Oofta

A good friend of mine went to law school in Minneapolis, and I went to visit her several times while she was there. I was living in upstate NY at the time so the snow and cold weren't toooo shocking to me. As two young women who grew up in Arizona, we were experiencing real snow and winter for the first time in our 20s, and we were always on the phone with each other comparing the weather. We came to the conclusion that Minnesota is colder, but upstate NY is snowier.

Anyways, on my visits I always enjoyed seeing that strong Scandinavian heritage peeking through in the modern day. Garrison Keillor is only exaggerating a little bit when he tells those Lake Wobegon stories. So much of the country feels the same. When you get off an airplane in so many cities, it's hard to tell where you have landed. In Minneapolis, it was fun to hear about a "hot dish" a "parking ramp" and I especially loved the word, "oofta." I'm not a Minnesotan, but I believe it roughly translates to "uggh."

This is all background for one morning last week. The baby woke me up at 5:00 AM and just wouldn't go back to sleep. I decided we might as well head down stairs and get our morning started. With each step, the temperature dropped colder and colder. I was so cold when I got into the kitchen, I exclaimed, "Oofta, we need to do something to warm up this house." (Which was funny because I hadn't thought about my Minneapolis visits for a great while - I guess the cold took me back.) It was in the 40s outside, and not much warmer inside because we had left the kitchen window open (in our defense - it had been hot only the day before). I decided to turn on the oven. With my foggy brain I just thought of turning on the oven to use as a heat source, but then quickly decided that would be a waste of gas, so decided to throw in a couple sweet potatoes. After we warmed up a bit, I decided to put the baby in her high chair and roll it into the kitchen. I dug around in the fridge to realize that we were low on our breakfast staples - we had one egg, no yogurt, no milk, no bacon. Things weren't looking too good. Luckily I found some leftovers to start feeding baby girl, and I started cooking. I still wasn't warm all the way through, so I started by making some soup. I had broth and leftover chicken added some zucchini, onions and carrots.  While it was cooking, I prepped vegetables for lunch and dinner, and felt I had gotten a lot done by the time our toddler and my husband got up to start their day.

The results were an unconventional breakfast, but great for warming you up whatever the time of day.... or season. Sometimes simple is the best.

Chicken, zucchini and carrot soup with freshly baked sweet potato and butter and hot tea.

Chicken, Zucchini and Carrot Soup

1 T butter

1 onion, chopped

3 carrots, chopped

2 medium zucchini, chopped

1 Quart Chicken Broth

2 C chicken, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 t thyme

Melt the butter over medium heat in a saucepan. Add the onion and carrots and cook until the onions begin to soften. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook until the zucchini is tender. Enjoy.

Rainbow Dance Party

We decided to throw the girls a birthday party last weekend because we will be in NY state for their real birthdays at the end of June. We wanted a chance for us all to celebrate them turning 1 and 3 with friends here in Phoenix.

Our toddler chose the theme of a Rainbow Dance party, and over the last month or so we had a lot of fun plotting decorations, food and fun.  Here are a few photos of our celebration:

W set the Rainbow Dance Party mood by hanging balloons from the ceiling in the playroom.

We decided to make the party from 10:30-12:30 to catch everyone in their best moods. We served bacon and cheddar quiche, Kale and Gruyere quiche, bagels with the works (a nod to NYC), fruits and veggies. The toddler and I had lots of fun picking out a rainbow of fruit. We had nectarines for orange, but they didn't ripen in time to make it on the platter.

Blue and purple veggies can be hard to find. Wanted to get purple cabbage and carrots, but we struck out the day we went shopping. No worries - the boiled beets were perfect for the babies at the party.

The toddler was reading the NY Times magazine and saw a rainbow cake. She was sold. She said, "That's the cake I need for my party." We normally try to keep things pretty healthy, but for a birthday party we decided to loosen the rules. My husband and I had fun making the cake. IT WAS A HUGE HIT. Lots of recipes say to use gel coloring. I couldn't find any easily, so we just used regular food coloring and slightly reduced the liquid . About 45 drops per layer, and we were really pleased with the results.

So many times at birthday parties, the children are sent home with little tchotchkes. I was racked my brain for something that would fit our theme, and be a fun dance tool. Landed on rainbow hand kites. Sometimes they are on wooden rings, but I chose to put them on hair bands so that the kids could hold them or wear them on their wrists. This photo doesn't really do it justice. The ribbons are 20 inches long (once folded in half) so they look great flowing and twirling around.

Last but not least the girls needed clothes worthy of a Rainbow Dance Party. The baby has some rainbow striped pants, so she was all set, but I wanted something special for the toddler. Searched on Pinterest and decided to make a no-sew skirt. Super easy! I literally didn't sew it because I just used safety pins on the waistband to keep it adjustable. Ripped the strips of fabric. Once I decided on the length and size, I finished the rest of the skirt in one hour of TV watching.

 We were so pleased with how the day turned out. My biggest worry was that the girls would get overwhelmed with all the guests, but they both had a great time. I think the toddler was pleased to see her ideas come to fruition.

What about you? Any party successes? disasters?

Beef and Cauliflower Soup

We have been trying to follow a Paleo/Primal diet for a while. It started when our first daughter and I had a stubborn case of thrush and a holistic nutritionist I met said that dietary changes were the only way we were going to kick it for good. We have fallen off the wagon several times, but we notice that we feel better when we cut back on grains and other starchy foods.

Well with a new baby at home, I was very focused on quick easy meals that our toddler would eat with us. We relied on pasta more than I'd like to admit, and the times that we did get the paleo style meals I hoped for, it was pretty boring. Everything was pan fried or steamed because I didn't want to turn the oven  on during the Phoenix summer, and not much seasoning. Just some type of meat or fish and two vegetables and repeat.

I happened on The 30 Day Guide to Paleo Cooking by Hayley Mason and Bill Staley at the library. We started cooking our way through it and really enjoyed it. It includes meal plans and shopping lists which I love (I've always been a sucker for those), and the food tastes great. My one complaint is that I don't like the mix of meals. We are talking about cooking our way through it again, but I think I will rewrite the meal plans and shopping lists so that you don't end up with a bunch of beef one week, lots of fish the next, or lots of greens followed by only white and yellow veggies, etc. I'll be sure to share my rewritten meal plans and shopping lists with you.

One of the recipes we recently tried was for Bison Stew. We had to use beef because our Meat Shop didn't have any bison stew meat. The results were delicious. I love the combination of beef broth and cauliflower. It tastes so rich and decadent. Yum!

Beef and Cauliflower Soup (based on The Food Lovers Kitchen)

2 lbs. beef stew meat
1 T coconut oil
1 onion, chopped
3 stalks of celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
6 cups of beef broth
3 sprigs of thyme
3 sprigs of rosemary
1 head of cauliflower, broken into small florets
fermented sauerkraut
salt and pepper to taste

Brown the meat in the coconut oil in a large Dutch oven. Remove the meat from the pan. Add the onion, celery and carrots and cook until the onions are translucent. Add the meat and broth to the pot.  Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 5-6 hours, adding the cauliflower for the last hour of cooking. Top with sauerkraut and serve.

This post is part of Alphabe-Thursday, Full Plate Thursday and Frugal Food Thursday.

A Downton Abbey Dinner of Roast and Root Vegetables

Have you been watching Downton Abbey? We have become totally addicted. I had never heard of it until it got so many Golden Globe nominations. We decided to check it out on Netflix, and we were immediately hooked. We finished season 1 just in time to watch season 2 on PBS. The only problem is that it's 9:00-11:00 airtime doesn't really jive with my new mother sleep schedule (for me that means a 9:30 bedtime). So the last few episodes we watched on-line on Monday nights from 7:30-9:30 - perfect for my schedule.



When we think of British food, one dish that comes to mind is a roast and root vegetables all smothered in gravy (this perception is at least partly shaped by our trip to England last year). So each week for Sunday supper (sometimes on Monday) we have been having some type of roast and vegetables.

This week we enjoyed a bottom round roast with onions, potatoes, turnips and parsnips and onion gravy. Mmm, mmm good. I love gravy (it's my second post on it in two days), but what sets this gravy apart is that it is pretty sweet. The onions become very sweet after roasting for so long and impart their flavor on the rest of the dish.Now that Downton Abbey has come to an end, I guess we are on the hunt for a new show (and some new dinner inspiration). Any Suggestions?

Bottom Round Roast with Root Vegetables
2 T olive
2.5 lb bottom round roast
3 large onions, cut into thick slices
2 T apple cider vinegar
6 potatoes, chopped
6 carrots, cut into 2 inch pieces
2 turnips, chopped
2 parsnips, chopped

Method
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place a roasting pan over medium high heat, and add some oil. Brown the roast on all sides (about 4 minutes per side). Add the onions and vinegar, and put in the oven. Bake for 2 hours. Add the rest of the vegetables and cook for 2 more hours, or until the meat and vegetables and tender. Let meat rest for 10 minutes before carving. Slice into thin slices and enjoy.

Onion Gravy
2 T butter
2 T flour
1 C of juice released from the onions, meat and vegetables

Method
Heat the butter in a skillet and slowly stir in the flour. Cook the butter and flour for 5 minutes over medium heat. Slowly add the liquid and stir constantly. Cook until the gravy reaches the desired consistency.

We have been avoiding grains, but I still use flour in the gravy (it's my little cheat). I like the thickness from the flour, and it reheats nicely.

This post is part of Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, Tasty Tuesdays, Tasty Tuesday, Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, Tuesdays at the Table, Beauty and Bedlam, Allergy Free Wednesday, and Real Food Wednesday, Works for Me Wednesday.

One Smoked Pork Shoulder and Six Meals

A bowl of split pea soup garnished with crispy bacon.

Last Saturday, we bought a smoked pork shoulder. We were told that a great way to prepare it was to boil it for 2.5 - 3 hours to draw out the excess salt. So we gave it a go, and boiled it all afternoon. We have proceeded to eat off that one piece of meat ever since. It has inspired us to look for other cuts of meats that we can stretch just as far in future weeks. Do you have any suggestions?

Something we noticed shopping at the grocery store was that it was really hard to tell what season it was. They had artichokes and plantains on sale in February! We decided to go for it since all of the vegetables came from somewhere else anyways. Hopefully this week, we will be able to make it to the farmers market and get back on track with our seasonal foods.

Meal 1 - We were inspired by our trip to England to have some ham and eggs for dinner with a side of plantains and a big salad (it didn't make the photo).


Meal 2 - Ham with artichoke and salad. I know it looks more like an Easter dinner than one in February, but all the vegetables came from another quadrant of the world, and the artichokes were on sale...


Meal 3 - Breakfast of eggs, ham and plantains. I had never had plantains before living in NYC and this week was my first time making them at home. They are pretty low on the glycemic index and inexpensive.


Meal 4 and 5 - Split pea soup is such a satisfying winter meal. Please see below for the recipe.

Meal 6 - Some ham and swiss sandwiches with salad. I didn't take a photo.


Split Pea Soup Inspired by Burnt Offerings' on Food 52

Ingredients
1/2 lb bacon, sliced into lardons
4 carrots, diced
4 ribs of celery, diced
1 large onion, diced
1/2 t sage
1/2 t thyme
1 t rosemary
3 bay leaves
1 lb dried split peas
2 lb smoked ham hock (or this time I used the shoulder joint and the remaining meat)
8 C water or chicken stock

Method
Place a Dutch oven over medium low heat, and add the bacon. Once the bacon is crispy, remove from the pan and set aside for garnish. Add the carrots, celery and onion to the pan and cook for 15 minutes (or until tender). Add the sage, thyme, rosemary and bay leaves and stir to combine. Spread the peas out on a cookie sheet and check for stones. Remove any stones and add to the pot. Nestle the ham hock or pork shoulder into the peas and vegetables, and add the water or chicken stock. Bring to a simmer and lower heat. Cook for about 2.5 hours. Remove the ham hock or pork shoulder, let cool, remove the meat and chop into bite size pieces. Add the meat back into the pot. It is ready to enjoy. Dish up and garnish with the bacon.

* I only have 1 cup glass measuring cups and I didn't want to have to measure out 8 cups of water with them, so I thought of using our coffee pot carafe. Each "cup" on the coffee maker is 6 ounces, so just under 11 cups= 64 ounces, or 8 cups. Thought I'd pass my tip along.



This post is part of Simple Lives Thursday, Full Plate Thursday, Frugal Food Thursday, Alphabe-Thursday, and Sunday Night Soup Night.

Sausage, Bean and Vegetable Soup

All week I have been looking forward to going to the Wayland Winter Farmers' Market and the raw milk dairy today. On our trip to the dairy last weekend, we realized that there is a farmers' market along the way on Saturdays (perfect!). But my hopes were dashed on Thursday when the weather man started predicting that we were going to get a major snow storm today. I was so disappointed. It was definitely not worth the risk of travelling 40 miles in a snow storm, so I thought I might have to find another way to do our food shopping for the week. Luckily, I woke up this morning to learn that the storm is going to miss us, and it looks like our field trip is back on. (It's the little things in life that make us happy, right?)

Soups and stews are such satisfying meals during the winter. I love the flavors in this soup so much that I have made a version of this three times in the last month. The recipe started with just spicy sausage, white beans and kale in chicken broth, but I have kept adding vegetables each time. This time around it was not a looker. We had purple cabbage that I wanted to eat up, so I added it in, and it definitely turned the whole soup a crazy color. I think I will stick with green cabbage in the future (unless it's Halloween). Some soups require lots of time for the flavors to develop, but the spicy sausage and chicken stock immediately give this soup a shot of flavor, so it is pretty quick to make.



Sausage, Bean and Vegetable Soup

2 T olive oil
1 lb spicy sausage
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
2 ribs of celery, finely chopped
1/2 cabbage, thinly sliced
1 bunch of kale, torn into bite size pieces
4 cups chicken stock
2 cups of white beans

Heat up oil in a Dutch oven and brown the sausage. Remove the sausage, and add the carrot, onion, celery and cabbage to the pot. Cook until tender (about 30 minutes). Add the kale, chicken stock and white beans. Cook until the kale is tender (15-30 minutes).

This post is part of Sunday Night Soup Night.

Chicken and Dumplings for a Snow Day

Today we woke up to find a winter wonderland. We got a total of 19 inches of snow which was enough for the Department of Education to call a snow day. I think a snow day is the perfect day to spend inside cooking and enjoying a nice hot bowl of comfort food.

The view out our kitchen window.

Commuters trudging down a nearby side street.

While I was sick, I made a couple of batches of homemade chicken soup. By the time my husband came down with the cold, he couldn't be convinced that he needed some chicken soup too. I did convince him that some chicken and dumplings could be satisfying. The thick, hearty texture is much more his style.

Prepare a chicken stew.

Cook the dumplings in batches to prevent over crowding.

A great hearty meal for a snow day or a day inside with a cold.

Chicken and Dumplings
inspired by Tyler Florence and good memories of my grandfather's chicken and dumplings

Chicken stock

3 lb chicken
2-3 bay leaves
1 t thyme
4 cloves of garlic
2 T apple cider vinegar
3 small carrots, cut into 3 inch pieces
2 stalks of celery, cut into 3 inch pieces

Chicken Stew

2 T butter
2 T coconut oil
2 carrots, sliced
2 stalks of celery, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 bay leaves
1/4 C flour
6 C chicken stock
1 C frozen peas

Dumplings

2 C flour
1 t baking powder
1 t salt
2 eggs
3/4 - 1 C milk

Place all of the ingredients for the chicken stock into a stock pot, and cover with water. Bring to a boil, and reduce to a simmer. Cook for 2-3 hours. Remove the chicken. Let cool enough to be comfortable to touch. Remove the meat, and return the carcass to the water. Cook for another 1-2 hours. Pour the broth through a fine mesh strainer to remove all the bits. Chill and remove excess fat.

Melt butter and coconut oil, and add the carrots, celery, garlic and onions. Cook until the onions begin to soften. Slowly add flour while stirring. Cook until the flour is integrated and turns golden (about 2-3 minutes). Slowly add the chicken stock, and cook until the stew begins to thicken (about 15 minutes). Add the peas and bring to a gentle boil.

While the stew is cooking, prepare the dumpling batter. In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt. In a measuring cup, beat eggs and add milk. Add to the dry ingredients, and gently stir to combine. Use two tablespoons, to drop spoonfuls of batter into the hot stew. Leave some space between the dumplings. Cook for about 5 minutes on each side. Remove the cooked dumplings with a slotted spoon to a platter. Continue cooking the batter in batches until all of the dumplings are prepared.

Serve the chicken stew with a few dumplings on top.

This post is part of SoupaPalooza. Come join SoupaPalooza at TidyMom and Dine and Dish sponsored byKitchenAid, Red Star Yeast and Le Creuset

Bánh mì Inspired Sandwiches

It is time to end the posting drought. We have been in our new apartment for about 2 weeks, and the boxes are slowly getting unpacked and making their way down to the recycling bin. I can finally sit down to write a post without too much guilt about all the other things needing to get done.

There was a Vietnamese sandwich shop around the corner from our old apartment. The Bánh mì sandwiches were delicious. They were on this great crusty French bread, and included a meat of your choosing topped with cilantro, hot sauce, and strips of pickled carrots and cucumbers. The one down side to the sandwiches was that the meat was of dubious quality. I usually ordered the number one which had spicy ground meat and "pâté". What kind of meat? I'm not sure. I just closed my eyes, and enjoyed the great flavor. I figured it was ok for the occasional treat.


We no longer have a Vietnamese sandwich shop around the corner, so we decided to create Bánh mì inspired sandwiches at home with superior quality ingredients. We started with pasture raised ground lamb and seasoned it with chopped garlic, cilantro and celery. After letting it rest, I cooked some as oblong patties and the rest as meatballs. We were really pleased with the results. Here is our recipe:

Vietnamese Inspired Sandwiches
1 lb ground lamb
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 small bunch of cilantro, stems removed
1 rib of celery, chopped
oil
1 carrot, cut into matchsticks
1 cucumber, cut into matchsticks
hot sauce
mayonnaise
French Bread

Combine the lamb, garlic, 1/2 the cilantro and celery. Let stand for at least an hour in the fridge to let flavors combine. Shape the meat into patties or meatballs. Heat a skillet and coat the pan with a small amount of oil. Cook patties or meatballs until browned on all sides. Serve on French bread with the rest of the cilantro, carrots, hot sauce and mayo.


We served ours with some oven roasted acorn squash and brussels sprouts.

Fried Rice and then off to England

We are off to England tomorrow bright and early. We decided to travel light, both taking one backpack small enough to carry on the plane. Because of this, we are going low tech and leaving the laptops at home. Our cell phones won't work there either, so this is our chance to disconnect and really get away from it all. I'll be sure to share some highlights when we return in two weeks.

We enjoyed a quick meal to eat up the last of our vegetables before leaving: Fried Rice. This is a great way to eat up whatever you have on hand.


Chop your vegetables and stir-fry until they are tender.


If desired, add the greens and cook until wilted.


Add cooked rice and cook until heated through. Add seasonings and cooked eggs.


I chose to garnish mine with a little extra Tamari and Srirachi Sauce.

I have to admit that I was wrong about fried rice. I thought I should pour the beaten eggs over the rice and vegetable mixture and cook it together, but my husband thought I should cook the scrambled eggs separately. I cooked it my way and the results were less than stellar. I swear that it has turned out in the past, but not this time around. The rice seemed to soak up the egg and the results were pretty gummy. (My husband thought it was fine, but I knew it could be better.)He is right. Cook the eggs separately.

You will hear from us again in two weeks. Cheers!

Cottage Pie and a Plan

We are heading to England on Thursday. This is our first international trip in our 2.5 years of marriage, and we are really excited. In honor of our upcoming trip, my husband came up with the idea of some shepherd's pie for dinner. I looked up a a recipe in Joy of Cooking, and learned that traditional shepherd's pie is made with chopped lamb. When you substitute beef, the name changes to cottage pie. The traditional recipe includes 1 carrot, 1 onion, 1 celery stalk, 1 lb of ground beef, some beef stock, rosemary, thyme and several potatoes mashed up for a topping. That sounds delicious for a cool fall day, doesn't it? We had to make a couple changes for what we had on hand (our recipe is below). For example, I looked through the cabinet to discover we were out of rosemary and thyme.

Our plan for the rest of the week is:

Monday- Chicken Scampi

Tuesday- Leftover Cottage Pie

Wednesday - Fried Rice with vegetables

Thursday - Off to England





Cottage Pie inspired by Joy of Cooking
2 potatoes, chopped
3 small salad turnips, chopped
2 leeks, whites sliced in half, and cut in thin slices
1 carrot, chopped
6 medium radishes, chopped
1 lb ground beef
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 T flour
2 t Old Bay
1 C Cheddar cheese, grated
olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Add the potatoes and turnips to a pot of cold water. Bring to a boil and cook until tender. Meanwhile, chop the other vegetables and add the leek, carrot, and radishes to a hot frying pan with oil. Cook until tender. Remove from the pan and set aside. Add the ground beef to the pan. When it is almost cooked through, add the tomatoes, flour, and Old Bay. Cook until the tomatoes are softened. Add the leek, carrot, and radishes back in, and stir to combine. Mash up the potatoes and turnips, if necessary add a bit of liquid. Transfer the mixture to a baking dish, and top with the potatoes and turnips. Bake for about 15 minutes. Add the cheese to the top and cook for 15 more minutes.

The traditional recipe does not call for turnips, radishes, leeks or tomatoes. I think this is a very flexible dish that allows you to substitute any vegetables you have on hand.

Joy of Cooking suggested baking it in a pie plate, but I didn't think our pie plate was deep enough to fit everything. We cooked ours in a 9 x 11 pan, so I guess ours was less like Cottage Pie and more like Cottage Cake.

This post is part of Monday Mania and Menu Plan Monday.

Brisket with Vegetables, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

The weather suddenly feels like fall here in New York City. It's making me crave roasts and baked vegetable dishes. It's a great change of pace after spending a hot summer eating lots of salads and planning meals around cooking as little as possible. I thought I'd make another meal plan this week to make sure we eat up all our farm share vegetables.

Monday - Fresh ham baked with maple and mustard sauce, brown rice cooked in chicken stock, boiled corn, and sauteed kale.

Tuesday - Hamburgers with tomatoes, oven roasted beets, and sauteed beet greens.

Wednesday - Leftover ham, baked corn, and kale salad.

Thursday - Baked Chicken with kohlrabi and leeks, and a tomato salad.

Friday - Steak with fried onions, corn on the cob, tomato, radish and salad turnip salad.


Last night we had brisket with mashed potatoes and vegetables. I heated up some oil in my dutch oven, browned the brisket, and set it aside. I then quickly browned some onions and garlic, and added the rest of my ingredients. Once I had everything in the pot, my husband shared that he thought mashed potatoes would be really good with the meal. I had to agree that some mashed potatoes with gravy would be delicious, but I already had the potatoes stewing in the pot with everything else. But then we decided to try something new, we would cook the potatoes in the dutch oven with the brisket and broth soaking up flavor, and then pull them out after 30 minutes and mash them. It worked really well. We ended up with really flavorful potatoes, and only used one pot!

Brisket with Vegetables, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
2 T oil
1 (2 1/2 lb) brisket, with "fat cap" (do not trim)
3 tablespoons sweet paprika
1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus for brisket
Freshly ground black pepper
2 medium yellow onions, cut into thick slices
12 - 16 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 c cooking sherry
4 c chicken broth
2 T fresh sage, finely chopped
2 medium carrots, peeled, and cut into 1 inch pieces
2 turnips, peeled and chopped
8 red potatoes, cut into large pieces
2 T butter
1/4 C flour

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Heat the oil in a large, heavy bottomed Dutch oven over medium-high heat until beginning to smoke. Season the brisket generously with the paprika, salt, and pepper. Place fat side down in the Dutch oven and cook until brown, turn and continue to brown on all sides, about 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer the meat to a plate and set aside.

Add the onions and garlic and cook over medium heat until starting to brown. Pour in the sherry and cook until reduced by about half. Nestle the brisket into the onions and garlic fat side up, add the broth and sage; bring to a simmer and place in the oven to bake, covered, until the brisket is fork tender, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Uncover, scatter the carrots, turnips and potatoes around the brisket and cook until they are tender, about 30 minutes more.

Fish out the potatoes, and place in a mixing bowl. Mash the potatoes with a fork or masher. Add broth from the brisket until they reach the desired consistency.

Transfer the brisket to a cutting board, thinly slice the meat across the grain.

Use a slotted spoon to remove the vegetables from the broth, and set aside to serve with dinner.

For a Pan Gravy: Melt the butter in a skillet and slowly add the flour. Make sure the four is entirely integrated with the butter before adding more flour. Cook until golden brown, and then starting adding broth ladle by ladle. Stirring until smooth, and then adding more broth. Once the gravy has reached the desired thickness, pour into the gravy boat.

Save the rest of the broth for another dish. We plan to use our for cooking rice this evening.

This post is part of Monday Mania at The Healthy Home Economist and Menu Plan Monday at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

30 Minute Stuffed Peppers

When I think of stuffed peppers, I think of a meat and rice mixture baked inside a whole bell pepper smothered in tomato sauce. There is prep time for the meat mixture and the sauce that runs between 15 and 30 minutes, plus almost an hour to bake them. We rarely want to spend that much time on dinner on a week night, so I was pleased when I saw some stuffed pepper boats popping up on different blogs recently. They were baked, but they took a lot less time.

I planned on making stuffed pepper boats tonight, but our apartment was pretty hot when I got home and I was hoping to take a yoga class. I saw on-line Rachel Ray had a cheat. She cooked the peppers and the stuffing separately on the stove top. Her recipe was for Southwestern peppers, but I adapted her technique to my flavors. It was great! Thirty minutes and only one pan was dirtied! Plus, it was delicious and we have enough leftover to serve over salads for lunch tomorrow. Quick, tasty and delicious (and nutritious)with leftovers - pretty much my definition of a successful weeknight dinner.






30 Minute Stuffed Peppers
4 green peppers
2 carrots
3 small tomatoes
3 green onions
4 large cloves of garlic
1 t dried Oregano
1 T fresh sage
1/2 t red pepper flakes
1 lb ground beef
2 T oil
salt to taste
grated cheese (optional)

Slice the top off the peppers, and slice in half. Remove the seeds and ribs and rinse. Place in a dry, large skillet with a lid. Cook over high heat for 4 minutes covered. Flip them over and cook for 4 more minutes covered. Turn off the heat and let sit while preparing the rest of the vegetables.

While the peppers are cooking, chop the carrots, tomatoes, green onions and garlic. Once finished preparing the vegetables, remove the peppers to a large serving platter. Add the oil to the pan, cook the vegetable for 5 minutes over high heat. While cooking the vegetables, measure out the spices and add to the pan.

Once the 5 minutes are up, push the vegetables to the side of the pan and add the ground beef to the other half. Cook until no longer pink (about 5 minutes). Drain off the excess liquid, and spoon mixture into the pepper boats. If desired, top with grated cheese.

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop and Works-for-me Wednesday at We are THAT Family.

Oven Roasted Chicken with Vegetables

I had an interesting walk from the subway to home. A cute new chocolate shop opened, and they were handing out samples. I tried a lemon caramel chocolate, which was good. A lot going on with the flavors, but I did choose lemon caramel chocolate. There were signs up and down the street warning drivers that parking was off limits because Happy Hour was filming. We see these signs a lot - last week they were filming White Collar. But this time they shut down Eight Mile Creek to film. I wonder what Happy Hour is? Next I saw a bike tour peddling toward me, and then lots of paparazzi and people taking cell phone photos of an Evian event. I admit that I had to take a peek through the window to see what all the fuss was about, and I saw a blond young woman. I just assumed she was a model and kept walking, but I just googled "Evian event NYC" to find out that it was Maria Sharapova. Google is amazing - it knows which celebrity I saw on my way home from work. Mind boggling! Last but not least, I noticed that the decorations for the Feast of San Gennaro are starting to go up. Soon we will have the equivalent of a county fair right outside our front door.

Once I got home, I found out my blog won an award from a fellow blogger, Cooking in Kenzo. I will write more about it in my next post, and get to pass it along to other blogs that I love.


It has finally cooled off this week in NYC, and we are getting some long overdue rain. On my way home from work yesterday, I decided that I wanted to have oven roasted chicken. It was finally cool enough to turn on the oven. Mmmm, it hit the spot. We cooked the chicken and vegetables all in the Dutch oven which made it a no fuss meal. All of the vegetables took on a great chickeny flavor.

Oven Roasted Chicken with Vegetables
1 medium chicken
1 onion, cut into good size chunks
1 small cabbage, sliced
2 carrots, cut into 1 inch chunks
salt and pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Rinse and dry the chicken. Add vegetables to the Dutch Oven, and place chicken on top. Cover it and cook for 30 minutes. Remove the cover and turn up the heat to 425, and cook until the juices run clear (about 30 more minutes).

Oven roasted chicken is a gift that just keeps giving. We had salads with leftover chicken for dinner tonight, and now I have the bones in the crock pot making chicken stock.

Dirt Candy Roti aka Vegetable Quinoa Pilaf

As my husband and I discussed what we should serve with the Moroccan Lamb Meatballs, inspiration struck him and he wanted to be in charge of the side dish. His working title is Dirt Candy Roti in reference to two different restaurants. I chose Dirt Candy for my birthday dinner this last year. It's a vegetarian restaurant that honors vegetables as nature's candy (It was an awesome meal. I highly recommend it! Definitely get the Mushroom Pate). The "roti" is in honor of the Kattu Roti from Lakruwana, a Sri Lankan restaurant in Staten Island. This was an impressive looking dish that came out molded like a pyramid.

Dirt Candy Roti
1 C quinoa
3 C water
1 large zucchini, shredded
1 medium carrot, shredded
2 large radishes, shredded
2 small beets, shredded
5 garlic scapes, chopped
salt
oil

Rinse the quinoa and drain. Place the quinoa in a sauce pan and toast over medium high heat. Add the water and cook until the water is absorbed (about 30 minutes). Combine the vegetables on a large platter or shallow bowl. Sprinkle generously with salt and let it sit for 30 minutes to draw out excess liquid. Place the mixture in a strainer or colander and squeeze out the liquid. Heat up pan and coat the bottom with oil. Add the vegetable mixture and cook until it starts to crisp. Fold in the cooked quinoa to combine, and cook the mixture for a few minutes.

Use a mold to plate up the Dirt Candy Roti. We used a "solo" size dish from Rice to Riches, but any shape will do.

Italian Vinaigrette

I learned on my way home from work that we had a last minute guest coming over for dinner tonight. I did a quick mental run through of the kitchen contents and decided we really didn't have the makings of a dinner that would comfortably serve 3 (or 1). My husband suggested that he pick-up pizza, and I loved the idea. I picked up some lettuce, and we were in business.


I have worked in some restaurants along the way, and two of them were casual Italian-American places. Both restaurants had the same recipe for their house vinaigrette. It's really complex. Are you ready for it? Large squirt bottle filled with about half olive oil and half red wine vinegar (slightly more oil). Place thumb over the nozzle and vigorously shake. Squirt on some chopped lettuce. Sprinkle it with a couple of shakes of oregano. Garnish with a tomato wedge (two if the customer is a regular), and you are finished.

As a step up, the salad I made tonight even included local tomatoes, cucumber and carrots. Pizza pie and salad with leftovers for tomorrow. Perfect. Here is my dressing recipe for home:

Italian Vinaigrette
3 T olive oil
3 T red wine vinegar (or I used apple cider vinegar)
pinch of oregano, salt and pepper
Parmesan cheese (optional)

Combine the oil, vinegar, oregano, salt and pepper. Toss salad with dressing and garnish with grated Parmesan cheese.


We are heading to Boston tomorrow and leaving the computer at home, so no posts for several days. I hope to bring back news of exciting adventures and fun family time. Do you have any suggestions for restaurants in the North End/Financial District of Boston?

Blackened Chicken Wraps

Once you decide to make some burritos, you have committed. You have purchased a package of tortillas and need to eat them up. We have had vegetable burritos, breakfast burritos and tonight blackened chicken wraps. My husband took the lead on dinner tonight. His vision was to combine the spiciness of the blackened chicken with the sweet tangy flavor of the vinaigrette. Mmm, mmm, mmm. Spicy goodness. They require just a bit of heat from the top of the stove, but the results are fresh and easy. A great quick meal for a hot steamy night.

Blackened Chicken Wraps
1 large chicken breast, cut into fillets
1 oz blackened seasoning
4 scapes, chopped
1 salad turnip, peeled and shaved into strips
1 carrot, scrubbed and shaved into strips
1 shallot, chopped
lettuce
1 T olive oil
1 T balsamic vinegar
1 heaping t honey
1 t soy sauce

Coat the chicken fillets with blackened seasoning and pan fry until cooked through. Let cool and then slice. Saute the scapes until softened. Mix the turnips, carrot, shallot, lettuce and chicken in a bowl. In a separate bowl, combine olive oil, balsamic vinegar, honey and soy sauce and pour over mix. Toss to combine. Place a couple of scoops in the middle of a tortilla, roll up, and enjoy.

Kohlrabi Hash

I woke up this morning wondering what I should make for dinner tonight. In my half-asleep state, I was trying to figure out what we had left in the fridge from the farm share. I could think of greens, radishes, turnips... aha, we have kohlrabi. I was excited to remember the kohlrabi because that guaranteed something new and different to prepare, eat and write about. I decided right then that I wanted to have kohlrabi hash with steak and salad.

I had seen kohlrabi in the stores, but I had never purchased it, prepared it, or eaten it. I got some tips from our CSA coordinator last weekend, and I double checked on the internet to make sure I wasn't missing out on any other stellar ideas. Everyone seemed to agree that kohlrabi hash was a great way to go. When our CSA coordinator mentioned kohlrabi hash, I envisioned grated kohlrabi in a cast iron pan cooking away in some olive oil, but when I looked up kohlrabi hash on-line all the recipes were inspired by potato pancakes. They included eggs, breadcrumbs, onion and seasonings. Of course all 5 or 6 of the recipes ended up referring back to one source – funny how that happens. We decided to go with the original idea - simple kohlrabi hash browns.

We made a salad with salad mix, radishes, carrots and salad turnips from our CSA share. Salad turnips are interesting because from the outside they look like regular turnips with a white waxy skin, but once the skin is peeled off, the texture is much closer to jicama. It has a slightly sweet flavor and is great raw. Salad turnips and kohlrabi are the two new things I have tried so far through our farm share. We topped the salad off with our house vinaigrette. My husband's salad dressing came through yet again - it was delicious!

We cooked the steak in a cast iron pan on the stove top. Before living in an apartment, the idea of frying a good thick steak would have appalled me. I thought the only way to cook them was on a grill, but they turn out great this way. We generously salted and peppered each side and placed it in a hot pan over medium high heat with a bit of olive oil. The trick is to leave it alone for as long as it needs to cook on that side, ours was over an inch thick so we did 6-7 minutes per side. This part is hard for me because I'm a cook that likes to fiddle (stir the pot, push thing around while they are sauteing, etc.). But in this case, it's best to set the timer and leave it alone until it is time to flip it because it will create a wonderful crust on the steak. Here is a photo of the finished meal:


Kohlrabi Hash Browns
2 heads of kohlrabi, peeled
olive oil
salt and pepper

Grate the kohlrabi with a box grater or food processor. Place the grated kohlrabi in a piece of cheese cloth or paper towel, and squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Heat up a skillet and generously coat the bottom of the pan with olive oil. Dump in the kohlrabi and spread out into an even layer. Cook for a couple of minutes over medium heat and then flip. Cook until the kohlrabi is browned on both sides. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

The kohlrabi hash browns were great! We both wished there were more so we could go back for seconds. They are very similar to potato hash browns, but slightly sweeter and a slightly firmer texture.

Chicken Salad Crostini

The East Coast is in the middle of a horrible heat wave; it was 103 yesterday and 100 degrees today in NYC. The electric company is urging everyone to cut back on their electricity consumption because there are concerns of blackouts. Because of the temperatures, we were determined to prepare a dinner that required no heat.

We cooked some chicken in the crock pot over night, and put it in the fridge for the day. My goal for dinner was to make something new and different that used the chicken and CSA veggies, but required no cooking. Nothing came to mind, but luckily my husband came up with the idea of chicken salad sandwiches with homemade mayonnaise. We discovered in the process that the bread was a bit stale, so the sandwiches became crostini.


Chicken Salad Crostini
2 salad turnips, peeled and chopped
1 French breakfast radish, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 C shredded chicken
2 T mayonnaise
salad greens
toasted slices of bread

Mix the turnips, radish, carrots, shallot, chicken and mayonnaise. Layer the bread, salad greens and chicken salad.

Mayonnaise inspired by Joy of Cooking
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
1/2 t Dijon mustard
2 t vinegar
1/2 t salt
3/4 C olive oil

Blend egg, egg yolk and half the mustard in food processor or blender for several seconds. Add half the vinegar and salt and blend for several more seconds. Slowly add the oil while the blender or food processor is running. (We are able to pour the oil through a small hole in the top, and it controls the pace for us.) Once the oil has been added, turn off the machine. Fold in the rest of the mustard, vinegar and salt. The mayonnaise will only last 1 -2 days in the fridge.


The crostinis were ok. We kept a lot of the marinade in the chicken salad, but it ended up not tasting great with the veggies. Maybe it burned a bit? Next time I would make the chiken salad with plain shredded chicken.

A guest in the house

I'm reading the book, Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen, by Laurie Colwin. It's a series of short essays that offers recipes and humorous stories. Yesterday on my subway ride home, I read the chapters on her worst cooking experiences and the worst meals she's eaten at other people's homes. I was just innocently reading the next chapters in the book, but this might have affected me.

When I got home, I made dinner for my husband, a potential business partner, and myself. The plan was to serve a simple dinner of ravioli with a quick fresh tomato sauce and a side of sauteed broccoli rabe with garlic. My husband planned to pick up the ravioli on his way home from the Piemonte Ravioli Co. It turns out that they close at 5:00 and not 6:00, so we had to settle for dried pasta.

We saved 6 pakoras from the night before, and I quickly reheated them in a hot saute pan and served them with the mint and cherry chutneys. This bought me some time while I prepared the rest of the dinner. I quickly washed and chopped up the 2 bunches of broccoli rabe and dropped it into our large skillet. As it began cooking, it shrank, and shrank, and shrank down to almost nothing. I knew that it was not enough for three people, so I added in the greens from a bunch of turnips. This too shrank down to very little, so I decided to make an additional side of carrots. Of course we only had a few small carrots, but I sauteed them and tossed them with lemon juice and cilantro. Meanwhile, I put the pasta in boiling water, and started my sauce. Two tomatoes chopped up and several cloves of garlic sliced went into a sauce pan with a generous amount of olive oil. I soon realized that this was not enough for the pound of pasta I had cooking.

All this time I was trying to be really quiet and not disturb them, but I was unsuccessful. It reminded me of the early morning when you are trying to tip-toe around and not wake the other people in the house, but you invariably drop things, trip over chairs, etc. That was me in the kitchen last night. I was dropping pots, spoons, getting myself all wet, and I was very self-conscious because they were having a technical discussion only 4 feet away (because our apartment is really small). My husband reassures me that he didn't even notice, so maybe I was being overly self-conscious.

In the end, the dinner was fine. We had pasta with a light tomato, garlic and basil sauce with carrots and greens, but it was very stressful getting there. I realized that I'm not used to cooking for 3 (cooking for more somehow isn't a problem) and for someone I have never met.