Adventures of Valley Writer

DIY Stuffing Mix (aka Misadventures in Bread Baking)

2012-01-27T07:00:00.000-08:00

The nice thing about blogging is that I can create pretty much whatever impression of myself I want. I can, for example, let you think that everything I cook and bake always comes out perfectly and is loved by all. But, let's get real. We ALL have our flops and mis-steps in the kitchen. Sometimes it's a dinner that's just "enh" and sometimes it's an all out failure. The best part about flubs is when you end up salvaging them into something unexpectedly yummy. That pretty much sums up the creation of this homemade stuffing mix!

Mr. ValleyWriter had asked for a non-wheat bread, so I tried to make this recipe. All seemed to be going according to plan. That is, until, I popped the bread out of the pan. The top of the loaf came out. The bottom stayed in. Oops. (I might have used a more choice word at that time.) Bread baking is a lot of work - and there I thought it was all for not. But, the bread still tasted good, so I figured I could use it for something else. I threw the hunks into a freezer bag and popped it into the freezer.

I was still kind of annoyed about the whole thing, so it took me a while to get back to those bread chunks. When I was making the shopping list this week, I was about to write down stuffing mix when I thought "Ah ha! I'll make my own!" Thankfully, these actually did turn out to be really good! Best of all, it's super easy (well, after you mess up the time- and labor-intensive loaf of bread, that it). Bookmark this for your next misadventure in bread baking - or if you have a leftover loaf to use up. You won't be sorry!

DIY Stuffing Mix
(Makes about 8 cups)

Ingredients:
1 9" x 5" loaf of bread, cut into 1/4-1/2" cubes
3 Tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp. poultry seasoning
1 tsp. dried parsley
1 tsp. dried sage
1-2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Method:
Preheat oven to 300°F.
Place bread cubes in a large bowl. Drizzle with olive oil. Add spices and salt. Toss to coat and distribute spices evenly.
Spread bread cubes out on a large cookie sheet in a single layer.
Bake at 300°F for 30-40 minutes until crunchy.
Cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

To use: Add 1/3 c. water and 1 Tbsp. butter for every 2 cups stuffing mix.

#MyBaristaMoment with Ambiance Coffee & Cranberry-Almond Biscotti

2012-01-25T00:01:00.000-08:00

As I've mentioned before - I love lattes, cappucinos and other coffee drinks - especially when I can save money and create them at home. So when Smart & Final asked me to create a #MyBaristaMoment with their new Ambiance line of coffees & related products, I was all in. They also asked if I could create a recipe to go along with the coffee. Since I'd been contemplating trying out biscotti for a while, I knew this was the perfect time.

So, I headed off to Smart & Final to do my shopping. I knew I could get all my baking ingredients there, and I figured I'd grab some Ambiance coffee and milk to do a latte. But what really surprised me was just how many different Ambiance products there were. They pretty much make everything you could ever need to go with your coffee - flavored sprinkling dusts, creamers, coffee filters - heck, they even have their own line of sugar! You can check out my full shop here.
[Also be sure to check out the end of this post for info on how you could win some great Ambiance (and other) prizes - AND help me win by voting for my recipe (pretty please!!).]

Since I ended up getting a package of Ambiance Italian Roast coffee, I thought it was only fitting to do an authentic Italian biscotti - without using butter or oil. It makes a nice, crunchy biscuit that's perfect for dunking into coffee (and makes me feel less guilty about essentially eating cookies for breakfast!). Here's what I came up with:

Cranberry-Almond Biscotti
(Makes about 12-14 cookies)

Ingredients:
1 c. + 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. granulated sugar + extra for dusting
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. First Street vanilla extract
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
1 egg white (for egg wash)
1/2 c. First Street sliced almonds, roughly chopped
1/2 c. dried cranberries

mise en place

Method:
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda in a large bowl.
In a separate small bowl, whisk together vanilla, whole egg and egg yolk.
Add egg mixture to dry mixture and stir just until crumbly. Fold in almonds and cranberries.

Work dough together with your hands until well combined and evenly moist.
Dough will form a nice ball:

Place dough on well-floured board. Shape into a log that's about 14" long and 2" wide.

Place dough on cookie sheet covered with foil or parchment paper. Beat egg white and brush over the top of dough. Sprinkle with a few pinches of sugar.

Bake at 325°F for 30 minutes, turning pan 1/2 way through.
Remove from oven and place on wire rack to cook for about 10 minutes.
One cool enough to touch, cut on an angle into 1" wide x 3-4" long slices:

Places slices cut side down on cookie sheets.

Bake at 325°F for another 20 minutes, flipping slices 1/2 way through.
Remove from oven and cool completely.

Now, on an average morning, I'd brew up some Italian Roast and dunk my biscotti straight in (no milk, sugar, etc.).

But, sometimes I like to indulge a bit with a latte. That's what I decided to do with the Ambiance French Vanilla coffee and Vanilla Sprinkling Powder.

French Vanilla Latte
(Makes 2)

Ingredients:
2 cups brewed Ambiance French Vanilla coffee
1 cup First Street low-fat milk
1 Tbsp. Ambiance Vanilla Sprinkling Powder (+ extra for dusting, if desired)

Method:
Place sprinkling powder in the bottom of a small saucepan. Add milk. Turn heat to medium and whisk constantly until powder is dissolved and milk is nice and frothy.

Fill coffee cup with 1 cup brewed coffee. Add 1/2 cup foamed milk. Sprinkle with extra vanilla powder, if desired. Then grab a biscotti for dunking & enjoy!!

Doesn't that sound like a great way to start your morning? If you agree - then please VOTE for my biscotti recipe at www.smartandfinal.com/Ambiance2012. You'll be entered for a chance to win $50 worth of Ambiance products (and if my recipe gets the most votes - I'll win, too!). There are 2 chances to win each week for a total of 6 winners.

But wait, there's more! If you live in CA, AZ or NV, you can shop Smart & Final to create your own #MyBaristaMoment and enter to win some great prizes! Buy your favorite Ambiance coffee, then visit www.smartandfinal.com/Ambiance2012 and enter the code on the receipt from your purchase to be entered to win one of these amazing prizes:

First Prize (1 grand prize per week, 3 total over the campaign): DeLonghi BCO264B Cafe Nero Combo Coffee/Espresso Maker -- a $200 value!
Second Prize (2 winners per week, 6 winners total): A $50 SmartCash card.

Good luck!

This project has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for #collectivebias #CBias. All recipes provided and opinions expressed are my own.

Things to Do in San Diego: Point Loma Tide Pools

2012-01-05T21:58:00.000-08:00

Having visitors is definitely a great way to get out and explore your own area. We're still new enough here that I feel like a bit of a tourist a lot of the time anyway - but this little adventure is one thing we might have missed if we weren't entertaining out of towners. We'd already been to the Cabrillo National Monument on Point Loma in the summer. We did some hiking and got to explore the lighthouse and monument - plus had some great views of the island of Coronado and San Diego harbor. So when Mr. VW's parents came to visit, we decided to take them there, too.

As luck would have it, when we arrived at the park that afternoon, we learned it was the perfect time to check out their tide pools on a part of the peninsula we hadn't seen on our first visit. The water was calm & clear, so we got to see a lot of crustaceans, anemones, snails and even some little fishes.

As a bit of a science geek, I thought it was totally cool. The in-laws seemed to enjoy it, too. And I'm sure it would be a great place to visit with kids. One thing to keep in mind is that late fall through winter is the best time to check out the tide pools because the tides are nice and low during daylight hours. (The park is only open 9am-5pm.) With just a $5 entry fee (per CAR, not person!), it's probably one of the cheapest sites in San Diego to boot!

To sweet endings & new beginnings

2011-12-31T17:53:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year's Eve everyone! On the West Coast here folks are just winding down their days and getting ready to gear up for the evenings festivities - though I imagine many of you in other areas are well in the swing of things already! Whatever your plans - be safe & enjoy!

Here at Casa de ValleyWriter, we're planning a pretty low-key evening in - a little wine, some good food & good conversation - everybody safe & sound. And because it's no celebration without something sweet (at least in our house!), I did whip up a little something to bid adieu to 2011 and welcome the new year:

Triple Chocolate Cookies
(Makes 1 dozen large, bakery-size cookies)

Ingredients:
1/4 cup salted butter, softened
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. white sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 c. flour
2 Tbsp. cocoa powder
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup white chocolate chips

Method:
Preheat oven to 350° F.
Cream butter and sugars togethers until light and fluffy. Mix in egg and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, mix flour, cocoa powder and baking powder.
Place chocolate chips in a yet another separate dish - this one should be microwave-safe. Heat chocolate on high for 30 seconds. Stir and continue microwaving in 10 second increments for up to 1 minute until chocolate is fully melted. (Don't over do it or the chocolate will seize up - trust me on this one!!)
Add melted chocolate to butter and sugar mixture. Beat until smooth. Then beat in flour mixture just until combined. Stir in white chocolate chips.
Place heaping balls of dough (about 2" wide) onto baking pan, spaced 2-3 inches apart. Bake at 350°F for 15-16 minutes until crinkly on top with white chocolate lightly browned.

Happy New Year!

Linking this up to Sweets for a Saturday!

Gluten-Free White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

2011-12-14T09:32:00.000-08:00

We had a holiday potluck last night for my book club and this yummy cheesecake was my contribution:

While I've made a traditional version of this before, this time I made it gluten-free (GF) since a couple of our book club members can't have gluent. It turned out that none of the GF members came last night, but everyone still raved about this cheesecake. It's just as delicious as the original. The crust is delightfully crunchy and chocolately - you really can't tell the difference! This will definitely be one of my go-to recipes from now own when I'm visiting or hosting GF friends - delish!

Gluten-Free White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

Ingredients:
1 c. gluten-free chocolate sandwich cookies (I used a box of these), crushed

4 Tbsp. white sugar

2 Tbsp. cocoa powder
2 Tbsp. butter, melted

2 cups (1 12-oz. bag) white chocolate chips
1/2 cup fat-free half-and-half
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam

Method:
Preheat oven to 325°F.

Wrap a 9 or 10-inch springform pan in 2-3 layers of aluminum foil and spray the inside of the pan with oil.
In a small bowl, combine chocolate cookie crumbs, 4 Tbsp. sugar, 2 Tbsp. cocoa and 2 Tbsp. melted butter. Stir until well combined. Press into thebottom of a 9 or 10" springform pan.
Bring a small saucepan of water (or the bottom pan of a double boiler)to a simmer. Place a metal bowl (or the top of the double boiler) overthe water. Add white chocolate chips and stir constantly until melted.Then stir in half-and-half until smooth. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and 1/2 c. sugar together until creamy. Beat in eggs one at a time.
Add vanilla and white chocolate mixture. Beat just until fully mixed.
Heat raspberry jam in the microwave (or on the stove) until it's the consistency of a sauce.
Pour 1/2 of the cream cheese mixture over the top of your chocolate crust.
Drizzle 1/2 of the raspberry jam on top of that.
Top with the remaining cream cheese mixture. Then drizzle the top withthe rest of the raspberry jam. Run the tip of a knife through the jamto create swirls, if desired.
Place the filled springform pan into a larger pan (such as rectangularcake pan). Fill the larger pan with hot water until water reaches 1/2way up the sides of the springform pan. (This creates a water batharound your cheesecake, which will help prevent cracking or unevenbaking.)
Bake cheesecake at 325°F for 55-60 minutes until cheesecakejiggles only slightly in the middle when moved. (It should jiggle as awhole, like gelatin. If it looks soupy at all - cook it a few minuteslonger until it's done.)

Cool for 1 hour, then refrigerate for at least 8 hours before cutting and serving.

Homemade Gift Idea - Cranberry Apple Quick Bread

2011-12-07T00:01:00.000-08:00

With the economy still struggling, homemade gifts are on the rise. That's a boon for bakers. After all, who doesn't love fresh baked goods? So, when I was asked to come up with a homemade gift idea using dairy products for teachers as part of the California Milk Advisory Board and Smart & Final "Help Our Teachers, Help Our Kids" campaign to help southern CA schools, I was excited to come up with a new recipe.

Just to recap the program, now through December 31st, students and families can collect Real California milk seals from select Smart & Final First Street products (everything from milk to butter to ice cream) and bring them to school.

That little yellow & black logo is what you're looking for!

What makes this quick bread extra special is the addition of sour cream, which keeps it very moist and gives it a subtle richness. I also baked the bread in a stoneware loaf pan, which then becomes part of the gift. Wrap it all up in red plastic wrap with a pretty ribbon or bow - and you've got a great gift for a deserving teacher (or neighbor or anyone else for that matter!).

Cranberry Apple Quick Bread
Makes 1 9" x 5" loaf

Ingredients:
1 stick (1/2 c.) First Street salted butter
3/4 c. granulated sugar
2 eggs
3/4 c. First Street sour cream
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 large apple, peeled and chopped
1 1/2 c. fresh cranberries

Method:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 9" x 5" loaf pan well with vegetable oil or butter.
Cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, sour cream and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder and baking soda. Stir into wet ingredients just until combined.
Fold chopped apple and cranberries into batter until evenly distributed (don't over mix).
Bake at 350°F for 50-55 minutes or until top is browned and toothpick inserted comes out clean.

This #SmartFinalSupportsSoCalSchools project has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for #collectivebias #CBias.

Christmas Cookie Testing: Italian Bakery Cookies

2011-12-01T20:23:00.001-08:00

It's time to start prepping for this year's cookie blitz! Though I don't have my family and coworkers to give treats to this year, I have lots of new neighbors and friends to introduce to my tradition to. To keep things fresh for myself, I always like to try 1 or 2 new recipes. This year, I wanted to try to recreate one of my favorite cookies from a great little Italian bakery Massachusetts. They're a crispy, airy cookie that's created by piping dough through a star shaped decorating tip before baking. They're often covered with sprinkles or dipped in chocolate. Oh how I miss them. They are simply delicious!

Now, I did have one little problem. I don't know what these cookies are actually called. I've always just referred to them literally as "Italian bakery cookies." And when you're not exactly sure the true name of a dish - it's hard to find the right recipe. But, with some descriptive terms like "crispy and light" and "sprinkles" matched with "Italian cookie," I managed to find a few that seemed promising.

Tonight I tried out 2 recipes. The first recipe, which was called an Italian butter cookie, called for all butter and granulated sugar. The dough ended up being pretty tough to pipe out, though the cookie did hold its shape fairly well when baking.

Italian Butter Cookie

When all was said and done, I thought these tasted pretty much like a regular sugar cookie. They were pretty flat and just didn't have that airy-ness I was going for. I didn't even bother trying to dress them up with sprinkles; I knew they weren't the "one."

Recipe # 2, which was oddly enough called a "Sand cookie," called for 1/2 shortening and 1/2 butter, plus a couple of unexpected ingredients - including confectioner's sugar and cornstarch. I think the original oven temperature was a little too hot, though, because they lost their shape a big in the oven. However - the taste and texture was SPOT ON! Dressed up with a little white chocolate and red & green sprinkles and I think we have a serious contender for a new Cookie Blitz star:

Personally, I prefer the name "Italian bakery cookie" over "Sand cookie," so that's what I'm going with. This tweaked recipe below also reflects the adjusted oven temperature, which helps the cookies keep the ridges from the star piping tip better.

Italian Bakery Cookies

(Makes 3-4 dozen)

Ingredients:

1/2 c. butter-flavored shortening

1/2 c. unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/4 c. confectioner's sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 c. cornstarch

chocolate & sprinkles for decoration, if desired

Method:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Cream shortening, butter and confectioner's sugar together on medium speed for 3-5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix on low-speed until smooth. Stir in flour and cornstarch by hand just until combined.

Add dough to piping bag with a star tip on the end. Pipe dough onto parchment paper in circles or large S-shapes.

Bake at 350°F for 11-14 minutes until golden brown around the edges.

Cool completely.

Dip in melted chocolate and decorate with sprinkles, if desired.

DIY Evaporated Milk

2011-11-23T08:37:00.001-08:00

So what do you do when it's the night before (or the morning of!) Thanksgiving and you want to make pumpkin pie, but you forgot to get evaporated milk? If you've got fresh milk - the answer is simple: make your own!

I discovered this trick not due to forgetfulness at the grocery store, but due to an over abundance of milk. Mr. ValleyWriter is the only dairy milk drinker in the family - and he really only uses it on cereal - so we often find ourselves with way too much milk quickly approaching the expiration date. This is a great recipe to use that up!

This will make 12 oz. of evaporated milk, which is the equivalent of 1 can (and how much you need to make that famous "back of the can" pumpkin pie recipe).

DIY Evaporated Milk

Ingredients:
36 oz. (4 1/2 cups) regular milk

Method:
1. Pour 12 oz. (1 1/2 c.) milk into a wide bottom saucepan or pot. Make a note of how high up the milk comes on the side of the pot.
2. Now add the rest of the milk to the pot. Bring it to a very gentle simmer (not boil) over medium-low heat.
3. Reduce heat to low, just so milk is steaming, but not bubbling or burning.
4. Cook for 1 1/2 - 2 hours, skimming off the "skin" that forms on the top of the milk occasionally, until milk is reduced to 1/3 the original amount and reaches that spot you noted on the side of the pan in step 1.

Now your evaporated milk is ready to use. You can make it ahead and store it in the fridge for a couple of days, too. See how simple that was?!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!

Living the good life

2011-11-17T11:56:00.001-08:00

I think almost every culture has their version of "the good life." For the Italians, it's "la dolce vita," for Americans, perhaps it's the "American Dream." For Greeks, the good life means combining good food and fine taste to live a life filled with health and well-being.

As a foodie, I am, of course, intrigued by a culture that puts so much focus of "the good life" on food. Food is a major part of my life - and always has been. But it hasn't always been a "good" part it. You see, for years struggled with my weight. I equated food with happiness. The more food I ate, the happier I would be, right? Well.. obviously not.

When I met my now husband in 2005, my world view really changed. He was so kind and caring and fun and genuine - he made me see so many other ways life could bring joy. He accepted me exactly the way I was - overweight and unfit. And he encouraged me to get out there and take life by the horns despite that. For one of the first times in my life, someone didn't want me to be active and travel and try new experiences in an effort to help me lose weight. He just wanted me to experience the joy in those things. And so, I did!

In a period of about 3 years, I went from spending my weekends watching reality TV marathons eating unhealthy amounts of ice cream and chinese takout to taking off for hikes, running, tending a garden, making thoughtful meals with thoughful ingredients and even eventually blogging about my culinary (and other) adventures. Oh, and did I mention losing 70 lbs? Yes - 70 lbs!

I don't have any pictures of myself at my highest weight. But here's a "before" picture circa 2002 - probably 50 lbs heavier (excuse the bow on my head - it was Christmas!):

And "after:"

When I tell people how much weight I've lost, most think I've either had weight-loss surgery or only ate lettuce for a year. But I assure you that's not the case. Sure, I cut back on calories. I ate smaller meals, more fruits and vegetables and fewer processed foods. For lunch, I traded slices of pizza for delicious baked sweet potatoes. For dessert, I traded pints of ice cream for cups of creamy fat-free Greek yogurt. I got out more. I walked. I hiked. I biked. I ran. I swam. And, perhaps most importantly, I found the joy in not only eating good foods - but also in sharing them with others as I cultivated relationships and tried new experiences.

The weight has stayed off for over 3 years now. As far as I'm concerned - it's all thanks to living a version of the good life similar to the Greeks' - having respect for what the Earth gives us and what I put into my body, and being good to myself. As I've opened myself up to these things, I've gained confidence in myself, found both a career and a hobby I love and built a family I adore. That's my definition of the good life.

How about you? What do you think it means to live the good life? Leave a comment to let me know - and check out the link below to enter to win a trip to Greece to experience the good life for yourself!

Aspart of the Foodbuzz Featured Publisher program, I have been enteredfor the chance to win a trip to Greece courtesy of FAGE. You too canenter to win one of three trips to Greece by entering theFAGE Plain Extraordinary Greek Getaway here http://www.fageusa.com/community/fage-greek-getaway

Help Our Teachers, Help Our Kids - with Sweet Potato Souffle!

2011-11-16T00:01:00.000-08:00

Right now I bet you're wondering - what on Earth is she talking about with that title? Well, I'll tell you! The California Milk Advisory Board has teamed up with Smart & Final to create an awesome campaign to help southern California schools. Now through December 31st, students and families can collect Real California milk seals from select Smart & Final First Street products (everything from milk to butter to ice cream) and bring them to school.

That yellow & black seal in the corner is gold for southern California schools!

Teachers can then collect and submit the seals to be entered in a sweepstakes to win up to $2 million in cash, books and other prizes for their classrooms. Teachers who submit 100 seals get 25 Scholastic books or a $25 school supply gift card. And every teacher gets a Scholastic book just for entering.

Official sweepstakes winners get announced in February, BUT Smart & Final is so awesome that they're doing a separate sweepstakes! If you live within 20 minutes of a Smart & Final store in SoCal, you can go to FirstStreetSupportsSoCalSchools.com and tell why your favorite southern Californa school deserves to win. You'll be entered to win $500, $300 or $200 to be donated to the school EVERY MONTH from now through the end of the year!

I'm supporting this campaign because I think it's a great way to support our schools, which need all the help they can get given the current economic climate in the state. Even if you don't have school-age children, pick a local school in your neighborhood - they ALL deserve help!

To help kick off the campaign and give you an idea of what you can do with some of those First Street milk products after you cut off the Real California Milk seal, I was asked to come up with a recipe for a Thanksgiving side dish. You can check out my shopping expedition here.
After perusing the Smart & Final aisles, I decided to try making a sweet potato souffle. It took a couple of tries in the kitchen to get it just right, but I assure you, this final recipe will make a great addition to your Thanksgiving table. It's creamy yet fluffy, with just the right amount of sweet and spice. (My father-in-law loved it so much, he had thirds!)

Sweet Potato Souffle
(Serves 6)

Ingredients:
3 large sweet potatoes, cooked and peeled (I baked them; you could also boil them)
1 c. First Street fat free milk
1/4 c. maple syrup
2 eggs
4 Tbsp. First Street salted butter, melted
1 oz. low-fat cream cheese, softened
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

2 Tbsp. butter, melted
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
6 Tbsp. chopped pecans

Method:
Grease 2 4-cup souffle cups (or a large, round casserole dish). Preheat oven to 350°F.
Place fat free milk in a small sauce pan over medium-high heat. When milk starts to simmer, reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer 20 minutes or so until milk is reduced by half, skimming off the "skin" that forms at the top every so often.
In a large bowl, whip sweet potatoes and cooked milk. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add maple syrup, 4 Tbsp. melted butter, cream cheese and spices. Beat just until combined.
Spoon into greased souffle cups.
Bake at 350°F for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, mix remaining 2 Tbsp. melted butter, brown sugar and chopped pecans.
When the 20 minutes are up, top souffles with nut mixture and bake another 5 minutes.
Let cool 10 minutes before serving (souffle cups will be HOT!).

This #SmartFinalSupportsSoCalSchools project has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for #collectivebias #CBias. All opinions expressed are my own.

Everything-but-the-Kitchen-Sink Cookies

2011-11-12T15:25:00.001-08:00

Have you ever had cookies that were both sweet and salty? Up until now, I'd only heard of them. I remember someone at a place I used to work making potato chip cookies once and my instant thought was "eww" - why ruin a perfectly good cookie? So, I didn't try them.

Fast forward nearly a decade and my palate has changed a lot. I definitely appreciate the salty-sweet combo these days (salted caramel? heaven!!). So, when I found a recipe for "Everything-but-the-Kitchen-Sink" cookies in my latest cookbook acquisition The Cookiepedia, I decided to give them a try.The recipe calls for a 1:1.5 ratio of sweet mix-ins to salty mix-ins. But, since the only salty snack food I had in the house was tortilla chips, I decided to swap that around and go with 1.5 sweet to 1 salty. The result was this coconut-white chocolate-semi-sweet chocolate-cereal-tortilla chip creation:

I enjoyed the mix of salty and sweet, crunchy and soft. But Mr. Valley Writer wasn't so sure about the corn taste from the tortilla chips. I think he might have liked potato chips better. The original recipe also suggests trying salted nuts, pretzels, corn nuts and cheese puffs (of all things!). Bottom line: it's definitely a versatile recipe and a nice change of pace from the usual chocolate chip (though chocolate chip still reigns supreme in my book). The recipe halves well, so if you even think you might like it - go ahead and give a small batch a try.

Everything-but-the-Kitchen-Sink Cookies

(Makes 18 large cookies; adapted from The Cookiepedia by Stacy Adimando)

Ingredients:

1 cup salted butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 whole egg

1 egg white

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 cups sweet mix-ins (I used a mix of white chocolate chips, regular chocolate chips, flaked coconut and breakfast cereal)

1 cup salty mix-ins (I used crumbled tortilla chips)

Method:

Preheat oven to 375°F.

In a large bowl, beat butter and sugars on medium speed until fluffy. Add vanilla, whole egg and egg white. Beat until fully combined.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda and baking powder. Add to butter mixture and beat just until combined.

Stir in sweet and salty mix-ins.

Scoop heaping tablespoons of dough onto greased cookie sheets, keeping each ball of dough about 2" away from the others (these cookies spread a bit when baked).

Bake at 375°F for 14-17 minutes until evenly browned.

Trip Report: Maui

2011-10-30T16:06:00.000-07:00

I have a good excuse for my radio silence the last couple of weeks: vacation. And not just any vacation - a trip to Maui!! I have wanted to go to Hawaii for as long as I can remember, and thanks to all the traveling Mr. Valley Writer did last year in prepping for our relocation, we had enough frequent flier miles to make going to Maui a lot more budget friendly (Hawaii is expensive!!!).

We enjoyed lots of relaxation by the pool, strolls on the beach, as well as some snorkeling & volcano touring. It was absolutely beautiful! See for yourself:

Kaanapali

Kapalua

Wailea

Snorkeling Molokini Crater

Black Sand Beach - Makena

Tide pools - Black Sand Beach

Mt. Haleakala Crater

View of the big island of Hawaii from 10,000 feet up on Mt. Haleakala

Of course, we also enjoyed lots of good food and drink. One my favorite experiences was the luau we went to in Lahaina (the Old Lahaina Luau). We enjoyed yummy tropical cocktails, great food & views and an entertaining hula show, too! (Sadly, there were no fire dancers. But I say that's just an excuse to go back someday!)

Kalua pig - cooked in an underground oven (imu)

Happy Valley Writer!

I even tried the famous (or should I say infamous) Hawaiian poi (a taro root paste) - which, if you never make it to Hawaii, I assure you that you aren't missing anything! It's like cold, gummy mashed potatoes. Not quite my thing.

In addition to the luau, one standout food that deserves mention was the Black Pearl dessert we had at Mama's Fish House in Paia. Check out this presentation:

I'm slowly making my way back into "real life" - slow being the operative word. That includes getting back to creativity in the kitchen. While I love to cook, it is nice to give it up for a while (not to mention the cleaning and shopping that goes with it!). No worries, I'm sure I'll be whipping up some fall recipes soon; after all, Thanksgiving is just around the corner!

Homemade Caramel Pecan Bark Latte

2011-10-15T08:59:00.000-07:00

I'm normally pretty simple when it comes to coffee. When I make it at home, I use a plain ol' French roast and take it straight up black. If we go out to breakfast, I might order a flavored coffee or add a little cream (sometimes restaurant coffee is just too bitter for me!). In part, my simple approach is because I like the taste of coffee as it is. And it part, it's because I don't really like to "drink" my calories. I will admit though, that when I lived in Massachusetts, I would "indulge" occasionally in a latte from my favorite coffee place a couple of times on a month.

Now that we've moved to California, the major source of lattes is just expensive (I'm too frugal to pay $5 for a coffee!), so I've only had 1 latte in 6 months. But, when I received 2 bags of Godiva Limited Edition flavored coffee as part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program, the wheels in my head got turning on how I could bring back my latte indulgence right in my own kitchen.

I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to steam the milk at first, but it turned out to be REALLY simple. All I did was put a cup of low-fat milk in a saucepan over medium heat and whisk it for about 2 minutes until it was nice and foamy:

Then I added a bit of caramel sauce to the bottom of my cup, filled 1/2 way with freshly brewed Godiva Caramel Pecan Bark coffee and the rest of the way with the milk - and ta da!

Homemade Latte!

The nice thing about the Godiva coffee is that it's got great flavor on its own, so you really don't need to do a whole lot to make a really tasty latte. Here's my simple recipe:

Caramel Pecan Bark Latte
(Makes 2)

Ingredients:
12 oz. brewed Caramel Pecan Bark Coffee
1 c. low-fat milk
2 tsp. caramel sauce (+ extra for drizzle, if desired)

Method:
Put 1 tsp. caramel sauce in each tall coffee cup. Add about 6 oz. of coffee to each cup and stir to dissolve caramel.
Pour 1/2 of steamed milk into each up. (No need to stir - it will mix on its own.)
Drizzle with extra caramel, if desired.
Enjoy!

Disclosure: I received the Godiva coffee free as part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program, but all opinions expressed above are my own.

Focaccia Pizza and A Smart & Final Giveaway!

2011-10-12T00:01:00.000-07:00

Who loves Italian food? Who loves wine? Who loves free stuff? Me, me, me - and hopefully you, too! You see, Smart & Final contacted me to try out their La Romanella line of Mediterranean foods - so I created a yummy focaccia pizza recipe to share with you. You can check out my La Romanella experience (including a guest appearance from Miss Piper!) here.

But before we get to the recipe, I have to let you in on some goodies Smart & Final wants to send your way. From 10/5-10/18, when you buy a bottle of Redwood Creek Wine, they'll give you a free 16 oz. bag of La Romanella pasta. And... they're also giving away a trip to Sonoma wine country!!

To be eligible, you have to live in CA, NV or AZ and within 20 miles of a Smart & Final store. If that sounds like you - then hop on over to Smart & Final's Facebook page and "Like" them to enter the contest.

If you're not eligible to enter, all is not lost. Pour yourself a hearty glass of red wine and try out this recipe for focaccia pizza for a little taste of wine country & Italy all in one. The focaccia gives you a crispy rich outer crust and a light, soft inner crust. It's almost like a lightened up version of Chicago style pizza. Delicious!

Sausage & Roasted Red Pepper and Veggie Focaccia Pizzas
(Makes two 9" pizzas; serves 4-6)

Ingredients
For the focaccia:
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. dried rosemary, finely chopped
2 1/4 tsp. yeast
1 tsp. sugar
1 1/3 c. water
4 Tbsp. La Romanella olive oil, divided
1 tsp. salt
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 Tbsp. La Romanella Parmesan cheese

Pizza toppings:
1 c. La Romanella Tomato & Basil pasta sauce, divided
1/2 c. La Romanella marinated artichoke hearts
2 La Romanella whole roasted red peppers, cut into strips, divided
1 link La Romanella mild Italian sausage, cooked & crumbled
2 Tbsp. chopped sundried tomatoes
1 1/2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

Method
For the focaccia:
In a small saute pan, heat 1/2 tsp. olive oil over medium heat. Add minced garlic and rosemary. Saute 1-2 minutes until garlic is fragrant and lightly browned. Remove from heat and set aside.
In a large bowl, mix yeast, sugar and water. Let sit 10 minutes until frothy.
Add cooled garlic mixture, 1 Tbsp. olive oil, 2 cups flour and 1 tsp. salt to yeast/water mixture. Stir until dough pulls together.
Flour a board with a little of the remaining flour. Dump dough onto board. Knead for 8-10 minutes until smooth, adding a little flour at a time as needed if dough gets sticky.
Coat a large bowl with 1 tsp. olive oil. Add kneaded dough and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise 30-40 minutes until doubled in size.
Meanwhile, use 1/2 - 1 tsp. olive oil to grease two 9" cake pans.
When dough has doubled in size, punch dough and break into 2 even pieces. Spread each half into a greased cake pan. Use your finger to make 1/4" dimples evenly over top of each piece of dough.
Let the dimpled dough rise 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 425°F.
Brush 1 Tbsp. of the remaining olive oil over the top of each bread.
Sprinkle 1 Tbsp. grated Parmesan over the top of each.
Bake at 425°F for 20 minutes until top of bread is lightly browned.
Let cool 10-15 minutes before using for pizzas. (You can also make the focaccia a day or two ahead of time.)

To make the pizzas:
Preheat oven to 425°F.
Top each focaccia with 1/2 c. tomato & basil sauce.
Spread the artichoke hearts, 1/2 of the roasted red pepper strips and the chopped sundried tomatoes evenly over the top of one of the focaccia breads. Top with 3/4 c. mozzarella cheese.
Spread sausage and remaining red peppers over the top of the other focaccia bread. Top with remaining 3/4 c. mozzarella.
Place pizzas on a cookie sheet and bake for 12 minutes or until cheese is melted and lightly browned. Let cool 2-3 minutes before cutting & serving.

This project has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for #LaRomanella #collectivebias #CBias. All of the opinions expressed above are my own.

Sausage & Rice Baked Stuffed Pumpkin

2011-10-08T12:18:00.000-07:00

Once a month, my book club has a potluck dinner where we all bring a dish to share and then discuss the latest month's read over dinner. Sometimes we do a dinner theme related to the book - like when we made Mennonite dishes the month we read Mennonite in a Little Black Dress (loved the book, by the way; if you like David Sedaris' style, I'd highly recommend it). This month's theme isn't related to the book (The Forgotten Garden - haven't finished it yet, but so far, so good!), but rather to the season. We're doing Halloween inspired dishes!

I haven't decided what to make. The obvious choice, to me anyway, would be a dessert. But I want to make sure there's some "real food" there too. So, I was looking through recipes online and this Sausage Stuffed Pumpkins recipe really caught my eye. I decided to try it out first to see how I liked it and if it would work in a potluck setting. As you can see - it's a pretty neat presentation:

And with the changes I made to suit our tastes (no mushrooms, cut way back on the onions/shallots) and my less-fuss cooking attitude - it was absolutely delicious! The pumpkin totally softens up, so with each bite, you get both the sweet, soft pumpkin and savory sausage and rice. It's a perfect fall meal, if you ask me.

In the end, I decided it's probably not the best potluck dish where people will be eating on couches and balancing plates on their laps, since the filling isn't super stiff. But assuming you eat dinner at the table, that shouldn't be an obstacle - so I'd highly recommend giving this a try. It would also make a great Thanksgiving dish!

Here's my adaptation:

Sausage & Rice Baked Stuffed Pumpkin
Ingredients:
1 cup instant brown rice
1 1/2 + 1/4 cups chicken broth (about 1 can)
1/2 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp. olive oil
2 links mild Italian sausage
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/2 shallot, minced
3 Tbsp. white wine
1/4 c. dried currents
1 tsp. dried sage
2 Tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped
1 sugar pumpkin (about 2.5 - 3 lbs.)
salt & pepper

Method:
Carve a circle around the top of the pumpkin to cut the top off, as if you were getting ready to carve a jack o' lantern. Scoop the seeds & pulp out and discard. (You can save the top for presentation if you want; I did not.)
Sprinkle the inside of the pumpkin with salt and pepper. Place in a 2-quart casserole dish or other baking pan filled with 1/2" water.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a small sauce pan, bring 1 1/2 c. chicken stock and 1/2 tsp. curry to a boil. Add 1 cup instant brown rice and reduce heat to low, simmer for 10-15 minutes (as recommended by package directions) until cooked.
Meanwhile, heat 1 tsp. olive oil in a small saute pan over medium heat. Cut sausage links open and crumble meat into pan, discarding casing. Saute about 5 minutes until no longer pink. Push the sausage to the side of the pan and add minced garlic and shallots to the open space. Saute 1-2 minutes until soft. Add currents, sage, parsley, 1/4 c. chicken broth and 3 Tbsp. white wine to the sausage/shallot mixture. Stir to combine. Let cook over medium-low heat until most of the liquid is absorbed.
Add cooked rice to sausage mixture and stir well to combine. Scoop mixture into pumpkin. Top with pumpkin topper, if using. Bake for 30 minutes at 350°F. Loosely cover with foil and bake another 30 minutes until pumpkin flesh is soft.
Let cool 5 minutes. Then cut pumpkin into 4-6 wedges. Carefully place on plates, keeping as much filling on top of the wedge as possible. (I just scooped what fell off onto the side of each plate.)

We've been Boo'd!

2011-10-06T18:59:00.000-07:00

When the doorbell rang at 8:45pm the other night, I had no idea who it might be. We're still fairly new to the area and don't know too many people yet - especially people who would be coming for a visit at that time of night. So, I flipped on the light and peered out the peephole - nothing. So I peeked out the window. And there I spied a little package on the front mat. It was a bright Halloween goody bag.When I opened it up, I found some goodies and this poem inside:

I'd never heard of this game before, but apparently it's been around a while. Basically, whoever starts it makes up a few bags of Halloween treats and copies of a "Boo" sign and the above poem and secretly drops it them on a few neighbors' doorsteps. Then those neighbors each make 2 more goodie bags and copies of the poem and secretly drop them on other doorsteps. Rinse, lather, repeat. I just think this is such a great idea! It's a fun way to build a sense of community and do something even people without kids can enjoy.

So, of course I had to participate. I found copies of the "Boo" sign and poem here, so I printed them out and attached them to Halloween treat bags filled with chocolates and a miniature pumpkin. Last night, after dark, I snuck up to the neighbor's front door, dropped the bag, rang the bell and ran like heck to the next neighbor's house. I dropped the other bag there and then hauled it home before anyone could see me. I felt like mischievous kid - so much fun! And Mr. Valley Writer got some amusement from watching my shenanigans from our 2nd floor window, too. I hope our neighbors got as much of a kick out of it as we did.

Have you ever heard of the Boo game? Do you do it in your neighborhood? (If not - why not start a new tradition?! All the instructions are included in the link above!)

Grilled Chili-Lime Steak with Chimichurri & Roasted Fall Veggies

2011-09-30T21:33:00.000-07:00

I remember a few months ago when we were still exploring our new town, we passed a store and I remarked "What do you think they sell there?" The name of the store was Smart & Final. Was it a closeout store - your final chance to buy an item? Was it an auction place - all sales were final?

Of course, then that lead to a bigger discussion of how, when you move to a new place, you really have no idea what stores are just by their names. Many times they're named after original owners and not very intuitive. You really have to go in and check it out to figure it out - or ask a local who knows. After that tangent, I pretty much forgot about Smart & Final.... until I got an email asking me if I'd be interested in checking out an area grocery store chain called Smart & Final. Ah ha! A grocery store! How could I have missed that? Well, not to worry, I was about to get my chance to check it out as I shopped the store to create a beef recipe.

Turns out, Smart & Final is kind a warehouse club/restaurant depot hybrid. It offers larger packages of food for a better price - as well as restaurant/catering goods like chafing dishes, sterno and paper goods. Their Extra stores, like the one I visited, combine the warehouse/restaurant items along with typical household sized offerings of produce, meat, dairy and frozen foods. It's really quite a varied collection of things. What I was most pleased with was that I was able to find everything I needed for the recipe I decided to make all under one roof. That rarely happens. I usually find myself heading to at least 1 other store for some elusive item - the right herb or spice or something. But not this time. And everything was well-priced to boot.

You can check out a photo diary of my experience here.
And, of course, here's the recipe I was inspired to create:

Grilled Chili-Lime Steaks with Chimichurri and Roasted Fall Veggies

Ingredients:
2 Cattleman’s Finest Beef Loin New York Steaks*
2 Tbsp. lime juice
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
3/4 cup olive oil, divided
2 large garlic cloves
1/2 c. fresh parsley
1/3 c. fresh cilantro
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar

2 large Russet potatoes*, peeled
1 sweet potato, peeled
2 cups Brussels sprouts
1 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
salt & pepper

Method:
Mix lime juice, cayenne pepper, ¼ tsp. salt and 1 Tbsp. olive oil in a freezer bag. Add steaks and mix to coat. Refrigerate for 4-8 hours.
When ready to cook, preheat grill to 400°F. Preheat oven to 425°F.
Cut russet and sweet potatoes into bite-sized pieces. Cut Brussels sprouts in half. Add to a bowl and toss with 2 Tbsp. olive oil. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Spread on a baking sheet and bake 25 minutes, turning half-way through.
To make chimichurri sauce, combine remaining ½ c. olive oil, garlic, parsley, cilantro, lemon juice and red wine vinegar in a blender. Puree until smooth. Add salt to taste.
Place steaks on preheated grill. Grill for 5 minutes on each side. Remove from heat and let rest 5 minutes.
To serve, top steaks with chimichurri sauce and veggies with grated Parmesan cheese.

*Live out West like me? Then visit your local Smart & Final store next week to get these items on sale for a great deal!

Note: This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for #collectivebias. All opinions are my own.

Chocolate Cherry Bread Pudding

2011-09-28T08:37:00.000-07:00

Ever since I saw Giada rave about panetonne on one of her shows, I've wanted to try it. (Say what you will about TV-star chefs, I just love Giada. She's too cute!) So, when I had the opportunity to try some out for free, I jumped at it. Bauducco was generous enough to send me 2 of these Italian specialty cakes - a chocolate chip and a raisin:

Seeing as I was in a chocolate kind of mood last night, I decided to try that one first. When I opened it up and cut into it, I quickly learned this "cake" is much more bread-like, as you can see:

While it is moist, it's not quite as moist as cake - and it has a larger crumb. As I took a bite, a surprising orange flavor came through. Looking closer, I could see little bits of dried fruit in the cake, along with those delicious chocolate morsels. It really is a very unique flavor - a little bit along the lines of a friendship bread, but more refined. On its own, it would be a great snack along with a cup of coffee or tea.

But I wasn't looking for an accompaniment to coffee or tea. No, I wanted some straight up delicious dessert. So, I decided to use the cake for a bread pudding. When I make bread pudding, I often use leftover hamburger or hot dog rolls that are taking up space in the freezer. Their soft texture is perfect for bread pudding - and this panetonne is very similar, so I thought it would work well.

To go along with the chocolate and orange flavors already in the cake, I added some cherries and a touch of rum. Topped with a dollop of vanilla ice cream, the results were delicious, in my opinion.

Mr. ValleyWriter says he thinks the raisin panetonne would make a more "traditional" bread pudding (which he prefers) so we may have to give that a try next. But for me, chocolate takes bread pudding to the next level - a definite must try!

Chocolate Cherry Bread Pudding

(serves 4)

Ingredients:

1/3 c. fresh cherries, chopped

2 Tbsp. rum

1 1/3 c. milk

1/4 c. sugar

1 whole egg

1 egg yolk

2 1/2 c. cubed chocolate chip panetonne

2 Tbsp. chocolate chips

Method:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 4 custard cups and place in a larger casserole dish.

Combine cherries and rum in a small bowl. Set aside.

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine milk and sugar. Stir until sugar is dissolved.

In a separate bowl, whisk egg and egg yolk. Slowly whisk in hot milk/sugar mixture. Add the cubed panettone to the liquid and let sit 10 minutes.

Stir in rum-soaked cherries and pour evenly into prepared custard cups. Sprinkle 1/4 of the chocolate chips evenly over the top of each one.

Place casserole dish containing custard cups in the preheated oven. Create a water bath by carefully adding warm water to the bottom of the casserole dish until it comes about 1/2 way up the sides of the custard cups.

Bake pudding at 350°F for 35 minutes or until set in the center. Remove from water bath and let cool 5-10 minutes before serving.

Disclosure: I received the Bauducco panettone free as part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program, but the opinions expressed above are my own.

Hiking Torrey Pines

2011-09-26T09:29:00.000-07:00

Earlier this summer, my rheumatoid arthritis (RA) started flaring and my activity levels started dwindling. It's hard to be active when you feel like the Tin Man - creaky, stiff and in need of a little oil on the joints (not to mention that it's not great to overdo those joints when they're inflamed!). I thought it might just be one of those things that I had to live with - an unavoidable progression of the disease. But my doctor thought I might just need a little tweak of medication. So, we added a few pills a week to the mix and bam! Within 6 weeks - gone was the hobbling out of bed every morning, the stiff hands, the aching feet. And back was my yearn to get out and explore. (Yay for smart doctors!)

Since you never know how long remission from RA will last, I have been stuffing as much into this wonderful period as I can. Hiking has been big on the list. I've been having a lot of fun finding new places to explore in the San Diego area. We've done a variety of hikes so far - some steep inclines, some moderate hikes and some gentle sloping hills (more nature walks than hikes, IMO). I've enjoyed them all, but Torrey Pines State Reserve has been my absolute favorite by far. It's not the most challenging of hikes, but it is certainly the most beautiful.

There are various trails that take you along cliffs that run by the ocean. You can see as far north as Carlsbad, CA and as far south as La Jolla. Looking at miles of crystal blue water and listening to the sound of waves rhythmically rolling into the rocks below you definitely takes you away from the hustle and bustle of city life.

I think one of the reasons I like it so much is because it reminds me of the quietness of my childhood. Growing up in rural New Hampshire, summer days were often spent in the woods or by a lake - no sounds of cars rushing by or machines humming along - just the wind whooshing through the trees and the delightful laughter of childhood friends.

Mr. ValleyWriter and I agree this will definitely become a top choice for places to take our families when they come to visit. The trails are easy enough for everyone - young, old and everywhere in between - to meander along. If you live nearby or are visiting the area - I'd highly recommend it!

Not Your Mamma's Fish & Chips

2011-09-20T21:42:00.000-07:00

On the continuing quest to find new and interesting ways to prepare fish, I decided to try a coconut encrusted tilapia - along the lines of coconut shrimp. I served it with a spicy sweet chili dipping sauce and sweet potato oven fries. While it wasn't my original intention to create a modern "island" version of fish & chips - that's exactly what we ended up with!

Now, I must admit that normally I'm averse to frying, given that it's not the healthiest way to go. But I knew that would be the best way to truly get these crispy. And as it turns out, the coconut covering really didn't soak up a lot of the oil, so the fish wasn't greasy and didn't really feel like "fried food." If you're still really opposed to frying though, these could be baked at 350°F for about 15 minutes with a flip half-way through.

Coconut Tilapia with Sweet Potato Oven Fries
(Serves 2)

Ingredients:
2 tilapia fillets
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 egg, beaten
3/4 c. sweetened coconut flakes, finely chopped
2 tsp. cajun seasoning
1/2 c. canola oil
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 sweet potatoes, cut into french fry strips
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. paprika
sweet chili sauce for dipping (usually found with the asian foods in the grocery store)

Method:
Preheat oven to 425°F. In a large bowl, combine 1 Tbsp. olive oil, cut sweet potatoes, cumin and paprika. Toss to coat sweet potatoes evenly. Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes until evenly browned, turning every 5 minutes or so.
Meanwhile, in a medium skillet, heat 1/2 c. canola oil over medium heat to 350° F.
On a plate, mix chopped coconut and cajun seasoning.
Coat tilapia filets in cornstarch, then dip in beaten egg. Roll in spiced coconut mixture until both sides of each fillet are evenly coated.
Carefully place fish into heated oil. Let cook 4-5 minutes until coconut is golden brown. Flip and cook another 3-5 minutes on the other side. Carefully remove from oil with tongs or a spatula and place on paper towels to drain off any excess oil.
Serve with sweet potatoe fries & sweet chili dipping sauce.

Ghirardelli Flourless Dark Chocolate Torte

2011-09-11T19:38:00.000-07:00

As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program, I was lucky enough to receive a generous sample package from Ghirardelli Chocolates. Often sample packages are just that - small samples. But Ghirardelli means business, hooking me up with 3 full size bars and 2 bags of the individual chocolate squares:

When I opened the package, I was totally psyched! I love chocolate - especially rich, dark chocolate like Ghirardelli's Intense Dark line. Of course, Mr. ValleyWriter and I had to do some sampling - diving into the Sea Salt Soiree (I love how the salt really brings out the flavor of the chocolate and the almonds give just a little bit of texture, almost like a crispy chocolate bar) and the 86% Cacao (very intense - Mr. VW was a big fan, but it was a little too dark and not quite creamy enough for me).

I pulled aside the 72% Cacoa bars right away, though, knowing I had a special treat in mind to create with those. I've had the 72% Cacoa before, so I knew it was just the right blend of bitterness and creaminess for this amazing flourless chocolate torte:

It's dense, creamy, fudgy and oh-so-heavenly - without being so sweet you feel like you're eating chocolate frosting. I made a mini one (in a 4" souffle dish) because it's just the two of us - and really, all you need is a little slice to feel satisfied.

(served here with a little strawberry syrup)

The recipe below can also be scaled up to make a full-size 10" torte that's sure to wow at your next gathering (just triple the ingredients). Also, it's my understanding that the Ghirardelli chocolate bars aren't gluten-free, but their baking chips are, so if you used the 60% bittersweet chips in this recipe, it would make a terrific gluten-free dessert. Enjoy!

Ghirardelli Flourless Dark Chocolate Torte
(Serves 6)

Ingredients:
3 Tbsp. water
1/8 tsp. salt
1/4 c. granulated sugar
6 oz. Ghirardelli 72% Cacao chocolate bars, chopped into pieces
1/3 c. unsalted butter, cut into 5-6 chunks + extra butter for greasing
2 eggs

Method:
Preheat oven to 300°F. Grease 4" cake pan or souffle dish liberally with butter. Cut a 4" circle out of parchment paper and put it in the bottom of the pan.
In a small saucepan, heat water, salt and sugar over medium heat. Stir constantly until dissolved. Remove from heat.
In a double boiler, melt chocolate. Add butter 1 chunk at a time, whisking after each addition until fully melted into chocolate.
Beat eggs into chocolate-butter mixture 1 at a time.
Beat water-sugar mixture into chocolate.
Pour into greased pan.
Place the small pan inside a larger baking dish. Fill the larger dish with hot water until the water comes about 1/2 way up the sides of the smaller pan with the torte batter. This creates a water bath that will help your torte cook evenly.
Bake at 300°F for 35-40 minutes until torte is set (it should not jiggle when you give it a bit of a shake). Remove from oven and carefully pull out of the water bath. Cool completely before inverting onto serving dish. Refrigerate at least 4 hours before serving.

Disclaimer: I received the Ghirardelli chocolates free as part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program, but the opinions expressed above are my own.

Also posted to Sweets for a Saturday #35

VW's Rules for Beating Blackouts

2011-09-09T12:08:00.000-07:00

As some of you may have heard, we had a huge blackout here in the San Diego area yesterday. It stretched from the Mexican border north to Orange County and east to Arizona. It was HUGE - 5 million people without power. Thankfully, we were back up in about 12 hours, so it wasn't too bad in the end.

But, when it first went out, we had no idea how long it would be. So, I put my usual "the power is out" plan into action and started thinking about what I would do if it went more than 24 hours. Growing up in rural New Hampshire, I've dealt with a lot of power outages. Some last 3-4 days (or more). So, this is old hat for me. I actually had a lot of fun last night sitting outside with my hubby, candles going, drinking wine and looking at the stars. So, I thought I'd share my general rules/strategies for dealing with power outages.

The first 24 hours:
-Gather all your candles, lighters and flashlights and keep them in a central location. Carefully use candles when possible (and safe) to save flashlight battery power. Don't forget to take advantage of any solar lights you may have outside your home. They make great backup flashlights!
-In summertime, keep windows and shades closed until it's cooler outside than inside. Then open everything up to cool the house down.
-Keep the fridge and freezer closed as much as possible. Try to save opening them for when you have several things to get out. For example, last night, I made a list of all the ingredients I needed for dinner and pulled them all out at once. We drank water (and, let's be honest, here - wine!) we had in the closet to avoid opening the fridge.

-Eat the most perishable items you have (milk, eggs, yogurt, etc.) first, if possible. After the first 4-5 hours, move them to the freezer. The freezer should keep things cold for 24-48 hours (though you should probably eat your ice cream ASAP. Not such a bad deal!)
-Use hand sanitizer in place of washing your hands when they're not very dirty. (If you have city water, it may still work during a power outage - but sewer systems may leak. I suggest not using the water unless you really have to. And if you have a well - your pump won't work anyway!)

24 hours and beyond:
-Start cooking/eating. Focus on using up as many of your perishables as you can first (after that, you can move on to your nonperishable items - canned goods, dry goods, etc.) While your microwave and electric stoves won't work, you can still use gas. This includes outdoor BBQs, which you can use your regular pots and pans on in a pinch, if needed.
-Continue to open the freezer as little as possible. While things won't stay frozen, they will stay safely cool longer than things in the fridge. Cook and eat meats as they defrost.
-For washing up, boil water on the BBQ or gas stove. Let it cool until it's comfortable to touch. Use a washcloth and the water to "freshen up" without a shower. You can also wash dishes this way.
-Do as much "fun" stuff during daylight hours as you can - read, play board games, go for walks, etc.
-Make nighttime special - not boring. Pretend you're camping. Look at the stars, tell family stories, etc.

What are your tips for coping with a power outage or blackout?

A surprise visit from the Fairy Hobmother - you could be next!

2011-09-06T15:52:00.000-07:00

If you read a lot of cooking blogs, you've probably heard of the Fairy Hobmother by now. She hails from Appliances Online and goes around granting kitchen wishes to lucky blog commenters. (Hob, by the way, is the term for a stove top in England. So, the Fairy Hobmother is really quite a fitting name for a granter of kitchen wishes!)

I recently left a comment on Kahakai Kitchen's recent post and low and behold, this morning I found the Fairy Hobmother had visited me too! She left a nice gift certificate to Amazon, which I think I may use to buy some bread forms. (Though at 100° F today in sunny southern California, I'm rethinking the desire to bake!)

If you'd like a visit of your own from the Fairy Hobmother, leave a comment on this post. If you're lucky, she might just grant you your very own kitchen wish!

Vanilla Bean Popovers - Sunday Morning Breakfast

2011-09-04T10:37:00.000-07:00

In our household, most mornings breakfast consists of little more than a bowl of cold cereal or a cup of yogurt. But on the weekends - Sunday especially - we make an effort to make a nice breakfast for ourselves. Since moving to sunny California, we've been able to enjoy it out on the patio, too - which is an extra bonus!

This morning's breakfast was simple, yet elegant - and delicious. I made some light and airy vanilla bean popovers (served with homemade orange marmalade) and a nice fruit salad. If you've never had them before, popovers are a wonderful treat - crunchy on the outside, soft and tender on the inside:

Right out of the oven, they look especially impressive:

Best of all, they're actually very simple to make - using ingredients you probably always have on hand - eggs, milk, flour & salt. I like the addition of the vanilla bean for a little extra dimension, but it's not entirely necessary.

Vanilla Bean Popovers

(Makes 6)

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 vanilla bean

Method:

Let eggs and milk sit out on the counter for about 45 minutes - 1 hour to come to room temperature.

Spray popover pan (or muffin tin) generously with oil spray. Place in cold oven.

Turn oven and preheat to 450° F.

While oven and pan are heating up, beat eggs on medium speed until frothy. Beat in milk, flour and salt on low speed just until combined.

Split vanilla bean down the center, lengthwise. Use your knife to scrape the seeds out. Place them in the batter and mix again on low speed for 15-30 seconds to distribute seeds evenly.

Carefully remove hot popover pan from oven. Fill each cup about 1/2 way full with batter.

Return to fully heated oven. Bake at 450° F for 20 minutes (do not open the oven during this time - not even for a peek!!). Reduce heat to 350° F and cook for another 20 minutes until popovers are fully browned.

Remove from oven and pierce with a knife to allow steam to escape (this keeps the popovers from getting soggy).

Serve warm with butter or your favorite jam.

Spicy Grilled Tuna with Mango-Nectarine Salsa

2011-08-23T21:08:00.000-07:00

We finally got a grill at our new place, so I've been cooking outside a lot lately. I'm pretty comfortable grilling most meats - chicken, steak & pork - no problem. But I've always been a little hesitant about fish. I think part of it is that I'm not as comfortable with fish in general as I am with other proteins. My go-to fish recipes are fish tacos (pan-fried) and white wine poached fish in the oven. Always on the lookout to bring more healthy foods into our diet and new recipes on to the menu, I decided to branch out and try grilling up some tuna.

I poked around for recipes and used this recipe as my inspiration. I changed things up to make it a little simpler (there were way too many ingredients in that first recipe!) and use up the last of my fresh nectarines. It came out really, really good! There was nice heat from the spice rub and jalapeno, with the mango and nectarine providing a sweet, cooling contrast. Served with a side of cous cous, red quinoa and baby garbanzo beans (Harvest Blend from Trader Joe's - so good!), it was a very tasty - and healthy - meal.

Spicy Grilled Tuna with Mango-Nectarine Salsa
(Serves 2)

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
1 clove garlic, minced
2 (4-6 oz.) tuna steaks

1 small mango, peeled, pitted and diced
2 small nectarines, pitted and diced
1 Tbsp. chopped cilantro
1 Tbsp. chopped mint
1 jalapeno, minced (seeds & all)
1 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice

1 Tbsp. paprika
1 Tbsp. cumin
2 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. salt

Method:
Mix olive oil, 1 Tbsp. lime juice and minced garlic in glass dish. Add tuna steaks and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 and up to 3 hours.
Meanwhile, mix mango, nectarine, cilantro, mint, jalapeno and remaining lime juice in a small non-metal bowl. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. (Letting it sit a couple of hours allows the flavors to meld.)
When fish is ready to be cooked, spray grill with oil, then turn on heat to medium-high. Let the grill heat up for about 5-10 minutes.
While grill is heating up, combine spices and salt in a small bowl. Remove the fish from the lime marinade and place on a clean plate. Sprinkle spice mixture evenly on both sides of each steak (it will be a fairly thick coating).
Place tuna steaks on preheated grill and cook 3-4 minutes on each side or until fish reaches desired doneness.
Top with mango-nectarine salsa before serving.

Easy Salsa Fresca (fresh tomato salsa)

2011-08-19T18:38:00.000-07:00

The second weekend after we moved into our new house, I popped down to the local garden center to get some tomato plants. It was already early June - too late to start with seeds. But even getting the young plants, I wondered if we'd be waiting until September to see any fruit. (That's what happened to us last year in Massachusetts. In fact, we got our first frost before we harvested our first tomato!)

But, as we know, California's climate is much different than New England's. And so, the first week in August, our first little red beauties started to come in. I planted cherry tomatoes and 2 kinds of full-size varieties (Early Girl and Beefsteak) for a total of about 9 plants. There wasn't time to amend our garden area (it's so dry, it looks like the surface of the moon at this point!), but these plants have done very well in pots.

One of the first things my hubby requested was some fresh salsa - without onions. Yes, in addition to his lack of love for potatoes, he's not into onions either. Now, you might think that salsa without onions would be bland. But with a touch of garlic powder and some salt, the flavor pops right back up and you don't even miss the onions. Here's the recipe I came up with:

(Note: I just used a canning jar to store my salsa in the refrigerator. This is not a proven "canning-safe" recipe.)

Easy Salsa Fresca (fresh tomato salsa)
(Makes about 2 cups)

Ingredients:
5-6 medium-sized ripe red tomatoes, diced
1 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
1/4 c. fresh cilantro, minced
2 jalapeno peppers, minced (seeds and all)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. garlic powder

Method:
Combine all ingredients in a non-metallic bowl. Stir well to help dissolve salt and garlic powder. Cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours before serving to let flavors meld.

So good - you'll have a hard time going back to store-bought!

Nectarine bounty part 3 - strawberry nectarine jam

2011-08-16T20:29:00.000-07:00

As I got toward the end of the nectarine harvest, I knew I had to come up with something to preserve these amazingly sweet little fruits. Yes, they were great to eat raw and made for some yummy desserts, but we were getting a little nectarined-out. Not to mention that I want to be able to enjoy some of the fruity goodness come winter. (That may sound strange considering I live in California where some kind of fruit is usually available - citrus at a minimum. But having lived in New England for the first 30 years of my life, I can't imagine anything other than a long, cold winter. It will be interesting to see how I feel about it after the first winter here!)

So, I decided to make a nectarine jam. And on my way to the store to get pectin, I passed a sign for a strawberry stand and decided we needed to add some of those, too!

The result was a naturally sweet (but not overly sugary) jam that's wonderful on freshly made bread and heated up and drizzle over ice cream. (That's what I've tried it on so far!)

I ended up having enough fruit to make a big batch - 8 jars in total. And because I wanted to can my creation, I followed the directions for 100% nectarine jam to ensure there would be enough acidity. (Strawberry jam doesn't require added acidity in the form of lemon juice - but peach/nectarine jam does.) Here's the recipe I came up with courtesy of the guidelines on the Ball® low/no-sugar needed pectin bottle:

Strawberry Nectarine Jam
(Makes 8, 8-ounce jars)

Ingredients:
5 cups peeled, pitted and chopped nectarines
2 1/2 cups hulled and chopped strawberries
4 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 1/3 c. water
6 Tbsp. low/no-sugar needed pectin
1-1 1/2 c. sugar

Method:
Sterilize canning jars and hold jars and lids in a hot water bath until jam is ready.
In a separate large pot (at least 8 quart), combine chopped nectarines, strawberries and lemon juice.
Mash with a potato masher until mixture is only slightly chunky.
Add water and pectin. Bring to a rolling boil that can't be stirred away. Skim off any foam that rises to the top.
Add sugar until jam reaches desired sweetness. (I added between 1 and 1 1/2 cups - you can add up to 3 cups, if desired.
Continue boiling for 1 full minute. Then cover and remove jam from heat.
Carefully remove jars and lids from hot water bath.
Ladle jam into jars, filling to within 1/4" of the top of the jar. Cover each jar with a lid and metal band.
Once all jars are filled, return them to the hot water bath. The jars should be covered with at least 1" of water.
Cover canning pot and bring to a gentle, but steady boil. Boil for 10 minutes (longer at altitudes above 1,000 feet). Turn off heat and let jars sit 5 minutes. Carefully remove from water and allow to cool. After 24 hours, check your lids to make sure jars are fully sealed. (Unsealed jars can be refrigerated. The jam should be used within a few weeks.)

Nectarine bounty part 2 - Nectarine muffins

2011-08-07T18:38:00.000-07:00

After the cobbler, nectarine muffins were my next experiment. I based this recipe on an simple blueberry muffin recipe. With a little cinnamon kick and a sprinkle of brown sugar, it makes a lovely little breakfast treat (and another great way to use up those nectarines!).

This recipe makes about 16 regular-sized or 3 dozen mini muffins, and they freeze very well. (Just defrost overnight on the counter or pop in the microwave for about 45 seconds to enjoy again.)

Nectarine Muffins

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
4 tsp. baking powder
2/3 c. vegetable oil
2 eggs
2/3 c. milk
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 c. diced nectarines
2 Tbsp. brown sugar

Method:
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Mix flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. In a separate bowl, beat oil, eggs, milk and cinnamon. Stir liquid mixture into dry ingredients. Mix until well blended (batter will be thick). Fold in diced nectarines.
Ladel batter into lined or greased muffin tins. Fill each tin 2/3-3/4 full.
Sprinkle brown sugar over top of each muffin (about 1/4 tsp. per muffin).
Bake at 400°F for 15-17 minutes (for regular-sized muffins) or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
For mini muffins, bake about 8-10 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Nectarine bounty part 1 - Nectarine cobbler

2011-08-04T18:52:00.000-07:00

Finally - a free moment to share pics and post. As I mentioned before, our amazing nectarine tree has produced an incredible crop this year. They are white-fleshed, with bright pink centers that pull easily away from the pit. (My handy backyard orchardist book tells me this makes them a "freestone" variety, as opposed to "clingstone" - e.g. "cling" peaches.)

They are perfectly sweet and tender - great for eating fresh, chopping into yogurt or cereal and baking. I'm in heaven, even if it is a lot to keep up with!

The first creation I made was this nectarine cobbler:

It's based on a recipe I found in a charity cookbook for the Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters that my sister-in-law gave me. (As an aside, I have to say some of my favorite cookbooks are these neat little church/charity books that all the members contribute to. Such interesting variety - and real world ease - unlike some celebrity chef books that have the strangest ingredients and 45 steps!)

Anyway - the recipe was a good base. Next time, I'd just add about another 1/2 cup of fruit, which is reflected in the recipe below. Very tasty - especially with fresh whipped cream!

Nectarine Cobbler
Ingredients:
4 Tablespoons salted butter
3/4 c. flour
2/3 c. sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 c. milk (I used vanilla almond milk)
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
2 1/2 c. sliced nectarines
2 Tbsp. sugar

Method:
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Cut up butter into chunks and place in 9" pie plate. Put into oven for 3-4 minutes or until butter is melted. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, mix flour, 2/3 c. sugar, baking powder, milk, cinnamon and nutmeg together until smooth. Pour into buttered pie plate. Layer fruit on top of batter. Sprinkle with remaining 2 Tbsp. sugar.
Bake at 350°F until browned and set in the center (about 50-55 minutes).
Cool at least 20 minutes before cutting and serving. (It can also be served at room temperature.)

I'm linking this up to Sweets for a Saturday. Go check out the link for more amazing sweet creations!

Woefully behind...

2011-08-03T08:31:00.000-07:00

I keep thinking I really should do a blog post. I've got recipes and pictures waiting... but it just never materializes. Between working, taking care of the house & fruit trees and running errands, bedtime seems to come earlier and earlier every night. (I can't even imagine how parents add kids into the mix!!)

Plus we just got back from a trip back east to find our nectarine tree fully ripe and already dropping fruit. In between recovering from the inevitable airplane cold, we've been rushing to save as much as we can - freezing, canning and baking. Cross fingers, I think we're finally getting it under control. Lesson learned: fruit trees don't take vacation or sick days!

No time for pictures or recipes today, but so far, I've made a nectarine cobbler, nectarine crumble and nectarine muffins. Promise to share just as soon as we get a break!

Lemon Meringue Pie - Sweets for a Saturday

2011-07-08T19:14:00.000-07:00

I'm posting this yummy lemon meringue pie recipe as part of Sweet as Sugar's Sweets for a Saturday dessert round up. If you haven't check it out before - you must! It's a sweets lover's dream!

Now, about this pie. I must say, I was always intimidated by the though of baking a lemon meringue pie. I'd heard horror stories from my aunts (who always made them for holidays) about meringue falling flat or burning up in the oven, filling that never set, etc. But given our overabundance of lemons, I figured I'd give it a shot. As you can see from the above, it came out great. Perfectly lofted, browned meringue and a bright, delicious lemon custard. And it really wasn't that hard!

I started with this recipe as the base and made my own little tweaks along the way to lower the sugar a bit, up the lemoniness and work with ingredients I had. I've also added my tip for getting that lofty meringue to the directions (it's pretty "cool"!). The result is a bright, not-to-sweet lemon filling with a light, airy topping. It's really a wonderful summer dessert.

Lemon Meringue Pie
Ingredients:
1 homemade flaky pie crust
1 cup dried beans (not for eating - just for weighting the pie crust down)
3/4 cup sugar
4 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 3 lemons)
zest from 3 lemons
2 Tbsp. salted butter
4 eggs, separated
1/3 cup sugar

Method:
Preheat oven to 425°F. Roll pie crust out and place in a 9" pie pan. Cover with a piece of parchment paper and top with 1 cup dried beans (this will keep the crust from puffing up). Bake for 10 minutes. Remove parchment and beans, and continue baking for 8-10 minutes until crust is golden brown. Remove from oven and set aside while you make the filling and meringue.
Turn the oven down to 350°F.
Place a clean metal mixing bowl and beaters in the freezer.
To make filling, mix 3/4 cup sugar and cornstarch together in a medium saucepan. Add lemon juice, zest and water. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, place egg yolks in a small bowl and beat. Once sugar mixture is boiling, slowly pour a little of it into the egg yolks, beating constantly. Continue pouring and beating until about 1/2 of the sugar mixture has been added to the eggs. Pour this back into the saucepan and beat vigourously while bringing the mixture back to a boil. Cook until mixture is thick like pudding. Turn off heat and cover filling to keep it hot.
Take out the bowl and beaters you put in the freezer before. Add egg whites to the bowl. Start beating on medium speed. Slowly add sugar and continue beating. (It should take about a minute to add all the sugar.) Continue beating until egg whites are fluffy and form stiff peaks when you pull the beaters out. (This takes a while - don't give up!)
Pour the hot filling mixture into the baked pie crust.
Immediately spread the meringue over the top, making sure it touches all sides of the crust (it will form a seal this way).
Bake pie at 350°F (lower than what you baked the crust at!) or until meringue is lighly browned.
Cool completely before serving.

Homemade Pita Bread

2011-06-24T18:02:00.000-07:00

Pita bread is one of those things that I always wanted to try making, but thought might be beyond my ability. When I realized the other day that I needed pita breads for dinner and had forgotten to buy them at the store, I figured I'd at least scope out some recipes. From what I read, it actually seemed pretty basic. So, I decided give it a whirl.

As you can see, it worked great! I did have one flop, where I discovered the key to getting that pocket to form is to just flop the prepared dough directly onto the cooking pan and then not touch it a bit (even if the circle gets a little wonky).

To compensate for my dislike of long knead times and lack of breadmaker - and the desire for some whole grains - I adapted this recipe to suit my needs. Here's my lazy kneader version:

Ingredients:
1 cup + 2 Tbsp. water
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 1/2 tsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. active yeast

Method:
Mix water, sugar and yeast and let sit 10 minutes to proof. Add white and wheat flours, salt and olive oil. Mix into a shaggy ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit 20 minutes.
Pour dough out onto oiled board. Knead 2 minutes, then return to bowl. Cover and let sit about 1 hour or until dough is doubled.
Drop dough onto a lightly floured board. Flatten out gently into a rectangle and roll and into a 12-inch rope. Cut dough into 8 evenly sized pieces. Roll each into a ball.
With a floured rolling pin, roll each ball into a 6-7 inch circle. Set aside on a lightly floured piece of parchment paper and cover with a damp tea towel. Let pitas rise about 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 500 F. Carefully drop 2-3 pitas on a wire rack (I found just plopping them down straight off the parchment paper worked best). Bake 4-5 minutes until pitas are puffy and tops start to brown. Remove from oven and place pitas back under a damp kitchen towel until completely cooled and softened.

Lemon-Cranberry Bread

2011-06-16T19:41:00.000-07:00

Last night I was craving something sweet. But there was no chocolate in the house (heaven forbid!) and not enough butter to make blondies or shortbread... but one thing we know I did have was lemons. I also happened to have some dried cranberries, so I decided to reinvent an old recipe I have for orange cranberry bread. The results were lovely - very bright, lemony and refreshing, yet sweet enough to hit the spot. (And it was just as good for breakfast as it was for dessert!)

The only thing I would do differently next time is reduce the cook time by 5-10 minutes (reflected in the recipe below) because I thought the edges were a touch dry. Note to self: lemon bread dough doesn't start out as dark as orange bread, so don't expect it to bake up as dark! Onto the recipe...

Lemon-Cranberry Bread

Ingredients:
1/2 cup dried cranberries
2/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 3 lemons)

zest of 2 lemons
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg
2 Tbsp. salted butter, melted

Method:
Preheat oven to 325. Grease loaf pan.
Mix lemon juice and lemon zest. Add dried cranberries. Set aside for 10 minutes to allow cranberries to plump.
Mix flour, sugar, baking soda and baking powder together in a separate bowl.
In another bowl, beat egg. Add melted butter. Stir in lemon juice and cranberries. Then mix in flour mixture just until combined. (Dough will be stiff.)
Spoon dough into greased loaf pan and bake for 50-55 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Cool completely before cutting.

Fresh Orange Marmalade

2011-06-14T19:46:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in my last post that our new home has a lovely bunch of fruit trees in the backyard. In reality, it's practically an orchard! Or at least it seems with just the two of us here. We have 2 avocado trees, 2 orange trees, 2 grapefruit trees, an overachieving lemon tree (think I'm kidding? see below), a nectarine tree, a tangerine tree, a plum tree and an apple tree.

Have you ever seen that many lemons?!

Thus far, I've made many batches of lemonade, as well as a couple of batches of lemon bars and as many lemony dinners as I could come up with (like lemon shrimp, chicken piccata, lemon pepper fish). I am loving having such bounty in our backyard! But I got so focused on using all those lemons, that I didn't notice the explosion of ripe fruit occurring on the back of one of the orange trees. Those bright orange orbs had somehow managed to tuck themselves under the leaves, so it was only when I was doing some pruning that I noticed a bunch ready to go.

In addition to some amazing fresh-squeezed orange juice, I also made a batch of orange marmalade. I used Alton Brown's recipe and was happy with the results:

I used my food processor to make slicing the oranges and lemon a snap. The only thing I might try next time is using less sugar, or maybe adding another lemon. My oranges are pretty sweet on their own, so the marmalade is now REALLY sweet. But I didn't want to mess with it on the first attempt. No worries - there's plenty more oranges for next time!

Got any ideas for using up some of my lemons and oranges? Please share!

Oven vs. Oven vs. Oven (and a chocolate chip recipe)

2011-06-11T08:36:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've been quiet so long. But there's a very good reason why. We just moved in to our new house! Yes, we sadly said goodbye to the beach (or not so sadly to those ancient appliances) and gave a warm hello to our new California home!

Since I had a more flexible schedule when we first moved here, I did a lot of the "weeding out" part of the house hunt with our real estate agent while my husband was at work. There were a few "no way!"s, a lot of "nice, but I'm not quite sure it's right for us" and a few "I have to bring Mr. ValleyWriter back!" This house was the first house I said that about. Two of the main reasons - the amazing kitchen and the wonderful fruit trees in the backyard. More on the fruit trees in another post. Today - we'll tackle the kitchen.

After we bought the house and met the neighbors, I learned the wife of the former owners was a home ec teacher and a big cook. I believe this explains the array of ovens at my disposal. Within a 3 door Kitchenaid wall unit, I have a microwave/"Ultima" oven combo and a convection/conventional oven combo - plus a set of warming drawers. I have to admit, other than the microwave and conventional ovens, I have little idea of how to use them or what the various benefits might be. Sure, I could read the manual that the previous owners left us, but what fun is that? Instead, I decided to try out my favorite chocolate chip recipe in all 3 ovens.

My main categories for "evaluation" were bake time, appearance, texture and taste.

First up - bake time. The "Ultima" oven cookies, which get baked on a special crisping pan in the compartment that I usually use for a microwave (this in and of itself seems very odd to me) baked up in a speedy 8 minutes. This is a pre-programmed time set by a code I found on the label inside the oven (there are various food items listed - desserts, meats, casseroles, pizza, etc.). The conventional oven took about 13 minutes and the convection oven 15. So, I guess the benefit of the Ultima oven is cutting your cooking time by almost half - when you need a cookie STAT!

Next - appearance:

As you can see, "one of these things is not like the other." In front on the left, we have the "Ultima" cookies, which spread out a lot thinner than the conventional oven cookies (front right) and convection cookies (back). They also didn't get that dark carmelized color. The other two sets looked similar - nicely browned and just the right thickness.

Texture: The Ultima cookies were soft and a little bready. I think that was because the sugar didn't really get to carmelize. The convection oven cookies were crisper, though they still had pretty soft centers. The conventional oven cookies had the most crunchy, chewy texture (which is what I'm used to getting from this recipe).

Taste: Taste was pretty close (and very yummy) all around. I'd say the Ultima cookies just had little less depth, since they didn't get too much carmelization going on. But the convection and conventional cookies were pretty much identical.

The winner? It's a tie. I'd take convection or conventional. Both had good texture and flavor - and I don't really mind that they took a little extra time to bake. I don't see the Ultima oven getting much use - at least not for baked goods. We'll see what other codes I decide to test out...

So - are you craving chocolate chip cookies yet? As promised, here's my favorite recipe:

The BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies EVER!
(makes 2 dozen)

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 c. salted butter, melted
1 c. brown sugar (loose, not packed)
1/2 c. white sugar
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method:
In a small bowl, combine flour and baking soda. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended (no lumps). Add vanilla, whole egg and egg yolk and beat until creamy. Beat in flour and baking soda mixture until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips.
Refrigerate dough for 10 minutes to help firm it up.
Meanwhile preheat (conventional) oven to 350 degrees (or set convection oven to 325). Line baking pans with parchment paper.
Drop heaving tablespoons of chilled dough onto parchment paper at least 2" apart.
Bake for 13 minutes (15 in an convection oven) until cookies are evenly browned.

Got Salsa?

2011-05-18T17:48:00.000-07:00

Back at the beginning of May, I saw that Foodbuzz was having a recipe contest sponsored by Herdez® Salsa. I submitted my Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe, figuring "you can't win if you don't play" but never really thinking I'd win. Well, guess what? I did!! As part of the prize, I was told to expect a sampling of Herdez products. Imagine my surprise when my "sampling" arrived in a 40 lb. box last night! After wading through packing tape, peanuts and bubble wrap, we uncovered....

...2 CASES of salsa! (1 medium and 1 salsa verde)

Good thing I like salsa! I've got several recipes that call for salsa - and of course, it's always good straight out of the bottle with chips - but I'm always open to new ideas, especially for the salsa verde. What's your favorite way to eat salsa?

Potato Salad Even a Husband Could Love

2011-05-15T11:04:00.000-07:00

I promise I won't go on and on again about Mr. ValleyWriter's lack of love for potatoes. Suffice it to say, he wasn't thrilled when I told him we were having potato salad as a side dish with dinner. That is, until, I told him my inspiration to kick it up a notch - BACON! Yes, I think most of us will agree, bacon makes almost everything better - potato salad included. So, if you're looking for a little something different for your next picnic - I highly recommend throwing a handful of crumbled bacon into your favorite potato salad recipe.

Here's mine:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs. red bliss potatoes

2 eggs

4 slices thick cut, nitrate-free bacon

2/3 c. light mayo

2 Tbsp. honey mustard

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper

Method:

1. Scrub and rinse potatoes, then cut into bite-sized pieces. Place in a large pot and cover with hot water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Cook for 7-10 minutes until a fork slides easily through the potatoes. Immediately drain and rinse with cold water. Repeat 2-3 times until potatoes feel warm, but not hot. Lay potatoes out on a large cutting board or baking sheet, sprinkle with 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper and allow to cool completely.

2. Place eggs in a small saucepan and cover completely with water. Bring to a boil over high heat. As soon as water reaches a full boil, cover saucepan with a tight fitting lid and remove from heat. Let sit 15 minutes. Carefully remove eggs from the saucepan with a spoon, place into a small bowl and rinse repeatedly with cold water (or submerge in ice water) until eggs feel cool.

3. Place 4 strips of bacon in a frying pan over medium heat. Cook about 5 minutes on each side until bacon is nice and crispy (but not burnt). Remove from pan and drain between 2 paper towels.

4. In a small bowl, combine light mayo and honey mustard. Mix well.

Now put it all together:

Shell the hard boiled eggs, chop and add to a large bowl. Crumble bacon into small pieces into the bowl. Add cooled potatoes. Pour mayo/mustard mix over the top and fold into the rest of the ingredients. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours before serving to allow the flavors to develop. I actually thought the bacon flavor got more pronounced the longer it sat, so next time, I'll make it the night before.

Just in time for Cinco De Mayo - Chicken Tortilla Soup

2011-05-03T20:45:00.000-07:00

Being so close to Mexico, we have a lot of Mexican-inspired restaurants near us now. (I say "Mexican-inspired" because my limited experience with Mexican food leaves me with little authority to judge it's authenticity. Though I can tell you it's tasty!) One popular menu item is tortilla soup. And while I do enjoy eating it at restaurants, sometimes you just have to have homemade.

The problem is (or, rather, was) that I'd only ever made it in my slow cooker. But, I figured adapting my recipe to the stovetop wouldn't be that hard since I'm working from home and can spend leave a pot boiling for a couple of hours (not a luxury everyone has on a weeknight). Fortunately, even with my ancient cooking equipment, the soup turned out very yummy!

If you don't have recipe planned for Cinco De Mayo yet, I highly recommend this one. Serve with a margarita for an extra festive feel!

Chicken Tortilla Soup
(Serves 4)

Ingredients:
1 large (8 ounce) chicken breast
4 cups chicken stock
1 cup salsa (I use medium heat salsa; adjust to your spice preference)
1 clove garlic, minced
kernels from 2 ears freshly cooked corn (or 1 cup frozen/canned corn)
1 tsp. ground Ancho chili pepper
1/2 tsp. cumin
1 lime, cut into segments
2 cups tortilla chips
1/2 cup shredded cheese, if desired

Method:
Place chicken breast in a large pot. Pour chicken stock and salsa over top. Mix in garlic, corn, chili pepper and cumin. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cover and let cook 45 minutes.
Remove chicken from pot and let cool 5 minutes. Once cool enough to handle, take 2 forks and pull apart/shred the chicken breast.
Put shredded chicken back into soup. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer another 45 minutes to 1 hour.
To serve, top bowls of soup with a handful of tortilla chips (which get crushed into the soup to soften), a wedge of lime and a sprinkle of cheese, if desired.

(To make this in a slow cooker, dump the first 7 ingredients in the crock and cook on low for about 6 hours. Remove chicken from crock, shred and return to crock for 1-2 hours to allow the flavor of the broth to penetrate the chicken. Follow instructions above for serving.)

Springtime Strawberry Spinach Salad

2011-04-30T11:58:00.000-07:00

I am amazed at just how abundant the flowers, fruit and other produce are here in southern California, at a time when I am used to just barely seeing the first crocuses blossom back home in New England. I just arrived at the end of March/beginning of April and from the very first week, there's been lots to see and taste.

We recently visited The Flower Fields, which are 50 acres of ranunculus flowers that only bloom from late March to early May each year. They are in full bloom right now - and quite the springtime sight to see.

(Me in front of the fields that seem to go on forever)

(An artsy closeup of the ranunculus)

In addition to the ranunculus, they also have a huge greenhouse full of beautiful orchids.

If you are ever in Carlsbad, CA during springtime, the Flower Fields are a must see! It's $10 per person to get in, but you can usually find a 2-for-1 coupon with a little Google magic. It's amazing to walk around the row upon row of flowers, ranging from white to orange to pink to purple to blue. In one section, they even have the flowers planted in a pattern that mimics the American flag. I couldn't get a good shot of it from the angle I was at, but I assure you it was very cool.

Just across the way from the Flower Fields are acres of strawberries, which are also in bloom. Every strawberry I have had so far in California has been incredibly sweet and juicy and perfect. Yes, we grow strawberries back home, too, but even when they're at their best in June, I'm not sure they're quite this good!

Of course, strawberries are good for all kinds of desserts - shortcake, trifle, homemade ice cream, etc. But we also really like them as a side dish in this strawberry spinach salad. It's so simple, I can hardly call it a recipe, but it's so good - it has to be shared!

Strawberry Spinach Salad
Ingredients:
5-6 cups baby spinach, rinsed and dried
1 cup sliced strawberries
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup sweet poppy seed dressing

Method:
Mix spinach, strawberries and almonds together in a large bowl. Pour dressing over top and toss to coat. Serve immediately.

Roasted Golden Beets with Sauteed Garlic Beet Greens

2011-04-17T15:27:00.000-07:00

Yes, it took me a while, but I finally have a recipe to share! Things have been busy here. Work, house-hunting, beach walking - you know, that sort of thing. I made it to the farmer's market, too, and found these beautiful golden beets.

I never knew there was any beet other than the traditional red beet, so I was intrigued by these. The woman working the farm stand told me they would taste a little milder than a regular beet and best of all, they wouldn't stain your hands (and everything else) when you cut into them. They came with the greens still attached, too, which was a bonus. I decided to use everything in this yummy roasted beet with garlic beet greens side dish.

I agree that the golden beets were a little milder than red beets, but there was still that distinct "earthy" flavor, so I bet this recipe would work well with the red variety, too. (As a side note, I served this with a white salmon - it was a great pairing!)

Roasted Golden Beats with Sauteed Garlic Beet Greens

(Serves 2)

Ingredients:

One bunch of golden beets

2 tsp. olive oil, divided

1 tsp. sea salt, divided

1/2 tsp. freshly ground mixed peppercorns (or plain ol' pepper)

2 cloves garlic, minced

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cut the tops off the beets, saving the greens for later. Wash the beets thorougly, then blot with a paper towel. Place beets in a small, oven-safe dish. Toss with 1 tsp. olive oil, 1/2 tsp. sea salt and 1/2 tsp. freshly ground peppercorns until evenly coated.

Cover with foil and bake at 400 for about 45 minutes or until fork-tender.

While the beets are roasting, wash beet greens thoroughly. Remove thick stems, saving just the leafy greens. Tear into 2-3" pieces.

When the beets come out of the oven, remove the foil and set them aside.

Heat remaining 1 tsp. olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add minced garlic and saute just until fragrant. Add beet greens and cook, stirring occasionally, until greens are wilted (about 5-7 minutes).

Cut roasted beets into sections and add to wilted greens just before serving.

Upsides & Downsides...

2011-04-04T14:05:00.000-07:00

Let me start by saying I am thrilled to be living in sunny California! Since we've been here, every day has been in the high 60s/low 70s, sunny and dry. My understanding is that's pretty much what you get in Southern California - save for the odd cold, hot or rainy day, which doesn't come too often. I am quite happy with that!! And very happy to be missing the wacky spring weather they are having back home in New England (snow one day, then 50 degrees the next, then hail the following - yikes!).

I am also tickled pink with the location of our temporary housing. When I first learned we would be relocating here, I said to my husband "I just want to live in a place by the beach for at least a month. It can be a teeny little apartment - as long as I can walk to the beach!" Well, I got my beach wish. Here's the view from the balcony off the bedroom:

We're about a 2 minute walk (if that) to the ocean. It is fabulous! We're enjoying sunsets like this almost every night:

I am incredibly grateful to have this opportunity and feel totally blessed.

That said, as the title of the post implies, there are a few minor downsides to this living arrangement. First of all, this is a furnished apartment and all of our stuff is in storage, so I hardly have anything of my own. (Fortunately, a box of clothes we shipped to ourselves finally showed up so I can stop recycling the same 3 shirts.) But beyond basic personal effects, we're making due with what's here. In the kitchen, that means no baking pans, no scale to make bread, no mixer, etc. -- only the bare-bones basics. I have 1 measuring cup -- 1!! -- a couple of pots and a casserole dish. (Yes, I know there are people with much, much less out there, so I'm not complaining about my life condition - just giving you an idea of what I'm working with.)

And let me just give you a tour of my state-of-the art kitchen (circa 1972):

The top one there is a microwave, so I'm told. It apparently doesn't work anymore, but I'm fascinated by the options on it - saute, broil, etc. Who knew you could do that with a microwave? As for the oven - I guess it works, but I honestly haven't tried it yet given my limited utensils and pans.

On the brighter side of things, we do have a little patio in the back with a grill. So that's probably what I'll be mastering soon. Grilling is not my forte, but there's never a better time to learn, it seems!

There's also a little farmer's market in town later this week that I can't wait to check out. I've seen roadside stands selling strawberries -- that's right, in April!!! (For you non-New Englanders, strawberries are usually a June/July thing for us - hence my elation at seeing them 2 months earlier.) So I want to try some of those out and see what else there is to throw together in my sweet little kitchen by the sea.

Piper & Zoe Take San Diego!

2011-03-31T11:20:00.000-07:00

We have safely arrived in California! We're living in temporary housing for a while, so most of our stuff is still somewhere in the middle of the country, but we've got the important things here with us. Two of the most important things, of course, being our cats - Piper & Zoë.

I know I've mentioned my "girls" and their various escapades a few times... but this was certainly the biggest adventure for them yet! The fact that they were coming on the plane with us was a fascination for many people we talked with the move about. I guess you don't see (or hear) cats on planes very often. They actually did very well - better than I expected. They meowed almost all the way to the airport (over an hour's drive), but after that - barely a peep. Piper just let out a couple of yelps when we ran through some turbulence - but I think I heard some humans do that, too!

Here's a quick photo tour of the "Piper & Zoë Take San Diego" journey:

Zoë says: "I'm ready to go, Mom! (But that flash is awfully bright....)"

Made it through security (no pat downs - whew!) - now we're just waiting to get on the plane

Piper was wide-eyed at all the goings on

Ready for take off!

One flight down - now enjoying a ride on a moving walkway in Chicago

What to do with your cat when you have to use the airport loo (in case you were wondering)

Second flight down - we've arrived in California!

Settling right in at the new place - Piper finds her spot

And of course, Zoë's found hers, too!

Big News!

2011-03-20T17:54:00.001-07:00

If you're coming right to the main page and not reading this through a blog reader, you'll see we've got a new look. It's a hint about the big news.

We're moving to California!!!

So, there won't be any adventures in the Pioneer Valley for a while. But I'm not going away - just changing the blog name and the look.

I'll probably be MIA for the next few weeks as we wrap things up here in Massachusetts and get settled in on the opposite coast. I can't wait to start taking advantage all of the amazing, fresh California produce and getting cooking in the kitchen again. See you then!

Foodie Lust: Modernist Cuisine

2011-03-12T12:44:00.003-08:00

Have you heard about this new cookbook Modernist Cuisine? Earlier this week, I read an article about the 6-volume, nearly 2500 page cookbook/brain child of Nathan Myhrvold, former chief technology officer of Microsoft, that's part science, part photography, part haute cuisine (Wired magazine, March 2011 edition). I was almostly instantly intrigued by the glimpse of eye-popping photography and descriptions of fascinating food chemistry and cutting edge cooking techniques (at least by the home cook's standards - I doubt many of us dabble with sous-vide and xantham gum on a regular basis...). As an avid home baker, I know that chemistry is key to a successful recipe, but I only know a few of the foundational concepts (for example, that baking soda needs an acid to work properly, whereas baking powder has the acid built in). when it comes to cooking, I'm practically clueless. I grill the way I do and reuse cooking oil for frying because someone taught me to do those things, not because I know any "secret science" behind it. But this series promises to tell those secrets and more - why "old" oil produces better fried food, while boiling cooks faster than steaming, why raising a grill doesn't lower the heat, etc.

When I heard an interview about the book with Dr. Myhrvold on NPR this morning, I was further convinced that I must some day leaf through the pages of what has been described by some as the authority on modern cooking techniques. It simply appeals to my analytical scientist side (in college, I majored in Biology and Writing - so I've always enjoyed exploring those right brain/left brain connections). Of course, the $460 price tag may be a bit of a deal-breaker (though at least it qualifies for free shipping!!). At least unless I can find a copy at a library - or maybe heavily discounted on eBay. Until then, I think I'll probably have to be satisfied with smaller tidbits and photos from the Modernist Cuisine blog.

Tell me your thoughts - is cooking more art or more science for you? If money were no object, would you rush out to get this cookbook tome? Love to hear your thoughts!

Cheddar Crumpet Open-Faced Breakfast Sandwich

2011-03-05T06:10:00.000-08:00

I have professed my love for crumpets many a time. My attempts to make them on my own have been OK - but nothing like the ones I can buy at my local grocer's bakery. (Seriously, if you live near a Stop & Shop - get the crumpets! They don't always have them, but when they do - snatch them up. You won't regret it!)

First, if you're not familiar with a crumpet, they're kind of like a cross between an English muffin and a pancake. They've got the wonderful nooks and cranny's of the English muffin, but they're a little sweeter and moister. They make a great base for all kinds of toppings - toast and top with butter, lightly fry and drizzle with honey, add peanut butter and jelly, etc. Today, it occured to me that they would make a great base for an egg sandwich. And so, the cheddar crumpet open-faced breakfast sandwhich was born:

Cooking the egg over-easy (or even over- medium, as I prefer) lets that wonderful, rich yolk soak in into all the little nooks and crannies of the crumpet. Absolutely heavenly. And it's very, very simple to make. You'll have breakfast in about 5 minutes (and I'm not ashamed to admit I devoured it in about the same amount of time!).

Cheddar Crumpet Open-Faced Breakfast Sandwich

Ingredients:
1 egg
1 crumpet
1 slice mild cheddar cheese
salt, pepper, tarragon (if desired)
oil spray

Method:
Spray a small frying pan with oil. Heat pan over medium heat. Crack egg into pan and fry for about 2-3 minutes until whites are mostly cooked. Flip and cook another 30 seconds just to finish cooking the whites on the other side. Remove egg from pan.
Spray pan with oil again. Place crumpet face-side down in pan and fry for 1 minute. Flip, top with egg and cheese, cover with the lid of a small saucepan and cook 1-2 minutes until cheese is melted.
Sprinkle with salt, pepper and tarragon before diving in!

Happy Weekend every body!

Raspberry Delight Brownies

2011-02-21T16:59:00.003-08:00

Last summer, Mr. ValleyWriter and I spent a lovely afternoon on the Connecticut Wine Trail. Our first stop, the Connecticut Valley Winery, had several great dessert wines. One of them was called Raspberry Delight - a white grape wine infused with fresh raspberries. It was slightly sweet, but not cloyingly so, and we thought it would make a great summer sangria.

We ran out of summer before the raspberry sangria came about, so into the back of the fridge the wine went. As I was cleaning out the fridge the other day, I saw the bottle and remembered something the winery owner had said about using the wine in place of water in brownies. And so, when a craving for brownies hit today, I knew what I was making.

The Raspberry Delight wine adds just a slight hint of raspberry flavor to these brownies, but elevates them to a slightly more elegant dessert. Of course, serving them with a glass of the raspberry wine itself never hurts!

Raspberry Delight Brownies
(Makes a 9x13 pan of brownies)

Ingredients:
1 c. granulated sugar
4 Tbsp. butter
6 Tbsp. raspberry wine
2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 c. cocoa
4 eggs
1 1/3 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Method:
Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a 9x13 pan with parchment paper (or spray with oil).
In a saucepan, heat sugar, butter and raspberry wine until melted. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate chips until melted. Whisk in eggs until well blended.
In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt.
Stir flour mixture into chocolate mixture and mix until smooth.
Spread brownie batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 325°F for 30-35 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out (mostly) clean.
Cool completely (or as long as you can hold out!) before cutting.

In a dessert mood now? Check out these other great sweets at Sweet as Sugar Cookie's Sweets for a Saturday roundup.

A Quick Trip to the Land of Sunshine

2011-02-10T04:33:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday, I spent my day snow blowing, shoveling and otherwise freezing my butt off cleaning up after 2 storms in a row that socked us with about 18 inches of snow.

(Yes - there really is a mailbox in there... somewhere)

(The 29 inch snowbank outside my front door)

On Saturday, I was 3,000 miles away enjoying sun, sand & warmth:

And flowers:

And cupcakes!!

Yeah... can you tell I was a little excited about that cupcake?!

Mr. ValleyWriter was traveling again for work and I was lucky enough to join him for the weekend in sunny California. It was a very quick trip involving more airport meals, airplane-as-bed and time zone changes than most people would consider handling in a weekend - but it was totally worth it just to get away from the white stuff & the cold.

We spent the weekend putzing around southern California - checking out the Gaslamp Quarter, the San Diego Port, the beaches and even Downtown Disneyland. (If you're not in the know on this, Downtown Disneyland, in Anaheim, is a little shopping/entertainment district right outside the Disneyland Parks. They have a Rainforest Cafe, big Lego store (where you can even play with the merchandise!), live music, beautiful fountains and gardens, and more. It's a good way to spend a few hours strolling around. And it's FREE!! Even parking is free for the first few hours!)

Of course, we definitely enjoyed some good eats, as our stomachs often guide our amblings. At Disneyland Downtown, I went to The Cupcake Store and got the strawberry shortcake cupcake featured above. I know everyone is saying that cupcakes are so last year - but it was a darn good cupcake! Perfect buttercream (not too sweet), moist, fluffy cake and a delicious strawberry baked right inside. Mmm, mmm, mmm.

I hope to have at least one more post about my trip, as we found an awesome breakfast place in Encinitas that deserves mention. But I'm waiting on the pics from the hubby's iPhone. Hope to have - and share - them soon!

Tortellini Soup

2011-02-02T07:18:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in my last post (thanks for all your thoughts, BTW - very interesting!), I do use convenience items sometimes. Working full time outside the home and being in charge of a whole lot of snow removal lately, there are days when I just get started on dinner at 7:30 or 8 and I want a warm, home cooked meal in a hurry. This tortellini soup definitely fits the criteria. It uses a couple of prepackaged items and comes together in about a half hour, even though it tastes like a soup that's been simmering all afternoon.

Tortellini Soup
(adapted from Betty Crocker's Fix-It Fast Family Favorites)

Ingredients:
1 (0.9 oz.) envelope vegetable soup mix
5 cups water
2 small carrots, sliced thinly
3 cups fresh baby spinach
1 tsp. olive oil
1 small clove garlic, minced
2 cups frozen beef tortellini
grated parmesan (optional)

Method:
In a large pot, mix together vegetable soup mix, water and sliced carrots. Cover and bring to a boil.
Meanwhile, rinse spinach thoroughly and spin in salad spinner to remove excess water. Chop roughly.
Heat 1 tsp. olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add minced garlic and cook about 30 seconds until fragrant. Add spinach and a dash of salt and pepper. Cook until the spinach is just wilted, stirring often.
Add cooked spinach to boiling soup mixture.
Add frozen tortellini and bring back to a boil. Cook 10-15 minutes until tortellini is tender.
Spoon into bowls and top with grated parmesan, if desired.

(This also makes for great leftovers the next day - just leave the parmesan off until you're ready to serve the soup.)

Is there a line between conscientious eating and disordered eating?

2011-01-25T18:53:00.000-08:00

Advance warning: I’m going to get serious for a minute here – so bear with me. Also know that I’m not trying to offend anyone or incite an argument – and these thoughts don't stem from a particular blog, person or event - I just want to get other people’s views. So dive in…

Many of us are trying to make the move to a more conscientious way of eating—whether that be lower-fat, more natural, more sustainable, etc. I’m one of those people. Over the last 5 years, I’ve gone from eating an unbalanced diet filled with lots of carbs and packaged foods to a more balanced diet—making a concerted effort to eat fruits and vegetables every day (yes, before - there were days when I didn't), eating more whole grains and making more things from scratch, etc.

While there are many people on this path to healthier eating, you’ll find that some people are more lackadaisical about their beliefs (like me—I will admit to occasionally eat candy bars and other “crap”) than others. I have found, mainly through reading blogs, that some people are much more committed to their ideals, eschewing anything that doesn’t conform to their established eating patterns.

If you think about it, food is one of the few things we can have tight control over these days. We can’t control the weather, the traffic, the actions of our bosses, etc.—but we can control what we put into our mouths. In reality, this can translate into many types of eating—only eating certain brands of prepackaged diet foods, only eating organic foods, avoiding animal products, etc. There’s even a growing movement of people who choose to exercise this control starting at the source—by growing and/or raising their own food.

One thing you have to wonder about is how people make decisions to drastically change the way they eat. Is it based on how they feel, what someone told them or what they read online? How reliable was that information? I, for one, eat in a way that makes sense to me on a scientific and physiological level. For example, I'm very aware that it's difficult for humans to get all of the amino acids they need from a strictly vegetarian diet (not to say that it can't be done - it just takes work), so I choose to eat animal proteins. Also, if I eat something and it makes me feel crappy, I’m probably not going to eat it again.
I’m not saying my way is the right way. I heartily believe there is no one right way. But is there a wrong way? You often hear people rail on the fast-food-eating crowd, seemingly making the call that this is an inherently wrong way to eat no matter who you are. I personally don't know too many people who would argue against that. The less often talked about side of the coin that I wonder about is when someone takes a seemingly good thing like controlling what he or she eats to an extreme (for example, limiting his or her diet to the point that he or she doesn’t get the nutrients his or her body needs)...
So the questions I've been asking lately are:
Where is the line is between having ideals about healthy eating (whatever that means to you) and becoming so controlling or obsessive about it that it becomes disordered? Is there even such a line? And it is a mental health problem (as a true “eating disorder” is) or is it just an issue of control?
Would you step in and say something to a loved one if you saw him or her going down this road? Or would you step back and allow them to exercise their right to control their life and what they eat?

In my view - yes, there is such a line. I think it gets crossed when one's health, work or important relationships suffer from the choices a person is making. Whether it's a mental disorder, probably not "officially," but if it's an obsession - it could be borderline. Whether I'd bring it up to a loved one, I can't say for sure. I think I would, but I'm also big on free choice...

Anyone else have any thoughts on this? I'd love to hear them!!

Cheesy Chicken & Rice Casserole

2011-01-08T10:40:00.001-08:00

This recipe fits the saying "necessity is the mother of invention" to a T. Last night I came home to an empty house after a long week of work (can you believe how hard it is to go back to a full week after 2 short weeks in a row?!). It had just started to snow and I was tired, but I was also starving. I was on my own this past week, so I'd just been picking at leftovers or random foods (crackers and cheese for dinner? why not?!). But my body was demanding real sustinence. So, I poked around the cupboards and the fridge and finally came up with an idea for a cheesy chicken and rice dish. I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out, but it was actually very tasty, as well as creamy and comforting - exactly what I wanted.

Mr. VW is going to be sad that he missed out on this one... though he'll probably get to try it soon. It's so simple and good, it's likely to become a regular around here. And in case you're wondering why the vegetables get roasted - it's because it brings out their sweetness - especially the carrots. Even if you don't like carrots normally, I bet you'll like them roasted!

Cheesy Chicken & Rice Casserole

Serves 2

Ingredients

1/2 c. quick-cooking brown rice

1 1/3 c. water

1/8 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. dried chives

1 oz. cream cheese

1/2 c. baby carrots, cut in 1/2

1 c. broccoli florets

2 tsp. olive oil

1/2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces

1/2 tsp. dried tarragon

1/2 c. cheddar cheese, shredded

salt & pepper

Method

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a casserole dish, combine rice, water, garlic powder, chives and cream cheese. Mix well.

In a mixing bowl, toss baby carrots and broccoli in 1 tsp. olive oil. Sprinkle with a pinch each of salt and pepper. Arrange on a baking tray in a single layer.

Put both the casserole dish with the rice and the vegetables into the oven. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes, stirring vegetables every 5-10 minutes to prevent burning.

Meanwhile, sprinkle cut chicken thighs with tarragon and salt and pepper. Saute in the remaining olive oil until cooked through.

When the 25 minutes are up, remove the vegetables and rice from the oven. If the rice is still firm, cook a few minutes longer. Once it's tender, add the chicken and vegetables to the rice, stir in cheddar cheese and bake for 5 more minutes. Add salt & pepper to taste. Serve & enjoy.

One last indulgence for 2010 - S'mores Bars

2010-12-31T05:45:00.000-08:00

I've mentioned a few times that I have a thing for s'mores. The ooey, gooey marshmallow and warm chocolate, sandwiched between crunchy graham crackers - perfection. The fact that I associate them with wonderful summer nights spent around the campfire laughing and having fun probably doesn't hurt, either. So what's a girl to do in the dead of winter? Well, there's always the gas stove to roast marshmallows over... but that's sometimes a messy proposition. Enter the s'mores bar - almost like a s'mores brownie, really. Not quite as ooey, gooey, but still just as yummy - and great for sharing. I made up a batch for a New Year's Eve party - and can't wait to dig in!

S'mores Bars
(Makes about 20 bars)

Ingredients:
3/4 c. butter, softened
1 1/3 c. white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 c. flour
1 1/4 c. graham cracker crumbs
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt
3 large chocolate bars (or 7-8 regular sized)
1 1/2 - 2 c. mini-marshmallows
1 whole graham cracker

Method:
Line a 13x9 inch pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat until well mixed.
In a smaller bowl, mix flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking soda and salt. Add to butter mixture and beat just until ingredients come together.
Reserve 3/4 c. of butter/flour mixture for topping.
Press remaining butter/flour mixture into bottom of lined pan.
Unwrap chocolate bars and lay on top of butter/flour mixture. (Break into pieces if needed to make an even layer of chocolate.)
Sprinkle mini-marshmallows over top. (I say to use 1 1/2 - 2 c. because I usually don't measure - I just sprinkle until there's a full layer. It's about 3/4 of a package, which is about 1 1/2 -2 cups.)
Crumble reserved butter/flour mixture evenly over the top of the marshmallows.
Take the whole graham cracker and crush it between your hands, then sprinkle evenly over the top of everything.
Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes until marshmallows are lightly browned on top.
Cool completely before cutting.

Wishing you all a safe and happy New Year's Eve ~ and a prosperous 2011!

Holiday Traditions

2010-12-22T16:22:00.000-08:00

I was talking with my mom this morning - and reading some related blogs lately - about the over-commercialization of the holidays. One particularly annoying phenomenon (to me anyway) are those darn car commercials that seem to have grown in leaps and bounds this year. Seriously - who gets a new car for Christmas? Especially given the current economy? (And how do you get it inside your living room, to boot!?)

It almost makes you feel bad if you go with something simple or even something homemade. But the key there is that it *almost* makes you feel bad. In reality, no one should feel bad about any gift they give. Getting all stressed out and uptight about gift giving goes against the whole idea of the holidays. While I celebrate Christmas, I believe that's true no matter what holiday you celebrate.

Now, that's not to say that I don't participate at all in the commercialism of the holidays. Admittedly, I do buy gifts for others and I also make some things. But the most important part of the holidays for me is actually spending time with the people I'm bringing those gifts to. I look forward to the various get-togethers - from the big luncheon with my mom's side of the family (where there are so many people, we have to rent a hall!) to the quiet morning coffee I'll enjoy with my in-laws on Christmas morning. These are the moments I treasure. To hug my loved ones a little tighter, to share in the happiness so clear on little ones' faces as they dance to Christmas music, and to just be together - that's what I'm looking most forward to.

(See? Even the cats get along on Christmas!)

Of course, being the foodie that I am, I'm of course looking forward to some yummy goodies, too. In part for the taste and in part for the traditions behind them. Auntie's famous baked ham, my mum & I sharing our traditional pre-dinner spiked egg nog and sugar cookie and so on. Yes, suffice it to say, I am in the holiday spirit and ready to begin the celebration with family and friends - only a couple more days to go!

If you find yourself with a moment in between your festivities, I'd love to hear what your favorite holiday traditions are - whether for Christmas, Eid, Hannukah, Yule or any others!

Wishing you peace and happiness this holiday season - and all through the year.

~ValleyWriter

Christmas Treats 2010 - Super Easy Cranberry Macadamia Nut Bark

2010-12-19T16:48:00.001-08:00

In past years, I've usually done a big, several day-long cookie blitz. This year, there's a lot more going on in the ValleyWriter household, so I decided to pare back to just a few things that I could complete in one day, without too much hassle. Fortunately, I found some great recipes that deliver yummy, impressive looking treats that really come together quickly.

First up is a cranberry macadamia nut bark. If you're not familiar with the term, bark - in the culinary sense - is really just chocolate with nuts, fruits and/or other goodies inside. This bark has a white chocolate base, so the end result with the bright red dried cranberries against the creamy white background is very Christmasy.

And while I'm not usually a fan of nuts in my chocolate, macadamia nuts are definitely an exception. They're creamy and smooth - the perfect complement to these tart cranberries. Best of all - this is the easiest recipe ever! 3 ingredients and less than an hour from start to finish - as in completely cooled and ready to go. Perfect for a last minute hostess gift or extra Christmas treat!

Cranberry Macadamia Nut Bark

(Makes a 17" x 11" pan)

Ingredients:

3 12-oz. bags white chocolate chips (2.25 lbs.)

6 oz. macadamia nuts, roughly chopped

1 c. + 2 Tbsp. dried cranberries

Method:

Line a 17" x 11" pan with aluminum foil.

Bring 2-3 cups of water to a simmer in the bottom of a double boiler (or a medium-sized saucepan). In the top of the double boiler (or a metal bowl that's larger than the saucepan), add white chocolate chips. Stir chocolate until it melts. Keep stirring until smooth. Remove from heat.

Add chopped macadamia nuts and 1 c. dried cranberries to white chocolate. Stir until well mixed. Pour into prepared pan and spread out into an even layer. Scatter remaining 2 Tbsp. dried cranberries over the top and press gently into the white chocolate. Let cool 20-30 minutes or until hard. Break into smaller pieces and enjoy!

White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

2010-12-06T16:07:00.002-08:00

I made this beautiful white chocolate raspberry cheesecake recently in preparation for celebration that never came to be. I made it ahead of time just in case something disastrous happened (like forgetting to put in an ingredient and having the whole thing fail). Fortunately, the cheesecake turned out great... Unfortunately, the get-together got canceled the day after I made the cheesecake.
So, now I have a rich, decadent cheesecake in my house and no where to bring it. What's a girl to do? Dig into it by myself with a big ol' fork? Tempting, but that would be quite uncivilized, don't you think? (Not to mention the fact that we don't need to start the Christmas weight gain this early!) So no, I think I'll carefully wrap it up and stash it in the freezer - perhaps for a Christmas party. The red raspberry on top is very festive, after all.

If you're looking for a silky, yummy dessert - give this a try. It's actually pretty simple and the results are always impressive.

White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake
(adapted from AllRecipes.com)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. chocolate graham cracker crumbs (1 sleeve of graham crackers, crushed)
4 Tbsp. white sugar
5 Tbsp. butter, melted
2 cups white chocolate chips
1/2 cup half-and-half
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 Tbsp. seedless raspberry jam

Method:
Wrap a 9 or 10-inch springform pan in 2-3 layers of aluminum foil and spray the inside of the pan with oil.
In a small bowl, combine chocolate graham cracker crumbs, 4 Tbsp. sugar and 5 Tbsp. melted butter. Stir until well combined. Press into the bottom of a 9 or 10" springform pan.
Bring a small saucepan of water (or the bottom pan of a double boiler) to a simmer. Place a metal bowl (or the top of the double boiler) over the water. Add white chocolate chips and stir constantly until melted. Then stir in half-and-half until smooth. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and 1/2 c. sugar together until creamy. Beat in eggs one at a time.
Add vanilla and white chocolate. Beat just until fully mixed.
At this point, start your oven preheating to 325 degrees.
Heat raspberry jam in the microwave (or on the stove) until it's the consistency of a sauce.
Pour 1/2 of the cream cheese mixture over the top of your chocolate crust.
Drizzle 1/2 of the raspberry jam on top of that.
Top with the remaining cream cheese mixture. Then drizzle the top with the rest of the raspberry jam. Run the tip of a knife through the jam to create swirls, if desired.
Place the filled springform pan into a larger pan (such as rectangular cake pan). Fill the larger pan with hot water until water reaches 1/2 way up the sides of the springform pan. (This creates a water bath around your cheesecake, which will help prevent cracking or uneven baking.)
Bake cheesecake at 325 degrees for 55-60 minutes until cheesecake jiggles only slightly in the middle when moved. (It should jiggle as a whole, like gelatin. If it looks soupy at all - cook it a few minutes longer until it's done.)

Giving Thanks

2010-11-24T11:53:00.000-08:00

This year for Thanksgiving, we're headed to my folks for dinner. But I got put in charge of the most important part of the meal. No - not the turkey - the desserts! So I've got my pumpkin cheesecake with a gingersnap crust in the oven now and next up will be a mile-high apple pie. As I stood in the kitchen making my pie crusts and beating away the cream cheese and eggs for the cheesecake, I got to thinking about all that I have to be thankful for. So, I decided to join the millions of others who will no doubt blog about what they're giving thanks for this year. Because really, can you ever have too much "I'm happy and this is why" posts? I think not!

So here goes:

I'm thankful to be surrounded by loving, kind, caring family and friends - most especially my dear, patient husband who puts up with me every day and keeps coming back for more.

I'm thankful for the many blessings I have - a job that I enjoy, a home, food on the table.

I'm thankful for the many days of remission from my RA (rheumatoid arthritis) I've had this year - and for the medicines that make that happen.

I'm thankful to have a great bunch of blog friends who visit this blog and leave thoughtful, nice comments. ;-D

What are you thankful for? Whatever it is, I hope you get to enjoy it - and lots of good eats - tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving!

Simply Sinful Chocolate Fried Wontons

2010-11-13T19:12:00.000-08:00

Earlier today I was craving something flaky and chocolately - but had no desire to go out to the store. Upon pawing through the freezer, I came across some leftover wonton wrappers. And a lightbulb went on - I may not be able to get flaky, but I can get something crispy - fried wontons! A little experimenting and voila - crunchy, gooey goodness.

They may not be gourmet - or the healthiest things in the world - but they definitely fit the bill for an emergency indulgence craving ;-)

Chocolate Fried Wontons
(Serves 2)

Ingredients:
6 wonton wrappers
6 heaping tsp. chocolate chips
1 Tbsp. sugar
about 1 cup oil
small cup water

Method:
Pour enough oil into a small saucepan to reach a 1-inch depth (this takes about a cup in my 1-quart saucepan).
Heat oil over medium heat until it reaches 350 degrees.
Dip your finger into the cup of water and run it around the edges of a wonton skin. Place 1 heaping tsp. of chocolate chips in the middle of the wonton wrapper, then fold the wonton wrapper in half to create a triangle. Press air out of the middle and press around the sides to seal the chocolate chips in. Repeat with remaining wonton wrappers and chocolate chips.
Place 1 filled wonton into the oil (carefully!). Let cook about 30-60 seconds, then flip and cook another 30 seconds until both sides of the wonton are browned.
Remove the wonton from the oil with a slotted spoon and place onto paper towels. Sprinkle with a little bit of the sugar. Repeat with remaining wontons.
Try to let each wonton sit for at least 2-3 minutes before eating (I know it's hard!) - the chocolate inside gets hot!!

A new twist on an old favorite - sweetened-up French toast

2010-10-24T14:32:00.000-07:00

French toast is a simple, classic breakfast favorite. It's pretty basic, too - eggs, milk, cinnamon & bread. But as basic as it may be, I still found myself one Sunday with a craving for French toast and a missing staple - no milk. I did, however, have some leftover sweetened condensed milk from a dessert I'd recently made, so I figured I'd give it a shot. We ended up liking it even better than the original version and it's become a new standard in our household! (In case you're not familiar with it - sweetened condensed milk can be kept in the cupboard unopened for months and once opened, stays good in the fridge at least twice as long as regular milk - so it's easier to keep on hand.)

The sweetened condensed milk takes away from the "egginess" that French toast can sometimes have. It also obviously adds some sweetness - but it's not over the top. I like to serve this topped with some berries and just a drizzle of maple syrup. Very easy, but very yummy!

French Toast (with sweetened condensed milk)
(Serves 4)

Ingredients
3 eggs
1/4 c. sweetened condensed milk
2 Tbsp. water
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla extract
8 slices bread
1/2 c. blueberries
maple syrup

Method
Whisk eggs, sweetened condensed milk, water, cinnamon and vanilla in large bowl.
Heat griddle or nonstick frying pan over medium heat.
Quickly dip 1 bread slice into egg mixture, coating both sides. Place on griddle/pan. Repeat with as many bread slices as will fit on your pan. Flip once bread is browned and cook another 2-3 minutes until both sides are evenly browned.
Repeat dipping and frying until all slices of bread are cooked.
Top with blueberries and serve with a side of maple syrup.

Another 40-second knead bread: Wheat Sourdough

2010-10-19T17:07:00.000-07:00

I tried the 40-second knead method with a slightly tweaked recipe to up the wheat flour - and though I was nervous at first, it turned out great!

Seriously, this short kneading method rocks! I did find the initial dough ball had to sit a little longer to let the wheat flour aborb the moisture properly, but that's certainly no trouble! I love being able to just knead the dough for a few seconds in between other chores - and end up with an amazing loaf of bread in a few hours. I've left the starter for various periods of time - 2 hours, 4 hours, 12 hours - and it always comes out great. If you've ever been intimidated by bread kneading - you really should give this a try! The investment in a small kitchen scale, if you don't have one, will definitely be worth it.

Here's my wheatier-adaptation of the original found at the Sourdough Companion:

Wheat Sourdough Bread (40-second knead)

Ingredients
1 tsp. yeast
420 grams (g) warm water, divided (see method below)
350 g unbleached white flour
250 g wheat flour
10 g salt
1-2 tsp. olive oil
extra flour for dusting

Method
In a small glass bowl, mix 1 tsp. yeast with 50 g water. Let sit 10 minutes. Stir in another 50 g of water and 100 g unbleached white flour. Cover and let sit at least 2 hours.

Pour starter into a large bowl. Add remaining 320 g of warm water and break up clumps with a spoon. Stir in remaining 250 g unbleached white flour, 250 g wheat flour and 10 g salt. Mix into a ragged ball. It may seem a little dry - but resist the urge to add water!). Cover and let sit 20 minutes (the extra time allows the moisture to penetrate the wheat germ better).

Spread about 1 tsp. olive oil on a large plastic/pyrex cutting board. Dump dough onto board. Knead for about 10 seconds. Return dough to a clean, oiled bowl and cover. Let sit 10 minutes.

Turn dough back out onto board (adding oil if needed to prevent sticking). Knead for another 10 seconds. Return to bowl, cover and let sit 10 minutes.

Turn the dough back out on to the board and knead for another 10 seconds. Return to bowl, cover and let sit for 30 minutes this time.

Turn the dough back out onto board and knead one last time for 10 seconds. Return to bowl, cover and let sit for 45 minutes or until dough is about doubled.

Turn dough out onto the board. Press it down gently on the dough to create a rectangle. Roll it up starting with the long side, so you end up with a long cylinder. Dust a tea towel (NOT a terry cloth towel) with a little flour and place dough in the middle, seam-side up. Wrap ends of towel over each to enclose dough. Let sit 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 410 degrees F. Carefully roll dough out onto greased baking sheet so the seam-side is on the bottom. Bake 30-40 minutes until bread sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Spinach & Feta-Stuffed Flank Steak

2010-10-14T16:25:00.001-07:00

I'm back in the valley now - and back to my kitchen. After vacation, I was checking out the contents of the fridge/freezer and realized I still had another large grass-fed flank steak from Hearst Ranch to use up. Since the weather has turned markedly cooler, I decided to go with something roast-like - and so this recipe was born. It's a take off of a flank-steak roulade, but I didn't pound the steak as thin or use as much of it to actually be able to roll it into layers. It's still absolutely delicious, though!

Spinach & Feta-Stuffed Flank Steak
(Serves 3-4)

Ingredients
12 oz. flank steak (I took a 20 oz. one and cut it to use only about 2/3rds)
1/2 c. crumbled feta cheese
8 oz. frozen chopped spinach, cooked and drained
2 Tbsp. garlic onion jam (this is really good stuff! but if you don't have it/don't want to buy it - you could substitute some minced garlic)

For the marinade:
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 Tbsp. red wine
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp. dijon mustard
1 small clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. lemon juice

Method
The night before, pound the flank steak out until it's about 1/4-1/2 inch thick. Poke it with the knife to create slits in the meat. Mix the marinade ingredients together in a glass dish or plastic food bag, add steak and refrigerate overnight.
When ready to start cooking, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Remove the steak from the marinade and lay it flat on a cutting board. Spread the garlic onion jam over the top evenly. Spread the spinach out on top evenly, then add the feta - again spreading out evenly into a single layer. From one of the short ends, roll the steak up so spinach/feta becomes stuffed inside. Use toothpicks or cooking twine to secure the meat, if needed.
Place in an oven-safe dish.
Bake at 350 for 40-60 minutes, depending on desired doneness. (I cooked ours for 40 minutes to a temperature of 145 degrees F and it came out rare/medium-rare, which turned out to be perfect for us.)
Let sit 5 minutes before slicing.

I served this with some roasted patio potatoes - delish!

Flank Steak

Amazing views, incredible food - Mistral Restaurant, Coronado, California

2010-10-12T18:18:00.000-07:00

I just recently got back from a trip to southern California, tagging along with Mr. ValleyWriter on a business trip. Of course, we did manage to sneak in some fun while we were out there eats. We spent a long weekend on Coronado, a small island just next to the city of San Diego. We spent time on the beach, popped back into the city to check out Balboa park - and of course had some good eats.

(The bell tower at Balboa park)

The best dining experience by far was at Mistral, a French restaurant located at the Loews Coronado Bay Resort. I apologize in advance for the lack of pictures, but I felt it was the type of restaurant where you set the camera aside and allow the rest of your senses to indulge. (Though you can check out the restaurant's Web site for some nice shots.)

The first treat for the senses was for the eyes. The views were absolutely amazing. Over 1/2 of the restaurant features tall glass windows that manage to encompass views the bay between San Diego and Coronado, part of the city skyline and the ocean. We set our dinner time for 6 pm, hoping to catch the sunset and although the night turned a bit cloudy, it was still very pretty. We got to watch the sun fade behind clouds and create that characteristic red-orange glow, followed by watching the lights twinkling on in the city. At the end of the night, we even caught a glimpse of fireworks! (I told Mr. VW that was all my doing... but I don't think he believed me.)

As good as the view was, even better was the food. I started with a caprese salad, made with heirloom tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella and tiny fried squash blossoms. Drizzled with a fruity olive oil and wonderfully balanced balsamic vinegar, it was divine. Mr. VW enjoyed a bowl of creamy pumpkin-orange soup with vanilla-poached prawns that was also a perfect way to perk up the appetite (and talk about some unexpected flavor combinations - they totally worked, though!).

For our main courses, I had an herb risotto with scallops, while Mr. VW had a bacon-wrapped lamb loin that came with squash stuffed with a vegetables confit. My dish was good - perfectly portioned and wonderfully creamy - but Mr. VW's dish stole the show. One look at his face after his first bite and I knew I had to suspend my usual disdain for lamb and give it a try. Oh my. It was melt-in-your mouth and had a wonderful flavor. The stuffed squash was no throw away side dish, either. It was bright and light, yet comforting at the same time.

Now when you've had an amazing meal like this, one could argue there's no need for dessert. I, however, would never argue that. So on to desserts we went! Mr. VW usually keeps things light for dessert and in keeping, he ordered the lemon verbena ice cream with rhubarb and strawberry consommé and the cutest little madeleines. It was creamy and slightly tart, but still sweet enough to be "the icing on the cake," so to speak. I went straight for the most decadent thing I could see on the menu, which was the bissou au chocolat. It was a rich chocolate cake with a praline crust, topped with a dark chocolate sorbet, drunken cherries and a perfectly placed flake of edible gold. It was a sight to behold - and to savor. The dark chocolate ice cream had just a hint of bitterness, which was actually perfect for cutting the richness of the chocolate cake.

Mistral Coronado was one of the best dining experiences I've ever had (so far, anyway) and I truly hope to have the opportunity to go back some day. If you ever find yourself in San Diego, I'd highly recommend taking a quick drive across the bridge to Coronado to check it out yourself!

Spanish Tortilla

2010-09-29T17:01:00.000-07:00

So I promised you a recipe to follow for using up my patio potatoes - and here it is (finally!). If you're not familiar with a Spanish tortilla, you might be expecting a flat roll-up bread recipe, like a Mexican tortilla. In truth, the 2 are nothing alike! A Spanish tortilla is closer to a frittata than to a Mexican tortilla - minus the cheese and plus potatoes. With chorizo sausage, it is absolutely heavenly.

(Spanish tortilla just pulled out of the oven)

Serve with a salad for dinner, or as an appetizer for a party. (It's great for parties because it can be served hot, cold or room temp.) Forgive me in advance for the amount of oil that gets used, but I assure you some of it will be drained off!

Spanish Tortilla
Ingredients:
2 c. sliced potatoes (about 4 store-bought potatoes or 12 of the wee-ones I grew)
1/2 c. oil
5 eggs
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 link chorizo, cooked and sliced (or crumbled)
1 large roasted red pepper, sliced thinly

Method:
In an oven-proof saute pan, heat 1/2 c. oil over medium heat. Add potatoes in as close to a single layer as you can get (there will be some overlap). Cook potatoes for 10-15 minutes until cooked through, flipping often to prevent burning. Once cooked, scoop potatoes out onto paper towels to drain.
Reserve 2 Tbsp. oil and discard the rest.
In a mixing bowl, beat eggs, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Stir in chorizo.

At this point, start your oven preheating to 350 degrees.
Put the oil in the pan over medium heat again and add red pepper slices. Cook 2-3 minutes.
Add potatoes back into the pan.
Pour egg and chorizo mixture evenly over the top. Cook 5-10 minutes until mostly set.
Put into oven and cook another 8-10 minutes or until egg is fully set.
Remove from oven and let sit 10 minutes.

To remove from pan to serve, run a spatula around the edges and underneath, then place a plate on top of the pan and flip the pan over so tortilla falls onto plate.

40-Second Knead Bread

2010-09-26T13:53:00.000-07:00

When my friend Prof. Kitty first posted about her discovery of a 40-second knead bread that turned out just as well as dough she'd knead for 30 minutes, I was a bit skeptical. But the concept behind it - essentially that the gluten just needs time to develop, not necessarily brute force - made some sense to me. And I'm not that big of a fan of kneading (is anyone really?), so I decided to at least it a shot.

I found the full recipe with a picture tutorial here. As long as you have a kitchen scale and can do a little temperature conversion, this recipe is super simple. I don't have any sourdough starter on hand, so I followed the instructions for making a basic sponge. A few seconds of kneading here and there... time to clean the house in between kneads... and a few hours later- voila! - an awesome loaf of bread!

I thought it came out not only just as good as other recipes I've tried that require 10-15 mintues of kneading - but perhaps even better. It has a nice chewy crumb and is soft on the inside, yet with a rugged enough crust to make for easy slicing. One tip that I really love from the tutorial is the one about putting the bread in a floured tea towel to rise. It's perfect for helping the loaf keep it's shape, rather than spreading and flattening out like so many other recipes I've tried tend to do.

The first time I made the recipe, I did it exactly as the instructions state. From start to finish, it takes about 5 hours, though most of that is just waiting. This last time, I decided to make the sponge overnight to cut a couple of hours off the wait time and found it works just as well. Plus, I got more of that sourdough flavor.

I am a definite convert to this method of kneading. The real test will be to see if it works on other bread recipes I have. I'll let you know!

Spicy Grass-fed Beef Fajitas

2010-09-20T17:16:00.000-07:00

As a member of the Foodie Blogroll, I was given the awesome opportunity to try out some grass-fed steaks from Hearst Ranch. When I signed up for the opportunity, I figured I'd be getting a small sample, as has been the case with other similar opportunities. Imagine my surprise when 2 huge 20 oz. packages of beautiful, lean, vitamin-packed grass-fed flank steaks showed up on my doorstep! I did a little happy dance (no one was around to see or videotape it, so you'll just have to visualize for yourselves).

The flank steaks, like all steaks from Hearst Ranch, came frozen. They shipped overnight from California to Massachusetts and were still solid as a rock when I got home after 6 in the evening - which clearly says a lot about the care Hearst takes in its packaging. I stuck one in the freezer for another meal, put one in the fridge to defrost and eagerly started to plan a menu. I knew flank steak could be tough if overcooked or cut the wrong way, so I just wanted to do a simple recipe. I ended up deciding on spicy beef fajitas with corn & black-eyed pea salsa.

When the steak was fully defrosted, I cut open the package and rolled out this HUGE piece of meat. I mean seriously - I felt like Fred Flinstone for a minute.

(This is 1 steak cut in 1/2!)

Then I covered it with the spicy marinade (recipe below) and refrigerated for about 6 hours. When it was time to cook, I did what I thought was a quick grill (about 4-5 minutes per side) aiming for medium-rare, but the meat still came out medium. I was a little nervous that I might have overdone it - but the meat was still tender and juicy - not one bit tough or stringy like I'd feared.

The beef was very good, though I will say it didn't have quite the exceptional flavor like the aged-beef we normally buy locally (though that beef is also grain-finished, so not 100% grass-fed). All in all, I was impressed and am looking forward to trying another recipe with the other flank steak I have in the freezer. Got any good flank steak recipes? Leave me a comment if so!

In the meantime, here's my Spicy Grass-fed Beef Fajitas recipe:

Ingredients:

1 20-oz. grass-fed flank steak

Marinade:
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 small cloves of garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. ancho chili powder
3 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
1/8 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. lime juice

Corn & Black-Eyed Pea Salad:
2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 tsp. olive oil
2 tsp. sugar
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
1/8 tsp. salt
2 c. cooked & cooled corn (fresh or canned)
1 1/2 c. cooked & cooled black eyed peas
2 small tomatoes, diced
1 jalapeno pepper, diced

Flour tortillas
Hot sauce, if desired

Method:
To make the marinade, heat 1 Tbsp. olive oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until fragrant. Add chili powder, stirring constantly. Cook for about 30 seconds, then add 3 Tbsp. red wine vinegar, 1/8 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. sugar and 1 Tbsp. lime juice. Reduce heat to low and simmer 5 minutes until chili powder is a deep reddish-brown. Set aside and allow to cool 10 minutes.

Once cooled, spread marinade (it will be thick and more like rub) over both sides of steak. Cover and refrigerate for 6 hours.

In another saucepan, combine 2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar, 1 tsp. olive oil, 2 tsp. sugar, 1/8 tsp. garlic powder and 1/8 tsp. salt. Heat over low heat until sugar is fully dissolved. Allow to cool.

In a small glass bowl, combine corn, black-eyed peas, jalapeno and tomatoes. Pour cooled red wine vinegar dressing over top. Cover and refrigerate 6 hours to allow flavors to meld.

When ready to cook the steak, bring it out of the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes. In the meantime, start heating the grill to medium-high heat. Place steaks on grill and cook 3-4 minutes on each side for medium rare (I'm shaving a minute off each side from what I cooked it at). Once done, remove from heat and allow to rest 5 minutes. Cut in strips running perpendicular to the grain of the meat.

Serve on tortillas with corn salad and hot sauce, if desired. (We like sriracha - yum!)

Note: Hearst Ranch provided me with free grass-fed flank steaks to sample; however, the views expressed above are my own.

Patio Potatoes

2010-09-05T13:33:00.000-07:00

In the spring, my friend Jenn gave me some seedling potatoes that she had left over after planting her garden. I brought them home unsure of exactly what I was doing, but figuring I'd give it a go. Normally, you plant potatoes in long rows in the ground. But Mr. ValleyWriter wasn't too keen on the idea of digging up the lawn. So, I decided to try planting potatoes in pots.

I had 2 larger pots (18" x 18") leftover from some shrubs we had bought last fall, so I figured I'd just use those. I put about 6" of soil in each pot, added about 5 seed potatoes (eye side up) on top and then topped with another 6" of soil. Once the potato plants sprouted, I kept adding soil on top until I reached the top of the pot (this equates to "hilling" your potatoes if you plant them in the ground).

I gave them the most basic care possible - essentially just daily or almost daily watering - from mid-June through this weekend. They flowered a few weeks ago and the plants started to die off this week, which is supposedly the signal that it's time to harvest. Now, I have to admit - the potato plants got HUGE, so I was thinking maybe they were putting all their energy into growing green stuff rather than growing tubers. But, when I tipped the pots over - out came tumbling potatoes!

I have a mix of red, white and fingerling potatoes. And it's admittedly not a bumper crop - but I did get about 20-25 small potatoes for the 10 seed potatoes I used, so I'd say that's not bad. I'm sure their growth was restricted by the small pots I had them in, but I'm still excited to say that YES! Patio Potatoes can be grown!

Now the real fun starts - deciding what to make with my lovely little taters. Stay tuned!

Blackberry Peach Sangria

2010-08-25T17:34:00.000-07:00

Yes, the wine talk continues... I mentioned last post that one of the wines we picked up from the CT Valley Winery was their "Peachy" wine, which is a white wine infused with actual peaches. It's technically not a dessert wine (it only has 11% alcohol and dessert wines have more than 14%), but it's still a little too sweet to drink straight up, in my opinion. When I tasted it, I knew it would be perfect for sangria.

As luck would have it, I was also recently given the opportunity to try out some Zaya rum and Driscoll's berries - so I decided to bring everything together into a fruity, white sangria.

Turns out, I was right on the money about those ingredients being great for sangria. They make a nice, light drink that's slightly sweet but still very refreshing. It would be perfect for a hot sunny day, but I'll take it on a rainy Wednesday night, too ;-) I especially loved eating the fruit at the end - it's like wine and dessert all in one!

Blackberry Peach Sangria
Serves 3-4

Ingredients
1/2 c. Driscoll's blackberries
1 peach, sliced
3/4 c. peach wine
1 oz. Zaya rum
2 c. white cranberry-peach juice cocktail

Method
Mix all ingredients together in a pitcher. Refrigerate 1 hour to allow flavors to meld. Serve & enjoy responsibly!

Disclaimer: I received a coupon for Driscoll's Berries and a free sample of Zaya rum from Baddish Marketing Group. However, the views and opinions expressed in this blog are my own.

Just down the way... the Connecticut Valley Wine Trail

2010-08-17T17:50:00.000-07:00

I know I have been remiss in blogging this summer. I have honestly been enjoying the weather and fun weekend trips away... much of which has taken away my desire to sit inside and type away. But! This last trip I took is one worth talking about.

About 2 weeks ago, we found ourselves with a gorgeous Saturday and no plans. So we decided to head south to the Connecticut Wine Trail. Friends had been telling us about it for months, but we'd yet to find the time. For our first trip, I had 3 vineyards mapped out. We made it to 2 before deciding that was enough wine tasting for one day if we were going to make it safely back home. That's the only problem with wine tasting -driving afterward. Don't worry, we played it safe.

Our first stop was the Connecticut Valley Winery in New Hartford. We sidled up to the bar with several other visitors to enjoy a tasting of 11 of their wines, all presented by one of the owners, Judy Ferraro. For each wine, she explained where the grapes come from (some are grown in CT, others are shipped in), what awards the wines have one, what notes people say they taste and what people use the wine for (other than drinking). I really enjoyed learning all about the wines - and of course, tasting them. Overall, I really liked the majority of the wines. They ranged from dry and crisp whites to rich, deep reds to fruity dessert-like wines.

My favorites were the Midnight (a red wine made from Frontenac hybrid grapes), Orange Vidal (a white wine with notes of honey and apricot), Just Peachy (a sweet white wine infused with peaches) and Raspberry Delight (white wine infused with raspberries). In fact, we bought a bottle of each of these! Tonight, I'm enjoying the Midnight again:

The one downside to the Connecticut Valley Winery is that there isn't a great outdoor space for lingering after your tasting. The winery building itself is a big barn set in the middle of a working farm. It was a gorgeous day and we wanted to be outside, but sitting next to a broken down tractor wasn't really appealing. So, we moved on to our next destination...

Up next was the Haight-Brown Vineyard in Litchfield. This is actually the oldest winery in CT and it definitely had the scenery we were looking for. The main building reminded me of something from the English countryside:

Out front was a huge wine barrel and all around were rows and rows grape vines. Out back, there was a deck overlooking the vineyard, which was perfect for lingering on. We did another tasting here and enjoyed 8 wines paired with 3 chocolates. Like the Connecticut Valley Winery, some of the grapes used are grown onsite and some are brought in.

There were some good wines on the menu, but we weren't quite as wowed as we had been with the Connecticut Valley Winery. Here, we had just 2 main contenders that we'd happily drink again: the Covertside White (a refreshing, unoaked white blend) and the Picnic Red (a fruity, medium red). Both are made with grapes grown in CT... perhaps that's the secret to their success over some of the others.

We bought a bottle of the Picnic Red and headed out to the deck to enjoy a glass before heading home. It was absolutely wonderful to sit back and enjoy the sunshine and the views of the vineyard (sadly, I forgot my camera and Mr. ValleyWriter's Blackberry photos just don't do it justice, so I'm not bothering to post them). Haight-Brown may not have had as big of a selection that appealed to me, but their ambiance was top notch, to say the least.

There are 19 more wineries on the trail to try. We now have a "passport" we can fill out with stamps from 15 more by the end of October and then be entered to win a trip to Spain. Wouldn't that be fabulous? I don't know that we'll make it to that many - but we're sure going to enjoy trying!

And the winner is....

2010-08-13T05:42:00.000-07:00

Commenter #5 - Prof. Kitty! She said she'd get a fresh pasta maker with her gift certificate. I agree it's a good choice - and I've even got some recipe ideas to get her started: Lemon pepper pasta, Spinach lasagna and Pumpkin & sweet potato ravioli.

Congrats Prof. Kitty! I'll be emailing you shortly!

Citrusy Grilled Chicken Salad

2010-08-04T16:40:00.001-07:00

Warmer, muggier weather has come back to town over the last few days. On nights when the temps are still in the mid-80s at dinnertime, I look forward to something refreshing and light. This salad was just the ticket tonight. With fruit, nuts, chicken, lemon and herbs - every bite packs a slightly different flavor for your mouth to enjoy.

(As an aside, we eat a lot of salads in the ValleyWriter household and one of my favorite kitchen "gadgets" is my salad spinner, which makes cleaning herbs, spinach, lettuce and other leafy greens a snap. If you're in the market for one, don't forget to enter my giveaway for a chance to win a $70 gift certificate to CSN stores. CSN has salad spinners and much, much more!)

Citrusy Grilled Chicken Salad
(Makes 2 main dish servings)

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
1 Tbsp. oyster sauce
1 tsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. dried thyme
2 tsp. fresh tarragon, roughly chopped

4-5 c. baby spinach
1/2 c. mandarin orange slices
1/4 c. dried cranberries
1/4 c. roasted cashews

1/4 c. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. dijon mustard
1 tsp. lemon pepper seasoning
1/2 clove garlic, very finely minced
1/4 c. olive oil

Method
In a glass bowl, mix together oyster sauce, soy sauce, thyme and tarragon. Add chicken breasts and toss to coat. Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours. (I leave mine in all day - so about 10 hours.
Grill chicken breasts over medium heat until juices run clear, turning half way through (about 7-8 minutes per side for 1/2-inch thick breasts).
While the chicken is cooking, toss spinach leaves, mandarin orange slices, dried cranberries and cashews.
In a small bowl, whisk together lemon juice, mustaard, lemon pepper seasoning and garlic. Slowly add olive oil, whisking constantly.
Pour dressing over spinach mixture and toss to coat. Divide into two bowls.
When chicken is done, let sit 5 minutes. Then add to salad and serve.

Lazy Summer Saturdays, Tag Sales - and A Giveaway!!

2010-07-30T16:30:00.002-07:00

***THE GIVEWAY IS NOW CLOSED (as of 8/12/10)***

I don't know if it's the same everywhere you go, but here in the Pioneer Valley, from May through September, Saturdays are the official "tag sale" day. Tag sale, garage sale, put-your-stuff-out-on-the-lawn-so-someone-will-take-it sale - whatever you want to call it - these events are huge in the summer months. On Thursdays, the signs start going up; Friday, the paper has a special section with the details about where there'll be sales and what goodies there are to be found; then come Saturday - it's game on.

On occasion, I like to puruse the offerings in my neighborhood. You never know what you'll find - be it a cool vintage (or vintage-inspired) bedroom vanity (I always loved watching my grandma sit at hers), gently loved cookbooks or paperbacks (can you ever have too many?) or a slot machine (seriously, I just saw an ad in the paper for a tag sale with a not 1 slot machine - but 2!).

Not only is it fun to poke around and see what new treasures you might find, it's always exciting to think you might be getting a real steal, like finding out what you thought was a Monet-inspired painting is really an original Monet! (OK, I know the likelihood is slim to none, but a girl can dream.)

Not everyone can enjoy the fun of tag-sale Saturday, but I've still got a deal for you. How about the chance to win a $70 gift certificate to shop at any of CSN's 200+ stores (like Bakeware.com and Cookware.com)? Sounds pretty good, huh? Guess what - it gets even better: there's FREE Shipping in the U.S.!*

Personally, I'm coveting this ice cream maker:

Mr. ValleyWriter says we shouldn't have an ice cream maker at home because we'd be eating ice cream all the time. It's probably sound advice - and keeps me from buying one out of our joint account - but if I were to get a gift certificate for one... Well, then all bets would be off.

How about you? What would you put the $70 CSN gift certificate towards buying? Leave me a comment with your answer and you'll be entered to win. For extra chances:
1. Post a link to this contest on your blog (and leave me a comment telling me so).
2. Become a follower (and leave a comment telling me you've joined - or that you're already a follower).

No matter how you enter, be sure to either put your email address or a link back to your blog in the comments so I can contact you if you win.
Enter to win by midnight (Eastern daylight time) on August 12th. I'll draw the winner randomly on August 13th (so someone's Friday the 13th will be super lucky!) **THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED**

Good luck!

*Free shipping on most items. Canada folks - you're welcome to enter for the gift certificate, but you may have to pay shipping and other International fees.

Disclaimer: Although CSN has provided me the opportunity to give away a gift certificate to their site, I have not received any payment or compensation for my review and my opinions of CSN are my own.

BBQ-rubbed chicken drumsticks & first-of-the-season corn on the cob

2010-07-25T17:23:00.000-07:00

Over the last two weeks or so, I started seeing more and more "Native Corn" signs on my way home from work and I started to get excited. Valley corn is THE best in my opinion. It's sweet, it's juicy - it's perfect. But to do it justice, you really have to get it fresh and use it within a day or two. Picking up ears at the grocery store, when you have no idea how long they've been sitting there, simply will not do. It's taken me a few days to get corn on the menu, but finally tonight I got my act together and made it to our local farm in time to grab a few ears.

I decided to go really simple and serve it with BBQ-rubbed drumsticks. As I mentioned last post, one of my tricks to eating healthier, more organic, etc., is to buy things on sale. A lot of times, that also includes less popular cuts of meat. Boneless, skinless chicken breast seems to be the queen of chicken cuts these days. She goes for about $6/lb around these parts (that's for antibiotic-free, hormone-free, humanely treated chicken). But drumsticks and thighs? Always cheaper. Sometimes MUCH cheaper. This week - drumsticks were $1.49/lb. And drumsticks are perfect for grilling! They stay nice and juicy and they're very flavorful, even if you remove the skin.

BBQ Spice Rubbed Chicken Drumsticks

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs. chicken drumsticks (leave the skin on for now; if you don't want to eat it, remove it after cooking)
2 tsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. paprika
1 Tbsp. ground mustard
1 Tbsp. cayenne pepper
2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. celery seed
1/2 tsp. salt

Method:
In a zipper bag or glass bowl, toss chicken and olive oil. In a seperate small bowl, mix paprika, mustard, cayene, garlic powder, celery seed and salt. Add to chicken and toss to coat. Refrigerate at least 4 hours to let flavors penetrate chicken
Place drumsticks on grill set to medium heat. Turn drumsticks every 5-7 minutes, covering grill in between, for about 35 minutes until juices run clear (if you're using a meat thermometer, aim for 165-175 F).
Let sit about 5-10 minutes before serving (just enough time to boil a few ears of corn - yum!).

Eating well (and healthy) on a budget

2010-07-15T16:45:00.000-07:00

I think there's a notion amongst many people that eating healthy food costs too much. By healthy, I mean eating lots of fruits and vegetables, buying organic whenever possible, eating humane, antibiotic-free meats, etc. This is how I try to eat, with some convenience foods thrown in on occaision, well, for convenience.

Because I've always heard the "too expensive" remarks, I've also thought I must spend way more on groceries than most. But I just did a breakdown that surprised me greatly. On average, I spend about $130 a week on groceries. That typically feeds 2 adults 19-20 meals (we usually 1-2 meals out, though sometimes that's just grabbing a coffee and a bagel one morning). So that works out to about $6.50 per meal. I definitely realize that's still a luxury for some, but in my book, that's not that bad.

Some of the ways I try to save are by stocking up when things are on sale. I'll either plan my menu based on sales or freeze things for later. Speaking of planning, I always plan my meals out for a full week, right before I go shopping, so I can, say , use 1/2 of the cabbage on Tuesday for tacos and the other 1/2 on Friday for coleslaw. I also try to eat things when they're in season. Strawberries in December are pricey - and not that good. I have no problem with buying frozen veggies, either, if they're a better deal. They're usually flash frozen with no salt or preservatives added, so what's the big deal if you were going to cook them anyway? (That's my thought at least.)

What are your thoughts? Do you think it's too expensive to eat healthy? If I may ask, how much do you spend on average per meal? Got any tips to share on how to save and still eat healthy?

Simple, But Delicious - Quick & Easy Coffee Cake

2010-07-11T07:09:00.000-07:00

As I'm sure many have heard by now - it was one heck of a hot, muggy week last week in the Northeast. We are fortunate enough to have central air conditioning (a luxury in this neck of the woods where it's really only needed a couple of weeks a year) - but I'm still not keen on the idea of heating up the house more than I need to, so I've been grilling and a sticking to cold foods the last week. And of course, the entire time, I've been craving baked goods. Silly, I know. I think it's almost that - "you can't have it so you want it really badly" mentality.

Anyway - we finally got some rain yesterday which cooled things off a bit, so when I woke up to find it was "only" 70 degrees this morning, I decided I'd strike while the iron was hot (but not the house) - and make a quick coffee cake.

The great thing about this recipe is that it's simple, comes together quickly and uses ingredients that most people have on hand. The only thing I sometimes am missing is the sour cream, but yogurt also works - especially greek yogurt. From the time you start mixing to your first bite, you only need about an hour and 15 minutes, and the majority of that time is for baking.

Quick & Easy Coffee Cake

Ingredients:

1/2 c. butter, softened

3/4 c. sugar

2 eggs

1 c. sour cream

1 Tbsp. vanilla

2 c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1/3 c. white sugar

4 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream together butter and 3/4 c. sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Then beat in sour cream and vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda and powder. Add to liquid ingredients, beating on low speed just until combined.

In a small bowl, mix 1/3 c. white sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Grease and flour a bundt pan.

Sprinkle 2 Tbsp. of sugar & spice mixture on the bottom of the pan. Spoon in 1/2 of the cake batter. Sprinkle remaining sugar mixture over the batter. Top with remaining batter.

Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes until toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Let cool for at least 20 minutes. Then run a knife around the edge, place a plate over the opening of the bundt pan and flip over to release cake.

Grab your favorite cup o' joe and enjoy!

Do you like pina coladas?

2010-07-01T17:48:00.001-07:00

If you like pina coladas - even if you're not big on getting caught in the rain (heh) - then you'll like this latest creation - pina colada pudding shots!

We'll be attending a Luau-themed party soon and people often bring tropical-inspired drinks (and food) to share. There were some creative jello shots last year that sounded like they might be good... but there was one little problem - I despise gelatin. So, I didn't partake.

This year, I decided to try to make my own pudding shot (pudding is fine - just that jiggly gelatin that gets me!). I thought pina colada would be fitting for the luau theme, but I couldn't find a recipe. No worries, I thought - I'm always up for experimentation! And experiment we have... Finally on round 3 we got it down (don't worry, no driving or blogging was done during the trials!). So, now we have...

Pina Colada Pudding Shots

(Makes about 16 1-ounce shots)

Ingredients:

1 (3 oz) pkg. vanilla pudding

1/2 c. milk

1/4 c. cream of coconut

1/4 c. spiced rum

1/2 c. pineapple-flavored rum

8 oz. whipped cream

Method

Beat pudding, milk, cream of coconut and rums together in a medium size bowl for about 2 minutes until the mixture is smooth and starts to thicken. Fold in whipped cream. Portion equally into individual cups (or any freezable container if you're just making them for yourself!). Freeze at least 4 hours until set. Keep in freezer until ready to serve.

Enjoy - responsibly!

Buttermilk Waffles with Raspberry Sauce

2010-06-27T13:45:00.000-07:00

It was a beautiful morning this morning. Perfect for lounging around on the deck, lingering over coffee and staying in our PJs longer than is probably right for grown adults. But sometimes, you just need those kinds of days. When you do, these buttermilk waffles with raspberry sauce are the perfect addition to that vacation-without-leaving-home feeling. (And the best part is, they're super easy!)

Buttermilk Waffles with Raspberry Sauce
(Makes 5 8" waffles)

Sauce Ingredients
1/2 c. seedless raspberry jam
2 Tbsp. water

Waffle Ingredients
1 1/4 c. buttermilk
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 egg
3 Tbsp. oil
1 1/4 c. flour
2 Tbsp. sugar

Method
To make the sauce, combine jam and water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until water and jam form a smooth, uniform sauce. Set aside.

For the waffles, combine the buttermilk, baking soda and baking powder in a medium bowl. Let sit 5 minutes until bubbly. Whisk in egg and oil. Add flour and sugar and beat until there are no lumps. Heat waffle iron. Laddle 1/2 c. batter onto iron. Close the iron and cook 2-3 minutes until waffle is golden brown and slightly crispy. Drizzle with raspberry sauce and serve. (Top with a dollop of whipped cream if you're feeling extra indulgent!)

Visit to the Land of the Locavore

2010-06-13T16:15:00.000-07:00

I spent the weekend in northern Vermont visiting the Leftover Queen (Jenn) and her husband Roberto on their new homestead - Thistlemoon Meadows:

They took me on a tour of their town and surrounding area - and being the good foodies that we are, it turned into a bit of a food tour. But being foodies isn't the only reason for that. It's also because local food is EVERYWHERE. On every other street it seems, there's a sign for fresh eggs, VT produce, maple syrup - or some other necessity or yummy food item. Farmers' markets, farms, roadside stands - they are in abundance here. Even the restaurants I visited - from small ice cream shop to full-service sit-down dinner spot - highlight their local food sources.

We have a little bit of this in the Pioneer Valley. Certainly, we have our farmers' markets and roadside stands. But meat farms are a little further out in the country and restaurants don't seem big on posting their producers, which only leads me to believe (in most cases) they're probably not local.

So, what's the big deal with eating local? Well, that's a whole other post (or series of posts). There's economical and environmental issues up the whazoo that I couldn't begin to do justice to. But even if you can't wrap your head around all that - there's 1 undenial benefit of eating local. It's amazingly fresh & yummy! I often come home from trips feeling like I need days to recover - in large part due to not-so-great eating - but that's not the case this time.

Of course, this foodie tour lead to a *few* purchases along the way. This trip was solo, so when I came home with a big bag of food, Mr. ValleyWriter was a little surprised (though not too much - he knows me well).

I've got Rock Art beer, Nutty Vermonter maple & cinnamon nut butter, Clare's wild blueberry jam, Vermont Pepper Works chocolate chipotle hot sauce and Fat Toad Farm goat's milk caramel. Not to mention the tomato plants and potato seedlings Jenn & Robert sent home with me. I should be cooking up a storm in no time! (I see ice cream with caramel sauce in my very, very near future... like, as soon as I finish this post. Gotta run!).

Basil Chili Lettuce Wraps

2010-06-07T17:58:00.001-07:00

With all this farmers' market talk, I imagine someone is wondering "what the heck does she do with all those greens? Salad every night?!?" (that's what I'd wonder if I saw someone with as much lettuce as I bought the other day...) No, we don't have salad every night (some, but not every). I do have it most days for lunch, though, so that takes up some of the haul. The rest of it? Well, I like to try new things - like the basil chili lettuce wraps we had tonight.

If you've never had lettuce wraps, it's almost like fajitas, where there's a bunch of components you can put together in the middle of a tortilla to make the version you like. In the case of lettuce wraps, large Boston lettuce leaves take the place of tortillas. They're good for hot nights when you want a light meal. They're also a hit with kids (and kids at heart) - 'cause you get to eat with your hands!

For this version, I had some basil chili grilled chicken, curry rice noodles, gingered carrots and sweet chili sauce for our fillings. It was spicy, but very good. And I'm proud to say the basil was from my very own garden - my first time having success with herbs - yay!

Basil Chili Lettuce Wraps

(Serves 2-3 for dinner; 4-5 for appetizers)

Ingredients:

3 boneless chicken thighs

1/4 c. fresh basil

3 Tbsp. sriracha chili sauce, divided
1 tsp. oyster sauce

2 Tbsp. pineapple preserves

1 large head Boston lettuce, leaves rinsed and kept whole (I got about 12 large, useable leaves - the small or broken ones can be kept for salads)

3 carrots, peeled and cut into matchsticks

1" ginger, grated

1 tsp. rice wine vinegar

1 package curry rice noodle soup (these are like ramen noodles, only the Thai version)

1 cup water

soy sauce, if desired

Method

Several hours before dinner, roughly chop basil and mix with 2 Tbsp. sriracha sauce and 1 tsp. oyster sauce. Spread evenly over chicken thighs. Place in a glass dish and refrigerate at least 3-4 hours before dinner.

About 20 minutes before dinner, mix grated ginger with rice wine vinegar. Let sit 5 minutes, drain any leftover vinegar off the ginger and add the ginger to the carrots carrots.

Cook chicken on grill over medium high heat for about 15 minutes or until fully cooked, turning half-way through.

While chicken is cooking, bring 1 cup water to a boil. Add the rice noodles and seasoning from the rice noodle soup package to the boil water. Cook for 3-4 minutes until noodles are soft and most of the water is absorbed.

In a small bowl, combine pineapple preserves and remaining sriracha sauce to make a sauce for wraps.

Cut cooked chicken into strips and place on serving dish along with lettuce leaves, gingered carrots, curry noodles, and sweet chili sauce and soy sauce, if desired.

To prepare a wrap, place a lettuce leaf in the palm of your hand and top with a few pieces of chicken, some carrots and noodles, drizzle with chili and/or soy sauce, fold the lettuce inward like a fajita and enjoy!

Amherst Farmers' Market

2010-06-06T13:38:00.000-07:00

The 2nd stop on my farmers market tour of the pioneer valley was the Amherst Farmers' Market.

The Amherst market runs late April through mid-November and is always hopping. I'd been to this one before, so I knew to expect a bigger crowd - and more choices - than last week's Tuesday Northampton market. The downside of this market is that it's a little more rushed because there are so many people there, but for the convenience of a Saturday, I suppose it's to be expected.

This week at the market, we found lots of greens again - lettuce, arugula, spinach, kale and so on. There were also some early tomatoes, some of the first strawberries of the season, lots of flowers, and a few options for grass-fed meat, goat cheese, fresh eggs, and homemade breads and pastries.

Mr. ValleyWriter and I found a lot of what we wanted at the Atlas Farm stand. Atlas is a certified organic farm from nearby Deerfield, MA. We got several pounds of greens and some tomatoes there. We also hit up Round Hill Orchard, from Southampton, MA, for some freshly picked strawberries (beautifully ripe and sweet - yum!!) and Sanjha Farm again for their goat cheese (roasted red pepper this time). Interestingly enough, Sanjha seems to be one of the few local farms that sells cheese made from pasteurized milk; because I take immunosupressants for my rheumatoid arthritis, and I often have low white cell counts, I always stick to pasteurized products, but I'm not too bummed about it - the goat cheese is great!

All in all it was a good haul, which Mr. VW dutifully carried back to the car and unwittingly posed for his usual parting shot...

As a P.S., while I didn't need any meat this week, I was excited to see several farm stands selling a variety of cuts - from grass-fed ground beef to dry aged steaks to pork tenderloins. One of the farms, Austin Brothers, even has a meat CSA - which is a new one on me, but sounds like a great idea. Basically, you commit to buying a certain number of pounds a month and they deliver a variety of cuts to you at a pick up location. Even the smallest package is only $9/lb., which is a pretty fair price for grass-fed and dry aged beef (around the valley, anyway). The prices get even better the more you buy (though I'm not sure how much my side-by-side freezer could hold - or how creative I could get with potentially unfamiliar cuts of meat). Anyone out there try a meat CSA yet? What were your thoughts?

(Almost) Sunday Suppers: Spinach & Bacon Souffle

2010-05-31T18:34:00.000-07:00

Here I am, sitting down at the end of another gorgeous weekend getting ready to do my "Sunday Suppers" post, when I realized - it's not Sunday. As they say - time flies when you're having fun! I don't know about you, but Monday holidays often end up feeling like Sundays to me - a chance to relax and gear up for the week ahead. So, as part of that, we had our Sunday Supper tonight.

I had planned this dinner out last week when I picked up some baby spinach from the Farmers Market. I found this recipe and thought it would work great for the 2 of us, since it was only 3 eggs. (Most of the other recipes I found had 5 or 6 - way too much for 2 people.) I was all set to go... until I realized I'd used the last of the butter in a batch of cookies I made for a BBQ we went to on Sunday. I didn't want to go out, so I got creative with what I had on hand (dangerous when you're making a recipe for the first time!). I nervously put my goat & neufchatel-cheese-subbed-for-butter creation into the oven and was so excited when I opened it 30 minutes later, I took a picture right then and there. Drum roll please.... my Spinach & Bacon Souffles:

Big and puffy just like they're supposed to be. And they tasted yummy, too! As a happy accident, they also happen to be lighter on the saturated fat (never a bad thing in my book) owing to the lack of butter. To boot, they were really easy to make. I'd say if you can beat egg whites, you can make souffle.

On to the recipe -

Spinach & Bacon Souffle

(Serves 2)

Ingredients

3 slices turkey bacon

1 lb. fresh spinach, stems removed

1 Tbsp. goat cheese

1 oz. neufchatel cheese

2 Tbsp. flour

1 cup low-fat milk

2 Tbsp. parmesan cheese

3 eggs, separated

1/8 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. nutmeg

1/8 tsp. ground pepper

olive oil spray

Method

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cut turkey bacon into 1/2" pieces and tear spinach into bite sized pieces. Spray a frying pan with olive oil and heat over medium heat. Add bacon to pan and cook 3-4 minutes until bacon starts to crisp. Add spinach on top, reduce heat to low and cook another 2-3 minutes until spinach is wilted.

In a small sauce pan over medium heat, combine goat cheese, neufchatel and 2 Tbsp. of milk. Stir until cheese melts. Add flour and whisk constantly until smooth. Slowly add remaining milk, then the parmesan cheese, whisking constantly until mixture thickens. Add salt, pepper, nutmeg, and spinach and bacon mixture.

Separate eggs, reserving whites in a clean, cold bowl. Beat egg yolks in a small bowl. Add about 1/3 of the spinach/milk mixture to the yolks and whisk. Slowly add this to the remaining spinach/milk mixture.

Beat separated egg whites into stiff peaks. Slowly fold the spinach/yolk/milk mixture into the egg whites just until combined. (There may be lumps of egg white - that's OK. You don't want to over-fold.)

Pour mixture evenly into two well-greased, 2-cup ramekins. Place on cookie sheet and bake at 375 for 25 minutes (no peaking!) until souffle is poofy and eggs are cooked all the way through.

Serve in ramekins.

Northampton Tuesday Farmers' Market

2010-05-26T18:55:00.000-07:00

This summer, we decided not to join the CSA and to instead check out the local farmers' markets for fresh produce. We're lucky enough to have quite a few markets within a 15 mile radius, so I'm hoping to check out as many different ones as a I can.

My first stop this year was to the Northampton Tuesday Farmers' Market behind Thorne's Marketplace. (There's also one on Saturdays, but in a different spot - hence the distinction in the name.)

As I expected for early in the season, I found mostly salad greens, seedlings and flowers for sale. It worked out, because that's just what I was looking for. I loaded my bag up with mixed organic greens and bok choy from Old Friends Farm in Amherst, spinach from Town Farm in Northampton, and kale and boston lettuce from Park Hill Orchard in Easthampton. I also was lucky enough to find Sangha Farm (in Ashfield) offering chevre (goat cheese), which I gladly picked up a tub of.

It turned out to be perfect timing to have all these fresh, wonderful greens - because we're having some HOT weather this week. Tonight, I wanted nothing to do with the stove, so I turned to a bunch of these great ingredients for a quick and simple -yet delicious - salad. It's a true tour of what western MA farms have to offer, featuring the mixed salad greens from Old Family Farm, spinach from Town Farm and chevre from Sangha Farm.

Roasted Red Pepper & Chevre Mixed Green Salad
(Serves 2)

Ingredients:
3 cups leafy mixed greens
1 cup baby spinach
1 roasted red pepper, sliced
2 oz. chevre
1/4 c. toasted pine nuts

3 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp. dijon mustard
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
3 Tbsp. olive oil
salt & pepper to taste

Method
Combine greens and spinach in a bowl. Sprinkle pepper slices, chevre and pine nuts evenly over the top.
To make the dressing, combine vinegar, mustard in garlic powder in a small bowl. Slowly drizzle in olive oil, whisking constantly until well combined. Add salt & pepper to taste. Drizzle over salad and enjoy right away!

(I must give a special shout out to Casey from Old Friends Farm who I was lucky enough to have a nice, albeit quick, chat with. I told him about my project and he shared his own wish, if it were possible, to take some summers off to visit all of his friends' farms. He's always so hard at work during the growing season, he's never had a chance to see them in full bloom. He made me realize how lucky I am to have this opportunity to "travel" the various farms through these markets - not only to get to see all their offerings, but also to hear some of their stories. Here's a special thanks to all the hard work that people like him do - thank you!!)

Spice-rubbed grilled pork tenderloin

2010-05-20T17:28:00.000-07:00

With all the gardening we've been doing at night after work (I swear every day it's something - mulching, watering, moving, transplating, oh my!), I've been looking for easy, no fuss recipes for dinner. This grilled pork tenderloin definitely fits the bill. Using the grill means pans to clean (yay!) and a much quicker cooking time (as compared to the oven). It comes out super juicy and flavorful. Add some veggies & a starch and you've got a complete meal in less than 30 minutes.

(Yes, those are frozen mixed veggies. Don't knock 'em until you try them in a pinch. Less than 10 minutes cook time, add a little butter and yum! Tastes pretty close to fresh!)

Spice-Rubbed Grilled Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients:

1 pork tenderloin (about 1 lb.)

1 Tbsp. sweet paprika

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. curry powder

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil

Method:

Combine spices and olive oil in a glass dish (that will fit the tenderloin) or large locking plastic bag. Remove any silvery skin from the tenderloin, then add it to the spice mixture. Work the spice and oil mixture over all surfaces. Cover (or close the bag) and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.

When ready to cook, heat grill over medium-high heat. Pull pork out of the marinade, letting any excess drip off (do not wipe it off, though). Add to the grill and cook tenderloin for 15-18 minutes, turning 1/2 way through, until internal temperature is at least 145 degrees (for medium, slightly pink pork). Cook longer if you prefer well done pork (but know that it will be drier). Cover with foil and let rest at least 5 minutes before cutting.

The longer you can leave your pork in the spice & oil mixture the better. This time mine was only in there for about 5 hours, but it still turned out great!

Spring happenings...

2010-05-18T18:36:00.001-07:00

We've just past the last frost date here in the Valley (or so 3 out of 4 sources tell me...), so Mr. ValleyWriter and I have been busy planting up a storm. We've been doing mostly shrubs and flowers this year. My favorite new additions so far are these tea roses:

I've also planted lots of summer bulbs, including stargazer lillies, fresia, calla lillies and acidanthera. It's my first time planting summer bulbs, so we'll see if they ever come up... (crossing fingers!). I already have had some success with my seed plantings. I'm not doing a CSA farm share this year, so I decided to plant my own herbs. After a couple of weeks of tender loving care (OK, watering & bringing them inside at night; not exactly rocket science), they've started to sprout:

(Sweet basil)

(Cilantro)

(A lowly little sage seedling)

My plan is to transplant the herbs into a big planter in the garden this weekend. Then I think the planting will truly be complete for the spring. After that, it'll be wait-and-see-and-water... Fortunately, if the herbs don't work out, I know I can find them at the local Easthampton Farmer's market. I got some chives there last spring from Ravenwold Greenhouse and they're up again this year, going strong. (If you're in the area and find yourself free on a Tuesday afternoon, swing by the Easthampton Farmer's Market on Union Street, across from the 7-11. Plenty of free parking and neat things to check out!)

Sunday Suppers - Chickpea Curry

2010-05-09T14:18:00.000-07:00

After a couple of weeks of gloriously warm weather, it's turned cool again here in the valley. And what's better on a cool day than a meal that fills the house with warm spicy smells and fills your belly with the same? Not much, I'd say!

Tonight's dish is a vegetarian curry with just the right amount of heartiness coming from chickpeas (not too heavy, but still very filling). It also has carrots and peas for some color and interest. But the chickpeas are the star - and they're my fav!

Dried beans still kind of scare me, but having had success before with black beans, I decided to take the plunge and try dried chickpeas, too. This time I used my crockpot and they turned out great (without me having to worry about them scorching on the stove while I napped on the couch... gotta love lazy Sundays!).
I soaked them overnight in cold water for about 7 hours, then drained and rinsed them, put them back in the crockpot on low covered with about 3" of water and let them bubble away for a good 10 hours. Now they're just like the canned ones, but cheaper and without any salt (or who knows what else). That said... if you're short on time or scared of beans, the canned kind will do in a pinch.

Another note - I lightened up this curry by using 1/2 coconut milk and 1/2 almond milk, which I saw on "Ultimate Recipe Showdown" a while ago. You really can't tell the difference in taste, but it does significantly help lower the fat. That said, it's fine to use all coconut milk, as I have many a time. OK.. now on to the recipe!.

Chickpea Curry
(Serves 3-4)

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. curry paste
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1 clove garlic, minced
5 carrots, peeled and sliced
3/4 c. lite coconut milk (about 1/2 of a can)
3/4 c. unsweetened almond milk
1 (15 oz.) can tomatoes with green chilies
2 cups cooked chickpeas
1 cup green peas

Method:
In a heavy bottomed sauce pan over medium-low heat, combine oil, curry paste, cumin, cayenee, coriander and garlic. Stir constantly for 2-3 minutes until garlic and spices become fragrant. Add carrots, coconut milk, almond milk and tomatoes. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. After 30 minutes, add chickpeas and green peas. Continue cooking on low for 15-20 minutes until sauce has thickened and chickpeas and peas are heated through.

Serve over white or brown rice.

P.S. Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms out there! I hope someone is cooking dinner for you wonderful ladies tonight.

Pancakes Made Even Easier

2010-05-04T16:43:00.000-07:00

As soon as we got back from vacation, I came down with a cold that turned into a sinus infection, so I've been under the weather the last few days. This time around, this infection has really sapped my energy - so much so that I don't feel like going to the store to get groceries (I normally love grocery shopping) or doing much cooking (which I, again, normally enjoy). So, it's been a "clean-out-the-fridge" week for us. And meals have been simple. But sometimes, those are the best! For example.. how about pancakes for dinner?

Just before I was about to make these, I had cleaned out an ketchup bottle for recycling. Then I remembered some show (maybe it was even a commercial?) where I saw a woman reusing these squeeze bottles to make perfectly round pancakes. So, I thought I'd give it a try.

First - the pancake recipe:

Basic Pancakes
(Makes about 8 3" pancakes)

Ingredients:
1 c. flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. sugar
1 c. milk
1 egg
1 Tbsp. oil

Method:
Mix flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, combine milk, egg and oil. Add wet ingredients to dry and whisk until well combined and no longer clumpy.

Now - for the neat trick: Pour your pancake batter into a well-cleaned squeeze bottle (the ketchup bottle worked great - I just used a funnel to make getting the batter in there easier).

Now lightly oil your frying pan and heat it up over medium-low heat. Open the top of the batter bottle and squeeze the batter out into the pan:

Through the magic of gravity, the batter spreads out into perfectly round little pancakes. Let them cook until bubbles form, flip and cook 1 more minute, then add syrup and enjoy.

I think the best part of this is that, if you've got leftover batter, you can just close up the top of the bottle and store it in the fridge for a few days. I can see this making weekday mornings a breeze (if you do a cooked breakfast). Plus, I bet it would work great for making shaped pancakes with ease (dear Mr. ValleyWriter: do not be surprised if Mickey Mouse pancakes suddenly begin appearing on your plate...).

My home away from home - the beach!

2010-04-29T05:56:00.001-07:00

I know it's been quiet the last week, but that's just because I've been lucky enough to be at the beach! I am a beach baby - always have been, always will be. When I was a kid, my parents took us to a nearby lake to go swimming nearly every night in the summer. And most years, we also spent a couple of weeks camping at the ocean in Maine. To this day, anytime I get to sink my toes in the sand, I am a happy girl. (Heck, I even got married at the beach!)

This past week's adventures took us to beaches in both Virginia and North Carolina. We started out at Virginia Beach, where we got a couple of afternoons of sightseeing in. The first day, we walked about 2 miles, which doesn't sound like much. But when you have RA and you're wearing unsupportive flip flops... not a great idea. So, the next day, we got ourselves a 2-man peddle bike:

That was much better!
The boardwalk actually has a bike path separate from the walking path, so it's easy to get around this way. While tooling about, we saw a karate class on the beach:

and made it most of the way up the boardwalk to check out the Neptune statue:

No matter how many times I see this, I am always amazed by it. It's great piece of art - and really unexpected in the middle of the beach! There are actually several memorials and statues to check out as you cruise along the Virginia Beach boardwalk, so it's really fun to explore.

The next day, we decided to take a drive down to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. We headed first to the Currituck Beach Lighthouse. They allow visitors to climb to the top and it's a pretty good climb:

But the views are totally worth it:

After that, we sat on the beach in the 80 degree weather for a couple of hours and just listened to the waves break, watching the pelicans fly by. It was incredibly relaxing and rejuvinating.

But, the fairytale must always come to an end, so now we're back in New England (we were welcomed by some flurries on Tuesday - yuck!). At least the sun is out today. Maybe I'll dump the sand out of our suitcase onto the deck and pretend I'm at the beach. Hey, a girl can dream...

Homemade Whole-Wheat Sandwich Bread

2010-04-20T05:29:00.001-07:00

I've been posting my "Sunday Suppers" almost every Sunday for the last couple of months, but that's not the only Sunday project I've been working on. I made it one of my New Year's resolutions to make my own bread this year - and to perfect a whole wheat bread.

I've never really had a problem making white sandwich bread, or even using 1/2 white flour and 1/2 whole wheat flour - but 100% whole wheat has eluded me. Sometimes I'd get it mostly right, only to fail on successive attempts even though I was following the same recipe. Most times, it just seemed to turn out much too dense for my liking. Not to mention that it was never tall enough for a sandwich - more like a 1/2 sandwich. Yes, my attempts at whole-wheat bread have been sad to say the least.

That is, until now. After about 4 rounds of tweaks, I've finally come up with what I think is a great whole-wheat sandwhich bread. Just to be sure, I've made in the last 3 Sundays in a row and confirmed that it is reproducible with the same great results. As you can see, it has nice height and a lovely crumb:

One of the unusual things about this recipe (as far my recipes go anyway) is that the flour and water are measured in ounces and grams. I read somewhere that measuring bread ingredients by weight can help you get the right texture and eliminate the humid vs. dry flour issues that often crop up. I think it has turned out to be one of the keys to making this reproducible for me. For this latest loaf (pictured above), I threw in some millet and flax seeds for a little textural interest, and it still turned out just as I expected to. I think I've really found a winner here!

Homemade Whole-Wheat Sandwich Bread

Ingredients:
520 grams whole wheat flour
1/4 c. nonfat dried milk
2 tsp. rapid rise (or bread machine) yeast
3 Tbsp. sugar (or honey)
2 Tbsp. millet (optional)
1 Tbsp. flax seeds (optional)
1 Tbsp. oil
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups warm water

Method:
Mix together flour, dried milk, yeast, sugar and seeds (if using). Add oil, salt and water and stir just until combined into a shaggy dough. Let sit 20 minutes to allow the flour to soak in the water. (Dough will be sticky - that's OK. Don't add more flour!)
After resting, dump dough out onto a lightly floured board. The dough will still be a little sticky, but you want it that way to keep it from getting too dense. Knead it as best you can for about 5 minutes until dough feels firmer (almost like how gum gets after you chew it for a while). The dough won't get smooth, but you should notice it firm up as the gluten strengthens.
Put the kneaded dough in an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit in a warm place for about an hour, or until doubled in size.
Punch down dough on your floured board and shape into a rectangle. Roll up the dough, tuck in the ends and place seam side down in a well-greased 8" loaf pan.
Cover with oiled plastic wrap and let sit about 1 hour until dough rises about 1" over the top of the loaf pan.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Remove plastic wrap and place bread in oven. Bake 25 minutes, then cover with foil and continue baking 20-25 minutes until cooked through.
Let cool about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the edges. Let cool another 10 minutes and run knife around the edges as needed to release bread from pan. Cool completely before slicing and storing in an airtight container.

I usually make a loaf and freeze it, pulling out a slice at a time as I need it. 30 seconds in the microwave and I've got fresh, yummy bread for sandwiches, toast and the occasional midnight munchie!

Sunday Suppers - Chicken, Ham & Broccoli Risotto

2010-04-18T16:28:00.000-07:00

Risotto isn't a particularly difficult or time-consuming dish, but the time it takes is rather intensive. You have to stir the rice quite a bit - and if you don't, it can get away from you quickly (in my experience anyway). That's why I usually leave it for the weekends, when I'm not trying to make dinner, do laundry, feed the cats, etc. all at the same time.

One of the nice things about risotto, I think, is that you can really change it up however you want - or to use whatever you have on hand. No broccoli? Use asparagus or peas. Vegetarian? Leave out the meat - it'll still be great! I also love how colorful it ends up - no boring white rice here!

The one thing I wouldn't change is using freshly grated or shredded parmesan cheese. Really, the grated stuff in the green jar isn't going to cut the mustard this time.

Chicken, Ham & Broccoli Risotto

(Serves 3)

Ingredients

olive oil spray

2 small chicken thighs, cut into small pieces

4 oz. fully cooked ham, diced

1 large broccoli crown, chopped into florets

1 tsp. dried basil

1/2 tsp. chopped chives (I used dried)

1 cup arborio rice

4 cups chicken broth

1 Tbsp. butter

1/3 c. freshly grated parmesan cheese

salt & pepper

Method

Sprinkle basil and chives over chicken. Spray a large saute pan with olive oil spray and add chicken to pan over medium heat. Cook until chicken is no longer pink. Remove from pan and set aside.

To the same pan, add 1 c. arborio rice. Pour in about 1/2 c. chicken broth and stir to mix. Continue stirring every 30 seconds or so to help the rice absorb the liquid. Continue adding 1/2 c. chicken broth, stirring until fully absorbed each time, until the rice is tender and plump. (You may not use all the broth.)

While rice is cooking, steam broccoli until tender crisp.

When rice is plump and tender, stir in 1 Tbsp. butter. Add cooked chicken, ham and broccoli and heat through. Just before serving, stir in parmesan cheese. Add salt & pepper to taste, if desired.