Peas and Proscuitto

Yesterday, someone asked me what I usually eat, and it took me awhile to respond.  It threw me off, because I cook almost every day but I didn't have an immediate answer.  I began by telling them "vegetables mostly."  Then I realized that might sound weird, so I tried to throw out other options - "Oh you know, pasta, rice, that kind of thing."  In reality, I rarely eat either.  I try not to eat rice and instead use quinoa, and I typically save pasta for when my boyfriend makes it for me.  My main staple is a lot of vegetables, olive oil, vinaigrettes, eggs and soup.

I am in love with vegetables, and this isn't anything new.  I was always the one, even at a young age, hovering over the vegetable tray at Christmas and other holidays.  I begged my Mom to buy me heads of red cabbage to snack on.  I ate canned asparagus and sweet pickles with my Dad. I was ecstatic when Grandma brought kohlrabi from the garden.  I ate peas from the freezer.

Meals mean a lot to me. I sometimes agonize over what I am going to buy at the grocery store.  It is a process for me.  I plan out each of my meals and I research, decide, and then go on a mission. In fact, I am even a bit sad when I get invited out to dinner with friends, because that means I miss the opportunity to cook something.  When I was younger, I would look up recipes and then try to figure out ways to get my mom to buy the ingredients (not always to high success).

This morning, I woke up naturally early at 7:45 am which I think is one of the first times that has ever happened and I was VERY excited!  Waking up so early had my stomach grumbling around 8:30 and I wanted to eat something that wouldn't take too long to cook but I also wanted something healthy to offset all the sugar I ate yesterday.  I decided on Orangette's Peas and Proscuitto.

I have never had proscuitto before.  I have always associated it with fancy - appetizers wrapped in proscuitto? You know that must have been a fancy party.  It is usually really expensive at the store, and not being a big fan of meat, I haven't been able to justify the purchase.  However, yesterday I was at Fred Meyer and proscuitto was on sale for $5 for 3.53 ounces.  Still not cheap, but affordable. Also, you get very little meat for your money, so at least I didn't have to worry about wasting it.

So on to the recipe.  See the link for the original recipe - I changed things a little bit (biggest change: olive oil, not butter).

Here is what I made.

Ingredients:
1 or 2 tablespoons olive oil
Garlic, to taste
3 green onions
1 pound peas
4 slices proscuitto
pepper, salt, turmeric to taste

1) Turn the stove to medium.  Add olive oil to the pan - enough to swirl it around and cover the whole pan.  Let the oil heat up, and add one diced green onion and about a teaspoon of garlic.  Let cook for thirty seconds or so - I let mine brown a bit because I love browned crispy garlic.

2) Add the peas, salt and pepper to taste, and cook for ten minutes.  You can add the peas frozen if you didn't have a chance to defrost.  About halfway through, add two more diced green onions and more garlic, to taste.  I found that the original cooked onions/garlic weren't as flavorful as fresh, which is why I added more.  After ten minutes, some of my peas were nicely browned.

3) Cut the proscuitto into little pieces.  I tried to make things easier and stack the four slices on top of each other, then cut them.  Don't do this - it was really hard to separate the little pieces.  Instead, cut each slice separately.  Turn off the heat, but leave the pan on the same burner, and add the proscuitto. Cover and let sit for five minutes.

To eat mine, I added salt (I didn't add salt during cooking) and turmeric.  SO TASTY!

Butterscotch Cookies

Perfect Friday- Pomegranites, cookie baking, Say Yes to the Dress and memoirs to read.

I got this recipe for Butterscotch Cookies from Orangette.  It is super easy, and you probably have most of the ingredients at home (besdies nonfat dry milk!).

Ingredients:
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
14 Tbsp. (1 ¾ sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 ¼ cups dark brown sugar
1 large egg
2 Tbsp. nonfat dry milk
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
1 cup finely chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375*.  Grease the cookie sheets (I used cooking spray).

In a small bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt.  After adding the salt (table salt) I also used a sea salt grinder, and added some to the mixture - do this! The extra chunks of salt add an amazing touch.

In a medium bowl, cream the brown sugar and butter.  I always cheat and melt the butter first in the microwave - it makes it a lot easier to cream together. Add the egg, dry milk, and vanilla extract.

I found the dry milk in the baking aisle, near the evaporated milk and coconut.  I had to stare at the shelves for awhile, but eventually found a row of dry milk.  I have NEVER used this stuff before, but it is NOT the same as evaporated milk.  In fact, you are supposed to be able to make milk out of it by mixing the powder with water.  Don't get too excited.  It does not taste the same, I was very disappointed to find discover.  I momentarily thought my problems were solved and I wouldn't have to agonize over buying a gallon of milk and wasting it.  Instead, I could just make my own with powder :) But no, that is not the case.

Anyway, after you mix all the wet ingredients, try not to eat all the batter.  I was in love with the brown sugar/butter mixture.  SO DELICIOUS.  Then, add the flour mixture - I did this in two batches.

Now, decide whether to add the pecans.  If you are adding them, do yourself a favor and buy chopped pecans, or make sure to chop them into very small pieces. I did half and half and with the sea salt, I felt the pecans went with the flavor of the cookies very well.  I think if you wanted to go half and half, it would be easiest to split the batter in half and add the nuts to one batch.  I was lazy and added it to one cookie at a time, and that was a mess.  I just wasn't sure how much batter I wanted nutty.

Then, drop cookies by heaped tablespoon-fuls onto the cookie sheet. I had to use a pizza sheet, and fit seven cookies/sheet.  The cookies flatten out a bit, but not tremendously, after cooking. However, I would have preferred them a bit smaller.  Then get your fingers damp (I almost didn't bother - DO it!), and pat the cookies into circles abou 2.5-3 inches in diameter.

Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes.  I always have an awful time deciding how long to bake cookiers for.  For these ones, 8 minutes was absolutely perfect. I waited five minutes and then transferred to a rack to cool.

These cookies aren't going to blow anyone's minds, but they are simple and tasty.  They aren't too sweet or too overwhelming, and they are a nice treat to have around the house.  They are also super easy to make - it is nice to have a standard cookie you can always whip outta your back pocket.

The recipe says it makes 30, but I only had enough to 21.  Maybe I ate too much batter?

Brussel Sprouts

My apologies for being such a negligent little blogger lately!  I have been so busy with work, and with the drizzly (which I love!) weather and the fantastic fall television, I come home from work, cuddle up on the couch, and veg out on the best shows ever.

While I work on a super amazing French toast recipe for you, here is what you need to eat when cuddling up while it rains outside: Braised Brussel Sprouts (courtesy of Orangette.blogspot.com with a few changes).

1) Chop up your brussel sprouts into quarter wedges - cut lengthwise in half, then cut those halves in half.  Hit up your Costco for delicious big brussels for a good price -- I used 2 pounds.
2) Heat up olive oil in a big pan over medium high heat.  When hot, add your brussels and cook for at least five minutes.  I thought mine were burning but realized the tastiest parts were the brown spots, so keep that in mind.  Also, I eyeballed the olive oil -- added enough to get things cookin'
3) Pour in one cup of heavy cream, turn the heat to medium low, and cover and cook for 35 minutes.
4) Add the juice of one lemon and cook for two more minutes.
5) Realize you never knew vegetables, let alone brussel sprouts, could taste so fantastic.  Cuddle up on the couch and watch fall TV!!

PS - I thought this would be a cream sauce, but the brussel sprouts somehow soak it up.  I think this is 3482093 times better than the hashed brussels with poppyseed I made and so much easier.  It is about par with my roasted brussel sprouts (and I think the roasted way is still my favorite).

In other news:
Go buy your bread and apples so you can be prepared to make french toasts with me.  I rarely even buy bread, but french toast I can never say no to.  That should be my next post!

Fall Food

I like to post recipes and emphasize how simple they are because I feel like some people thinking cooking/baking is so elusive and they couldn't possibly give it a shot, when in reality, it is usually quite simple.  All it is, is a set of directions that you essentially follow.  However, that is NOT the case with this:
Tarte Tatin

My tarte tatin was an ABSOLUTE disaster.  So bad in fact, I didn't even keep it for myself.  The ENTIRE thing went in the garbage.  Yes, I had to think about it for a little bit, but I came to the conclusion it was time to trash it.

Anyone else have some sort of recipe you just can't seem to make?  I did feel better, as the comments section had all sorts of people claiming how hard it is to make correctly :)

For the record Phyllo Dough does NOT = Pastry Dough!

Roasted Cauliflower

Today was the day I lifted my self-imposed eat-leftovers/avoid-grocery-store rule, and I embraced it whole-heartedly.  I went to the store not once, but TWICE today.  I also spent quite a bit wandering around admiring all my options.  I think the staff started to wonder if I was lost or something, but nope! There were just so many possibilities. 

I eventually decided I wanted vegetables and I decided to recreate an Orangette recipe because I am in love with her vinaigrette.

I made Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Mustard Vinaigrette.

Here are the ingredients (I'll cover the vinaigrette after):

2 small cauliflower, about 1 pound each

3 Tbs good-quality olive oil
2 Tbs fresh lemon juice
1 tsp fine sea salt
A few grinds of black pepper
A pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
Vinaigrette
My store had giant cauliflower, so I only got one.  My olive oil is also from Costco, so I wouldn't worry too much about quality unless you are picky.  I omitted the salt because I try to do that whenever possible, but I think salt would make it even better.  I think more lemon juice would be nice too, as I love the tang of lemons.  Finally, I would suggest adding a few pinches of nutmeg -- mine could have benefitted from more.

*Note - the recipe makes it sound like the cauliflower is left as two whole heads, while I chopped mine up into smaller pieces

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Set a steamer basket inside a large, deep pot, and add water to a depth of ½ to 1 inch – just below the bottom of the steamer. Rinse and trim the cauliflower. Place them in the steamer, cover, and steam for 15-20 minutes. By this point, they should be tender and should have changed in color from a raw, opaque white to a slightly more translucent, yellowy off-white.

I didn't have a steamer basket, so I filled a large pot with a bit of water, got the water bubbling, and covered it for twenty minutes.  This worked just fine. 
Meanwhile, combine the oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and nutmeg in a small bowl, whisking to mix well.


When the cauliflower is ready, gently transfer them from the steamer to a medium baking dish or small roasting pan, something just large enough to hold the two heads side by side. Using a pastry brush, paint the cauliflower with the oil mixture. Cover the pan with aluminum foil, and place it in the oven. Roast the cauliflower for 30 minutes, basting every ten minutes. [You should have just enough of the oil mixture for three light bastings in total, including the first one.] Remove the foil, and continue to bake for another 10-20 minutes, until the cauliflower is pale golden and a knife can be easily inserted into its core.


- I put my cauliflower in a casserole dish and it worked great.  I also have a pretty crappy pastry brush, so I did more of a drizzle.  Once the foil was removed, I cooked mine for another twenty minutes and it started to brown up at the end.  I think it would be better to cook covered 25 minutes and uncovered 25 minutes, rather than 30/20.
Serve hot or warm, with vinaigrette.
Yield: About 4 servings (I ate it all, but it did last me about 8 hours :)

Red-Wine Mustard Vinaigrette
This stuff is seriously my FAVORITE.  I basically drink it with a spoon; it is that good.  Perfect portion of oil to vinegar to mustard.  Loved it with the cauliflower but it is also great with salad, etc.


1 Tbs Dijon mustard, preferably Grey Poupon
3 Tbs good-quality red wine vinegar
½ tsp fine sea salt
5 Tbs good-quality olive oil


*I left out the salt once again, but I am sure it is even better with the salt included.
Combine mustard, vinegar, and salt in a small bowl, and whisk to combine. Add the oil one or two tablespoons at a time, whisking continuously to emulsify. Taste to correct vinegar-oil balance, if necessary, and toss with your favorite salad ingredients. The dressing will keep for up to two weeks in an airtight container in the refrigerator.


This week I am back to the grocery store with a vengeance -- already have an apple tart to make and twice-baked sweet potatoes.  LOVING fall cooking!

Reunited with Romaine

I would consider myself a hater of romaine lettuce.  First of all, on the lettuce spectrum, it is not even that good for you, as the darker the leaves, the healthier the lettuce.  Second of all, I think it tastes mostly like water, and third of all it just grosses me out! [There is a caveat that romaine lettuce is required for a proper Caesar salad though]

I think the gross factor can be explained because of the turtles we used to have.  Romaine was the main component of their diet, and I was little and we weren't the best caretakers.  The romaine would get rotten/brown/gross and it was even grosser when it was digested.. . BLEH!

Anyway, I was looking on Orangette and craving a salad because I hadn't had a really good one in forever.  I also didn't want to spend too much money, because I have a friend coming in this weekend and we will probably be spending lots.  That was when I found Summer Romaine Salad with Lime Garlic Dressing.  I would say this has forced me to rethink my snobby stance toward romaine.

To make it, I only had to buy a few ingredients.  The first was romaine lettuce - I went for a giant head of it because it was a great deal for only $.99/head. The stuff in the bag was really pale looking, and the quality of the bunch looked better as well.

I also bought cherry tomatoes, four limes (which were disappointly small at the store), feta and a red onion.

First, you make the dressing.  The recipe calls for three tablespoons and one teaspoon of lime juice, but I just winged it and squeezed in the juice of four limes (which is pretty close to the proper amount).  Before juicing the limes, I roll each one around under my foot to get the juices moving.  It is also an awesome foot massage! I need to get some sort of citrus juicer though, because doing it the old-fashioned way makes a huge mess.

To the lime juice, you add five tablespoons good olive oil (hopefully Costco is considered "good" haha!), a quarter teaspoon minced garlic, and an eighth teaspoon salt.  I omitted the salt.  Then you are supposed to whisk until emulsified -- I shook my little dressing container until it all mixed up.

To make the salad, I first chopped up the lettuce.  Then, slice some cherry tomatoes, and slice the red onion.  I made sure to slice the onion into little slivers because raw onion can be pretty potent.

To assemble, add the tomatoes, onion and feta to the salad and dress.  I also added broccoli and dill to use up some leftover veggies.

This is VERY simple (juicing the limes was as hard as it got) and delicious.  I was a bit wary of using raw onions (especially red, which I find very potent) but with the olive oil/citrus dressing, it wasn't too powerful at all.  The combo of veggies and cheese suited each other very well.

I would caution that if you are not used to olive oil or don't like particularly tangy things, you might not like the dressing as much as you were hoping.  However, I found it refreshing to eat a salad in order to taste the flavors of the salad, instead of eating salad as a means to chow down on some dressing.

Braised Winter Greens with Chickpeas

I have been trying to experiment even more with food lately, because I got to thinking the other day...My boyfriend got me a cookbook with 1,000 recipes in it.  Even if I made something EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. it would take me almost three years to make it through the cookbook!  I then started thinking there really aren't that many meals in a year (365 dinners doesn't really sound like THAT much) and each one is an opportunity to eat something new, tasty, and delicious.

With that running through my head, I wanted to try a new vegetable but I also didn't want anything too extravagant to make because I am trying to save up some money for new clothes.  I settled on "Braised Winter Greens with Chickpeas, Onions and Garlic" from Orangette.

The recipe is clearly spelled out on the website, so I'll just take you through what I made...

I settled on kale as my winter green of choice and bought one and a half pounds of it at the grocery store.  In fact, I bought it about two weeks ago and it was still in decent condition -- kale lasts a very long time in the fridge!

I separated the kale leaves from the ribs by running my knife along the inseam of each piece.  After that, I rinsed the kale and left it in a colander to dry a bit.  The recipe says you actually want a bit of water to stick to the leaves, so don't worry about drying it too much.  Then, lay the leaves on top of each other, a few at a time, and slice them into quarter inch pieces.  I didn't worry about precision too much here.  Just cut it up however you prefer.

Next it was time to dice an onion.  I used yellow, as that is my go-to onion (and usually the cheapest at the store).  The recipe calls for half an onion minced, but I used the whole thing and left bigger pieces.

I heated up three tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan (pick a big pan and it will be easier) over medium heat.  Once it was sizzling, I added the onion and a teaspoon of minced garlic.  The recipe says to saute for 10 minutes...Around five minutes I realized mine was BURNING so I would recommend lowering your temperature significantly.

I was really bummed I burned the onions and garlic, and I got distracted and left it to sit for a bit.  When I came back, I tasted it to see how burnt it was and WOW! It was fantastic.  The garlic and onion had carmelized and was soooo delicious.  I am sad to say I ended up eating ALL of the onion and garlic prior to cooking the kale :) Whoops.

Once the onion and garlic was devoured, I drained a can of chickpeas and added it to a new pot of sizzlin' olive oil (obviously if you didn't eat your food prematurely, add the chickpeas to your oil/garlic/onion mixture). I then added the kale in bits and pieces.  It doesn't shrink like normal lettuce does, which is why I think it is important to use a big frying pan.  However, it does lose a little of it's bulk, so you can add it in chunks and let it settle before you add more.  The recipe says to season with salt, but I didn't add any.

Then, lower the heat (I went all the way to low) and cover, cooking for fifteen minutes.  I stirred my occasionally. After that, remove from heat and add 1 and a half teaspoons of lemon juice.  I went a bit overboard and used an ENTIRE lemon, but I love lemon juice and I think the tangy taste is what made it so good.

I don't know what it was about this dish, but I found it seriously tasty.  I made four servings and they are all gone now!  I think it got better after sitting for about six hours because the leaves soaked up my lemon juice and had a nice tang to them.

Whether you try this out or not, hopefully this can be inspiration to try out a new vegetable or food at the super market.  I have never tried kale before and it was great -- it cooks much better than spinach or other lettuces because it doesn't get all wilty and limp.  It retained its shape but still had that great earthy flavor.  Mmmmmmm.

Pea Soup

My day?
Wake up at 6:30 > Get home at 6:30 (pit stop at Albertson's) > Make pea soup > Eat pea soup > Watch Real Housewives of OC Reunion Part 2 > Watch Switched at Birth > Watch Teen Wolf

I am loving Monday night TV!  It also starts at 7 pm here, so everything was recorded and I didn't have to watch any commercials :)  Yes, my choice of shows are a) Very dramatic and b) Very immature but I love them.

So, I tried to stay at work a little longer today, in the off chance that I might be able to leave early Friday (hoping for around three).  Obviously if something important comes up, I won't leave, but it will be nice to at least keep that option open.

My quest for dinner began with the reminder that I still had those two scallions left, so I wanted to make something easy and that would use them up.  I found a recipe for pea soup at Orangette.  All I needed to buy was peas, a block of parmesan (can never have enough) and vegetable broth. I ended up needing one and a half cans of vegetable broth, and it was $1.50 a can (which I thought was expensive) so I just bought one can and used chicken broth for the other.  I think the whole thing would be fine with chicken broth if that is all you have.

So, I get home, unload my groceries, and get the scallions out of the fridge and am greeted with this.

I didn't think those scallions could get any worse, but apparently I was wrong.  They were all rotten and gross, so that was out of the question.

I decided to move right along, and I put a big pot on medium-low heat with a tablespoon of olive oil and a half teaspoon of minced garlic.  I let it cook for about five minutes, and then I added four cups of frozen peas.

I LOVE peas!  If I had any forethought, I should have put more than four cups, because I ended up snacking on a bunch of them while they were cooking.  I also added the two cups of vegetable broth and one cup of chicken broth, as well as half the rind from the parmesan.

All of this simmered for ten minutes while I did laundry (believe it!).  You are supposed to cover it, but once again I ran into problems with ill-fitting lids, so I went without one and it was fine.  Make sure to let the soup cool before blending it, or the liquids might explode.  The recipe has a good rule of thumb - it says to wait until the steam stops.

After that, you are supposed to throw the cheese rind away.  Of course I ate it but that is your choice!  It was delicious...all melty and rubbery and parmesan-y.  All you have to do is blend up the soup.  I used my magic bullet and it only took two batches.

mmmmmmmmmmmm how yummy does THAT look????? HAHA!
To eat, I like lots of pepper and a dash of turmeric.  I try and put turmeric on everything I can, because it is supposedly a super spice.  It takes a bit to get accustomed to, so use sparingly your first few times.

Now, right before bed I am about to go and try to purchase lots of $$$ at U-Swirl from Living Social.  How perfect that I was just raving about frozen yogurt yesterday???

Warm Chickpea Salad

So it has been my goal to try and post every day.  I haven't been sleeping well...could NOT fall asleep last night.  However, even though I was really sleepy, my first real day in my department was awesome.

Once I get home, while I am still adjusting, I just want to veg out and watch TV and read magazines...but the one thing I still do almost every night is make myself dinner. Therefore, while I don't want this to necessarily be a food blog, I still want to post what I am up to, and I am always up to cooking something.  Bear with me while I get adjusted and soon I will be out adventuring again!

Tonight's dinner was from Orangette. I had a vinegar dressing on my salad for lunch, and was craving some more vinegar flavor, plus had some carrots getting soft.  It is also really warm out (despite pouring this morning) so I didn't want to slave over the stove.

Therefore, I made a warm chickpea salad with shallots and a red wine vinagrette.

The recipe calls for one large shallot.  Albertsons had a pitiful shallot selection, so I used two tiny ones instead.

Then I put the shallots in a bowl with half a teaspoon of chopped garlic, three tablespoons red wine winegar, and some salt.  It needed to sit for ten minutes.

While this mixture was resting, I brought a pot of water to a boil and threw in two cans of chickpeas.  You are supposed to "blanch them" which means make them white or pale by extracting color.  All I did was boil for two minutes, rinse, and drain.

Those are chickpeas, not corn!

While that was blanching, I shredded one jumbo carrot, and chopped about half a bunch of Italian flat leaf parsley.  My carrot shreds were a little too big...grating would have been a better option.

Then I added these vegetables and the shallot mixture to the chickpeas, along with third of a cup of olive oil and some salt and pepper.  Voila'! Dinner was served.