Archive for the ‘food’ Category

Food: Grilled Salmon

May 13th, 2013
2 Comments

Buying a grill forever changed my life last week. Oh my word, I’m in love with our new appliance. We have a natural gas hook up on our back patio so we can fire it up and go at any time. I suspect I’ll be bringing a lot more grilled recipes to you from here on out.

Yesterday we had 12 people to dinner for Mother’s Day. We cooked everything on the grill. We had plenty of food, the house wasn’t an oven and my kitchen wasn’t a complete disaster area at the end of the night. So glad we bought one at the beginning of the summer rather than the end of it.

What did you cook (or not cook) for Mother’s Day?

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Saturday I had fish that needed to be cooked, so I fired up the grill and made probably the best salmon I’ve had in ages, if not ever. It was quick and easy. I suspect you could make the same kind of salmon in your oven, just bake at 450F.

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Smokey Grilled Salmon

serves 4
  • 1 filet of salmon (skin on one side)
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • liquid smoke
  • salt
  • pepper

Place the filet of salmon, skin side down on a large sheet of tin foil. Roll up the sides to make a little dish to keep juices from dripping. Put a couple of drops of liquid smoke on the filet (you don’t need much). Pour melted butter over top and season with salt and pepper. Preheat your grill (or oven) to 450 and place in the middle of the grill. Cook for 15-20 minutes or until cooked all the way through. Serve.

Fresh Summer Salad

serves 4-6
  • 1 English/armenian cucumber
  • grape tomatoes
  • 1 avocado
  • 1 bunch broccoli
  • mozzarella
  • green onions
  • 1/4 cup parmesan
  • olive oil
  • balsamic vinegar
  • salt
  • pepper

Chop into bite sized chunks and toss in about a cup of each of the vegetables and mozzarella. No need for cooking. Coat with a tablespoon or two of olive oil and a dash of balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Serve cold. Bacon would be delicious in here, too.

Lemon Berry Birthday Cake

April 30th, 2013
12 Comments

Penelope is now a grown up 5 year old! It’s nuts to think that I’m mother to a 5 year old. We enjoyed some delicious cake together and blew out candles, nothing terribly special. Her real birthday party is yet to come.

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Nagging in the back of my mind, I’ve had an idea for a tasty cake. Not knowing it would work out, I decided to give it a try. Divine is the only word that comes to mind.

Coffee cake batter + the best berry jam I could find at the grocery store + lemon zest frosting = the perfect blend of tart, sweet and mellow.

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Currently, I’m a little tired of all the cupcake/dessert places that make “the most amazing insert dessert here” that are all coma-inducing sweet with no substantial flavor. Maybe this explains why the whole “put bacon on it” is a thing? Which, by the way, is totally delicious. I love the bacon maple doughnut place just down the street from me.

Using my tried and true coffee cake recipe for the cake part added a neutral base for the flavored frosting and jam. And this frosting is tart and sweet. Had I made a lemon cake, it would’ve been completely overboard. The other nice thing about making coffee cake as a base: it’s a known quantity. I’ve made that recipe hundreds of times so I know it works. And it works well in cake form.

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I spread a jam between the two cake layers (I didn’t have time to make my own – so I bought the fanciest stuff we could find). It was a blueberry blackberry blend, which pairs deliciously with lemon. The lemon frosting is my mom’s melting moments frosting recipe multiplied by 2 and a half. YES. I wanted to make sure I had enough to cover the whole cake. And I had just a little bit left over.

Below is the whole franken-recipe put together for your convenience, should you ever choose to make this. And you should. 

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Lemon Berry Birthday Cake

makes 1 2-tier 8 inch diameter cake
  • 1/2 cup greek yogurt
  • 2 tablespoons oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup milk
  • 3 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 cup sugar
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons salt

Preheat your oven to 375F and grease 2 8 inch cake rounds. Cut out parchment paper in two 8 inch discs and place on the bottom of each cake pan. In a large bowl; whisk yogurt, oil, egg and milk. Sift flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir and fold into batter until smooth. Pour into cake pans. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven and let sit for a minute or two before taking out of the pan to cool. Cover in cling wrap and store in the fridge until you’re ready to frost

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Frosting

  • 6 cups powdered sugar
  • 3 T lemon juice
  • 3/4 cup butter
  • grated lemon rind

Whip.

Grab your cake rounds and stack one on your desired cake plate. Generously spread about 1/2 cup of the best jam you can find, preferably seedless. Carefully place the second cake round on top. Quickly frost one layer (the crumb layer), it’ll look ugly, but that’s okay. Place in the fridge for a couple minutes, then frost again. BOOM. You’re done now, eat it like a rock star.

Tasty Potato Pizza Recipe

April 22nd, 2013
5 Comments

This tasty experiment went so fast I barely had time to take pictures after deciding I needed to share the recipe with you and before it had completely disappeared. The photos aren’t ideal, but they work.

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In our San Francisco living days we went to an awesome, tiny pizza-by-the-slice place (can’t remember what it was called, but it was somewhere near Market) that sold the most delicious potato pizza. Penelope was about 6-7 months at that time, Chris kept feeding her whole cloves off the pizza despite my nagging to stop. She loved them. I hated that diaper the next day.

The next best thing to that potato pizza in SF is in Provo (I go every time I get the chance) at Slab. But I can’t always go there when I’m craving a tasty slice. So I tried to duplicate it. I think I got close. You should give it a try.

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Potato Pizza Recipe

  • pizza dough (I used Trader Joe’s garlic dough)
  • cornmeal
  • 3-4 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 medium red potatoes, scrubbed
  • mozzarella (the good stuff)
  • fresh parmesan
  • bacon or ham
  • chives
  • garlic cloves (powder will do just fine)
  • coarse salt (I used Kosher)

Spray your pizza pan with non-stick spray and coat evenly with cornmeal (do not skip this step!). Preheat the oven to 450º F. Prepare the pizza dough as directed, roll out and spread onto pizza pan. Coat with olive oil. Cover the entire surface of the pizza with thinly sliced potatoes brush over the potatoes with a little olive oil. Evenly spread mozzarella, parmesan, bacon, ham, chives, garlic cloves and salt. Bake in the middle rack for about 10 minutes. Move to top rack and reduce the heat to 350. Bake for another 5-10 minutes or until the potato is soft. Cut and serve.

I imagine this would be really good with brie, goat cheese or feta instead of mozzarella.

 

Food: Baked Potato Soup

April 15th, 2013
3 Comments

It’s snowing and cold again today. When the weather’s like this, I can’t live without this soup.

It takes about 20-30 minutes to make and I typically have everything on hand. Bacon, green onions, cheese and heavy cream are basic staples around our house.

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This recipe is from the Favorites cook book; given to me by my mom, it’s chock full of fabulous recipes.

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Totally ignore the fact that I can’t spell tabasco. Sheesh.

Typically, I’ll add chicken for an even heartier meal. The bacon, is a must. ABSOLUTE MUST. The more the better. I typically cook up a pound of bacon and that tends to disappear just as quickly as the soup.

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Baked Potato Soup

adapted from Favorites, serves 4-6
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 3 tablespoons flour
  • 1/2 cup onions, finely chopped
  • 4 cups broth (chicken, vegetable or beef)
  • 4-6 red potatoes (yukon gold are awesome, too), peeled and chopped
  • 2-4 carrots, peeled and chopped
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • dash tabasco sauce
  • 2-4 cloves garlic (or garlic powder)
  • 1 cup half and half (whole milk works, too!)
  • 5 leaves basil, chopped
  • green onions, chopped
  • sharp cheddar, grated
  • 1 package bacon, crumbled

Peel and chop all veggies in advance. In a large pot, melt butter on medium high with onions until onions are clear. Add flour and mix together (will look like a paste). Add broth, potatoes, carrots, salt, peppper, tabasco and garlic. Make sure liquid covers vegetables, add more water if needed. Cook on medium high for 15-20 minutes or until vegetables are tender.* Add half and half, basil and warm all the way through. Serve with green onions, cheddar and bacon.

*To cook your veggies faster, chop your vegetables smaller.

 

Food: Dairy-Free Mango Strawberry Sorbet

April 8th, 2013
3 Comments

We’re just itching for spring around here. It was really nice over the weekend, but we’re straight back into winter today with loads of snow. No complaints from me, though! I don’t mind an excuse to wear my long sleeve shirts.

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If you just so happen to be in a place that’s warmer than 30 degrees (f) today, you should try this recipe out. It was sort of an experiment loosely based around this about.com Thai mango sorbet recipe. It’s really good, and takes only a few ingredients. It’s dairy free and relies mostly on natural sugars. If you have Popsicle molds, get them out!

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Mango Strawberry Sorbet Recipe

makes about 4 cups

  • Two ripe mangos
  • 4-6 ripe strawberries
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 2 cans coconut milk (FULL FAT!)

Peel and cut mangos in large chunks. Remove the greenery off strawberries. Place mangos, sugar and lemon juice in a blender. Blend until smooth.

Open up the cans of coconut milk and scoop out the top “cream” first. Chaokoh and Thai Kitchen brand coconut milk have the best/most creamy texture. If there’s any watery stuff, discard. It’ll make your sorbet icey (which is perfectly fine if you’re making ice cream pops).

Freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. I have this cuisinart ice cream maker, I highly recommend it if you don’t have one. I’ve found it’s best to serve immediately or let it cure for up to 4 hours before serving. If you let it cure longer, you may have to bust it out of the freezer 15 minutes prior to serving so it can soften. Enjoy!

Alternatively, you can follow the freezing instructions on the original recipe’s page. It doesn’t require an ice cream maker, just a freezer and some patience.

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