Grilled Eggplant

After a rough day, nothing makes me feel better than beautiful food.  

Eggplant, salted and grilled.

In a mortar with a pestle mash fresh basil with some garlic, fresh lemon juice and salt.

On each eggplant slice smear some basil mash.  Then layer up tomatoes, more eggplant and feta to your heart's content

Liberally drizzle with olive oil and give a good grind of Trader Joe's Flower Pepper.

Finish in the oven for about 15 minutes until the cheese is all toasted. 

Enjoy with some crusty bread and a rosé, preferably in the garden.  Breathe deeply and pretend you didn't lose your temper with the driver in the other car.

All better now.

(Inspired by this recipe.)

Family Time

For four Sundays leading up to Christmas we observe Advent as a family.  We eat something delicious, including dessert!  We light our candles, sing a hymn or two, and Daddy reads some Scriptures.

Sometimes we follow that with a craft or Mommy reading a Christmas book--Max Lucado, Tommie dePaola, or classic Dickens.  Tonight we watched Christmas movies after dinner.

We had Brats and Roasted Cabbage Wedges for dinner.  And for dessert, Pumpkin Ricotta Fritters.  Nutella hot chocolate for the kids and Turtle Doves for Gana and me.

Pumpkin Ricotta Fritters


(I have no idea where I originally got this recipe!  I've been making these for years.  I've changed it only slightly.  I'd love to give proper credit to it's source, but I don't know where that is.)

1 cup whole milk ricotta
1 cup canned pumpkin
4 eggs
1/4 powdered sugar, plus a bit more for sprinkling on the top
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon nutmeg
a pinch of salt
oil for deep frying
honey for garnish

In a large bowl combine the ricotta, pumpkin, eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder, spices and salt.  Mix until smooth.

Heat oil until the handle of a wooden spoon causes bubbles to form around the tip when immersed.

Drop batter by heaping teaspoon full into the hot oil.  Fry until done, turning once.

Drain well on towel.  Transfer to another serving dish (or as I did in small paper sacks) and sprinkle with powdered sugar and drizzle with honey.

Nutella Hot Chocolate

For one serving:

Heat 1/4 cup of whole milk with a few spoonfuls of Nutella.  Whisk until blended.  Add about 3/4 more milk and a pinch of cinnamon.  Heat slowly while whisking it to make it frothy.  Serve in a mug, topped with freshly whipped cream and marshmallows.

Oh, yeah..............

Asian Chicken Chili Soup with Micro Greens

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts, poached and diced
12 cups chicken broth
4 bell peppers cut into 2-inch pieces
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 Tablespoon sweet asian-style chili sauce
2 packages Trader Joe's Organic Micro Greens  (I only mention the brand because I don't know how much I used in ounces!  So, two packages it is.)

Bring the broth, soy sauce and chili sauce to a boil.  Add peppers and chicken and simmer until the peppers are tender-crisp.

Right before you serve add the micro-greens.  Serve immediately, while the greens are wilted, but not yet boiled to death.

Served this with egg rolls on the side, instead of the usually toast or bread.  

Curry Sweet Potato Soup

Fair warning: there may be an awful lot of soup recipes this Autumn and Winter.

Maybe it's the weather or my mood.  I just want a bowl of comfort food every evening for dinner or every afternoon for lunch--much to my husband's chagrin.  He doesn't feel like he's had a meal unless it involves a good bit of chewing.  Therefore soups are not necessarily his favorite.  

So, I'll throw in a few stews and chunky soups to make him happy.  

Today I got a late start on dinner, however--didn't actually think of what I was making until almost 5pm.  I don't recommend putting off your dinner plans so late--especially if you have little children who come into the kitchen looking pathetic saying, "What's for dinner? I'm so hungry."  And then they say, "Can I eat this?" taking a pizza crust off a used plate that a child at co-op today left on the counter.  Mama, you'd better think fast.

This came together so quickly; soul and palate satisfying.  Curry Sweet Potato Soup, served up with apples and buttery toast.  It tasted like Autumn.

Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.
--George Eliot

3 pounds sweet potatoes
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 stick of butter
1 quart chicken broth
1 can evaporated milk
salt and black pepper to taste
1-2 teaspoons curry powder or your favorite curry paste
a pinch of cayenne pepper

Bake sweet potatoes until soft.  Let cool briefly (or plow ahead like I did, risking injury. Just depends on how much time you have).  Squeeze the potato flesh out of their skins.  Discard skins.  Set potato mash aside.

In a large pot melt butter.  Saute onion and garlic until golden and soft.

Add the sweet potatoes and broth.

With an immersion blender process in the pot until almost smooth.  (I like the leave a bit of texture.)

Add curry and salt and peppers.

Simmer for 10-15 minutes, letting flavors blend.  Add the evaporated milk and heat through.

Serve up immediately, garnished with apple slices.

Avocado Fries

One word: phenomenal. You will love these. I think it may be my new favorite way to eat avocado. It may not be the healthiest way to eat a vegetable (well, technically, it's a fruit, although that's hardly an excuse), but I dare you to eat just one!


Here you go:

Oil for frying
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/4 cups panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
2 firm medium avocados, pitted, peeled and sliced into 1/2 inch wedges.
Grated fresh Parmesan cheese

1. In a medium saucepan, heat 1 1/2 in. oil. You'll know it's at the right temperature when you put the handle of a wooden spoon in the oil and it bubbles all over the edges. This is about 375° on a deep-fry thermometer.

2. Meanwhile, mix flour with 1/2 tsp. salt in a shallow plate. Put eggs and panko in separate shallow plates.

3. Sprinkle the avocado slices with the remaining ½ tsp salt. Dip each slice in flour, shaking off excess. Dip in egg, then panko to coat. Set on board in a single layer. You'll want to prepare them all before you start frying, because they fry very quickly.

4. Fry until deep golden, 30 to 60 seconds. Don't overcrowd the pan and let them touch. Transfer slices to a plate lined with paper towels. Keep warm in oven while cooking remaining avocados. Sprinkle with coarse salt and grated parmesan.

(I found this recipe on Circle B Kitchen.)

I served these with a basil dipping sauce and the kids devoured them.

Grilled Shrimp and Multigrain Salad with Mandarin Oranges and Cilantro Dressing

Summer Eating

Round about October when the Autumn weather turns a tad chillier I'm in the mood for stews and thick soups and things that bubble in the crockpot all day.  By the time Winter is in full swing I want to put everything in the oven, cover it with cheese and bread crumbs.  I enjoy things roasted and toasted and served with something deep and rich to drink like a hearty red wine.

Awwww........but in the Summer it's a different story.  I want to eat things full of color, crisp and vibrant.  If it can be cooked on the grill outside it will be.  Whenever possible we pluck a few things from the garden, just minutes before we prepare the food.  The meals are lighter, but we linger over them.  We often eat outside.

Homemade pizza on a whole wheat crust.
Goat cheese with tomatoes and basil straight from the garden.

Homemade pizza on a whole wheat crust.
Goat cheese with fresh grilled corn and jalapenos.

I make a lot of pie in the summer. 
Here's an unbaked blueberry and strawberry pie
with a crumb topping.

Grilled lamb steaks.
Millet Salad
(millet, yellow bell peppers, green onions,
cucumbers, and feta with a lemon and basil dressing).

What to eat after church when everyone is so hungry
and you only have a few minutes to throw it together?

Caesar Salad (romaine, anchovies, kalamata olives,
artichoke hearts and Parmesan Romano cheese)

Cheese toasts

Am I the only mother whose children beg her to buy brussel sprouts?

Served with grilled dill salmon

Most people I know who hate brussel sprouts have only had some strange version of frozen or canned and reheated.  I wouldn't like them either in that case.  We eat them a variety of ways, but here is a simply way that I bet you'll like:

Lightly steam the brussel sprouts until they are a vibrant color, but not soft.  Heat oil in a wok or large skillet until quite hot.  Carefully, dump the hot steamed sprouts all at once into the oil and toss until they are all dark and toasty on the outside.  Season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

My most recent obsession: Jalapeno Poppers. 
Seriously, I've been eating these several times a week!

These are stuffed with Port Salut and wrapped in uncured applewood smoked bacon.

Puttanesca and Herb Green Salad

If you've never tried Puttanesca, I highly recommend it. A welcomed break from marinara and alfredo, which seem to be the only two pasta sauces with which Americans are familiar.  Although it does have tomatoes in it, it is really nothing like a marinara, which is sweet and heavy.  Puttanesca is bitter and briny and wonderful.  Quite oily and perfect with a crusty bread!  Gana much prefers it to other tomato based sauces.  There is a very decent recipe here: Puttanesca I.

Dahl

I love food that starts with a counterful of fresh produce.

Sauteed onions, jalapenos, garlic, tomatoes and spices.

Dahl, Poori, and Lime

Mother's Day Eats

I had a very FULL Mother's Day.  Full schedule and a full belly!

After breakfast (along with cards and gifts from the kids and Gana) we went to church.  Then it was home for snacks including:

Spicy Shrimp Inari

 Then Gana grilled and we enjoyed a huge lunch as a family (while the Lakers lost their dignity).

Fiddlehead ferns with salt and vinegar



Pork Tenderloin with Lavender Sea Salt



Artichokes with a Parmesan dipping sauce

So, I let the kids do the dishes while I took a brief nap.  Then I had a hot date:

Luc took me out for Cold Stone where we had a Love It sized All Lovin' No Oven.
(Cake Batter ice cream with cookie dough, whipped cream and fudge.)
The best part--He paid and treated me like a lady!

Came home, had a little rest and then it was my next big date, with Israel.  He took me to the movies (Gnomeo and Juliet) and bought me a big popcorn.

I came home and crashed.  My pregnant digestive system was screamin'!  And I was one happy Mama!

Fresh

Look at this lettuce from our very own winter garden! (My apologies to the folks still covered in layers of ice and snow who cannot have a winter garden.)  I also have some broccoli, cabbage, arugula, mesclun, and onions.  Eating something this fresh is not only satisfying to the taste buds, it's soul satisfying, too.

Recent Meals In Our Home

Chicken Broccoli Soup topped with a poached egg and Parmesan cheese

Curry Chicken Salad served on a bed of greens from our garden
and with slices of papaya

Garbanzo Beans topped with Gouda,
Served with Cornbread

Homemade Noodles (Tutorial here.)
Sausage, peppers and onions

Christmas Eats

Now you will see where I get my intense foodiness.  This is the feast my mother prepared on Christmas!

Salad with pears, pomegranate seeds, and candied walnuts

Rustique Bread

Burgundy Mushrooms





New potatoes with parsley and tons of butter

Beef Wellington

Yule Log, a family favorite. 
It would not feel like Christmas dinner was complete
without a slice of this and a cup of tea!



We like my Mom's Yule Log so much, she has to make three!

Veggie Burgers

Veggie Burger with all the fixin's
Homemade baked fries

I roughly used the recipe from here: Ultimate Veggie Burger.  But, instead of stuffing the veggie burger, we put it on a bun and dressed it like a regular burger.  Served it up with some potato wedges baked with olive oil and sea salt.  Also made the buns from scratch using Laine's French Bread recipe.

These were so good that even the kids devoured them and have asked me to make them again!  Score one for Mommy! 

My Thanksgiving Table, 2010

We celebrated with a total of 27 people (including me).  The primary language spoken was Mongolian (only one of the 27 didn't speak at least a little Mongolian).  Family.  Extended Family.  Friends.  Missionary kids. 

But the food was all the real American deal!  Turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, pumpkin soup and salad, brandied cranberry sauce, asparagus strudel, angel biscuits, carrot souffle, and a relish tray.  Dessert? Apple pie, struessel topped pumpkin pie, cake, and Kahlua coffee.

In all the merry-making, I only remembered to take a picture of the table and the soup.  You'll just have to imagine how breathtaking the rest was.

In The Kitchen With Meg

This morning we put in our winter garden.  This afternoon we spent time under a blanket on the couch reading The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis while the kids made paper crafts.  It just felt like a Fall day, a perfect Fall day.

We needed an appropriate meal!  Meg had this meal in mind for weeks having dreamed it up on her own.  So, today we had a hearty pork stew seasoned with herbs from the garden and a hint of nutmeg.  Served in a pumpkin.  After creating the stew we stuck it in the pumpkin and baked it for about 15-20 minutes so the pumpkin got just tender.  Then when you scooped out your stew you could also get a bit of fresh pumpkin off the sides.

When prepping the pumpkin, Meg very thoughtfully cut a notch for the ladle.  What a girl!

And then Meg said, "Mom, this needs bread.  Some sort of bread that's good with lots of butter."  It wasn't time to start a loaf of french bread, so we made some buttery biscuits.  They came toasty from the oven at the same time as the stew.

Mmmmm, mmmmmm, mmmmm!

An Autumn Dinner....despite the heat

We are having a little heat wave in the Golden State.  But, this is what I had planned, so this is what I made.  Plus, I am feeling a bit under the weather and soup is the ultimate comfort food.

Homemade Wheat Herb Rolls

Roasted Sweet Potato Soup

The bread recipe can be found here.

Here's the soup recipe:

Approximately 2 pounds sweet potatoes, baked

Approximately 4 Tablespoons butter

One large onion, chopped

Two stalks of celery, chopped

One medium potato, chopped

Six cups chicken broth  (you can use vegetable broth if you are vegetarian)
One-third cup pure Maple syrup

Approximately 1/4 cup half-and-half and a little more for garnish

Chives fresh from the herb garden for garnish

After you bake the sweet potatoes, scoop out the insides and set aside.  Discard the skins in your compost bin.

Saute the onions and celery in the butter until tender.

Add the broth and potato and cook about 10-15 minutes until the potato is soft.

Add the sweet potato mash and the syrup and stir.  Here is where I took the immersion blender (hand blender) to it.  (If you don't have a hand blender you can puree it in batches in your food processor or blender.)  Puree until smooth.  Reheat while stirring and then add the half-and-half.  Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.  Depending on the broth you used, very likely you will not need to add additional salt.  Serve with a dollop of half-and-half and a few sprigs of chives.

Have I ever mentioned how much I adore beautiful food?

Keema and Lady Fingers

Picked these beauties up at Farmer's Market on Saturday.

Many people think they don't like okra, mainly because they haven't had okra done right!  Here's how to cook it without too much......er....slime:

Okra has to be treated very respectfully.  It is not a mere peasant like a potato which you can disrespect and mash up and it responds deliciously.  Okra is a little too aristocratic for that.  If you don't treat okra just right it will not hesitate to slime you.

First give your okra a gentle rinse in cold water being careful not to break or bruise it.

Then lay it out on a fuzz free towel (or paper towel....although I rarely if ever have paper towels).  Pat it gently dry.  Then let is air dry.  If there is any water left on the little beauties when you cut them they will slime. 

When they are completely dry cut off the very top, being careful not to dig into the core.  When the seedy core comes in contact with water it gets gelatinous. 

At this point you can do what you want with them.  Fry them, add them to gumbo, stew 'em with some tomatoes, etc.  They are healthy and delightfully yummy.

Here we have Keema (which is Indian-style minced meat.  I used lamb.) and Lady's Fingers (which is what I learned to call okra when I spent a summer in Pakistan).  We ate this with a jalapeno slaw, cucumbers with yogurt, and Poori (tutorial here).  Served with La Crema Pinot Noir.  I made a lot of everything, really hoping we'd have left overs today.  I guess I made it a little TOO TASTY, because it's all gone!  I guess it's grilled cheese for lunch today. 

Here's another tasty recipe using okra.  It has a lot of ingredients, but is sooooooo worth it.  It's one of my favorite soups.