Archive for the ‘food’ Category

Chocolate Ginger Cookies Recipe

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This blog is becoming less and less about food and more about the creative process. And making these cookies was a truly creative process. Penelope wanted chocolate cookies before church a few weeks ago. I didn’t have any chocolate chips, nor did I want to drive 20 minutes to the grocery store to get them. So I wanted to see if I could get a chocolate cookie by using cocoa powder. I couldn’t find a recipe that either didn’t call for chocolate chips or have a long ingredient list of things I don’t usually stock in my kitchen. So I made one up!!

I fused a molasses cookie (I wanted to deepen the flavor of the chocolate) and a snickerdoodle. My mom gave me the best recipes for both, so I used those. And these WORK WELL AT ALTITUDE!!!! YAY! We’re at 6400 ft. elevation, so cookie recipes can be problematic and the cookies end up a sloppy mess on the cookie sheet. These hold their shape and stay chewy. ON to the recipe, shall we?

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Favorite Eats and The Wild Rose

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With our kitchen out of commission, we’ve been doing microwave dinners and eating out A TON. The microwave dinners are definitely getting old, but eating out has had the unexpected benefit of finding new places to try. I love finding great new restaurants. I’ve teamed up with Favorite Eats for a lot of our dining out. It’s super slick. You know those coupon books that you’d get at school fundraisers? They were great in theory, but terrible in practice because you’d always forget them at home. It’s basically the same concept, but in app form. On your phone that you never leave at home.  A lot of the restaurants I already frequent offer deals through the app, so it was a natural fit to start using it. If you’d like to give it a go, use code FOODIEFRIEND for $10 off your subscription. 

Most of the deals are through quick-serve restaurants, but there are some fancy-pants places like Bona Vita, Oak Wood Fire Kitchen and… my new favorite, The Wild Rose, that include great deals on there, too. 

Last Friday Chris and I got the chance to try out The Wild Rose for the first time. It was a fantastic experience. We felt thoroughly spoiled with the great service, crisp linens and delicious menu. 

It may not look like much, but the butter on the house-made bread rocked my world. I need to go back just for this butter. 

Our experience has me aching to make some gourmet ice cream and a chocolate ganache torte. Doesn’t it look amazing? Well, it tasted amazing. 

We had a fantastic time, I’ve written a yelp review about it here. Have you gone on a date night lately? If you’re in the Salt Lake area, check out my Instagram for a $50 giveaway to The Wild Rose! Feel free to use code FOODIEFRIEND for $10 off your yearly subscription to Favorite Eats. Enjoy! 

*The affiliate links used in this post help fund craft supplies and more creative DIYs and tutorials. Thanks for your support!

Mom’s Best-Ever Breadsticks

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These breadsticks were a family staple growing up. I’ve finally figured out how not to destroy the yeast when cooking, so now it’s a staple in our house, too. They’re incredibly easy to make and require very few ingredients. You can play around with the seasonings you have on-hand to change up the flavors of these breadsticks.

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The recipe I’m sharing with you deviates slightly from my mom’s recipe, but it’s simply because I rarely ever have malted milk on hand. In this recipe, instead of calling for warm water and malted milk, I simplify with whole milk. I’m sure any other milk will do, we’re just a whole milk family.

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I use a hook mixer for the entire thing. If you don’t have a stand mixer like this (or a Bosch), you can get away with mixing by hand.

Mom’s Best-Ever Breadsticks

Makes 1 11×17 jelly roll pan

  • 1 Tbs. yeast
  • 1 1/2 cups warm milk
  • 1 Tbs. honey
  • 2 tsp. salt
  • 4-4 1/2 cups flour

Warm the milk to slightly warmer than room temperature (like 90-100 degrees). Add yeast and allow to bloom, 5 minutes. Add honey.

In a separate bowl, mix together salt and flour. Slowly incorporate with the yeast mixture. Mix only until flour is barely incorporated. DO NOT OVERMIX.

Remove dough from the bowl, knead to incorporate the last bit of flour and roll out to fit the jelly roll pan.

  • 2 Tbs. melted butter
  • garlic salt
  • pepper
  • parmesan cheese

Place dough onto a greased pan, cut in 1″ strips with a pizza cutter. Sprinkle butter and desired toppings (see above for ideas). Spray stretch wrap with non-stick spray and cover the breadsticks. Let raise for 2-3 hours.

Bake at 450º for 12 minutes. Serve.

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Add some chipotle powder for a kick. Serve with your favorite soup, marinara sauce or salad.

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Food: Sardine Margherita Salad

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This is one of those things that sounds kind of gross, but seriously, stay with me. It’s my new favorite salad.

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Don’t get me wrong, I thought sardines were a sour, strong-tasting/smelling canned fish, when really it’s like a salted tuna. When looking for sardines at the grocery store, make sure you get a container with boneless skinless sardines. Some packages will have the fish with the bones still in there. That can get a little tricky to eat.

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Sardine Margherita Salad

  • Arugula
  • Baby kale
  • Tomatoes (I love Valagio Marzanos from TJ’s, but any kind of cherry tomato will work great)
  • Mozzarella pearls
  • 1 can sardines (boneless, skinless)
  • Sriracha
  • Parmesan
  • Fresh Basil

Blend half arugula and half baby kale. You can go for one or the other, but I find the kale gives the salad body and the arugula gives the salad some depth with its nuttiness. Slice tomatoes in half or fourths. Sprinkle tomatoes, mozzarella and sardines. Add some sriracha (like 5-7 drops for a personal salad) and dressing, then toss. Garnish with parmesan and basil, serve. The heat of the sriracha and the acidity of the dressing breaks down the kale nicely so there’s less bitterness in the leaf.

Mandarine & Sage Dressing

  • 1/2 cup rice vinegar
  • 3/4 cup sesame oil
  • 2-3 garlic cloves
  • 5-7 fresh sage leaves
  • juice of 2 mandarine oranges
  • 1/4 teaspoon cracked pepper
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Add ingredients to a blender and puree. Add salt, pepper and even a little sugar as needed.

Food: Best Freaking Tomato Sauce

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In the very first cooking class I attended from Tom (he’s the best!) he taught us how to make a rustic tomato sauce. It’s my go-to. I don’t buy store bought anymore. Best of all, no can opener required. I’ve never been a huge fan of the overly-acidic, dump-all-your-food-storage-into-a-pot sauces. They don’t taste like a real tomato grown on a vine. This sauce does. And you don’t have to make it at the height of growing season, either. I can make mine in the middle of winter with 72″ of snow piling in our front yard.

The secret is in the type of tomatoes. Regular cherry tomatoes work fabulously. If you happen to find yourself near a Trader Joe’s, stock up on ALL of their mini tomatoes, especially their Villagio Marzano tomatoes! OMG, so good just plain.
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This recipe may feel like it’s more work than the typical recipe that calls for cans and Italian seasoning, but this gets more of a rustic, home-grown tomato taste rather than a canned taste. It’s just so. much. better.

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RUSTIC TOMATO SAUCE

Adapted from Food Made By Tom | Makes 2-3 cups
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 2 tbs salted butter
  • 1/3 cup coarsely sliced onion
  • 2 cartons grape tomatoes*
  • 1/2 cup chicken stock or broth
  • kosher salt to taste

Peel garlic and coarsely chop. Turn on the stove to medium high heat. Add butter, garlic and onion.

While the onion and garlic are simmering, slice all of your tomatoes in half. Dump tomatoes into the pot once the onions and garlic is aromatic (until onion goes clear, you can go until it browns a little if you’d like). Cover and cook for 30-40 minutes. Check in on it and stir about once every 5 minutes.

You’ll want the bottom of the medium sauce pan to burn just slightly so you get a roasted flavor in there. Timing depends upon how juicy your tomatoes are. Add salt and pepper. Add broth. I eyeball it. Uncover the sauce and reduce at medium-high heat.

At this point you could just remove from heat and put on pizza dough as a rustic pizza sauce. My kids don’t much care for the larger skins, so I’ll allow the mixture to cool and blend it with my immersion blender or I’ll put it in the blender and puree. Garnish with fresh basil.

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The above image is when it’s about half-way done. You’ll want a soupier consistency. It’ll start bubbling and burning slightly on the bottom. The charred bottom adds a lot of flavor, as if you roasted the tomatoes in an oven. You can add broth or stock to the sauce or leave as-is. It just depends upon how thick you want your sauce to be and how much time you have to let it reduce. If I have time, I’ll add broth and let it reduce a couple of times so the flavor is concentrated. My best batches tend to be the ones I forget about because I get caught up with the drama of after-school studies or who gets the iPad. It’s best to cook at medium to medium/high heat. I tend to go medium/high heat because we’re at altitude. Things take FOREVER to cook otherwise.

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So this may not be a hard-and-fast recipe, it’s more recipe theory and based on “Looks”, so I hope it’ll be as good for you as it has been for our family.

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