Hobbit Diet Day 1: Braised Chicken with Baby Artichoke

I'm currently working on a food challenge of eating like a Hobbit for 30 days. That's seven meals a day! If there's any outstanding recipes I made during this crazy journey, I will share with you here. 

When I scheduled a test kitchen day at work, I didn't think about it being the first day of the Hobbit Diet. Not that it would change anything but it was interesting for me to try to log what I just made into MyFitnessPal app.

What was I going to test? Braised Chicken with Baby Artichokes, originally from Williams-Sonoma blog. 

Fortunately, someone else made a similar recipe--actually, one of the recipes I considered testing--and added the calorie counts to the database. Surprisingly, this recipe is quite a healthy one at 280 calories per serving (if serving 6).

My lab rats...I meant, coworkers...were VERY happy with the results. The sauce. Oh my god the sauce! It's just awesome.

Easy one pot supper, I tell you!

I made it again for on Day 17 at home so Brandon could try Baby Artichokes. I served it with leftover rotini pasta, and that was a great idea. Brandon like the preparation but did not care for the artichokes...or the tomatoes (of course). That is fine because now I have all the leftover to myself.

For the next few days, I ate the leftover tossed in with the pasta. I think I like that even better than the chicken by itself.

I'm with Frieda

I now work for Frieda's Specialty Produce and loving it. It's not permanent yet, but I'm telling you guys anyway for full disclosure.

This job is a foodie's dream comes true. I get to hear about exciting fruits and vegetables every day, and once in a while I get to take something home to play with.  Employee sales also yield a bounty of great loot and there is always something new to discover.

For example, I was sent home with some Kale Sprouts, a hybrid of Red Russian Kale and Brussels Sprouts. Essentially, combining Brandon's favorite new vegetable and my all time favorite vegetable into one!  I grabbed a recipe suggestion for Brussels Sprouts from Girl + Fire Paulette and cooked up these little purple-tinted beauties. A rough "add this and that for that much" recipe is below.

I mentioned the employee sale a minute ago.  The staff in the warehouse loves me now because I'm an easy target. With a little nudge, I'd buy the farm!

My very first order for the sale, I didn't order correctly so there was no produce set out for me to pick up. The guy in charge just had me take a peek at all that was still available.  I intended to only buy Baby Potatoes and Lady Apples. I walked out with Lady Apples, Meyer Lemons, Zululand Baby Pineapples, and Heirloom Tomatoes!  The following week, I didn't have exact change, so the same guy showed me some Rambutans, and instead of trying make some change, I ended up ordering more stuff.

My safety jacket for the warehouse might as well just say, "SUCKER" on the back! LOL

Needless to say, I went ahead and canceled my Tanaka Farms CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) subscription. I really did love that program and it was a tough one to let go of. As I told you guys, we eventually reduced our subscription about a box a month and we still can't keep up.  There are only two people in this household, y'all, and one of them can be a picky eater at times. The produce just kept piling up.

Going forward, Brandon and I can still have a culinary adventure whenever we feel like it, and we'll supplement the rest with the Farmer's Market on Sundays in Long Beach. That's good too because I really miss going to the market.

Anyways. My new cooking adventures will be a very interesting one indeed. I hope you'll come along!

Now, the "recipe" for a very addictive Kale Sprouts dish.

Pan-roasted Kale Sprouts with Bacon and Brown Sugar

This recipe is not measured in anyway. Be brave and trust your judgement! :)

Ingredients:

• About 3-4 oz. of Kale Sprouts. You can get them in bulk at some places and prepackaged in the other. You can just use Brussels Sprouts for this.
• 4 strips of bacon
• A splash of water or chicken broth
• 1 clove of garlic, minced. (Just press it through a garlic press.)
• A pat of butter
• A generous pinch of brown sugar - about a tablespoon
• Salt and pepper to taste

First, cook up your bacon in a skillet until crispy. Save about a tablespoon of bacon dripping. (Some would cook whole slices then crumble them later. I like to chop mine up first and fry up the bits.)

While the bacon is cooking, prep the Kale Sprouts. Give it a wash then trim of the bottom like you'd do with Brussels Sprouts. Halve the larger ones. Leave the little ones whole.

Add Kale Sprouts to the hot bacon dripping, season lightly with salt (bacon is already salty!).  Saute for a few minutes until the Sprouts wilt a little.

[Now, if you're doing this with Brussels Sprouts, you cook until they're nice and brown.]

Add a splash of water/broth to de-glaze the pan. Add garlic.  Once it comes to bubbling/sizzling, let reduce a bit, [if using Brussels Sprouts, until they're fork tender]. Add the pat of butter, brown sugar, and the bacon. Toss to coat.  Season to taste.

Voila! (Sorry. We were so hungry I didn't stop to plate it for a photo!)

Farm Box Adventures #6

This week's bounty:

• Cantaloupe
• Avocados
• Sweet onion
• Zucchini
• Carrots
• Corn (given away)
• Tomatoes
• Green beans

Box #5 Report

Again, I stayed mostly out of the kitchen during these past few weeks of hot Southern California heat. Box #5 didn't get the love it deserved.

The cantaloupe and grapefruits were the first ones consumed.  Brandon is a big fan of the melon and it's so refreshing to eat, cold out of the fridge. As for the grapefruit, I experimented with a new cocktail recipe to great success. Who knew St. Germain and grapefruits were made for each other! I will post that recipe very soon.

As the only consumer of avocado in the household, I use a whole one as "spread" for my turkey sandwiches during the week, mashing them up with garlic and onion powders and the awesome Bacon Salt. Yum, yum, YUM!

I wasted broccoli and lettuce this time around before I can get to them.  I managed to save carrots, green beans, and zucchini before they expired though. Carrots were glazed to go with store-bought rotisserie chicken.  Green beans were once again blanched and froze.  Zucchini was saved by the college football season as I tossed them with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and a little salt and pepper and garlic powder and took them to Psychogate, my usual tailgate hangout with Roy "USC Pyscho", to get grilled off.

Meal Ideas for This Week

You'd think I'd have more ideas for simple ingredients like this box. But I have to tell you, I'd rather like getting the "mystery" vegetables! LOL

With this batch, I probably will make French Onion soup with the sweet onion again. And I might be able to be creative with the zucchinis.  Not much to get excited about, really. *sigh*

What about you? What have you cooked up lately that is new and exciting?

Beer Braised Kale with Bacon

The fun part of getting a different Community Supported Agricultural farm box every other week is that I don't know what's in the box.  Pretty much this is me on my way to pick up the box from Whole Foods.


Kale made an appearance in my CSA Box #2.  A fellow CSA subscriber had mentioned to me that his wife made dark beer braised kale with bacon.  That sounds like a winner right there!  I looked around online and couldn't find such recipe.  So I found a couple of basic recipes for inspiration then just winged the rest.  The result was not only beautiful but it was delicious.

Beer Braised Kale with Bacon

Adapted from this recipe from Food & Wine Magazine and this one from Epicurious.

• 1/2 lb. of bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 4 garlic cloves, very finely chopped
• Optional: Half of a small onion or one large shallot, diced.
• 1 cup chicken stock, broth, or just water
• 1 bottle dark beer. I used Red Trolley Ale. 
• 3 pounds kale, stems and inner ribs discarded, leaves coarsely chopped
• A splash of apple cider vinegar
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

1.  Cook bacon in a large pot until crisp, then transfer the bacon to paper towels to drain.

2. Pour off and all but 3 tablespoons fat from pot, then cook garlic (and onion/shallot) in remaining fat over moderately low heat.

3. Add kale and cook until wilted and bright green. Add beer and water/stock and simmer, partially covered, until just tender, 6-8 minutes.

4.  Remove the lid, and add bacon.  Cook until the liquid has evaporated, about 3-5 minutes longer.

5. Season with salt and pepper and a splash of apple cider vinegar to taste.

Note: You can go longer with braising if you don't care much of kale's fibrous texture. It's up to you. I like it fine, just done.  On the other hand, Brandon didn't want anything to do with it at this state. "It was like chewing on leaves!" he said.  I guess this is one of the recipes I should aim to always overcook. LOL

Farm Box Adventure #5

This week's bounty:

• Lettuce, of course
• Broccoli
• Zucchini
• Carrots
• Green beans
• Avocados
• Grapefruits
• Cantaloupe

Box #4 Report

The challenge with the last box was the cabbage.  I attacked that with a summer kimchi recipe I found.  Being a lazy bum that I am, I didn't get to the Korean market to purchase the actual Koren chili powder (gochugaru)--I experimented with my own blend with arbol chili, chili powder, cayenne, and paprika. It was a success to a degree, but after I portioned it out for a few folks to try, I decided to toss it out. Just not up to my standard. Next time, full scale recipe!

I did make colcannon-- sauteed cabbage mashed in with potatoes--with frozen cabbage from a few weeks before to go with the bangers I got.  I never knew that cabbage and potatoes would take THAT good mashed together!

However, Southern California weather had heated up considerably these past few weeks. I barely cooked anything! The green beans and the carrots ended up getting blanched and frozen because I just didn't want to slave over the stove in this heat.

Meal Ideas for This Week

I am going to test out a new cocktail recipe for the grapefruits. As tasty as the margarita has been, it's time for a change. :)

I will definitely re-do the awesome beef and broccoli recipe again. This time I will take a picture of the end product and will post recipe...eventually.

The carrots will get glazed. The green beans will get steamed. I'm unsure of what I'm going to do for the protein yet but that's the game plan so far.

Zucchini is this week's contender.  I have done zucchini soup two ways before, so I might revisit the hot zucchini-leek soup as I wasn't a big fan of the chilled one.

Do you have any good zucchini recipe that does not involved turning on an oven?

Farm Box Adventure #4

I was so happy that I didn't get any cabbage last week. I knew that it was too good to be true...

This Week's Bounty

• Tomatoes
• Carrots
• Green beans
• Oranges
• Watermelon
• Cilantro -- already given away so it's not pictured here.
• Lettuce
• ...*sigh*... Cabbage

You gave away cilantro? Aren't you Asian and supposed to love that stuff?

I do like cilantro. Cilantro/Coriander is almost Thailand's national vegetable! We incorporate the roots into marinades and curry bases (yes, back in our country, they sell them WITH roots.). The leaves are used like parsley here, sprinkled onto a dish or used as garnish.

Heck, we even have a saying based on cilantro! When you do something poorly but you make it looks nice and presentable, Thai people call that "sprinkling cilantro on top". (ผักชีโรยหน้า)

Unfortunately, Brandon doesn't like cilantro. Well, not liking is a part of it. He is also one of those people to whom cilantro tastes like soap. Some studies said it's a genetic thing. Some people are sensitive to a certain aromatic chemical of the cilantro. And so on.

I just settled at the fact that he doesn't like it. My next door neighbor was very happy to take it off my hands along with a fistful of green beans.

Before we discuss this box, let's talk about the last one.

Box #3 Report

Box #3 was not too big of a challenge to cook. After all, it didn't have cabbage.

I gave one avocado away to a friend visiting from Colorado who has missed California avocado so much she was going to smuggle some back on their drive home. The other, I made a ghetto guacamole for a snack by mashing it with chopped tomatoes and a pinch each of garlic and onion powder, cayenne pepper, and salt, and a splash of rice wine vinegar because I didn't have any lime on hand.

Tomatoes are also one of the things Brandon doesn't eat. To my delight, actually. All the yumminess is mine! Muwahahahah! :-D I have been cooking up a whole tomatoes with eggs for breakfast on my Meatless Tuesday for a great and filling meal.

Beef and broccoli was also a major success. My dad back in Thailand sat our family's housekeeper down to get her recipe for the beef marinade. He even typed it up for me himself--a feat for someone who actually doesn't know how to type ("That's what my secretary is for!")--so I can make dinner that same night. And boy, was it worth the trouble. While I did take some pictures for you guys, I did not take picture of the finished product. We were hungry. So very, very hungry...

Also as planned, I made Caesar salad, French onion soup, and that cabbage soup with some green beans and carrots in it. And I still have a quarter of frozen cabbage left.

I used the carrots to make carrot cake instead because Brandon was craving some. I bought a few more carrots just in case but I actually didn't need them. I even had extra! I use Tyler Florence's carrot cake recipe for the cake which turns out super moist and NOT overly sweet at all, and the cream cheese frosting from Nigella Lawson's Guinness Chocolate Cake recipe. Should've made double batch of the frosting as my filling was a little bit on the skimpy side. But over all, it was yummy.

Box #4 Meal Ideas

Carrots and tomatoes are never a challenge around here, and lettuce and green beans are not too hard to figure out either. This time around, though, I'm going to introduce Brandon to tuna-less Nicoise salad since I have some lovely brined olives from the farmer's market in the fridge.

Aaaand we're back to the cabbage. I'm starting to feel like the Cabbage Guy in Avatar: The Last Airbender. Instead of losing the cabbages, I keep getting them!

I did buy some pork bangers on sale from Whole Foods today. So I grabbed a couple of potatoes so we can do bangers and mash with a side of sauteed cabbage. So that'll take care of half of one. I can probably throw the other half in the freezer...to join yet another quarter of cabbage...for future soup making enterprise.

I also wonder if  I can make kimchi out of the non-Napa cabbage.  I need to do a little research on that.

Any thoughts on what else I can do with cabbage? Please don't say cabbage roll. I read that recipe to B and he made a face. LOL

Farm Box Adventure #3

Box #3?! But you just wrote about the boxes for the first time a few weeks ago?!

True. But remember, that box was box #2 already. I just didn't write about the very first box. Are you on the same page now? Good!

This Week's Bounty:

• Romaine lettuce
• Tomatoes
• Avocados
• Carrots
• Broccolis
• Green beans
• Sweet onion
• Grapefruits

What makes getting CSA box more adventurous for my household is that Brandon is a particular eater--not picky per se but specific. He can eat just about anything as long as he doesn't have to eat things he doesn't like, like fresh tomatoes, raw onion, most mushrooms, corn, and avocado.  So, when I get a box like this, I have to figure what I can do that he can also enjoy.

Yes, meal planning can be a challenge around here sometimes. But Brandon does embrace the culinary adventures we're embarking on, and is game to try something different.

For example, guacamole is out of the picture for him, but that will come in handy for me on Meatless Tuesday.  I never cook with the giant sweet onion before, but I know for sure Brandon likes French onion soup. Alton Brown actually uses sweet onion to make his version. (But it's so hot...I don't know if I'd want a bowl of gooey, melty cheesy soup!)  Brandon also said that he'd be game to try a stuffed onion. So we shall see.

There will be some interesting experiment with this box, I can tell ya!

Box #3 Meal Ideas

Caesar Salad. Glazed carrots. Steamed green beans. French onion soup or perhaps stuffed onion? Broccoli beef.

Yes, I'm cooking Asian food. Those of you who've been following along a while know that this little princess does not do much Thai or Asian food in the house.  I'm calling up my nanny/housekeeper in Thailand for her recipe. Her beef marinade is pure magic!

As for the grapefruits, we both don't care for them. I guess I'm going to make margaritas...

Report from Box #2 

We did good with the last box. Fortunately for me, I threw a barbecue for our little apartment complex and we got to grill the summer squash and made Jamie Oliver's cucumber and olive salad.

I also put some cucumber slices into a pitcher of water so I have flavored water to drink all week. And the last little bit of it went into Rachael Ray's tomato and cucumber salad a few nights ago.

The kale was a bit of a challenge. I looked up a few recipes and went with my own take of a beer-braised kale with bacon. While I couldn't stop eating the thing, Brandon didn't care for the fibrous leaves. I think I undercooked it a bit.

The cabbage, surprisingly, was the last one to go.  I used half in a pot of mixed vegetables (cabbage, carrots, baby potatoes, green beans, and green peas...again, a la Jamie's) with a side of my "ghetto aioli"--mayo, a few cloves of crushed garlic, a little squeeze of lemon, and a little drizzle of good olive oil.  I still have half a cabbage left that I finally tossed into the freezer. If I have any green beans left, I'll probably bring that out to make chicken vegetable soup adapted from a Weight Watcher recipe I got from someone's mom years ago.

But where are the pictures?

I know! I know! I promise I will start blogging the recipes soon. I'm still getting used to a new schedule I'm setting myself on. I will try to get them up as soon as I can.

And now, share your thoughts! Do you have any good stuffed onion recipe?

Let the Farm Box Adventures begin

Community supported agriculture (CSA) is a new concept to me, having heard about it from watching Food Inc. a few years ago.  According to LocalHarvest.org, the program has been around for over 20 years. 

Here are the basics: a farmer offers a certain number of "shares" to the public. Typically the share consists of a box of vegetables, but other farm products may be included. Interested consumers purchase a share (aka a "membership" or a "subscription") and in return receive a box (bag, basket) of seasonal produce each week throughout the farming season. (Read more here.)

I have been looking for a program that has a pick up schedule that would work for me, but for a while I couldn't find one. They were all in the mid-afternoon at some schools. Not at all convenient.

Then a friend signed up for one that delivers to your house.  Just as I was looking into that service, my other friend Wyatt posted about Tanaka Farms CSA boxes on his Facebook.

Most of us Orange County residents have grown up knowing of Tanaka Farms for their strawberries and their farm tours. When I first visited the U.S., my aunt took my mom and I to their farm stand down the street in Garden Grove. I had never seen strawberries so BIG in my life! For many years, I would smuggle containers of strawberries and cherries back to Thailand as gifts.  Long story short, Tanaka Farms is the name I trust when it comes to good produce.

And then I found out that they have pick-up location at Long Beach Whole Foods from 4-8 p.m. on Fridays. Talk about a perfect match!  I signed up almost right away for a small CSA box, every other week.

My first box was picked up at the end of June. I didn't know what to expect but yet I was very excited of the possibilities.  For a household of two, the small box every other week was more than enough.  I had to throw a few things away because I couldn't get to them fast enough, and I traded/gave away a few other items that Brandon doesn't like to eat. e.g. corn.

No knowing what's coming in the box keeps you on your toes for sure. And it also makes grocery shopping and meal planning exciting.

For example, there were some Red Russian kale in the first box. I didn't know what they were except that they looked like kale. So I had to look them up.  Then I looked up a recipe to cook them because I had never cooked with kale before.  Voila! We found out that we DO like kale around here!

As I picked up my 2nd box today, I thought I should probably bring you guys along my cooking adventures. The photos may not be perfect and the results might be disastrous. But at least I can keep you guys entertained.

And hopefully, I would inspire you to join a CSA program in your neighborhood.

Without further ado...

This week's bounty

• Kale
• Cabbage
• Lettuce
• Carrots
• Cucumbers
• Summer squash (aka Pattypan squash)
• Oranges
• Corn -- will be given away...so don't worry about that

Tonight's dinner: Roasted carrots and pork chops. (Jamie Oliver's recipe).

Tomorrow night's dinner: Chicken Caesar salad. (Another Jamie's recipe. Yes, I'm just a wee bit obsessed with Jamie these days. Don't get me started on the 30 Minute Meals series. Hee.)

Veggie I've never cooked before: Summer squash.

What would you do with this CSA box? Do share some good recipes and ideas...especially for the summer squash. lol

Vegetable Chili (Con Carne)

Food & Wine magazine arrived a few months back with Winter Vegetable Chili on the cover. Perfect for this part-time vegetarian! I can make a vat of it and freeze for later. Brilliant!

Not wanting to leave the hubby out of dinner, I decided to make half of it veggie and the other half with beef. Both turned out fabulously!

I looked at the recipe and just went to town with the cooking. I didn't follow the directions too much, skipping the whole blender thing altogether. I used diced tomatoes--something I always have on hand--and no chipotle/adobo. I just added the tomatoes and Chipotle Tobasco and keep going. One less step to follow = one less thing to wash, yo!

There wasn't any parsnips at my farmers market. So, I just went with daikon. I have never cooked a daikon before, and we didn't really seek it out when we dine out. So it was to my surprise that Brandon told me he actually likes daikon.

After 10 years of knowing the man, 8 of that being married to him, I just found that out now. Then again, he surprised me when he ordered duck confit at the RH... But I digress.

Daikons and carrots seem to roll in every weekend at my farmers market. So as far as I'm concern, I'm making this thing year round! (Gotta love Southern California!)



Like I said, I'm also not big on using chipotle and adobo. Last time I added that to a chili, the heat was too much for my taste buds and the smokiness was too much for Brandon.

Fortunately, I've fallen in love with Chipotle Tobasco which delivers just enough of the smokiness AND milder heat. It's perfect to use here.

Now, my adaptation of the original recipe for those who want to feed both herbivores and omnivores in the house!

Indecisive Vegetable Chili (Con Carne)

Serve with brown rice, chopped red onions, cilantro, sour cream and tortilla chips or bread toasts.

The Veggie Part

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 medium garlic cloves, very finely chopped
• 1 large red bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1/2 half of a large daikon, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1/2 pound carrots, cut into 1/2-inch pieces - I used heirloom carrots to add colors.
• 1 tablespoon chile powder
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• Salt and pepper
• One 14-ounce can diced tomatoes
• Shakes of Chipotle Tobasco - not too horribly spicy, a few shakes will give you the smokiness you need.
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 cup canned hominy, drained
• 1 cup canned red kidney beans, drained
• Optional: A splash of good balsamic vinegar
• Optional: Cayenne pepper if you want more heat without the smokiness of more Chipotle Tobasco.

Heat the oil in a heavy saucepan or Dutch oven. Add the onion and garlic, cook until slightly softened. Add the bell pepper, daikon and carrots and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned in spots. Stir in the chile powder and cumin and season with salt. Cook a little more.



Add water and the diced tomatoes and juices to the pan along with the hominy and beans and bring to a boil.

To have your chili both ways at the same meal, you split the veggie batch in half at this point. Add half of the veggies into the saucepan with the browned meat and keep the other half pure veggies. Simmer both.

Cover partially and simmer the chili over moderate heat until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes.

All veggies special touch: you can brighten this up with a little balsamic vinegar. I thought it could use a little acidity but instead of the usual apple cider, I thought balsamic would be nicer. And I was right! For some reasons, the balsamic doesn't taste so good with the beef to me. But you can try that if you'd like.



The Con Carne Part

• A glug of oil
• About 1 lb. of lean, ground sirloin (or more if you want to make this more of a beef chili with veggies instead of the other way around.)
• A pinch of salt and pepper.
• About 1 tablespoon chili powder
• About 1 tablespoon cumin
• A splash of Chipotle Tobasco
• Optional: A tiny, itsy, weensy splash of Worcestershire Sauce.

Heat a glug of oil to a skillet. Brown about 1 lb. of lean ground sirloin, seasoned mildly salt and pepper. Add the spices. Deglaze with a bit of water/broth. Add the beef and pan juices to the veggie chili. Adjust seasoning to your liking.

Con Carne Special Touch: If you'd like a bit more beefiness, add the Worcestershire Sauce. Not too much though. It'll overpower the flavors you've just built.

KitchInspirations: Corn Fritters Challenge

July brought us a corn fritters challenge at KitchInspirations! Fresh or canned or frozen corn in a batter. That's pretty much the rules.

I have completely forgotten that Thai people do corn fritters too, Tod Mun Kaopoad. And that is what I ended up making.

Attack of the Giant Zucchinis

First, Pat gave me a larger than average zucchini from her garden along with a recipe for cream of zucchini soup...which I lost.

Then, she brought me two more zucchinis.



Humbly, I took the smaller one home to make something for a company potluck that could be eaten at room temperature as the office microwave is not really all that capable. Food & Wine magazine showed up on a Saturday afternoon with a recipe for a cold zucchini soup.

Zucchini Soup Two Ways?

I sound like an Iron Chef.

Cream of Leek and Zucchini

Since I lost Pat's Mom's recipe, I had to scramble for another online recipe that would use celery and leeks because I already bought them. I came across one on Bread & Honey blog and adapted that to what I have on hand.



I figured that one of the small, big zucchini I got from Pat and celery heart would be equal to amount of zucchini required. And it was. I also omitted tarragon and fennel seeds here, and used fresh thyme instead. And of course, being a meat eater, I used chicken broth instead of veggie one.

And I decided to drizzle my awesome quality, finishing olive oil on top. Yummy!

(And please ignore the oil slick in these photos. I was too clumsy when I dressed this up and too hungry to re-stage!)



Alain Coumont's Chilled Zucchini Soup with Purslane

I didn't expect to find any purslane out there, given that this also was the first time I've ever heard of this weed/herb. But I grossly underestimated my local farmers market: while I was looking for arugula, I found many bundles of purslane right next to it.

8 zucchinis or 3 lbs. required here equaled to my giant zucchini with the seeds/core cut out. I mean, look at them seeds!



What took the most time making this recipe is chopping the veggies.

So. Much. Zucchini!!!!

I cut that sucker in 3 parts, quarter each part, and then cut another third before I started slicing. I saved a few blocks of it to shave for garnish The first batch I kept the skin on, then I realized it might be too tough a texture. So I peeled the rest. In hindsight, I probably could've sliced the quarter and left the skin on as everything ended up blended anyway.



I was *this* close to add chicken stock to the soup instead of the water. But having never made a chilled soup before, I didn't want to risk having gross chilled chicken fat showing up in the soup.

And voila, the first ever vegan recipe I ever made!

I served this at the office potluck in short, clear plastic cups, dressed with purslane, zucchini ribbons, and a drizzle of olive oil. All 15 cups were taken from the tray however I found about half in the trash afterward, uneaten. Not everyone like "cold soup" as it turns out. But those who loved it, like my boss and a couple health-conscious people, really do love it.



Afterthought: Both recipes are pretty much the same up until when you need to add liquid. The hot soup required flour, stock and cream, while the cold one just needed water. Fun, eh?

Pasta Carbonara Tartlets

What to bring to a baby shower potluck brunch with a vegetarian mom-to-be among the meat eating crowd?



Everyday with Rachael Ray Magazine provided an answer a couple of months back with the recipe for Spaghettini Carbonara Tartlets.

The original recipe of 1/2 lb. spaghettini (aka "Thin Spaghetti") makes about 24 tartlets. I cooked up the whole pound to double the amount. Being generous with the pasta in each cup, I made 42 tartlets.

I split half of the pasta to follow the recipe (Pancetta Tartlets) and the other half for my own vegetarian adaptation (Green Peas Tartlets).

However, I did make one double-batch of the egg mixture to save on using more bowls.

First, I very lightly salted the egg mixture for the Pancetta tartlets first. With all the pancetta, these guys really didn't need much salt. Once finished with them, I add another extra pinch of salt into the egg mixture so now we'll have the right seasoning for the Green Peas version. Easy, eh?

I also put almost a cup of parmesan in with the noodles and just topped each tartlet with a pinch more.

Pancetta Tartlets



The original recipe is made with cube pancetta. If your local market is anything like mine, I only found thinly sliced pancetta. It actually worked better for me as the thin ones cooked up super crispy, like super fine bacon. I bought 2 packs of those, rolled them up, sliced them and halved those slices, and into the pan with a little drizzle of olive oil.

And I am sure you can use your choice of bacon instead of pancetta and it'll do wonderfully as well.

Green Peas Tartlets



Instead of the hot pancetta grease to toss with the pasta, I just heated up a tablespoon or so of olive oil in a pan with a few flakes of red chilli and used that. I heated up about 1/3 of a bag of frozen green peas in the microwave, just so it's warmed through, not cooked until mushy. And I topped the tartlets with the peas instead of the pancetta.

Final results? BEAUTIFUL little nests of yummy goodness to take to a 16-people potluck brunch!

New direction

Well, kids. I've got me some braces.

I haven't cooked since the separators went in a few weeks ago. Well, outside of my mashed potatoes with peas experiment? I cooked nada.

My poor husband has been feeding himself since then, more or less.

Now that the braces are actually in, I haven't eaten anything really solid in a few days. And I expect that every month after tightening, I'm going to be begging for something soft and liquidy AND delicious.

All those soup and puree recipes I tossed out? Yep. Regretting doing that now. But I'm sure y'all will provide me with enough inspiration and guidance to find some more.

Sometime this weekend, I will have to completely restock my fridge and pantry with soups and other mush-able veggies. AND I will need to purchase a hand blender.

Definitely, I'm whipping up Giada's sweet pea and mint puree and freeze them in little baggies at some point this weekend.

Because a girl can only drink Muscle Milk and mush up Animal Crackers for so many days.

Now, about that potatoes and peas experiment. It was an experiment born of complete burn-out on soup...and the fact that my eyes were dilated from the optometrist that I couldn't leave the house to go buy anything else to eat. So I raided the pantry and the fridge.

I didn't know how it was going to turn out so I didn't take a picture. And it actually was pretty damn tasty!

Mashed Potatoes and Peas

The "recipe" is totally adjustable to how many potatoes you have or want to cook.

Boil up some baby Yukon gold potatoes (halved or quartered) with a few cloves of garlic (smashed and peeled) and salt. Drain and smash them around a little bit.

I did remove the skin once the potatoes were cooked. It was easier that way. (Then again, I didn't think I could chew the skin.) But that's really optional.

In another pot, heat up some butter, the amount you would use to mash the potatoes, with a few sprigs of thyme. When that sizzled, add frozen green peas, season, and saute that around. When the peas started to get mushy, add cream--again, just about the amount you'd use to mash the potatoes with--and heat through.

Take out the thyme sprigs before pouring the butter/cream/peas mixture into the potatoes. Now mash around some more.

Add a handful of Parmesan cheese and a pinch of pepper. Mash some more. Serve.

Perfect Holiday Meal

I love Tyler Florence.

I watched him make Filet Mignon with Blender Bearnaise and Bacon and Brussels Sprout Hash on Food Network about a week before Christmas. I was drooling. And inspired, so much so that I started to ask around to find "orphans" for me to feed.

Fortunately for me, my aunt and her family were available. Off the market Brandon went to pick up almost 5 lbs. of beef tenderloin.

"This better be good meat for the price I just paid," he texted me from the check-out line.

Oh yes. Yes, it was.

For the beef, I followed the instruction to the tee, especially the part where the meat should be in room temperature. You see, I forgot to tell Brandon to ask the butcher to have the meat trimmed and tied up so I had to do that myself. Not a lot of silver skin to trim but trimming and tying took longer time that I thought.

The meat came out very tender, perfectly medium to medium rare. I even deglazed the skillet with brandy, add a little broth and a knob of butter to make pan sauce.

The bernaise was incredibly easy. I managed to mess up just a little bit but I recovered quite well. First, I had sherry vinegar in my pantry and not champagne. Per some suggestions online, I substituted rice vinegar for that. Then, I ran out of my little bottles of white wine I bought for cooking. Being a mostly red wine household, I had to crack into a bottle of a sweeter white wine instead of the dry...which I hope will compliment the rice wine and make up for the champagne vinegar. The reduce still came out tasty and the sauce was perfect.

The hash, now that one I changed around a bit. Since I was already making mashed potatoes, I omitted the potatoes in the hash. I also used both frozen pearl onions and brussels sprouts.

All components, even with the mashed potatoes, went very well with each other.

As for dessert, brownies a la roasted banana gelato was the star.

**

Now for the drinks. I adapted Giada's Sgroppino recipe by using different flavors of sorbet. The pomegranate-blueberry was quite a hit for the holidays. (In the summer, I made this with mango sorbet. Yum!)

Take a Leek

Actually, take four of them.

I haven't really had leeks, except for when it's blended into a potato soup. Since I found myself drooling all over the couch watching Jamie Oliver make Cheat's Pappardelle with Slow-Braised Leeks and Crispy Porcini Pangrattato, I figure I'd give it a shot.

First, the pappardelle. I even cheated the cheat by buying a pack of refrigerated Fettuccine. Heh.

Second, the braised leeks. I went to Fresh & Easy (because you know I'm obsessed) and got two packages of pre-cut leeks, total of 4 leeks minus the leafy greens. This yields 4 servings, easy. I didn't know if you'd really need all 5 with the greens.

The leeks were cleaned out quite well already. Just to be sure, I took out the outermost layer, wash them, and then chopped them. Then I employed the leek cleaning method once saw on Rachael Ray by dropping my cut-up leeks in a sink full of water so any leftover grits would sink to the bottom. And voila, my dinner was dirt-free!

On the chicken stock though, I would've gone with a little less than a pint. My sauce was, well, a bit saucier than I thought at the end without adding the pasta water. I added just a smidgen in there anyway, just in case.

About the prosciutto, I did chop them up and them back to the pan to much delight. It's delicious! But if you want to go somewhat vegetarian on this, you can probably omit adding it back in or using it altogether. Oh...but it's just soooo tasty!

Finally, the pangrattato. Brandon is not big on mushrooms. No matter how I tried to disguise it, he seems to be able to pick them out. I figured I'd leave it out altogether. And y'all know by now that I don't use rosemary. Instead, I chopped up some more thyme leaves and add it to the bread crumbs.

Oh, and for the crumbs, I used the 2 leftover cracked wheat burger buns from Fresh & Easy. One would've been enough, maybe one and a lid. Worked just fine.

Roman Saturday

I made two things in Giada's Day Ahead Dishes yesterday, the Roman-style Chicken and potatoes and onions.

Oh the sauce. THE SAUCE! It's so fricking fantastic, guys. I actually saved the sauce so I can dip some bread in it as a meal later or something. It was just fabulous.

The only thing I changed in the chicken recipe is that instead of 4 chicken breasts and 2 thighs, I used a family pack of chicken thighs which had 12. So much cheaper than getting a pack each of breasts and thighs and quite tasty. I had to brown the chicken in 2 batches, yielding a lot of oil at the end so I poured that out and saved about 2 TBS. to continue with the recipe. Otherwise, everything was all according to the recipe.

As for the potatoes, of course, I substituted thyme for rosemary. And I cut up one onion into chunks instead of using the bitty pearl onions. Because I'm lazy like that. LOL.

No Bake Baked Potato Soup

Or you can just call it, that really yummy potato soup. :)

This fantastic potato soup recipe of mine is a steal from Paula Dean's Shrimp and Potato Soup. Essentially, it's her potato soup but hold the shrimps. I added a few things and set up a topping station and off we go with the baked potato part of the soup.

The amount of stuff going into the soup really more of a guideline than a science. You can adjust the entire recipe up and down the block and gets the same fantastic creamy tastiness. So, here it is, my adaptation of the whole thing on the "a dash of this - a pinch of that" scale.

That Really Yummy Potato Soup
This recipe is already halved of Paula's, it'd still make plenty for 4 or even 6.

The Soup
2 tablespoons or so butter
1 small onion, diced
2 medium carrots, diced about the same size as the onion -- Or in my case, I sliced up a handful of baby carrots I have on hand.
1 heaping tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 medium/large russet potatoes, cubed -- You can peel them if you'd like. I left the skin on because I was lazy but it also makes the soup look rustic.
2 cups or so milk of any kind whole, reduced fat (2 percent) or low fat (1 percent)
1 vegetable or chicken bullion cube, dissolved in 1/2 cup hot milk
1/2 cup half-and-half
Salt and pepper
Finally, my Rachael Ray-influenced secret ingredient, McCormick's Montreal Grill Seasoning and nutmeg.

The Topping
Sky's the limit here! Whatever you'd like you can top the soup with. Chopped up cooked bacon. Cubed ham. Chopped green onion. Shredded Cheddar cheese. French fried onion. Hot sauce. Whatever you'd like! As Nhienners discovered today that both Trader Joe's Parmesan Cheese Crisps and Parmesan Garlic Pita Chips are fantastic with the Soup.

Although I am pondering mixing the bacon/ham right into the soup. YOU can surely do that if you'd like!

1. Melt the butter and saute the onion and carrots until both are slightly tender.

2. Stir in the flour and cook for a minute or two. Add the potatoes, milk, and dissolved bouillon cube. Milk should just barely cover the potatoes. If the 2 cups aren't enough, you can add more milk. (And if you're out of milk, like me the other day, add water). Stir really well, scraping up the bottom of the pot.

3. Cook over medium heat until the potatoes are very soft and some of them have begun to dissolve into mush. Stir occasionally so the bottom doesn't burn. I just let them bubble a bit. If you're on a tight schedule, I'd put the lid on it as well.

4. Stir in the half-and-half for creaminess. Add more or less, however you'd like it.

5. Season with Grill Seasoning, salt and pepper. (And because it's me, a little sugar too to mesh the flavors together.) Add just a pinch of nutmeg to give it that "Hmm...what's that?" flavor. Be VERY careful of the nutmeg though, a little bit goes a really long way.

6. Serve while hot. Top with whatever you want!