Avocado Baked Eggs

I'm a wee bit into Pinterest.

In my defense, I got in on the game pretty early. It's odd though because I've had mixed results with recipes found on them. Now I kind of just use it as a way to come up with ideas, to be inspired. How to make recipes better is a big part of it. I have a really bad habit of needed to tweak everything.

I love avocados. I love baked eggs. It seemed like a good idea to pair the two together, and I've seen this idea knocking around for quite some time.

The credit for this recipe, and the recipe itself can be found here. It's a good solid recipe, but here's what you should change. Basically all you're doing is scooping out a little extra of the center of the avocado, cracking an egg in it, seasoning it, and chucking it unceremoniously into an oven.

It's good, but it's a little under-seasoned as is. So here are two ways to fix it.

First idea: Season the avocado first with salt and pepper, then put in the egg and season that too.

Second idea: Joe gets credit for this. Bacon bits in the hole before the avocado goes in would add some really really nice flavor and texture to the dish. I'm quite proud of him for making that one up.

If you make this just for yourself, avocado is pretty kick ass just mashed up on some whole wheat toast with some salt and pepper and perhaps a drizzle of olive oil (if you're feeling glamorous).

I think if I had to live off "thing that come on bread and crackers", I could.

Nailed It! The Bacon and Cheese Scone Quest

I promised you this recipe would come eventually! And lo, here it is!!


So, when I was a wee lass (which I typed first as ass... hilarious), my Nana used to make these bacon cakes. They were triangular shaped like scones often are, moist, delicate and delicious slathered in butter and we would have them for tea. Nana always made "tea" at 6pm. It was her version of supper, the last meal of the day, and it would be malt loaf or eggy bread or ham sandwiches or bacon cakes or something else delightfully carby. It was usually my favorite meal. I would spend my six week long summer holidays with her and I loved tea-time almost as much as I loved blackberrying and rollerskating and her bedtime stories.

I have a few of her recipes and one of them is for bacon cakes. I've diligently made it a few times, and while the result is pretty good, it isn't what my ten year old self remembers. I've tried to tweak it a lot, and finally I decided that instead of just creating a replica, I need to create something that I really like.... something of my own.

I started over, tweaking, making, kneading, shaping, re-doing. I tried adding ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, cream cheese. I played with the amount of baking powder, the type of milk, the quality of the butter. Until finally one day a few weeks ago I got the result I wanted. I think I've gone through at least nine incarnations of this recipe, but it's finally the one I like best. Ironically, it's probably the one with the fewest ingredients... the simplest version. These are perfect just out of the oven, cut in half and spread with some good quality salted butter.


Bacon and Cheese Scones

4oz Butter (1 Stick), cold
2 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
4oz Sharp Cheddar, grated
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Tablespoon + 1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
3 Slices of Bacon, cooked and diced
1 Scallion, sliced thin
1 Egg
2/3 Cup Milk (any kind)

Preheat your oven to 400F.

In a mixing bowl, combine the butter with the flour, salt and baking powder until it becomes like breadcrumbs. Stir in your cheese, scallion and bacon. Beat the egg into the milk, then slowly add to the dry mixture until combine. Try to mix it as gently and as little as possible.

Roll out the dough until it is an inch thick and cut into circles with a four inch or so cookie cutter. I, owning cookie cutters only in the shape of candy canes and ninjas, used a jam jar lid.

You should get about 8-10 circles out of it. If you like, you can do a quick egg wash glaze over these by beating an egg with a couple of tablespoons of milk and brushing with a pastry brush. It's not completely necessary, but I would take the time if you have it.

Bake for 20 minutes until well risen and turning slightly golden. If you need to reheat these for later, do use the oven and not the microwave... it's much better.

Slather with butter and enjoy hot, with fond memories of your childhood drifting through your head.

Poached Chicken Spring Salad with Blueberries and Strawberries

Winter is coming to a close here in the Valley. Since we've actually already had a 90 degree day, I'm guessing we're in that sweet spot where we have two weeks of Spring before everything becomes, well, deserty.

In a last ditch attempt to enjoy the winter, my guy and a few of our friends toddled off to the mountains in Utah for a day of Snowboarding. Since I have an angry knee, I went for the pretty views and the chance to escape.

We were staying over night in a little condo so that everyone could get up early and make the first run. My friend Chat  had made the worlds most enormous salad and insisted I try a plate. It had about twelve ingredients and was really delicious. I picked out the celery because I'm weird like that. He'd mixed everything up and added some chicken that he baked in the oven. I nearly went for seconds.

So I spent the day in the lodge, sipping on Maple Crown and Coke (I had a flask because I'm smart like that). Then when we got home I couldn't stop thinking about that damn salad. So off to the grocery store I trundled and picked up the goodies to make a revised version. I didn't want to bake the chicken and I luckily remembered that my friend Kyle had told me that he'd taken to poaching chicken for salads and then refrigerating it to eat through the week. Bingo. Worked like a charm.

And so, this salad was born. I can't stop eating it. It's so simple and delicious and ridiculously low calorie.

Poached Chicken Spring Salad with Blueberries and Strawberries

Play with your quantities here until you're happy with what you have. You'll only use about 1/3rd of a chicken breast per salad, but of course you need to cook the whole thing.

1 Chicken Breast (boneless and skinless)
2 Handfuls Spring Salad Mix
2 Strawberries, diced
10-15 Blueberries
Salt and Pepper
Balsamic Vinegar Salad Dressing

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil and drop in the chicken breast. You need enough water to just cover the chicken. Turn the heat down to a low simmer, cover and cook for twenty minutes. Check to make sure it's cooked all the way through, then shred it. Season with salt and pepper. You can then use about 1/3rd per salad.

Put the spring mix on a plate. Scatter over your diced strawberries and blueberries. Top with the poached chicken and drizzle over some balsamic vinegar salad dressing. Or, make your own with 1 teaspoon flavored olive oil and one teaspoon balsamic vinegar.

Eat with fond memories of mountain views. Embrace spring.

Makes one salad, with leftover chicken for two more.

Going Back to the Start with Rhubarb Crumble

I posted a little while ago about how I'm sort of in this rut. I finished my book and after that was done it's been a "now what?" situation. I've not really been spending much time in my kitchen, and when I have I've been making old faithful type food that I've already told you about here on this blog.

I couldn't figure out what to do now that I've finished something big. Then, I got all zen and stuff and realized that what I needed to do was take a breath and go back to the beginning. I needed to go back to my childhood. To something familiar and comforting. I needed Rhubarb Crumble.

Rhubarb is a lot less common in American than it is in England. I rarely see it fresh here, and I've never seen it growing.

Back in England, when we moved into the house that I lived in for the five years before I moved to America I remember my Mother going through and ripping out a lot of the old garden. I helped somewhat, until I accidentally speared a frog with a garden fork. I became quite the indoor girl after that. It still gives me the willies thinking about it.
Anyway, so Mum went and dug up a big Rhubarb plant that she didn't want. She went ahead and put it on a pile of scrap sticks and woody things that would eventually be burned. It was sitting on top of the pile, half hacked to pieces, and the darned thing kept on growing. I think it sat and flourished for about two weeks.
So Mum hacked off all the green parts again and then had a nice little bonfire to burn all the green scrap that wouldn't be good for composting. After the bonfire there was a pile of rubble and a few chunks of unburnt wood that didn't quite finish combusting all the way. And about a week later, this pile was of course growing bright green Rhubarb stalks.

I don't know how the hell is survived. I also don't know how the hell Mum finally killed it. But hey, I've had a soft spot for Rhubarb ever since.

This Rhubarb Crumble is my Mum's recipe. She used to make it here and there when I was young, and I think my Nana used to make it too. It was served frequently with custard or vanilla ice cream, and I recommend you do the same thing!

Rhubarb Crumble

The easiest way to make this is in a pie plate or an 8x8 pan. You can throw in some strawberries as well if you need to use some up. I had a few in the fridge the last time I made this and sliced them over the rhubarb before I layered on the topping.

20oz Frozen Rhubarb
6oz Flour
3oz Butter (cold)
6oz Sugar (split in half)

Preheat the oven to 375F.

Take half the sugar and toss the rhubarb in it. Lay the rhubarb in the bottom of a pie plate or other pan, spread fairly evenly.

In a small bowl, work the flour and butter together with your hands until it resembles breadcrumbs. Make sure you start with cold butter and work pretty quickly as you don't want it to melt. Mix in the rest of the sugar and spread this topping evenly over the rhubarb.

Bake for 45 minutes until the top has become golden brown.

Eat with a dollop of ice cream, custard or whipped cream while tucked up in bed watching the Top Chef finale.

Makes 12 servings.

Almost Healthy Gingerbread

This week I pulled the book Healthy Homestyle Cooking by Evelyn Tribole off my cookbook shelf. I wasn't in the mood for cookies and I'm low on supplies for savory items, so it was the Gingerbread recipe that caught my eye.

I think I bought this book at a yard sale or a thrift store or something. It's one of my older ones and it is chock full of lots of good recipes that are on the healthier side of things. I'm still working on my holiday weight, so it was nice to pick out a few things that wouldn't break the calorie bank.

I love gingerbread. I find it hearty and comforting. I like how after it sits for a little bit, the top always gets sticky and you have to lick it off your fingers. I like how it almost develops a little more flavor with age.

I did play around with the original recipe a bit. I upped the spices, added salt, switched buttermilk for yoghurt and added a little milk. I used apple butter instead of apple sauce because that's what I had on hand.

It came out very well and I'd definitely recommend you try it! Next time, I'll probably try and figure out a way to get some booze in there somewhere.

Almost Healthy Gingerbread
Adapated from Healthy Homestyle Cooking

1 Cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Teaspoon Ground Ginger
3/4 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
2 Egg Whites
1/2 Cup Yogurt
2 Tablespoons Fat Free Milk
1/2 Cup Apple Butter or Apple Sauce
1/2 Cup Molasses

Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray or grease an 8x8 Baking dish.

In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients together until well combined. Add the egg whites, yogurt, milk,  apple butter and molasses and stir well until combined. You should have a nice thick batter.
Spread into your pan and bake for 30 minutes until the cake has set. Let cool in the pan, then store in an airtight container.

This is great right out of the oven, but if you let it mellow out for a few hours it's even better.

Eat at work at your desk, lick the sticky top off your fingers and try not to get anything on your keyboard.

Makes 9-12 pieces.

Greek Chicken Thighs

I'm not going to lie, I mostly made these Chicken Thighs because I wanted to use my new baking dish.
My office does Secret Santa every year and it's no secret that I'm big into cooking. I was really delighted to get this dish, not just because it is super pretty, but because it's the perfect size for the portion sizes I tend to make. I have a lot of bakeware and trying to find room for this dish made me realize that I seriously need to go through my cabinets and organize what I have and possibly re-home some duplicate pans.

In case you are curious, I gave my Secret Santa Beer, Chocolate and Coffee. It seemed like a good choice. 

I stumbled across this recipe in the 2012 wrap up from the blog Everybody Loves Sandwiches. I changed it just a smidge, but the recipe is pretty straightforward. These chicken thighs get marinated for a couple of hours, then baked in a good hot oven until cooked. Although they get cooked uncovered, the chicken thighs stay nice and moist. I took the skin off mine, but the original recipes says you can leave them on if you wish. This dish is really light and tangy. The flavor of the chicken shines through nicely.

Greek Chicken Thighs

Multiply this recipe as many times as you like to fit your preferred portion size!

2 Boneless Chicken Thighs
4 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
2 Cloves Garlic, smashed
1/2 Teaspoon Oregano
1/4 Teaspoon of Salt
Black Pepper

In a small bowl, mix together the lemon juice, salt, oregano, garlic and a few good grinds of black pepper. Put your chicken thighs in a ziploc bag and pour over the marinade. Let sit for at least a couple of hours, flipping the bag over a couple of times if you can. You can also let it sit in the fridge during the day to cook at night if you like.

When the chicken is marinaded, preheat the oven to 425F. Pour the chicken and the marinade into a shallow non-stick baking dish. Bake for 45 minutes.

Eat with some lightly buttered boiled potatoes off your favorite plate on a Sunday afternoon.

Serves two for lunch or one for dinner.

Banana Rum Cake for Larry

New Year's here in the Valley was a really nice experience this year. I had a lot of fun on the 51st floor of the Cosmopolitan drinking wine and champagne, playing Cards Against Humanity (which, incidentally, is the best game every) and hanging out with friends.

My friends Larry and Justin were staying with me over New Years. They were in from California and were using my guest room while I'm between roommates. They both love food, which makes them the perfect guests.

I'm going to try something new this year. It isn't exactly a resolution, just a way of keeping me busy. I have a lot of cookbooks. I consider myself a collector and I love getting books for my birthday or Christmas. I'm going to go ahead and try and aim to make and adapt one recipe from a different book every week. This could be interesting for sure, as I've got several books that I've never made anything at all from.

So since it's the first week of the year, I asked Larry to give me a hand picking out a book. The happy result was the Joy the Baker Cookbook. After skimming through the recipes, we settled on one for Banana Rum Cake. When I went to Antigua I can back with a bottle of Antiguan rum and have been looking for a good excuse to open it.

I adapted this cake a fair bit from it's an original version. Instead of making it a layer cake with frosting, I went for a simple bundt cake.... a good excuse to break out new pans.

Banana Rum Cake
Adapted from Joy the Baker Cookbook

3 Cups Flour
2 1/4 Teaspoon Baking Powder
3/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda
3/4 Teaspoon Salt
1 1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 Teaspoon Nutmeg
3/4 Cup Butter, softened
1 3/4 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
3 Bananas, mashed
4 Tablespoon Rum
3 Eggs
1/2 Cup + 2 Tablespoons Buttermilk
1/2 Cup Walnuts, chopped
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Preheat the oven to 350F and grease a Bundt pan.

Cream together the butter and sugar, add in the eggs and vanilla. Add in the bananas, rum, cinnamon, nutmeg, buttermilk, salt, baking powder and baking soda until well combined. Fold in the flour and the walnuts. Pour into the pan and bake for fifty minutes. Turn the oven off and leave the cake in the oven for another 10 minutes. Check that the cake is cooked through. Let cool in the pan.

Cut into nice big chunks and eat at your desk at work after a busy couple of hours. Resolve to drink more tea.

Chicken and Broccoli Asian Noodle Bowl

I love Asian food. Whenever I go out to eat with a friend, I find myself always suggesting Sushi or Vietnamese or Thai or Indian. I'm not really sure why that is. I think I just really love fresh flavors with lots of salty soy goodness, and I've always been a big fan of ginger. I love a good Pad Thai, or some Chicken Tikka Masala, or a Rainbow Roll. I never seem to want to eat American. It's weird. 

I've been eating out a lot recently. When you spend lots of time with friends, and when you're dating someone new, this tends to happen I think. I think that is why it's been so quiet around here. I'm not spending time in my kitchen. Though it is still my happy place, I have more than one happy place now. It's odd, but good. 

A couple of weeks ago, I finally had an evening where I was home by myself and in the mood to cook. The pantry busting continues, and this time the victim was rice noodles. It's hard to figure out exactly how much I used in this dish, but it came out to about a cup when cooked. 

 Chicken and Broccoli Asian Noodle Bowl

Marinade
1 Tbsp Fish Sauce
2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
1/2 Tsp Lemon Juice
Sesame Oil, a few drops
1 Inch Ginger, minced
1 Chicken Breast, diced into 1 inch chunks

Olive Oil
1 Red Pepper, diced
1/2 Cup Peas
1/2 Cup Broccoli Florets
1 Cup Rice Noodles

Prep your marinade and chicken. Mix all the ingredients for it together in a sealable tupperware container or a freezer bag. Add the chicken and mix well to coat. Allow to marinate for at least an hour, longer is always better.

Cook your rice noodles by boiling water, then turning off the heat and letting them soak. Takes about 10 minutes.

In a wok or wide pan, heat a tablespoon or two of the olive oil. Add the chicken and all the marinade. Cook for a about four minutes until the chicken is starting to cook well. Add the red pepper and then broccoli. Cook for two more minutes, add the drained rice noodles and the peas and cook for a couple of minutes more. Make sure your chicken is done.

Eat out of your favorite bowl with a little extra soy sauce if your palate is salty. Catch up on How I Met Your Mother.

Makes two large servings. Good for leftover lunch the next day, too.

Balsamic Glazed Sweet Potatoes

Well, it's finally starting to seem like Fall. I'm drinking Hot Apple Cider and the Spinach Salads are gone from my lunch bag. It's starting to cool down in the Valley and people are wearing hoodies and boots.

It's nice this time of year, when the weather is perfect. The trees are turning colors back in Atlanta, it's cold back in England. All of my homes are starting to shift towards the cooler, quieter winter time.

And me? I'm happy. I've let go of a lot of things that made me unhappy and embraced a lot of things that feel good and right. I'm taking my life back. I'm doing things that I want to do. I'm putting myself and my family first.

It's good.

I had a really epic clumsy three days where I kept dropping things or injuring myself. I lost five eggs and a vintage mixing bowl in the aftermath, and for a day or so I was pretty sure I had broken my own nose. I swear the doorframe in my bathroom jumped out at me. I've got my eye on the pesky little bugger.

I know I haven't been around as much. I know I saw that every time. I'm making changes in my life and it's taking lots of time.

I'm also making things like Balsamic Glazed Sweet Potatoes, because they are absolutely delicious.

Balsamic Glazed Sweet Potatoes

3 Small Sweet Potatoes, peeled
1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
2 1/2 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
Salt

Preheat the oven to 400F. Peel your sweet potatoes. I used a mix of yellow and white, because that is what I had on hand. Once peeled, dice them up and put them in a bowl. Add the sugar, oil and vinegar and mix well. Turn out onto a non-stick cookie sheet, preferably lined with Sil-Pat. Grind over a generous helping of salt.

Roast in the oven for 40 minutes until turning dark and crispy. Stir them every ten minutes or so to try and stop them from sticking and so that they cook evenly.

Eat with some sliced turkey or chicken, or just on their own out of a bowl.

Makes four servings.

Strawberry, Vanilla and Coconut Granola

 
A while ago I got on this kick. I became hooked on eating this granola that I would buy at Fresh & Easy with plain yoghurt. It became a really easy breakfast/lunch/between show snack. It's a great granola and my favorite thing about it is the chunks of freeze-dried strawberries scattered throughout.

I had pulled a recipe for french chocolate granola a few months back and stuck it on my fridge with the hopes that I would be inspired to try it, but every time I thought about granola, it was the strawberry one that I wanted.

The other day, I saw freeze dried strawberries on sale in the store and I had an Aha! moment. Why not just make my own big batch of granola? I buy it so often anyway and I had literally every ingredient except for the strawberries. So, scoop up the strawberries I did and I scurried home to whip up a monster batch of granola. Since I was making this for myself, I played around and added in some coconut and some vanilla.

This granola is extremely yummy. It's really filling. It's not super sweet, but it gives you lots of energy. I made double the amount here because I knew I would eat it all. I love looking at the jars in the pantry. They fill me with sunshiney joy.

Strawberry, Coconut and Vanilla Granola

3 Cups Oats (not quick-cook)
1/2 Cup Shredded Coconut
3 Tablespoons Sugar
Pinch of Salt
6 Tablespoons Honey
2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1oz Freeze Dried Strawberries

Preheat the oven to 325F.

In a small saucepan, heat up the honey and the oil until it is very very liquidy. Take off the heat and stir in the vanilla.
 
In a mixing bowl, combine the oats, coconut, salt and sugar. Pour over the liquid ingredients and mix well to coat. Spread the mixture on a cookie sheet in a thin even layer. Put in the oven. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring at the ten and twenty minute marks until the granola is golden.

Take the pan out of the oven and let cool, stirring occasionally so that it doesn't form one big sheet. When it's cool, mix in the strawberries and store in a nice big glass jar.

Eat with plain yoghurt at the dining room table while reading the latest issue of Saveur.

Makes about 4 Cups.

Fall Corn Chowder

Back when I lived in Atlanta, I used to work at the Atlanta Shakespeare Company. They had a kitchen attached to the theatre, and they would cycle through different menus based on the season.

When I worked there, I frequently ate dinner there and there were a few favorites from the menu that I would always be happy to order.... Dragon Noodles, Spinach Salad, Chocolate Lava Cake, Apple Crisp and the Corn Chowder.

I loved that Chowder and I would eat it almost every day. I always had it with a nice crusty wholewheat roll. It was hearty and delicious and to me, it felt like the perfect Fall food. I've never liked soup much, but for some reason I always love chowder. 

I have a lot of really happy memories of that place. It's where I found the bulk of my chosen family. Even though I don't live there any more and will probably never work there again, it's always going to feel like home to me. Fall and Spring are always my favorite times of year in Atlanta.

It's still hot in the desert. Tomorrow it will hit triple digits, but this should be the last time. It's October now, and the weather should start dipping soon. I wore a hoodie outside the other day. Granted it was 1am at a park and the sprinklers were on, but I still wore a hoodie.

Pumpkin Spice Lattes are in the coffee shops. The mountains that surround the valley are starting to see a touch of snow. Soon it will be Fall. So I made my Fall comfort food, willing the season to show up in Las Vegas.

I miss Appalachia. But hey, the chowder is delicious.

Fall Corn Chowder

4 Ears of Corn
1 Medium White Onion, diced
3 Garlic Cloves, minced
4 Bay Leaves
5 Small Potatoes, peeled
1 Cup White Wine
1 Teaspoon Tarragon (dried)
3 Tablespoons Butter
Salt
Pepper

Bring 6 cups of water to a boil on the stove. Cut all of the corn kernels off the ears of corn and set them aside. Take the corn cobs, break them in half and put them in the boiling water with the bay leaves. Add in half the tarragon and cover. Simmer for 30 minutes.

In a heavy bottomed pan, melt the butter. Add in the onion and cook for 5-8 minutes until softened. Add in the garlic and cook for another minute. Then, add in half the cup of wine and let reduce.

While it is reducing, strain the corn broth and discard the cobs. Save the bay leaves.

Pour the broth into the onion mixture. Add the potatoes, bay leaves, the rest of the wine and the tarragon. Add a few grinds of pepper and then salt to taste. You'll be using probably quite a lot of salt.

Simmer for 10 minutes, then add the corn kernels. Simmer for 15 more minutes until the potatoes are soft.

Eat with whole wheat bread and dreams of turning leaves.

Makes 6 servings.

Balsamic Kale Chips

When I hopped on the Kale bandwagon a while ago, I meant to try making Kale Chips. But then every time I had Kale in the house I couldn't resist making my Creamy Avocado and Kale dip which I love oh so very very much.

I'm a snacker. I've said it before. I love to snack. It's not really a big part of my diet plan, though, so I have to resist the urge all the time. I rotate weekly through different responsibilities at work. I do a different thing every week on a 5-week rotation. So this week I'm on the one task that always makes me want to snack. It seems like a good time to have healthy snacks on hand.

I stayed the night at my friend Dani's house last night. We had curry and cocktails and watched Casablanca. It was a really nice night and on my drive home today I realized that I had enough time, finally, to whip up a quick batch of Kale Chips and see what all the fuss was about. So I swung by the store, grabbed supplies, came home and whipped up a batch. I've had to lock these away in tupperware because I kept eating them off the pan. I'll snack on them at work today for sure.

Balsamic Kale Chips

I can't tell you how easy these are to whip up. You need hardly any ingredients or time. Enjoy!

1 Bunch Kale
1 1/2 Teaspoons Balsamic Vinegar
1 Teaspoon Olive Oil
Salt

Preheat the oven to 350F. Rinse the kale and tear it off the ribs so it's in small pieces. You don't want the stems, they won't crisp up.

Put the kale in a bowl and drizzle over the oil and vinegar. Toss the kale to coat it and lay it down on a baking sheet. Grind some salt over and bake for 15 minutes or until crispy.

Eat at your desk while figuring out what 63 people are going to do onstage at the Circus tonight.

Sausage and Pepper Cornmeal Breakfast Muffins

Yesterday was the first normal day I feel like I've had in a while. I got up, went for a run, played in my kitchen, went to work. Just like the 3-2-1 punch of the last couple of months never was. It was nice, but it was also strange and conjured up lots of emotionally feelingy type things. I'm working through those.

I'm also working through what I made in the kitchen. I've had these in my brain for a while and am very happy with how they turned out. I've had sausage in the freezer for a while and I wanted to repurpose it into something else that I could keep in the freezer and then defrost overnight and eat in the morning. I'm still mostly working on pantry-busting but it certainly got put on hold for the last month or two.

So, these muffins were born. They taste really great and have an interesting texture. The buttermilk makes them incredibly moist. They are hearty and filling and very easy to grab and go. They would be great for brunch with some scrambled eggs and orange juice.

Sausage and Pepper Cornmeal Breakfast Muffins

8oz Sausage
1 Green Pepper
3/4 Cup Flour
1/2 Cup Yellow Cornmeal
3/4 Cup Grated Cheddar
1 Egg
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 1/2 Cups Buttermilk (I used Lowfat)

Preheat your oven to 350F. Cook the sausage and drain off as much of the grease as you can. Dice the pepper and add it in to the sausage and cook for another three minutes or so until the peppers start to soften. Set aside.

Sift the flour in a bowl and add in the cornmeal, baking powder, cheddar and salt. Add in the egg and buttermilk and stir until combined. Add in the sausage and pepper mix.

Either line a 12 space muffin pan with cupcake liners, or grease each individual space. Fill each cup with batter. It should make every cup pretty full and even.

Bake for 20 minutes until set all the way and just starting to brown a little. If you want, you can also grate more cheese on the top of the muffins.

Eat while figuring out the rest of your day and listening to Imagine Dragons.

These freeze really well.

Makes 12.

Red Wine Reduction

 
It's hard to explain this sauce. It's really unusual and quite delicious. It's one of those things that pops into your brain when you're randomly up at night, reading Kafka on the Shore and processing your day.

I've not been sleeping regularly. Yesterday I woke up at 7am. Which sounds fine until I tell you that I work 3pm-12am, I didn't get to sleep until 3am, and yesterday was my day off.

I gave up trying to sleep at 8am and decided to just go ahead and get up and make this sauce since it was in my brain and I had nothing else to then. Yesterday I then proceeded to clean and rearrange almost my entire house. It was a very weird and productive day.

Anyway, the sauce. I wanted to do a red wine reduction that packed a punch and stood up to strong flavors. I had a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon, dense and purple and grapey, and that was what I went with.

I had this for dinner over some slow cooked pork rubs, mashed potatoes and peas. The flavor in the ribs that I was going for didn't work out too well but the sauce more than made up for it. It's tart and sweet and dense and rich and delicious all at the same time. Try it on steak, or ribs, or just on mashed potatoes if you're into that kind of thing (which I am, mashed potatoes peas and gravy is still my number one comfort food).

Red Wine Reduction

1 Cup Red Wine (Such as Cabernet Sauvignon)
1/4 Onion, diced (or two shallots)
2 Cloves Garlic
1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar
5 Peppercorns
Salt
1 Teaspoon Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Butter

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and add in the onion. Cook until softened and starting to brown. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Add the wine, peppercorns, and sugar. Grind in a little salt.

Simmer for about 30 minutes until reduced down to 1/3rd of the original liquid. Taste and add more salt if necessary. Take off the heat and strain. Add in the butter and stir to melt.

Pour over a plate of meat and potatoes. Feel snazzy. Relish in the deep purple color.

Makes 2 servings.

Lemon Paprika Chicken Thighs

Sometimes, things get really complicated and you just need something simple.

I'm coming off a really rough trip back East where I had to take care of a lot of personal stuff and attend a funeral. I'm really over cross country flights, so I'm taking a break from them for a while.

It's been a hard couple of months for me, but I think I'm finally getting myself into a good place. I'm trying not to be too whiny here, but the universe really did smack me around a little and I've decided that I'm done with that. I'm ready for things to start going my way and to start feeling happy again. With that will surely come more food and a stronger presence here on Salted Spoon. Thanks for your patience with me. It's appreciated.
 
Right now, all I want these days is simple food. I'm eating salads and cantaloupes, multigrain cheerios and poached eggs, sweet potato fries and quick and easy chicken dishes. When the going gets tough, the tough raids the freezer for simple cuts of meat.

These chicken thighs are super easy. You could mix everything together and marinade the chicken if you like and it'll be yummy, but for me I used sprinkle everything over because I'm usually in a hurry.

Lemon Paprika Chicken Thighs

4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs
2 Teaspoons Lemon Juice
1/2 Teaspoon Paprika
1/4 Teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Salt
Pinch of Cayenne Pepper
Olive Oil for Cooking

In a cast iron skillet or non-stick pan, heat up a drizzle of olive oil. Trim any excess fat off the chicken thighs. Cover each chicken thigh with a little lemon juice. Mix together the paprika, peppers and salt and then sprinkle those over both sides too.

When the pan is really hot, lay the chicken thighs down and let cook well on one side to get a sear, then flip. Cook and flip until the chicken thighs are cooked all the way through, about ten minutes.

Serve with rice and peas, or anything else you can find in your freezer.

Eat at the dining room table while watching the last episode of Newsroom and being stared at by your adorable cat.

Serves two.

Cinnamon Chocolate Coffee Cake and Being Owey

I'm hanging out in bed today, medicated and resting while my body calms down after the second of my three surgeries on my left leg. This one wasn't as bad as the first. The first one was a bit heavier and they had more trouble finding my veins.

So I have just one more to go on Tuesday, and then hopefully I'm done. I'm confident I'll be back to normal soon.

Speaking of normal, I finally managed to get into the kitchen. It was lovely. I've really missed cooking these last few weeks. I frequently forget how happy it makes me. I finally finished reading Stephanie Izard's book Girl in the Kitchen. I have to say, I really didn't much care for it. I have a huge amount of respect for Stephanie. I think she's brilliant and talented, and I'm fascinated by her food, but I felt like her book wasn't really very accessible. She uses a lot of top shelf ingredients that are easy to find when you have a good restaurant supplier, but are a bit harder to find if you are just a normal person. Her recipes are extremely complex. She also spends a good potion of time talking about all the restaurants she has worked in. I didn't get a sense of her as an individual. I marked a few recipes to try, but all in all I was a bit disappointed.

Since I've finished that, though, the next book in my stack is the Joy the Baker Cookbook by Joy Wilson. I love the tagline of her book "A Celebration of Butter and Sugar". I thumbed through it a little the other day, looking for a recipe for coffee cake. Now I'll read it cover to cover, like I do with so many cookbooks, using post it tabs to mark the most inspiring recipes. I've been looking forward to this one.

I made the coffee cake as I limped around on Wednesday, still testing what my leg can and can't make. Her initial recipe called for a topping as well as a filling, but I decided to skip it, choosing to add in a bunch of chocolate instead. I took the cake to work where it was devoured my many hungry and brilliant technicians and circus performers. I loved it and I'm absolutely making it again. Please excuse the less than stellar picture. My photography is not at its best when I'm on painkillers.

Cinnamon Chocolate Coffee Cake
Adapted from Joy Wilson's Joy the Baker Cookbook

This cake is moist, decadent and delicious. You can use full-fat milk and sour cream, but I tend to only keep non-fat in the house.

For the Cake

3/4 Cup (1 1/2 Sticks) Butter, softened
1 1/2 Cups Granulated Sugar
1/3 Cup Light Brown Sugar, packed
2 Teaspoons Vanilla
3 Eggs
3 1/4 Cups Flour, sifted
2 1/2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1 1/4 Teaspoons Salt
3/4 Cup Non-Fat Sour Cream
1 1/4 Cups Non-Fat Whole Milk

Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter and flour a 9x13 baking pan.

Cream together the butter and sugar and pale and fluffy. Add the vanilla and the eggs and mix well. Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt, then add in the sour cream and milk. Make the filling.

For the Filling

1 Cup Light Brown Sugar, packed
2 Tablespoons Cinnamon
1 Teaspoon Nutmeg
3 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder
1 Cup Semi-Sweet chocolate chips
1/2 Teaspoon Salt

Mix all the filling ingredients together. You may want to use your hands because brown sugar tends to be a bit clumpy.

Spread half the cake mix into the pan. Scatter over about three quarters of the filling. Spoon over the rest of the cake mix, then sprinkled over the rest of the filling. With a spoon or spatula, marble the cake by dragging the spoon through the whole thing in swirls or figure eights. Don't mix it too much. You just want to kind of swirl it up so that it isn't a uniform layer.

Bake in the oven for about 55 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Let it sit for thirty minutes before cutting in.

Enjoy with a glass of milk propped up against your kitchen counter, or hand out pieces at 11:30pm to awesome technicians as they are clocking out for the night.

Makes about 20-30 servings depending on how big you cut them.

 

Parmesan and Lemon Chickpeas and the Vacation Recovery

Whenever you go away for a little while, it's always odd to come back and get into the swing of things again. Your fridge is usually empty, there is a mountain of laundry to do, mail to sort, emails to go through, tan lines and tubbiness to ponder, and then eventually you have to go back to work.

I always give myself very little transition time between traveling and going back to work. I don't know if I'm a masochist, but I tend to head back to work at break neck speed. This time I gave myself a whole 13 hours. Practically a record!

My body is arguing with me, though. I got used to eating and drinking a lot more than I was, and I find my body is wanting more food than my normal routine gives it. I'm ignoring it and trying to get it back on to my regular schedule. I'm also craving foods I didn't eat while I was on vacations... fresh raw vegetables, my favorite salad, simple foods without a stack of ingredients, sauces, and fancy names.

When I come home from being away somewhere, I usually make Parmesan and Lemon Chickpeas. The ingredients don't really go bad so I tend to have them still in the fridge or the pantry. It's a simple, one bowl and spoon meal that makes two servings. I can throw it together and sit on my bed spooning with one hand and going through emails with the other. Simple. Uncomplicated. Filling.

It's my way of kickstarting myself after the vacation stall, getting me back to regular life and remembering that consistency will come too. Eventually all the clothes will be back in the closet, the mail will be handled, the tan lines will fade, and everything will return to it's normal place. I'll just have lots of great new memories.

Parmesan and Lemon Chickpeas

If you are using grated parmesan that comes out of a tub, use the 1/8 cup measure. If you are grating your own with a microplane grater it will be very fluffy, in which case you want a fluffy 1/4 cup.

1 Can Chickpeas, drained
1/8-1/4 Cup Grated Parmesan
1 Tablespoon Good Olive Oil
2 Teaspoons Lemon Juice
Salt and Pepper

This dish is simple. Gather your ingredients. Put them in a bowl. Stir them up with a spoon and eat. Be sparing with the salt and generous with the pepper. Add more lemon juice if you like.

Eat with a spoon out of the bowl while putting your life back together.

Makes 2 servings

Dana from Whisks and Words and Gazpacho Soup

I'm still off on vacation, and having a lovely time! Whilst I'm gone, the brilliant Dana from Whisks and Words has offered to keep you entertained. Thanks Dana!

Dana is a fabulous blogger and food writer and I can't wait to read her first book!

In the genre of soups, I have always been sort of a thick and chunky sort of girl. Give me your beef stews, your chicken soup, or your clam chowder. Give me big, soft, tender vegetables that I can cut with a spoon. Give me whole pieces of fresh herb floating on the top.

 It took me awhile to come around to smooth soups – in fact, it was my roommate’s butternut squash soup, so sweet and peppery and smooth, and such a pleasing golden color, that brought me over to the side of smooth soups. Initially, they reminded me of yogurt, which, incidentally, also took me a long time to warm to.

During the summer, I always hear two sides of the soup argument:  it’s too hot outside to eat soup, or one should eat soup in hot weather because it cools the body. I fall in line with the first group, and I find the wisdom of hot foods cooling the body to be suspect. We eat hot soup in winter to warm the body. It goes against that time-honored tradition that Campbell’s Soup set forth of melting the snowman that has formed around us out in the cold, cold world.

I used to work as a “tea wench” at the Georgia Renaissance Festival, and it never failed that every weekend, at least one customer would stumble up the ramp to our tea room in the throes of heat exhaustion. We made them sit, draped them with wet paper towels, and made them drink water and eat watermelon, if we had it. To not one of them did I serve hot tea, though I heard many a customer tell me or their dining companion that hot tea on a hot day makes you cooler. I stuffed their money in my cleavage and walked away, shaking my head. They probably liked hot soup on a Georgia summer day, too.
No matter where you fall on the hot weather/soup debate, it’s safe to say that in the summer, we can usually agree on cold soups. Some people love them, some people hate them, and some people flatly refuse to give them a chance (which I get). And I have to say that I’m not 100% there with the cold soups either. But this week, in my CSA box, I got celery, tomatoes, garlic, red onion, and sweet peppers, and a recommendation to use those ingredients to make gazpacho.

As you can imagine, there are many gazpacho recipes to use. I went with the Pioneer Woman’s recipe, but I jazzed it up a bit. She didn’t like hers too acidic, but I rather like a little bite. Hers was also spiced very sparingly, whereas I wanted a bit more punch to the gazpacho. I adapted her recipe, added and subtracted a few things, and came up with the following hot-weather soup that everyone can agree on.

Gazpacho

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 zucchini, diced

1 cucumber, diced

2 ribs celery, diced (include the leaves if you like)

3 mini sweet peppers (or one normal sized one), seeds and stem removed, diced

½ red onion, peeled and diced

5 tomatoes, seeded and diced

4 cups tomato juice, divided

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

1/8 cup vinegar (I used Balsamic, but red wine would work too)

1 ½ tablespoons sugar

Dash of red pepper flakes

1-2 tsp ground cayenne pepper (optional, to taste)

1-2 tsp ground cumin (optional, to taste)

Big pinch of salt, to taste

Black pepper, to taste

In a blender or food processor, add all of the garlic, and then half of your zucchini, cucumber, celery, peppers, onion, and tomatoes. (It’s helpful if you arrange your veggies in rows or bowls so you can halve the whole mess somewhat evenly.)

Add 2 cups tomato juice, olive oil, vinegar, sugar, and spices. Pulse until blended. We’re going for a textured blend here, not a smooth puree. Don’t think butternut squash soup; think blended salsa. We want to see our veggies.

Pour blended mixture into a large bowl and add the rest of the tomato juice, stirring to combine. Then add half of your remaining vegetables (so you’ll still be left with ¼ of your original heap of diced veggies) and stir to combine. This gives a nice texture and gives us something to chew.
Refrigerate for several hours (or overnight) so the flavors can marry together and the soup can chill.

To serve the dish, spoon desired amount of gazpacho into bowls. Top your gazpacho with anything you want, but I took my cues from the Pioneer Woman. I trailed a heap of that remaining bit of diced veggies over top, and then added a couple slices of avocado and a small dollop of sour cream. I grilled some shrimp that I first seasoned with ground paprika and cumin and sea salt, and then I added those to the top. I seasoned with salt and pepper, and on the side, I included a slice of grilled grainy homemade bread I had on hand (honey wheat) that I had drizzled with olive oil and grilled up on the griddle.

This soup is hearty and very filling, with a bold flavor that’s not too terribly spicy. I’m a spice wimp, and this was perfect for me. The bread is nice for helping soak up the belly full of veggies, and the shrimp and diced veggies on top gives you a nice texture, something to chew so you don’t feel like you’re drinking a vegetable smoothie for dinner. It was my first foray into cold soups, and all in all, I’d say it was a success. I only wanted to heat it up and pour it over pasta a little bit, just at first, but then I got over it and enjoyed it for its soup identity, for its richness, its freshness, its downright summery goodness.

Clams with Fresh Corn and Heirloom Tomatoes and Happy Endings

Okay, this. This was one of those amazing kick ass plates of food that you make, and then instantly think about who else you can make them for because you feel like showing off.
I've been knocking around the idea of tomatoes, corn and white wine for a while, and I know this isn't a new idea because I've seen other people make variations on the theme. I put this together for a lunch with Myles.

I think I've mentioned Myles before. He's my best friend here in the desert and he's just landed a touring job with the circus. He was on my show, but now he's off to travel the world. He starts in Tel Aviv at the end of next week and he'll be going to Italy and Greece and Germany and pretty much everywhere. He's excited and I'm excited for him. This is his happy ending.

So he was supposed to come over and drop off some stuff. He doesn't need his pantry anymore, so I inherited it. I now have a huge amount of grains that I have no idea what they are because they are unlabeled (one of them is blue). I also have a plethora of alcohol, including two huge full bottles of Blueberry Vodka. I have no idea what I'm going to do with most of it, but it's going to be fun playing around.

I used this exchange of goods as an excuse to make this nice plate of food. It took five stores to find fresh clams, and I was looking for mussels, but it was worth it. Fresh seafood in the desert is not exactly easy to come by.

It's a really amazing lunch, very balanced, quite delicious, and super quick. The broth is absolutely divine and the sweetness from the corn is a great pairing with the acidity of the wine and the tomatoes.

Bon voyage and bon spectacle, Myles. This one's for you.

Clams with Fresh Corn and Heirloom Tomatoes

Pick good quality corn and tomatoes for this dish. They really are the glue that holds the dish together and should be yummy and fresh and delicious. I found little heirloom tomatoes at Trader Joes, so if you have one in your area it's a good place to start. As for wine, I used a very very cheap Pinot Grigio. Go for a wine that isn't too dry.

12 Fresh Littleneck Clams or 18 Fresh Mussels
1 Ear Fresh Corn
1 Cup Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes, quartered
1 Cup White Wine
1 Shallot, minced
2 Cloves Garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons Fresh Chives, minced
3 Tablespoons Butter
Pepper
1 Loaf Crusty Bread

Soak your clams or mussels in a big bowl or sink of fresh water for thirty minutes. This will get a bunch of the dirt out, though they shouldn't be too dirty.

In a very large wide pan that you either have a lid for, or can invert another pan over, melt a tablespoon of the butter. Add the garlic and shallots and saute over a medium heat until softened, about 5 to 10 minutes. Cut the corn off the ear and add that with the tomatoes, chives, clams or mussels, and the wine. Add a few grinds of pepper and stir around. Bring up to medium heat and cover. When covering, you want to make sure that the clams will have room to open, so you don't want the lid to be tight over them. I used another pan that I placed upside down. It didn't form a perfect seal, but it was enough.

Simmer over a medium heat until all of the clams or mussels have opened. Probably about another ten to fifteen minutes. Pour everything out onto a curved plate or in a shallow bowl so that the clams are swimming in the broth.

Eat with a loaf of fresh bread, tearing it off in chunks to soak up the broth with your best friend while you talk about the awesome adventures they are about to embark on.

Serves 2. 

One Year Ago: Whole Wheat Couscous with Goat Cheese and Slow-Roasted Tomatoes

Apple Torte and Skipping Ahead

When my Stunt Guy was in town a couple of weeks ago, he was working a convention that provided lunch for all of the volunteers. Those silly people were going through their lunches and pulling out their apples, and they got dumped into a big bag. At the end of the convention, everyone was leaving town and the bag of apples needed a home. Since they knew he has a girl that lives here, they gave the bag to John and he in turn gave it to me.

So  had a giant bag of apples and a sweet tooth. My first thought was to see about making Tarte Tartine. There is a recipe in Molly Wizenberg's book A Homemade Life that I keep meaning to make. On further inspection, though, it required puff pastry and I didn't have any on hand. So I decided to turn it into a simple torte.

I used my fancy new quiche pan that I hadn't broken in yet and wished after that I'd used a pie pan, because it didn't spread the way I thought it would. I pulled is out of the oven, let it cool, and drizzled on some whipped cream. Not bad, I thought, after chowing down on a slice. But nothing to blog home about. I then wrapped the torte in plastic wrap, got busy, and left it on the kitchen counter.

Skip ahead.

Two days later I'm craving a snack (and some more counter space). I decided to see if I should throw the Apple Torte either in the trash or in the freezer. I pull off another slice, drizzle over a smidge more cream, and take a bite, fully expecting a stale and horrible mouthful of sawdust.

Woah. Not the case my friends, not the case indeed. Over the two days, the juices from the apples had soaked even more into the surrounding sponge, and the cake was now flavorful.....moist...delicate.... delicious! Everything that I had wanted it to be after pulling it out of the oven. I was stunned and delighted.

So you should make this. Then, you should leave it wrapped up in plastic wrap and eat it a day or two later. It's delightful.


Apple Torte

Use apples that are on the tart side rather than the sweet side for this. 

3 Apples, peeled and diced (or sliced)
4 Tablespoons Butter, softened
1/2 Cup Light Brown Sugar
1 Egg
1 Cup Flour
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/4 Teaspoon Nutmeg
1/8 Teaspoon Salt

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch pie pan.

In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the egg, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Mix well. Sift in the flour, baking powder and baking soda. You'll have a fairly thick dough. With your hands, add in the apples and work into the dough as best you can. It'll be stiff and seem like a lot more apple than dough. Press into the pie pan.

Bake for one hour until the top is turning golden brown. Let cool all the way.

Eat, two days later, with surprise, delight, and a drizzle of cream.

Makes 8 servings.

One Year Ago: Fried Green Tomatoes