Orzo Salad

Posted on February 4, 2014 by Kelli

I made the orzo salad the other night.

Like children, I like being tricked into eating vegetables.  Steamed broccoli, parmesan, pine nuts, and olive oil get whizzed in the food processor to make a pesto-like paste. IMG_4403

 

It gets tossed with steamed broccoli, lemon zest, creme fraiche and orzo.  It was supposed to have avocado, but in my enthusiasm to eat I forgot to put it in…IMG_4405

 

It was really tasty!  I will admit it didn’t look particularly attractive on the plate.  It coated everything in a weird green hue.  May be would be more attractive with some roasted red peppers?

I would probably make again.  It had a nice lemony tang.  Easy way to incorporate extra broccoli into a quick meal.  Nothing flashy- but satisfying none the less.

I found the recipe online here.

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Granola

Posted on January 28, 2014 by meeganders

Heidi’s granola is my all time, most very favorite granola. What can I say, she had me at orange zest. I’m not a huge fan of walnuts so I subbed sliced almonds for my batch. Her recipe makes a ton – but don’t make the same mistake I did and share with friends, keep it all for yourself or else it will be gone too soon!

Start with combining your oats, nuts, coconut, salt, currants, and orange zest.

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Heat up your butter and maple syrup, pour over your oat mixture, and stir to combine. Bake in a 300 degree oven for 40-50 minutes, stirring a couple of times.
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Your house will smell amazing by the time it is finished. Do your best not to eat it all up straight out of the oven.
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Bran Muffins

Posted on January 27, 2014 by Kelli

I’ve got a keeper!

These are really tasty- at least they are fresh out of the oven… as I sampled them.

I had a bit of a surprise on this too- because I accidentally left out an ingredient that seemed like it would be important- (oat bran) and they STILL turned out great.  I didn’t miss it a bit until I sat down to write this post.

I was also putting away the oat bran in my cupboard and wondering, “I wonder why I bought this at the store.”  Go figure.

It calls for either yogurt or buttermilk.  I had yogurt on hand so I used that.  The bran cereal soaks for about five minutes.  IMG_4381

 

Meanwhile, mix your dry ingredients… (apparently with or without oat bran)  Next time I  will try with…  oops.IMG_4383

 

Mix together, fill your tins and bake!  Easy as pie.  I tried a few with raisins too.  They were equally tasty.  I appreciated that they ALL came out without sticking to the pan with no liner.  That never happens for me.   IMG_4389

 

Straight out of the oven with a touch of butter.  IMG_4391

 

And because I take this seriously, one with apricot jam.  (for research only)IMG_4393

 

New go-to bran muffin recipe.  Thanks Heidi!

 

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Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Posted on January 25, 2014 by Kelli

I was on vacation for a week and not eating healthy at all.  Unless you consider cheetos, doritos, and any other manner of orange things with over 20 ingredients healthy.  I was happy to come back and start cooking out of our new book:

Super Natural Every Day.   By Heidi Swanson.

I hadn’t purchased the book yet- so I started with the blog.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup-  Easy Enough.

Start with some croutons- torn bread, mixed with a combo of olive oil, butter, salt and whole grain mustard.

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They get baked and tossed in the oven.  The directions said 10- 15 minutes- but mine took upwards of a half an hour.  It didn’t matter though because that’s about how long it took me to do the soup start to finish.   When they were done the were Delish!   AND really easy- which counts.  I stored half for future use.  IMG_4371

 

While the croutons are baking away, you start with sautéing some onions

 

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Adding potato and covering for four minutes.  (After two minutes my potato was sticking to the bottom) yes- I peeked- so I added broth a bit early to stop from scorching.  IMG_4366

 

She uses vegetable broth but says early on in the book that it’s OK to sub- so I used chicken broth because that’s what I had in the freezer.

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The potatoes simmered for about 4 minutes and were done.  Broccoli goes in, another four minutes.  IMG_4369

 

This all gets whirled in the blender.  Then the cheese goes in.   IMG_4372

 

Top with some croutons, extra cheese, smoked paprika… done!IMG_4375

 

Verdict?  Won’t make again.  It was fine- but not great.  It wasn’t as rich and indulgent as I imagine broccoli cheddar to be.  I suppose that’s the point.  Mark even said it was OK… until I told him we were having it again tonight to which he said that he was going to go out to dinner.

This was a few nights ago.  Last night I tried the Cauliflower soup out of the book to much greater success.  Almost exactly the same- but sub cauliflower to broccoli.  Not as good as Thomas Keller’s… but also isn’t made with heavy cream.  I guess life has its trade offs.

Recipe can be found here.

 

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Whatever Happened to Sunday Dinner?

Posted on January 25, 2014 by Kelli

 

 

I am WAY behind on posting a recap for our last meeting…

In the briefest way:

– great food

-great discussion

Here’s a round up of what people brought.  (I didn’t take notes so this may not be the official names)

Start with two versions of the asparagus tart.  Delish- both ways.

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Apple CakeIMG_4352

 

Stuffed PeppersIMG_4353

 

Glazed CarrotsIMG_4354

 

Pasta ala vodkaIMG_4355

 

Pine nut cakeIMG_4356

 

MinestroneIMG_4358

 

Espresso mousse… (not sure if that is what it is called- but it was my favorite)IMG_4359

 

I also brought manicotti, and of course that was the one I didn’t get a picture of.  We actually had a surprising well balanced meal- some vegetables, pastas, meats, and dessert.

Thoughts on the book:

Likes:

Recipes were generally good and satisfying.  (Pretty important for a cookbook)

Dislikes:

Format made it difficult to find recipes (by menu / italian names)

Some of the menus had what seemed to be crazy pairings

Ten person portion size wasn’t always easy to cut down

More pictures please!

 

Now- most people were pleased with the book (despite the disproportionate numbers of dislikes to likes.  How can you go wrong with italian comfort food?

That being said, we are all full full full.  Time to move on to something lighter.

Super Natural Every Day from Heidi Swanson.  Lets lighten our load!  Happy 2014!

 

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Tortino di asparagi

Posted on December 8, 2013 by carolheigh

This is a fancy name for an asparagus tart.  This is my kind of appetizer. There are only three ingredients and all can be found in a typical grocery store. It can be assembled in advance and will serve 4-10 people.  Did I mention that it was delicious?  I remembered to take pictures but have to admit presentation was lacking.  I basically slapped it on a plate but I will make this again and work on presentation.  Try it.  You will like it.

 

 

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Conchiglie di Pasta Ripiene

Posted on November 21, 2013 by Kelli

or Stuffed Pasta Shells

The blurb on this in the book calls it “an Italian comfort food classic!”  I couldn’t agree More.

This is the first dish I am making- and I am not making it for ten people, so I did pair down this recipe substantially.  Good for my math skills.  Especially since it calls for two pounds of shells, but the box is sold as 12 oz.  Might I say, “mama mia!”

That being said…

I did as recommended and made a full size batch of the classic tomato sauce since it has such a long simmer.  I assumed I would be using it in the future.

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Pretty standard- canned crushed tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, salt, Italian spices.  Nothing fancy.  I did a four hour simmer.

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This is good stuff.  Doesn’t taste super fresh like a summer tomato sauce- but very rich and comforting.  Yum.

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Shells are boiled for a short time and set to dry out on a towel.

Meanwhile…

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Make your fatty filling.  Ricotta, Mozzarella, Parmesan, parsley and egg- mix this together and fill those shells.  This is where it got a little wonky for me.

She fits all of her shells (two lbs) in a 9×13 pan.  I needed to divide mine up in much smaller portions- but then when I put the sauce on top, I didn’t think that there was enough in each one to finish cooking the shells- so I doubled the sauce.  They ended up looking something like this…

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Four loaf pans and a small ramekin!  Foster Family will be eating this for a while I suspect.

These bake for a while (30 min) or until bubbly.

They turned out GREAT.  Very comforting.  Of course Mason wouldn’t touch them due to the parsley invasion and the specks in the sauce- but Mark and I liked them very much.

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I paired them with the broiled asparagus in menu three- also delicious.

In retrospect, I probably should have put more shells in each pan- stacked them instead of a single layer.  I think then I wouldn’t have had to double the sauce.  But it was still tasty.

We had a left over pan a couple of days later and I left it wrapped in foil for the bulk of the baking- and that seemed to help cook the shells too.

So far so good!

From Menu 48, Whatever Happened to Sunday Dinner

Posted in Italian, Main, pasta, Side Dish | 1 Comment

Torta di Mele

Posted on November 20, 2013 by Kelli

A few days ago, Bev sent me this post of her Torta di Mele that she made out of our new book, Whatever Happened to Sunday Dinner?

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from Bev– It was a rainy, cold afternoon and I had some apples that were getting a little long in the tooth.  I didn’t want to go out to the store.  I began strolling through my cookbooks loo new book.  Lo and behold there it was, a simple apple cake recipe, the ingredients for which I had in stock.  So here is my attempt at this recipe.  The finished product doesn’t look as good as it tastes.

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We had a bit of an email dialogue about this post because after making the dish, she looked it up online and found that the cake is traditionally round.  I think what is more important is the taste than the shape.

Heavens knows I don’t want to be judged by my shape… so I took the liberty of sharing her cake.  I only wish she had shared it with me!  🙂

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Smitten Kitchen Meeting

Posted on November 11, 2013 by Kelli

We were able to get together yesterday to discuss our couple months we spent cooking and eating out of the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook.  While we discussed, we were able to try these tasty dishes:

KT brought Kale Salad with Cherries and Pecans  IMG_4206

 

Bev brought the Broccoli SlawIMG_4207

 

Meredith brought the Cranberry Crumb Bars with Mulling Spices IMG_4209

 

…And in true over achieving fashion, she also brought the Grapefruit Olive Oil Pound Cake.  IMG_4213

 

I brought Mom’s Apple CakeIMG_4210

 

Ashley brought Honey and Harissa Farro Salad.IMG_4212

 

Carol brought the Butternut Squash Galette.   IMG_4214

 

Randie Brought Rotini with Cauliflower Pesto.  IMG_4216

 

Joye brought Leek Fitters with Garlic and LemonIMG_4219

 

Mostly positive responses to the book.   We all agreed that the photography was fantastic and made us want to try lots of different things.  We also really appreciated her witty banter at the start of each recipe.  Deb, we would love to have you over for a cocktail next time you’re in Seattle.  The recipes were easy to make, didn’t involve hard to find ingredients, and definitely ran the gamete as far as variety.

Knowing that it is impossible to include everything we like- the page turning while trying to cook is still a little bothersome.  (Yes, we recognize we can’t have witty banter, lovely photos, and a full recipe without turning pages) but a girl can dream.  Some people found the recipes hit or miss, and there was also a longing for complete menus or more suggestions on food pairings.

All in all- I really enjoyed the Smitten Kitchen.  I’ve always loved the blog, and now the book has  earned its place on my overcrowded bookshelf.

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Butternut Squash and Caramelized Onion Galette

Posted on November 1, 2013 by Kelli

Butternut squash is one of the foods I associate with fall.  When it’s August and I don’t want summer to end I can think… well, at least there is butternut squash.

So I knew that I had to try this recipe.  Dough is pretty easy to make and comes together relatively quickly.  IMG_4185

Sometimes I don’t like having to cut in butter- (especially when I’m feeling lazy) but it didn’t seem so bad.  The dough needs to cool in the fridge for at least an hour- so plan accordingly.

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Remember when I said I was feeling lazy?  I picked this up at Costco and used it instead of peeling and slicing my own squash.  IMG_4189

mmm…. caramelized onions…IMG_4190

mmm… roasted butternut squash…IMG_4191

Those get mixed together with some fontina cheese and thyme (or sage).  Roll out your dough so there is about a two inch overhang.   Thankfully a rustic edge looks fine.  I cut this recipe in half, so if you made the whole thing, the edges would be hanging over the pan.  IMG_4196

Fold the edges up and pinch to pleat and seal.  Brush with an egg wash and pop in the oven.  IMG_4197

I made a mistake and baked it a little too hot- but it was still delicious.

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This is my new favorite dish from this book.  Will definitely make again.  It is really…. really good.

The recipe is also posted on her blog.  Try it for yourself!  You won’t be sorry!

Posted in Main, Uncategorized | 2 Comments