Pumpkin Walnut Waffles

Just a few facts,
1. I just wasn't feeling an egg dish on Sunday morning but I really am not a big fan of plain waffles or pancakes.
2. I had made some pumpkin cake donuts the week before so I had some leftover pumpkin puree in the refrigerator that just HAD to be used.
3. Whatever I made needed to be pumped up in the protein department. Especially, if we were having a bread product.

You put these three things together and you get pumpkin walnut waffles.

Pumpkin Walnut Waffles

Preheat waffle iron.

Mix together
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
1/4 cup ricotta cheese (you could use sour cream or buttermilk)
 3 beaten eggs
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons melted butter

Sift together
1 1/2 cup bread flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon each; ground cloves, ground ginger, ground allspice, and nutmeg
2 teaspoons cinnamon 

Mix dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. If the batter is too thin sift in a little more bread flour. If it is too thick add a little more milk. You want this to be pancake batter consistency. Be careful not to over mix. You just want to incorporate them. Let the batter rest for 5 or 10 minutes. This lets the batter do its thing.

Ladle into the waffle maker. Cook until golden brown and yummy. Serve with warm maple syrup and roughly chopped walnuts.

JR was very complimentary of these waffles. He thought they were very fluffy and tasted like pumpkin bread. Which is what they really are so he nailed it. He wolfed down two of them before I finished my first one.

With it just being the two of us I had enough leftover for breakfast later in the week. I spread them out on a cookie sheet and put them in the freezer. JR will just have to pop them into the toaster and breakfast is served.

Stay groovy,
M

Our new favorite sauce - Creamy Cilantro Jalapeno Sauce

This has become our new favorite sauce. It is like a miracle sauce. I've put this on roasted potatoes for salad, on sandwiches as a spread, in egg salad, on top of eggs baked in tomato cups, and on open face black bean burgers just to name a few.

It is sort of a cross between the cilantro sauce I used on the Cilantro Potato Salad and Chuy's jalapeño cream sauce. For those of you who haven't been blessed by the Chuy's jalapeño cream sauce I'm so sorry. It is a thing of beauty that I will eat on, with, alongside, dipped in virtually anything. While this recipe isn't that sauce it is pretty dang close and I'll go out on a limb and say it may edge it out just a little. Maybe I feel that way because it has twice or three times more cilantro. We LOVE cilantro.

Creamy Cilantro Jalapeño Sauce
(all quantities are approximate)

1 cup mayonnaise (your choice homemade or not. no judging here)
1 cup sour cream (treat yourself go full fat)
1 bunch or 1 cup, whichever is greater, cilantro, the leaves only, chopped fine
1 jalapeño, seeded and chopped fine
2 tablespoons grated onion
1 clove garlic, grated
Juice of 1 lime
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all the ingredients. Let rest for 1 hour to let the flavors meld and come together in a marriage of awesomeness. You could put all the ingredients into a blender and give it a whirl. I'm a bit of a purist. Plus, I have that new shiny and sharp knife.

I like to grate the onion and the garlic so I don't get a big bite of either. I just want a hint of the flavors. I seed and cut out the ribs of the jalapeño. JR doesn't like his sauce too spicy. Me? I like my sauce to make my nose run. Same way I like my Vietnamese, Thai and Indian food. So if you are like me you'll sneak a few seeds and don't go whole hog on taking out all the ribs of the jalapeño.

 For some other Chuy's Creamy Jalapeno dip recipes:
FoodNetwork
TastyKitchen
8128blog (this guy is from Austin, so he should know)
31Fields

Like mine these are all a variation of a mayo/sour cream dip.
You all seriously need to make this sauce.

Love,
M

Cilantro Roasted Potato Salad

I was really looking for a way to have breakfast potatoes but not in the same old way. Plus, if I didn't use up the boatload of cilantro I got on sale it would turn into a slimy mess fit only for the compost heap. 3 bunches for a $1.00 is a great deal only if you use it. Just sayin'.

We love cilantro. We were talking about how sad it would be if one of us was unlucky enough to be someone who's genetic makeup is cilantro adverse. I'm sure this recipe would be delightful using parsley instead but it just wouldn't have the some bite. Parsley is so much milder of a flavor than cilantro.

I found this recipe in an old Williams Sonoma  Entertaining with the Seasons: A Year of Recipes cookbook I had picked up at Half Priced Books. I've had really good luck with William Sonoma recipes in the past and thought I'd try another one out on Saturday morning. I'm sure glad I did. This was wonderful...hot and cold. 

I cut the recipe down because it stated that it served 12 - 14, it was from one of the Great Parties cookbooks. My recipe will serve 3 or 4. I say 3 if you want portions like pictured below. I warmed about half this amount up for my breakfast on Monday. Amazing! Again!

Cilantro Roasted Potato Salad. (they called this Roasted Potato Salad with Green Onion Dressing but they are soooo wrong)


1.5 to 2 pounds Yukon gold or Red potatoes, cut into 1" cubes or so.
1-2 tablespoons of olive oil 

Dressing
1 cloves of garlic, finely chopped (though I think I put in 2 just because)
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1/4 cup + 1 teaspoon sour cream
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 to 2 green onions, chopped, greens and all
1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat over to 400 degrees

1. Wash and chop potatoes. Coat with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place in oven and roast until brown about 40 minutes, turning about every 15 minutes or so. 

2. In a large bowl combine remaining ingredients. When I cut it down I used weight for the cilantro. I may have used more than the recipe called for but whatever we loved it!

3. While potatoes are still warm, put them into the bowl with the dressing. Toss well. Taste for salt and pepper. 

4. Serve warm or cold. It doesn't matter since these are so fantastic!

Before I put the potatoes into the bowl I scooped out about a couple of teaspoons of the dressing to scramble with our eggs.   Inspired!    I think I could eat the dressing with just about anything it was that good. 

I wanted get you the link to the Williams Sonoma recipe site but they don't have this recipe on their website. I did find it on another site. The recipe is exactly the same but the author of this post didn't credit William Sonoma so now I'm just confused.

Y'all seriously need to try this.

Love,
M

Eggs baked in tomato cups

I've been traveling a lot in the last three weeks so fancy cooking or really any cooking has been kept to a minimum. Since I have no travel planned until April there will be some cooking going on at the Dog's Life household.

JR and I love tomatoes. Green or red, cooked or raw, makes no difference to us. It's all good. We eat them cooked, raw, stuffed with salads and eaten raw or stuffed with other stuff and cooked, sliced topped with parmesan cheese and broiled as a side dish, or chopped to top on ANYTHING! So when we go to the farmer's market or Coscto or the grocery store we buy tomatoes by the dozen. When I do this I try to buy them a little under ripe knowing that they will ripen on the counter very quickly in our weather.

As many of you know, tomatoes trucked up from god knows where never taste as good as ones grown in a small garden with rich composted soil but I've found that if I buy them a little under-ripe and cook them they develop a flavor profile that JR and I like.

Friends, please never put you tomatoes in the refrigerator. It stops the ripening process and they just won't have any flavor at all. If your tomatoes are getting over-ripe on the counter then eat them pronto. That's what I needed to do with my last batch.

So, like most of my cooking this recipe was born of the necessity of breakfast, the need to use up the tomatoes on my counter and the fact that I was exhausted from traveling.

Eggs baked in tomato cups

Ingredients

4 eggs
2 firm tomatoes
2 teaspoons olive oil
4 tablespoons basil pesto
Parmesan cheese, optional
breadcrumbs, optional
salt and pepper


Instructions

Preheat broiler. Prepare baking dishes by smearing a little olive oil around bottom and sides.

Cut tomatoes in half across the middle. Remove the stem from one of the halves. With a small paring knife cut out the seeds and membranes of each tomato half, leaving the meat around the outside, to make a cup.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Smear a scant teaspoon of pesto around the inside of the tomato cup. Place in the prepared baking dish. Broil for about 5 minutes or until the a fork goes smoothly through the tomato.

Take tomatoes out of the oven. Take a spoon and push the tomato from the middle to the sides to extenuate the cup. You'll want to do this so the egg yolk doesn't want to slide off the tomato. Sure, a little of the white will but you want the yolk to sit inside the tomato, all pretty like. Break one egg into each cup. Sprinkle with a tiny bit of parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs if you want. Place back under the broiler for about 3 to 4 minutes or until the whites are set. I prefer my yolk runny so I usually bake for the shorter time.

Top with remaining pesto and let them set for a minute or two. They are HOT, HOT, HOT! But, so yummy. And easy, so very very easy.They would make a great meatless breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Love,
M

PS: tomorrow is JR and my 30th wedding anniversary. Not sure what we'll be doing but I do know that JR deserves a prize for putting up with me.

The bliss that is roasted grapes

I bought a carton of organic red grapes from Costco on Saturday. 4 pounds of them, seriously, what the hell was I thinking? JR and I could never eat 4 pounds of grapes before they go totally fuzzy and mushy and start leaking sticky gross grape juice all over the counter. It was like I looked at them and my brain right turned off. They looked so dang yummy and I hadn't had decent grapes in forever and I just needed them. (Okay, let's not discuss the word "need". I want to go on record as saying that the difference between "need" and "want" in these circumstances is very very fine.) What can I say? I succumbed to their plump goodness.

Now, that I had them in my kitchen what was I to do with them? Sure, I could snack on them all day long but I needed and wanted to do something more. Because, holy cow, I had 4 pounds of the suckers. I had to put on my thinking cap to come up with something different, something all fancy like or at least the facsimile of fancy. I'd been eying a roasted grape recipe in one of my many cookbooks and since it was hors d'oeuvre night at our house I thought roasted grapes would be perfect.

It is now official...this will now be on a regular rotation at our house from now on. Served on a crunchy piece of grilled bread slathered with a little tangy goat cheese it is like a bite of heaven. Sweet, salty, crunchy, you can't beat that. Oh and let's not forget that this is about as easy as it gets.

There are a ton of recipes out there. I just sort of looked them over for basic technique than threw together what worked for me. Which was awesome, BTW.

Roasted Grapes
1 1/2 cup grapes (I used red seedless)
1 teaspoon of olive oil
salt, pepper and seasoning blend of your choice. (I happened to have Mrs. Dash on hand. I'd suggest staying with something without salt or don't salt them. Cooks choice)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper (makes clean up a whole lot easier, don'cha know). Spread grapes onto the sheet pan and toss with the olive oil and spices. That's as hard as it gets. Roast for 20 to 25 minutes or until the grapes are soft but still hold their shape.

This made 4 bread thingies. Which was just right for us. I had 2 left over for happy hour on Sunday night. I think they would be great folded into some creamy risotto or served on a bed of micro greens with some toasted walnuts and a simple vinaigrette. I'm, also, thinking that pear grape crumble is starting to sound good.

Give roasted grapes a try sometime...like when you buy too many grapes and don't how what the hell to do with them all.

Love,
M

Halloumi cheese

I posted on Facebook last night that I had a passion for fried halloumi cheese. A couple of friends mentioned that they had never heard of it so I thought I'd give a little background.

We first had fried halloumi cheese (though I didn't know what it was at the time) at Disney World Epcot Center Food and Wine Festival. We fell in love! This and a glass of Greek wine and I was ready to pack my bags and head to Cyprus (where it was originally from).

Halloumi cheese is a slightly salty Greek cheese. It is made with a mixture of goat and sheep milk. It is firm enough to brush with a little olive oil and grill. It has a sort of chewy texture with a big mouth feel. I think it is kind of hearty and rustic. Sort of like me.

This is the brand that I buy because
1. it is vegetarian
2. I can find it at my local market
3. it isn't so expensive that I'll overdraw our checking account buying a small hunk and usually that is all we need.

If your market doesn't have it there are places online to order it which I suggest you do. Just Google it. (I know! I can't believe I just typed that. I hope the librarian police don't come after me.)

Traditionally, it is grilled and served with watermelon and mint. What a great summer salad that would make! I've never done it this way but I think that is in our immediate future. I may even get crazy grill the watermelon.

The way I've had it and made it is a couple of different ways.

1. Fried with honey and pistachios. This is what we had at Epcot Center. You fry the cheese with a little olive oil or butter then top with a little honey and chopped pistachios. AWESOME! The salty cheese with the honey is fabulous. Add the crunch of the pistachios...yeah, I want this right now!

2. Stacked (and this is how we had it last night). I grilled eggplant (you could use a grilled portabella mushroom also) that I marinaded in a vinaigrette of balsamic vinegar, olive oil and Italian seasoning (or really whatever I've got around). Grilled the cheese and made an aoli from the leftover marinade and mayonnaise. Here is how I stacked it up; place the grilled eggplant slice on a bed of fresh spinach the, next stack the grilled cheese, on top of that add a thick tomato slice and finish with a tablespoon of the aoli. This was terrific and very filling. It would make a great vegetarian burger if you put it between a bun. I tend to stay away from bread so we had ours bun-less.

There are plenty of other recipes out there in on the interwebs just G-word it. You can also use this cheese in place of feta or even mozzarella.

Now, if you need all the nutritional deets about this cheese Livestrong's got them. I'm far less concerned about that. My theory is; it is not off limits if it tastes great and we eat it in moderation.

If you get the chance try this cheese.

Love,
M

PS: thanks to whoever posted the above image on Google images.

RTT - roaches & squirrel

Imagine me saying "Roaches & Squirrel" in the accent of Boris Badenov from the Rocky & Bullwinkle Show. If I could do that accent that is which I can't but that is beside the point.

 

It's Tuesday. It's random. Visit Stacy and gang for other randomers.

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Last night something hit the window while we were watching TV. We turned around to see what it was but nothing was there. I speculated that it was a bird (if it was it had to be stupid or blind one because my sliding glass door is filthy. Yes, I'll wash it soon or maybe I'll wait until it cools down...in like November). JR suggested that it was one of those giant tree roaches. He's probably right. Some of those bugs are massive.

Speaking of roaches. A very long time ago I moved into this apartment in LA that was, dare I say it, bijou without the elegance, more like with a dash of grimy. Well, I got to work cleaning it up and evicting the current tenants, the roaches. These were not your ordinary roaches. These didn't run and hide when they found themselves facing a can of Raid. No these roaches would stare at you with what I was sure was a "are you talkin' to me" look on their faces. I mentioned this to a friend of mine one day. His response was; "oh that's nothing. The ones in New York speak three languages and roll drunks in the street for loose change". 30 years later and I still haven't braved The Big Apple. This probably isn't the reason but one never knows.

________________________________________________________

You know all those time travel books and movies? What they never really get into is what people ate back then. Because I'm weird this bothers me (and yes, this is something I tend to email writers about if they get it wrong. So if you are a writer; get it right or you'll hear from me!)

But let's just imagine that we were in a Nashville restaurant on April 14, 1861. 

First off, restaurants were not something that you went to in the evenings to grab a bite to eat because you didn't feel up to cooking (what? You don't do that?) or celebrating an important event. Usually you only went to a restaurant because you were staying at the hotel that it was attached to or your train was at a stop and you had a dinner break. You paid one set price and you received one food item from every section of the menu. This is called the Ordinary or Bord and is just one of the interesting cultural and societal quirks about restaurants during the mid-19th century but I think mid-19th century dining quirks will be a post for another time.

Second off, April 14, 1861 was two days after the South fired on Ft. Sumter. What the hell are you thinking being in Nashville at this time? Don't you know that war was breaking out? Plus, food in the Southern states is going to become scarce so get the hell out!

Sorry, back to the menu.

There are several things I won't be eating off this menu  and you can put Squirrel Pie at the top of the list. But if you are not like me and need to know how you would prepare your squirrel...

Gray squirrels are the preferred ones (I would also suggest that you don't use fresh roadkill squirrel. From what I hear they are a bit gritty not to mention high in cholesterol (what movie is that from?)); red squirrels are small and quite gamey in flavor. There are, proverbially many way to skin a squirrel, but some hunters claim the following one is the quickest and cleanest. It needs a sharp knife (so go out and grab pa's huntin' knife).

To skin, cut the tail bone through from beneath, but take care not to cut through the skin of the tail. Hold the tail as shown on the left (by all means follow the graphic below, eeeewwwww) and than cut the skin the width of the back, as shown in the dotted lines. Turn the squirrel over on its back and step on the base of the tail. Hold the hind legs in one hand and pull steadily and slowly as shown in the center sketch, until the skin has worked itself over the front legs and head. While holding the squirrel in the same position, pull the remaining skin from the hind legs. Proceed then as for rabbit, cutting off the head and the feet and removing the internal organs, plus two small glands found in the small of the back and under each foreleg, between the ribs and the shoulders.

Stuff and roast squirrels as for pigeons, barding (Blogger, suggesting that barfing is the correct word  instead of barding, that may be how I feel about this procedure but barding is the correct word. According to the Reluctant Gourmet; "bard To tie some type of fat (bacon or fatback) around what you are cooking to prevent it from drying out while roasting. Often used with fowl or extremely lean meats, barding bastes the meat while it is cooking, thus keeping it moist.") them, or use them in Brunswick stew or prepare as for braised chicken or bake in a pie. (from pages 453-454 of the Joy of Cooking. Emphasis and snark are my own)

Wow! this post went in a totally different direction than I had anticipated. Sort of like my paintings. Some days are just like that I guess.

Did we all learn something today? I know I did. 

Love,

M

It's been awhile since I posted a recipe

I had a yen for enchiladas on Thursday but I have decided to give up wheat (it just doesn't seem to agree with me) so flour tortillas were out. I don't particularly like corn tortillas and I kind of figured they'd do to me about what wheat does, so not an option. The only thing, how do you make enchiladas without tortillas? 

Not do be deterred because I love enchiladas I started to ask myself some questions while standing in the produce section of my local grocery store;

What could I use to roll the filling in?

What is flexible enough to roll? 

Flat enough? 

Can I get enough of food wrapped in food topped with other food?

Why am I standing here imaging each vegetable as a tortilla and talking to myself?

Why is that mom pulling her small child away from me?

Then answer came to me:  Eggplant!

Oh don't be fooled by its tubby appearance when you cut this purple beauty into thin slices, apply a little heat to make it flexible you've got a great surrogate for a tortilla.

SEE!

Doesn't that look yummy? Oh my friends, it was. JR went crazy for it and you know that man lives on Fritos corn chips, cashews, trailmix and cosmos. You have to know how ashamed I am to write that last sentence but I have no control over his snacking. Did you notice I didn't say drinking? That man make a mean cosmo and I'm not one to stop him since I reap the benefits.

Now you can mix this up anyway you want when it comes to the filling and really to the sauce also. I'm a firm believer on using what you have on hand. So be creative.

Eggplant Enchiladas

(all the quantities are approximate. you can adjust them to your needs and tastes and dietary crazy like I do)

1 large eggplant

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cups sauce

1/2 cup or so Filling

Cheddar cheese to top the enchilada

Filling - you can mix this up.

1/2 cup soy crumbles

1/2 cup cheddar cheese

1/4 cup pico de gallo

Sauce - another use what you have kind of thing. I think pico de gallo, a true enchilada sauce or whatever is Mexican-like that you have on hand. This is also the place to make this dish as spicy or mild as you like. We like ours spicy so I added a little chili powder and cumin. Here's what I happened to have:

1-14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes with chilies

1-14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes

Instructions

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Heat olive oil in a fry pan. Slice the eggplant lengthwise into 1/4 to 3/8 inch slices. You should get 4 or 5 slices depending on the size of your eggplant.  Fry in the hot oil until limp. You don't want to put a crust on it so much as you want to get it flexible. Though a crust is not a bad thing so don't stress if your eggplant develops one. When done lay out on a wire rack to cool. 

Mix filling in a small bowl and set off to the side. In a smallish baking dish or four small ones (I've been trying to adjust my cooking for two these days) divide the tomatoes evenly. Reserve about 1/4 cup to divide and spoon over the top of each enchilada.

Take one of the eggplant slices and lay it in front of you with the narrow end away from you. At the fat end of the eggplant add 2 to 3 tablespoons of filling. Be careful that you don't over fill them or the eggplant will sort of split apart. Roll up and place on top of your tomato mixture. I put one enchilada in each baking dish. It turned out to be a perfect serving for one. Top each of the enchiladas with the remaining tomato mixture and sprinkle with cheese. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes.

Serve with sour cream, avocados or maybe a little brown rice on the side.

Brilliant! 

If I don't say so myself. This was even better warmed up the next day.

This has inspired me to rolling other food into food and baking. I've got a zucchini sitting in the fridge that is destined for this type of treatment this week.

Enjoy!

Love,

M

Parmesan Crackers

I didn't think I would ever say this but 

IT'S TOO DAMN HOT TO COOK!

So I've resorted to finger food and food that requires little to no cooking time. Nothing that will heat up my kitchen. Soup is right out. Unless it is gazpacho. Comfort food? A thing of the past.

So finger food is perfect and since I love caviar I felt the need to make something caviarish. I don't eat caviar. It's that whole vegetarian thing. Sure, if I could be guaranteed that no fish were harmed in the making of caviar and the price per ounce was less than what one might pay per ounce for a new BMW, I might be more tempted but I can't so I don't, eat caviar that is. Not buy cars by the ounce. That would just be silly.

I sort of put caviar into that space in my head like pastured chicken eggs. Pastured chicken get to do what chickens like to do and are not killed in the process of laying eggs so all's good. Now, just substitute fish for chicken. Yeah, it doesn't really work. 

Then there is that whole grain-free thing I've been up to lately. Takes the fun right out of a caviar and creme fresh topped cracker. So where am I going with this? I have no freaking clue. Oh I know, crackers.

I decided that JR and I hadn't had finger food in a while. You know? What fancy restaurants call appetizers or tapas. And, I was jonesing for some caviar or something caviar like.

I decided to make Parmesan crackers. I've never made them before and I learned a couple of lessons that I'll pass on to ya'll.

Lesson 1; bake them a little longer than the 5 minutes that the recipe calls for. They don't get crispy enough if you don't. Nobody likes a limp cracker. It's unattractive and doesn't have that crunchy texture that you want in a cracker.

Lesson 2; these babies are salty enough! You do not need to be adding a salty topping. Unless of course, you own a bar and want people to buy a ton of drinks. So totally disregard the photo below of these topped with creme fresh and mixed olive tapenade. We switched to a tomato slice and all was good. I think floating one of these on top of some cold tomato soup would be wonderful. I'm also giving a lot of thought to baking it into a pie shell for the base of a very simple (non-cheese) quiche. I'll let you know how that goes.

Anyway, if you are doing low-carb but want a salty crunchy snack give these a try. Did I mention that they only have one ingredient? No? Well, they do. It hardly even qualifies as a recipe at this point.


Parmesan crackers
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees

Take one heaping tablespoon of grated Parmesan cheese. Plop onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Press down a bit. You are looking for nice rounds.

Depending on your oven bake for 7 to 10 minutes. See those up there? You want them a little more golden brown. Those were the 5 minute ones. 8 minutes was perfect for my oven. Let them set a bit before transferring them to a wire cooling rack. Cool completely.

Don't do what I did. Top with non-salty stuff.

Don't worry about that olive tapenade. It won't go to waste. I'm thinking that it will be yummy stuffed in mushrooms. How does Muffaletta stuffed mushrooms sound?

Off to work for me.

Love,
M

Cauliflower risotto

I love risotto. 

I love the creaminess of it. 

I love that slightly firm bite to it. 

I love the way it marries with other flavors. As I've always said; "it plays well with others". With the low-carb thing I've got going lately I've had to give up my beloved risotto. Maybe, someday, in the future I can enjoy it again but it will have to be on a very limited basis. 

I racked my brain on how I could get that same sort of mouth feel, that same sort of complex textural thing that I love so much about risotto but without all the carbs. What vegetable would lend itself? The obvious was cauliflower. It had the same color. It could be cooked to al dente. The big questions were how do I get it into that rice shape and how do I take out the cauliflower taste? The taste part was not difficult. Cauliflower is not a strong flavor so masking it with some strong flavors would be a pretty easy task. It was the shape thing that was going to be hard. Oh sure, I could pull it through a ricer, if I had a ricer that is but I don't and I wasn't going to buy one for an experiment. Turns out I didn't need one. My good old food processor worked just fine.

So those of you who are playing on the low-carb team and don't sweat a lot bit of calories this recipe (okay, isn't so much a recipe as a technique) turned out really well. Now, the photos that I took? A whole other story. They turned out awful (I finally found my camera. Yesterday. Long after I tried this out.)

Cauliflower Risotto

1 large head cauliflower

1/2 stick of butter (4 tablespoons)

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

3 cloves finely chopped garlic

1/2 cup cream (you could use whole milk but I would stay away from non-fat)

1 cup Parmesan cheese (this is what I had around but any soft or melting cheese would work. I'd stay with something with a strongish flavor though)

Salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste

Directions:

Cut up cauliflower into large chunks. Steam until cooked but still firm. You want it to give but still retain firmness. It is better to under cook the cauliflower than over cook it because you will be adding it to the cheese sauce so it will cook a bit more later on. I used my microwave on high for about 5 minutes. Time will vary by wattage of microwave. Stove top steaming I haven't a clue but I would suspect about the same. You'll want to keep a watch on it.  

The sauce: melt the butter in a large (you will be adding the cauliflower to this pot so make it fairly large) saucepan over low heat. Add onions and garlic. Cook until onions are translucent. About 5 minutes. Add cheese and cream. After the cheese melts keep this mixture warm but don't let it boil. It'll hang out while you wrangle the cauliflower.

Get out your big food processor and put in the shredding blade. Push the cooked cauliflower through the shredding blade to make it rice shaped. Push it fairly hard so the shapes are a bit bigger then if you barely gave it a shove. When all the cauliflower is shredded put it into the warm cheese sauce. Mix gently but well. Give it a taste. Add pepper and a tiny bit (1/8 teaspoon at the most) of nutmeg. Taste again to see if it needs salt. It shouldn't need much with all the cheese in it. Depending what you plan to top it with a pinch of cayenne pepper would be good. 

I served mine topped with a mushroom-sage ragout and a drizzle of apple cranberry wine reduction. The wine was something that I won from Stacy. It is a little sweet for my taste for regular drinking but it makes a mean sangria, mimosa type drink or reduction. Any red wine or good balsamic vinegar reduction would play well also.

Everyone really liked this dish. Even The Boy who hates cauliflower but loves risotto ate it and didn't even complain. Believe me, that is a compliment. Maybe, it was because I didn't tell him it was cauliflower. You can't really tell that it is from the finished product.

I couldn't tell you how many fat grams, calories or carbs it has but it shouldn't be too bad on the carbs. I make no claims to the rest. I do think that it has to be better than the alternative, rice. 

Anyway, if you are jonesing for risotto like I was (I can't be the only one that has a risotto monkey on her back) this recipe/technique will fit the bill. I plan to mix the leftovers with protein powder, form into patties and fry them up. In place of hashbrowns for breakfast. Plus, all this is meatless. And it is Monday. So therefore; Meatless Monday. Yay!

Love,

M

Cashew Crusted Goat Cheese over Zucchini Noodles

We love goat cheese and use it in a multiple of ways. We love its tart and creamy yummy goodness. This recipe makes the most of the tartness of goat cheese, the salty crunchiness of the cashews and the sweetness of a balsamic vinegar reduction. 

This recipe makes a perfect meatless Monday dish though we had it on Saturday and the leftovers with eggs for Sunday breakfast. JR loves balsamic vinegar reduction. I'm pretty sure he'd eat it on a flip flop if I'd serve it that way. But, of course, as everyone knows flip flops are best served with guacamole. 

This recipe has the longest title but the shortest cooking time ever. Go figure.

Crappiest photo. Tastiest dinner

Cashew Crusted Goat Cheese over Zucchini Noodles

Ingredients:
2 medium sized zucchini (somewhere less than 10 inches long)
1 cup balsamic vinegar (best quality you can get)
6 ounces Chevre goat cheese
2 tablespoons milk or cream or liquid of your choice
1 cup salted cashews, chopped
Olive oil to coat baking sheet

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a saucepan bring balsamic vinegar to a boil, stirring constantly. When it begins to boil turn down to medium low. Simmer until liquid reduces by half, stirring frequently. You do not want this to burn. Burnt vinegar smells and tastes nasty. When done set on very low until ready to drizzle. 


While vinegar is doing its thing.

Chop cashews in food processor. Don't do this too finely. So I guess I should say roughly chop. Four or five pulses of the food processor ought to do it. Spread chopped nuts on a small plate. 


Mix goat cheese and milk together until it is a soft paste. If your goat cheese is already soft then you may not have to do this. What you are looking for is something that can be molded into a rounded patty. Divide into four sections. As you make  each patty, press into chopped nuts, coating both sides. Place on greased baking sheet. Continue until you've done all four. Place in pre-heated oven. Bake until golden brown. About 20 minutes.


Using a potato peeler, peel ribbons of zucchini. Working all the way around the zucchini until you get to the seeds. Stop there. Not one to throw anything away save the seeded part for some other purpose. Heat a large pot of salted water to just under a boil. Put zucchini ribbons into the water for about 2 or 3 minutes. You don't want to really cook them, just warm them up. So do this just before you are about to take the goat cheese out of the oven.


To plate: fish out zucchini from the water and place on plates. Top with a cheese patty. Drizzle with balsamic reduction. Serve while cheese is still warm. 

Serves 4

Approximate per Serving Stats:

calories: 354

Carbs:   21

Fat: 27

Protein: 14

This recipe presents fancier than it is. Which makes it prefect for parties. Make smaller patties, plate the whole thing up on salad size plates and keep warm in a very slow oven. 

Curried vegetable stuffed portabella mushrooms

So I promised a couple of readers/friends that I would give them some knock out recipes that were vegetarian and lowish carb. This is the first of them. 

If you like to eat something that is low fuss but high in the running nose spicy side like we do than this is the dish for you. While it is a complete meal in and of itself serving it with a salad with a very light dressing would not come amiss. 

You can mix this recipe up. Like it fiery? Add more curry powder. Don't have the exact vegetables called for? Use whatever you have. No tofu? Hard boiled eggs will work. Don't have raisins? pfft. Use craisins. The only thing that stays constant is the Portabella mushrooms and the apples.

Sure it looks like it's got lots of ingredients and an ugly bit of instructions but really it is just a bunch of chopping and 2 pans.

as you can tell I'm no food photographer

Curried Vegetable Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms

1/4 cup golden raisins
3 tablespoons olive oil - to saute vegetables in
1/2 cup onion, chopped 
1/2 cup yellow squash, cubed
1/2 cup zucchini, cubed
1/4 cup bell pepper, any color, chopped
1 cup broccoli, chopped
1/3 pound extra firm tofu, chopped, squeezed of water and crumbled
1/2 Granny Smith or any ole green apple, 1/2" cubes
5 medium Portabella mushrooms
1 - 15 oz. can diced tomatoes with chilies and the liquid
or
1 - 15 oz can diced tomatoes w/liquid
2 green chile peppers such as jalapenos or poblanos, seeded and chopped
1 tablespoon curry powder


Instructions
1. Soak raisins in water to cover for about 30 minutes. While you are waiting for them.
2. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. If you have a cast iron or oven safe fry pan place it in the oven to heat up. Otherwise, coat a casserole dish with a generous amount of olive oil. If you are using a cast iron pan add 4 tablespoons or so to the pan 5 minutes before the stuffing mixture is ready. You want to heat up the oil but don't want to burn it.
3. Chop all the veggies. Saute over medium heat in a deep fry pan coated in olive oil for 5 or 10 minutes. This is a chop and toss process. Chop up the veg; toss in the fry pan.
4. Chop tofu in 1/2" cubes. Over the sink, take a handful of tofu and squeeze out as much of the water that you can. Crumble and toss in the pan with the veggies. 
5. Add can of tomatoes w/chilies (or the diced tomatoes and chopped chile peppers), apples, and the curry powder to the fry pan. Stir until well blended. Cover and cook over low heat until tender, about 10 minutes. Add raisins.
6. Remove stems and scrap gills from mushrooms. I find a spoon is the best utensil for this job. Place in heated up cast iron pan or casserole stem side up, if it still had the stem that is. It will make a sweet little bowl.
7. Stuff the veggie mixture in each of the mushrooms. I should really say heap this mixture into each of the mushrooms. The mixture might be a little watery so I suggest using a slotted spoon. Bake in pre-heated oven for 20 minutes.
Let sit for a few minutes before serving.
Serves 5


You can make these ahead and store in the refrigerator until you want to bake them. Just put them in the casserole pan and cover with cling wrap. I like to let them come up to almost room temperature before I put them in the oven. Maybe it's me but I get a little freaked about putting a cold pan in the pre-heated oven. 





I'd love to give you all the stats on this but to tell you the truth I haven't got a clue what they are. What I can tell you is that is hasn't got any grains or potatoes and the sugar from the raisins and apple is natural so that has got to count for lowish carbs.




Please enjoy.
Love,
M

Cream of Wild Mushroom Soup

This is one of our favorite soups. 

Cream of wild mushroom soup

2 packages of dried wild mushrooms. (doesn't matter what type. I used morrel and chanterelles)

2 or 3 cups of chopped mushrooms (whatever you've got. I used crimini and shiitake)

1 quart water

1 quart cream or half and half

1/2 cup white wine

salt, pepper and nutmeg

1/4 cup onion - chopped

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup arrowroot

1/4 cup water

Fresh parsley - garnish

drizzle of black truffle oil - garnish

Bring the 1 quart of water to a boil. Turn down to a simmer. Soak dried wild mushrooms in hot water for 20 minutes. 

In large soup pot saute onion in the 2 tablespoons of butter until softened. Add chopped mushrooms. Saute until they are very well brown but not burnt. 

After 20 minutes scoop out the re-hydrated mushrooms. Reserve liquid. Chop mushrooms and add to sauteed mushrooms. Add wine. Add liquid that you soaked the dried mushrooms in. Using a hand-held blender or a regular blender, blend until mostly smooth. We like ours a little on the chunky side. Add cream. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste. If I had to guess I'd say start with a half teaspoon of salt, and a quarter teaspoon of pepper and nutmeg. Let it meld with the soup for a minute or two then add more if needed. Cook on low until heated through. 10 or 15 minutes. Don't boil.

Take off the heat. Mix 1/4 cup of water with the arrowroot. Add half of this mixture to soup. Let it cool a little. Stir. Is it thick enough? No? Add a little more of the arrowroot mixture. As it cools it will thicken up some more. You could skip the arrowroot and let it sit on the stove for awhile or eat it thinner.

Top with a sprinkle of parsley and a drizzle of truffle oil.

Serves 4 to 6. It's only 4 for us because we love this stuff.

I wish I could be more accurate with my measurements but I'm not very good at keeping track of measurements. I just don't cook that way. I'm more of a little bit here and a little bit there kind of cook.

I hope you enjoy this.

Love,

M

Zucchini Pancakes

I wrote this post, like eightygillion years ago. Okay, maybe not eightygillion but when you travel a lot it feels like that. I did have it all set up to post last Monday with the exception of the photo but things got hectic and you all know how that goes. So, here you go, last Monday's post this Monday. That makes it almost the same.

I scored some sweet looking zucchini at the farmers market last week that needed to be used, and quickly. I'm leaving town Wednesday morning (going to Baltimore, if you are close please let me know. We'll meet up. totally ignore this line.) so would not have time to do much with this stuff.

I had made fritters the evening before that were a major hit with the family but that still left me with an over-abundence of zucchini (or as they call it here Italian squash)

Recipe

2 cups zucchini, grated

1/4 cup onion, finely chopped

1 large or 2 small cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 egg, slightly beaten

2 tablespoons milk, maybe a little more or less

1 cup self-rising flour

1/2 cup cream cheese

Add-ins, see below

Mix all ingredients together until just combined. Let sit for a few minutes to let the flour absorb the liquid. Spoon into greased skillet (well seasoned cast iron is the best). Spread around a little to flatten them out. Fry until golden brown on one side, flip and repeat.

Serve warm with sauce appropriate for the add-in. See below or make up your own.

Makes 15 to 16 medium sized pancakes

These would make wonderful appetizers if you cut them into small squares or rounds. About the size of a shot glass. They are firm enough to hold small bites of other food yet soft enough to bite into without breaking apart and sending crumbs and food down the front of your shirt. What? That's never happened to you? Happens to me all the time. I pretty much wear my food. If I had a big enough rack it would land there but I don't so it usually lands on the tummy. It seems that that sticks out far enough. *sigh*

Suggested Add-ins

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper and 1 tsp cumin = serve with thick chunky salsa and sour cream

3 tbs dried mint (double if fresh) = serve with taziki sauce

3 tbs Italian seasoning = serve with basil or sun-dried tomato pesto

no add-in = serve with olive tapenade, mushroom ragout, pico de gallo, etc

Love,

M

PS: Meatless Monday today. Granted everyday that I am home it is meatless and everyday that I travel it is a meat orgy.

Cranberry Syrup recipe

I know!
I was as shocked as you that I pulled this one off. A recipe? One I made up as I went along? What are the odds? Pretty slim it seems, since, it's been quite awhile since I posted a recipe. I thought I'd throw this one out there see where it landed.

With my travel schedule it is sometimes hard to put food on the table let alone something that I made up on my own. Why is it that my family thinks they need to eat? Do they think it magically appears on the table? Yes, yes they do.

Sunday was JR's birthday. I won't mention how old he is now but let's just say that retirement age is not so much creeping up on him as it is roaring up on a Harley. At our age we don't make a big fuss out of birthdays. We have or can go out and buy whatever we want so there is none of that gift angst anymore but I like to do something a little special for him. In that spirit I made him one of his favorite breakfasts...french toast.

Not just any french toast but cranberry walnut french toast with homemade cranberry syrup. I know, I give and I give. HA!  The day before I found a loaf of cranberry walnut bread on the day old bread shelf at the grocery store. I immediately thought of french toast. So I snapped up that loaf of bread like it was a Running of the Brides sale at Filene's Basement. I paid .89 cents for this cranberry walnut loaf of love. JR didn't need to know that he was getting discounted breakfast for his birthday.

Then Sunday morning I discovered that we had no maple syrup. Oh groovy! No syrup for the french toast. This could have been a birthday breakfast disaster but no! I saved the day by making syrup.

If you are on some sort of diet you are going to want to stay clear of this or do what I do...use moderation. I'm not sure if you can use artificial sweetener but I don't see why not. Here is my recipe that I made up on the fly, if you want to change it up be my guest. That's cool.

Cranberry Syrup

1 1/2 cup cranberry juice cocktail (I had diet Ocean Spray on hand)
1/2 cup orange juice (straight out of the carton. JR buys it that way. Without champagne in it I don't really do OJ.)
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup Craisins
1/4 cup or so corn starch

Combine cranberry juice cocktail, orange juice, sugar and Craisins to a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Turn down heat to low and let syrup gently boil, stirring frequently to prevent it from burning. Boil for 15 minutes or until sugar completely dissolves and Craisins plump up. Take off of the heat. Whisk in corn starch a little at a time. It will thicken up as it cools down so don't be generous with the corn starch. You can also use arrowroot if you are not into corn starch. Corn starch and arrowroot thicken in cool liquids. Spoon over french toast while it is still warm. Eat. You will have to remind yourself of the moderation rule because this stuff is Yummy!

This sounds really sweet but the craisins and cranberry juice cuts the sugar sweetness. We started talking about all the other things we thought it would be good with, such as;
turkey (JR's contribution)
grilled tofu (mine)
pork tenderloin (JR again)
grilled romaine lettuce (me)

I'm sure you can think of many other savory dishes where a semi-sweet sauce would work well.

Love,
M
It's not really Saturday but what the Elmore!

An apology and a recipe

I need to apologize for dropping off the face of the earth last week. Believe it or not but the Seattle area does have internet access it is only that my mother and step dad don't really know how or why it works or how easy it is to swap out computers or how it doesn't really break it if you plug in another computer or that if you plug in another computer your internet service provider doesn't charge you extra. Knowing that it might be a painful exercise in futility to explain all this to them it seemed like dropping off the face of the earth was a better option. My mother doesn't have wireless internet access. She's only got the cable type which isn't to say that wouldn't have worked great but my step dad gets a little cranky about anything to do with computers. Bless his little heart.

I had three options
1. Using my step dad's computer. He volunteers it all the time only to get all upset if the screen doesn't look exactly like when he left it. I hate to upset him so that option was out.
2. I had thought to unplug his computer then plug mine in but I didn't want to crawl aroung under his desk.
3. I could have bought a wireless router but figured that if I had any problems the man would have freaked the hell out. 

So I just decided to opt out of anything except Twitter and Facebook. Those I could keep up a bit with my phone.

I'm back now. JR and I got back to Houston on Saturday evening. We were totally spent from flying most of the day. For some crazy reason the flight to Seattle seemed to take about half the time of the flight home. Maybe it was a time warp or something. I don't know but we were exhausted by the time we got home.

While we were in the Seattle area we ate out; A LOT! One of the places that we went for lunch is a favorite of our oldest son and his wife. I can't remember the name but it is this little cafe in a strip mall. One of the sides that looked really good was a sweet potato hash. I didn't have any because it had bacon in it but everyone else thought it was good. That got me hankering for sweet potato hash. Sunday morning I tried my hand at it.

Sweet Potato Hash

3 medium sized sweet potatoes or yams, diced into 1/2 inch cubes
1 cup onion, chopped
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 teaspoons cumin
1 cup meatless chorizo
2 tablespoons olive oil or butter

Dice sweet potatoes. Place in a pot or large fry pan with enough water to just about cover over medium heat. Cover and cook until the potatoes are almost cooked through. You don't want them to be too soft. Sort of al dente. Drain.

Put back into the fry pan or transfer into a large fry pan if you cooked them originally in a pot. Drizzle with the olive oil. Fry over medium to medium high heat. Add onions, garlic, chorizo and cumin to the potatoes. Mix gently.

Fry until the onions are cooked through. The sugar in the potatoes will caramelize and get all yummy.
Serves 6ish. I couldn't tell you all the fat, calories or nutritional value but I can tell you that everyone liked it and it can't be all that bad.

I served it with scrambled eggs. Then I stuffed mushrooms with some of the leftovers. Yum! I'll be making it again. Soon.

See you all around.
Love,
M

Tomato Sandwiches recipe

On campus we have a College of Hotel and Restaurant Management. I don't really know much about it except that I can go to the student run restaurant and eat lunch for about $5 and that they have a wonderful archives. 

This archives was started as part of the Hilton Archives and then sort of morphed. Have you ever watched Mad Men? The producers of the show came to the archives to get images, old advertising materials, and an idea of the look of that era. Pretty cool, no?

This archives has things like plates from restaurants and hotels around the world, a spittoon from God knows where, images, movies and vinyl records from Hilton and other hotels from around the world, a picture of Hemingway ogling a young starlet at the Havana Hilton opening, and last (and in my opinion) the best; cookbooks from the 1870s to current. Hundreds of them! Every edition of the Joy of Cooking! Not to mention the cooking magazines and pamphlets collection!  Yes, my friends, it is a Michele Playland!

We will be scanning some of these gems into digital to preserve them since most of the oldest ones are falling apart. This means that I just had to borrow a few to look at. I'll be sharing some home remedies with you later in the week but for now I'll share a recipe that I only had to tweak a little and it turned out wonderful. It is not what you think of as tomato sandwiches.

Tomato Sandwiches

1 - 8 ounces package of cream cheese, softened

2 tablespoons dried seasoning mix, like Italian, Herbs d'Provance, Cajun, taco or whatever you have on hand. I say get creative.

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 egg beaten with a little milk

1/2 cup bread crumbs

4 medium to large firm tomatoes

3 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons olive oil

1. Mix cream cheese and seasoning mix together. Let stand until flavors blend. Usually an hour or so. This is a great mix ahead sort of thing. Just be sure that you take it out of the refrigerator to allow it to soften up before you make the sandwiches.

2. Slice the tomatoes into 1/4 to 1/2 in slices. (don't you hate it when recipes get real precise on the size of slices? Really, recipe writer? Do you expect me to whip out my handy ruler?) It kind of goes without saying that you will need an even number of these slices. Divide into two stacks.

3. Spread a tablespoon or so of the cheese mixture onto each tomato slice of one of the stacks. Top with another tomato slice. Press down to distribute the cheese mixture. See little tomato sandwiches. Now, you could eat them just like this, I know I would but let's take it one step further into the realm of deliciousness.

4. Place the flour, egg mixture and bread crumbs into separate dishes. Basically, you are setting up a breading station. I like to use salad plates. They seem to be the right size and shape but use whatever you have that's handy. We are now coming to the really messy part. 

5. Dip one tomato sandwich into the flour, coating it on both sides. Then the egg mixture, once again coating it on both sides. Then the bread crumbs. Yep, you'll be coating it on both sides. Place on a wire rack until you have all the sandwiches coated. I made them up ahead of time and stored them uncovered in the refrigerator until I was ready to fry them up. Gives them a little time to firm up before you put the fire to them. A little tip for you. Use only one hand to do the breading operation. That way you only have one breaded club hand.

6. Heat up butter and olive oil in a large frypan. Fry each side of the tomato sandwich until golden brown. Serve warm. 1 per person. 1 very large and 3 medium sized tomatoes serves about 6. 

They are awesome the next day. I warmed up the remaining two under the broiler while I poached a couple of eggs. Placed on a bed of fresh spinach, topped with the egg and some chopped fresh tomato. Yum!!!!

Uh, yeah, pictures. Sorry. We ate them too fast and I didn't think of it. If you need an image in your head think really thick fried green tomatoes, only not green and oozing cheese. Aren't I helpful?

I'm pretty sure that these would be wonderful with herbed goat cheese. In fact, I plan to try it this week and will pass on the results. Maybe, I might even take pictures. Wouldn't that be cool?

Give this recipe a try for Meatless Monday or any old day of the week.

Love,

M