.

Next, heat about 4 tbsp. vegetable oil in a large skillet. If you're like me, you'll use grapeseed oil instead because you like its high smoke point and because you just plain felt like it. Once good and hot, add your wontons in batches (or, go ahead and crowd the pan. I did, and I won't tell if you don't) and let cook until the bottoms of the wontons appear golden. Flip them on their sides if you like to continue cooking, or simply add about a 1/2 inch of water so the wontons steam for a few minutes. Remove from heat and enter college nostalgic moment.

Serve with a mixture of soy sauce, sesame oil and chopped green onions for dipping.

Then, eat!!

Garlic Scape Pesto

2009-07-11T15:01:00.000-07:00

Have you ever used garlic scapes? Garlic scapes are the flower stalks that emerge from the ground near the end of May and into June. Since the scapes flower and drag the energy from the garlic bulb into the seed head, it is crucial to redirect the energy from producing a flower back into the bulb. The scapes are edible, but many gardeners erroneously cut off and discard this tasty part of the plant that can be used in stir fry, pasta sauces, and anything that would benefit from its mild garlicky flavor. I prefer to make pesto with my scapes and then freeze portions of it for a summer long treat and as an alternative to all of that Pesto alla genovese I tend to consume when my basil matures.

In preparing the scapes, a good washing is crucial since dirt really likes all of those crevices near the seed head. I know many people who prefer to cut off the flowering seed, but it is actually edible, so I leave it on. I do snap off the very end of the scape, opposite the seed head, since just like asparagus they tend to be tougher and more fibrous. Just snap it off as you would asparagus and swirl it in a food processor with olive oil, lemon juice, salt, parmesan cheese and if you prefer, walnuts. I've seen recipes that call for Italian parsley before, but honestly, it isn't really necessary. I prefer to sprinkle parsley over pasta dishes once plated, and since garlic scapes are pretty flavorful on their own, you could definitely leave it out.

Garlic Scape Pesto

1 bunch garlic scapes, washed and chopped
2 tbsp crushed walnuts
1/2-3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan
dash of kosher salt
generous sprinkle of fresh ground black pepper

1. Toss all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. Add more oil slowly if ingredients aren't wet enough.

So what did I do with my garlic scape pesto booty? Why, pasta of course! While in Chicago, I stocked up on some imported pastas at Angelo Caputo's (aka mecca for me) and chose orrechiette, a Puglian dome-shaped pasta with a little bite to it. It mirrors the bite of the garlic scape pesto and counters the soft cannellini beans and sausages I bought a couple weeks ago at C & L Meat Locker in Moscow.

Nom!

High Country Wild Root Kombucha Tea

2009-07-08T17:51:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I bought a bottle of High Country Wild Root Kombucha Tea after having a very pleasant experience with a few of their other products. The label boasted a blend of sarsaparilla root, licorice root, star anise, yellow dock root, burdock root, dandelion root, yellow dock root, vanilla bean and wintergreen extract, and the flavor claimed to imitate a near root beer of sorts.

I was a little apprehensive about its claims after pouring a bit into a glass for tasting and the smell was more reminiscent of mead than tea, but after a swig, it really did taste like an earthy, almost smoky root beer. While the wintergreen was barely there, the vanilla bean and sarsaparilla root were strong yet delicate, and I've decided to add the tea to my short list of luxuries that I buy every so often.

Sardines? Hell yes.

2009-07-02T21:57:00.000-07:00

I know, I know. Ewww! Canned fish? Well, yes. My mom and I used to eat sardines on saltine crackers when I was a kid, and for some reason, the taste has always been tantalizing to me. It's like an unflaky tuna, and when packed in olive oil, it makes a wonderful impromptu bruschetta.

Whenever I have leftover cooked cannellini beans, I mash them up with some sardines, a trace of the olive oil the sardines are packed in, fresh squeezed lemon juice and chopped Italian parsley, and then I snack on it for a few days. At times it means I get up in the middle of the night to sneak bites before brushing my teeth, lest I go back to bed with sardine breath and receive unwelcome attention from my sleeping cat.

Sounds gross? Don't knock it 'til you've tried it!

Tofu and Shrimp Pad Thai

2009-07-02T10:27:00.000-07:00

I probably could have left the shrimp out of this batch of pad thai, but I had leftover cooked shrimp that needed a culinary destination so really, what began as tofu pad thai became tofu pad thai with a bit of shrimp.

Pad thai is one of those dishes that just plain misses the mark in many restaurants. Either there's too much flavor, too little flavor, or the whole pile is a mess of overcooked, rubbery noodles (or some combination of these factors: inexplicably I once had takeout that was both tasteless and overseasoned, and I still can't figure out what went wrong there).

Two weeks after catching an episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay in our hotel room, I finally got around to making pad thai, and it turned out better than ever, most likely because I had been *dying* to get back into my kitchen after ten days on the road.

Pad Thai Sauce
4 tbl. tamarind concentrate
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup fish sauce
1 cup water

Directions
1. Mix all ingredients together over medium low heat, carefully stirring to remove any brown sugar clumps and to discourage sticking. Allow sauce to thicken (about forty minutes) and then remove from heat.

If you've never made your own sauce before, the result is a fresher, more flavorful taste (not to mention more economical) than the store-bought packets I see a lot of people purchasing at the grocery store, and unlike in a restaurant setting, you control the ingredients that make it tart, sweet, etc.

I like to round up my ingredients for the stir fry portion of the meal beforehand, since once you get going the steps move at a rapid rate.

Tofu and Shrimp

Scallions, chopped dried red chilies, cilantro, garlic and lime wedges

Pad Thai

6 oz. flat rice noodles
2 tbsp. olive oil (or vegetable oil), divided
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tsp. chopped dried red chilies
2 tsp. scallions (white parts only)
2 eggs, scrambled
8 oz. tofu, pressed to release water
Handful of cooked or leftover shrimp, cut into bite size pieces
1 recipe Pad Thai Sauce (above)
Handful of bean sprouts
Handful of chopped peanuts
3 tbl. cilantro, chopped
2 lime wedges
1-2 tbl. scallions (green parts only)

Directions
1. Soak rice noodles in lukewarm water for 20 minutes. Drain and set aside.
2. In a wok or heavy skillet, heat 1 tsp. oil over medium heat and add garlic, red chilies and scallions. Stir until aromatic.
2a. Heat another tbsp. oil in a small skillet and add eggs, scrambling until set. NOTE: I have labeled this step 2a because sometimes I throw the eggs directly into the pan, right before the pad thai sauce. You're call.
3. Add shrimp and tofu. Cook for one minute.
4. Add pad thai sauce and stir to combine. Fold in scrambled eggs.
5. Add the noodles to the pan and heat through.
6. Serve immediately and garnish with peanuts, cilantro, bean sprouts, green scallion tops and a lime wedge.

Ian's portion (generously delivered to him for his work dinner break)

Road Trip Detox Part Two: Miso-Ginger Soup with Shitake Mushrooms, Tofu and Baby Bok Choi

2009-07-01T17:40:00.000-07:00

After such a long drive in a cramped space, my entire body was screaming for nourishing food and a little TLC. Whenever I get sick I make miso soup, but I also had a serious craving for mushrooms, so I ended up making a pretty hefty (but nonetheless delicious) batch.

Ian and I have been buying a protein-rich tofu lately that has a very pleasant texture to it. Not all tofus are created equal, so I think I might stock up on quite a few of these blocks from Wildwood.

Using the same basic miso recipe as always, I simply added the shitakes to the soup right before the miso, along with sliced baby bok choi, a handful of julienned carrots, and sliced scallions.

Detox complete!!

***I completely forgot to mention this when I wrote up this post earlier, but I also shredded about two tablespoons of ginger and steamed it with six cups of water before adding all the ingredients. After straining the ginger out, it made a wonderful ginger broth to which I added the miso paste.

Nectar in Moscow, Idaho

2009-06-30T10:00:00.000-07:00

I've been to Nectar a number of times, and only my latest visit has been impressive. We don't have many inventive restaurants on the Palouse, particularly ones that serve dishes that feature local or fresh produce, so I was excited to try Nectar when it first opened.

Unfortunately, the first five or six times I ate at Nectar, the food was mediocre at best, and I was really disappointed by the lack of fresh produce at a restaurant that seemed to feature local, fresh ingredients. Everyone raved about the mac n cheese on Yelp, but what arrived at my table was tasteless and without any sharp notes whatsoever. This could be because I grew up near Wisconsin and I really don't like Cougar Gold cheese, but my macaroni was so soft it practically melted in my mouth, and the cheese tasted like Velveeta, and not in a comforting way. When they first opened, they also had a pancetta wrapped meatloaf on the menu, but what came out was actually a BACON wrapped meatloaf and it was overseasoned, too salty and very gamey. I noticed soon after they changed the description to read "bacon" instead of pancetta--wise choice.

Alright, before I say too much and you all think I hate Nectar, the last two times have been fantastic. I'm going to venture out on a limb here and postulate that winter is a difficult time for gathering fresh ingredients and showcasing them in dishes, but I do still think a little more creativity might also go a long way for the price.

For my mom's last night in Pullman (way back in May! I'm behind!) we decided to take the drive to Moscow, and after a fairly short wait we were seated in the partially enclosed back room that I've often seen used for private parties and receptions. It was actually kind of nice having the room to ourselves before a few tables wandered in.

The back room at Nectar

Ah yes, and here is my shy dining companion

I have to rave about the steamed clams we ordered as an appetizer in May, but I also have to report that last Saturday the clams (which I didn't take any pics of) were horribly salty, overcooked, rubbery and without the fresh parsley and saffron taste of the first batch. Sigh.

The tasty batch

Leftover juice ready to be sopped up with fresh bread; the juice was almost better than the fresh clams

There are two reasons I think the clams were horrible, one being a kitchen staff change. One of the cooks (who happens to be opening a restaurant in Pullman, meaning a review will pop up here as soon as that happens) is nothing short of an awesome cook, and the first time I tried his clams I knew immediately I'd found a safe item on the Nectar menu. Without him in the kitchen, I'm afraid the quality will suffer.

The other reason is that the clams themselves didn't seem very fresh. Very fishy tasting, but that could also be why they oversalted? Or an effect of oversalting??

Next up, the salad was pretty standard, except I have to note that they are never swimming in dressing (which is important to me--I loathe getting dressing on the side).

Mom's entree was fantastic--Scallops with sugo (basically just tomato sauce, but the seasoning was really fresh), served on a summer vegetable tian. If one is going with the strict definition of a tian dish, the layers of veggies didn't really so much complement each other as they did taste all alike, but nonetheless, I couldn't stop stealing tiny bites of her tender scallops. I secretly wished I had ordered her dish, but mine was extremely satisfying.

My asparagus and wild mushroom risotto was cooked just right (I feel I always need to point this out on the Palouse; no gummy risotto!!) and the earthy mushrooms were just as fresh as the asparagus. My only problem with this dish was that the parmigiano reggiano was barely recognizable, as was the white truffle oil the menu boasted. Still, I was full at the end.

My mom and I aren't really dessert people, so if we did order dessert, it probably didn't even occur to me to take pics!

While the service is fantastic and the prices are pretty reasonable, the food can sometimes be a little iffy at Nectar, so the best advice I could give anyone is to go at the height of a particular fresh ingredient's season (asparagus and mushrooms were the best ingredients of the evening). Nectar is the only restaurant I actually enjoy in this area, so give it a shot if you're in the area.

Nectar Restaurant
105 W. 6th St.
Moscow, ID (across from One World Cafe)

Chicago-Famous Freddy's Pizza and a Trip Back to my Childhood

2009-06-29T13:39:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid, my parents would sometimes drop all three of us rambunctious kids at my grandmother's house in Cicero so they could...well, get away from us. If there was an event to be attended, a date to be shared, or a load of massive errands, we would head over to grandma's to eat Falco's Pizza and drink Diet Rite out of little mason jars while playing gin rummy (minus the gin, of course) with the extended family. My grandmother Ann, great aunt Mae (whom I'm named after), and my great uncle George all lived together for almost all of their lives, and I can still smell Aunt Mae's Thanksgiving stuffing baking upstairs in the second kitchen. My grandma's house was one of those unique two-flat WWII-era structures that was full of drafty corners and fun places for kids to hide. The alleyway was a frequent hangout as well, and if we were lucky, my grandma would give us money to get Italian lemonade at Freddy's Pizza right down the block.

The old neighborhood in Cicero. These unique houses never fail to bring an odd feeling of familiarity when I visit Berwyn/Cicero (hey Svengoolie fans: BERRRR-WYN).

Over the years, I've come to realize what a significant role Freddy's played in my childhood since every visit to grandma's house was accompanied by a big scoop of Italian lemonade and the rather exciting endeavor of sucking on the lemon seeds before spitting them out. My brother told me once that if I swallowed the seeds I would grow a lemon tree in my tummy, and that apprehension carried into later years when I was scared to eat pomegranate seeds for fear of a giant fruit tree emerging from my body. I was a little impressionable.

The famous Freddy's. An understated, small establishment for sure, but food this good doesn't need frills.

The original Freddy retired years ago, and Joe Quercia expanded the tiny lemonade and grocery store to include homemade Italian dishes that in my father's words are like "a trip back to Italy." This is high praise coming from my father, whose very refined palate has always been somewhat of an inspiration to me (he's the right kind of picky). Dad also mentioned Freddy's had just recently been reviewed on WTTW's Check Please, a show that I grew up watching and that I often return to before a visit to get the culinary Chicago scoop. This is also the show I recommend to those visiting Chicago, and I just found out they've been archiving some of their spotlight pieces--for the Check Please! edition on Freddy's, see here.

My mom, dad, Ian and I piled into the car on a Saturday afternoon ready to be blown away as always, and we weren't disappointed. The inside is quite cramped due to the groceries that surround waiting customers, but I loved scouring through the many different imported pastas and Italian goods whilst I waited.

When it came time to order, Ian picked the sausage, potatoes and peppers, I chose the gnocchi in creamy vodka sauce, my dad devored penne with peas in a vodka red sauce, and my mom chose the chicken piccata. We all shared a slice of thick crust sausage pizza, and my mouth was in heaven with the fresh fennel seeds (*see note at bottom of post*). I would give you all the Italian names for these dishes, but I always end up misspelling in Italian even if I can pronounce them with finesse (a little embarrassing for a PhD student in English!).

Gnocchi and Piccata

Pizza and Penne

Sausage, potato and peppers

After lunch, we headed back inside to where the sweet gelato and tart Italian lemonade of my childhood waited for us. Ian and I shared a pistachio gelato, which was fantastic, but I would recommend to others my absolute favorite, tartufo (chocolate with hazelnuts). Of course, you can't go wrong with any of the gelato flavors at a place voted Best Gelato in Chicago!

I snuck a bite of the Italian lemonade from my dad's dish, and it was just as I remembered. I still didn't swallow the lemon seeds.

Thanks dad!!

**Note: Fennel seeds are a must in any Italian sausage coming out of Chicago. In fact, many pizza sauces in Chicago (the ones that are worth eating--so stay the hell out of Lou Malnati's, Uno's or any other tourist trap) also include a subdued but fantastic fennel finish. If you order any Chicago pizza, don't get the deep dish. It's overrated, most people I know never ordered it, and it's the easiest way to throw up your "I'm a tourist! Take advantage of me!" flag. I know many people are into pepperoni or cheese or any of the California-inspired alfalfa sprout/artichoke varieties, but go for the sausage slice if you want a true taste of Chicago. If you see whole fennel seeds in the sausage, you've got a good slice.

Cubs game: Overpriced, Completely Worth It Ballpark Dogs (Especially When They Win)

2009-06-28T21:32:00.000-07:00

The last six times I have attended a Cubs game, they lost. I know this is a trend with the Cubbies, but frankly, I think I'm a losing charm. I never get to see them win. There was one time when the victory was glorious, but it was in Milwaukee against the Brewers, and the glory was overshadowed by wayyyyy too much Old Style. I believe I even drunk dialed my mother to shout "Cubs win! Cubs win!"

Let me explain. I don't really care about sports, and I don't generally care about team spirit or school spirit or any kind of competitive cheering you throw at me. I did my undergrad at a school whose mascot was the Cougars, and when I entered grad school at WSU, I soon realized that all anyone cared about was how the "Cougs" were doing. I really despise when people shorten/"cuten" words that roll off the tongue, and even more so when education is at stake. I've watched students walk into my classroom demanding special treatment because they are athletes, and I've watched poor, student loan laden peers struggle to work a couple of jobs while trying to make it through my classes, and I have to say, I'm not thrilled with the pat on the back athletes get. I'm going to hold back my tirade for now, but let's just say, the only *ONLY* sport I care about is baseball. More specifically, the Chicago Cubs.

The first time I ever stepped foot into Wrigley Field, it was like a magical experience. Even before I checked my ticket, the crowd outside was like a magical, enchanted forest of people who were excited to attend a game. There were songs, chants, dances and face paints that made me feel passionate. I went home the first time I ever attended a Cubs game, and I wrote four full, handwritten pages in my journal about the experience. I was a nerd at a very young age.

Yet the Cubs always lose, despite my passion for Wrigley, for Chicago and for baseball. Once my greatest friend ever (hi, Jason) and I sat during a heat wave and watched the Arizona Diamondbacks defeat the Cubs in a 14-2 margin. I cried. I believe I also had sunburn. I flew back to Pullman with a heavy heart.

Last year, if you recall, Ian and I were forced to leave Wrigley after 10,000 lightning strikes occurred in one hour and a massive tornado watch overtook the north end of Illinois. A microburst meant an interesting commute home, and I was bummed to not witness a Cubs miracle.

This year, we *won*. We were 7-0, losing to the Indians until in the latter innings the Cubs pulled off a comeback that was nothing short of miraculous. After several hotdogs (no ketchup, people! no friggin ketchup!!) and many plastic cups full of Old Style beer, I went home to my parents' house full and satisfied.

Ian and I not enjoying the humidity, but thoroughly enjoying the game.

Expensive Chicago dog: $4 but well worth the satisfaction. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh.

W!!!! Display it proudly, Chicago!

Road Trip Detox Part One: Chilled Sweet Potato Carrot Soup

2009-06-28T21:25:00.000-07:00

Since Ian and I ate a ton of fatty, greasy, not exactly healthful foods for almost two weeks on vacation, I quickly returned our daily eats to the kind of comforting whole foods we usually eat on a daily basis. My first object was to get some veggies into our systems, so I decided to just barely cook one giant sweet potato (a little longer than the rest of the ingredients, obviously), 1/2 an onion, and three giant organic carrots in olive oil. Once soft, I added them to the blender and then added about a cup of chicken stock. After chilling overnight, I ate a few bowls over the week along with a garnish of fat free Chobani and a few sprigs of cilantro.

Detox complete!

Uptown Cafe in Butte, Montana, or, the end of a very LONG road trip

2009-06-28T20:21:00.000-07:00

The very last night of our 10 day drive to/stay in/drive back from Chicago, Ian and I were absolutely exhausted. When I was 22, I took my first road trip to Washington state from Chicago, and after taking this drive a number of times (6 now one way each), I've realized one important piece of info: I'm too old to take these trips. Or, at least I'm too old to drive consistently for 27/28 hours without stopping. The first leg of our cross-country trip, we stopped in Miles City, Montana. Depressing tourist town with no impressive tourist attractions. The second night, we stopped in Tomah, Wisconsin, near the Dells. Probably a cool town judging from what I briefly saw while almost falling asleep at the wheel, but we were much more interested in the soft pillows that awaited us in the hotel room and the sweet, sweet feeling of satisfaction in reaching my parents' house in Chicago the next day. Blarg.

The second leg of the trip is forthcoming. Many many Chicago eats need to be chronicled, and a yearly craving has been satisfied. Okay, the craving isn't yearly. It's daily. Double blarg.

The very last leg of the trip took us to Chamberlain, South Dakota the first night, and Butte, Montana the next. We could have driven all the way home that last night, but frankly, we wanted that last night of vacation. So Ian and I decided to head out for a nice dinner, and with a few online reviews in tow, I was hopeful to try Butte's top-rated Uptown Cafe. Although the meal was much more akin to stepping into your favorite low-scale diner, it satisfied the last night vacation needs quite nicely.

The starter was a cannellini bean-tomato soup, but unfortunately what sounded comforting and promising after two days on the road arrived at our table with virtually no seasoning or....taste. I didn't taste a thing, which leads me to believe that the soup was most likely left in a soup warmer all day. Nothing like the taste of something completely overcooked, and this was unfortunately how the rest of the meal turned out as well.

We had a strawberry salad that I forgot to take pics of, but it really wasn't anything special. Store-bought raspberry vinaigrette, under-ripe strawberries and tasty greens. Nothing special.

Second course (this sounds very forced, doesn't it?) was clams maison, which were definitely not fresh, but I'll forgive that since I was in Montana. People, Montana. Come on. Sadly, it was my favorite dish.

My pork entree was cooked just right (not dry at all! almost a first in the West!) but it was underseasoned, as was the plum sauce. The cloves of garlic were wonderful, but I would have liked if the rosemary garnish had also been included in the sauce/meat seasoning. I almost took a lighter out of my purse and lit the plate on fire from underneath in order to get some of that seasoning into the dish. But then I looked at the sea of cowboy hats around me and the likelihood that I would be mistaken for a Jewish terrorist, and I shoved another mouthful in without another thought.

I also received a "side" with my entree. When the waitress asked which of the sides I would like to order, I didn't account for the fact that the sides were most likely already made and were sitting around waiting to be taken out to customers. After ordering the snap peas in lemon butter, I received very soggy snap peas with a pool of lemon juice at the bottom of the dish and a pat of butter on top. Hmmm. That's a new take on lemon butter I hadn't seen.

Ian ordered the Scallops Norfolk, which came out much like you would get in a family-run Greek diner in Chicago: overcooked, underseasoned and completely tasteless. It was a disservice to scallops, if I ever saw one. His "side" was a vegetable ragu with penne, which also, true to form did not have any seasoning that I could taste.

Needless to say, we skipped dessert and headed back to our hotel full and ready to cook our own meals once again. Ahhhhhhh, home.

We're back!!!

2009-06-25T21:03:00.000-07:00

So I probably didn't mention on this blog that I'd be out of town. Yeah. Most likely a responsible thing to do, to update one's blog, eh? Well, here's the lowdown: Ian and I drove back home to Chicago, and we're resting up. Yes, drove. 3400 miles round trip total. Fifth time I've taken that trip now. Fifth.

I promise to update with all the lovely Chicago foods that don't taste like Pullman nothingness rather soon. For now, here's some Chicago food pictures to tickle your fancy. Sorry about the photo quality....I suck at taking pics when excited beyond belief.

A little Ian action shot. That's one happy consumer.

href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jbTIE2qvXZY/SkRJ9qpsWbI/AAAAAAAAArA/loJ9btR0-1c/s1600-h/282.JPG">

Harold's Chicken Shack. Screw you, KFC.

Chile relleno without cheddar cheese (yes, that's generally what I get in Pullman). I love you, Bucho's.

Chicago dog!!!!

Olympia Farmer's Market

2009-06-10T11:10:00.000-07:00

Can I just go ahead and admit that I want to live in the Olympia Farmer's Market? Kthx. Back at the end of April/beginning of May, a few of us set out for our friend BT's wedding, and I *believe* I let you all know how happy I was to leave town for a few short days. After spending the semester busy as a bee and not really even having time for a haircut let alone washing my hair, I was psyched to leave my work behind.

Although the food at most of the restaurants left something to be desired (I still haven't found much attention to taste or detail in the NW), the Farmer's Market was pretty darn awesome. A staple of the Olympia community, the Farmer's Market has the requisite food stands and fresh produce, but there were also stands devoted to natural health and beauty products (we like this) and fresh seafood from the Columbia River, as well as a wide variety of meats, whether farm fresh, organic or grass fed. Our first stop? The jerky stand.

I'm not sure how he does it, unless there is some invisible meat homing device installed in all men, but Ian managed to find the dried meats stand within seconds of entering the market. There was a great assortment: salmon, buffalo, beef, Hawaiian, jalapeno, and teriyaki jerky. Ian was like a kid in a....meat store. We settled on the Landjaeger, which was smoky with a bit of spice, but tasted to me
like a jerkied (is that a word?) hot dog.

While Ian made grunting noises and happily chowed down, I was marveling in the fresh seafood at a number of stands. The oysters and clams at one table had me kicking myself for not bringing a better cooler, and the Columbia River Chinook had me seriously contemplating gutting a fish in my hotel room.

The focus for me was on the food, but the live music and responsible recycling and waste system, as well as the WSU Extension site's entrance garden (beautifully planned and executed) gave this market an aura that is missing from the Moscow Farmer's Market. Not that I'd complain--I adore my market!

If you're ever in Olympia, and you've tired of visiting the State Capitol (truly a beautiful one, by the way), the Farmer's Market is the place to be.

Bring on the cheap summer meals! Baked Falafel with Tzatziki Sauce and Quinoa Tabbouleh

2009-06-07T21:45:00.000-07:00

Early summer is an inspiring time for me in the kitchen. The grocery stores and farmer's markets are rich with beautiful, aromatic herbs and fresh produce, but not being rich myself means carefully budgeting and planning meals faced with an abundance of healthful options.

One of my favorite ways to get a little mileage out of weekly foods is through summer pasta, rice and grain salads. I make a large batch on Sunday evenings and then eat it throughout the week for lunch with fresh fruit, for breakfast smothered with an over easy runny egg, or with light summer dinners.

After getting a pretty awesome deal on quinoa a few weeks ago, I decided to reinvent a traditional tabbouleh side using the grain. If you haven't tried quinoa, it's a little nutty but has a pretty interesting texture that adds an unexpected bite to side dishes, warm or cold. I rounded up a bounty of fresh produce and prepared one of my new favorites.

Quinoa Tabbouleh Salad

2 cups cooked quinoa
1/2 cup chopped cucumber
1/4 cup diced carrots
3 green onions, sliced into 1/4" pieces
3 campari or roma tomatoes, chopped
2 tbl. finely chopped Italian parsley
1 tbl. finely chopped mint
1 tsp. grated lemon zest
1 1/2 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
Pinch of sea salt, fresh ground pepper

Directions
1. Mix all ingredients together except for quinoa. Slowly fold in quinoa.

Ian isn't a fan of cucumber, so he generally picks the pieces out of this particular salad, but he doesn't mind cucumber if it's finely blended. Making tzatziki sauce in this household is a bit tricky, so I had to pre-mix red onions, peeled and diced cucumber and a clove of garlic in my food processor before adding to Fat Free Chobani Yogurt. I never measure out this sauce, since I generally just prepare it to taste, but the trick for me has always been to add just the right amount of sugar for the cucumbers to stand out.

As for the falafel, I'm not a huge fan of frying these bad boys up, so I bake them as patties instead. I used this recipe, subbing the peanut butter for the last bit of sunflower butter I had left. As one might expect, baking falafel patties means a few cracked casualties occur, but this girl isn't very picky: I ate the cracked ones straight with tzatziki about three minutes after they finished baking.

Pizza for the busy #2

2009-06-07T21:32:00.000-07:00

Store-bought refrigerated pizza dough is not my favorite canvas for pizza, but in a pinch, it does the trick. The second night I craved pizza, I went to a more reasonable pizza-in-a-pinch source: leftover whole wheat pita bread. After making baked falafel the day before (and eating ALL of the leftovers around 1 AM that evening), I needed to use up the leftover flatbread. With a container full of leftover shredded chicken and some black beans that needed a use, I mixed in some frozen corn and slathered my favorite BBQ sauce on the pitas, and then topped with leftover shredded cheese.

Have you had Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce? I grew up eating that stuff, and I love the sweetness of the original (the Honey BBQ is overkill). The other plus? It's a Chicago BBQ sauce! Ahhhh, homesickness lasts a lifetime.

Not even ten minutes later, dinner was ready, and most of the week's leftovers had been recycled. I retired to the couch to read happy and full.

Pizza for the busy I-don't-have-time-for-no-knead-pizza type #1

2009-06-04T23:37:00.001-07:00

I adore pizza, and after growing up eating Falco's Pizza (Psssst! Don't go to the downtown location, go to the original in Cicero) and other Chicago pizzas (besides the tourist traps that are Uno's and Lou Malnati's) I can't imagine ever trying to eat Pullman pizza again. Let's just say our options are the major chains (Little Caesars, Pizza Hut, etc.) and local CRAP (Pizza Perfection/Pizza Pipeline--shouldn't the names alone be a sign?) so I often make pizza at home when the craving hits me. The only problem? No time to make my own dough. Refrigerated home dough works just fine for this grad student/teacher/editor extraordinaire.

Ian and I had been craving pizza, and while when I eat out in Chicago I usually order sausage, I had some chicken that needed to be used. After perusing some posts on tastespotting.com for pizza sauce ideas, I found Laura Flowers's blog and was astounded--she's from Moscow, Idaho!!!!! That's my stomping grounds!!!! After pumping my fists in the air 80's love ballad-style, I decided to make her pesto cream sauce for a chicken pizza. The sauce was incredibly tasty, but I did adjust a tiny bit.

For the pizza making, I spread the sauce on two refrigerated pizza dough forms, and then added shredded chicken, shredded homegrown basil, chopped roasted red bell peppers, and mozzarella.

Here's my revamped version of Laura's awesome Pesto Cream Sauce for Pizzas:

Pesto Cream Sauce
Original source: http://www.thecookingphotographer.com/2009_04_01_archive.html

Pesto Cream Sauce
1 tbl. unsalted butter
3/4 cup fat free half and half
1/4th tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 Tablespoons prepared pesto (I used homemade--I'm sure Laura did too, but it's worth mentioning!)
1 1/2 tbl. grated Romano Cheese

Mix all the ingredients in a sauce pan. Stir constantly until consistency is desired.

Homesick Comfort Food @ Home

2009-05-31T21:18:00.000-07:00

My mom visited us a couple of weeks ago, and I couldn't be more excited. Of course I was very very very *very* excited to meet her off the plane in Spokane, but I was also salivating the entire time she was en route since she brought me a Cream Sausage from Jim's Meat Market.

It's not that I hate food in the Pac NW, but their idea of meat is usually not fatty (where the flavor is) and is generally pretty dry and tasteless. Alright, I hate it. With a passion. But when you grow up in the metro area made famous by Upton Sinclair's famous novel about meat production, what can you do? You can't fight city hall, people.

When I was just a wee little brat, my mom used to make cream sausage (otherwise known as breakfast sausage, but we're quite the breakfast-for-dinner family) and fruit dumplings for dinner, complete with melted butter for drizzling and cottage cheese. Whenever I get a cold or the flu, the first thing I think of is that meal, and I have to say, living in the land of tasteless meat, I really suffer through my sickness. I was so psyched that my mom bought a cream sausage to transport for this purpose, and even more psyched that she agreed to show me how to make her awesome fruit dumplings. They're quite simple it turns out, but really, I still think my mom is the greatest cook in the world. Isn't that how moms are supposed to be???

Early on in her trip planning, my mom assumed she would have some difficulties transporting a sausage in her carrying bag (it probably looks suspicious inside a bag) so when she told me the folks at O'Hare International (or was it Midway? I forget) put her sausage through a screening and it came out thawed from frozen, I wasn't surprised. Luckily, the sausage survived her harrowing journey and we were able to consume it after the 70 mile trek back to Pullman from Spokane. I might have melted down if it had spoiled. And then snuck inside her luggage so I could fly back and get another.

So here, ladies and gents, is my mother's famous fruit dumpling recipe for your enjoyment. May the tastiness be with you.

Snooty Snark's Fruit Dumplings
Recipe source: Judy Lynn Clark

Ingredients:
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. water
1 tsp. salt
1 tbl. butter
2 c. flour, sifted
2 eggs
About 1 can peaches (mine was 13 oz), drained

Directions:
1. Bring milk, water, salt and butter to a boil. Remove from heat and quickly add flour. Let cool.

2. Add eggs and mix until dough is soft and smooth. Roll thinly with rolling pin on a floured surface.

3. Cut into 2 in. squares and place fruit in the middle. Enclose in dough.

4. Heat a quart of water and slowly place three dumplings at a time in water, removing once they rise to the top. Serve with melted butter for drizzling (and preferably with sausage and cottage cheese for an awesome unhealthy but satisfying meal).

My beautiful mother. She's blushing right now reading this, but she truly is a striking woman. Too bad she wouldn't let me get her face!

Dumpling dough before it was worked through. Looks like spaetzle.

Ready for folding and boiling.

Soooo ready for consumption with melted butter drizzled on top.

Dear Jim's Meat Market, I love you. Will you deliver? Kthxbai.

Garden Update

2009-05-25T21:03:00.000-07:00

While my mom was here, we spent a day planting in my garden. I know I got this from my mother, but I love digging around in the dirt. There's something satisfying about plunging your hands into a pile of dirt and not caring what your nails look like, not caring about the dirt all over your pants and face, and finally, the finished product. The lovely part about spring in my little valley is that everything grows in and over the entire house (that is, while it's still all effortlessly green). It looks like a secret garden, making it feel as if we have no neighbors.

I'll blog the names and specifics of the plants once they pan out, as one never knows what will make it through the dry weather. For now, enjoy the domesticated wild!

The Breakfast Club in Moscow, Idaho

2009-05-25T20:19:00.000-07:00

My mom was in town this past week, and since I'm usually chained to my kitchen without her, it was wonderful to be able to eat out a couple of times. Since the popular breakfast place in Pullman is The Old European, I had to suggest The Breakfast Club in Moscow. The Old European tries the fancy breakfast thing, but it's never good and always expensive. Not only that, but on more than one occasion I've witnessed various objects being found in people's food. Like those twisty ties that keep bread sleeves closed. And Band-Aids.

The Breakfast Club in Moscow has always been pretty good quality breakfast, and I'm a sucker for their huckleberry zucchini bread. While their coffee is mediocre at best, the bread never disappoints.

My mom ordered the huckleberry stuffed french toast. She was a big fan of the honey cream inside the french toast, and the huckleberries were very fresh.

Ian ordered the breakfast platter, which included a little baby loaf of the huckleberry zucchini bread. Ian wasn't a fan of their hash browns, complaining they weren't crispy enough (I don't share this opinion).

I ordered the Veggie Benedict, which I've decided is my favorite. I used to order the chicken fried steak because the sausage gravy and the perfectly cooked steak were heavenly, but I can't deny how wonderful the hollandaise sauce is at the Breakfast Club. I usually order the sauce on the side because it's hit or miss, but I was a little too lost in conversation to request this time. I was pleasantly surprised to discover how creamy the hollandaise sauce was, and my eggs were PERFECT, a rarity on the Palouse.

We left the Breakfast Club happy and ready to end up...at the hobby shop, where my mom bought me a plastic chicken with a squeezable egg that comes out of its, ahem, end. We're weird.

The Breakfast Club
501 S. Main St.
Moscow, Idaho 83843
(208) 882-6481

At Long Last: Ma Po Tofu

2009-04-27T18:52:00.000-07:00

I've been in love with Ma Po Tofu for years, ever since I first tasted it at a friend's house. Her mother was a fantastic cook, and as much as I loved my own mom's cooking, I happily spoiled my dinner many times anyway. Unfortunately I never once tasted a comparable version of this dish. Nothing could replicate the slightly sweet taste of the pork and its fat juices mingled with the texture of the tofu and the delightfully potent chili garlic sauce. For years I only ever thought of tofu in relation to Ma Po Tofu.

Until now.

A serious tip of the hat goes to Foodmayhem for posting this recipe, as I had almost completely given up on ever tasting Ma Po Tofu again without almost instantaneous disappointment. Ian was over the moon for it as well, and I've already made it three times in a month.

The only alteration I made was to increase the water from 1/2 cup to a full cup considering I actually used more pork than was called for. I also happened to look up the history of the dish. Food history is one of my hobbies, and some of the tastiest dishes have interesting origins. According to legend, Ma Po Tofu (from what I gathered, originally "mapo doufu" but there seems to be a dispute over the transliteration) originated in the Chinese city of Chengdu, concocted by an old woman disfigured by pockmarks. Unfortunately for her she had years before been banished to the outer skirts of Chengdu yet her cooking was discovered by a man and his son. The old woman lived in relative obscurity for much of her life, but luckily her dish lives on in a multitude of variations, although the first dish of legend only specifies tofu, pork and Sichuan peppercorns.

Of course, I have no idea if this story is true. I enlisted a friend fluent in Chinese to help me with a Chinese online encyclopedia entry that claims Ma Po Tofu was created by a woman whose husband was a restaurant chef sometime during the Qing Dynasty. The word "Ma" seems also to be in contention, and since I'm not an expert, I defer to my ignorance. Frankly, I'm not sure I mind not knowing the truth of a food history. It seems to me that often the popular legend came to be through a sequence of composition that is way sexier than the accidental/mundane food stories (see Chicken Tikka Masala or "stone soup").

If you'd like to see a picture of Mapo Doufu from a restaurant in Chengdu (reportedly straight from the legendary source), see here.

Dr. Food Leaves Pullman!!

2009-04-27T13:01:00.000-07:00

I've waited for this moment.forever.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am leaving Pullman for a few days. That's right. I WON'T BE IN PULLMAN FOR THE WEEKEND. You wanted to invite me over to watch grass grow? Sorry, I won't be in town.

Can you tell I'm getting a little enjoyment out of belaboring the point?

Friday morning Ian and I will be leaving for our friend Ben's wedding in Olympia, Washington. This is exciting for a number of reasons, the most important being that I WON'T BE IN PULLMAN. [Okay okay, I'll stop now] Neither Ian nor I has ever been to Olympia, I will get to eat out (a rarity), and it isn't Seattle. Yeah. I know. You love Seattle. I do not share a fondness.

I've been on Yelp for quite awhile looking for dining options, but if anyone in the blogosphere has any suggestions, I'm open to anything.

Cheap Meets (Already Cheap) Pasta: Lemon Tuna Pasta with Capers

2009-04-21T16:27:00.000-07:00

When I was in college, I rarely ever had time to make dinner from home. I worked three jobs at once, which meant I was often in commute between work places or at home feverishly cramming for exams/writing papers.

I'd like to say this has changed. In retrospect, I had much more time to myself in college, but then again I didn't have the foresight of what grad school would entail. I've gotten better at managing time since my undergraduate days, and of course it helps that I work mostly from home (grade a paper, turn chicken over) but every now and then I find myself craving dishes I made when I had only a few minutes to spare. Nearing the end of the semester, that craving also becomes a practical possibility.

Canned tuna is one of my favorite food items ever. It's versatile--the meat from one can will make a sandwich or two, it can be used in cold pasta salads, and it can even be used in hot pasta dishes.

I didn't exactly measure everything out for this recipe, but here are the steps.

Lemon Tuna Pasta with Capers

1. Drain the tuna from a 5 oz. can of solid white albacore tuna (you can use chunk light if you're going for the cheap aspect but it will pack quite a bit of moisture and runs the risk of shredding when combined with the pasta).
2. Boil a pot of water and add enough pasta on medium heat for two servings (I use whole wheat pasta). While pasta is cooking, heat olive oil (about 2 tbl.) in a pan and add three minced cloves of garlic. Add 1 tbl. of rinsed capers, drained tuna and about 2 tsp. of lemon zest, along with the juice of 1 lemon. This is optional but you could also add a few shakes of red pepper flakes.
3. Add salt and pepper to taste. Turn off heat and add 2 tbl. chopped flat leaf parsley.
4. Add cooked pasta to pan and toss to coat.
5. Serve with grated parmesan (or if you're like me, Romano).

Juicy Lucy BuffaloBurgers: You're Doing it Right

2009-04-21T16:08:00.000-07:00

For the first outdoor grill session of the season, Ian and I decided to tackle the inside out cheeseburger we majorly screwed up last year. Our original run resulted in a stream of cheese oozing out of the meat into the coals. Cool sound effects and some excellent smoke, but perhaps not the most successful attempt.

This time around, I sought out the reinforcements by way of this Foodmayhem post and some very easy to mold ground buffalo. We didn't follow the patty recipe itself since Ian is a meat magician, but the tips and methods were greatly appreciated. After Ian worked his magic on the meat (he still is perfecting his ratio of worcestershire/garlic/onion, etc.) I carefully molded the meat patties together and then froze them for about ten minutes to ensure we didn't lost any of the cheesy goodness hidden inside.

We also made about a pound of asparagus since grilled asparagus is one of Ian's favorite vegetable side dishes (perhaps ever). This one is even easier than the burgers--just snap off the ends, spray with Pam (or olive oil), sprinkle with kosher salt and black pepper (or finish with sea salt), and grill for 4-5 minutes until tender but still delightfully crisp.

Our only Juicy Lucy problem? In a moment of weakness, we piled more cheese on top of the patties. I refuse to regret this.

I'm back! Kind of...

2009-04-17T16:14:00.000-07:00

After weeks of writing feverishly, reading student papers and grading exams, I finally have a moment to myself. Kind of. Weeks of laundry and dishes are ensuring I won't be resting for long, and soon the end of semester crunch will necessitate more sleeplessness and bigger piles of laundry and dishes.

The funny part about graduate school is that despite the fact that you're constantly busy, the summer starts almost immediately after those final grades are turned in. Of course most people trot out the usual "at least you have the summer off while I work year round" routine, but remember, people: the silence and stagnation also mean no paycheck. Nada. Zilch. Nyet. I'm lucky enough to work full time at other endeavors closely related to my work during the summer, but here's the other slightly nauseating part of summer: research and writing. Despite the fact that you aren't getting paid for any of it, you still have to research and write.

The moral of the story? There is no such thing as a summer off for grad students who make $15,000 annually.

I'm working on a few back posts, and hopefully after I fold these 5 loads of laundry I'll be getting those online tonight. Happy cooking and eating, blogosphere!

Plz to forgive?

2009-04-07T23:04:00.000-07:00

My silence is only internet silence. Promise. Grading for over 300 people and having that full time job outside of my teaching duties has made me a bad blogger. *Slaps hand* A post is forthcoming when I actually have a moment to do anything but....grade. And write that damned dissertation.

Tuna and beer (yes, you read that right)

2009-03-23T20:27:00.000-07:00

After the rich food overload of the winter months, Ian and I had been craving something a little lighter. I've had quite the miracle food breakthrough with my picky eater husband as of late, and since I'd already introduced him to scallops (something he *refused* to try when we first started dating) and the wonders of mahi mahi, I decided it was time for the mecca: seared tuna steaks.

Luckily, the Clarkston Costco is a hop, skip and a jump away from one of my other jobs (it will be wonderful if one day I just had *one* job) so I hopped on over for a seafood special they had going a few weeks back. For three tuna steaks, locally produced (er, 350-400 miles local, that is) I only paid $10.50. I believe I even skipped out the door until someone in a cowboy hat gave me the "that's unlady-like" look. Damn you, Idaho.

In addition to the light dinner we prepared for a lazy Sunday afternoon, we also happened to find a new beer offered at our local Moscow Co-Op: He'Brew Pomegranate Ale. As a Jewish person in the middle of Christian nowhere, I believe I also did a little skip to the car. Until some hippie in Moscow gave me the "oh dear that's so uncool" look. I can't win in Idaho. 0-2.

The combination of He'brew and tuna steak salads was just the spring pick-me-up I needed, and even though he seemed a bit apprehensive biting into pieces of rare tuna, I think Ian might agree. The Origin Pomegranate Ale had a little bite to it, which was a great companion to the Cajun seasoned steaks. Even though we only dressed the greens in a little balsamic and olive oil, the fresh ground black pepper lightly sprinkled on top was like gefilte fish to this girl's soul.

Seared Tuna Salad
(Note: Salad greens and veggies are not listed because....it's a salad. You know what you will eat!)

2-3 thick tuna steaks
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. white pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1 tbl. olive oil

1. Pat steaks with the pre-mixture of spices listed above and cook in a skillet with olive oil on medium-high for 1 1/2 minutes on each side (rare), or cook until desired. Serve over greens and veggies (only you know what you like!) drizzled with good quality balsamic, olive oil and a sprinkling of freshly ground black pepper.

An epic fail snack and finally finding Chobani

2009-03-15T23:01:00.000-07:00

So being here in the middle of a wheat field, it isn't exactly easy to find interesting snacks that aren't your run of the mill Doritos or Triscuits. It's perhaps even harder to find snacks that are organic, healthy and tasty, so I went to my fantastic Moscow Co-Op to try and find a suitable replacement for salty, unhealthy tidbits.

I found some interesting Brown Rice Snaps, and decided the Tamari Seaweed flavor was just provocative enough to complement the homemade hummus and Sicilian olives I had in my fridge. With a watering mouth, I sat down to watch Gilmore Girls with my loot, and with an excited hand I dipped my first snap into the hummus and.....gagged. Two more bites confirmed it--these were perhaps the grossest thing I had ever tasted.

My dogs liked it.

There was one wonderful outcome of my trip to the Co-Op, and that was finding Chobani yogurt. I had been hearing good things about Chobani for awhile, but it simply isn't easy to find a New York-based product out here. Imagine my surprise when I found Chobani's fruit on the bottom strawberry yogurt! I think I might be in love...

An Interview with Monique

2009-03-12T21:12:00.000-07:00

Monique, the awesome diva at Food Snob, has agreed to return the interviewing favor, and her answers to some of the food world's most pressing questions (since when isn't comfort food a matter of national security, folks?) are pretty awesome. Interview below, and don't forget to check out her blog.

1. You blog about food, but what other hobbies or interests do you participate in that are blog-worthy?
Thats a good one. Well, from time to time I blog about personal mishaps that, as my friends say, "only happen to me" so I sometimes add that into my daily foodie adventures for comedic effects- but a long time ago I considered writing a blog about the many misadventures of my life but I never got around to it. I guess I am more captivated by food. I also would probably blog about learning how to tap. Its an extremly BiPolar experience. One minute you are loving tap and the next you are cursing it. As of right now, I love it.

2. Does your job/career facilitate the range of topics or content of your food blog?
Not at all. Although at work people know I love the kitchen. When I first started working as a secretary in my office, I would bring in baked goods like Amish Bread or Pumpkin Bread and I guess I won them over with food. I work in the Legal field. There is no food associated with this whatsoever...unless you count all the things that officemates bring in to tempt me with!

3. What chefs do you admire?
I am hooked on the food network! A good day, in my opinion, is spent on a Sunday watchign all the wonderful shows. I like chefs that use ingredients that are easily accessible because some of them use things that are too deep for my pockets or too annoying to find. Bobby Flay is a favorite of mine along with Paula Deane (Minus all the butter) and in the non-chef category I love rachael Ray, Sandra Lee, and Robin Miller.

4. Is there a particular dish you have made your own?
Fritatta, Hands down one of the most effortless things yet most delicious things one can make that is versatile and always a crowd pleaser! I have at least 10 different fritattas on my blog!

5. Let's say you were a chef stuck on a deserted island, and you could only bring ten ingredients to sustain an island's worth of eaters. Which ingredients would you choose?
Eggs, Cheese, pasta, garlic, broccoli, chicken, beef, Zucchini, onions, milk.
The possibilities here are endless. I got like three seperate recipes right now!

6. Do you have a comfort food?
Oh yeah! Mac and Cheese! I used to go to Saritas Mac and Cheese in NYC almost every other day. then I moved out of mom and dads house and started to pay rent. One my of favorite mac and cheese recipes comes from a restaurant in Brooklyn. Its called DuMac and Cheese (DuMont) I ordered it one day and commented on how good it was to the waitress and I think she misjudged my food knowledged when she accidentally told me there was a bechamel sauce in the dish. So I went home and made my own version with Gruyere and parmesean, bechamel sauce, panchetta, and bread crumbs! YUM!

And here, just for your amusement, is a photo of Johnny Cash lol-style.

I can has interview??

2009-03-09T23:59:00.000-07:00

Monique over at Food Snob has posted a (dare I say it?) awesome interview with yours truly. Hope everyone is weathering the weather onslaught!

On deck this week (I promise. I swear): Chicken Jalfrezi, adventures with seitan, and I finally found Chobani Greek Yogurt!

In the meantime, I think I will grade another of 170 exams and/or essays. Blarg.

Midterm Mea Culpa

2009-03-07T22:59:00.000-08:00

So....I've not been in contact with people this week. I've kept up with my normal routine of warring with that pesky dissertation and grading stacks of papers that only seem to replenish once finished, but I've for sure neglected the things that serve as outlets for my frustration when I'm thoroughly buried. Including this blog.

Let me begin by showing you a photo from my office this past week. I went to the office with the painful premonition that snow was on its way. If I had cable, the Weather Channel probably would've confirmed this, but instead I went to school in heels. Luckily, the lovely people at Washington State University Fac Ops cleared the walkways. Bless them... After meeting with students and teaching all afternoon, the snow seemed to taper off for a bit.

And then, it only got worse. That hill doesn't look steep from my 4th floor window, but believe me, in windy conditions and heels, it definitely isn't fun.

Even worse. It started blowing ever so slightly sideways.

The only snacks I can muster in this kind of weather are the sandwich kind. So I reached for the cream cheese (I don't really use sandwich meats--too high in sodium for me), alfalfa sprouts, sliced cucumbers, ground flax and sunflower seeds (pressed into the cream cheese), sliced tomato, and radish on whole wheat bread.

If y'all haven't discovered the wonders of goji berries yet, I promise to post on them later. Wonderful stuff, and the dried variety (the only variety offered in the US because goji berries spoil before they reach their import destination) are great mixed with cream cheese for sandwiches, or sprinkled in salads. I opted to sprinkle them over a sliced Granny Smith apple for a little sweet treat. Quick lunch for a quickly progressing snowstorm.

Pet Profile: Happy Birthday, Mr. Zanzibar

2009-03-02T20:14:00.000-08:00

So it's a certain being's birthday, and I feel the need to gush about him. Zander the Howlin Wolf, my giant 125 lb. Golden Retriever, is five whole years old today!

Zander has many names and he answers to them all: Zanzibar, General Zandissimo Franco, Walter (my mother liked this name, and so did he apparently), Zan Zan and of course just making a "Z" sound with one's mouth elicits quite the affectionate brushing. The only problem with using any of these names? He hugs you with enough force to take down even the sturdiest human.

I've been walking down memory lane since I realized it was Zander's birthday, and I have to tell this story since Zander has always been so much a part of my life. When I decided to go to graduate school, I was living in an apartment with a very good friend of mine. I don't think I could have wanted anything more than to cast myself into the wind and pursue a field I really believed in (and still do, despite any whining or crabby provocation....or student loan debt). I have been writing since I was a little girl, and I have loved dogs since I was a little girl, and Zander's story is very much intertwined with the work I do every day.

Imagine the year: 1991, third grade. I *begged* my parents to add a Golden Retriever to our family. Of course my parents have always been dog people so they happily obliged my birthday request, but what we learned from that dog has/will last(ed) me a lifetime, even if Nikki died my freshman year of college (long life for a dog her size).

So as a pet owner for almost my entire life, what have I learned? Well, for starters, I've learned not to take on too much responsibility at once. I decided at a pretty young age that kids were not something to jump into lightly when, after the dog had gone on a terror following six hours home alone, my mom and I spent most of the night cleaning up and/or mending things that had been in her warpath. Pets tend to make clear just how responsible one must be to maintain and/or mend a human life.

I also learned what it's like to nurture another being. When Nikki was a pup, I was also a human pup, and thus walking and running her every day until she passed out into puppy paradise was no problem, but as I got older, I realized that dogs need just as much care as humans do, often if not more. When my roommate/best friend and I--PJ, for those of you who know him--adopted Zander, I threw all of my energy into raising him. When we moved to Pullman, Washington, I don't think I noticed how different everything was for several weeks because I was so invested in acclimating this fragile yet strong life into his surroundings.

*Sappy alert*

When I met Ian and his dog, it seemed as if our dogs had met their soul mates, and it was pretty clear that I had met my match in Ian. Ian/Erin and Zander/Zelda have yielded to a slightly hairy (them, not us...) family, and I take the greatest joy in spending each day with them and our new addition to the family, the very grumpy and always affectionate rescue kitty, Johnny Cash the Cat with Black.

The dog praise continues....

One of Zander's favorite things to do (and perhaps what makes him such a great companion) is to hug the person he loves, even if he only hugs your hand. He can hold this pose for quite awhile, or at least as long as my arm can take (which isn't long given his size, I'm afraid).

I'm sure pretty much everyone has seen this photo before not to mention it was taken when he wasn't full grown (!), but I'm always blown away by the proportion. His head is twice the size of mine! And I am definitely not tiny at 5'10".

When Zander met Zelda. A great love story, no?

Healthier Veggie Quiche

2009-03-01T20:09:00.000-08:00

There are few things I love more than quiche. Eggs and cheese perhaps, but alas! They make quiche! Quiche isn't exactly a light meal however, so the challenge of lightening a rather unhealthy meal was definitely one I feared would compromise the overall taste. Luckily it was a fear that was not realized.

My husband likes to scramble egg whites along with a whole egg in the morning, and from what I can taste, just one yolk is enough to satisfy my craving. About a month ago I also purchased egg substitute from Costco, and since I'm swimming in egg products, I decided that egg whites, egg yolk and egg substitute would make a fantastic lighter version of quiche.

I also tend to use quiche as a way of cleaning out my fridge, often relying on just vegetables to make an appearance in the pies (as opposed to the meat laden versions I often see in restaurants). With some goat cheese and reduced fat feta on their way to the great expiration date in the sky, these pies were not only healthier than the original but full of depth and sharp flavor.

Healthier Vegetarian Quiche

2 prepared pie crusts (someday I'll post a recipe for this...)
4 egg whites
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 cups egg substitute
1/4 cup fat free half and half
1 tsp. oregano
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (I used fat free)
1/4 crumbled goat cheese
3 tbl. grated Romano cheese
1 1/2 cups assorted fresh vegetables
Ground flax seed, optional

1. Preheat oven to 350. Lightly brush olive oil over the prepared pie crusts.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg yolk and whites together with egg substitute and fat free half and half. Add oregano, fresh ground black pepper, and cheeses. Gently fold in vegetables.
3. Pour half of the quiche mixture into the first pie shell and half into the second pie shell. I sprinkle ground flax on top for a little pseudo crust (it also keeps the eggs from browning for some reason--you could also beat the flax into the eggs in step 2).
4. Bake pies for 35-40 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Mixing and cleaning out the fridge at the same time...

See the flax??

Eat. Then curl up with a zoo of cuddly animals, if you can fit on the couch with them....

Spring Garden Update

2009-02-27T21:10:00.000-08:00

Screw you economy! Optimism thrives!

When life forbids you from making tamales, make a casserole

2009-02-27T20:37:00.000-08:00

I've been craving tamales for a few weeks now, but I just don't have the time to devote to cooking lately. Midterm I start to lose a little steam and get just a tad crabby, so when I develop a craving for something, I WANT IT NOW. I guess you could say this casserole version of chicken tamales is a deconstruction of the classic, but really I like to think of it as inside out tamales with a couple extra gooey treats. It isn't even close to the authentic tastiness that is the tamale, but it does the late winter trick.

The recipe can be found here. For a vegetarian version of this dish, I've used black beans instead of meat before, and it came out just as yummy with an added fiber bonus. Just remember to pat the beans dry beforehand or the cornbread layer will become soggy from too much moisture.

The ingredients, mostly. Enchilada sauce (I love homemade, but alas! no time!), cornbread mix, creamed corn (sometimes I use fresh if I need to use up my frozen supply), green chilies, egg substitute, crushed red pepper and cumin. Not pictured: shredded cheese, fat free half and half (sub for milk), and shredded chicken thigh meat.

The wet ingredients before baking

The cornbread layer after its first baking

Done!

Pardon my Ziploc--I bring hubby his dinner at work....

Another recession meal

2009-02-25T17:56:00.000-08:00

Another cheap meal I often make is almost vegetarian and very cheap. Miso soup (I add udon because I love the texture of the noodles in the soup) and stir fried veggies is not only cost-effective, but a great way to clean out your fridge. Whenever I need to use up my base veggies like carrots, scallions, courgettes, etc., I take out my trusty miso paste. Miso paste, for those of you who live in the Moscow/Pullman area, can be found at the Moscow Co-Op for pretty cheap--I think I bought mine for $4.99.

I'm not sure I liked miso the first time I tasted it in an aubergine side dish. In fact, I'm pretty sure I wrinkled my nose and didn't try a second bite. This rarely ever happens to me, considering I am perhaps the least picky eater on this earth. As an aside, once I found a piece of a band-aid in my hash browns at a rather questionable establishment, and I ate around it. I was hungry. What can I say? I was a waitress in less than fancy restaurants for too long--you tend to get over yourself quite quickly in that segment of the workforce.

Right. Back to miso. The second time I tasted this umami-filled treat was at a Japanese restaurant many years ago. The delicate but powerful soup was my favorite part of the meal, and soon after that visit I began regularly buying miso for home. There are many different types of this fermented soybean paste, but I have to say my favorite is genmai, or brown rice miso. It's earthy, a little smoky but not overpowering. While traditionally the soup is made by combining the paste with dashi, a broth made by simmering wakame (sea kelp) in water, I usually also add chicken stock or broth along with the requisite wakame for a touch of extra flavor (I imagine this can easily be substituted for the traditional plain dashi or even veggie stock/broth). I also add cubed extra firm tofu, a handful of matchstick carrots and scallions cut on the diagonal. I add the fully cooked udon last and am very diligent these days in making sure I remember to do this, as one time I placed it in the pot and then took a twenty minute phone call. Brilliant move.

Stir frying veggies doesn't have to be an exact science or draw upon more than a few ingredients. I usually fry leftover veggies from other dishes in sesame oil, a few cloves of minced garlic, a dash of soy sauce and a generous dash of oyster sauce. Some might prefer to serve the veggies over rice given the cost effectiveness of rice, but then I wouldn't have udon in my soup....*stomps foot* I LOVE MY UDON! It too is pretty darn cost effective, particularly if you buy it in bulk at the Co-Op like I do.

I only use about 4 tbs. in each batch (about 10 cups of water and stock), but this tub keeps in the fridge for up to a few months. I mean, it is a fermented paste after all...

Veggies. Are you calculating how cheap this is??!!

I cheated on my dried udon this week and opted for a package of udon on clearance in the refrigerated section...

It really is that easy.

Eating my veggies, mom!

Spaghetti Carbonara, or Recession Pasta My Way

2009-02-24T21:48:00.000-08:00

I'm a big fan of pasta, and I'm an even bigger fan of cheap pasta. In these "troubled times" I've found more and more that these two qualifications are just enough to lure folks over to the dark side of simplicity. I place "troubled times" in quotations because really: a) I've never been a big spender. I don't subscribe to cable and I don't own any fancy electronics (I still have no clue how to use an Ipod); b) I'm a grad student in the humanities, so being paid less than the poverty level isn't really new to me. What the hell does that mean? Well, I've always cooked with a miserly set of mind, and if I can fit this dish into my cheap budget, then it's golden. Hello Recession Pasta!!

So to begin, five or six slices of cheap or really good bacon will work just the same, at least to this starving home cook. I used a nice thick cut from the Moscow Co-Op, but I usually don't buy meat from the Co-Op. Anything will do really.

Chop your bacon into pieces and then fry it up. Once it's done (I never time this) remove from pan and drain on a paper towel. Reserve about 2 tbs. of bacon grease and pour out the rest (I save the rest for Sunday morning potatoes!). Turn off heat and then re-heat to about a medium heat, and add one chopped onion. Once the onion is just about translucent, add two or three minced garlic cloves and reduce heat to medium low. Then add about a pound of cooked pasta (I use whole grain for nutrition, but any thin spaghetti will work--I've even used farfalle before) and toss to coat with the bacon grease. Add bacon, 3 beaten eggs, 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan or Romano cheese (I used Romano because it adds a depth that Parmesan can't for my tastes), a handful of frozen peas and 2 tbs. chopped fresh flat leaf parsley. Toss to coat and cook over medium low heat for a few minutes, or just until the eggs set.

Note: I often beat the eggs beforehand with the cheese and parsley and let it sit to room temp. It helps to ensure the eggs don't overcook.

Mmmmmmmm bacon.

Fully combined and ready for consumption.....and fully ready for CHEAP consumption.

Environmentally Conscious Food Journalism

2009-02-24T18:33:00.000-08:00

I love this link. If ever I felt like a spoiled American, that moment has been humbly deepened. I link to all of you a seven-photo essay on the pragmatics of food consumption.

Check it: http://www.africanloft.com/photo-essay-comparison-of-food-consumption/

Theo Chocolate

2009-02-23T18:48:00.000-08:00

While wandering around the Co-Op yesterday, Ian and I spotted Theo Chocolate's Milk Chocolate Coconut Curry bar, and I knew I just had to have it. I've tried a white chocolate truffle in the past that included curry and pistachios once before, but the combination of the darker milk chocolate and a mixture of coriander, turmeric and toasted coconut was like marrying my two obsessions (curry dishes and chocolate) into one tasty experience.

This was definitely a great find. Can you tell there's turmeric in there? Take a look at that dyed packaging! I once cooked with turmeric while wearing a white shirt, and three years later, it's still a dark yellow. I always wondered why my mother made me change out of my good clothes before eating a hot dog with mustard....

An animal lover's plea

2009-02-22T19:32:00.000-08:00

I will go ahead and admit what you all have most likely already figured out: I'm an animal lover. I do consume meat, but I have a fondness for pets that has led me to adopt two wonderful dogs and a beautiful cat.

Imagine my surprise yesterday when after letting my dogs out for a little potty romp, a cat meowed furiously from yards away. At first I thought it was a wandering cat in heat (this happens quite frequently around here, and it really bothers me that people *let* their cats out to contribute to the kitty overpopulation we currently have) but it came closer and closer until we sprinted to the edge of the fence, only to find the cutest, most starved cat I've ever seen. Rubbing up against the chicken wire fence, rubbing its head on my hands and desperately trying to eat grass, I figured out it was starving pretty quickly.

My husband and I went back into the house ready to bring some food out for it, but as I entered the back door I heard it sprint around the bushes. Thinking it went on its way, I was amazed to find the poor dear meowing furiously at the front door. It's clear this is a domesticated cat rather than a feral one, and with a dose of hesitation, I brought it a bowl of food on the front stoop.

I probably should have just closed the door after that. But I couldn't.

The poor starved kitty kept meowing and it scarfed down the food so quickly that we locked up the other animals and let it inside. With the coyotes and deer ruling this valley, I can't imagine letting a cat who quite clearly cannot fend for itself out to try once again just that. So.....we let it into the basement. My two dogs and cat have been rather curious since then, and my poor sweet Johnny Cash was so worried that he slept virtually on top of me all night, only stirring when he heard poor basement cat meowing for food/attention.

I know a lot of students abandon their animals around break times rather than wait to place them in a shelter or board them, but I'm waiting damn it! The Whitman County Humane Society is at full feline capacity currently, so we have been placed on a waiting list to get basement cat into the kitty hotel (notice how I haven't named her? i'm avoiding--i might have to keep her...).

If anyone in the Pullman, Washington or Moscow, Idaho area is looking to adopt a cat, I can't imagine a more friendly or beautiful cat. I wish I could keep her (I think it's a female, but I respect its privacy...) but I already have a pretty thriving animal community in this house. Contact me in the comments area or call my office number at (509) 335-8745 if interested. Remember--just as there are many kids in this world who need good homes, animals are no different. Adopt and save a life!

Signs of life

2009-02-10T22:21:00.000-08:00

It's been winter here FOREVER. It even snowed in June so despite the abundance of flowers, fruits and veggies that benefited from an extra frost period, I feel as if I've been shoveling snow for centuries. Oh yeah, and there isn't even snow on the ground. Yet after being snowed in for almost all of my holiday "break" (I use this term lightly, yes), colder temperatures and sporadic slightly warm temperatures are torture for someone looking to just have ONE WEEK without feeling as if my whole body is thawing from a long stint in the freezer.

So imagine my surprise when signs of life began emerging everywhere. My garden was buried under leaves, twigs, branches and 30 inches of snow for weeks, but somehow a little taste of greener pastures managed to emerge and I couldn't have been more grateful.

Look at these buds.....

The other sign of life? A deep friendship that has formed between my grumpy rescue cat, Johnny Cash, and the schizophrenic pitbull, Zelda. Alright it's not so much a friendship as it is a really cute sleeping arrangement. I'm pretty sure they chased each other around the living room right after I took this picture.

Yes, that's a tacky couch. Don't judge.

Seafood Fettucine Alfredo and Tofu Caesar Dressing: A Healthy Makeover

2009-02-10T18:22:00.000-08:00

If I haven't already mentioned it, I'm a sucker for Italian food. When I make pastas at home, I rarely ever use the traditional semolina pasta but rather opt for whole wheat since fiber, nutrients and grains are never things I pass up on a plate. With a healthy pasta alternative, I reason, it's alright to splurge with a little cheese.

I've had a desperate craving for seafood fettuccine alfredo for quite some time, and yesterday I went to the store to replenish my whole wheat fettuccine supply in hopes of making the dish for dinner. Amidst the sea of pastas Safeway is now offering (who knew so many companies would jump on the whole wheat bandwagon?), the only pasta not represented was....fettuccine. For the first time in many, many moons, I bought and consumed semolina pasta, and I have to admit...it was a welcome reunion.

I did want a slightly healthy alfredo sauce given my pasta splurge, so a makeover of Cooking Light's already significantly lighter recipe was in order, and it turned out really well. The sauce starts off rather thin, but thickens once removed from heat. Luckily for my craving, I regularly stock shrimp and scallops in my freezer courtesy of my Costco trips, and the only other ingredient I was missing was lump crab meat, so *ahem* I used imitation. It's cheap. Sue me.

Last week I also scouted out an interesting Caesar dressing recipe, and despite the fact that I only use oil and vinegar on my salads, I really wanted a creamy, indulgent salad to accompany my creamy, indulgent pasta. I didn't have to feel guilty about my indulgence, however, since Rita at Pink Bites posted a wonderful recipe she found on Oprah's website for Tofu-Caesar Dressing. I only changed a few things, but the dressing came out fantastic, and with enough yield that I can get some serious mileage out of it.

Healthier Seafood Fettuccine Alfredo
Adapted from Cooking Light

6 bay scallops, rinsed and patted dry
10-12 shrimp, patted dry
1 1/2 cups shredded imitation crab meat
1 tbl. butter
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
2 green onions, chopped
1 1/4 cups fat free half and half
2 tbl. cornstarch
3/4 cup Romano cheese, grated
12 oz. fettuccine, cooked according to directions
Italian parsley to taste, chopped
1 tbl. fresh squeezed lemon juice, optional

1. Heat butter in a large pan, and saute onions and garlic for about a minute. Add scallops and shrimp and cook until shrimp is pink and scallops are cooked. Add shredded imitation crab meat, fat free half and half, and simmer for a few minutes. Add salt and pepper to mixture, Romano cheese and simmer for a minute longer.

2. Remove sauce from heat and add cornstarch, stirring until the sauce thickens. Pour sauce and seafood mixture into a large mixing bowl and add hot fettuccine, tossing to combine along with Italian parsley and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Tofu Caesar Salad Dressing
Adapted from Pink Bites

8 oz. soft tofu
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 garlic clove
2 tbl. tahini
Fresh ground black pepper
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 1/2 tbl. capers
1/2 cup olive oil
Italian parsley

Combine all ingredients in blender, reserving oil and parsley. Slowly add oil and parsley to mixture. Chill and serve.

NOM. NOM.

There has never been anything false about chili

2009-02-09T20:15:00.000-08:00

A few months back, the Web was afire with President Obama's chili recipe. Just to note, I never grow tired of saying President Obama. President Obama. President Obama. See?

I digress. Once the chili recipe hit the Web, it seemed to garner some extreme opinions that closely resemble the polarization of our political landscape. It seemed everyone was either professing undying gratitude for a chili recipe that didn't require copious amounts of water from which to quell the fires of spice or decrying Obama's chili as a fake that dare use beans in a dish so obviously owned by the state of Texas (can you sense a bit of sarcasm in there? I thought you might..).

I happened to love this chili, which is a little tamer than the chocolate infused version I so often make, but after growing up in the Midwest, I feel I have a little 'splainin to do. Being the nerd that I am, I did a little research at the Washington State University Library to determine where chili came from and how it has been adapted regionally throughout the United States. Chili con carne (literally "peppers with meat") is the official dish of Texas, where beans, tomatoes and any other added ingredients are strictly verboten. Of course as one can tell by the name, its origins are not in the United States, but rather Mexico, arguably either in the 1840s or 1880s. Basically, the dish consists of meat (most often beef), onion, garlic, cumin and chili peppers, and at its first inception was a way to stretch quantities of meat through leaner times. Often the dish was served by reusing leftovers and dished up at local cantinas.

The first documented mass tasting of chili by Americans (at least that I could find) was at the 1893 Columbian Exposition, held in my dear Chicago, but before this mass exposure, women called "chili queens" served it up in San Antonio during the 1880s. Emigrants from Texas to other states and other American folk who saw the potential of chili to feed the masses began opening chili shops around the States, and thus, a collective "YUM" was uttered round America.

The controversy over the inclusion of beans in chili stems from a fight between two men: H. Allen Smith and Wick Fowler. Both writers, Fowler a journalist and H. Allen Smith a writer of fiction and nonfiction works including The Great Chili Confrontation, embarked upon the first chili cookoff in October 1967 at Terlingua, Texas. From what I could gather, ol' Wick Fowler dubbed the famous line: "If you know beans about chili, you know chili ain't got no beans."

Years later, the controversy over beans rages on, and most people commenting on the Web would probably despise Cincinatti style and Louisville style chili. Cincinatti style includes both beans and cheese often over spaghetti while Louisville style has tomatoes and is plated over spaghetti.

Growing up, I have fond memories of the chili my mother made, which included pretty much all of the above: meat, kidney beans, tomatoes, cheese, saltine or oyster crackers crushed over the finished product and served over a steaming heap of macaroni pasta. It was cheap, it was hearty enough to fill up three very tall and energetic children and my father, who ate chili like some people drink water. To this day when I make the dish, I can remember my mother's kitchen. She made it when we were under the weather physically, on Halloween after traipsing around for hours in rain or snow soaked costumes, and basically any time the seasons shifted gears to fall or winter. My dad also turned me on to one of the best chili joints in Chicago, Bishop's Chili. Give it a try the next time you're in my Windy City, and don't forget to hug Lake Michigan and give a fist bump to the Art Institute for me. Just be aware: it has beans.

I don't know beans about chili and I don't purport to be an expert, but beans are cheap and I'm a grad student. Considering that the dish itself came about because poor folks needed a way to stretch out their meat supply, this is no time to be advocating purist snobbery. So screw the purists, I'm adding beans! Obama's chili recipe is pretty close to my mom's, but it is definitely a milder version than most might be used to, given that there aren't actual chili peppers included in the recipe. Now for your viewing and cooking pleasure, I give you....Obama Chili.

**Note: All chili history information gleaned from H. Allen Smith's The Great Chili Confrontation and this site, which also provides the history of the dish even before the latter half of the nineteenth century.

Obama's Chili (with beans suckers--from this site)
Obama family chili recipe

1 large onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
Several cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound ground turkey or beef
1/4 teaspoon (each) of ground cumin, ground oregano, ground turmeric, and ground basil
1 tablespoon chili powder
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Several tomatoes, depending on size, chopped
1 can red kidney beans

Sauté onions, green pepper and garlic in olive oil until soft. Add ground meat and brown. Combine spices together into a mixture, then add to ground meat. Add red wine vinegar. Add tomatoes and let simmer, until tomatoes cook down. Add kidney beans and cook for a few more minutes. Serve over white or brown rice. Garnish with grated cheddar cheese, onions and sour cream.

A little mea culpa for Moscow's Red Door

2009-02-09T18:46:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went on and on about the lack of good food in this area (homesickness takes its toll) but it would be unfair of me to not acknowledge a couple of decent meals I've had in Pullman/Moscow restaurants. For our one year wedding anniversary, Ian and I went to the Red Door, an establishment that offers a pretty decent menu. Why is called the Red Door? Quite simple, really: the front door is red. The interior is very dim and I love the booth seating with high backs so I don't have to watch other people eat, but it does get extremely noisy with the acoustics. It probably didn't help that we were seated right next to their sound system and it sometimes felt like we were at a rock concert....

Please pardon my horrible pictures, but the lighting in Red Door is not exactly conducive to good quality photos. Oh yeah, and I'm not technologically capable. Needless to say, I won't be winning any awards for these anytime soon.

Our appetizer was a trio of seared scallops, collard greens and crispy pork belly, which has potential to be a great dish. The tenderness of the scallop, the slightly chewy texture of the collard greens and (my favorite) the crispety-crunchety but still buttery taste of pork belly (anyone catch that Maya Angelou SNL skit reference?) is comforting to me. What arrived at our table were decent and fresh scallops, a tiny amount of pork belly and a big heaping slop of very vinegary, salty greens. Already I was disappointed, and luckily the salad made up for the horrible mess of this appetizer.

Being not exactly famished, we decided to split the blackened tuna salad that came with a honey-dijon dressing. The greens were very fresh and the tuna was cooked absolutely perfectly, but my one complaint here was the dressing. It seemed a little too sweet for the tuna and I would have preferred it to be a bit more tangy. One triumph here though: IAN ATE TUNA AND SCALLOPS. He's not exactly a fish man, but shortly after eating at Red Door, he began asking me about seafood, and I'm proud to say he's been eating it a couple of times a week now. Yay!!!

My main course was described as "Half Young Chicken. Tandoori-style Spices. Creamed lentils, green basmati rice cake, yoghurt-mint sauce, house-made peach chutney."
I should have remembered that ordering chicken in a restaurant is always hit or miss, but I figured I was safe in not ordering simply breast meat, which always comes out dry and tasting like a hockey puck. The chicken wasn't so much a half chicken as it was a couple of limbs from what I can only imagine was an anorexic farm animal. I picked and picked but wasn't able to cull much meat out of this poor guy. The meat was tender and falling off the bone, however, and I didn't taste any hockey puck, so I *guess* that's a tiny victory. Kind of.

The basmati cake wasn't so much a cake as it was rice mashed together with a bread crumb glue, while the creamed lentils were fantastic. This is not surprising given our dubious honor of hosting The National Lentil Festival. The yoghurt sauce was my favorite part of this dish, which happened to pair very nicely with my dry rice cake, and the chutney was....not very memorable.

Ian's main course was a slow-roasted wild boar shoulder ragu over fresh tagliatelle. The boar ragu was awesome, the meat tender and really full of flavor, but it was just too darn salty for both of us. The pasta was WAYYYYYYY overdone (is anyone around here familiar with the concept of 'al dente'?), but we ate it anyway. It was definitely disappointing given that it's a truly beautiful plate o' pasta.

We did order dessert but it wasn't anything to write home about. Chocolate. Whipped. In a martini glass. Woo hoo.

I've been to Red Door a few times with friends before, and I've always thought their food had great potential, but it often writes a check its food can't cash. My favorite part has nothing to do with the food at all, and that's it's location (above--a little blurry after a bottle of Cote de Rhone). Moscow, Idaho is this sleepy little town with a lot of earthy type folk and down to earth mentality, and there's a sense of community and friendliness that just doesn't exist in Pullman. Oh yeah, and there are less anorexic bottle blondes wearing giant sunglasses driving BMWs with their popped collar wearing frat boyfriends in the passenger seat.

We'll always have Chicago....

2009-02-08T17:45:00.000-08:00

I miss real food. There I said it. After living here in Pullman for almost five years while going to school, I have had recurring dreams about food. The food never attacks me and I'm never actually eating, but the setting of my dreams has almost always been in a pizza parlor, Greek restaurant or a chicken shack that feels eerily familiar to the joints I frequented back home. I have come to realize that my body and mind are still very intimately yearning for a taste of home...a taste of my dear Windy City.

Here in Pullman (and gathering from many trips to Seattle, Portland and surrounding areas) it seems that most folks appreciate tasteless food. From horribly underseasoned french fries, steaks and seafood to really doughy pizza with what seems like a tablespoon of sauce, I have yet to find a restaurant that I could proudly call "eh" let alone good. The "fancy" restaurant in town boasts appetizers I sometimes buy as snacks from Costco, and one restaurant a town over even claims its overcooked, not very fresh pasta is the best in the area....I believe them.

My mother appreciates my sadness and longing for real Italian, mouthwatering pizza and delectable Italian beef, and for the second year in a row, she has sent Portillo's to my little neck of the Palouse for Ian's birthday. Mom, I know you read this blog, you are my hero. I shall construct a statue in your honor.

I grew up with Portillo's. Crinkle cut fries, Polish sausage, the greatest milkshakes in the world, Chicago style hot dogs (no ketchup people. please, no ketchup.)and dipped Italian beef sandwiches with sweet peppers and mozz are enough to make me at once weak in the knees and horribly nostalgic.

The package we received was insulated with dry ice, and they really crammed a lot into that box. Two 1-lb. packages of beef, two decent sized canisters of gravy, eight sandwich rolls, a decent amount of roasted sweet peppers and Marconi's famous hot giardiniera made for two very happy people in my household (and three very intrigued animals sniffing and licking the air around the stove).

This was a portion of my loot. I was a little skeptical about the meat being as great as the restaurant's, but my fears were quickly assuaged when I opened up that bad boy and saw tender, mouthwatering meat staring me in the face.

The gravy. Nope, you didn't read that wrong. 18g of fat in 2 tbsp. Heaven.

Meat swimming in a bath of luxury. Once the meat cooked all the way through, I placed some in the crusty roll along with the sweet peppers, mozzarella and hot giardiniera, and then I dipped the whole bastard in the au jus. I'm always dumbstruck when people don't order these beauties dipped...

My sandwich without its makeup on. Still beautiful in the morning, no?

Sushi Go Round

2009-02-07T14:53:00.000-08:00

I've become addicted to a new game....Sushi Go Round. Highly addictive but it also makes me hungry.

How to clean out your fridge

2009-02-02T22:03:00.000-08:00

I've posted about making quiche before as one method of cleaning out your fridge, but this time around I had a host of ingredients and only a few eggs. Husband loves to scramble eggs for tortilla soup, fried rice.....or anything that will accommodate eggs, which is pretty much everything. In an effort to keep his breakfast/lunch garbage pail the way he likes it, I decided to only use one of the eggs.

Here were my ingredients:
1 egg
2 sheets puff pastry
8 oz. broccoli slaw
1/2 fat free crumbled feta

After rounding up my favorite olive oil, a little melted butter and some fresh ground tellicherry pepper, I didn't write a recipe, but it sure was good!

Honey Mustard Sauced Pork Sirloin Roast

2009-01-25T19:37:00.000-08:00

After purchasing a massive package of pork sirloin roast at the grocery store (3 roasts! 7 dollars! Bring on the pork!), I scoured Epicurious, MyRecipes, AllRecipes, and Recipezaar for a good recipe when I found this recipe that included a honey mustard-based sauce. While the roast turned out great, the sauce was a little tangy for my tastes. I think in hindsight I knew the honey it called for was a bit much.... I ended up using the sauce on turkey sandwiches for the rest of the week.

Red Velvet Cake

2009-01-24T20:40:00.000-08:00

I've tried quite a few recipes for Red Velvet Cake in the past few years, and this is perhaps the best recipe I've tried so far. Having grown up with Italian cream cakes and mascarpone cheese in just about anything that called for cream cheese, I am love with the cream cheese frosting that also asks for mascarpone. The richest yet lightest cream flavored cheese around, mascarpone is a little expensive on this side of these United, making me long for Italian grocers (dear God, I miss Chicago), but it's for sure worth it for the beautiful touch it gives this cake.

I love only two cakes: red velvet with cream cheese frosting and those lame confetti cakes with rainbow chip icing. Yes, I'm lame. But you know what? Those are some tasty cakes. This cake I served for a New Year's Eve crab feed with my in-laws, and with a little less than a pint of frozen raspberries from my garden to either use or waste, I chose to decorate the cake with it. I also chopped a few pieces of chocolate that needed to be used and sprinkled some cocoa powder over the finished product. It turned out pretty damn fantastic, if I may say so myself... For a grad student budget, this was an extravagant yet well worth it splurge!

I am trying a new recipe for Red Velvet tomorrow, and will hopefully find something that compromises my taste for a less sweet cake from the myriad of overly sweet cake recipes out there!

Laughing Buddha Ginger Pale Ale

2009-01-23T20:04:00.000-08:00

Ian and I tried a new beer a couple weeks ago (yes, I'm obviously behind. my bad.) from the Laughing Buddha brewery. The Ginger Pale Ale was definitely not a winner with Ian, who puckered up at first taste and looked like Bill Cosby in those Jell-O Pudding Pop commercials, but I loved it. Usually spicy beer repels me (Red Stripe always makes me reach for the Tums) but I have to say, Laughing Buddha has a winner here. Just the right amount of ginger makes this a light but still very flavorful beer. I would recommend a food with it, but it's really something you could and perhaps should enjoy without accompaniment. Or with cheese....

Buffalo Flank Steak

2009-01-22T20:01:00.000-08:00

I love roaming around the Moscow Co-Op, particularly around the frozen and fresh meats sections, as I almost always run into something I have always wanted to try. With the economy being the way it is, I haven't felt much of a crunch in my food budget since I already carefully plan meals and snacks out, but when I saw buffalo flank steak at $2 less a pound than beef flank steak, I rejoiced that I could cut a couple of dollars from my stringent budget and still be adventurous. This area isn't great for those who like to eat out (shudder--I STILL haven't found a decent restaurant out here), but the diversity of foods in supermarkets and smaller grocery stores is seriously improving.

Without further ado, I give you buffalo flank steak porn. It's a tad bit tougher than a beef flank steak, even with an overnight marinading session, but of course this could be the cut I bought. I served it in a stir fry after taste testing its texture. As far as I can tell, it's a little sweeter, a bit more tough and has a better rate of absorption than beef. The last observation seems odd since the cut is tougher than beef and therefore it seems as if I'm suggesting it is also dry, but oddly, it isn't. It's fantastic!

The longest and most restful hiatus known to humankind

2009-01-18T19:47:00.000-08:00

Now that the "spring" semester is underway (spring semester seems to be quite the misnomer) I realized today that not only have I neglected this blog, but I have become a serious cold weather hermit. Almost directly after I finished teaching and collecting final papers, I lamented to my husband that we hadn't even had so much as a pristine dusting of snow in the Palouse since last winter (er, June actually--yes June) and it just didn't feel like winter. I spent my days in my office with some books and a few very warm fleece blankets, dreaming of sugar plums and finishing my dissertation....

Then the snow came. 30 inches in two weeks! You didn't read that incorrectly, I actually meant 30 inches. Suddenly my uphill gravel drive became a little less charming, and my insistence on owning a tiny rollerskate of a Ford Focus seemed downright insane. The dogs rolled around like fillets in flour and Johnny Cash meowed, probably thinking about his days as a wild feral cat, stalking bunnies and pheasant in the snow.

Hanukkah came and went, Christmas came and went, and still I was almost round the clock stuck in my little house with a bunch of rambunctious animals. Not that I'm complaining.

Sometime after the New Year, husband and I both came down with the kind of cold you fear--not the nose-blistering, throat-clearing kind, but the achy, fatigue-laden cold that leaves you absolutely exhausted after performing the day's most simple tasks.

Erin's "Feel Better and Go Back to Bed" Slow Cooker Chicken Soup
Note: Celery leaves aren't required, but they really are a wonderful addition to a soup that feels like home

4 Chicken thighs, cooked and shredded
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 bay leaf
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup water
5 baby carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 can low-sodium organic diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup orzo
Fresh ground black pepper
Celery leaves, optional

Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients except orzo, chickpeas and black pepper. Cook on low for eight hours. Go back to bed.

2. One half hour before serving, add chickpeas and orzo. At serving time, ladle soup in bowl and season with black pepper. Chop optional celery leaves and add to soup.

Erin's "Still Sick and I Don't Feel Like Moving" Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Chicken Stew

1 1/2 lbs. chicken thighs
Cooking spray
3 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. ground cumin
Sprinkle of allspice
1 cup water
2 chicken bouillon cubes (or 1 cup chicken stock minus the water)
1/2 cup prepared or homemade tomato salsa (I used homemade)
Chopped cilantro to taste
Lime wedges to taste

Directions:
1. Coat a skillet with cooking spray and brown chicken thighs over medium high heat for three minutes each side.
2. Place chicken in slow cooker. Pile sweet potatoes and black beans on top. Add water and bouillon, and then spices and salsa. Cook over low heat for four hours.
3. Just before serving, add some fresh squeezed lime juice and chopped cilantro. Serve with tortillas.

Holiday Baking Adventures, Part I

2008-12-19T17:09:00.000-08:00

This time of year for me is one usually full of baking or the aching desire to bake. I had been craving Pannetone for quite awhile when I decided today would be the day that I fulfill that mouthwatering desire. The only card in the spoke of my baking adventure? Snow. Despite my love for snow and being snowed in, I find myself irrationally angry at the city of Pullman once I look outside and realize that my tiny little roller skate of a car will never make it on these hills until they actually REMOVE the damn snow from the road. (A little caveat here: the plows are housed across the street from my where I live, and yesterday they sat idling in the parking lot while the drivers played Wii in the office. Dude. Get out there and plow. Seriously.)

Without the ingredients to make the always lovely pannetone, I decided on a biscotti recipe for which I already had a recipe. The linked recipe below has been somewhat modified, and if you follow the linked recipe, consider adding the orange zest--it adds a very pleasant touch to an otherwise tame biscotti.

Pistachio and Cranberry Biscotti

¾ cup sugar
¼ cup olive oil
2 ½ tsp. pure vanilla extract
½ tsp. almond extract
2 eggs
1 tbl. finely grated orange zest
1 ½ cups flour
¼ cup ground flax (you can omit this and increase flour to 1 ¾ cups flour)
1 tsp. baking powder
¾ cup dried orange craisins
¾ cup pistachios (if unsalted, add an additional ¼ tsp. salt to dry ingredients)

1. Preheat oven to 300. Mix together olive oil and sugar, and then beat in eggs. Add almond and vanilla extracts, and orange zest. In a separate bowl, mix together dry ingredients and add to wet slowly. The batter should be very stiff once the dry and wet ingredients are fully integrated, and then work nuts and cranberries evenly through batter.

2. Make two long logs out of batter (be sure to rinse your hands before touching the dough—it’s super sticky!) and arrange on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Bake for around 30 minutes.

3. Remove lightly browned logs from the oven and remove from parchment paper to cool on a baking rack or other surface for at least ten minutes. Cut the logs into even slices (see photo). Reduce oven heat to 200 degrees and place sliced biscotti (on their sides) back on parchment paper. Bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until completely dried out.

The dough is pretty stiff by the time you get to this point, so if you're like me and miss playing in the mud by the time winter rolls around, you'll dig in with your hands!

Be careful to leave enough room between the logs so when they spread out in the oven they don't bake together.

Let the logs cool before cutting to avoid the crumb factor

Cut before rearranging on parchment paper for the second baking

The finished product--ta da! I love a nice cup of coffee with these babies in the morning.

In which I eat meatloaf...again...

2008-12-07T20:58:00.001-08:00

Classes have ended and all that's left to do is grade and fulfill some last minute duties before I can focus solely on the diss and writing projects that have been gathering dust in my office. So what's the perfect food to celebrate the end while fueling me for lingering tasks? Why, meatloaf of course!

I've raved about the culinary yumminess that is the Moscow Co-Op for some time now, and I'd have to say their meatloaves are my favorite. If I had the time, I would make my own but alas, I still do not, and husband still asks too many questions to make the dish on his own ("Honey, is this too much Worcestershire?" "Did I mix the meat enough, honey?"). This time around we tried the Gorgonzola and Sun Dried Tomato Meatloaf made from ground buffalo. Buffalo has been pretty cheap in these parts as of late, and at one point I found it was actually (on sale) cheaper than ground beef, pork or turkey.

While this meatloaf was smokier than other versions we've tried from the Co-Op, the combination of sun dried tomatoes and gorgonzola with meat was not their best. I'm still loving the Amanda's Bacon Ranch Meatloaf, which the meat manager informed us was his grandmother's recipe--they don't make 'em like they used to!

We also picked up a Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout, which was EXCELLENT. Very rich and full bodied, but with a dish like meatloaf, it paired well and the texture didn't overpower the meat. In fact, despite its stoutness, it was less filling than Guinness or this very very very rich chocolate stout I tried once. I'd definitely drink it again, despite the fact that its import price tag is a bit hefty these days.

The other reason to curl up with a nice, tall stout? Snow. Lots and lots of beautiful Palouse snow. Perhaps I'll take up that task when I'm not grading papers (Think drunk dialing is dangerous? Try DRUNK GRADING!)

Rest, comfort and about a million other things that are now foreign to me

2008-12-03T21:28:00.000-08:00

After finally finishing what has felt like the world's longest exam period in history, yesterday I emerged exhausted but triumphant. I can now exclusively focus on my little baby, the dissertation. The days have been full of duties, some related to my own work and others related to teaching, grading, indentured servitude, etc. While normally I have a system for grading papers that is pretty foolproof, it's been difficult this semester to juggle the mounds of papers that always seem to grace my desk. After grading one pile, another appears to mock me incessantly while I struggle to get the laundry done, cook, and research/write.

Needless to say, there hasn't been much time for cooking beyond the generic frozen veggie/chicken breast/potato combo, and I'm excited to cease eating the same meal over and over and...you get the picture. The other upside to finishing the PhD exams? I don't have to eat snacks out of bags any longer. Whew.

I'd been eyeing this recipe for pumpkin lasagna for quite awhile, and I finally had the time this evening to accomplish more than boil water. After having used up all the pumpkin I bought for Thanksgiving dinner (one more post is coming on that front), I decided to make a lasagna to use up my leftover butternut squash.

The recipe called for sugar pumpkin puree, and since I began with uncooked, cubed butternut squash, I somewhat rearranged the directions. Beginning with some olive oil, I added garlic, then the squash, then about 1/2 cup of liquid to a pan, and let simmer for about 20 minutes. Once the mixture cooled, I blended the mixture (straining most of the liquid out since cooked squash retains a lot of water) and then added honey and brown sugar to the mixture (no measurements--just eyed it). While assembling the lasagna, I realized I'd need a bit more of the ricotta mixture than was called for since I adore ricotta, and ended up increasing the ricotta to a full cup.

This turned out awesome, and despite the fact I was bummed that I couldn't use pumpkin, I'm glad I substituted butternut squash. It's one of my favorite flavors!! Thanks for the recipe, Jessica!!

Using and reusing the innards....

2008-12-02T21:29:00.000-08:00

....er, of a pumpkin, folks. I love Thanksgiving, and I love fall recipes that call for pumpkin puree, but I'm often frustrated with the fact that it often means not using up a full can from the supermarket, or alternatively, a full batch from a REAL pumpkin. For Thanksgiving I made a pumpkin roll that actually rocked, but I had a lot of pumpkin left over. I AM NOT A BIG FAN OF WASTING FOOD. So pumpkin bread it is!! The following is a recipe for Paula Deen's Pumpkin Roll and a less celebrity driven Pumpkin Bread that tastes like heaven. Enjoy!!

From foodnetwork.com, courtesy of Paula Deen

Pumpkin Roll Cake
Please note: I didn't use the caramel sauce. It wasn't really necessary.

* 3/4 cup cake flour
* 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
* 3/4 teaspoon ground allspice
* 6 large eggs, separated
* 1/3 cup granulated sugar
* 1/3 cup golden brown sugar, packed
* 2/3 cup canned pumpkin, packed
* 1/8 teaspoon salt
* Powdered sugar

Filling:

* 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
* 2 tablespoons dark rum
* 1 cup whipping cream, chilled
* 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
* 6 tablespoons plus 1/2 cup English toffee pieces for garnish
* Additional powdered sugar, for garnish
* 1 1/2 cups purchased caramel sauce, warmed, for garnish

Directions

For the cake: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Line a 15 by 10 by 1-inch baking sheet with parchment paper. Spray the parchment with nonstick cooking spray.

Sift the flour, cinnamon, ginger, and allspice into a small bowl. In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until very thick. Add the pumpkin to the egg mixture and combine at a low speed until incorporated. Add the dry ingredients and beat at a low speed until mixed. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites and salt until stiff but not dry. Fold into the cake batter, stirring with a spatula, until most of the white streaks are gone.

Spread the batter onto a baking sheet and smooth out. Transfer baking sheet to the oven and bake until a tester comes out clean, about 15 to 18 minutes. While the cake is hot, dust generously with powdered sugar. Loosen the edges and turn the cake out onto a kitchen towel. Fold the towel over the edge of the cake and roll up. Cool completely, edge down, for 1 hour in the refrigerator.

For the filling: Soften the gelatin in the rum. Stir over low heat until the gelatin dissolves. Cool. Beat the chilled whipping cream and powdered sugar in a large bowl until peaks form. Fold in the gelatin and 6 tablespoons English toffee pieces.

To assemble, unroll the cake and sprinkle with 4 tablespoons of English toffee pieces. Spread the filling over the toffee. Start at 1 long side of the cake roll and, using the towel as an aid, roll up the cake to encase the filling. Place the cake, seam-side down, on a platter.

Trim the ends of the cake at a slight diagonal. Dust the cake with powdered sugar. Spoon some warm caramel sauce and the remaining toffee chips over the top of the cake. To serve, use a serrated knife to cut the cake crosswise into 1-inch thick slices. Drizzle more sauce on each slice and serve.

Pumpkin Bread, adapted from this recipe

* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 1 cup whole wheat flour
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
* 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1/3 cup vegetable oil
* 3/4 cup brown sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1/2 cup raisins
* 1/3 cup orange juice
* 1 cup pumpkin puree

My topping:
2 tbl. brown sugar
1 tbl butter, softened
1 teaspoon finely chopped pecans
Instructions: um, mix???

1. Mix together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, allspice and nutmeg. In a large bowl, beat together vegetable oil, brown sugar, eggs, orange juice and pumpkin. Stir flour mixture into pumpkin mixture until just combined. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
2. Bake in preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean.