Halloweeny Salad: Black Rice and Purple Carrots

 This weekend while out and about, I ran across some awesome produce, which included some purple(ish) carrots. I'd never had them before, so obviously had to pick some up! As you can see, unlike some, these were mainly purple on the outside, but I think that makes them completely perfect for Halloween week.

 I was trying to think of something good to do with them- I was considering roasting them but got down a google-rabbit-hole and found this great recipe. I'd never used black rice OR  purple carrots, so bonus all around. Plus, I felt like I was getting sick (confirmed today, now that I have spent the day intermittently sleeping, watching the Lifetime Movie Network, and drinking tea with honey and lemon) and this salad is about as packed with super foods and antioxidants as you can get!

The recipe was from over at Scandi Home, and I made it almost just as recommended- this is my version. Actually, once you have all the ingredients, it was easy to put together.

The Stuff:
--1c non glutinous black rice (I used Natures Earthly Choice, which I found at my regular grocery store)
--zest of 1 lime
--juice of one lime (add half, then taste and add more if needed)
--1 tbsp vinegar- I used apple cider
--pinch salt
--1 tsp tamari
--1 tsp sesame oil
--3 tbsp sesame seeds
--5 purple carrots, grated
--seeds of 1/2 pomegranate
--3 tbsp chopped cilantro

What to do with it:
This is so easy. The hardest part is getting out the pomegranate seeds, so if you find those pre-seeded by all means go for it. Cook the rice, it took mine about 30 minutes and the water turns this amazing purple color. Drain it and let it cool slightly. Mix the lime juice and zest, oil, salt, and tamari together. Combine all the ingredients, pour the dressing over, and you're done! The original recipe called for pumpkin oil, which I didn't have and replaced with sesame, and I needed the extra lime to balance that flavor out- it probably depends a bit on your lime, so I'd taste it first.

This is also definitely fancy enough that you could serve it to guests and gets lots of ooohs and ahs. It could be a great appetizer, or larger servings could be a meal on their own. I only made a half batch, and I've already plotted to use up the rest of the carrots making more of it! I had mine with some Green Soup, made with kale I picked up along with the carrots (I've made this before and thought I posted it but it seems not, so that one is coming!). If all those vitamins don't knock down this sore throat I don't know what will!

Homemade Baked Potato Chips. Oh, yes.

I've posted before about my penchant for learning to make things you can easily buy for very little money, that are invariably time consuming and messy once you get going on them. This, my friends, is one of those things. I give you: baked potato chips and greek yogurt onion dip.

To do this, you will need a mandolin. I'm sorry, but there is no way around it- this is what separates the men from the boys, or the ladies from the girls, or the soggy thick potato slices from these actual chip-like things.

WITHOUT CHOPPING YOUR FINGER OFF, slice the potatoes into very thin pieces. (does anyone watch Master Chef? a few weeks ago someone seriously sliced themselves on a mandolin, which scared me to death). Ideally, and unlike most of mine, the slices will be the entire cross section of the potato, but mine got kind of crooked and I ended up with halves. Then, put the slices in a bowl of ice water and let them sit. A surprising amount of starch will accumulate in the bottom of the bowl.

Now, DRY OFF THE POTATO SLICES, and put them on a cookie tray that you have sprayed with cooking spray or an oil mister. Salt. Bake at 400, watching extremely carefully because they go from perfect to burnt in a heart beat.

Take them off and cool on paper towels. The dip was very challenging. I took a cup of greek yogurt and a packet of onion dip mix from the store, mixed them, and voila!

The really amazing thing here is how crispy these were, they really were like actual chips- crunchy, salty, and satisfying. I think the success is due to a few key things: 1. the mandolin, 2. the ice batch, 3. drying them off.

Now, of course comes the big question... was it worth it? Well, it was fun, and it was kind of a novelty, and the warm out of the oven chips were killer. And, I guess, these beat BakedLays by a long shot. But, it was a lot of work, so maybe it's a special occasion kind of thing.

(by the way, no, this is not a hot weather dinner, I found this is my draft of posts that I was too lazy to finish. No one in their right mind should run a 400 degree oven until at least September).

Fresh Avocado Summer Rolls

It is finally starting to feel at least a little like spring around here, and my pale, mildly cranky (with the weather) vitamin D deficient self is beyond excited about it. Part of what I'm excited about is getting a little more fresh produce- I am pretty sure I was not properly appreciative of California's constant abundance of fresh delicious fruit while I was there.

Anyhow, lately all I want to eat are things involving cold veggies- salads, sandwiches, and now... summer rolls! I got this idea in my head and had to make it happen immediately. The first challenge was finding the proper wrappers. At the first store, all they had were frozen spring roll wrappers. I bought them, however, after immediately panicking and googling it with my phone on the sidewalk, I determined that they were the wrong thing and are really meant for fried/baked spring rolls. What you actually want are rice paper wrappers. They are dry and should be on the shelf in the Asian section. These are the ones I got, but there are apparently many brands:

You can put almost anything you want in there. Your favorite veggies, chicken, shrimp, tofu- whatever! Anything you can put into long thin slices. I chose cucumber, red pepper, carrots, and instead of one of the protein choices, used avocado. You'll also want some type of herb- mint/cilantro/basil- I used cilantro. The important thing is to chop it all up ahead of time because you're going to need to move quickly.

Now- the rice paper will be very dry and stiff when you take it out of the package. I filled an 8x8 pyrex pan with warm water. Submerge a sheet until it is soft (not tooooooooooo soft, or it'll break. it'll also keep getting softer so if it feels a tad bid stiffer than you'd like when you first take it out, that's ok). I had a variety of badly shaped rolls, but when making the most successful ones, I  just immediately folded the rice paper in half, put the filling in the middle, then rolled it around the veggies as tightly as possible. I'm not going to lie, it was kind of hard to get it tight. I'm imagining it is similar to attempting to role nice looking sushi. They were all edible, but the half sized ones were definitely the most sturdy.

You could dip this in any variety of sauces, but I decided to make a simple peanut sauce (because I can't resist a peanut sauce). I used 3 tbsp peanut butter, 3 tbsp seasoned rice vinegar, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1/2 tbsp sesame oil, and a squirt of sriracha (if you use regular natural peanut butter add a dab of honey. if you use peanut butter with sugar in it, then don't). This made a lot of sauce- definitely enough for two people.

(I wanted to cut a roll in half to take a lovely picture, but was afraid my rookie-rolls would fall apart, and it was my dinner, so I had a big interest in being able to eat it). 

The combination of the peanut sauce and the crunchy veggies and the creamy avocado- SO GOOD! I can definitely imagine these being a staple in the summer when it's hot out and the idea of turning on the stove or oven is overwhelming. They were really fresh and good- try it!

Something Light- Fresh Zucchini Carpaccio

In my new home city it has been HOT. (yes. all caps are warranted. I think it would also be safe to use them for HUMID).

Given the whole hot summer in the city thing we have going on here, I have been on the lookout for cool fresh recipes. (I tried to make a veggie pizza and after trying to check on it and pull it out, was basically too melted to even want to eat it).

So, I saw a recipe on Pinterest for "Raw Zucchini Carpaccio".  Then, I googled it, and it turns out there  are tons of recipes out there from the likes of Tyler Florence, Food & Wine,  Epicurious, Smitten Kitchen, etc etc. So, this is mine!

The stuff:

- 2 fresh raw zucchini (you want big, but not TOO big because you don't want too many seeds)

- 3 cloves garlic

- juice of 1 lemon

- 2-3 tsp olive oil

- salt and pepper

- grated parmesan cheese (don't use the powdery kind. also, if you want this to be vegan, this is optional, you just might want a tiny tad more salt)

- walnuts, chopped and toasted

What to do with it:

Now, the most critical thing here is to cut the zucchini as thin as you possibly can. To do this, I used a mandolin (mine is from Oxo because I have issues with my hands and I love all their good grips stuff).

(this is not my mandolin. this is a glamour shot of someone else's mandolin)

Now, the mandolin and I have a complex relationship that involves a lot of me staring at it with a perplexed look on my face and then swearing at it like a sailor. Usually I can get it working, but it takes a lot of tries in which I do my best and nothing comes out the other side. ANYWAYS. I think this is the way to go- what you really don't want here are slabs of zucchini. If you're patient enough to slice it very thinly by hand, then by all means do that. 

I also sliced the garlic using the mandolin (putting my poor little fingers at risk). Now, normally I'm a huge fan of the chopped garlic in the jar, but I think for something with so few ingredients it is very important to use fresh stuff.

Now, just slice the zucchini, toss with the garlic, cheese, and cooled toasted walnuts, and then dress with the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Then, let it sit for about an hour in the fridge to marinate. Then, eat!

This would be really great for a salad course or appetizer, or as a side dish for something grilled. I actually just increased the amount of walnuts and ate it by itself as my dinner. It was light and refreshing and delicious!

A Sweet Side Dish- Banana Curry

Sometimes I run across a recipe for something and I just know that I have to make it immediately... banana curry was one of those things. It just sounds so WEIRD, you know? 

Well, it was a little bit weird, but it was also a really unique side dish, and I think the sweetness makes it an especially great side for something spicy. 

(You may note I'm not giving you the recipe for the chicken, and that's 

because basically it was ok but nothing particularly special).

This recipe came from Manjula's Kitchen, my go-to source for Indian food. 

What you need:

3 bananas, sliced into pretty thick slices (you don't want them to just turn into mush)

1 tbsp vegetable oil (coconut oil might have also been good)

1/2 tsp whole cumin seeds

1/8 tsp asafetida (hing) (if you don't have this, you could add a little bit of garlic)

1 minced jalapeño (if it's a big one, just use half)

1/8 tsp tumeric

1-2 tsp chopped ginger

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp brown sugar (or mango powder if you have it)

a little water (~2 tbsp)

chopped cilantro, 2-4 tbsp

What to do with it:

(Note: this all comes together really quickly so have everything ready)

Heat up the oil, and when it's hot put in the seeds until they start popping, at that point add the asafetida, turmeric, and jalapeño. Stir it around, then put in the banana, ginger, sugar and water and stir really gently. Don't cook too long, just enough to quickly cook the bananas through, then remove from heat, sprinkle with salt, and gently stir in cilantro. And... that's it!

Even if you're not a meat eater, I think this would be pretty sweet and light for a main course (I mean, there is pretty much no protein), but it's great as a side dish and it's so quick together it's definitely worth a try!

We made cheese.... yes! CHEESE!!!

To me, cheese is a kind of magical substance that appears at the store and seems way beyond the capacity of any normal, modern, non farming, person to make unsupervised.

Oh, I was wrong! Not only can you make it, you can make it in 30 minutes!

It turns out, to make delicious mozzarella cheese, this is all you need:

- A gallon of whole milk

- citric acid

- rennet (I got liquid vegetarian rennet, because real rennet kind of grosses me out)

- salt

I got all of this at whole foods for a reasonable price (although I had to ask for help finding stuff), and I have enough rennet and citric acid for many many more batches.

So- what do you do? Turns out most of it is pretty simple.

Combine 1.5 tsp citric acid with 1/4c water. Also combine (separately) 1/4tsp rennet with 1/4c water. Pour the milk in a large pot and slowly (this will require only low heat) bring it up to 55 degrees - as a warning, this is really not very hot at all so be sure you're taking the temperature as soon as you start heating. Once it hits 55 (Fahrenheit), pour in the citric acid and keep heating. When it hits 85, put in the rennet. Continue to heat, but stir very very gently and only occasionally- you want the curds to be able to form. 

Keep heating (to around 95-105) and pretty soon, the milk will start to seem clumpy and thick, and separate from the side of the pan.

When this happens, stop heating it, and just let the curds sit there for about 5 minutes or so, so they can separate from the whey in peace.

Now, this next part was actually the hardest for me- you want to get the curds out and leave behind the whey. You can gently scoop it into another bowl using a slotted spoon, but depending on how big the slots are it can get a little tough towards the end.

Now, here is where we start to use modern technology to make this stuff happen fast (a trick I learned from SimpleBites). Take the bowl with the curds and stick it in the microwave for 60 seconds. Lots of whey will come out, so drain it off carefully. (I have no pictures of this part because I was busy trying to do things like drain off whey without dumping all the cheese on the floor). Fold it over to distribute the heat, then put it back in the microwave. Sprinkle with half a tsp of salt. Repeat this microwaving (not the adding of salt) until it starts to look like melted mozzarella (I had to do it more times than the original website did- don't despair, just keep going!). 

You should get to a point where you can stretch it a long way without breaking, when that happens, you're ready to make it into little balls! (or a big log, or whatever). Just roll it in your hands while it's still hot and melty.

Then of course you have the important dilemma of what to do with all this awesomeness.

We decided to make turkey slider patties (a current addiction) and grill a lot of veggies. We did peppers, onions, carrots, and zucchini, while they were hot they were tossed with garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and dry basil (fresh would have been awesome). 

 Then we cut the balls into little pieces (they were a little big) and tossed those in, and served it on a bed of baby spinach. So delicious!!

It would also be amazing on homemade pizza (like our bbq version!) or about a million other things... give it a shot!

Brace yourself.... homemade soft pretzels ahead...

After years of searching I may finally, FINALLY, have found something that rivals the excitement of making homemade pita bread (did you try that yet? no? then go do it! seriously! now! I'll wait.)


What could this amazing item be? Well, the title gave it away already but just pander to my whims.... drumroll please.... HOME MADE SOFT PRETZELS! (I wish I had taken time for a prettier picture but I could hardly stand to wait another minute before devouring one).

 I learned about this process over at Pink Parsley and got some extra tips from Annie's Eats. It wasn't simple, but it also wasn't as hard as it might seem- it was definitely fun, and I think kids would love shaping the pretzels (I know I did!).


First, you need to make the dough. 
--1.5 cups very warm water 
--1 Tbs sugar
--2 tsp salt
--2¼ tsp instant yeast (= 1 little packet)
--4½ cups all purpose flour
--4 Tbs unsalted butter, melted (could likely substitute olive oil, but butter would taste better)
--Olive oil


At this point, you should also put aside some things you'll need later:
--2/3c baking soda
--more melted butter (olive oil if you really prefer)
-salt/cinnamon sugar/garlic/herbs - whatever you want to top them with.


Put the water in a large bowl, and add the yeast and sugar. Leave a few minutes just to make sure that it starts to foam (so you know the yeast is active). Stir until dissolved. Then add the salt, melted butter, and flour. Mix until well combined, and stir/knead for about 5 more minutes until the dough holds together as a unit and stays away from the side of the bowl (add more flour if it's too wet). Put the dough in a clean bowl lightly coated in oil, flip a few times so it is coated, and then cover with a towel and let rise. (I usually turn on my oven for a couple minutes so it's a little warm, turn it off, and set the bowl in there). It'll have to rise 50-60 minutes, or until doubled.

Flip the dough out on to a clean surface. Then, divide it up into equal pieces- I cut mine into 12.

Take each piece and roll it into a snake- mine were about 12-14 inches long. Twist into a traditional shape, as below, or you can make pretty much anything else you can think of. I made about half of them like this, and then the rest I chopped up in to 1.5 inch pieces to make pretzel bites (which ended up like pretzel balls after baking).

Now, here comes the exciting part. After you have formed them all, you have to boil them, which is how they get their pretzel-like exterior instead of just being like bread.

Bring about 10c of water (or, just a big pan) and 2/3 cup baking soda to a boil. 

One by one, gently place each pretzel into the water for about 30 seconds. (the soundtrack to the above picture is something like "faster! faster! take the picture take the picture! it's falling!". When I made the pretzel nuggets, I cooked them all at the same time.

Halfway through the boiling, flip the pretzel over- the outside will visibly change texture.

Gently take it out, and place on a cookie sheet lined with oil brushed parchment paper. I lightly brushed mine with butter (or the butter-like) product of your choice) and I think it was well worth it. These aren't something you're going to be making every day, might as well make them maximally delicious when you do! Put some coarse salt on top.

I also made (in the pretzel-bites) garlic and cinnamon sugar flavored versions. The garlic I made by brushing them with butter heavily laced with chopped garlic. The cinnamon sugar had some issues, I think if I did them again, I'd roll them in cinnamon sugar immediately upon coming out of the oven.

Cook them for about 12-15 minutes, until really nice and golden in an oven preheated to 450 degrees.

When they come out, be prepared to enjoy the deliciousness immediately, because seriously, they will never be more delicious than at that moment! If you want to reheat them later, I highly recommend putting them in a very hot oven for a few minutes, although some people say you can also microwave them as well. 

This was definitely a process, but it was fun, and man, they were amazing!

Barbecue Popcorn- A revelation.

I have recently confessed my love of all shapes and sizes of cheap gummy candy. As long as I'm confessing my terrible food loves, I might as well tell you the next one... barbecue potato chips. I can't even buy these things, and I can barely even be in the same room with them. I loooooove them. Unfortunately, eating vats of potato chips does not fall in line with my attempts to eat healthy, whole foods.

However, today I made an amazing discovery. Behold... barbecue popcorn:

It turns out, a very simple spice mix, sprinkled on popcorn (with a bit of the healthy oil of your choice or butter to get it to stick), actually does a decent job of mimicking the bbq flavor, with way WAY less calories and fat than there are in a bag of chips. This is barely a recipe, but I thought it was pretty yummy and definitely worth sharing:

The stuff:
1 regular size bag microwave popcorn (OR an equivalent amount of normal plain popped popcorn).
1 tsp paprika (I used half regular, half smoked paprika)
.5 tsp brown sugar, packed
.5 tsp salt (reduce this by half if you're using microwave popcorn, because that stuff is already pretty salty)

What to do with it:
Pop the popcorn (duh). Mix together the spices thoroughly. Put a bit of oil (I used an oil mister) on the popcorn and stir/shake, then sprinkle on the entire batch of spice mix, tossing the popcorn as you go.


That is it! This will probably be my go-to snack in the face of a barbecue potato chip craving, and makes a fun twist on popcorn (which, by the way, is a very budget friendly snack if you buy it and pop it yourself) that you could easily serve to a group of people for a football game (or, more likely around here) an Oscars viewing event (my particular Oscars viewing event is all planned out, we are intending to focus 99% of our attention on awesome dresses and on George Clooney in a tux, because George in a tux is timeless. And maybe a little bit on Mark Ruffalo in a tux, just because he's adorable. The point is, we have our priorities in line). Anyways, whenever you eat it... enjoy!