Garbanzo Beans and Kale Bake

Now, we enter the phase in which I start to tell you the thrilling tale of how I used up CSA Box #1. I'm just warning you, there were a whole lotta greens in there, so get yourself ready.

This recipe was really good, and suuuuuuuuper easy. You really can't go wrong when there are so few ingredients!

The stuff:
1 onion, quartered and sliced
1 can garbanzo beans (or, white beans) drained and rinsed
4 cloves garlic
a big bunch of kale, rinsed, big stems removed, and chopped
Parmesan cheese- better quality is better, but all I had was the finely grated kind.
(also olive oil, salt, pepper)

What to do with it:
Take a 9x13 pan, dump the beans, onions, and garlic inside. Sprinkle salt and pepper according to taste (although, watch it with the salt, this starts tasting salty fast), and toss with about a tablespoon of olive oil. It might sound like a lot, but all the other ingredients are low calorie, and using olive oil as opposed to something like cooking spray makes a big difference with such a simple dish. Bake the mixture at 400, stirring occasionally, until the beans and onions are lightly browned. With the garlic and onions, it should smell delicious.

Once the beans are brown, put the kale in the pan, and stir it around. It'll shrink a bit, so don't worry if it looks like a lot. Be sure it is mixes well so the onions, beans, garlic, and oil get their flavor on the kale.  Once it's mixed liberally sprinkle the top with Parmesan cheese (if you want it to be vegan, it'd probably taste fine without it). Continue to bake at 400 until the kale is getting a little bit brown, and it seems softened.

This could make a great side dish, although I ate it as a light dinner just as is! It heated up really well for lunch the next day, too. This is definitely going to be a go-to way to cook greens in the future- it comes together quickly, and the ingredients are things that a well-stocked pantry should have on hand. Give it a try!

This new fangled tweeting thing.

I'm trying out Twitter... I've been doing it for a while, although I'm a pretty low-grade tweeter. Frankly, I'm still figuring this whole thing out... but if you're so inclined, you can find me here...

http://twitter.com/#!/missyellowfish



(right, so that was basically the worst sales pitch ever. Let's try it again- I'm tweeting! I'm awesome! follow me and your life will never be the same!)

Scones: Not for the Faint of Heart

Here is another recipe that got buried in the depths of my iPhoto. THIS one dates way back to when I decided that the most appropriate food for watching the Royal Wedding was clearly English Scones (I'll note, I watched the wedding on DVR the next night, not having the stamina to stay up until 3am on the actual day) . I found a recipe on the internet (over at Delicious Days), and promptly realized I didn't have half the ingredients. Not one to let that stand in the way, I persevered.

Unfortunately, perseverance does not always pay off. At the Royal Wedding, Kate Middleton looked fresh, sophisticated, and absolutely beautiful.

At the time I watched the Royal Wedding, my scones looked and tasted like deformed, flat, burnt, rock hard cow patties (with a lovely decorative sliced almond topping).

I decided that kind of turn of events was best coped with by drinking a large glass of wine and settling in for hours of dress ogling, which I'm still pretty sure was the right decision. But I woke up in the morning bound to set things right. And oh, I did. This was batch number two. So good!

First I'll give you the good recipe, then let you know where I went astray.

What you need:

200g WHITE all-purpose flour, plus more for when you deal with the dough
1.5 tsp baking powder
2.5 tbsp white sugar
.5 tsp  salt
60g cold butter (yes, butter)
140-150g milk (I used almond milk)
some kind of fruit- raisins, cranberries, (I used dried cherries).

You'll notice that these measurements are in grams, which isn't normal for me, but that's how the recipe I found was, and part of going astray was not just sticking with it. So, I used my trusty food scale and did things right.

What to do with it:
Preheat your oven to 425, and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. I used my food processor for this, but if you go back to the original site, there are directions for doing it by hand.

Put in the flour, the baking powder, the sugar and the salt and pulse briefly until well mixed. Make sure your butter is really cold, and cut it in to small pieces. Pulse that in with the dry ingredients until it forms a crumbly mixture with no large chunks of butter. Toss in whatever fruit you decide to use, pulse some more until it's chopped up and mixed. Distribute the chopped dried fruits and pulse once or twice, then add the milk of your choice and pulse again. Do this just until the dough comes together and the flour is incorporated- don't over mix. It can be a little wet, but you can always add a little more flour.

Dump out the dough onto  a well floured board. Sprinkle with more flour and knead it with your hands a bit, just enough for it to come together into a real dough. Now, smush/lightly roll the entire thing out so it is about 1.5 inches thick. You need something round to cut them- I just used a juice glass, but probably a cookie cutter is what's called for. Put each piece on the tray. Bake 13-15 minutes until golden brown.

Mine were delicious with butter and jam, but do with them whatever you like! They kept well in a ziplock baggie for about a week.

NOW... where did this all go so sadly wrong. My mistakes were:
1. wax paper can NOT (not not not!) be swapped out for parchment paper. Don't even try it. If I wasn't desperate for scones and already in my pajamas, I wouldn't have done it either.
2. apparently in this recipe, wheat flour is not a good thing. it just made it too dense- the difference in how well they rose in the wheat and white versions was remarkable. If you have some major baking mojo and know other ways to adapt this recipe around the wheat flour (I did add a bit more milk), it might work.
3. apparently, also in this recipe, Earth Balance (my butter substitute of choice) is vastly inferior to good old butter. (Julia Child would be proud)
4. I didn't trust the dough, and added too much flour. Then, I decided not do bother with using a cookie cutter or anything, and just cut them into triangles, which involved a little sawing, which apparently interferes with even rising.

What is the take home message? Basically, when baking, you have less leeway. Also, when something like Royal Wedding treats are on the line, just follow the recipe! Best of luck to you, may you learn from my mistakes!

CSA Box... woo!

I've posted before about how much I love my CSA box. Now, I got a little worn out of squash and ended up taking a break for a while. But, I'm back, baby! This week was my first box of the summer... check out the deliciousness:

- 4 Detroit Red Beets
-1 bunch  Blue Kale
-1 bunch Siberian Kale
-2 Artichokes 
-4  Carrots
- 1 bunch Red Chard
-1 bunch Green Chard
-4 Spring Onions
-4 Zucchini
-4 Peaches

I'm going to be busy! Let me tell you some of the things I have planned...

1. grilled artichokes with grilled chicken

2. Roasted white beans, onions, garlic and braised kale

3. Swiss chard and red pepper stir fry with quinoa

4. roasted beets and greens with roasted chicken breast

5. Kale with chicken andouille sausage

Now, I'm not promising that I'm going to post on all of them, because most of these are new endeavors, and I only want to share the things that actually get my stamp of approval. But, keep your eyes out!

Buffalo Chicken, Oh My!

I actually made this recipe quite a while ago and somehow the picture was lost to the sands of time. Actually, what happened is that my camera battery died, no photos were getting dates on them, and according to my computer I made these on January 1, 1980, when I'm fairly sure I was actually doing something more like watching Sesame Street and getting potty trained, rather than making buffalo chicken potato medallions for dinner with my boyfriend. As proof, I present a picture of myself on July 5, 1980. I am rocking the stylin' striped turtleneck.

But, now back to business. These things are freaking delicious. I found them over at Cara's Cravings, which is a very reliable source of deliciousness. They could easily be an appetizer, but we had them for dinner with some salad.

The first step is to make her buffalo chicken. Now, this was part of the big draw, because I'm always pumped to find some way to use my crock pot, which I still haven't really fully integrated into my cooking life (and definitely haven't fully integrated into my block, because I'm only batting about 50-50 with that thing).

Crockpot Buffalo Chicken:
4 chicken breasts, cut into chunks- mine were still partly frozen
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced, or, 3 tsp chopped garlic
1 red bell pepper, diced
3/4 cup Franks buffalo wing sauce (you can use some other sauce, but Franks is pretty classic.
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper

Toss it all in there, and cook on low until the chicken is cooked. Mine only took about 4 hours- although that may be a function of the size of my crockpot. Once it's done, shred the chicken with a fork. This stuff was DELICIOUS. Also, I like the fact that it has tons of flavor, but no added fat. After making the recipe I'll show you here, I also used this in a creamy buffalo chicken pasta, a buffalo chicken pizza, and the rest is in the freezer, waiting to be enjoyed once I recover from my buffalo chicken overdose.

Buffalo Sweet Potato Medallions:
1 large sweet potato
crockpot buffalo chicken
crumbled Gorgonzola
olive oil/cooking spray
salt/pepper

Now, these are super easy. Take a big sweet potato (we were having them for dinner, so I picked the fattest sweet potato I can find. the girth of the potato will directly control the portion size, so for appetizers, pick a skinnier potato). Slice it into about 1/4 inch slices. Toss them in olive oil, or coat with cooking spray and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast on a tinfoil covered cookie sheet at 425 for 25-30 min, until a little browned, flipping halfway through.

Top each cooked slice with buffalo chicken mixture, and then with Gorgonzola sprinkles. Put the sheet under the broiler to let the cheese melt (about 5 min, depending on your broiler).

Serve either as an appetizer or with a light salad to make it into a main meal. These taste way more decadent than they actually are, give them a try!

Public Service Announcement: Puffed Brown Rice

In case you are ever wondering, putting brown rice in your air-pop popcorn maker (circa 1985) will not, in fact, result in homemade puffed rice. It will, however, result in a hurricane of hard dry rice flinging itself into every nook and cranny of your kitchen and into your face.

I'm just glad I didn't start this experiment with the quinoa, which was going to be Phase 2.

Spicy Polenta Casserole

My life right now goes something like this... wake up, drink copious amounts of coffee, go to work, run around all day, come home and watch something really educational like one of the many Real Housewives shows or ANTM (and the girl I liked tooooootally won on ANTM last week- woot!), then I hole up in my room and write grants until midnight while Charlotte stares at me balefully, collapse in bed. Rinse. Repeat.

You will notice that description does not include things "make delicious, creative, healthy meals every night, take pictures of them, and write clever posts about them". My actual dinners are focused more on what I can make that I can then microwave servings of for days on end. Fortunately for you, one of these actually turned out to be super delicious and now you get to read all about it.

What you need:
For the polenta:
1c cornmeal
2c milk (I used almond milk)
1.5c water
1/8c grated Parmesan
1/2c shredded cheese (I used the Trader Joes Quattro Fromagio, which is a staple around here)

For the filling:
a whole lotta chopped cleaned stemmed Kale (or, green of your choice)- probably 6 cups
1/4 onion, chopped
a little oil for browning the onion
1 package "Soyrizo" from Trader Joes*
1/3c water
1 tbsp butter (or, butter-like substance- I used Earth Balance)
pinch of salt (don't need much, what with the cheese and chorizo and all)

*now, you could use regular chorizo, but seriously, have you ever read the ingredients in that stuff? I mean, I'm not a vegetarian, but, man, that stuff is terrifying. The soyrizo is actually awesome, spicy, and unless you are a chorizo aficionado I doubt you can even tell the difference (but, your arteries can!). just try it.

Preheat the oven to 400. Grease an 8x8 baking pan with cooking spray.

First, you're going to make the filling.  Heat the oil, and cook the onion until translucent and soft. Then, toss in the soyrizo (don't put in the casing! it's plastic!) and stir it around. Put the kale in, put in the water (so it can steam a little) lower the heat, and cover the pan. When it is still pretty bright green, but is soft, uncover it and let it sit.

Now, you need to make the polenta (my instructions, and general inspiration, came from the Food Network). Boil the water/milk/salt. Turn down the heat, and slowly pour in the cornmeal, stirring as you go. Keep on stirring it, and it will thicken- you want to keep stirring because if it's lumpy, it'll be gross. It'll become kind of like the texture of boxed cafeteria style mashed potatoes (sticks together, but still stirrable), and then you're done. Stir in the cheese and the butter, and really mix it up.

Next, pour half the polenta in the pan, put in the entire kale/chorizo/onion mixture, and spoon on the rest of the polenta, you'll probably need to spread it around with a spoon. Then, bake it in the oven for 20-25min, it should be nice and golden brown. Wait a minute, then serve!

It was sooo good! Something about the cheeziness and the cornmeal and the spicy chorizo.. mmm. It also microwaved really well (which was important because I ate it for quite a few dinners/lunches that week). This could actually work as a breakfast casserole, it might go well with scrambled eggs. Also, if you want to use it as a side dish you could leave out the chorizo (the original recipe didn't have it). But, honestly, it was delicious, and I wouldn't if I were you. Anyways... try it!

Balcony Garden... back in effect!

Spring is here! Please observe...

 Guess what this is... acorn squash! I would never have really thought of it, but according to the little plastic card from Home Depot, it turns out you can totes grow it in a container, so, I am! I was pretty sure this was never going to work, but low and behold, it has a bunch of (really pretty) blossoms! I kind of thought it was going to be bigger and vinier, but, whatever... I'll take what I can get. I'll keep you posted.

 This one, this one is pretty impressive and has basically nothing to do with me. All the credit here goes to Sheila, the banana pepper plant.  Now, to re cap, Sheila produced at least 50 peppers... along with going in to almost everything I ate last summer, she also contributed to the awesome pepper jelly. Impressive act #1 is actually living through the winter. I'm not gonna lie, I did not do much in terms of helping those guys out... I watered them, but was generally speaking very very lazy about it. Basically, Sheila started to resemble a stick more than a pepper plant, and I grew deeply concerned for her welfare. Long about February I started actually watering them, and Sheila came back from the dead and started to look at least like a stick with leaves, which was an improvement. And then, out of the blue, she started growing more peppers!!! There are 4 on there! Basically, it's official- Sheila is a warrior.

Did you know that lavender blossoms grow in a spiral like this? I didn't, until some of the blooms came off... I love finding secret geometry hidden in nature.

The Famous Donut Muffins

I feel like I have been reading left and right on the internet about these donut muffins. I love donuts as much as the next girl, but they're not exactly something you can have on a regular basis. So, I figured I'd give this whole donut muffin thing a shot- I used a recipe from over at For The Love of Cooking, which you should totally check out if you don't read it already.

The Stuff:
- 3/4 c white sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2 cup of flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
- 1/4 cup of vegetable oil
- 3/4 cup of milk (I used almond milk, it didn't matter much)
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla

sugar topping:
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350. Basically, just mix everything together (I am not organized about that, but you can do wet and dry ingredients separately if you're really vigilant). Grease the muffin pan with cooking spray- don't use muffin cups because it'll ruin the whole ultimate donut-like effect. If you want them to be really round, just make about 9 muffins, or you can be more frugal and make 12. Bake them 15-18 minutes.

Now, for the topping. I made some rolled in cinnamon sugar mixture. Just wait a few minutes after cooking, then roll them around in the bowl. I also decided I wanted some glazed because to me, that is what actually makes a donut. I found this Alton Brown glaze, and it was really good. Now, the recipe he has is huge, I only had half my muffins to do anyways, so used a tablespoon of milk and half a cup of powdered sugar (and there was still extra). I put them on a cooling rack with paper towels underneath, and slowly spooned the glaze over. You can see both types in the picture.

Normally with something like this, I would do things like replace the eggs with egg whites, and reduce the oil, and other similar things. But, I figured the whole idea here was that the texture would be similar to a cakey donut, and I didn't want to mess that up. So, I left it as it was. Honestly, it actually did taste pretty donut like, I don't think you'd fool anyone, but the glazed ones in particular could definitely work for a craving... give it a try!

Not Your Average Steampunk Butler

This is a little off the beaten path topic-wise, but I'm all pumped up about it, so you have to see.

Basically, KidRobot is an awesome store that, among many other things, sells blank Munnys. If you aren't familiar with Munnys they're basically little vinyl guys that are completely blank and you can decorate them however you want. Then, KidRobot has a Munnyworld contest, where you decorate them and submit them to the site. I've never made one before, but Feesh was all excited about it, so I decided to make one for the contest too... in pretty much no time I was all psyched up as well.

Basically, I totally forgot to take a picture of mine when he was blank, so here is the picture from wikipedia, which is probably fancier than anything I'd have taken anyways...

I'd been thinking a lot about what to do, and spending all day thinking about brains at work, obviously the first thing to pop into my head was something that somehow took a look inside the Munny brain. I have all these gears from my recent Steampunk inspired jewelry, so settled on the idea of a Steampunk, gear-headed Munny.

I was afraid to cut his head, so my partner in crime did it, and claims it wasn't hard at all. Then, he primed it using Krylon Spray Primer, and they dried all day. We got enamel paint, which worked really well (we used Testors) and it went on smoothly. I wanted him to look like he was made of brass or copper... as you can see, it is better to take their arms and heads off before painting them, otherwise the areas in the joints won't turn out neatly. It feels a little criminal to rip the Munny limb from limb, but trust me, he'll get over it.

Then, I stuffed his head full of clay, and used that as the base for all the gears. I love how they turned out...

And... here is the final product!

You can see all the other entries here.. it's worth checking out, some of them are really amazing!

Rosemary Gorgonzola 'Soysotto'

This recipe goes in the "a little bit different" category. I got the idea from a post over at Cara's Cravings, but it turns out it actually comes from Rocco's "Now Eat This!" cookbook, which I actually own and which was the source of the Penne alla Vodka post from a few months back. I think I probably overlooked it in Rocco's book because his version relies on mushrooms, which frankly, I have never managed to get fully on board with. Cara's version involves butternut squash and sage, which I was immediately very excited about, but also called for pecorino romano cheese, which turned out to be a bit strong for me in this dish. So, tonight I made it my own!

Now, you're probably wondering what this whole "soysotto" deal is. Basically, it's risotto, but the general idea is that given how carby and fatty risotto can get, this recipe tries to healthify it (yes, that is a word now) by using textured vegetable protein (TVP) as a base instead of arborio rice. The net result of this is that the dish has higher protein content, lower carbs, and cooks much more quickly. I think it's tasty and satisfying and easy. However, if you are a risotto purist, you're going to want to give this a skip, because it doesn't really have exactly the texture I associate with a truly good creamy risotto. I am not a risotto purist, so I found the texture to be just fine and for me it was a very reasonable substitute.

What you need:
1.5c TVP*
3c chicken or veggie broth
1 tsp (or a clove, chopped) garlic
half an onion
a bit of oil/butter for browning
pepper, to taste
2oz gorgonzola**
fresh rosemary- I used 2 sprigs, each ~4 inches long, and stripped the leaves
3 big handfuls baby spinach, roughly chopped.
1/4c chopped walnuts, toasted

What to do with it:
Chop the onion into strips, brown in the oil/butter of your choice.
Once the onion is translucent and brown, add the garlic and stir for a few minutes.
Pour in about 1/4 a cup of the broth, to deglaze pan.
Put in TVP, stir in the rosemary.
Add half the remaining broth, stir until absorbed.
Add the rest of the broth, let simmer. If it becomes too dry, add a bit of water. It should remain quite moist.
Once the water/broth is fully absorbed - about 10 minutes- (there may be a little  bit at the bottom, thats fine)- turn off the heat.
Stir in the cheese, until melted. Add pepper.
Stir in the chopped spinach, and cover until wilted.
Top with toasted walnuts.

*I used Bob's Red Mill, which I got at Whole Foods- I used to buy it in bulk but haven't found it lately. If you're wondering, one big point in favor of TVP is that it is an incredibly cheap protein source and very versatile. Of course, some people are not in favor of too much soy, but I think as one part of a varied diet it can be fine.
**Now, you might be wondering if you can skip the cheese and make it vegan. Honestly, I don't know if I would- the melted cheese plays a big role in bringing the texture together, and also provides a lot of flavor. If someone gives it a try with a vegan cheese, you should let me know! If you do use a plainer cheese, I'd up some of the other spices/seasonings.


Now, I actually ate this as a light meal all by itself, and it was delicious- it would also be good paired with a simple salad. You could also serve it as a side dish- if you wanted to make it easier (for instance, if you were already serving it with a protein and a vegetable), you could always just make it with just the rosemary and gorgonzola. But, I liked it just as is! I will definitely be making it again.

Peanut Soup.... Try It. Seriously.

I am always on the lookout for delicious soups. I also have a longtime obsession with Thai Peanut Sauce, which I could probably eat way to often if you let me. Actually, if you expand it to just peanut butter, I could probably eat it daily for an indefinite amount of time. That stuff is delicious (for the record, I am firmly in the camp of old fashioned, peanuts only, crunchy peanut butter. none of that processed junk that doesn't even need go to in the fridge, which is just scary).

ANYWAYS... with my peanut-love, I was very delighted to see this Thai Peanut Soup recipe, which I made pretty much just as described.

The Stuff:
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
1/3 cup finely chopped celery
1/4 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1 tablespoon margarine/butter/oil of your choice
3 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon very finely chopped lemongrass (white part only) or 1 tsp finely shredded lemon peel*
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper (more if you like it spicy)
1 (14-oz) can chicken broth (about 1 3/4 cups) or veggie broth
1 (13 1/2-oz) can unsweetened light coconut milk (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup peanut butter (obviously I used crunchy)
1 tablespoon soy sauce

optional garnish:

1/4 cup chopped peanut

diced fresh cilantro 

thinly sliced red pepper

sesame oil 

What to do with it:

In a medium saucepan cook onion, celery, and finely chopped red sweet pepper in oil until tender. Stir in flour, lemongrass, and ground red pepper. Add chicken broth and coconut milk together. Cook, stirring, until mixture is slightly thickened and bubbly. Then just cook a few minutes more so it's really thick. When that's done, add the peanut butter and soy sauce at the very end. Then, garnish as you wish.


This was really really good... it was hearty and warm and flavorful and absolutely delicious. The original post says you can add chicken, which I'm sure you can  (obviously de-vegetarianizing it along the way), but honestly I don't think it needs it. It is very filling as it is. Try it, you'll like it!



* a quick note about lemon grass... it's one of those ingredients that always foils me- I never have it at the right time, and if I do buy some, I never use it all up. NO MORE! I posted previously about my giant excitement with the frozen herbs, well, someone got in touch with the good people over at Gourmet Garden, who make lemongrass in a tube! They had it in the produce section of my grocery store... this is genius, I tell you, genius!

Etsy Shop Update- A New Direction!

I want to take an ever so brief break from posts about cooking to give you a little update on what's been going on over at my etsy shop. The basic idea is still the same- a mix of natural materials and metal, with clean organic shapes and a modern take on things.

But, recently I've been having some fun playing around, and have a new line of pieces with just a little more edge. With the addition of some gears, and some darker metal, the new pieces are a little edgy, and just have a little bit of a steam punk like feel, which is kind of fun.

Check it out!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/68892099/industrial-wood-necklace

 http://www.etsy.com/listing/54746600/gear-drop-earrings

 http://www.etsy.com/listing/68540110/series-of-gears-earrings

 

http://www.etsy.com/listing/68539040/butterscotch-chains

But, never fear... the new things haven't replaced any of my old favorites- in particular, my best sellers, the line of tiny pearl earrings (I have a pair and seriously have worn them pretty much everywhere), and the Tear Drop series of wooden earrings with various beads. 

 

 http://www.etsy.com/listing/57888221/simplicity-pearl

http://www.etsy.com/listing/54969768/festive-teardrop-wooden-earrings

Anyways, just thought it'd be fun to share my non-cooking activities of late!

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!

Super Quick White Beans

This dinner was just a quickie, thrown together out of things that I had on hand, but it was pretty good, so I figured I'd share it just to show that you're never in quite as dire straits as you think...

What you need:

-1 can white beans (cannellini beans or white northern beans, or white kidney beans), drained and rinsed

-a few handfuls spinach, or if it is all you have, frozen spinach

-walnuts (toast them, seriously)

-half an onion, chopped

-1 sausage (I used Trader Joes chicken sausage)

-garlic, about a tsp

-a bit of olive oil

What to do with it:

Saute the onions and garlic in the olive oil until soft. Add sausage and cook until done or heated (depending on what kind of sausage you're dealing with, mine was cooked already). Dump in can of beans after draining/rinsing, including a few tablespoons water. Stir around and heat up. Toss in the spinach, heat until wilted (or melted if it is frozen). Serve, and top with toasted walnuts.

This entire process takes about 10 minutes, which seriously is not bad at all, and very handy for a week night. I think all of it went well together, but toasting the walnuts really makes it delicious and also makes it taste like something that took a lot longer to cook (of course, I'm also obsessed with toasted walnuts right now and am putting them on everything and keeping a big bag in the freezer at all times, so I may be biased, but, still, you should do it). Anyhow, if you have basic ingredients on hand, this could be your dinner! Also, obviously, you can leave out the sausage and vegetarian-ize the whole thing.

A Valentine's Day Confession

First of all, Happy Valentine's Day to you.

There are a lot of things someone could potentially discuss about Valentine's Day, and a lot of people have a lot of opinions.... it's corny, it's romantic, it's too commercialized, it's romantic precisely because it's corny, and despite being commercialized... I could go on. But, know what? I won't. Because that is just not what this blog is about.

Instead, I am going to use this day to reveal my deep dark Valentine's secret. Just brace yourself.

A lot of people love the holiday because one byproduct of commercializing it is that there is a vast array of Valentine's Day candy available starting immediately after Christmas. Most people get excited about heart shaped boxes of delicious chocolate. And don't get me wrong, I do love chocolate.

But, meet my kryptonite, my Achille's heel...

cinnamon gummy hearts.

It may actually be the lowest form of candy, which I will readily admit. It's available almost solely at large pharmacy-type stores, and cost something like 99 cents a bag. And, to me, it is like crack.

I already love the cinnamon-gummy-heart's kissing cousin, the sugared orange slice candy. In fact, if I am alone at an airport, and facing a stressful situation (i.e returning from exhausting job interviews, which has happened a few times recently) the orange slice is my top choice. But, the cinnamon gummy heart is CINNAMON, which puts it over the top. It's like the orange slice and Hot Tamales had a glorious glorious baby.

I think it is probably for the best that these are only available for one month of the year.

Kale Chorizo Soup

This recipe was made by special request of Feesh (my co-gardener across the city), who got extremely excited when kale appeared in my CSA box and immediately requested kale-chorizo soup. And, who am I to deny something that sounds so delicious?

The stuff:
1 onion, chopped
~3 tablespoons olive oil
1.5 lbs white potatoes, thinly sliced
8 cups water or low-sodium chicken broth (I used half and half)
.5 lb Spanish chorizo (spicy cured pork sausage), cut into 1 cm cubes*
a big bunch of kale, washed, with spines cut out, leaves roughly chopped

What to do with it:
In a large soup pot, start the onions, and add the chorizo. Once the chorizo is pretty much cooked, add the potatoes. Then add the liquid, and cook until the potatoes are tender- break some of them up to release the starch and thicken the soup. When everything seems ready, add the kale and just let it get soft. Then, serve!



*Ok, so here is the dilly with the chorizo. Basically, chorizo is not just chorizo- there is Spanish chorizo (which this recipe actually called for) and Mexican chorizo (which we used, because we are in LA, and you can't swing a stick in the sausage section of the grocery store without hitting some Mexican chorizo) and soy chorizo, which you could sub here, but I believe it is closer to the Mexican variety. What is the difference, you ask? Well, I'm not going to claim to be a chorizo expert and I'm certainly not interested in thinking too deeply about exactly what is in it, but I have learned this... Spanish, or Portuguese chorizo is firmer, and can be more easily chopped while Mexican chorizo is ground, has a softer texture and is spicier. Theoretically, you can't normally cross- substitute them (although, I did learn that in a pinch, you can actually chop up ham and season it with smoked paprika to approximate Spanish chorizo). However, in this recipe I'm here to tell you that the Mexican version worked just fine (which I assume means the soy version would also work just fine), so... do what you will!

Baked Squash, Sauteed Spinach and Shallot-Walnut Risotto

I've been posting a fair number of meaty dishes lately, so figured I'd throw the vegetarians a bone. Well, a bone is probably the last thing they want. This is me, throwing them a chunk of tofu. Except, really, there is no tofu involved and I'm out of analogies, so I'm gonna skip to the good part and show you the dinner:

This is definitely a Sunday dinner type of meal... there is nothing quick about it. But, it is a very warm satisfying meal to fortify you as you prepare to head out into the no-man's-land of Monday morning, and I thought it was delicious.

Risotto:
-1c arborio rice (there was a lot of price variation here, one container cost $8 and one cost $3- obviously I bought the $3 one, but I have no idea if there were ramifications from that.
-.5c white wine (a good tip if you don't want to have a whole bottle open is to use those small bottles at the grocery store for cooking)
-approximately 4c of the broth of your choice (veggie or chicken)
-2 shallots, thinly sliced
-a few tablespoons of the butter product of your choice (I used Earth Balance)
-1/3-1/2c walnut pieces, toasted
-sprinkle nutmeg
-1/3c almond milk or milk of your choice


Squash:
- 1 decent sized acorn or kabocha squash (I used Kabocha), cut into quarters or eighths depending on size
-2 tbsp butter product of your choice
-1 tbsp brown sugar
-pinch ground red pepper
-pinch nutmeg

Spinach:
-a few tablespoons leftover broth
-as much spinach as needed
-half tsp garlic
-few drops balsamic vinegar

What to do:
I'm going to do this not categorized by ingredient, but in the order I think you should do them to actually get this all done around the same time.

1. put the shallots in a large pan with some of the butter, and cook very low, to begin to carmelize- this will take a while
2. after shallots are started, slice up squash

3. Combine butter, sugar, pepper, and nutmeg in a small bowl, and rub onto each slice of squash
4. Place slices in a pan, and bake at 400
5. put walnuts in, to toast- take out when browned (much earlier than squash- watch this)

likely there will be a delay here, while the shallots caramelize and the squash bakes. when the shallots are very soft and brown, keep going:

5. pour broth into a sauce pan, and warm it up, so when you add it to the risotto, it is warm
6. pour wine into shallot pan, and cook for a few minutes so alcohol can burn off.
7. add rice, and cook for about 5 minutes, until lightly brown
8. start the process of gradually adding stock using a ladle, and stirring it until each spoonful is absorbed. I believe it is this slow process that lets the starch come off of the rice and thicken the mixture- you'll notice that the stock in the pan does look somewhat thickened as it cooks
9. keep going until the risotto is soft, but still a little firm. Then add in the walnuts, nutmeg, and almond milk, and stir in.
10. very quickly, use the remainder of the broth in the sauce pan to sauté the spinach-  just toss in a little garlic, throw in the spinach, and let it wilt.When it is wilted, sprinkle on a little balsamic vinegar.

To serve, spoon out risotto, serve spinach, and add the squash... yum!

A Little Splash of Color

Everyone should have a pair of bright purple shoes. Just saying.

Afghan Pumpkin- Part II

   I posted a while ago about my first attempt at an Afghan Pumpkin dish... as you may remember, I found it overly sweet and was a little disappointed. Never one to give up on half a pumpkin, I continued onwards... most of the pumpkin recipes I saw online were either the one I initially posted, or this one, which has the same pumpkin preparation, with the addition of lamb in tomato sauce. 

I wasn't really feeling the whole lamb thing, so as usual, hacked something together out of things in my cupboard, in this case, lentils and textured vegetable protein (TVP) which is an excellent substitute for ground meat in almost all contexts.

"Meat" sauce:

1/3c lentils, cooked (boil them until they taste reasonable, not too many directions there).

1/4c TVP, soaked in water to rehydrate

1/2 onion, chopped

1/2 red pepper, chopped (because I had it... optional)

1 small (8oz) can tomato sauce

1/2c water

~2 tsp fresh ginger or ginger paste

2 tsp garlic, chopped

1 tsp coriander

oil for browning

Basically, brown the onion and red pepper in the oil. Toss in the lentils and TVP, then the liquid ingredients and spices. Cook until it makes a nice sauce. If you're in a carnivorous mood, just use ground lamb or beef.

 

To serve, make some brown rice or other grain (I used the frozen brown rice from Trader Joes), heat the pumpkin from recipe 1 (http://yellowfishblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/afghan-pumpkin-part-i.html) and put it over the rice, being sure to get some of the sauce. Then, top that with the yogurt sauce (as a reminder, it was the easiest sauce ever- basically, just yogurt, garlic and salt), and then finally with the 'meat' sauce mixture.

 

This was vastly superior to the first version... it actually was a really interesting mixture of sweet (the pumpkin), savory (the tomato mixture), and tart (the yogurt sauce). I actually liked it, which was a big improvement from Recipe I which was just to sweet for me to eat. The main barrier between me making it again and not is that honestly, dealing with that pumpkin was a giant pain. I think you could probably do something similar with butternut squash, and that I might try. At any rate, its a really unique taste experience, a cuisine you don't run into every day, and in general is worth giving it a shot! 

*this version is vegetarian, if you came up with some replacement for the yogurt, it could become vegan, but I would absolutely not leave out the yogurt sauce entirely, it added a lot to the overall experience, particularly cutting the sweet of the pumpkin.